In Pashtu-Language Magazine, ISIS-K Questions Afghan Taliban For Not Assassinating Indian Government Officials, Rejects Protests By Indian Muslims Over Insult To Prophet Muhammad: 'This Faith Demands Sacrifice; Start Jihad, And Take Up The Gun'

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In reaction to statements by leaders of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against Muhammad, the founder of Islam, the Islamic State's Khurasan Province (ISIS-K) has released a magazine urging Muslims to wage jihad against those it deems blasphemers, and questions the Afghan Taliban's commitment to Islam for their failure to send teams to India to kill them.

The document's coverpage shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi as worshiping a cow

Comments by Nupur Sharma, who has now been suspended as BJP's spokesperson, and another party official about Muhammad have sparked an international controversy. Protests erupted especially against Nupur Sharma for commenting on Muhammad's marriage to Aisha at the age of six and consummation of their marriage when Aisha was nine.[1]

The 55-page Pashtu-language magazine is titled "The Cow's Sons And Their New Friends" – referring to Hindus and the Taliban.[2] The document is not purely against India and the blasphemy row. The magazine lashes out at the Afghan Taliban government in Afghanistan for merely condemning the blasphemous remarks of the BJP leaders instead of sending assassins to India to kill the blasphemers. It asks: "Is this Islam of [the Afghan] Taliban that they only condemn the act of the desecration of the prophet [Muhammad] in a few careful words and hold meetings with the cow's sons [by sitting] on luxurious seats?"

In the magazine, the ISIS-K urges Muslims: "O Muslims. We call on you again. Hear it with open ears. The honor of our and your prophet is not safe in the Taliban's [so-called] Islamic government. With each passing day, they are coming closer to the Rafidhis [rejectionists, i.e., a pejorative term for Shi'ite Muslims] and Hindus who disrespected our beloved prophet and sign with them military agreements. Can their government be [called] Islamic?"

Citing a story in which Muhammad had sent a team to kill a man who had written a poem containing insulting remarks against the prophet following the victory of Muslims at the Battle of Badr, the document says: "The Islamic system [of government] is that in which the blood of the blasphemer of the prophet, if he is a real unbeliever, apostate or even a woman, is shed. The Islamic system is that in which a secret team is sent behind the criminals who disrespect the prophet and at last kill them."

The Islamic State's Khurasan Province (ISIS-K) questions: "Have the Taliban who call their government Islamic sent a team after the desecrators of the prophet? If they present the pretext that they cannot send teams to India, what they have done to Rafidha militias [pejorative for the Taliban jihadi] under their control, that they now present false pretexts [for not] sending teams after Hindus?"

It asks: "If we accept that they cannot form teams, could they not boycott India in reaction to this act? It is strange that they claim [to be the champions of] Islam and protecting the prophet but cannot cut ties with the Hindu sons of the cow. You have put on sale the honor of the prophet in exchange for wheat assistance [from India]. Were you fighting for this [when you] sacrificed thousands of youths [during the jihad against U.S. over past two decades]?"

The ISIS-K, which has previously declared the Afghan Taliban to be apostates, questions the faith of the Taliban. It asks: "Oh Talib, neither you attack the country who profaned the prophet of Allah nor sent teams behind the blasphemers... rather [you] are in search of exports, mutual respect, common illegitimate interests, and welcome their decision of reopening embassy [in Kabul]. So, on what ground you are a Muslim?”

ISIS-K reminds the Taliban that it was Mahmud of Ghazni, 11th-century founder of the Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty, who led Muslims to attack India and captured Raja Jaipal, the leader of Hindus, who later committed suicide by self-immolation.

A screenshot of an article in the magazine

The magazine questions whether the Taliban government resembles the governance by the line of Muslim warriors and rulers of the past. It answers: "No. Rather, the Taliban government is a secular one that has become addicted the food from the unbelievers of India and cannot question them for [dis]respecting the prophet." It stresses that Ghazwa-e-Hind ("the Battle of India") is a sacred war in which the Prophet Muhammad prophesied the good news of paradise to the Muslims who took part in it, but the Taliban do not follow it.

Referring to Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid's statement that religious and civil rights of all minorities were safe and Sunnis, Shi'ites, Sikhs, and Hindu countrymen are freely performing their religious rituals in Afghanistan, the ISIS-K says: "Everyone knows that Ahl-e-Sunnat [Sunni Muslims] are martyred and chained but the unbelievers and apostates have been given freedom. Alas, the Taliban should have issued a statement that the honor and rights of the Prophet Muhammad are protected in their government."

Urging Muslims to wage jihad instead of holding protest rallies against the insulting remarks against Muhammad, ISIS-K says staging rallies and raising slogans on roads is a menace of democracy that ends the spirit of jihad among Muslims: "This faith demands sacrifice. Start jihad, and take up the gun. Revenge for blaspheming the prophet can never be taken by weeping, crying, and condemnation in the strongest words or hashtags [on Twitter]."

"Rise, the time has come; jump to the battle and strengthen the foundation of the Islamic State. This is the time of immersion and sacrifice... fight against the Taliban, Rafidhas, Hindus, Pakistani intelligence and other aggressors, and join the Islamic State to take revenge for [blaspheming Prophet Muhammad]," it adds.

ISIS-K urges Muslims to offer bay'a ("oath of allegiance") to the current emir of the Islamic State, saying: "We informed you of the Taliban's unbelief and truthfulness of the Islamic State. Therefore, we hope that all of you will pledge allegiance to the caliph of Muslims, Abu Al-Hasan Al-Qurashi."

The group went on: "The Lord will soon bless you with massive victories... The Muslims ruled India for years and established Islamic rule there, but they have been making fun of the sanctities of the faith [of Islam] since the Muslims shunned jihad. Therefore, join the sacred convoy of jihad, strengthen the mujahideen of Islamic State in your respective areas by conducting jihad physically and with wealth."