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Abū Muḥammad Al-Maqdisī’s Khārijite Ideology Outlined: Straight Out of the Books of Quṭb and Al-Mawdūdī
Posted by Abu Iyaad on Sunday, October, 16 2016 and filed under Doctrines

Abū Muḥammad al-Maqdisī ʿIṣām al-Barqāwī is a chief ideological instigator of extremism and terrorism and one of the main inspirations behind al-Qaeda and ISIS takfīrī, jihādī ideology. His anterior hides behind the label of ‘Salafī-Jihādist’. Meanwhile, his posterior excretes Khārijite ideology, which includes takfīr on account of what does not amount to sin let alone what amounts to sin. His easily identified core Khārijite concepts are derived through the writings of Quṭb and al-Mawdūdī (see here, and here) and are similar to those of the Khārijites of old in focusing around issues of taḥkīm, ḥākimiyyah and khurūj as quintessential elements of faith. In his works and writings, he makes takfīr of all contemporary Muslim rulers and governments, their army and police divisions and any subsidiary institutions, as well as scholars and employees who actively support them. He considers their removal from the greatest of religious obligations, without which the foundation of Islām, Īmān and Tawḥīd cannot be established. This core doctrine forces him to concur with the sects of the Khārijites of old in their subsidiary doctrines and oppressive judgements, save that he denies it with his tongue and pen. Agreeing with the Khārijites in substance, he plays word-games with labels and titles to camouflage his corrupt merchandise.

Download in PDF Format. Abū Mūhammad ʿIṣām al-Barqāwī al-Maqdisī - by his own admission – was nurtured upon the books of Sayyid Quṭb and Mawdūdī by the Takfīrī Khārijite Egyptian groups in Afghanistan as he states, “The brothers who breastfed us with al-Ẓilāl and Milestones and other books of Sayyid and his brother [Muḥammad Quṭb] and al-Mawdūdī, with a feeding during the period of nurturing with them – I mean here, the beginnings of [our] guidance.” (Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl. p. 5). In his interview with Majallat al-ʿAṣr, conducted with Marwān Shaḥādah, Abū Muḥammad al-Maqdisī propounded the basic elements of his doctrine:

Our written speciality focuses upon and is distinguished in its tackling of the subject of al-hākimiyyah... we strive to explain this Tawḥīd to the the people in order to remove them from the worship of the servants to the worship of Allāh alone. In this arena we focus upon the contemporary nullifiers of Tawḥīd, such as granting [the right of] legislation to other than Allāh (the Mighty and Majestic), referring judgement (taḥākum) to secular laws and invalidating (taʿṭīl) the laws of Allāh. This is what is referred to as al-ḥākimiyyah in contemporary usage and it is a foundational aspect of Tawḥīd... it is from the first of obligations upon the monotheist to free himself of and disbelieve in the various lords and numerous titles (of deities) which are worshipped besides Allāh and which in the old days would be represented in the form of stones and idols. In our times, they are represented in the form of rulers and legislators, their codes and secular legislations... from the most important handholds of [monotheism] is the topic of loyalty and disownment (al-walāʾ wal-barāʾ) which necessitates disownment from those who place these systems and codes and those who maintain them. The third focus point in our ideology is jihād in that jihād in our view is built upon this foundation, which is actualising Tawḥīd through disownment of the false deities (ṭawāghīt)... and a false deity is one that is worshipped besides Allāh with any of the types of worship whilst he is pleased with it. All idols in their ancient simplistic form – statues – come under this just as many of the legislators and rulers judging by other than what Allāh revealed also come under it because obedience in legislation is worship.

In summary, his doctrine is to make ḥākimiyyah the most important element of Tawḥīd which necessitates takfīr of all contemporary rulers and those who ally with them. This requires announcing their disbelief and one’s disownment from them as an actualising of one’s Tawḥīd and on this basis, the third element of jihād is made to function. That is to say, jihād in removing and destroying these rulers and governments that have been taken as idols and statues. In other words, war, struggle and revolution against all rulers and government institutions in the Muslim lands is the actualisation of Tawḥīd in their view, and anyone who does not make jihād against the rulers and does not accept this doctrine, has not understood Tawḥīd or reviles jihād or allies with the apostates. These ideas and sentiments are straight out of the writings of Sayyid Quṭb and Abū al-Aʿlā al-Mawdūdī and are conceptually identical to the ideas of the very first Khārijites.

From the above, it should be clear that the inner core of this ideology is centred around the subject of ruling by other than Allāh’s law, on the basis of a purely political explanation of lā ilāha illallāh. Muslim rulers are accused of usurping the right of Allāh by not judging by Allāh’s law completely and in its entirety (100%) or by making themselves “lawgivers” alongside Allāh by ruling with laws they brought from themselves or from others. They are then pronounced as “ṭāghūts” (false deities) and judged with apostasy. The lands they rule over are then judged as lands of disbelief (dār kufr). As this applies to all contemporary Muslim rulers, then no land of Islām exists and no Islāmic jamāʿah (a true Muslim society) is in existence. This demands a reframing of jihād as a struggle (of insurgents and revolutionaries) against all existing structures of rule in Muslim lands. And this is claimed to be ‘the Prophetic methodology in calling to Allāh’.

This is the central idea behind the writings of Sayyid Quṭb, Abū Aʿlā Mawdūdī and Taqī al-Dīn al-Nabhānī, the founder of Ḥizb al-Taḥrīr. It is simply a revival of the ideology of the very first Khārijites, coupled with Marxist, Leninist, Communist revolutionary influences that came upon some of these thinkers. They acquired it from the books of Quṭb and Mawdūdī and not from the books of the Salafi scholars, past or present. It is nowhere to be found in the books of Ibn Taymiyyah or Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, rather this concept is extensively refuted in the books and writings of these two scholars.

Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī said:

The exaggeration of the Khārijites of our time in al-Ḥākimiyyah has been inherited by them from their leader, Dhul-Khuwayṣarah and whoever appeared from his school of doctrine. The slogans of today are the very slogans of Dhul-Khuwayṣarah and whoever came after him. Dhul-Khuwayṣarah criticised the Messenger (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wasallam) with respect to wealth. His followers who appeared later criticised ʿAlī on grounds of rulership and wealth. And the Khārijites of today have distorted the religion and have restricted it to al-Ḥākimiyyah... by Allāh, the methodology of Sayyid Quṭb, al-Bannā and al-Mawdūdī does not unite with the methodology of the Salaf, ever. They do not unite, ever. Misguidance does not unite with guidance. Al-Dharīʿah ilā Bayān Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah (1434H) 1/97.

This heretical doctrine is nowhere to be found in the Qurʾān, nowhere to be found in the Prophetic traditions – rather the revealed texts clash with it and it is only read into the Qurʾān by those who have perversion and desire faulty interpretation and tribulation. It is not found with the Companions, rather it was found with those who made takfīr of them and waged war against them – and they were ignoramuses who did not understand the Qurʾān. It is nowhere to be found with the Salaf, rather they refuted it. It is nowhere to be found in the writings of Imām Aḥmad or any well-known scholar from the era of the Salaf. It is not found in the writings of Ibn Taymiyyah, rather it is refuted extensively and in detail in his writings. It is nowhere to be found in the writings of any of his students. It is nowhere to be found in the works of Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and his offspring. Rather, they refuted individuals and groups who emerged with these ideas in their times, those who try to promote views exactly the same as Quṭb, Mawdūdī, al-Zawāhirī, Bin Lādin, Abū Muḥammad al-Maqdisī, Abū Qatādah and other Khārijites. It is nowhere to be found in the writings of contemporary Salafī scholars. It is an alien doctrine who true roots lie in a merger between modern European materialist philosophy combined with early Khārijite doctrine. Its proponents such as Abū Muḥammad al-Maqdisī tried to read this heretical Quṭbo-Mawdūdian Khārijite doctrine into the writings of Salafī scholars, and they are free and innocent of it.