Guest Post: Charles Cameron on Khorasan – A Muslim Once and Future Kingdom
Charles Cameron, my regular guest blogger, is the former Senior Analyst with The Arlington Instituteand Principal Researcher with the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University. He specializes in forensic theology, with a deep interest in millennial, eschatological and apocalyptic religious sects of all stripes.
Khorasan: A Muslim Once and Future Kingdom
by Charles Cameron
The title of an interview in a Taliban sponsored magazine with Hammam Khalil al-Balawi — the Jordanian jihadist physician and double-agent / informant who signed himself Abu Dujana al-Khorasani on jihadist forums, and carried out the recent CIA bombing in Khost — is intriguing in a self-referential, “Doug Hofstadter might like this” sort of way:
Interview with Brother Abu Dujanah al-Khorasani, a Well-Known Blogger in Jihadi Forums, and a Newcomer to the Land of Khorasan.
In his appearances on the web, al-Balawi / Abu Dujana had given himself the geographic cognomen “al-Khorasani” meaning “from Khorasan” — yet he was a Jordanian by birth, and the interview title calls him a “newcomer” to Khorasan, while the interviewer himself remarks, “Abu Dujanah al-Khurasani (sic) is actually now inside Khorasan, and the decision to travel to the lands of jihad is a divine blessing and a magnificent grace.”
The Khorasan that Abu Dujana “is actually now inside” is presumably Afghanistan on the literal, geographical level — but what of the Khorasan of the mind and heart to which, as his choice of handle indicates, Abu Dujana must have long aspired?
What is the significance of “Khorasan”?
It’s a bit like “Jerusalem” — only yesterday I was reading that Grand Rapids, Michigan is referred to as “Jerusalem” by some folk of Dutch extraction in the Pacific Northwest. I think we’ll get the sense of the idea if we call it of “Khorasan of sacred memory and present hope”. As the UCLA scholar Jean Rosenfeld puts it (personal communication):
In any event, Khorasan refers to much more than a former region of the Islamic empires. It has a mythical meaning that is being taken seriously as a “once and future kingdom” in the millennial mindset of al-Qaida.
The territory once called Khorasan — and the borders covered by that name shifted a great deal over the centuries — covered parts of what we now know as Iran (which still has a province named Khorasan), Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and NW Pakistan. I’m finding references that suggest the name originally meant “the place where the sun rises” — the East, the Orient.
Rosenfeld suggests that Khorasan “is code in al-Qaida for the warrior sect itself” — “the army of the (future) caliphate in the mind of the International jihad” and thus, Al-Qaida in Fawaz Gerges’ broad sense. My own reading ties it in with the ahadith about the “black banners of Khorasan” and the army which will sweep down from Khorasan to Jerusalem…
As I’ve noted before there are many variant ahadith describing the army of the Mahdi. Here is one commonly cited version:
If you see the black flags coming from Khurasan, join that army, even if you have to crawl over ice, for this is the army of the Caliph, the Mahdi and no one can stop that army until it reaches Jerusalem.”
Quite how we should align that with actual jihadist entities such as AQ core and or its subsidiaries or the various bodies called Taliban, however, I’m not sure. The clearest implication I can see is to the place of origin of the Mahdi’s army.
It is at least as much an eschatological as a geographic claim.
Since the imagery of Khorasan is closely tied to that of black flags, I would like to take a slight detour here. We have seen that the black flags signify the army of the Mahdi, but what are its origins, and how widely is it used?
The Islamic Imagery Project at West Point Combating Terrorism Center lists “Black Flag” under the heading “Warfare Motifs“, saying:
The Black Flag (al-raya) traces its roots to the very beginning of Islam. It was the battle (jihad) flag of the Prophet Muhammad, carried into battle by many of his companions, including his nephew ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib. The flag regained prominence in the 8th century with its use by the leader of the Abbasid revolution, Abu Muslim, who led a revolt against the Umayyad clan and its Caliphate. The Umayyads, the ruling establishment of the Islamic world at the time, were seen as greedy, gluttonous, and religiously wayward leaders. The Abbasid revolution, then, was aimed at installing a new, more properly Islamic ruling house that would keep orthodox Islam at the center of its regime. Since then, the image of the black flag has been used as a symbol of religious revolt and battle (i.e. jihad). In Shiite belief, the black flag also evokes expectations about the afterlife. In the contemporary Islamist movement, the black flag is used to symbolize both offensive jihad and the proponents of reestablishing the Islamic Caliphate.
The flag is frequently identified with specific jihadist groups — thus Bill Roggio, writing in Long War Journal, refers to “the al rayah, the black flag of al Qaeda” in his 2007 article, “Musa Qala and the NATO offensive”.
Likewise, the Somalian president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed in 2006 is reported to have spoken in 2006 of “the ‘black flag’ of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban” — and as recently as this month, Al-Shabaab “vowed to replace the Somali flag with its (al-Shabaab’s) black flag”.
So the Black Flags or banners represent the Prophet as warrior at one end of Islamic history and the Mahdi’s army from Khorasan at the other — and have been adopted as symbols of jihad by different groups from the Abbasids to al-Shabaab. They are indeed indicative of jihad, but it is their association with Khorasan that gives them a specifically Mahdist reference.
The defeat of the Umayyads and establishment of the Abbasid caliphate, and hence also the golden age of Islamic culture, was strongly supported by forces raised in Khorasan, and David Cook in his Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature suggests that “the Abbasids sought to present their movement as the fulfillment of messianic expectations, and so they produced a great quantity of materials given in the form of hadith traditions to indicate that the Mahdi would come from this region.”
The tale lives on. As I’ve mentioned before, Cook notes that bin Laden’s mentor, Abdullah Azzam, made fresh use of this line of messianic tradition and “popularized the position of Afghanistan as the messianic precursor to the future liberation of Palestine” in his book, From Kabul to Jerusalem, while bin Laden refers to finding “a safe base in Khurasan, high in the peaks of the Hindu Kush” in his 1996 Declaration of Jihad.
The spiritual geography, then, is clear: Khorasan is that place in the east, somewhere in the general region including eastern Iran and northern Afghanistan, from which the Mahdi’s army will come — and it is very plausibly also a place the jihadist might need to “crawl over ice” to reach.
I think Rosenfeld is right in suggesting that al-Balawi’s geographic cognomen is a significant one, as is “Abu Dujana” — the name of a particularly valiant companion of the Prophet, as I discussed in a previous post.
But which of the various jihadist forces currently deployed in Afghanistan and nearby might be the nucleus of the Mahdi’s forces? The army with black flags from Khorasan has been identified with the Abbasids, with the Iranian revolutionaries, and with the Taliban. Bin Laden would presumably wish for it to be with al-Qaida, and Cook also says, this time in Understanding Jihad:
Since Afghanistan, as Khurasan, has powerful resonance with many Muslims because of the messianic expectations focused on that region, this gave the globalist radical Muslims associated with al-Qa’ida under the leadership of Bin Ladin additional moral authority to proclaim jihad and call for the purification of the present Muslim governments and elites.
In Jordan via the jihadist web forums, al-Balawi signaled his identification with the victorious army of the coming Mahdi and with jihadists in Afghanistan by his choice of the cognomen “al-Khorasani” — but the name alone does not tell us which particular jihadist group he might have been thinking of, and that may not even have been an question he felt the need to resolve at that time.
Once in Khorasan itself, al-Khorasani left us two “media” items, a magazine interview and a video, and we might hope that they would add to our understanding of the more literal, geographical meaning his name carried, for they clearly indicate his associations.
According to Flashpoint-Intel, who provided the version of the interview I’ve seen, al-Khorasani’s interview was given to “Vanguards of Khorasan” which they describe as “a well-known Taliban propaganda magazine” and released by the Al-Fajr Media Center, which they term “the official online logistical arm of Al-Qaida”. SITE refers to “Vanguards” as “the … magazine of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan”. Others more familiar with the logistics may want to clarify the point.
The video, then, seems to give the clearest indication. Al-Khorasani was taped sitting next to Hakimullah Mehsud, the head of the Terik- i-Taliban Pakistan or TPP (whose death in a drone strike is reported but unconfirmed at the time of writing), and indicated his allegiance with the words, “We will never forget the blood of our emir Baitullah Mehsud” — referring to Hakimullah’s predecessor.
In general, “Khorasan” doesn’t appear to function as code for a particular jihadist organization, but as a more general symbol for victorious jihad — coming from the East, faithful to the truth, unstoppable, ushering in the Caliphate, serving the cause of the Mahdi, and thus heralding the End of Days.
I’m intrigued to note that the Australian analyst / scholar Leah Farrall at All Things Counter Terrorism blogged on Abu Dujana today (after I’d “completed” this post) and closed her post with an aside. I’ll quote the whole paragraph for context, but it’s the last point that ties in here:
Another point of interest is Khorasani’s internet history circa 2001- 2003. Despite what Khorasani said in his interview in the Taliban magazine ( I think it was the Taliban mag if memory serves), one does not get to be a forum administrator overnight. I watched another person rise through the ranks this way and he had direct contact with a mid-level AQ commander. It still took him 18 months or so. This brings me back to my question about Khorsani’s early internet history and possible real world history. As an aside, back then, in the early days you didn’t write Khorasani, Kandahari etc unless you had been there. It was used as an identifier. This has changed in recent years but I do wonder about this with him too.
Leah’s curiosity on this point reminds me that along with the general symbolism of Khorasan, which I have tried to explore here, there are intriguing aspects to the particular use Abu Dujana made of the name.
I look forward to any further thoughts she may have.
Grateful thanks to Jean Rosenfeld for our very helpful conversations around this and related topics, and for the comment that gave me its title.
January 19th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Very, very interesting post!But my reading of the term Khorasan would be just Al-Qaeda’s designation for central Asia (in the likeness of "islamic Maghreb", "Arabian peninsula", "Mesopotamia" etc). The term not having been used thus far out of political correctness and respect, since the Taliban regime has more nationalist traits and claims to fight for Afghanistan.
January 19th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Excellent, as always, Charles
January 19th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
One possibly interesting point on the issue of the black banners, given your discussion, I wonder if it’s at all significant that in at least one major video featuring Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan’s Hakimullah and Wali al-Rahman Mehsud, the banner prominently featured behind them was not black but white with black lettering….I don’t know, it just struck me as I re-read your post.
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eOThecFRKFQ/S1VQPFydaZI/AAAAAAAAFZo/6Buh1tRU7gE/s1600-h/Hakimullah+Mehsud+%26+Wali+al-Rahman.png">Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan’s "white banner"</a>
In a related note, one of the first things that the Isma’ili Shi’i Fatimids did, according to the medieval historian al-Maqrizi, upon conquering Egypt, Syria-Palestine, & the Hijaz was to replace the black banners of the ‘Abbasids with their white banners.
January 19th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Ibn al-Siqilli: greetings and thanks! I’m intrigued to note that your post on Views from the Occident today, (which includes the image of the "white banner" you mention, bearing the as-Sahab logo) features a second video about Hakimullah Mehsud which you embedded — this one identified by its logo (bottom right) as from the "Khorasan Islamic Emirate" with an image of the "black banner" embedded (top right). And there we go again…
January 20th, 2010 at 1:30 am
Charles and Leah are particularly sensitive to something often overlooked in our analysis of the "ideology" of the International Jihad of al-Qaida, and I especially applaud their comments in this informative post: that the taking of a name means more than we think from the perspective of our literal and rational culture. Should we have been more concerned about trying to "turn" a Jordanian jihadist who took the name al-Khorasani? I think so.
Charles explains that Khorasan is more than a region with a history in the story of the "pure" Abbasid caliphate; it is an identity with that army and its establishment of a once and future "pure" or millennial, kingdom. By taking the name, the Jordanian operative became a "new man" in terms we might better understand as readers of St. Paul and early Christianity. He was then very unlikely to put off his holy warrior identity and turn away from his ultimate salvation. As a mujahid he guaranteed that salvation, since al-Qaida sees itself as the one sect in Islam that will attain paradise because of its militant defense of the religion. Leah wonders about his "early" identity, and I, too, believe that being able to decode the signs–in this case the taking of a name denoting commitment to the millennial goal of al-Qaida–might enable our analysts to avoid such tragedies in the future.
January 20th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
"So the Black Flags or banners represent the Prophet as warrior at one end of Islamic history and the Mahdi’s army from Khorasan at the other…"
January 20th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
The Saudi flag is green, and has a sword below the script. The World Flag Database used to have a note that said:
The note seems to have disappeared, but I thought the protocol was of interest.
January 20th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Great catch, Charles!
Unrelated note: Historically, black banners were used by proto-Shi’is, which may explain why Abu Muslim decided to use them when he launched his revolution on behalf of the ‘Abbasids.
January 20th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Zen,
Yes, magical thinking is a feature of nativist movements and the jihadist movement qualifies as a nativist movement, as well as being revolutionary and millennial.
January 20th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Zen:
I do a lot of some kind of magical thinking myself, as a poet. I think in fact that magical thinking is something we all do, and of which we are mostly unconscious. And as you say, it is "highly emotive/motivating". That’s why one of the tasks I hope to get to fairly soon is a poetics of jihad — which would essentially be a symbolic geography of the jihadist mind. I read a hadith today that said:
A quote like that has no military significance, I think — until you read Clausewitz, who says the war of weaponry cannot be sepoarated from the war of passions, and that:
Furthermore, he relates understanding of the psychological and moral side of war directly to an imaginative and empathic style of cognition:
But I’m getting ahead of another long post, currently in the works.
January 22nd, 2010 at 5:44 am
Just a quick note to say that there’s a black flag that looks otherwise identical to the Saudi flag I mentioned above (ie it has what looks to be the same exact sword graphic) in the first martyrdom nasheed-video that Ibn Siqilli posted today. You can find it at around the 7.42-47 mark, followed by this text (in all caps):
The video opens with the words "Muhaajiroon Media Presents" and is titled "Our Al-Shabaab Al-Mujahideen From The West": it closes with the words "Al-Shabab — Somalia".
January 23rd, 2010 at 4:55 am
Hi Charles,
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Imaginative thinking and creativity is good. Most of us can use more of it. But the kind of "magical thinking" embraced by jihadis ( or early 20th century volkisch mystics in the Nazi movement, or radical Pan-Slavists, Neo-Eurasianists, the Boxer Rebellion, Japanese state shinto fanatics – whatever) is to jump the shark and go through the looking glass on a semi-permanent basis. There’s a doublethink of believing that esoteric or reactionary myths are real – even when the believer took active part in constructing them from scratch- and calculating decisions on that basis.
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It is also my speculation that if we looked at the brains of these ppl under an MRI and EEG, we’d see patterns reminiscient of ppl with addictions and/or neurotic behavior where the norepinephrine feedback loop keeps reinforcing and rewarding deviant behavior. The biological "fight-or-flight" response would account for a sensation of exaltation and manic craving for conflict or risk.
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Thank you also to Jean and Ibn for their informed commentary here – you always add and extend to my understanding of Charles’ posts.
June 10th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Allah Ho Akbar!
October 16th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Assalaamu ‘Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barkatuhu
Since Afghanistan, as Khurasan, has powerful resonance with many Muslims because of the messianic expectations focused on that region it is a way Allah has created in order protect the identity of Hz. Mehdi (as) and the bless ones, Al Hashimi, Al Khorasani, and Shuayb Ibn Saleh from being singled out by Dajjal. Although Afghanistan is known as a part of Khorasan it is not the Khorasan spoken of in the other hadiths. The one where the people of Taliqan is mentioned has played out its role and their second role will come after the Mehdi (as) reaches Syria and Shuayb Ibn Saleh (Pres. Ahmadinejad/Flag Bearer) pledges his allegiance to Mehdi (as).
Mar-Salaam
May 18th, 2011 at 2:21 am
Dear Friend,You have an interesting post here and I think it is very informative but from a totally different perspective. First of all Khorasaan has nothing to do with Al Qaeda. Khorasaan existed way before Jesus Christ was even born.Khorasaan is referred to the liberation of the "Holy Land" and if we go back in history we know that the Holy Land was rescued twice by two different empires. First it was rescued by the Babylonian Empire. Secondly it was rescued by the Roman Empire and finally and for the last time it will be rescued by Khorasaan Empire. In the entire region of Khorasaan there is a particular country which has never been occupied nor left to be invaded fully. We all know what that country is and who is trying to occupy it.Khorasaan is in response to the Jews (not every Jew) but those who rejected Abraham and those who rejected Moses and those who rejected Jesus Christ and those who rejected Islam. ALLAH (swt) says in the Quran that "Ya Bani Israelo" GOD is referring to the Israelite People here and ordering them, "Lo, you cause your mischief and oppression and every time you do, we will cause a punishment in liberating the "Holy Land"The goal of the Khazar Movement is to: First, liberate the holy land, secondly create a state in the holy land and thirdly rule the world from holy land. We know that first and second had already happened. The liberation of Holy Land started in 1914 with the assassination of the prince in Europe. The entire purpose of this assassination was to remove the Ottoman Empire from power because Ottoman Empire was the only force still in control of the Holy Land. World War I was created to dismantle the Ottoman Empire and destroy the Caliphate of Islam and "Britain" was successful in doing so. Mustafa Kamal Atta Turk was a British spy and he was placed in power in Turkey and declared Turkey a secular state thus completely removing the Caliphate from the Islamic State.World War II was implemented in order to take control of the Holy Land. We all know that in 1948 just right after World War II ended Israel became a country. Israel is not then recognized as a State. So liberating Israel had happened in 1914 and the return of the Israelite People started to go back to Israel. The state was created right after world war ii and so the only thing left is to rule the world from the Holy Land. If you go back in history to the Kingdom of David or Solomon Kingdom they all had one thing in common. They were the only ruler of the world. The Khazar Movement is after that. To rule the world from the Holy Land.The Jews, (again not all Jews) are working hard night and day to perform the struggle of transferring the world power from the United States into Israel. In 1889 when the Zionist Movement was created Britain used to be the World Power right up until 1930 and United States took over from Britain. Similarly the United States will be replaced by Israel between 2012 – 2015 and in order for Israel to take over and be considered the World Power, it will have to take control of the Arab Oil. So who controls the OIL in the Middle East now? It is the Zionist Movement of America and Pro Jewish NATO Coalition Forces who are in control of the Oil in the Middle East.The recent earthquake in Japan was a test by a system HAARP in order to control and deal with an earthquake which is about to happen in Pakistan to deal with the same nuclear reactors which produced its nuclear weapons. So Israel being the world power and Pakistan holding nuclear weapons is not going to look pretty. Israel will have to destroy the nuclear facilities in Pakistan in order to rest assured. There is no war between Israel and Iran. Why I say that, Iran is not a true Islamic State. It believes totally the opposite of the Quran and prophet Muhammad. So would Israel want to destroy such a perfect ally? I even think that Israel will even have an agreement between Israel and Iran for a total Shiat Control Middle East if Iran stops dealing with Russia. Turkey will be attacked on the other hand.When Israel takes over the world as one world power, you will witness the oppression not only in the middle east but all over the world and you will witness that the oppression is going out of control and that something needs to be done about it. That is when the Black Banners of Khorasaan will merge and no force will be able to stop it when it starts merging.I am currently working a book and in that I specified specifically when will the black banners rise from Khorasaan (Afghanistan). It will be a time when technology will no longer be able to function. It will be a time when the satellite systems will all be gone and destroyed and it will be within the next 40 years. http://www.khorasaan.net the book will be available for free so feel free to check it out.I have also talked about a certain period of time in the near future when the sun will rise from the west meaning that the possibility of the orbit or motion of the earth will change. This could have by two means and I have mentioned it in that book.The funny thing is I have contacted various publishers to publish this book. They all refused to publish it because it does not qualify as their requirement. So I played a bit with them and I pretended that I have written another book but this time, I said totally the opposite. I said I am a Muslim and I declare Publically that I am GAY and I have written a book about Islam and Homosexuality and that it is permitted to do so. All of a sudden I had tons and tons of emails requesting me to meet with them and they will pay for everything in order to publish the book. The funny thing is, yet they call the United States full of "Democracy" and "Freedom of Speech". When freedom of speech is unbalanced only for the benefit the state.Even writing this here could give me the label "Terrorist" with the funny thing is I am not even a Muslim.There is a saying in Islam that a Muslim leader will be killed and when that happens, it is the final stage and the next big thing happening will be the emergence of the black banners from the direction of Khorasaan. Oh and by the way the actual Hadith says this:"When you see black banners coming from the direction of Khorasaan, you go join them, even if you have to crawl over ice". And it continues to state that "For it is that army which will liberate the holy land and nothing will stop that army until it is inserted in Aelia". Aelia is the ancient name of Jerusalem.I am only a human and I do believe that there is GOD, whether it be Yahweh or ALLAH but if you ask me if the life we follow is humanly permitted, then I will say no. Because I do not see any sign of humanity whatsoever in this time. Who is right and who is wrong is only left to individuals to judge and I have read many religious scriptures and to be honest with you, I honestly do not find any fault in the Quran. It does not speak about wars or killings. But it does say to defend yourself when you are oppressed and I think we all will do that if we were ever oppressed by force. Right now the only place that is full of wars is in the Muslim countries and we as Christians and Jews really have to accept if we are right to do so.By making September 11 appear as if it was carried out by a terrorist organization does not give us the authority to invade every Muslim country there is. The more we invade the more we will be waking the sleeping giant (Khorasaan) and the more US Forces conduct operations the more sleepless that sleeping giants becomes. I am not worried about China, they are business people. Although, I am worried about Israel and Russia.
July 13th, 2014 at 12:01 am
i just want to make one correction that Hazrat Ali RA was the cousin not a nephew of Hazrat MUHAMMAD (PBUH)
July 13th, 2014 at 5:55 am
Pat:
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Thanks — yes, cousin & son-in-law.
July 13th, 2014 at 11:55 pm
Cousins are the real link here. It has to do with how power is distributed. The velocity is greater at the cousin level than let’s say at the son level. The cousin is further removed from the power base, it is just not in his DNA, but, if he proves himself, there are more connection than there can possibly be at the son level, or as you say, the son-in-law level. Therefore, if, generationally, a movement is handed over to a cousin instead of a son, the movement is able to distribute itself into the environment faster, but without the potential someone else closer to the power base might experience.
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So the Sunni passed, when asked to get on board with the Shia, and, from what I have gathered and I might be wrong, the Sunni rely on the force of the son, instead of the speed of the cousin.
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Which kinda brings it down to a Quant or Qual issue.
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Where have I heard that before?