Taliban Magazine 'Azan' Calls For Jihad To Retake Andalus*

A new English-language magazine along the lines of Al-Qaeda's Inspire, published by the Taliban in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, seeks to recruit Muslim youth to the jihadi cause with calls for assassinating U.S. President Barack Obama, appeals to Islamic hackers to defeat the drone technology, and encrypted email contact information, and seeks to turn the attention of young potential jihadis to Andalus.*

The magazine, Azan, was released through a Pakistani online jihadi forum by the "Taliban in Khurasan," "Kurasan" denoting the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.[1] It quotes from past and present jihadi leaders, including Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, and includes several articles accusing the Pakistani military and Saudi Arabia of facilitating the U.S. drone strikes on jihadi fighters in Pakistan and Yemen. The magazine declares: "We are fighting in Khurasan, but our eyes are on [liberating] Palestine [from Israel]."[2]

Also included in the magazine are: an article by the late Al-Qaeda leader Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi rejecting democracy and one by Islamic scholar Maulana Abdullah Muhammadi rejecting territorial nationalism in favor of global Islamism; an interview with former Pakistani military commando and Taliban militant commander Adnan Rasheed, in which he announces the formation of a death squad to kill former Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf; and a review of jihadi movements, which are presented as establishing a global Islamic caliphate; and others.

*In the Islamic perception, "Andalus" refers to the Iberian Peninsula, which includes today's Spain, Portugal and parts of southeast France.

Article Titled "Amidst The Reconquest Of Andalus: Verdicts By Imam Ghazzali And Imam Tartushi" Quotes Koran And Sayings Of Prophet Muhammad To Rationalize Jihad For Retaking Andalus And Al-Aqsa

In an unattributed article titled "Amidst the Re-Conquest of Andalus: Verdicts by Imam Ghazzali and Imam Tartushi," the magazine laments that Muslims no longer take pride in Andalus, where Muslims governed from 711 to 1492 CE, observing: "Muslims ruled Andalus for the best part of almost 700 years, and what a glorious rule it was! It is truly sad to see today how the kuffar [infidels] have alienated the Muslims from their glorious history."

It should be borne in mind that all jihadi forces like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda strive to retake territories once ruled by Muslims. In order to revive Muslim youths' interest in the Islamic history of Andalus, the jihadi magazine notes that from 1031 CE onwards differences between mini-kingdoms led by Muslims paved the way for the Reconquista (i.e. the re-conquest of Islamic Spain by Christians).

"This was also a period that witnessed a shocking phenomenon – something which we are experiencing in full force today, i.e. Muslim leaders fighting alongside Kafir [infidel] armies to fight against Muslim rivals [e.g. in the war on terror after 9/11]. Some of the Muslim kings had even started giving heavy taxes to the Christian kings as bribes so that the Christians would not attack them. This was because of their cowardice and indulgence in luxuries." The article also blames the decline of Islamic rule on bid'ah (innovation in Islam) and on a culture of greed, debauchery and misguidance brought by Greek philosophy.

The magazine stresses to Muslim youths that jurists of the Islamic world decreed that the Muslim rulers in Andalus were unworthy of ruling because of their alliance with Christians. It adds that the same situation exists today, as Muslim rulers and generals are assisting the non-Muslim world, apparently in the war against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Yusuf bin Tashfin's cause, it notes, was supported by Andalusian philosopher Ibn Al-Arabi and by fatwas (Islamic decrees) from renowned Islamic jurists like Imam Al-Ghazzali and Imam Tartushi.

The magazine also presents decrees by Imam Al-Ghazzali and Imam Tartushi aimed at persuading Muslim youths that retaking Andalus in the present time and fighting against Muslim rulers who support non-Muslim governments is a religious duty. Citing a saying of Prophet Muhammad according to which Muslim youth should not abandon jihad, it states: "When your brothers were killed in [the war of] Uhud, Allah placed their souls inside green birds that tend to the rivers of paradise and eat from its fruits. They then return to golden lamps hanging in the shade of the Throne. When they tasted the delight of their food, drink and dwelling, they said, 'we wish that our brothers knew what Allah gave us so that they will not abandon jihad or warfare.'"

The magazine also presents Koranic verses and a number of sayings of Prophet Muhammad to rationalize jihad to retake Andalus. One quoted verse is: "Fight against those who believe not in Allah…." The magazine calls for waging jihad: "We ask you, oh reader, to ponder over the situation of the Muslims today – the sharia completely erased, Muslim land[s] occupied, Muslim men and women imprisoned, Palestine and Al-Aqsa in the hands of the Jews, Crusaders swarming the Holy Land of Revelation – the Arabian Peninsula – what are we doing? What would these eminent scholars say to us if they were to see the horrors of today and our reactions to them? Nay! The time for jihad is now!"