Biding Their Time

Last night we posted a translated news article from the Netherlands about serious infighting among radical Muslims in the Netherlands. The spat included a secretly recorded phone call between Imam Fawaz Jneid and the leader of Shariah4Belgium and Shariah4Holland.

A commenter named heatsketch left a very interesting analysis of the exchange between the two leaders. His observations are spot-on — better than anything I could do.

Two new words for our Arabic lexicon:

• Madhhab: The fiqh (body of Islamic jurisprudence) of one of the four schools of Sunni law (Hanafi, Shafi’i, Maliki, and Hanbali).
  
• Hisbah: The correct application of sharia in a state governed by Islamic law.

And the analysis:

What Fawaz is doing is saying that the time for Jihad is not now. Salafists act based on mujtihad, or personal consensus, as opposed to ijtihad, or communal consensus, of the regular four madhhab of Islamic Sunni law. Fawaz is not a Salafist. He is of the traditional madhhab.

The Sharia of the traditional madhhab states that the ummah cannot wage aggressive jihad without permission from the caliph, and there is no caliph, because there is no kalifah. Fawaz is clearly just saying that now is not the time, and that Moslems must get their own house in order before attacking the dar ul-harb.

Notice how he says “who... has given you a fatwa?”, implying that if a fatwa was issued by a traditional scholar he views as legitimate, he wouldn’t be objecting.

Notice also how he says “What you are doing brings difficulties for the Muslims in the Netherlands and in Belgium.” The Sharia of the traditional madhhab states that one should not be seditious in infidel nations or even wage jihad if those actions will bring harm to other Moslems.

Fawaz doesn’t actually condemn jihad, he just claims that these men aren’t real jihadists, but criminals. And from the view of the traditional madhhab, he is correct. He is not a Salafist, and good for him. But that doesn’t mean he rejects the need for Islam to eventually reign supreme on earth and for the People of the Book to have submitted and paid Jizya. His own statements heavily imply that he would not reject offensive jihad if legitimate ulama declared it obligatory. And he hasn’t rejected jihad against the US and Israel.

Non-Salafist Moslems are supposed to engage in Dawah, or proselytization, and then Hisbah, or “enjoining good and forbidding evil. Hisbah is basically enforcing Sharia. If Dawah or Hisbah are resisted, then Jihad can be waged, if the legitimate authorities justify it. That has not happened. Fawaz needs Islam to look good so he can engage in Dawah in the meantime.

Fawaz is a Moslem and therefore, in the end, he is an enemy of Europe.