The Caliphate

An Overview of the Department of Military

“Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you, but transgress not the limits. Truly, Allah likes not the transgressors.” [TMQ 2:190]

The West has made Jihad a very controversial topic today that conjures up many negative images in peoples minds. These images of jihad as some medieval, barbaric holy war are deliberately pushed by the Western media and politicians who want to undermine any challenges to their unjust colonial wars perpetrated against the Muslim world. Therefore even before discussing the Director of Jihad post, we must discuss the concept of Jihad itself.

Jihad is not a holy war

The Caliphate is not a theocracy ruled by priests and clergy. Rather the Caliphate is an Islamic ideological state ruled by politicians and statesmen. Hence the interests of the Caliphate are not holy but ideological. The Caliphate will fight jihad to secure these interests using the armed forces as situations arise. The objective of Jihad is not to slaughter all ‘unbelievers' in a holy war or force them to convert to Islam. Rather the Caliphate fights Jihad for the objective of removing the material obstacles that stand in the way of the Islamic system being implemented on people, regardless of the individual beliefs they hold. This also includes defending the Muslim lands and their inhabitants from attack and fighting the occupation of the lands by foreign powers.

The Islamic conquests bare no resemblance to the Christian ‘holy wars' known as the Crusades. The streets of Jerusalem were knee deep in blood from the slaughtering by the Crusader armies. However, when the Caliphate's armed forces under the command of General Salahudin Ayyubi re-conquered Jerusalem from the Crusaders, the Crusader's army was allowed to surrender and given safe passage back to Europe .

Jihad has strict Rules of Engagement

Those who fight Jihad have strict rules of engagement when fighting the enemy and conducting themselves in the battle. Muslims do not fight and commit atrocities like the non-Muslim armies such as America and Britain do. Rather Muslims are very conscious when fighting of not transgressing the limits set by the creator Allah (swt). Dying as a martyr ( shaheed ) on the battlefield during Jihad is the highest honour in Islam, the reward of which is immense. However, to gain this reward and status the fighter must fight for the correct reasons and not for anger, pride, money, nationalism etc. Narrated by Abu Musa in Bukhari: A man came to the Prophet and asked, “A man fights for war booty; another fights for fame and a third fights for showing off; which of them fights in Allah's Cause?” The Prophet (saw) said, “He who fights that Allah's Word (i.e. Islam) should be superior, fights in Allah's Cause.”

Prisoners of war

Prisoners of war cannot be mistreated, imprisoned indefinitely or beheaded and killed. The Islamic rules governing prisoners of war are far superior to the Geneva Convention. Even the basic rights, the Geneva Convention does provide are not followed by America as regards prisoners of war. Using more Orwellian doublespeak America declares its enemies as ‘unlawful combatants' who have no rights. The Muslim soldiers of the previous Caliphate used to go hungry whilst the prisoners ate. The prisoners were either ransomed or released after the battle as happened during the Crusades. Compare this superior conduct to the conduct by the Americans in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Gharaib prisons.

Torture

Torture of anyone including the enemies of Islam is prohibited regardless of any benefit it may bring, such as intelligence information. The torture of Muslims by America and Israel as part of the war on terror is well known, yet we do not lower our values and conduct to their level.

Muslim narrated from Hisham b. Hakeem, who said: “I bear witness that I heard the Messenger of Allah (saw) say: ‘Allah will punish those who punish the people in the Dunya.' ”

Collateral damage

Abu Dawud narrated from Anas that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: “ Go forth in the name of Allah, with Allah and in the creed of the Messenger of Allah. Do not kill a perishing old man, a child or a woman and do not betray. Gather together your booties and be righteous as Allah loves the righteous .”

Inevitably in modern warfare when using heavy weapons and air strikes, there will be civilian causalities and environmental destruction. The Caliphate's armed forces will aim to minimise collateral damage within the limits of war and winning the battle. The armed forces will not have the ‘trigger happy' attitude that Americans have in Iraq where whole families, women and children, are shot at checkpoints.

Jihad is not terrorism

Terrorism is an emotive term, where its definition and use varies according to the political objectives of the state or individual using it. As the saying goes “one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter” . The fact that no single definition of terrorism can be agreed upon by the United Nations is evidence for this. In a report entitled “Bounding the Global War on Terrorism” by Jeffrey Record commissioned by the US Military, it found over 100 definitions of the word terrorism had been used. Despite this the West is unanimous in agreeing with the phrase “Not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslim” . Primarily this is due to the vested interests that the Western colonial nations have in exploiting the resources of the Muslim countries.

In the ‘golden age' of colonialism led by Britain and France , they conquered the Muslim countries and ruled them directly, stealing the resources and subjugating the people to their oppression. After the 2 nd World War, continuing this policy became untenable due to the weaknesses these colonial states found themselves in after years of war. Slowly the former colonies were given independence after years of fighting by the people, who wanted to rid themselves of the oppressive colonialists.

This resistance fighting to expel the colonial occupiers was Jihad. However, the objective of Jihad was not realised. Instead of an Islamic system being implemented, the colonialists ensured their legacy remained through planting puppet governments to continue their work and secure their interests. For a time this policy worked well until the resurgence of Islam in the late 20 th century and the gradual deaths of the old puppet leaders in the Muslim countries. The new leaders being mostly inexperienced coupled with the continued awakening of the Muslims, led the colonialists namely America to once again conquer the Muslim countries by force and directly rule them. The network of military bases established by America across the Muslim world, and its invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan is evidence for this. See here for a map of American military bases in the region.

Resistance to occupation is not terrorism but Jihad

Today the Muslims of the lands America has occupied are fighting once again to resist this occupation and gain their independence. This resistance is Jihad and the fighters are mujahideen (Islamic soldiers). As mentioned previously “one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter” , therefore America terms these Muslims fighting against it in Iraq and Afghanistan as ‘terrorists'. Whereas it was these same Muslims who America financed and trained to fight against the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan, and who termed them ‘freedom fighters'. This type of Orwellian doublespeak by America is prevalent when discussing the issue of terrorism.

Ironically, America itself was founded by fighting the occupation of the British during the War of Independence ( 1775–1783). No doubt the Commander-in-Chief of the American resistance at the time – George Washington, would have been considered a ‘terrorist leader' by the British.

Jihad is not colonialism

The foreign policy of the Caliphate is to carry the message of Islam ( da'wa ) to the world. Contrary to popular belief the Caliphate does not spread Islam by the sword, forcing people to abandon their beliefs and become Muslim. The Caliphate does not fight or conquer countries for natural resources like oil or for any corporate interests. This is unlike Capitalism however which is spread by the sword. The brutal colonisation we witnessed in the 19 th century led by Britain and France, and continued today by America in Iraq and Afghanistan is for stealing the natural resources of the countries and forcing the Muslims to adopt new secular thoughts and beliefs.

The method the Caliphate uses to carry Islam to the world is Jihad. The objective of Jihad is not to slaughter people in a holy war, but to remove the material obstacles that stand in the way of Islam being implemented on the people. As the old idiom goes “Actions speak louder than words” . Once people experience life under the Caliphate system and see that although their land has been conquered, the conquerors unlike in an Empire do not oppress them or steal their resources. Rather their land and people will enjoy the same rights as any land or people in the Caliphate. They have the right to money from the State Treasury ( Bait ul-Mal ) to improve their infrastructure, develop the economy and eradicate poverty.

Historically the Caliphate conquered lands in North and sub-Saharan Africa which were not rich like the Byzantine lands it conquered. Yet once the Caliphate ruled them their economic situation improved to the point where poverty was eradicated at one stage in the African lands it ruled over.

The examples of the Ottoman Caliphate in Bosnia (see book ‘History of the Caliphate in Bosnia ' available in downloads section) show clearly how Bosnia prospered and money was spent to help the people and not stolen and sent back to the capital Istanbul . Sarajevo along with many other prosperous towns were actually built and established by the Ottomans. When wandering around Sarajevo and Istanbul it is difficult to decide which is more beautiful. If the Caliphate was truly an empire then the capital of the empire should far exceed the capital of one of its provinces. In the 19th century British Empire can Deli in India be compared to London ?

Jihad is performed by the Armed Forces

In the absence of the Caliphate, Jihad today is performed by resistance groups in the occupied lands such as Israel , Iraq , Afghanistan , Chechnya and Kashmir . Once the Caliphate is established, those groups operating within the borders of the State must be disbanded and join with the regular armed forces. It is vital the Caliphate has a unified war policy so all these groups must come under the command of the Director of Jihad ( Ameer ul-Jihad ).

Those Muslims outside the Caliphate's border will be given as much support as possible by the Caliphate to help them resist the occupiers. Most likely the Caliphate will sign treaties with the occupying powers to help those Muslims under occupation.

Director of Jihad

The post of Director of Jihad is similar in some respects to the post of Defense Secretary in America . It is an executive post rather than a purely military post. The Caliphate is not a military government although the Caliph and Director of Jihad do hold military ranks, and may physically command some battles. Many of the Ottoman Caliph's such as Sultan Murad II led the Jihad themselves. Sultan Murad II actually died a martyr in the battle of Kosova field in 1389.



The Department of Military (Da'irat ul-Harbiyah)
The Islamic Army has strict rules of engagement enshrined in Islamic Law. The soldiers behaviour in the army went a long way in securing the hearts and minds of the people that the Islamic State conquered.



		An Overview of the Department of Military *“Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you, but transgress not the limits. Truly, Allah likes not the transgressors.”* [TMQ 2:190] The West has made Jihad a very controversial topic today that conjures up many negative images in peoples minds. These images of jihad as some medieval, barbaric holy war are deliberately pushed by the Western media and politicians who want to undermine any challenges to their unjust colonial wars perpetrated against the Muslim world. Therefore even before discussing the Director of Jihad post, we must discuss the concept of Jihad itself. Jihad is not a holy war The Caliphate is not a theocracy ruled by priests and clergy. Rather the Caliphate is an Islamic ideological state ruled by politicians and statesmen. Hence the interests of the Caliphate are not holy but ideological. The Caliphate will fight jihad to secure these interests using the armed forces as situations arise. The objective of Jihad is not to slaughter all ‘unbelievers' in a holy war or force them to convert to Islam. Rather the Caliphate fights Jihad for the objective of removing the material obstacles that stand in the way of the Islamic system being implemented on people, regardless of the individual beliefs they hold. This also includes defending the Muslim lands and their inhabitants from attack and fighting the occupation of the lands by foreign powers. The Islamic conquests bare no resemblance to the Christian ‘holy wars' known as the Crusades. The streets of Jerusalem were knee deep in blood from the slaughtering by the Crusader armies. However, when the Caliphate's armed forces under the command of General Salahudin Ayyubi re-conquered Jerusalem from the Crusaders, the Crusader's army was allowed to surrender and given safe passage back to Europe . Jihad has strict Rules of Engagement Those who fight Jihad have strict rules of engagement when fighting the enemy and conducting themselves in the battle. Muslims do not fight and commit atrocities like the non-Muslim armies such as America and Britain do. Rather Muslims are very conscious when fighting of not transgressing the limits set by the creator Allah (swt). Dying as a martyr ( shaheed ) on the battlefield during Jihad is the highest honour in Islam, the reward of which is immense. However, to gain this reward and status the fighter must fight for the correct reasons and not for anger, pride, money, nationalism etc. Narrated by Abu Musa in Bukhari: A man came to the Prophet and asked, “A man fights for war booty; another fights for fame and a third fights for showing off; which of them fights in Allah's Cause?” The Prophet (saw) said, “He who fights that Allah's Word (i.e. Islam) should be superior, fights in Allah's Cause.” Prisoners of war Prisoners of war cannot be mistreated, imprisoned indefinitely or beheaded and killed. The Islamic rules governing prisoners of war are far superior to the Geneva Convention. Even the basic rights, the Geneva Convention does provide are not followed by America as regards prisoners of war. Using more Orwellian doublespeak America declares its enemies as ‘unlawful combatants' who have no rights. The Muslim soldiers of the previous Caliphate used to go hungry whilst the prisoners ate. The prisoners were either ransomed or released after the battle as happened during the Crusades. Compare this superior conduct to the conduct by the Americans in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Gharaib prisons. Torture Torture of anyone including the enemies of Islam is prohibited regardless of any benefit it may bring, such as intelligence information. The torture of Muslims by America and Israel as part of the war on terror is well known, yet we do not lower our values and conduct to their level. Muslim narrated from Hisham b. Hakeem, who said: “I bear witness that I heard the Messenger of Allah (saw) say: ‘Allah will punish those who punish the people in the Dunya.' ” Collateral damage Abu Dawud narrated from Anas that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: “ Go forth in the name of Allah, with Allah and in the creed of the Messenger of Allah. Do not kill a perishing old man, a child or a woman and do not betray. Gather together your booties and be righteous as Allah loves the righteous .” Inevitably in modern warfare when using heavy weapons and air strikes, there will be civilian causalities and environmental destruction. The Caliphate's armed forces will aim to minimise collateral damage within the limits of war and winning the battle. The armed forces will not have the ‘trigger happy' attitude that Americans have in Iraq where whole families, women and children, are shot at checkpoints. Jihad is not terrorism Terrorism is an emotive term, where its definition and use varies according to the political objectives of the state or individual using it. As the saying goes “one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter” . The fact that no single definition of terrorism can be agreed upon by the United Nations is evidence for this. In a report entitled “Bounding the Global War on Terrorism” by Jeffrey Record commissioned by the US Military, it found over 100 definitions of the word terrorism had been used. Despite this the West is unanimous in agreeing with the phrase “Not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslim” . Primarily this is due to the vested interests that the Western colonial nations have in exploiting the resources of the Muslim countries. In the ‘golden age' of colonialism led by Britain and France , they conquered the Muslim countries and ruled them directly, stealing the resources and subjugating the people to their oppression. After the 2 nd World War, continuing this policy became untenable due to the weaknesses these colonial states found themselves in after years of war. Slowly the former colonies were given independence after years of fighting by the people, who wanted to rid themselves of the oppressive colonialists. This resistance fighting to expel the colonial occupiers was Jihad. However, the objective of Jihad was not realised. Instead of an Islamic system being implemented, the colonialists ensured their legacy remained through planting puppet governments to continue their work and secure their interests. For a time this policy worked well until the resurgence of Islam in the late 20 th century and the gradual deaths of the old puppet leaders in the Muslim countries. The new leaders being mostly inexperienced coupled with the continued awakening of the Muslims, led the colonialists namely America to once again conquer the Muslim countries by force and directly rule them. The network of military bases established by America across the Muslim world, and its invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan is evidence for this. See here for a map of American military bases in the region. Resistance to occupation is not terrorism but Jihad Today the Muslims of the lands America has occupied are fighting once again to resist this occupation and gain their independence. This resistance is Jihad and the fighters are mujahideen (Islamic soldiers). As mentioned previously “one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter” , therefore America terms these Muslims fighting against it in Iraq and Afghanistan as ‘terrorists'. Whereas it was these same Muslims who America financed and trained to fight against the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan, and who termed them ‘freedom fighters'. This type of Orwellian doublespeak by America is prevalent when discussing the issue of terrorism. Ironically, America itself was founded by fighting the occupation of the British during the War of Independence ( 1775–1783). No doubt the Commander-in-Chief of the American resistance at the time – George Washington, would have been considered a ‘terrorist leader' by the British. Jihad is not colonialism The foreign policy of the Caliphate is to carry the message of Islam ( da'wa ) to the world. Contrary to popular belief the Caliphate does not spread Islam by the sword, forcing people to abandon their beliefs and become Muslim. The Caliphate does not fight or conquer countries for natural resources like oil or for any corporate interests. This is unlike Capitalism however which is spread by the sword. The brutal colonisation we witnessed in the 19 th century led by Britain and France, and continued today by America in Iraq and Afghanistan is for stealing the natural resources of the countries and forcing the Muslims to adopt new secular thoughts and beliefs. The method the Caliphate uses to carry Islam to the world is Jihad. The objective of Jihad is not to slaughter people in a holy war, but to remove the material obstacles that stand in the way of Islam being implemented on the people. As the old idiom goes “Actions speak louder than words” . Once people experience life under the Caliphate system and see that although their land has been conquered, the conquerors unlike in an Empire do not oppress them or steal their resources. Rather their land and people will enjoy the same rights as any land or people in the Caliphate. They have the right to money from the State Treasury ( Bait ul-Mal ) to improve their infrastructure, develop the economy and eradicate poverty. Historically the Caliphate conquered lands in North and sub-Saharan Africa which were not rich like the Byzantine lands it conquered. Yet once the Caliphate ruled them their economic situation improved to the point where poverty was eradicated at one stage in the African lands it ruled over. The examples of the Ottoman Caliphate in Bosnia (see book ‘History of the Caliphate in Bosnia ' available in downloads section) show clearly how Bosnia prospered and money was spent to help the people and not stolen and sent back to the capital Istanbul . Sarajevo along with many other prosperous towns were actually built and established by the Ottomans. When wandering around Sarajevo and Istanbul it is difficult to decide which is more beautiful. If the Caliphate was truly an empire then the capital of the empire should far exceed the capital of one of its provinces. In the 19th century British Empire can Deli in India be compared to London ? Jihad is performed by the Armed Forces In the absence of the Caliphate, Jihad today is performed by resistance groups in the occupied lands such as Israel , Iraq , Afghanistan , Chechnya and Kashmir . Once the Caliphate is established, those groups operating within the borders of the State must be disbanded and join with the regular armed forces. It is vital the Caliphate has a unified war policy so all these groups must come under the command of the Director of Jihad ( Ameer ul-Jihad ). Those Muslims outside the Caliphate's border will be given as much support as possible by the Caliphate to help them resist the occupiers. Most likely the Caliphate will sign treaties with the occupying powers to help those Muslims under occupation. Director of Jihad The post of Director of Jihad is similar in some respects to the post of Defense Secretary in America . It is an executive post rather than a purely military post. The Caliphate is not a military government although the Caliph and Director of Jihad do hold military ranks, and may physically command some battles. Many of the Ottoman Caliph's such as Sultan Murad II led the Jihad themselves. Sultan Murad II actually died a martyr in the battle of Kosova field in 1389.