June 2022.
On 28 June, 2022; citizens of India witnessed first-hand the effects of the teachings of ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria], known as ‘Daesh’ in the Gulf countries; when Riyaz Akhtar and Ghos Mohammed attacked and beheaded a Hindu citizen, Kanhaiya Lal (a tailor by profession) for supporting the speech of former spokesperson of BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) about Prophet Mohammed. This attack on the average citizen of our Nation is an exact ISIS strategy.
It is important to understand that the news agencies of India and the world are calling this a Taliban attack. That is incorrect and misleading. This attack is as per the online teachings and action plan that is widely published by Daesh. While Taliban is a terrorist organization, their political goal has always been to rule Afghanistan, which they are currently doing. Their territory expansion is restricted to border clashes with Pakistan for disputed territory along the Afghan–Pakistan border, and they have no ambitions for global dominance.
Daesh, on the other hand, is focused on global dominance through violent jihad. Their foundational aspect is basically ‘to rule as per the words of Allah’ and establish Islamic Rule over the entire world. The Daesh philosophy of Jihad is based on “brutality, terror, massacre and displacement”, and that “shedding the blood of the unbelievers is a prime duty”; following the path of Salafi jihad, and ruling the world in accordance with Allah’s word. Towards that goal, Daesh builds the legitimacy of its actions upon its own interpretation of Shariah (Islamic divine law), which according to it is the same as “figh” (the Islamic doctrine). They even added a third Tawheed [unity of God] to the original two, Unity of Godhood (uluhiyaa) and the Unity of Sovereignty (hakimiyya).
Daesh teaches its followers that countries in which the ‘Constitutional rule of law prevails’ are lands of infidelity, where Islam is subjugated, and therefore there should be “wars of apostasy” just like in the early history of Islam, and that bloody jihad becomes a pillar of Islam. The second part of that concept outlines a course of action that must be taken by the “true jihadi believers”, which is to disobey infidel rulers [and their government] and to fight them regardless of whether or not the jihadis have the power to do so. The third part says that the commands of all those infidel rules must be cast aside as null and void in the eyes of Shariah, and that includes contemporary laws, treaties, and political systems. The last part is the rule of Islam, the implementation of Islamic Sharia, and the declaration of a caliph.
The killers of the tailor of Udaipur fulfilled the first three requirements of Daesh’s version of Islamic jihad; ignoring the rule of Constitutional law and breaking the law and spreading terror through the brutal massacre of an unarmed ‘unbeliever’. The act of beheading was meant to shock and horrify the people, while sending a signal of ‘victory’ to members and supporters of Daesh. It is also meant to be a grim warning to those who are challenging the power and reach of Daesh.
This killing, which was video recorded by the killers themselves, will be use by the Daesh social media to encourage others who are identifying with its philosophy to commit random acts of cruel violence against the civilian populations. The message will be spread globally, and there will be more such incidents taking place over the near future.
The Indian government needs to act at hyper-speed to contain this form of radical Islamic jihad. The first will be to fast-track the criminal trials of Riyaz Akhtar and Ghos Mohammed and ensure that the courts enforce the death penalty. Delay in the trial for years (as in the case of the Mumbai terror attacker Ajmal Kasab, which took over four years from prosecution to execution) enforces the idea that India is a soft state, in the minds of the Daesh terrorists.
The second mindset of the Government is to overcomes its fear of backlash from the Muslim community for punishing such criminals. The majority of the Indian Muslim community is equally horrified as the others, and at least four Muslim maulvis have publicly condemned this act of brutality. Even then, the pacifist ideology of our court system, that the death penalty can only be handed to the criminals in the ‘rarest of rare’ cases, has to be replaced by ‘harshest impositions of death penalty for jihadi activities’ and thirdly, the Government must use radical psychology to overcome the effects of Daesh online teachings.
This radical psychology requires only that the Government carry out the final rites of terrorists openly and as per Hindu–Sanatani traditions, i.e. by cremation. Islamic jihadis believe in their minds and souls that they are the warriors of Allah, and that physical death is nothing more than a deep sleep till the day of Qayamat (resurrection) when they will meet Allah or His angels, and be rewarded for their jihad. For this, their body has to be intact. Destroy the physical body and their “rooh” (spirit) will not be recognized by Allah’s angels and they will never be rewarded for their jihad, and their spirit will wander for eternity.
Jihadis don’t negotiate. But, take away their concept of eternal reward and that destroys their willingness to wage jihad.
