Mujahideen

Mujahideen (, ', "strugglers") is an Arabic term for those who engage in Islamic holy war–jihad ("struggle"). The word is a plural form of , ', which literally translated from Arabic means "struggler" but is often translated in the West as "holy warrior." The opposite of mujahideen is qaideen–people who remain inactive and do not actively fight.

Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedeen, mujahedin, mujahidin, and mujaheddin.

Word history

Arabic words usually have triliterals, which are triconsonantal (three-consonant) roots. The root of mujahideen is J-H-D (ج-ه-د), meaning "effort." However, the particular verb stem of J-H-D from which both jihad and mujahid are derived means "to exert effort against" or "to struggle." Mujahid is originally, therefore, "someone who struggles." The term has, even in Arabic, taken on meanings that are specifically religious, or specifically military or paramilitary, or both.

Like the concept and title Ghazi, it has been used in formal titles of Muslim leaders who prided themselves on (and legitimated their conquests by) Jihad as-saïf, holy war in the name of establishing Islamic rule, even at very high political level: no lesser ruler than Sultan Murad Khan II Khoja-Ghazi, 6th Sovereign of the House of Osman (1421 - 1451), had as full style 'Abu'l Hayrat, Sultan ul-Mujahidin, Khan of Khans, Grand Sultan of Anatolia and Rumelia, and of the Cities of Adrianople and Philippolis, including the formal title "Sultan of mujahideen'.

In English, the word is recorded since 1958, in a Pakistani context, adopted from Persian and Arabic, as the plural of mujahid "one who fights in a jihad," in modern use, for "Muslim guerilla insurgent."

In the late 20th century and early 21st century, the term "mujahideen" became the name of various armed fighters who subscribe to militant Islamic ideologies, although there is not always an explicit "holy" or "warrior" meaning of the word.

Afghan Mujahideen

The best-known and arguably most feared mujahideen were the various loosely-aligned opposition groups that fought against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan during the 1980s and then fought against each other in the subsequent Afghan Civil War.

The mujahideen were significantly financed, armed, and trained by the United States (during the Carter and Reagan administrations) and by Pakistan (during the Zia-ul-Haq military regime), the People's Republic of China, and Saudi Arabia. The Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the interagent used in the majority of these activities to disguise the sources of support for the resistance.

Ronald Reagan praised them as freedom fighters, and the 1988 Rambo III, portrayed them as heroic. This connection is ironic, in light of the future turn of events in which many of the same men would end up as a major threat to the United States. This sort of blowback, in which a state helped to create a force to fight another state, only to have that force turn against them, was seen earlier in the 20th century, e.g., the German support for the Bolshevik underground in Russia which led to a Soviet Union and the eventual occupation of East Germany by the Red Army.

Following the Soviet retreat, many of the larger mujahideen groups began to fight each other. After several years of this fighting, a village mullah organized religious students into an armed movement, with the backing of Pakistan, who was being funded by the United States, which found the existing government to be too Russian-influenced, even following the collapse of the Soviet Union. This movement became known as the Taliban, meaning "students", and referring to the Saudi-backed religious schools which produced Islamic fundamentalism along the pacific coast of Asia. With each success the Taliban had, their popularity and numbers grew.

By 2001, the Taliban, with backing from the Pakistani ISI, had defeated most of the militias and controlled most of Afghanistan. The remaining militias were in the north-east of the country. The opposition allied themselves together and became known as the National Islamic United Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan — the United Front, or Northern Alliance.

A wealthy Saudi named Osama bin Laden was a prominent mujahideen organizer and financier; his Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK) (Office of Services) funnelled money, arms, and Muslim fighters from around the world into Afghanistan, with the assistance and support of the Saudi government. In 1988, bin Laden broke away from the MAK.

Afghanistan's resistance movement was born in chaos, spread and triumphed chaotically, and did not find a way to govern differently. Virtually all of its war was waged locally by regional warlords. As warfare became more sophisticated, outside support and regional coordination grew. Even so, the basic units of mujahideen organization and action continued to reflect the highly segmented nature of Afghan society.

In the course of the guerrilla war, leadership came to be distinctively associated with the title, "commander". It applied to independent leaders, eschewing identification with elaborate military bureaucracy associated with such ranks as general. As the war produced leaders of reputation, "commander" was conferred on leaders of fighting units of all sizes, signifying pride in independence, self-sufficiency, and distinct ties to local community. The title epitomized Afghan pride in their struggle against an overwhelmingly-powerful foe. Segmentation of power and religious leadership were the two values evoked by nomenclature generated in the war. Neither had been favored in ideology of the former Afghan state.

Olivier Roy estimates that after four years of war, there were at least 4,000 bases from which mujahideen units operated. Most of these were affiliated with the seven expatriate parties headquartered in Pakistan, which served as sources of supply and varying degrees of supervision. Significant commanders typically led 300 or more men, controlled several bases and dominated a district or a sub-division of a province. Hierarchies of organization above the bases were attempted. Their operations varied greatly in scope, the most ambitious being achieved by Ahmed Shah Massoud of the Panjshir valley north of Kabul. He led at least 10,000 trained troops at the end of the Soviet war and had expanded his political control of Tajik dominated areas to Afghanistan's northeastern provinces under the Supervisory Council of the North.

Roy also describes regional, ethnic and sectarian variations in mujahideen organization. In the Pashtun areas of the east, south and southwest, tribal structure, with its many rival sub-divisions, provided the basis for military organization and leadership. Mobilization could be readily linked to traditional fighting allegiances of the tribal lashkar (fighting force). In favorable circumstances such formations could quickly reach more than 10,000, as happened when large Soviet assaults were launched in the eastern provinces, or when the mujahideen besieged towns, such as Khost in Paktia province. But in campaigns of the latter type the traditional explosions of manpowerproved obsolete when confronted by well dug-in defenders with modern weapons. Lashkar durability was notoriously short; few sieges succeeded.

Mujahideen mobilization in non-Pashtun regions faced very different obstacles. Prior to the invasion, few non-Pashtuns possessed firearms. Early in the war they were most readily available from army troops or gendarmerie who defected or were ambushed. The international arms market and foreign military support tended to reach the minority areas last.

In the northern regions, little military tradition had survived upon which to build an armed resistance. Mobilization mostly came from political leadership closely tied to Islam.

Roy convincingly contrasts the social leadership of religious figures in the Persian and Turkish speaking regions of Afghanistan with that of the Pashtuns. Lacking a strong political representation in a state dominated by Pashtuns, minority communities commonly looked to pious learned or charismatically revered pirs (saints) for leadership. Extensive Sufi and maraboutic networks were spread through the minority communities, readily available as foundations for leadership, organization, communication and indoctrination. These networks also provided for political mobilization, which led to some of the most effective of the resistance operations during the war.

Many Muslims from other countries volunteered to assist various mujahideen groups in Afghanistan, and gained significant experience in guerrilla warfare. Some groups of these veterans have been significant factors in more recent conflicts in and around the Muslim world (e.g. Bosnia).

The mujahideen won when the Soviet Union pulled troops out of Afghanistan in 1989, followed by the fall of the Mohammad Najibullah regime in 1992. However, the mujahideen did not establish a united government, and they were in turn ousted from power by the radical splinter group known as the Taliban in 1996. They regrouped as the Afghan Northern Alliance and in 2001 with U.S. and International military aid, they ousted the Taliban from power and formed a new government under Hamid Karzai.

Mujahideen in Bosnia

During the Yugoslav wars, Bosniak forces received financial and military aid from Islamic countries. This military aid was partially sent in the form of experienced mujahideen troops. Organized in special units (like El Mujahid), they were known for their brutality and highly experienced personnels mostly from the Soviet war in Afghanistan. A certain number of these mujahideen fighters stayed in Bosnia when the war ended. They attained Bosnian citizenship, and are now living in several villages throughout Bosnia, where life is organized after the Islamic laws. It is known that those who remained are concentrated around the city of Zenica and in villages near Brcko.

Pakistan/Kashmiri mujahideen

In Pakistan and the former princely state of (Jammu and) Kashmir (disputed with India), the irregular army is often known as mujahideen. It can often be described as a militia or a restistance movement.

In 1947, the armed Mujahideen, then Pashtun/Punjabi/Kashmiri, tried to gain independence or join Pakistan, as most of the muslim population desired. Pakistan claimed the fighters were independent mujahideen helping a local insurgency, while India claimed that the invaders were Pakistani irregulars.

The ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh who ruled a mainly muslim population, then called upon help from India to maintain control of his population and the then Indian Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru airlifted Indian troops to the region and tried to crush the insurgency. The Kashmiri and Pakistani Mujahideen since then, with alleged support from its ISI and Army, have actively been waging a Jihad in Jammu and Kashmir. This resulted in India having over half a million troop in kashmir to control the local population and this violence has claimed more than 80,000 lives so far. Several different militia outfits have since taken root in Indian occupied Kashmir and are actively supporting the popular resistance in Jammu and Kashmir. Most noticibale of these groups are Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Al-Umar Mujahideen (AuM) and Harkat ul-Mujahideen (HuM).

Other Uses

The term mujahideen could be, and sometimes is, also applied to the Iraqi insurgency by symmpathizers and regional experts.

Since a mujahideen is someone who strives to spread the religion of Islam according to fundamentalist doctrine, and since one cannot bomb people into believing in Islam but rather through improving one's deeds to spread the validity of Islam. Therefore there is the mujahideen of peace who establishes Islam through spreading it by making peace across the world, everywhere and anywhere, whether they are Muslims or not. There are suggestions of camps which train mujahideen of peace in peace making strategies and techniques in various parts of the world.

Sources and References

* - Afghanistan
*EtymologyOnLine
*RoyalArk- Ottoman Turkey
*Olivier Roy, Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan
*Terrorism Database [1]

Mujahideen: Encyclopedia BETA

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