THE UNABATING, in fact escalating, violence and fighting which rage in Iraq, have presented Muslims with several lessons which are both salutary and sombre. Those who have failed to understand the Divine Messages which the conflagration in Iraq is transmitting to us, come clearly within the scope of the Qur’aanic castigation:

“Most certainly, the worst of creatures by Allah, are the deaf and the dumb—those who have no intelligence.” (Aayat 22, Surah Anfaal)

People of Imaan are supposed to derive lessons from events, especially when the developments are massive upheavals such as the raging ocean of blood in Iraq and the raging waters of Tsunami.

LESSONS

The lessons which all thinking Muslims will have gained from the Iraqi Jihad are:

• The excellent fighting ability of Muslims.
• The impotency of the world’s superpowers.
• Allah Ta’ala withholding His full quota of Nusrat (Aid) from Muslims.

Each topic needs some elaboration to kindle in Muslims a better understanding of these disasters to enable them to reflect. Even though there do not appear to be good prospects for the totally blinded Ummah to take ibrat (lesson) and reform itself, it still remains our obligation to deliver the Message of Naseehat. The hearts of men are in Allah’s power and control.

ADMONITION

When the Ashaab-e-Sabt had transgressed the point of no return in their disobedience, and Allah’s decree to transform them into apes was made final, the Ulama-e-Haqq continued with their admonition. Another group of Ulama-e-Haqq observing the futile calling and admonition of the Callers, said to them

“Why do you admonish such a community (of transgressors) whom Allah will be utterly destroying or severely punishing?” (Surah A’raaf, aayat 164)

The Ulama who were admonishing, responded: “To present (our defence of) justification by your Rabb, and (also) perhaps they (the transgressors) may fear (and return to obedience).” (Surah A’raaf, aayat 164) Ashaab-e-Sabt or the People of the Sabbath, were a group among Bani Israaeel, who persisted to fish on Saturdays in flagrant violation of the Sabbath day prohibition in the Shariah of that time. Allah Ta’ala transformed the entire group into apes as a punishment for their flagrant disobedience.

In this vein and in emulation of the Sunnah of the Ulama-e-Haqq of every era, we too discharge the duty of Amr Bil Ma’roof Nahy Anil Munkar (Commanding righteousness and forbidding evil) to absolve ourselves on the Day of Qiyaamah of the charge of having shirked and abandoned the duty of Naseehat which the Qur’aan Majeed imposes on those who occupy the lofty Office of Waraathat-e- Ambiyaa (i.e. being the representatives of the Ambiyaa). Imposing this duty on the Ulama, the Qur’aan-e-Hakeem states: “Why do their Ulama and Mashaaikh not forbid them from their sinful speech and their consumption of haraam? Indeed vile is that which they perpetrate.” (Surah Al-Maaidah, aayat 144)

Lesson No. 1 THE FIGHTING ABILITY OF MUSLIMS

The valiant resistance to the American- British occupation offered by the Iraqi Mujahideen despite the heaviest odds loaded against them, bears clear and vociferous testimony to the unique fighting ability of Muslims. This will be better understood when the relevant factors of the Iraqi scenario are borne in mind.

Today Muslims are at their weakest ebb, morally, spiritually, physically, materially and politically. In every aspect, we have to concede that the Ummah today is regarded as the flotsam of mankind. They are bereft of honour, dignity and power. All their lands are under alien occupation, directly or indirectly, with local puppets holding political office on behalf of the foreign masters.

Predicting the present state of abject humiliation of the Ummah, Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said that a time will dawn when the kuffaar nations will devour all the lands of Islam. Muslims at that juncture, inspite of their vast numbers will be ghuthaa-us sail (the muck which is brought down by flood-waters). Thus the first factor to remember is the abject and total weakness of Muslim in all avenues. The resistance and Jihad in Iraq should be viewed in the backdrop of this utterly lamentable condition of the Ummah

SUPERPOWERS

The second factor is the overt worldly power and might of the world’s superpowers with their massive armies and armour—their naval armadas and fearsome airforces—their thousands of tanks, armoured vehicles, long range guns, missiles, chemical weapons and an array of weapons of the most lethal and destructive kind.

Pitted against the coalition of all these forces of destruction is the feeble ‘rag-tag’ group of grossly ill-equipped Mujahideen who by comparison with the might of the superpowers are ‘unarmed’. These are the adversaries in the Iraqi scenario.

The U.S.A. and Britain have occupied Iraq with 200,000 troops, with military equipment which no other army on earth or in history possesses. All avenues and roads-land, sea and air– are open for these superpowers to bring in reinforcements and military hardware and supplies at will. They cowardly bomb, pulverize and murder unarmed civilians, women, children, the aged and the infirm, all included, from the air at will. They arrest civilians in droves and subject them to horrendous torture and brutality in special prisons of sadism.

The Americans and British fight with warplanes, tanks, long-distance canons, humvees, helicopter gunships, cluster bombs, daisy bombs and weapons of murder and mass destruction. Standing valiantly in the face of this massive onslaught are the Iraqi Mujahideen with what? With only AK Assault rifles, rocket launchers and some mortars and hand grenades. Nothing else. Not a single tank or armoured vehicle. Not a single plane and not a single long distance gun. To say that the contest is uneven is grossly erroneous. From the ‘superpower’ logic and the pre-war boasts of Bush and Blair, they simply have no adversary in the field, other than a handful of ‘bandits’ hailing from across the borders of Iraq, from afar afield as Chechnya and Afghanistan. This was what Bush had desperately tried to get the world to swallow.

INABILITY

But this small band of ‘insurgents and bandits’ has knocked hell out of the American and British occupying forces, and these courageous Mujahideen are continuing to knock out hell from these aggressors on a daily basis. So precarious and dangerous is the Iraqi scenario that the 200,000 troops of the world’s superpowers with all the fearsome array of weaponry concede their inability to keep safe even the main road leading from the airport to Baghdad City. This is indeed a terrible commentary of the impotency of the world’s superpowers, who are today searching for face-saving formulae to disengage from battle while at the same time hanging on to the oil wealth of Iraq which was the only motive for the invasion of these kuffaar into this land of the Muslims.

Inspite of its massive military power, the American army is under siege in its barracks– the Green Zone. In fact, it is no longer safe inside even its own created prison and concentration camp. It cannot ensure the safety of even a single main road — the most important main highway from the airport to the city. How can such a miserable ‘superpower’ fight a valiant and a courageous band of true fighters whose mission in life is either victory or martyrdom? It is no longer a secret that U.S. forces are perishing in increasing numbers on a daily basis. The severe blackout on information allows only a gross distortion of the actual number of enemy casualties to be proclaimed. But information filtering through from other sources as well as the admissions and confessions of U.S. and British military personnel, paint a terribly bleak picture for the superpowers.

FALLUJAH

In its Fallujah operation the U.S.A. had gone the whole hog in a desperate attempt to extinguish the resistance. The entire city was emptied of its more than 300,000 inhabitants to give the murderous troops a free hand to overrun the empty deserted city, to raise the enemy flag and to proclaim a hollow victory. Anyone who had remained must necessarily be an ‘insurgent’ to be exterminated on sight. And, this was precisely what the American with the aid of their British thugs did in Fallujah. While they were able to massacre the remnants of the population, it was an entirely different story when they came into contact with the small band of rearguard Mujahideen who were left behind to harass the enemy.

DESTRUCTION

The notorious and standard procedure of all cowardly forces —the Americans, British and Russians—is Destroy and Search, followed by the final destruction. A village/town is first flattened and destroyed by murderous aerial bombardments against which the inhabitants have no defence. Then follows the onslaught of long distance cannons to further reduce the place to ruins. After feeling assured that all potential resistance has been eliminated, the land forces step in, still fearful of any surprises which the Mujahideen may spring.. This system of destruction was the outstanding feature of the American assault on Fallujah. It was the notorious system of destruction employed by the Russians during their occupation of Afghanistan. But in the end, all their brutality was of no avail. They had to retreat under Mujahideen fire.

RESISTANCE

Inspite of the total American onslaught and murderous assault, the kuffaar troops encountered totally unexpected resistance. This resistance has inflicted a heavy toll on the American aggressors who had unleashed a total murderous onslaught to ‘once and for all pacify’ Fallujah and eliminate the ‘insurgents’. But, months after the U.S. attack, fighting and resistance continue, and Fallujah remains out of American control.

EVIDENCE

The most reliable evidence is always the testimony of the enemy—a testimony which reality extracts. Time Magazine states: “A Pentagon official says that at most 10% of the enemy in Iraq has been killed or captured in Fallujah. As the U.S. fights there, violence is rippling (in fact, flaring and raging—Al-Haq) across the center and north of Iraq, engulfing the increasingly restive city of Mosul, the third largest in the country. The violence has raised the prospect that the siege of Fallujah could be a prelude to a series of nasty urban street fights— precisely the sort of war the U.S. military had desperately hoped to avoid when the invasion started in the spring of 2003.U.S. commanders acknowledge that Fallujah is only the beginning. The U.S. does not have enough soldiers in Iraq to crush a growing insurgency in multiple locations at the same time..”

EFFEMINACY

The U.S. military had desperately hoped to “avoid this type of fighting”, i.e. fighting hand-tohand —meeting the Mujahideen face to face— effeminacy of the U.S. troops, a large number of whom are drug addicts.

Men of cowardice lack the valour which the Mujahideen display in the fiercest moments of battle inspite of the heaviest odds arraigned against them A distinctive feature of all cowardly forces is their ingenuity in devising methods of brutal torture, and to inflict their sadistic aspirations and insane lust for torture on unarmed victims enclosed in prison cages, and that too when the cowards command control of the prison cages with their numbers and arms. Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib are merely recent testification for the sadism and cowardice of the U.S. and British armies and security forces. It can be only people whose morality has been transformed into the lowest category of barbarism and depravity by stercoraceous brains. Their entire thinking sends out stercoraceous emissions, hence it is found that in the Guantanamo and other prison ghettos these depraved savages derive maximum sadistic pleasure by plastering their victims with human faeces and painting their faces with the filthy blood of equally sterocoraceous prostitutes. These morally depraved sub-human specimens of creation are the framers of the Geneva Convention human rights principles and precepts—and they send up loud clamours of ‘democracy’ and ‘human rights’ in the international forums which are their outward façade of ‘humanity’.

Continuing the description of the Fallujah battle, Time Magazine says: “At times the soldiers and Marines trawling Fallujah’s alleyways feel as though they are chasing ghosts. Insurgents vanish as the armoured columns rumble into town, only to reappear somewhere else, firing from minarets and hiding in houses booby-trapped to blow up.”

The unexpected fierce resistance in Fallujah came as a shock for the U.S. military. Time Magazine states: “But after a week that witnessed the most brutal up-close combat conducted by the U.S. military since Somalia, victory over the insurgency in Iraq isn’t necessarily any closer.”

TEN PERCENT

On paper and for consumption back home in America, it is considered prudent and imperative by the U.S. military to present a semblance of ‘victory’ for the massive and total assault on Fallujah. It was therefore deemed necessary to claim that at least 10% of the Islamic Fighters have been eliminated.

Everyone understands that truth is the main casualty in these wars. The U.S. has to save face and save itself from total humiliation . It thus cannot admit to the total failure of the Fallujah operation inspite of the intensity of the brutality of the U.S. military. Exaggerating the Mujahideen casualties, the U.S. military claims that 1500 ‘insurgents’ were killed in the Fallujah operation. The enemy, however, has conceded that most of the fighters had “slipped out of the city in the weeks leading up to the assault”. The fact that the U.S. military has failed to ‘pacify’ Fallujah is indicative of the small number of Mujahideen casualties in the Fallujah operation.

MISMATCH

According to the U.S., this figure represents 10% of the ‘insurgents’ in Iraq. It, therefore, follows that there are 15000 fighters acknowledged by the U.S. This by itself is glowing testimony for the fighting ability of the hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned ‘rag-tag’ bands of ‘insurgents and bandits’. 15000 thoroughly illequipped Mujahideen without a single armoured vehicle or plane—without any heavy guns—are pitted against a huge army of 200,000 troops in possession of the most formidable and fearsome array of lethal weapons in the history of mankind.

FIRE-POWER

Describing the “Massive firepower above”, Time Magazine writes: “The AC-130 Spectre gunship is a giant flying artillery platform. Its complex firecontrol systems can pinpoint an individual structure or level entire areas in seconds. The aircraft can be refuelled while flying, allowing it to remain over targets for extended periods to support troops on the ground.”

But inspite of ‘levelling entire areas in seconds”, the valiant Mujahideen continue to resist fiercely and knocking out hell from the U.S. and British aggressors. In this mismatch in which the Mujahideen are vastly outnumbered and comparatively speaking, without guns, the ratio is 13 highly trained U.S. soldiers to one grossly underequipped Mujahid. This is the style of the Muslim army. The Qur’aan Majeed declares: “And, if among you there are twenty Saabiroon (pious fighters), they will vanquish 200, and if there are among you 100 (Saabiroon), they will vanquish 1000 of the kuffaar. That is because they are a nation without intelligence.”

It is significant that the condition for Muslim victory inspite of the disparity, mentioned in this aayat, is piety. A vastly outnumbered and outgunned Muslim force consisting of Mujahideen of a lofty standard of Taqwa will defeat a huge kuffaar army regardless of their firepower. Although the Qur’aan stipulates piety and spiritual elevation for the achievement of this feat, Allah’s rahmat (mercy) is still with the Muslims inspite of their abject state of moral decadence and spiritual bankruptcy. On the battlefields of Iraq Allah Ta’ala has allowed the very poorly equipped small bands of Mujahideen to wrought havoc in the ranks of the U.S. and British militaries. The Qur’aanic 10 to 1 promise is for the Saabiroon Mujahideen. However, inspite of the gross Imaani and Roohaani deficiencies of the Muslims, Allah Ta’ala has allowed sufficient Nusrat (Divine aid) to enable one Mujahid to stand up and fight 13 kuffaar soldiers with all their air, tank and other sophisticated technological support. Time Magazine states: “Six armoured columns of U.S. forces drove into the heart of the Iraqi insurgency last week. Fighting was close and fierce at times, but even as troops took control of most of the city, more violence flared across Iraq.” Inspite of the “full-scale assault”, the U.S. military has failed to take back Fallujah.”.

SMALL NUMBER

Time Magazine says: “The U.S. offensive has left much of Fallujah in ruins, as air strikes, artillery barrages and ground fighting destroyed homes and damaged many of the city’s mosques……...In the long run, however, the rebels haven’t been beaten. From the nature of the fight and interviews with insurgents before the attack, it seems clear the nationalist and jihadist leadership had by and large already left the city along with much of their ranks, leaving behind, in classic guerrilla style, a rearguard detail to harass and interdict US forces. The Americans in Fallujah got a taste of what they may confront across Iraq’s restive Sunni triangle as the military command attempts to root out insurgents from their sanctuaries.”

This was the observation in November 2004 when such attempts were desperately made by the coalition enemy forces. More than two and half months later, the position in Iraq, from the US. point of view, has drastically worsened. An intolerable number of people, including U.S. and British soldiers are being killed daily. Hundreds of Iraqi security and police personnel have perished at the hands of the Mujahideen.

NO-GO

Whole cities and towns are no-go areas for the U.S. military. Large areas in even Baghdad are in the hands of the Mujahideen. The U.S. military dare not enter without first initiating air strikes, then rumble in with tanks. “Another ominous sign is the growing number of towns that U.S. troops simply avoid….. They’re spreading…...The first city lost to the insurgents was Fallujah, in April. Now the list includes the Sunni Triangle cities of Ar-Ramadi, Baqubah and Samarra, where power shifted back and forth between the insurgents and the American-backed leaders….. There is no security force there (in Fallujah), no local government,” says a senior U.S. military official in Baghdad. “We would get attacked constantly. Forget about it.” (TIME)

This is all glowing testimony for the fighting ability of the Mujahideen, inspite of the present state of moral decadence of Muslims.

UNSAFE

Andrew Krepinevich, author of the highly respected study “The Army and Vietnam”, says: “What we also see is that the U.S. military is not trained or organized to fight insurgencies….”. Newsweek, describing the plight of the U.S. military in Iraq, writes: “Americans aren’t safe even on the outskirts of a city like Fallujah.

Confirming this plight of the Americans, Time Magazine says: “The fact that insurgents tied to al-Zarqawi are patrolling one of Baghdad’s major thoroughfares — within mortar range of the U.S. embassy — is an indication of just how much of the country is beyond the control of U. S. forces and the new Iraqi government.”

DISASTER

It is the fighting prowess of the Mujahideen on the battlefield which has constrained the kuffaar to predict disaster for the U.S.: “A growing chorus of lawmakers, soldiers, and U.S. military and intelligence officials warn that the U.S. faces a potential disaster in Iraq.” (Time)

This predicted ‘disaster’ is no longer a potential issue. The U.S. is stagnated and trapped in a quagmire from which extrication is a formidable task. In fact, it is sinking deeper into the mire and the mess it has created for itself.

Reports issued by the CIA to the White House portrayed a particular distressful view of Iraq’s future, i.e. the future of the U.S. occupation in Iraq. However, officials of the U.S. military are playing down the gravity of the CIA report.

IMPRESSIVE

Commenting on the fighting ability of the Mujahideen, Time Magazine writes: But the insurgents have shown an impressive ability to regenerate. Jeffrey White, a former senior analyst with the Defence Intelligence Agency, says there could be “as many as 100,000 insurgents”, including those who provide food, clothing and shelter. “This is not a small number of people,” White says. And they’re proving hard to kill. On Friday, Iraqi troops backed by Americans swept into Haifa Street. Al-Zarqawi’s militants responded with two car bombs. Heavy fighting could be heard for four hours. Speaking by phone during the battle, an insurgent relayed to TIME a message from Al-Zarqawi’s foot soldiers: “We have already slipped away. The others have gone to their homes. No one will find them. We are safe.” Indeed, once the Iraqi troops pulled back from the area, the insurgents reappeared.”

ZARQAWI

Even if the U.S. military is aware of the whereabouts of the Zarqawi’s ‘militants’, they are petrified. They dare not pursue them. Their preference is always to take shelter behind huge concrete barriers and let their cowardly air force reduce “entire areas in seconds to rubble”.

But to fight the Mujahideen man to man, is just not the way of the U.S. military. To stage an assault of the magnitude of Fallujah in a desperate attempt to eliminate a small band of a few dozen Mujahideen, the U.S. military requires weeks of planning and the co-operation of its miserable coalition. It simply cannot advance without massive air strikes designed to destroy and ruin populated areas along with their civilian inhabitants.

“CLIMACTIC”

Time Magazine reports: “When it kicked off last week, the battle of Fallujah was billed as a climactic clash between roughly 10,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines and about 2000 newly minted Iraqi fighting men against 1500 to 3000 armed militants who have turned the city into Iraq’s biggest insurgent haven……….for men like the soldiers of Alpha Company’s 3rd Platoon, part of Task Force 2-2, the fight was far more intense, chaotic and harrowing. The Americans battled armed insurgents not just street to street or even house to house, but also up close and personal with their enemy, fighting him room to room at point blank range.

“They are a tenacious enemy who fight as any guerrilla force might…. The insurgents weren’t intimidated by the fury of the tanks.”

The clashes continue and are intensifying by the day with the Mujahideen being the ones who are all the time initiating the battles.

THEIR FEAR “A US Marine requesting anonymity to hide his perilous location from his family, says: “From the moment you arrive until the moment you leave, you’re in danger.” (Time Magazine)

Describing an encounter with just one Mujahid, Seargeant Justin Harding of the Ramadibased 2nd Batallion, 5th Marines, said: “Sure enough, an insurgent with a rocketpropelled- grenade (RPG) launcher suddenly appeared, whirled around and pointed the RPG. And all hell broke loose.” The grenade pierced the window of the armoured humvee on the driver’s side, engulfing the occupants in smoke, blood and shrapnel. Harding yelled at the driver, Lance Corporal Andrew to control the spinning vehicle. Then Harding looked over him. “I saw his body. It wasn’t normal. I instantly knew he was dead.” The gunner, protected by a turret, was hit below the waist but was still alive. The Marine in the seat behind Halverson was dazed, his legs on fire. But managed to smother the flames and grab the steering wheel, bringing the battered vehicle rest. “He was shaking and crying just in shock,” Harding says. “Bullets were flying everywhere.” Harding quickly thrust the dead Marine into a body bag. “I didn’t want the other Marines to see him because it would really freak everyone out,” he says.