TEHRIK E TALIBAN PAKISTAN – A KHAWARIJ GROUP OF 21ST CENTURY

Malik Zaeem

Pakistan has spent more than 20 years fighting the menace of terrorism and has lost
more than 70,000 lives. One of the major threats to Pakistan, its people, and the
integrity of Islam is the rise of Khawarij groups, such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which began expanding its operations inside the
nation after the fall of Kabul, is a threat to Pakistan’s stability, social fabric, and security
apparatus. It is an organization of burglars, terrorists, and killers who exploit religious
teachings to sway public opinion and defend their horrible deeds. The conduct of
these people is in no way near any teachings of Quran and Sunnah, rather, it is totally
opposite to Islamic traditions.
The TTP and other Khawarij factions have been predicted to emerge in the
blessed Hadiths of our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). These “dogs of hell” are rebels
and traitors of islam, and it is acceptable—in fact, encouraged—to wage war on them.
According to the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH), those who kill these Khawarij or
wage war against them are given glad tidings of paradise. Over a hundred Ahadees
include powerful advice and warnings from Rasul Allah (SAW) on Khawarij groups.
Prophet PBUH clearly stated that these people would justify their claims based on the
wrong interpretation of Quran, as they would apply all those verses incorrectly on
Muslims which were revealed against the pagans in the time of Prophet (PBUH). In
other sayings, he (PBUH) mentioned that these people will be young amateurs, they
will have thick beards, and they will try to impose Islam only with force and brute power.
In one of the hadith, Anas ibn Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and
blessings be upon him, said, “There will be division and sectarianism in my nation, and
a people will come with beautiful words and evil deeds. They will recite the Quran, but
it will not pass beyond their throats. They will leave the religion as an arrow leaves its
target, and they will not return to it as the arrow does not return to its bow. They are
the worst of the creation. Blessed are those who fight them and are killed by them.
They call to the Book of Allah, but they have nothing to do with it. Whoever fights them
is better to Allah than them.” Moreover, Imam Ibn Taimiya said that Khawarijite will
always be present in Muslim society, but we, Muslims, will only identify them when
they pick up arms in order to kill Muslims ruthlessly. They will live like pious religious
men, within the Muslims, upholding Quran and Sunnah, until they come out of their
camouflage and act in contrary to the teachings of Islam. Ibn Kathir said, “If the
Khawarij ever gained power, they would corrupt the entire land, Iraq and Syria. They
would not leave alone a boy or a girl or a man or a woman, for in their view the people
have become so corrupt that they cannot be reformed but by mass killing.” Practical
manifestation of these traditions reported by Prophet (PBUH) and eminent scholars
can be seen in TPP, which befits it to be a Khwarij faction.
One of the biggest challenges to Pakistan is from these Khawariji groups and their
deviant murderous ideology. Khawariji is not a sect. It is a mentality of anarchy and
chaos. They are ‘Takfiris’ who call Muslims ‘Kafirs’, and apply the verses of Quran
on Muslims which have been revealed only for non-Muslims. They always have a
sense interconnectedness with ‘Mushriks’ and always wage war only against Muslims.
They call Muslim leaders as ‘Kafirs’, Islamic state as ‘Kafiristan’ and the Muslim army
as ‘Murtad’, but they never dare say a word against fascist Zionists and Hindus. They
appear extremely religious, with long beards, night prayers, and punctual fasting, but
they are given the name of “dogs of hell” by Holy Prophet PBUH. The Khawariji of
today, such as TTP, are only threatening Muslims, who are against suicide bombings
and who condemn their acts of terrorism against the state of Pakistan. Scholars of
different schools of thought, Ahl-Sunnat, Ahl-Hadees and Ahl-e-Tashai, who have
spoken against such organizations and their heinous acts have also been killed by
TTP.
Religious clerics in Pakistan have unanimously issued an Islamic decree, or fatwa,
frequently, condemning suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism as un-Islamic
and against the teachings of the religion. Since 2000, Pakistan has witnessed
hundreds of terror attacks by militant groups on civilians and the country’s security
forces. Based on government estimates, Pakistan has lost more than 70,000 people
to terrorism and extremism over the previous three decades. Suicide attacks are a
common method used by terrorist organizations such as Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) and
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) to carry out their so-called holy war against the state and to
impose Sharia, or Islamic law, in Pakistan. Recently, a decree included in a new book
called Paigham-e-Pakistan was approved by over 1,800 eminent religious academics
from various schools of thought. The recently issued a fatwa further stressed that the
state alone has the authority to wage jihad, or holy war. Additionally, the decree also
labeled suicide attackers, terrorists and their facilitators as traitors of Pakistan and
Islam.
The Pakistan Army has been gallantly combatting against TTP and other terrorist
outfits, as the army is not only the guardian of our territorial boundaries, rather, its
responsibility extends to ideological frontiers as well. It is the responsibility of the
people of Pakistan to stand shoulder to shoulder with the army that has laid many lives
in combatting these Khawarij groups.