Rumors Of War: Muslim Cleric "Jihad Is Mandatory' Against India

Muslim cleric says jihad is now “mandatory” against India over Jammu and Kashmir

BY ROBERT SPENCER

He doesn’t mean an interior spiritual struggle, either. All the schools of Islamic jurisprudence agree that when a non-Muslim force enters a Muslim land, defensive jihad becomes the individual obligation of every Muslim (fard ayn) rather than a collective obligation of the entire umma, and need not be declared by anyone. Bulghah al-Salik li-Aqrab al-Masalik fi madhhab al-Imam Malik (“The Sufficiency of the Traveller on the Best Path in the School of Imam Malik,”) says this: “Jihad in the Path of Allah, to raise the word of Allah, is fard kifayah [obligatory on the community] once a year, so that if some perform it, the obligation falls from the rest. It becomes fard ayn [obligatory on every Muslim individually], like salah and fasting, if the legitimate Muslim Imam declares it so, or if there is an attack by the enemy on an area of people.”

A non-Muslim force has not entered Muslim land. All that happened was that the Indian government canceled Kashmir’s special status. But as far as Maulana Abdul Aziz is concerned, that is tantamount to an invasion of Muslim land, and so jihad violence is now mandatory. Looking at the recent history of Jammu and Kashmir, it is clear that many Muslims already thought jihad violence was mandatory there. But jihadis, like the Qur’an itself, have never shied away from repetition.

A FIREBRAND cleric with links to Osama bin Laden has called on Islamic militants to wage war against Indian troops in Kashmir.

Outspoken Maulana Abdul Aziz has declared that jihad is now “mandatory” in the hotly-disputed region.

Speaking to The Times, the 59 year old branded Pakistan’s current strategy in Kashmir a total failure.

He also demanded the country’s prime minister Imran Khan free Islamists held in Pakistani jails and “open the border for our fighters” to strike Indian forces.

“Muslims in Kashmir are waiting for our help,” said Aziz, who was close to Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, as well as the founder of the Taliban Mullah Omar.

“The current policy on Kashmir is weak. We have to respond to the Indian atrocities and the lockdown of the valley.”

Under Azizi the Red Mosque in Islamabad became a haven for militants eventually sparking a bloody showdown with the Pakistani military in 2007.

He is now thought to be close to the Inter-Services Intelligence, which is Pakistan’s powerful intelligence agency….