Exposing Islam

From Sharia to Shrapnel – Modern Islamists and Their Classical Roots

🔥 1. Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966) – The Intellectual Godfather of Global Jihad

Primary Work: Milestones (Ma‘alim fi’l-Tariq)

Jihad as Permanent Revolution:

“Jihad in Islam is not a defensive war... Islam has the right to destroy all obstacles in the form of institutions and traditions...”

— Milestones, Ch. 4

🔍 Connection to Classical Thought: Qutb revives the classical notion of offensive jihad, rejecting the idea that Islam is only reactive. He quotes:

Qur’an 9:29 ("fight those who do not believe…")
Ibn Taymiyyah’s fatwas on continuous warfare
Classical fiqh on the division of the world into Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb

⚔️ 2. Abul A‘la Mawdudi (d. 1979) – The Theocrat’s Strategist

Founder: Jamaat-e-Islami
Primary Work: Towards Understanding Islam, Jihad in Islam

Islam as a Political System:

“Islam is a revolutionary ideology and program which seeks to alter the social order of the whole world... Jihad means to struggle to seize power and establish an Islamic state.”

🔍 Fiqh Linkage: Mawdudi calls on the legal tradition that:

Obligates Muslims to “enjoin good and forbid evil” through power (see Reliance o25)
Commands jihad as state policy (Mawardi’s Ahkam al-Sultaniyya)

He also cites the Caliphal model and Shafi’i legal reasoning as the gold standard for state-building.

💣 3. Osama bin Laden (d. 2011) – From Fatwa to Fireball

Primary Text: Declaration of War Against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places (1996)

Justification of Violence:

“The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies—civilians and military—is an individual duty... in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah.”

🔍 Islamic Legal Justification:

Cites Qur’an 9:5, 9:29, and 2:190–191
Refers to classical scholars like Ibn Taymiyyah and Al-Nawawi
Quotes Al-Muwatta and fiqh rulings on warfare and apostasy

Bin Laden’s justification for suicide attacks is framed as martyrdom (istishhad), citing precedents where early Muslims willingly died for Islam’s expansion (e.g., Battle of Badr, Uhud).

📖 4. Ayman al-Zawahiri (d. 2022) – The Scholar of Slaughter

Primary Works: Knights Under the Prophet’s Banner

Legal Framing of Global Jihad:

“We are not fighting to eliminate injustice... We are fighting to implement the Sharia.”

🔍 Source Material:

Invokes Shafi’i and Hanbali jurisprudence
Repeatedly references the Reliance of the Traveller
Frames jihad as both collective and individual duty (fard ‘ayn) once Muslims are attacked—expanding it globally

🧱 5. ISIS (Daesh) & the Caliphate Blueprint

Primary Legal Text: The Dabiq Magazine (Official ISIS Publication)

Doctrinal Backbone:

“The caliphate is not a dream... it is the return of Allah’s law... jihad against the kuffar is not optional.”

🔍 Legal Foundations:

Direct quotes from Ibn Kathir, Ibn Taymiyyah, Al-Shafi‘i, and Mawardi
Reimplementation of:
- Jizya (taxation of Christians and Yazidis)
- Slavery and sex-slavery, justified with Malik and Hanbali texts
- Apostasy laws to justify mass executions

🧩 Conclusion: No Discontinuity, Just Deployment

Modern jihadists don’t innovate—they excavate. They mine the classical legal tradition to give their violence moral legitimacy, and they succeed because the classical texts never rejected the goals of:

Global Islamic dominion
Violent enforcement of tawhid
Suppression of dissent through war or execution

There is no radical Islam and moderate Islam. There is only Islam—radicals just take it seriously.