During the early formation of the Nigerian struggle, there was a dispute between two leaders, Muhammed Ali and Muhammed Yusuf, about the excuse of ignorance and establishment of proof.

Ali made takfir on Yusuf over the disagreement and began the struggle without hujjah...

/1
...and the effort was largely a failure.

Later on Yusuf took over leadership of the movement, and delayed actually fighting until he had established proof about secular law to all of the local leaders, and then began the struggle. The effort was more successful...

/2
...and eventually was taken over by Abu Bakr Shekau after Mohammed Yusuf was executed by the Nigerian military, and named Jamaat Ahl as Sunnah li-Dawah wal Jihad.

AQ supported Shekau with advice and funding, which helped make possible their first successful operation...

/3
...which freed around 150 prisoners belonging to the group.

However, Shekau began to diverge from AQ due to the same dispute about the excuse of ignorance.

In spite of a number of mujahideen writing public letters denouncing Shekau's extremism in takfir...

/4
...and refusal to listen to advice regarding the proper shari' procedures surrounding takfir, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi accepted Shekau's bay'ah, only to order him to step down as leader shortly after due to the same reasons, which he refused, initiating a civil war within...

/5
...the group which only recently subsided (though there is still a small remant of Shekau's group fighting ISWAP).

Another important concept cited by Shekau at the outset of this conflict was kufr bi taghut. He argued that IS central's choice of leader was a murji'

/6
...because he did not declare takfir on those who enter the lands of the kuffar but fail to display enmity for the kuffar living there, or those who fail to display enmity towards those who rule by secular law.

Shekau and his commander both complain that IS did not...

/7
...respond to Shekau's letters on the issue of irja', and this appears to be partly true. A reply did come in which some of the issues were addressed, but other issues were not. This may be due to circumstances in Iraq and Sham at the time, and the author of this article...

/8
...speculates that Abu Musab al Barnawi may have prevented Shekau's letters from reaching IS central leadership, but I would suggest another hypothesis; it's possible that IS's scholars simply did not have answers to Shekau's criticisms, and that Shekau in fact...

/9
...represented a more authentic implementation of IS creed.

IS aqeeda on a basic level does not accept the possibility of an excuse of ignorance in matters of asl ad din, which generally refers to tawheed.

In theory, this applies in both clear and unclear matters...

/10
...the assumption being that the difference between tawheed and shirk should be apparent to anyone with a sound fitra.

From the conditions of the validity of tawheed are two elements - belief in Allah, and disbelief in what is worshipped other than Allah - kufr bi taghut.

/11
From the conditions of kufr bi taghut is demonstrating enmity towards the tawaghit by making takfir upon them, dissociating from them, and fighting them.

So who fails in this regard has failed with regard to tawheed, even if the nature of the tawaghit is unclear.

/12
The interesting parallel here is that both Shekau and IS itself were movements that reject the excuse of ignorance which were built on the foundation of movements that don't.

It was Mohammed Yusuf's dawah and engagement with Nigerian government officials...

/13
...from the Muslim community that laid the foundation for Shekau's rise to prominence, and likewise, it was AQ's willingness to engage with groups with deficiencies in wala wal bara (like the Ikhwan and Taliban) that established the support structures and connections...

/14
...that helped IS's rise.

In both of these cases, the elements that denied the excuse of ignorance ended up making takfir on those that do not, and this is a necessary consequence of this belief.

This is indeed part of Islam, but denying the excuse of ignorance in...

/15
...unclear matters of asl ad din comes with the pitfall of allowing mass takfir and killing of Muslims.

This comes with some advantages, because it allows the formation of a very strong "us vs. the world" group dynamic, and it also allows for rapid expansion due...

/16
...to the ability to kill and seize the wealth of Muslim opponents with relative impunity, but in the long run these excesses have a backlash, and historically every group that has adopted this position, whether the GIA, IS, or Shekau, has been decimated.

/17
The success of ISWAP under Abu Musab al Barnawi can be attributed to some extent to the fact that he did not faithfully implement IS's manhaj, but only affirmed the excuse of ignorance verbally while manifesting it in the group's actions.

/18
This may relate to the reason why, after several years of debate in prison by the scholars of Jamaa Islamiyaa (whose leader was Umar Abdurrahman), they reached the conclusion that the one who denies the excuse of ignorance is an innovator.

/19
I have not been able to find copies of the books written as a result of these debates, and if anyone knows where to find copies, I would appreciate it.

This position would be utterly impossible within the Saudi religious scholarship, because it would mean tabd'i on...

/20
...an important contingent of the heart of the Saudi scholarly establishment, which would undermine the authority and Islamic legitimacy not only of the present Saudi government, but the entire Saudi dynasty from the time of the Emirate of Diriyyah.

/21
One shouldn't take an extreme position here - the flaws of the Saudi dynasty don't mean that the Uthmani (Ottoman) government was Islamically legitimate, nor should one "take sides." Many of the Saudi criticisms of the Uthmaniyya were legitimate, and Shekau's criticisms...

/22
...of carrying national IDs and refraining from showing enmity towards those who rule by manmade laws are also legitimate. However, having a legitimate criticisms does not automatically excuse other methodological errors, or justify elevating one group of scholars above...

/23
...all others, taking their views as evidence without reference to usool, or labelling them as ahl us sunnah and everyone who disagrees with them as innovators.

This kind of dynamic within Islamic scholarship can only be understood as a consequence of an excessively...

/24
...strong connection between scholars and rulers, where religious discourse is influenced by political interests.

There is no separation of religion and politics in Islam, but politics must always remain subordinate to religion.

/25

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More from @ibn_alJad

12 Jan
Muslims should treat any international sporting competitions such as FIFA or the Olympics as any other innovation in the religion, because they reinforce artificial identities designed to divide and weaken the Muslims.

/1
The Olympic games were originally an act of worship for pagan Greeks. The games were part of a festival honoring Zeus, the chief god of the Greek pantheon. They are named for Mt. Olympus, which was the home of the gods in Greek mythology.

/2
The Olympic games today still include a derivative of ritual from the ancient Greek religion in the form of the Olympic torch ceremony.

In the original games, a fire was lit on the altar of Hestia, goddess of the hearth, and kept burning throughout the games.

/3
Read 7 tweets
12 Jan
Airstrikes don't win wars. 7 million *tons* (7 billion kg) of explosives were dropped during the Vietnam war, about 3.5 times more than the total droppes in WW2 in all theaters.

Children reached their teens rarely seeing natural daylight.

/1
The reason the US still couldn't achieve its objectives is pretty simple. The will to fight of the North Vietnamese people was much stronger than any of the forces fighting them.

There are two important lessons here (among others).

First, the appearance of power...

/2
...and strength of highly industrialized and technologically advanced nations is an illusion.

Secondly, the power of ideological and economkc warfare is much more than the power of weaponry.

The reason Muslim countries are unwilling to fight against the kuffar is not...

/3
Read 7 tweets
12 Jan
The argument that Sirajuddin Haqqani or Abu Muhammed al Jolani must be American agents since the US doesn't launch drone strikes against them is pretty shallow.

The US is actually legally bound not to use military force except with congressional authorization or...

/1
...in case of self-defense.

This is somewhat similar to Israel's policy vis-a-vis Hamas, where they directly retaliate to any hostilities, by tracking rockets and launching air strikes on the locations they are launched from. It's a tit for tat policy.

/2
The policy of the rebel groups from early on in the Syrian civil war was to avoid confrontation with the US and NATO, because they understood Assad was the most present threat, and that he was backed by Russia.

This exemplifies the tension between global and local outlook.

/3
Read 23 tweets
11 Jan
A brother who is very active on here supporting IS and who has a lot of knowledge about history suggested there is no evidence for bin Laden working with Iran on the US embassy bombings in East Africa, so I thought I'd post some.

legaltimes.typepad.com/files/bates-op…

/1
He was trying to craft an idealized Taliban/AQ 2.0 narrative and then contrasting them to the current Taliban/AQ leadership, but there is actually a fairly high degree of consistency throughout the history of both movements.

/2
There are certainly arguments that can be made against the strategies of both Taliban and AQ, but the reality is that the biggest inconsistency in this story is from the followers and intellectual descendants of Abu Musab az Zarqawi, aka IS.

/3
Read 17 tweets
7 Jan
The word "aqeeda" (عقيدة) comes from the same root as 'aqd (عقد) meaning to tie or knot. 'Aqd also refers to a contract, a binding obligation.

Aqeeda is our bond to Allahﷻ but also to ahl us-sunnah, just as the link to the mother and father links brothers and sisters.

/1
Beyond this, it is an obligation to act, like a contract. To affirm the aqeeda of ahl us-sunnah means to carry the obligation to act in accordance with it, and belief is by actions, not only words, and both are important.

Yet there are some who will affirm that belief...

/2
...is by actions, but will focus almost all of their energy on speech, while hardly considering actions.

We may all have deficits in our knowledge and understanding, and these deficits may lead to mistakes. But these mistakes may be erased by means of acts of obedience.

/3
Read 23 tweets
17 Dec 21
Since modern national governments are, generally speaking, tawaghit, it surprises me that most Muslims accept interactions with them as necessary, even for minor things.

In America I used to have contact with the "rainbow family," which some people might describe as...

/1
..hippies, but this really would be too simplistic of an explanation.

The movement emerged for the most part out of the hippie movement, but now includes a lot of Christians who (rightfully) believe that the American government is Satanic.

A lot of them believe...

/2
...in prophecies about there being a small group of "saved" individuals in the end times that will retreat to the mountains and wilderness to escape the evil world government.

So there are actually a number of these Christians that really did move to the...

/3
Read 22 tweets

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