Early notes on the first issue of the jihadist magazine, Azan
[ by Charles Cameron — more of some familiar ZP themes, now in a new container ]
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There are several matters of special interest to me that I’d like to draw your attention to in the new magazine, Azan, just issued from the Afghanistan / Pakistan region:
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First, Azan has a major article devoted to the Dajjal [pp. 38 ff.], the end times figure in Islam equivalent to the Christian antichrist. Here’s the introduction:
The world today stands nearer to the Day of Judgment than ever. 1434 years after the migration of the last Prophet (May Allah’s Blessings be upon him), the conflict between the satan and the human being is nearing its final stage. It is therefore crucial that the world events that are unfolding themselves in quick succession be viewed by the and analyzed by the Muslims in the light of the Divine Shariah. Of the Islamic scholars who have dedicated themselves to this pristine cause is Maulana ‘Asim Umer (May Allah Protect him) whose books regarding Islamic eschatology have proved invaluable in guiding the Ummah through these troubled times. In addition, the Maulana (HA) is, by his self, part of the global Jihad caravan that is seeking to implement the Khilafah on Allah’s Earth. This article is about the state of the world before the advent of Dajjal, the false Messiah (Antichrist in the Biblical Tradition). It carries an eerie resemblance to the world we live in today.
It looks as though this excerpt comes from “Third World War and Dajjal: Maulana ‘Asim ‘Umar Page 111-114 8th Edition” [p. 41].
Sadly, I lack Urdu — along with Bangla, Arabic and most everything else.
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Second, the “sign of the times” that’s emphasized in the article — the “fitna of the Dajjal” — is one that would appeal to those who already mistrust world leaders and the press…
The truth would be indistinguishable from falsehood and the callers to misguidance would be plentiful. The propaganda during his time would be so ghastly that the truth would be presented as falsehood and the falsehood would be presented as the truth. And this twisted reality would be broadcast to the entire world. The enemies of humanity would be shown as saviors while the real saviors of humanity would be shown as “terrorists.”
That is why the Prophet Muhammad explained the Fitnah of Dajjal in great detail.
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Third, there’s a sidebar to that article from al-Awlaki [p.41], titled Shaykh Anwar Al-Awlaki (RA) on the Final Battle. He suggests we are nearing the end times:
So the upcoming battle will be either lose it all or win it all and that is part of al-Malhama. It will be the final battle between Kufr and Iman; it will be a battle that will give victory to this Muslim Ummah. It’s not the end of it all as you still have Dajjal, Ya’juj and Ma’juj; but that battle will be the battle that will establish the Islamic Khilafah on a global scale.
So this is an indication that we are getting close to those times. Now, if we are getting close to those times, you really don’t want to be sitting on the sidelines and lose out on all of this reward in this Golden Era; because it is a Golden Era. Upon reading these ahadith, people would wish they were there; and here we are living in those times sitting on the sidelines just as Shaykh ‘Abdullah Yusuf ‘Azzam (rahimahullah) said, “The Jihad was a market that opened, people made a lot of money, and then the market closed.” It’s not going to last forever; if you sit behind, if you hesitate, if you are reluctant, then you will miss out because the chance only comes once.
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Fourth, in a round-up of jihadist fronts from around the world, there are a few paragraphs devoted to the Ghazwah e-Hind, termed here “the Jihad of Hind” [pp. 15-16]:
As for the Jihad of Hind (present-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh), it comes in a Hadith:
Abu Huraira (RA) narrates that, “The Prophet Muhammad promised us the Jihad of Hind. If I get a chance to be part of that then I would spend my whole wealth and life in that. Then if I’m martyred, I’ll become the best of martyrs and if I return alive, then I will be a free-from-hell Abu Huraira.” [Sunnan Al-Nisai]
“Thauban (RA) narrates in a Marfoo’ Hadith that the Messenger of Allah said that there are two Jama’ahs (groups) in my Ummah for whom Allah Has Decreed salvation from Hell. One of these Jama’ahs is the one that will wage Jihad in Hind and the second Jama’ah is the one that will wage Jihad with Isa (AS) after he descends during the last days.” [Tibrani Shareef]
With such glad tidings from the Messenger of Allah [saw], the Mujahideen of Pakistan have their firm sights on freeing both India and Pakistan from the rule of the disbelieving rulers and to establish Shariah in all these lands once more. May Allah Grant victory to them! Ameen!
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And finally, there’s mention of the obligatory black banners of Khorasan [pp. 13-15]:
Black flags were unfurled from Khorasaan just as the Prophet Muhammad [saw] had foretold:
“Black flags will emerge from Khorasaan, and nothing will hold them back until they plant (their flags) in Eeliyah (Jerusalem).” [Sunnan At- Tirmidhi]
So, if indeed these Taliban are the flag bearers mentioned in the Hadith, then they shall inshAllah march forth to and conquer Jerusalem. And this is a note to the “powers” of today. In fact, the Shariah of the Taliban gained such acceptance with Allah The Exalted, that He Made the land of Afghanistan the base for the start of the global Jihad movement.
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The black flags of Khorasaan became being unfurled all around and the sacred call to Tawheed (monotheism) was renewed.
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There is plenty more, of course, and I’ve cherry-picked the bits that bear on specific themes I have been exploring here at ZP that have end times relevance.
Aaron Zelin has made a .pdf of the magazine available via Jihadology. Bahukutumbi Raman discusses it from an Indian intelligence perspective on his blog. Reuters looks at what the magazine has to say about drones. And no doubt others will be providing analysis from various other perspectives in the coming days.
May 7th, 2013 at 9:14 pm
Nick Fielding at Circling the Lion’s Den characterizes the Dajjal article thus:
So there…
May 8th, 2013 at 12:31 pm
Witness this cognitive dissonance admitted by a premier neoconservative, Clifford May, in the pages of National Review:
They say politics makes strange bedfellows. But even stranger are the bedfellows that national-security policy makes.
Andrew C. McCarthy, a friend and colleague, provides a stunning example. He points out that by proposing American support for Syrians who are attempting to overthrow Bashar Assad, Mitt Romney and “the McCain wing of the Republican party, and the rest of Washington’s progressive, Islamophilic clerisy” are aligning with “al-Qaeda emir Ayman al-Zawahiri and Muslim Brotherhood icon Yusuf al-Qaradawi.”
Of course, it would be equally correct to point out that wings of the Republican party opposing efforts to facilitate regime change in Syria are aligning with MoveOn.org, Vladimir Putin, and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Within the loose coalition fighting Assad, there are freedom fighters — I’m personally acquainted with some. But, yes, Islamists are in the mix as well. Should Assad fall, who will end up on top?
So it would seem many neocons would rather side with the occasional Islamist/wandering jihadi than the hated Vlad the Bad.
Again, it is the thicket of unanswered and awkward questions for our government — and the stupidity of a press that tries as hard as it can to deny reality in certain cases, including the DHS mass bullets order — that gives folks like Jones and Beck their profitable niche.
May 8th, 2013 at 12:31 pm
http://www.cliffordmay.org/11817/battle-of-syria Here’s the Scripps Howard op-ed article link
May 8th, 2013 at 3:34 pm
As with similar Christian prophecy, I’m always amazed by the utilization of skepticism to reinforce a dogma. Prediction of the power of propaganda, confusion over true words and false words or true prophets and false prophets—these always suggest that the false ones will be so very f-ing effective, people will be mislead in large numbers. And those hearing these warnings treat the warnings with reverence: effective warnings. They have no thought that these warnings might mislead, that these prophets yelling Beware! might be the false prophets, the propagandists.
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At least the Christian version includes a note about the Return’s being an entirely unexpected event, that no one would know for sure when and where it would happen. (A paradox, I know, given that such a claim when paired with the book of Revelations is ironic as hell. Or Heaven.)
May 8th, 2013 at 4:39 pm
Hi Curtis:
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Compare Matthew 24. 36-42:
with
May 8th, 2013 at 4:43 pm
Ah, so Islam also says that prediction of the End is impossible for any human.
May 8th, 2013 at 4:51 pm
And neither scripture prevents people from trying. Sheikh al-Hawali, for instance, poses the question in full knowledge of these texts:
and then responds to himself:
May 8th, 2013 at 5:13 pm
I suppose that the effort to make the End seem imminent results from a desire to utilize those now alive and hearing the warning. “Now, if we are getting close to those times, you really don’t want to be sitting on the sidelines and lose out on all of this reward in this Golden Era…” —after all, if the time and place are entirely unpredictable, sitting around or doing other things with your life might be more appealing, especially if those other things are naturally appealing.
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There is another potential motivation at work: the attempt to hasten the End.
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—which, to me, seems rather presumptuous.
May 8th, 2013 at 6:54 pm
Stephen O’Leary has the rhetorical force of imminence covered in his book, Arguing the Apocalypse: A Theory of Millennial Rhetoric, and Damian Thompson shows how members of a congregation may pay lip service to the idea but carry on pretty much regardless in his Waiting for Antichrist: Charisma and Apocalypse in a Pentecostal Church.
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As for hastening the apocalypse — that’s something I’ve been trying to keep an eye on [1, 2, 3, 4 and probably elsewhere], but really need to work up into a full-scale comparative survey, time permitting, insha’allah and the creek don’t rise.