The widespread use of the word in English began with reference to the guerrilla-type militant groups led by theIslamist Afghan fighters in theSoviet–Afghan War (seeAfghan mujahideen). The term now extends to otherjihadist groups in various countries.[2][4]
In its roots, theArabic wordmujahideen refers to any person performingjihad.[1][2][3] In itspost-classical meaning,jihad refers to an act that is spiritually comparable in reward to promoting Islam during the early 600s CE. These acts could be as simple as sharing a considerable amount of one's income with the poor.
The term continued to be used throughout India for Muslim resistance toBritish colonial rule.[1] During theIndian Rebellion of 1857, these holy warriors were said to accept any deserting Indiansepoys and recruit them into their ranks. As time went by, the sect grew ever larger until it was not only conducting bandit raids but even controlling areas in Afghanistan.[5]
The first known use of the wordmujahideen to refer to insurgent Islamic extremism (what has neologically been calledjihadism) was supposedly in the late 19th century, in 1887, byThomas Patrick Hughes (1838–1911).[3][6]
The name was most closely associated with the mujahideen inAfghanistan,[1] a coalition of guerrilla groups in Afghanistan that opposed the invading Soviet forces and eventually toppled the Afghan communist government during theAfghan War (1978–92). Rival factions thereafter fell out among themselves, precipitating the rise of theTaliban and the opposingNorthern Alliance.
Arguably the best-known mujahideen outside theIslamic world are the various, loosely alignedAfghan opposition groups who initially rebelled against the government of the pro-SovietDemocratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) during the late 1970s. At the DRA's request, theSoviet Union brought forces into the country to aid the government in 1979. The mujahideen fought against Soviet and DRA troops during theSoviet–Afghan War (1979–1989). Afghanistan's resistance movement originated in chaos and, at first, regionalwarlords waged virtually all of its fighting locally. As warfare became more sophisticated, outside support and regional coordination grew. The basic units of mujahideen organization and action continued to reflect the highly decentralized nature of Afghan society and strong loci of competing mujahideen andPashtuntribal groups, particularly in isolated areas among the mountains.[14] Eventually, the seven main mujahideen parties allied as the political bloc calledIslamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen. The parties were not under a single command and had ideological differences.
Many Muslims from other countries assisted the various mujahideen groups in Afghanistan. Some groups of these veterans became significant players in later conflicts in and around the Muslim world.Osama bin Laden, originally from a wealthy family inSaudi Arabia, was a prominent organizer and financier of an all-Arab Islamist group of foreign volunteers; hisMaktab al-Khadamat funnelled money, arms, and Muslim fighters from around the Muslim world into Afghanistan, with the assistance and support of the Saudi and Pakistani governments. These foreign fighters became known as "Afghan Arabs" and their efforts were coordinated byAbdullah Yusuf Azzam.
Although the mujahideen were aided by thePakistani,American,British,Chinese andSaudi governments, the mujahideen's primary source of funding was private donors and religious charities throughout the Muslim world—particularly in the Persian Gulf.Jason Burke recounts that "as little as 25% of the money for the Afghan jihad was actually supplied directly by states."[15]
Mujahideen forces caused serious casualties to the Soviet forces, and made the war very costly for the Soviet Union. In 1989 the Soviet Unionwithdrew its forces from Afghanistan. In February 1989 the seven Sunni mujahideen factions formed an Afghan Interim Government (AIG) inPeshawar, The Interim Government had been in exile inPakistan since 1988, led bySibghatullah Mojaddedi, as an attempt for a united front against the DRA. The AIG became a failure, partly because it could not solve the differences between the factions; partly because of limited public support as it excluded the Iran-backed Shia mujahideen factions, and the exclusion of supporters of ex-KingMohammed Zahir Shah; and the mujahideen's failure in theBattle of Jalalabad in March 1989.[16][17][18][19]
In 1992 the DRA's last president,Mohammad Najibullah, was overthrown and most mujahideen factions signed thePeshawar Accords. The mujahideen could not establish a functional united government, and many of the larger mujahideen groupsbegan to fight each other over power inKabul.
After several years of devastating fighting, in a smallPashtun village, amullah namedMohammed Omar organized a new armed movement with the backing of Pakistan. This movement became known as theTaliban ("students" inPashto), referring to how most Taliban had grown up in refugee camps in Pakistan during the 1980s and were taught in the Saudi-backedWahhabi madrassas, religious schools known for teaching a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam.
Even before independence, theTurkish Cypriot community maintained its own paramilitary force (theTürk Mukavemet Teşkilatı, or TMT), trained and equipped by theTurkish Army. In 1967, this force was renamed theMücahit ("Mujahideen"), and in 1975 the Mücahit was renamed theTurkish Cypriot Security Force. In 1974, Turkey led a land invasion ofNorthern Cyprus with the aim of protecting the Turkish minority population after a Greek-inspired coup brought a threat of union of the island with Greece. Since then there has been no major fighting on Cyprus and the nation continues to be an independent country, though strongly linked with Turkey militarily and politically.[20][21]
While more than one group in Iran has called itself mujahideen, the most famous is thePeople's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI;Persian: Mojāhedin-e Khalq), an Islamic organization that advocates for the overthrow of the leadership of theIranian Republic.[1] The group has taken part in multiple well-known conflicts in the region, and has been at odds with the conservative government of theIslamic Republic of Iran since the1979 Iranian Revolution.
From 1947 to 1961, local mujahideen fought against Burmese government soldiers in an attempt to have theMayu peninsula in northern Arakan, Burma (present-dayRakhine State,Myanmar) secede from the country, so it could be annexed byEast Pakistan (present-dayBangladesh).[24] During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the mujahideen lost most of their momentum and support, resulting in most of them surrendering to government forces.[25][26]
In 1969, political tensions and open hostilities developed between theGovernment of the Philippines andjihadist rebel groups.[28] TheMoro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was established byUniversity of the Philippines professor Nur Misuari to condemn thekillings of more than 60 Filipino Muslims and later became an aggressor against the government while theMoro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a splinter group from the MNLF, was established to seek an Islamic state within the Philippines and is more radical and more aggressive. The conflict is ongoing[when?]; casualty statistics vary for the conflict, with conservative estimates of theUppsala Conflict Data Program indicating at least 6,015 people were killed in armed conflict between the Government of Philippines andASG, BIFM,MILF, andMNLF factions between 1989 and 2012.[29]Abu Sayyaf is an Islamic separatist group in the southernPhilippines, formed in 1991. The group is known for itskidnappings of Western nationals and Filipinos, for which it has received several largeransom-payments. Some Abu Sayyaf members have studied or worked in Saudi Arabia and developed relations with the mujahideen members while fighting and training in the war against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.[30]
The 1990s are a transitional period between the Mujahideen outfits forming part of theproxy wars between theCold War superpowers and the emergence of contemporary jihadism in the wake of the US "War on Terror" and the "Arab Spring".
During the Bosnian war 1992–1995, many foreign Muslims came toBosnia as mujahideen. Muslims around the world who shared mujahideen beliefs and respected the author ofIslamic Declaration come to the aid of fellow Muslims.Alija Izetbegovic, author ofIslamic Declaration and in his younger days author of poem "To the Jihad"[31] was particularly happy about the presence of Mujahedeens in Bosnia and gave them full support.[32] El Mujahid members claimed that in Bosnia they only have respect for Alija Izetbegovic and the head of the Bosnian Army Third Corps, Sakib Mahmuljin.[33][34] The number of foreign Muslim volunteers in Bosnia was estimated at 4,000 in contemporary newspaper reports.[35] Later research estimated the number to be about 400.[36][better source needed] They came from various places such asSaudi Arabia,Pakistan,Afghanistan,Jordan,Egypt,Iraq and thePalestinian Territories; to quote the summary of theInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia judgment:[37]
The evidence shows that foreign volunteers arrived in central Bosnia in the second half of 1992 with the aim of helping Muslims. Mostly they came fromNorth Africa, the Near East and the Middle East. The foreign volunteers differed considerably from the local population, not only because of their physical appearance and the language they spoke, but also because of their fighting methods. The various foreign, Muslim volunteers were primarily organized into an umbrella detachment of the7th Muslim Brigade, which was a brigade of theArmy of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, based inZenica. This independent subdivision colloquially known asEl-Mudžahid, was composed exclusively of foreign nationals and not Bosnians (whereas the 7th Muslim Brigade was entirely made up of native Bosnians) and consisted of somewhere between 300 and 1,500 volunteers.Enver Hadžihasanović, Lieutenant Colonel of theBosnian Army's 3rd Corps, appointed Mahmut Karalić (Commandant), Asim Koričić (Chief of Staff) and Amir Kubura (Assistant Chief for Operational and Curricula) to lead the group.
Some of the mujahideen funnelled arms and money into the country which Bosnia direly needed due to aUnited Nations-sanctioned arms embargo restricting the import of weapons into all of the republics of theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Many of the mujahideen were extremely devout Muslims of the strictSalafi sect, which contrasted sharply with the relatively secular society ofBosnian Muslims. This led to friction between the mujahideen and the Bosnians.
Foreign volunteers in Bosnia have been accused of committingwar crimes during the conflict. The ICTY has never issued indictments against mujahideen fighters. Instead, the ICTY indicted some Bosnian Army commanders on the basis of superior criminal responsibility. The ICTY acquitted Amir Kubura and Enver Hadžihasanović of the Bosnian 3rd Corps of all charges related to the incidents involving mujahideen. Furthermore, the Appeals Chamber noted that the relationship between the 3rd Corps and the El Mujahedin detachment was not one of subordination but was instead close to overt hostility since the only way to control the detachment was to attack them as if they were a distinct enemy force.[38]
The ICTY Trial Chamber convictedRasim Delic, the former chief of the Bosnian Army General Staff. The ICTY found that Delic had effective control over the El Mujahid Detachment. He was sentenced to three years of imprisonment for his failure to prevent or punish the cruel treatment of twelve captured Serb soldiers by the Mujahideen. Delic remained in the Detention Unit while appellate proceedings continued.[39]
Some individuals of the Bosnian Mujahideen, such asAbdelkader Mokhtari,Fateh Kamel, andKarim Said Atmani, gained particular prominence within Bosnia as well as international attention from various foreign governments. They were all North African volunteers with well established links toIslamic Fundamentalist groups before and after the Bosnian War.
In 2015, former Human Rights Minister and Federation BiH Vice President Mirsad Kebo talked about numerous war crimes committed against Serbs by mujahideen in Bosnia and their links with current and past Muslim officials including former and current presidents of federation and presidents of parliament based on war diaries and other documented evidence. He gave evidence to the BiH federal prosecutor.[40][41][42][43]
The termmujahideen has often been used to refer to all separatist fighters in the case of theFirst andSecond Chechen Wars. In this article, it refers to the foreign, non-Caucasian fighters who joined the separatists' cause for the sake ofJihad. They are often calledAnsaar (helpers) in related literature dealing with this conflict to prevent confusion with the native fighters.
Foreign mujahideen have played a part in both Chechen wars. After thecollapse of theSoviet Union and the subsequentChechen declaration of independence, foreign fighters began entering the region and associating themselves with local rebels (most notablyShamil Basayev). Many of the foreign fighters were veterans of theSoviet–Afghan War. The mujahideen also made a significant financial contribution to the separatists' cause; with their access to the immense wealth ofSalafist charities likeal-Haramein, they soon became an invaluable source of funds for the Chechen resistance, which had few resources of its own.
Most of the mujahideen decided to remain inChechnya after the withdrawal of Russian forces. In 1999, foreign fighters played an important role in the ill-fated Chechenincursion intoDagestan, where they suffered a decisive defeat and were forced to retreat back into Chechnya. The incursion provided the new Russian government with a pretext for intervention. Russian ground forces invaded Chechnya again in 1999.
The separatists were less successful in the Second Chechen War. Russian officials claimed that the separatists had been defeated as early as 2002. The Russians also succeeded in killing the most prominent mujahideen commanders, most notablyIbn al-Khattab andAbu al-Walid.
Although the region has since been far from stable, separatist activity has decreased, though some foreign fighters remain active in Chechnya. In the last months of 2007, the influence of foreign fighters became apparent again whenDokka Umarov proclaimed theCaucasus Emirate being fought for by theCaucasian Mujahadeen, a pan-Caucasian Islamic state of which Chechnya was to be a province. This move caused a rift in the resistance movement between those supporting the Emirate and those who were in favour of preserving theChechen Republic of Ichkeria.
InIndia, an outfit calling itself theIndian Mujahideen came to light in 2008 with multiple large scale terror attacks. On 26 November 2008, a group calling itself theDeccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility for astring of attacks acrossMumbai. TheWeekly Standard claimed, "Indian intelligence believes the Indian Mujahideen is a front group created byLashkar-e-Taiba and theHarkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami to confuse investigators and cover the tracks of theStudents Islamic Movement of India, or SIMI, a radical Islamist movement with aim to establish Islamic rule over India.[46] In the Indian state ofJammu and Kashmir, Kashmiri Muslim separatists opposing Indian rule are often known asmujahideen. The members of theSalafi movement (withinSunni Islam) in the south Indian state ofKerala is known as "Mujahids".[47]
Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq as part of the George W. Bush administration's post 9/11 foreign policy, many foreign Mujahideen joined several Sunni militant groups resisting the U.S. occupation of Iraq. A considerable part of the insurgents did not come from Iraq but instead from many other Arab countries, notably Jordan and Saudi Arabia.[51] Among these recruits wasAbu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian national who would go on to assume the leadership ofAl-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).
Various Islamic groups, often referred to as mujahideen and jihadists, have participated in theSyrian civil war.Alawites, the sect to which Syrian PresidentBashar al-Assad belongs, are considered to be heretics in Sunni Muslim circles. In this sense, radical Sunnijihadist organizations and their affiliates have been anti-Assad. Jihadist leaders and intelligence sources said foreign fighters had begun to enter Syria only in February 2012.[52] In May 2012, Syria's U.N. envoy Bashar Ja'afari declared that dozens of foreign fighters from Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Britain, France elsewhere had been captured or killed, and urged Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to stop "their sponsorship of the armed rebellion".[53][54] Jihadist leaders and intelligence sources said foreign fighters had begun to enter Syria only in February 2012.[52] In June, it was reported that hundreds of foreign fighters, many linked to al-Qaeda, had gone to Syria to fight against Assad.[55] When asked if the United States would arm the opposition, Hillary Clinton expressed doubts that such weapons would be effective in the toppling of the Syrian government and may even fall into the hands of al-Qaeda or Hamas.[56]
American officials assumed already in 2012 thatQaidat al-Jihad (a.k.a. Al-Qaeda in Iraq) has conducted bomb attacks against Syrian government forces,[57] Iraqi Foreign MinisterHoshyar Zebari said thatal-Qaeda in Iraq members have gone to Syria, where the militants previously received support and weapons from the Syrian government in order to destabilize the US occupation of Iraq.[58] On 23 April, one of the leaders ofFatah al-Islam, Abdel Ghani Jawhar, was killed during theBattle of Al-Qusayr, after he unintentionally blew himself up while making a bomb.[59] In July 2012, Iraq's foreign minister again warned that members ofal-Qaeda in Iraq were seeking refuge in Syria and moving there to fight.[60]
A member of theAbdullah Azzam Brigades in Lebanon admitted that his group had sent fighters to Syria. On 12 November 2018, the United States closed its financial system to an Iraqi named, Shibl Muhsin 'Ubayd Al-Zaydi and others over concerns that they were sending Iraqi fighters to Syria and financial support to otherHezbollah activities in the region.[62]
On 12 November 2018, the Department of State blacklisted the Al-Mujahidin Brigades (AMB) over its allegedHezbollah associations, as well as Jawad Nasrallah, son of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah leaderSayyed Hassan Nasrallah, from using the United States financial system and further naming him a terrorist associated with evidence of his involvement in attacks against Israel in theWest Bank.[64] It had been reported in Israel that the AMB was formerly linked to theFatah rather than theHamas organization.[65]
Boko Haram has been active inNigeria since it was founded in 2001. It existed in other forms before 2001. Although it initially limited its operations to northeast Nigeria, it has since expanded to other parts of Nigeria, and toCameroon,Niger andChad. Boko Haram seeks to implementsharia law across Nigeria.
Al-Shabaab militants made gains (2009–10) in guerrilla-style attacks
The currently active jihadist groups in Somalia derive from theAl-Itihaad al-Islamiya group active during the 1990s.
In July 2006, a Web-posted message purportedly written by Osama bin Laden urged Somalis to build anIslamic state in the country and warned western states that his al-Qaeda network would fight against them if they intervened there.[66] Foreign fighters began to arrive, though there were official denials of the presence of mujahideen in the country. Even so, the threat of jihad was made openly and repeatedly in the months preceding theBattle of Baidoa.[67] On 23 December 2006, Islamists, for the first time, called upon international fighters to join their cause.[68] The termmujahideen is now openly used by thepost-ICU resistance against the Ethiopians and the TFG.
Harakat al-Shabaab Mujahideen is said to have non-Somali foreigners in its ranks, particularly among its leadership.[69] Fighters from the Persian Gulf and international jihadists were called to join the holy war against the Somali government and its Ethiopian allies. Though Somali Islamists did not use suicide bombing tactics before, the foreign elements of al-Shabaab are blamed for severalsuicide bombings.[70][71] Egypt has a longstanding policy of securing theNile River flow by destabilizing Ethiopia.[72][73] Similarly, recent media reports said that Egyptian and Arab jihadists were the core members of Al-Shabaab, and were training Somalis in sophisticated weaponry and suicide bombing techniques.[74]
^Kassymova, Didar (2012)."BASMACH".Historical Dictionary of Kazakhstan. Scarecrow Press. p. 47.ISBN9780810867826. Retrieved11 February 2014.BASMACH[:] A derogatory term used by Russian/Soviet authorities and researchers to designate the participants of the indigenous protest movements in Central Asia against the Russian and Soviet regimes from 1916 to the mid-1930s. [...] The rebels referred to themselves asmojahed, or 'participants of jihad,' a Muslim holy war against infidels, or non-Muslims.
^Abrahamian, Ervand,Iran Between Two Revolutions by Ervand Abrahamian, Princeton University Press, 1982, pp. 276–77
^Yegar, Moshe (1972).Muslims of Burma. Wiesbaden: Verlag Otto Harrassowitz. p. 96.
^Yegar, Moshe (1972).Muslims of Burma. pp. 98–101.
^Pho Kan Kaung (May 1992).The Danger of Rohingya. Myet Khin Thit Magazine No. 25. pp. 87–103.
^This news-story was based on interview with Rohingyas and others in the Cox's Bazar area and at the Rohingya military camps in 1991:Lintner, Bertil (19 October 1991).Tension Mounts in Arakan State. Jane's Defence Weekly.
^Wroughton, Lesley & McKeef, Clive. (13 November 2018). "U.S. designates son of Hezbollah leader a terrorist."Reuters website Retrieved 16 November 2018.
^Staff. (6 March 2016). "Shin Bet nabs Palestinian suspected of recruiting terrorists in Cairo."Times of Israel website Retrieved 16 November 2018.
