Takfir wal-Hijra
Encyclopedia
Jama'at al-Muslimin popularly known as Takfir wal-Hijra (Arabic
تكفير والهجرة, English "Excommunication and Exodus", alternately "excommunication and emigration" or "anathema and exile"), was a radical Islamist group led by Shukri Mustafa
, which emerged in Egypt
in the 1960s as an offshoot of Muslim Brotherhood
, inspired by Sayyid Qutb
.
The group was crushed by the Egyptian government after it kidnapped and murdered Muhammad al-Dhahabi, a former government minister and Muslim scholar. Despite this, some believe its ideology of separation from Muslim society, "Takfir wal-Hijra
", lives on in other groups.
, its future leader, was an agronomy student was arrested in 1965 for distributing Muslim Brotherhood
leaflets. In 1967 he was transferred to Abu Za'bal. Prisoners in Abu Za'bal were divided into two factions, each based on a different interpretation of the ideas of the recently executed Islamist author Sayyid Qutb
. Qutb believed that Egyptians were no longer truly Muslims, as the contemporary Muslim community in Egypt and elsewhere had become Jahiliyyah
, or reverted to pre-Islamic ignorance. One faction, led by Sheikh 'Ali 'Abduh Ismail and calling itself Jama'at al-Muslimin, believed that Qutb had called for total, not just spiritual, separation from jahiliyyah society.
Following Muslim Brotherhood
General Leader Hassan al-Hudaybi's refutation of Qutb's ideas in 1969, Sheikh Ali renounced the ideology of Takfir and the sect soon fell apart, leaving Shukri Mustafa
as its only member. He was released from prison in 1971 as part of the new president Anwar Sadat
's rapprochement
with the Muslim Brotherhood.
. The group was organized in cells headed by emir
s ("princes" or commanders), with Shukri being the "emir of emirs". They were known to the authorities but not considered a serious threat.
The greatest controversy was caused by forcing members to cut off contact with their families, bringing about several lawsuits from family members of women who joined. They felt Shukri was in essence seducing their daughters, or in some cases wives, from them and thus negating Egyptian views of family.
Shukri was frustrated by his inability to use his new media profile to promote his views and his leadership within the group was under question. His response was to kidnapp a former Egyptian government minister and mainstream Muslim cleric, Muhammad al-Dhahabi, on July 3 1977. While minister of Waqfs, Al-Dhahabi had written a preface to an official pamphlet against the group, in which he linked them to Kharijism. Shukri demanded the release of his followers, apologies from the press, the printing of his literature, and 200,000 Egyptian pounds in unmarked bills. When these demands were ignored, the hostage was killed — strangled and then shot in the eye. When his corpse was found the government cracked down with several militants and security agents being killed. Within a few days most of the group (hundreds of people) were under arrest. After a swiftly arranged military tribunal, Shukri and four other leaders were executed on March 19 1978.
, Shukri Mustafa
's believed that Muslim society was no more, having fallen into Jahilliyya or pre-Islamic ignorance. Egypt was part of [Dar al-Harb#Dar al-Harb .28House of war.29|Dar al-Harb]] or Domain of war, rather than the Domain of Islam. Thus "society of Muslims" referred not his group being a society of Muslims, but the Society of Muslims, i.e. the rebirth of Muslim society. His attitude toward the main Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood
(aka Muslim Bretheren) has been described as one of "unmitigated hostility". In statements before a military tribunal Shukri Mustafa
said
Furthermore, his denunciation of other Islamists as kuffar was not limited to the Brethern but extended to other dissident Islamist groups similar to his own who opposed the accomodationist position of the Muslim Brotherhood. Groups his members had left to join (and so were in competition with him) Jama'at al-Muslimin attacked physically.
Unlike later radical Islamists, Shukri did not engage in jihad
but called for separation from society as part of his belief that true Muslims were in a "phase of weakness" (istid'af) armed jihad
would have to wait until they had achieved strength vis-avis the authorities (although the group did reportedly participate in the 1977 food riots
.) During this period of separation Shukri forbade his true Muslims to attend Friday prayers or mosques in general, or even to fight against such hated external enemies as the Israeli army, saying
However, even in weakness, he believed those who left his group, and thus became apostates, had to be killed and so could not avoid confrontation with the authorities. According to scholar Gilles Kepel
this provided an object lesson that "invalidated" the `phase of weakness` strategy for the Islamists who came after Shukri.
Since the Quran teaches that "God knows and you know not", this meant (according to Shukri) that all learning came after the Quran and Sunna
was not legitimate knowledge. This included even the traditional Sunni four schools (Madh'hab) of fiqh
. Since the Quran was delivered in Arabic, it was clear to all Arabs who would only need a good dictionary to explain the meaning of some of its terms (according to Shukri). "Shukri also rejected the Egyptian public school system, telling his interrogators that
Many succeeding militant Islamists and Islamist groups have been designated Takfir wal-Hijra by authorities. Both Osbat al-Ansar
in Lebanon
and the GIA in Algeria were initially described as Takfir wal-Hijra cells.
Kassem Daher
, the killers of mosque worshippers
in Sudan
in 2000, the killer of Dutch
filmmaker Theo Van Gogh
and a 2011 group of Egyptian gunmen, have been called Takfir wal-Hijra or connected with Takfir wal-Hijra in some way.
Despite these references, according to Jane's
World Insurgency and Terrorism there is little or no evidence of any connection between the original Jama'at al-Muslimin and groups who've been called al-Takfir wal-Hijra, and little or no evidence of any group using the name "Takfir" to describe themselves. This is because in the Muslim world Takfir is "generally used as a derogatory description for extremists that kill Muslims without sufficient religious justification".
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
تكفير والهجرة, English "Excommunication and Exodus", alternately "excommunication and emigration" or "anathema and exile"), was a radical Islamist group led by Shukri Mustafa
Shukri Mustafa
Shukri Mustafa was an agricultural engineer who led the extremist Islamist group Jama'at al-Muslimin, popularly known as Takfir wal-Hijra. He began his path toward Islamist thought by joining the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1960s. After being arrested for activities related to the group he became...
, which emerged in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in the 1960s as an offshoot of Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
, inspired by Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamist theorist, poet, and the leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and '60s....
.
The group was crushed by the Egyptian government after it kidnapped and murdered Muhammad al-Dhahabi, a former government minister and Muslim scholar. Despite this, some believe its ideology of separation from Muslim society, "Takfir wal-Hijra
Takfir wal-Hijra
Jama'at al-Muslimin , popularly known as Takfir wal-Hijra , was a radical Islamist group led by Shukri Mustafa, which emerged in Egypt in the 1960s as an offshoot of Muslim Brotherhood, inspired by Sayyid Qutb.The group was...
", lives on in other groups.
Early years
Jama'at al-Muslimin has its origins in the late 1960s in the Abu Za'bal concentration camp, where many Islamists had been imprisoned after a plot to assassinate secularist president Nasser. Shukri MustafaShukri Mustafa
Shukri Mustafa was an agricultural engineer who led the extremist Islamist group Jama'at al-Muslimin, popularly known as Takfir wal-Hijra. He began his path toward Islamist thought by joining the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1960s. After being arrested for activities related to the group he became...
, its future leader, was an agronomy student was arrested in 1965 for distributing Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
leaflets. In 1967 he was transferred to Abu Za'bal. Prisoners in Abu Za'bal were divided into two factions, each based on a different interpretation of the ideas of the recently executed Islamist author Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamist theorist, poet, and the leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and '60s....
. Qutb believed that Egyptians were no longer truly Muslims, as the contemporary Muslim community in Egypt and elsewhere had become Jahiliyyah
Jahiliyyah
Jahiliyyah is an Islamic concept of "ignorance of divine guidance" or "the state of ignorance of the guidance from God" or "Days of Ignorance" referring to the condition in which Arabs found themselves in pre-Islamic Arabia, i.e. prior to the revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad...
, or reverted to pre-Islamic ignorance. One faction, led by Sheikh 'Ali 'Abduh Ismail and calling itself Jama'at al-Muslimin, believed that Qutb had called for total, not just spiritual, separation from jahiliyyah society.
Following Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
General Leader Hassan al-Hudaybi's refutation of Qutb's ideas in 1969, Sheikh Ali renounced the ideology of Takfir and the sect soon fell apart, leaving Shukri Mustafa
Shukri Mustafa
Shukri Mustafa was an agricultural engineer who led the extremist Islamist group Jama'at al-Muslimin, popularly known as Takfir wal-Hijra. He began his path toward Islamist thought by joining the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1960s. After being arrested for activities related to the group he became...
as its only member. He was released from prison in 1971 as part of the new president Anwar Sadat
Anwar Sadat
Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981...
's rapprochement
Rapprochement
In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word rapprocher , is a re-establishment of cordial relations, as between two countries...
with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Building the group
On his release, Shukri returned to Asyut where he finished his studies and began recruiting followers in the surrounding villages. In 1973, following the arrest of some of his followers, he took the group to live in caves in the nearby mountains, fully implementing his belief in withdrawal. He felt that his group was currently too weak to take action and so adopted a policy of separation. He hoped that this would protect the community from outside influences and allow it to grow in strength. By 1976 Shukri's followers numbered two thousand, mostly living in poor neighbourhoods of CairoCairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
. The group was organized in cells headed by emir
Emir
Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
s ("princes" or commanders), with Shukri being the "emir of emirs". They were known to the authorities but not considered a serious threat.
The greatest controversy was caused by forcing members to cut off contact with their families, bringing about several lawsuits from family members of women who joined. They felt Shukri was in essence seducing their daughters, or in some cases wives, from them and thus negating Egyptian views of family.
Confronting the state
In 1976 a few members left for other groups. Shukri declared them apostate and, in November, led two raids to kill them. The police intervened, detaining fourteen of his followers and issuing a warrant for Shukri's own arrest. Surprised by the official response, Shukri demanded their release but he was ignored by the government and ridiculed by the press. It was at this point that his group was given the label "Takfir w'al-Hijra" (Excommunication and Exile). Shukri hated the term, but it was far more descriptive than the group's chosen name and became fixed in the popular consciousness.Shukri was frustrated by his inability to use his new media profile to promote his views and his leadership within the group was under question. His response was to kidnapp a former Egyptian government minister and mainstream Muslim cleric, Muhammad al-Dhahabi, on July 3 1977. While minister of Waqfs, Al-Dhahabi had written a preface to an official pamphlet against the group, in which he linked them to Kharijism. Shukri demanded the release of his followers, apologies from the press, the printing of his literature, and 200,000 Egyptian pounds in unmarked bills. When these demands were ignored, the hostage was killed — strangled and then shot in the eye. When his corpse was found the government cracked down with several militants and security agents being killed. Within a few days most of the group (hundreds of people) were under arrest. After a swiftly arranged military tribunal, Shukri and four other leaders were executed on March 19 1978.
Takfir
Like Sayyid QutbSayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamist theorist, poet, and the leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and '60s....
, Shukri Mustafa
Shukri Mustafa
Shukri Mustafa was an agricultural engineer who led the extremist Islamist group Jama'at al-Muslimin, popularly known as Takfir wal-Hijra. He began his path toward Islamist thought by joining the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1960s. After being arrested for activities related to the group he became...
's believed that Muslim society was no more, having fallen into Jahilliyya or pre-Islamic ignorance. Egypt was part of [Dar al-Harb#Dar al-Harb .28House of war.29|Dar al-Harb]] or Domain of war, rather than the Domain of Islam. Thus "society of Muslims" referred not his group being a society of Muslims, but the Society of Muslims, i.e. the rebirth of Muslim society. His attitude toward the main Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
(aka Muslim Bretheren) has been described as one of "unmitigated hostility". In statements before a military tribunal Shukri Mustafa
Shukri Mustafa
Shukri Mustafa was an agricultural engineer who led the extremist Islamist group Jama'at al-Muslimin, popularly known as Takfir wal-Hijra. He began his path toward Islamist thought by joining the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1960s. After being arrested for activities related to the group he became...
said
The Society of Muslims is the first Islamic movement (haraka islamiyya) to be founded in centuries. As for the Muslim Bretheren, God did not grant them power, and that is irrefutable proof that they were not a true and legitimate Islamic movement, and that their apostolate was fradulent.
Furthermore, his denunciation of other Islamists as kuffar was not limited to the Brethern but extended to other dissident Islamist groups similar to his own who opposed the accomodationist position of the Muslim Brotherhood. Groups his members had left to join (and so were in competition with him) Jama'at al-Muslimin attacked physically.
Unlike later radical Islamists, Shukri did not engage in jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
but called for separation from society as part of his belief that true Muslims were in a "phase of weakness" (istid'af) armed jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
would have to wait until they had achieved strength vis-avis the authorities (although the group did reportedly participate in the 1977 food riots
1977 Egyptian Bread Riots
The Egyptian 'Bread Riots' of 1977 affected most major cities in Egypt from January 18-19, 1977. The riots were a spontaneous uprising by hundreds of thousands of lower class people protesting World Bank and International Monetary Fund-mandated termination of state subsidies on basic foodstuffs...
.) During this period of separation Shukri forbade his true Muslims to attend Friday prayers or mosques in general, or even to fight against such hated external enemies as the Israeli army, saying
`If the Jews or anyone else came, our movement ought not to fight in the ranks of the Egyptian army, but on the contrary ought to flee to a secure position. In general, our line is to flee before the external and internal enemy alike, and not to resist him.`"
However, even in weakness, he believed those who left his group, and thus became apostates, had to be killed and so could not avoid confrontation with the authorities. According to scholar Gilles Kepel
Gilles Kepel
Gilles Kepel is a French political scientist, specialist of the Islam and contemporary Arab world. He is Professor at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris and member of the Institut Universitaire de France....
this provided an object lesson that "invalidated" the `phase of weakness` strategy for the Islamists who came after Shukri.
Knowledge
In the realm of knowledge Shukri held that there is no science except in God. . . .The Muslim is obligated to seek his path and knowledge before God alone, and so-called knowledge, which is actually no knowledge at all because it is not founded in the Lord, is forbidden.
Since the Quran teaches that "God knows and you know not", this meant (according to Shukri) that all learning came after the Quran and Sunna
Sunnah
The word literally means a clear, well trodden, busy and plain surfaced road. In the discussion of the sources of religion, Sunnah denotes the practice of Prophet Muhammad that he taught and practically instituted as a teacher of the sharī‘ah and the best exemplar...
was not legitimate knowledge. This included even the traditional Sunni four schools (Madh'hab) of fiqh
Fiqh
Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
. Since the Quran was delivered in Arabic, it was clear to all Arabs who would only need a good dictionary to explain the meaning of some of its terms (according to Shukri). "Shukri also rejected the Egyptian public school system, telling his interrogators that
The teaching of writing for its own sake is HaraamHaraamHaraam is an Arabic term meaning "forbidden", or "sacred". In Islam it is used to refer to anything that is prohibited by the word of Allah in the Qur'an or the Hadith Qudsi. Haraam is the highest status of prohibition given to anything that would result in sin when a Muslim commits it...
(forbidden) ... The Prophet did not open kuttab and institutions to teach Muslims writing and arithmetic, but permitted them to be taught according to needs and necessities.
Post-Jama'at al-Muslimin
According to journalist Robin Wright the group reorganized and within a year of Mustafa's death membership was estimated "to be as high as 4000."Many succeeding militant Islamists and Islamist groups have been designated Takfir wal-Hijra by authorities. Both Osbat al-Ansar
Osbat al-Ansar
Osbat al-Ansar or Asbat an-Ansar is a Lebanon-based Sunni fundamentalist group established in the early 1990s which professes the Salifi form of Islam and the overthrow of the Lebanese-dominated secular government...
in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
and the GIA in Algeria were initially described as Takfir wal-Hijra cells.
Kassem Daher
Kassem Daher
Kassem Daher, born in Bekaa, Lebanon, is a Lebanese-Canadian accused of membership in a number of Islamic militant groups.-Life:At the age of 14, Daher left Lebanon and moved to Columbia - before settling in Leduc, Alberta...
, the killers of mosque worshippers
2000 Jarafa mosque massacre
The 2000 Jarafa mosque massacre was an attack on members of Ansar al-Sunna praying at a mosque in Jarafa, a village in the outskirts of Omdurman, Sudan on December 8, 2000...
in Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
in 2000, the killer of Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
filmmaker Theo Van Gogh
Theo van Gogh
Theo van Gogh is the name of:*Theo van Gogh , brother of the painter Vincent van Gogh*Theo van Gogh , great-grandson of the above...
and a 2011 group of Egyptian gunmen, have been called Takfir wal-Hijra or connected with Takfir wal-Hijra in some way.
Despite these references, according to Jane's
Jane's Information Group
Jane's Information Group is a publishing company specializing in transportation and military topics.-History:It was founded by Fred T...
World Insurgency and Terrorism there is little or no evidence of any connection between the original Jama'at al-Muslimin and groups who've been called al-Takfir wal-Hijra, and little or no evidence of any group using the name "Takfir" to describe themselves. This is because in the Muslim world Takfir is "generally used as a derogatory description for extremists that kill Muslims without sufficient religious justification".