SNM vs Mujaahidiin

It is no doubt in these days that the word Mujahid has become a favorite word in the minds of many. Every where I go I hear the word or some body calling himself or being called a Mujahid. The word has become fashionable particularly in some parts of Somaliland. I hear Mujaahid dhagax, Mujaahid qudhac or Mujaahid qansax, etc. In the past couple of years, this never bemused me, as to my ears, it just sounded as a jargon full of sarcastic, metaphor, irony or figurative in a sense. Astonishingly, I began contemplating about it from many sides. As wake-up call, a very outstanding quotation by Tolstoy bunged the central nerve of my brain. The quotation reads as follows:

"Hypocrisy in anything whatever may deceive the cleverest and most penetrating man, but the least wide-awake of children recognizes it, and is revolted by it, however ingeniously it may be disguised."

Then I concluded that this is an conspiracy by the SNM to vitiate our relative perception and to influence us to submit willingly, and belittle ourselves by calling them the champions of our freedom and integrity. The idea has an strategic relevance for them to corrupt our moral standards and be the co-signers of their fabricated history that has no basis and to accept a psychological defeat and overwhelmingly enthrone them over us with less resistance.

More often than not, I got confused and lost to determine why the fuss the word Mujahid. On the other hand, I thought I might be out of touch and I am a yesterday’s bygone generation whose lost interest and blocked his mind from this fast changing millennium. But then again, I say to myself, “Waite a minute, Osman!, Don’t make an irrational judgment and take a disagreeable stand on the matter”. I try to make an effort aimed at assessing the real qualities of a Mujahid. I begun research to figure it out what are its definition in the Holy Quraan and description by Islamic scholars. My dear readers, allow me to share with you about my findings.

The meaning of Jihad:

Jihad means "to fight to make the word of Allah supreme and the word of the disbelievers low and despised." (Qur'an):

Allah said in his holy book, "Behold, God has bought from the believers their lives and their possession, promising them paradise in return, (and so) they fight in God's cause, slay, and are slain: a promise which in truth He has willed upon Himself in (the words of) the Torah, the Gospel and the Qur'an. And who could be more faithful to his bond than God? Rejoice, then, in the bargain which you have made with Him: for this, this is the triumph supreme!" (At-Tawbah 9:111)

The characteristics of Mujahid:
The characteristics needed for someone to be called a Mujahid are:
“The Mujahid has certain qualities that are manifest in his personality which distinguish him from the others. For Mujaahid, the actual symbol of Islam is the blood of the Muslims; if you touch that, you are pocking a stick at Islam…..”

“A Mujahid respects the words of the Prophet(scw) who said “The blood of a Muslim is worth more than the kaba’’. (Sunan Ibn Majah; Silsilah El Saheehah: hadith #3420; Saheeh El Targheeb wal Tarheeb: hadith #2441)

As such, I believe, the concept of being a true Mujahid is on a personal level. In other words, it is an inner struggle against evil within oneself; struggle for decency and goodness on the social level; and struggle on the battlefield for the cause of Islam if and when necessary.

To a Mujaahid, Jihad refers to any and every effort, mental, moral or physical, that is made to make God's Word supreme. It covers a wide range of activities, from personal struggle against one's own evil promptings to being engaged in war for the cause of Islam.

The levels of Jihad that magnify the deeds of the Mujaahid are as follows:
it is the intimate struggle to purify the soul of satanic influence -- both subtle and overt.
it is the struggle to cleanse one's spirit of sin. This is the most important quality of a Mujahid because one fights against ones own temptations, ignorance and weakness.

My distinguished readers let me turn your attention to the following. According to Mujahid Abu Abdel Aziz: “Belief in Allah, praised be He (comes first). He should be in our sight, heart and mind. We have to make Jihad to make His word supreme, not for a nationalistic cause, a tribal cause, a group feeling or any other cause. This matter is of great importance in this era, especially since many groups fight and want to see to it that their fighting is Jihad.”

Now, the question is, does any one who calls him self or is called Mujahid possesses the above characteristics? Then do those, among those individuals in the SNM and their members, who call themselves Mujahidiin, are real Mujahidin????????

As a Somalilander and having known how the word Mujahid or Mujahidiin is popular to the SNM let me focus and spell out if those groups qualify to be called Mujahidiin. To refresh our minds, the real meaning of jihad as explained above is: "To fight to make the word of Allah supreme and the word of the disbelievers low and despised." (Qur'an).

How did the SNM conceive in their minds that they had every right and a divine license to use violence to impose their will on anyone they could brand as an enemy (Awdalites). To the SNM, are the Awdalites infidels who went astray ? or are they included to the definition of fellow Muslims who may not fit their self-proclaimed categorization of right and wrong?

Based on the above characteristics of the Mujaahid, I totally reject the SNM’s equation of claiming that they are mujahidiin.
First, how dare could they make a proclamation as being mujaahidiin, while they behave in satanic vandalism, commit injustices and heinous crimes, act in tyranny, genocide and looting.

Secondly, is the SNM group claiming that they fought to make the word of Allah supreme? The undeniable is that they ventured into Awdal where they massacred innocent people in their homes, burned their farms and looted their possessions. After such malicious acts, then, they are NEITHER Mujahidiin, NOR their actions were not jihad. In effect they fought for tribal cause, then again that is not Jihad and their members are not Mujahidiin. Therefore, what really hammers the final nail in the coffin of this fact is that their devilish deeds has disqualified SNM to share the name with the Muslim Mujahidiin. Indeed, that will make SNM and supporters sinners and Mujaahiliin. It is also a sin to participate in the gatherings and festivals that praise SNM Mujaahillin.

To my best friend Dougsiiye and Caateye

To err is human, to forgive is for God. No matter how intelligent and a smart one can be the inherent human nature will never spare us all from committing a mistake. To make the matter worse, such an unanticipated incident would often occur at the wrong place, in the wrong time, and mostly when unwanted. After things turn tipsy nervy we all repent, regret, spend many sleepless nights, and wish if one could only reverse the clock.

My friends, do you have any doubt that it was a slip of the tongue what my cousin the Mr. President said in his speech on May 18, 2007, the 16th anniversary of the breakaway state of Somaliland. Remember he is the president for almost a decade and all of sudden a degrading foul language was witnessed on that occassion, when only less than 6 months left of his term. You were the first to respond, rather angerly. However, let me assure all and take my word for it, that there was certainly, without a doubt, an error in the pronunciation of the word he meant to say.

Friends and readers, do you know what? Just look at these two words: M-u-j-aa-h-i-l-ii-n &M-u-j-aa-h-i-d-ii-n. Open your eyes wide and make careful observation very closely. The only dissimilarity you will find out is “l” and “d”.

Mr. Rayaale never meant the “diin”, but the “liin”. Now, is it very obvious that the President misspoke with the word Mujaahid (with the “d”), while he meant the one with the “l”), the Mujaahil. For sure, that was the unpredicted and totally out of context.

To sum up, he meant Mujaahiliin and not Mujahidiin. My dear friends and readers, now, do you see what and how I see? Do you get what I mean and how!!!!!!!!!!!! The reply is definitely yes. I hope so.

An uga beydho qoraalkan afka qalaad ah keenii macaanaa ee hodanka ahaa. Akhristoow, SNM inay mujahidiin meelabba ka soo gali karin waxaa si wanaagsan oo cilimiyeysan kuugu cadeynaya, Xadiiska,
aayadaha Quraanka ah iyo aragtidayda kor xusan. Waxayse dhibi haysataa inta ay duufsadeen ee waxaan jirin lagu fooftan habaabshay. Kuwaas oo Mujaahiliinta SNM hiil iyo hooba siiyaa, hadaba, ma ogsoonyihiin inay mugdi gudayaan. Ma se ogyihiin in ay Alla weyne ka foogaadeen oo isla markaana ciqaabta ay la wadaagi doonaan maalinta xisaabi timaad.


P/S…… Taageerida SNM waa Dambbiye ogoow oo aakhiradaada ha seegin!!!


Osman A.Haji Bahdon
Ottawa, Canada
obahdon@gmail.com