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| Central Asia |
| Bayat primer |
| 2004-06-06 |
| Bayat -- from the Arabic word for an oath of allegiance, an important concept in early Islamic history -- burst onto the scene on April 12, when Tajik prosecutors announced the arrest of 20 people in the northern Isfara district. The suspects are charged with crimes ranging from arson to murder, and specifically the January 12 killing of Baptist pastor Sergei Bassarab. A April 27 report by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) summed up the little that is known about Bayat. IWPR cited unnamed security sources who describe a radical Islamist organization with possible ties to the Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a group that has been linked to Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. But Tajik officials have provided scant additional information, and the report closes with a statement by prosecutors that Bayat was merely "a group of hooligans who have no political motives." Those looking to trumpet the arrival of a dangerous new extremist group do not have to manufacture evidence. According to a April 24 article in Tajikistan’s "Leninabadskaya pravda," Bayat has been the object of a five-month-long investigation by the Prosecutor-General’s Office and Interior Ministry that has resulted in 25 criminal cases against seven individuals who have admitted ties to the IMU. The article describes Bayat as a group that arose in 1992 and fought in Tajikistan’s 1992-1997 civil war on the side of the United Tajik Opposition. Its leader today is 48-year-old Hodi Fattoyev, also known as Qori Hodi. Many members of the group apparently received a religious education in Saudi Arabia. Other alleged links to the Arab world go beyond education. Avesta news agency reported on 20 April that Tajik special services do not rule out a link between Bayat and Bay’at al-Imam (which can be roughly translated as "the oath of allegiance to the prayer leader"), an Arab extremist group linked to Abu Mu’sab al-Zarqawi, whom U.S. forces allege to be the commander of Al-Qaeda operations in Iraq. Abdallah Abu Rumman, a Jordanian newspaper editor, told "Al-Sharq al-Awsat" on March 8, "I met Abu Mu’sab al-Zarqawi [in prison] in September 1996. He was the leader of a group of political prisoners who called themselves ’Bay’at al-Imam.’" Abu Rumman also notes that Hizb ut-Tahrir, a nonviolent Islamist group banned in many countries for its radical goal of reestablishing a caliphate throughout the Muslim world, maintained a presence in the Jordanian prison where Al-Zarqawi was an inmate in 1996-1999. Even more sensational details emerge from a lurid series of articles in Kyrgyzstan’s "Vechernii bishkek." A April 13 article described Bayat as a "terrorist organization whose tentacles have encompassed all of Central Asia." The article continues with a breathless excursion into the radical underbrush, replete with an extensive clandestine recruiting network, military training camps in Afghanistan, and a veritable army of "trained combatants...merely awaiting the signal to bomb Tajikistan from within." It is perhaps worth noting that most of the preceding is little more than conjecture. First, Tajik officials have made conflicting statements about Bayat. The 20 April report by Avesta news agency cites one source in the Prosecutor-General’s Office as saying that Bayat "is nothing but a hooligan group that has no political purposes," and another source in "Tajik special services" as saying that there may be links between Bayat and Bay’at al-Imam and the IMU. When Nabijon Rahimov, a prosecutor in the Soghd Region where the Bayat arrests took place, gave a news conference on 18 May, he would say only that "the investigation is not over yet," Avesta reported. Second, the link between Bayat and Bay’at al-Imam is nothing more than a semantic coincidence in the absence supporting evidence. As IWPR reported on 27 April, Bayat appears to be specific to the village of Chorkuh, "where Islam is unusually strong." Nothing else would seem to indicate a larger broader presence. At the 18 May news conference, Rahimov stressed that all 18 Bayat suspects currently in custody come from Chorkuh. In fact, it is entirely possible that Bayat is nothing more than a rural criminal gang with a fancy name. Still, the overall picture is far from reassuring. Hizb ut-Tahrir, which espouses radical goals while eschewing radical methods, appears to be on the rise in Tajikistan. (At the same news conference where he discussed Bayat, prosecutor Rahimov told journalists that 33 criminal cases involving Hizb ut-Tahrir have been opened in Soghd Region in the first quarter of 2004.) Deputy Prime Minister Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda recently called the spread of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Tajikistan a threat to the stability of the country and the region, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reported on 17 May. The question for now is whether Bayat should even be considered in evaluating this larger picture. Views diverge widely on Hizb ut-Tahrir, but no one disputes its existence. Instead, disagreements arise over the extent of the threat it poses and the possibility that Central Asian governments are using this threat as an excuse to jail potential troublemakers. With Bayat, we still lack basic information. The excursion above shows that, with a subject as charged as Islamic extremism, a lack of basic information is not necessarily an obstacle to far-reaching conclusions. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Every member of al-Qaeda is required to make a "blood oath" (bayat) to Osama bin Laden. As for the Hizbis, they practice violent jihad where they can get away with it, and a non-violent version when they can't. Al-Mujahiroun is a breakaway from Hizb. The following (no link) was posted by the Balochistan Post. Letter to the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal from Hizb ut Tahrir: Legislation in a democratic system requires a 51% majority, a condition which contradicts the Islamic ruling system. Making the acceptance by the majority of the people, or their representatives, a necessary condition for implementing the commandments of Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) and His Messenger (sallAllaho alayhi wa sallam) is in reality snatching sovereignty from the hands of Allah and passing it on to man. However, Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) has not given man any right to make law. "It is not fitting for a believer, man or woman, that when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger, to have any option about their decision." [Qur'an Al-Ahzab 33:36] In reality, the biggest obstacle to the implementation of Islam in Pakistan over the past fifty years has been the democratic principle of majority approval as a condition for law. And today this condition will be an obstacle in your way. In the Islamic ruling system, the Khilafah, the responsibility of the Khaleefah is only to implement the laws of Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala). For this, the Khaleefah neither needs the approval of the majority of the Majlis-e-Ummah nor any other type of ratification. Instead of becoming a part of this system by participating in the polling process, you should account the rulers and pressurise them to leave democracy and re-establish the Khilafah. And it is this Khilafah which will call the Islamic Ummah to enter under its authority so that the Muslims can once again run their affairs under a single leader. In a system of vested interests such as democracy, principles are sacrificed through sugar-coated terms like "compromise", "flexibility", "adjustment" and "national interest". You were only selected so as to look after the Ummah's affairs by Islam and liberating the Muslims from the American Raj. So, any kind of compromise, flexibility or deviation from these principles would amount to treachery against the Ummah. We hope that you, as those who aspire to uphold Islamic politics, will avoid any kind of compromise of the principles of Islam. Therefore, whether the issue is US bases and FBI offices on Pakistani soil; or interest (riba) and submission to the IMF and World Bank; or corporate farming and privatisation of oil, gas and minerals; or the change of the educational curriculum and the selling off of health and education sector - your responsibility is to raise your voice against all such issues and to stop the rulers from taking steps that are anti-Ummah and anti-Islam. You should only demand the comprehensive, complete and immediate implementation of Islam. This is because Islam is a complete, whole and integrated system and so Islam can neither properly function in a gradual way and nor can it be implemented in parts. And although gradual or partial implementation of Islam seems better than nothing, Islam has totally rejected this compromise. The Messenger of Allah (sallAllaho alayhi wa sallam) rejected the offers of ruling made by Qur'aysh and other Arab tribes because they made the compromise of Islam a condition. This was even though at that time Muslims were subjugated to kafir oppression and the offer seemed far better than nothing. Also, the Qur'an strictly commands the complete implementation of Islam and warns us of torment and chastisement if we are seduced into leaving any part of Islam by following people's desires. "And rule between them by what Allah has revealed and do not follow their vain desires, but beware of them lest they seduce you from part of what Allah has revealed to you." [Qur'an Al-Maidah 5:48]. And the Qur'an has strictly forbidden the partial implementation of Islam and compromising its integrity. "Do you believe in a part of the Book and reject the rest? What else, then should be the retribution of those among you who do this than that they should live in degradation in the present life, and that on the Day of Resurrection they should be sent to the severest chastisement?" [Qur'an Al-Baqarah 2:85] We pray that you are able to fulfil the responsibility of looking after the Ummah's affairs that you have been burdened with. And that you may be able to proudly declare before Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) in the Hereafter that you never compromised the principles and laws of Islam, neither to seek the pleasure of America and other kafir powers nor for worldly gains and recognition. Furthermore, we call upon you to adopt the method of Prophet Muhammad (sallAllaho alayhi wa sallam) to re-establish the Khilafah. This is the method by which the Messenger of Allah (sallAllaho alayhi wa sallam) successfully established the first Islamic State in Madinah. We pray to Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) that He may use us all to re-establish the Khilafah which will unify the Ummah once again and restore the Ummah to its rightful position as a witness over all of humankind. Ameen! Thursday, November 07, 2002 |
| Posted by: Dog Bites Trolls 2004-06-06 2:06:55 PM |