Everything about Mujahideen totally explained
Mujahideen ( literally "strugglers") is a term for
Muslims fighting in a war or involved in any other struggle. The word is the plural form of,, which comes from the same Arabic root as
jihad ("struggle"). In Islamic scripture, the status of
mujahid is unequal to
qaid, one who doesn't join the jihad.
Mujahideen is also
transliterated from Arabic as
mujahedeen,
mujahedīn,
mujahidīn, and
mujaheddīn.
Etymology
Arabic words usually have
triliterals, which are triconsonantal (three-
consonant)
roots. The root of
mujahidin is J-H-D (ج-ه-د), meaning "effort or sacrifice" ("Jihad" can mean to struggle and "Mujahideen" can mean struggler.) However, the particular
verb stem of J-H-D from which both
jihad and
mujahid are derived means "to exert effort against" or "to struggle".
Mujahid is originally, therefore, "someone who struggles". The term has, even in Arabic, taken on meanings that are specifically religious, or specifically
military or
paramilitary, or both.
Like the concept and title
Ghazi, it has been used in formal titles of Muslim leaders who prided themselves on (and legitimated their conquests by)
Jihad bis saïf, holy war in the name of establishing Islamic rule, even at very high political level: no lesser ruler than Sultan
Murad Khan II Khoja-Ghazi, sixth Sovereign of the
House of Osman (1421–1451), had as full style
'Abu'l Hayrat, Sultan ul-Mujahidin, Khan of Khans, Grand Sultan of Anatolia and Rumelia, and of the Cities of Adrianople and Philippolis, including the formal title "Sultan of mujahideen"
In English, the word is recorded since 1958, in a
Pakistani context, adopted from
Persian and Arabic, as the plural of
mujahid "one who fights in a
jihad", in modern use, for "Muslim
guerilla insurgent."
In the late 20th century and early 21st century, the term "mujahideen" became the name of various armed fighters who subscribe to militant
Islamic ideologies and identify themselves as
mujahideen, although there isn't always an explicit "holy" or "warrior" meaning of the word.
Afghanistan
The best-known mujahideen, various loosely-aligned
Afghan opposition groups, initially fought against the incumbent pro-Soviet Afghan government during the late 1970s. At the Afghan government's request, the Soviet Union became involved in the war. The mujahideen insurgency then fought against the Soviet and Afghan government troops during the
Soviet war in Afghanistan. After the Soviet Union pulled out of the conflict in the late 1980s the mujahideen fought each other in the subsequent
Afghan Civil War.
The mujahideen were significantly financed and armed (and are
alleged to have been trained) by the
United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the
Carter and
Reagan administrations and the governments of
Saudi Arabia, the
People's Republic of China, several
European countries,
Iran, and
Zia-ul-Haq's
military regime in
Pakistan. The Pakistani
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the interagent used in the majority of these activities to disguise the sources of support for the resistance.
The main base station of mujahideen in
Pakistan was the town Badaber, 24 km from
Peshawar. Afghanistan mujahideen were trained in the Badaber base under supervision by military instructors from
U.S.A.,
Pakistan,
Republic of China and
Egypt. The base served as the
concentration camp for
Soviet and
DRA captives as well. In
1985, the
uprising of captives destroyed the base, but the incident was concealed by
Pakistan and
USSR governments until the
dissolution of the USSR.
Ronald Reagan praised mujahideen as "
freedom fighters", and three mainstream films, 1987
The Living Daylights, 1988
Rambo III and 2007
Charlie Wilson's War, portrayed them as heroic.
Afghanistan's resistance movement was born in chaos and, at first, virtually all of its war was waged locally by regional
warlords. As warfare became more sophisticated, outside support and regional coordination grew. Even so, the basic units of mujahideen organization and action continued to reflect the highly segmented nature of Afghan society. Eventually, the seven main mujahideen parties allied themselves into the political bloc called
Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen.
Many Muslims from other countries volunteered to assist various mujahideen groups in Afghanistan, and gained significant experience in guerrilla warfare. Some groups of these veterans have been significant factors in more recent conflicts in and around the Muslim world. A wealthy Saudi named
Osama bin Laden was a prominent organizer and financier of an all Arab islamist group of foreign volunteers; his
Maktab 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 by
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam.
The mujahideen won when the Soviet Union pulled troops out of Afghanistan in 1989, followed by the fall of the
Mohammad Najibullah regime in 1992. However, the mujahideen didn't establish a united government, and many of the larger mujahideen groups
began to fight each other over the power in
Kabul. After several years of devastating infighting, a village
mullah organized a new armed movement with the backing of Pakistan. This movement became known as the
Taliban, meaning "students", and referring to the
Saudi-backed
religious schools known for producing extremism. Veteran mujahideen were confronted by this radical splinter group in 1996.
By 2001, the Taliban, with backing from the Pakistani ISI (military intelligence) and possibly even the regular Pakistan Army, as well as
al-Qaeda which found a refuge in Afghanistan, had
largely defeated the militias and controlled most of the country. The opposition factions allied themselves together again and became known as the
United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (Northern Alliance). In 2001 with U.S. help and international military aid, they
ousted the Taliban from power and formed the new government, and gradually militias were either incorporated into the
new national army and police forces or demobilized.
At present the term "mujahideen" is sometimes used to describe insurgents, including the Taliban/Al Qaeda, fighting NATO troops and the security forces of the US-backed government of
Hamid Karzai and allied militias in Afghanistan, although most of the Mujahideen leaders who fought the Soviet Union later fought against the Taliban.
The Afghan mujahideen also participated in the
Nagorno-Karabakh War and the
Tajik Civil War.
Thailand
Over past 4 years,
the resistance against the government was escalated. Almost 3000 have been killed.
Chechnya
In the case of the
Chechen-Russian conflict, the term mujahideen has often been used to refer to all separatist fighters. In this article however, it'll be used to refer to the foreign, non-
Caucasian fighters who joined the separatists’ cause for the sake of
Jihad. In other literature dealing with this conflict they're often called
Ansaar (helpers) to prevent confusion with the native fighters.
Foreign mujahideen have played a part in both Chechen wars. After the
collapse of the
Soviet Union and the subsequent
Chechen declaration of independence, foreign fighters started entering the region and associated themselves with local rebels (most notably
Shamil Basayev). Many of them were veterans of the
Soviet-Afghan war and prior to the
Russian invasion, they used their expertise to train the Chechen separatists. During the
First Chechen War they were notorious and feared for their
guerilla tactics, inflicting severe casualties on the badly prepared Russian forces. The mujahideen also made a significant financial contribution to the separatists’ cause; with their access to the immense wealth of
Salafist charities like
al-Haramein, they soon became an invaluable source of funds for the Chechen resistance, which had little resources of its own.
After the withdrawal of Russian forces from
Chechnya most of the mujahideen decided to remain in the country. In 1999, foreign fighters would play an important role in the ill-fated Chechen
incursion into
Dagestan, where they suffered a decisive defeat and where forced to retreat back into Chechnya. The incursion provided the new Russian government with a pretext for intervention and in December 1999 Russian ground forces invaded Chechnya again. In the
Second Chechen War the separatists were less successful. Faced with a better prepared and more determined Russian forces, the Chechens were unable to hold their ground and as early as in 2002, Russian officials claimed the separatists had been defeated. The Russians also succeeded in eliminating the most prominent mujahideen commanders (most notably
Ibn al-Khattab and
Abu al-Walid).
Although the region has since been far from stable, separatist activity has decreased and although some foreign fighters are still active in Chechnya. In the last months of 2007, the influence of foreign fighters became apparent again when
Dokka Umarov proclaimed the
Caucasus Emirate, 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 the
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
Former Yugoslavia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mujahideen came in
Bosnia during the 1992-1995
Bosnian war after the
massacres committed by the
Serb forces on
Bosnian Muslim (
Bosniak)
civilians. They intended to wage a holy war against the perpetrators. The number of volunteers is estimated by some newspaper reports to have been about 4,000, but some recent research discards such claims estimating 400 foreign volunteers. They came from countries such as
Saudi Arabia,
Pakistan,
Afghanistan,
Egypt and
Algeria; to quote the summary of the ICTY judgement:
It is alleged that mujahideen participated in some incidents considered to be
war crimes according to the international law. However no indictment was issued by the
ICTY against them, but a few Bosnian Army officers were indicted on the basis of superior criminal responsibility. Amir Kubura and Enver Hadžihasanović were found not guilty on all counts related to the incidents involving mujahideen. Furthermore, the Appeals Chamber noted that the relationship between the 3rd Corps of the Bosnian Army headed by Hadžihasanović and the El Mujahedin detachment wasn't 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.
Kosovo and Macedonia
Around 500 or more Mujahideen fighters from Bosnia and around 2,000 from the Middle East and other parts of the world later joined the ranks of
KLA in its fight against Serbian and Macedonian authorities in
Kosovo war 1997–
1999 and
Macedonia conflict, some joined the
KLA other formed their own units with Albanian leaders who spoke fluent
Albanian and
Arabic, the greatest involvement was in conflicts around the border of Kosovo and Albania and a vast about of foreign Mujahideens alongside Albanians took part in the Battle of Koshar which was the greatest Albanian success against the Serb forces. After the
Kosovo war a several hundred Mujahideens when to
Macedonia to assist the Albanians again in their conflict there against the Macedonian forces. After the wars most Mujahideens went back to their home countries or other conflict zones very few remained in Kosovo and Macedonia where they became citizens.
There is still no concrete number about the actual size and the structure of the Kosovo Liberation Army but the number is frequently put at around 20,000 troops. The clandestine group first emerged in
1996, when it claimed responsibility for a series of bomb attacks in Kosovo against Serbian police forces.
Members of the KLA were rarely seen in public until late last year, when three heavily-armed and masked men appeared at a funeral of a
Kosovo Albanian teacher murdered by Serbian police in the school for teaching in Albanian.
The KLA says it has captured a large amount of military equipment, including a helicopter also destroyed 3 helicopters and several dozen armored vehicles and tanks during clashes with Serbian police and army units.
Until recently, the main support - both political and financial - for the KLA came from Kosovo Albanian emigrants in Western Europe and the US. However, as the long-standing tensions in Kosovo increasingly erupted into open clashes, the support for the KLA among Kosovo Albanians started to grow. Many of them have become impatient with the failure of the peaceful resistance advocated by their political leadership.>
Iran
While more than one group in Iran have called themselves mujahideen, the most famous is the
People's Mujahedin of Iran. Currently an
Iraq-based
Islamic Socialist militant organization that advocates the overthrow of
Iran's current government. The group also took part in the
1979 Iranian Revolution,
Iraq-Iran War, and the Iraqi internal conflicts. They advocate the ideology that socialism and religion can live side by side, however they claim that they also advocate a separation of religion and state.
Another mujahideen was the Mujahedin-e Islam, an Islamic party led by Ayatollah
Abol-Ghasem Kashani. It was a component of the
National Front (Iran) during the time of
Mohammed Mosaddeq's oil nationalization, but broke away from Mosaddeq over his allegedly unIslamic policies.
Iraq
The term
mujahideen is sometimes applied by sympathizers and regional experts to the
Iraqi insurgency against the U.S.-led allies whose invasion destroyed
Saddam Hussein's
Ba'athist republic, and against the subsequent Iraqi regimes in need of allied military support, while the insurgents comprise a wide, incoherent spectrum of forces, with or without crucial Islamist ideology. There is also a number of foreign fighters from the other Arab countries, in many cases acting as a
suicide attackers.
Some insurgent groups actually use the word
mujahideen in their names, like
Mujahideen Shura Council (an
umbrella group run by
al-Qaeda in Iraq) and
Mujahideen Army.
Kashmir
In
Pakistan and the former
princely state of
(Jammu and) Kashmir (disputed with India),
Kashmiris opposing Indian rule are often known as
mujahideen.
In 1947, the mostly
Pashtun Muslim fighters tried to force the annexation of Kashmir by Pakistan. Pakistan claimed the fighters were independent mujahideen helping a local insurgency, while India claimed that the invaders were Pakistani irregulars supported by the Pakistani Army which was still being run by British officials. The British appointed non-Muslim Hindu ruler of Jammu and Kashmir,
Maharaja Hari Singh called upon help from British Indian army and the then Indian Prime minister
Jawaharlal Nehru airlifted Indian troops to the region and tried to drive off the insurgents.
Several different militant groups have since taken root in Indian Kashmir. Most noticeable of these groups are
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT),
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM),
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). A 1996 report by
Human Rights Watch estimated the number of active militants at 3,200.
Philippines
Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) is the smallest and most radical of the Islamic separatist groups in the southern
Philippines. It is best-known for a series of
kidnappings of Western nationals and Filipinos, for which it has received several large
ransom payments. Some ASG members have allegedly studied or worked in Saudi Arabia and developed ties to mujahideen while fighting and training in the war against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Abu Sayyaf always pro-claim themselves as mujahideen but are not provided support by many people in
Moroland including Muslim clerics. Abu Sayyaf is thought to number fewer than 500 core fighters, but the group continues to present enough of a problem to lead the government to launch occasional major offensives in an effort to wipe the rebels.
Myanmar (Burma)
A sizable number of mujahideen are present and concentrated in the province of
Arakan,
Myanmar. They were much more active before the 1962
coup d'etat by General
Ne Win. Ne Win carried out some military operations targeting them over a period of two decades. The prominent one was "
Operation King Dragon" which took place in 1978; as a result, many Muslims in the region fled to neighboring country
Bengladesh as refugees. Nevertheless, the Myanmar mujahideen are still active within the remote areas of Arakan. Their associations with Bangladeshi mujahideen were significant but they've extended their networks to the international level and countries such as
Pakistan,
Malaysia, et al, during the recent years. They collect donations, and get religious military training outside of Myanmar.
Somalia
The
Somali Civil War (2006) changed radically due to
Ethiopian involvement. Before their entry into the conflict in July, 2006, the struggle between the
Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and the warlord-based
Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism and the fledgling
Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was an internal struggle between Somali Muslims, particularly those who preferred a secular state to one ruled by
sharia law. Now faced with the presence of forces from the historically Christian Ethiopia, the ICU began to frame the war as one of jihad, and called its citizens to rise in arms to throw the Ethiopians out of the country.
In
July 2006, a Web-posted message purportedly written by Osama bin Laden urged Somalis to build an Islamic state in the country and warned western states that his al-Qaeda network would fight against them if they intervened there. 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 proceeding the
Battle of Baidoa. On
December 23,
2006, Islamists, for the first time, called upon international fighters to join their cause. The term
mujahideen is now openly used by the
post-ICU resistance against the Ethiopians and the TFG.
History
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