The last testament of Saleem Shahzad
The basic idea is that the Messiah (Imam Mehdi) will come in the Middle East and the war will begin in Khurasan (identified with Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia) and go on to India. Eventually, Israel will be defeated and a just caliphate will be established over the earth. To obtain this victory, al Qaeda will get rid of the Muslim rulers who are allies of the West and those Muslims who are not really Muslims at all. For this purpose, the most important theoretical insight is that the al Qaeda ideology comprises the ideas of takfeer and khuruj which are explained in pages 124-149. khuruj is revolt against a Muslim ruler of un-Islamic governance and takfeer refers to the heretical status of Muslims who adhere to western values. The idea was to convince the Muslim masses to revolt against their rulers because, according to the ideologues of al Qaeda, they were not Muslims but heretics. In this context, Sheikh Abdul Munem Mustafa Halima Abu Baseer’s (also called Abu Baseer al-Tartusi) book written in 1994 Qawaid Al-Takfeer explains both concepts clearly and is essential part of al Qaeda reading material. The philosophy of khuruj goes back to Ibn-e-Tamiyyah who forced Nair al-Din Qalausen, the ruler of Egypt, to fight against the Tartars on the pain of revolt. Further input into this came from Syed Qutb’s concept of jahilliya, which means ignorance and which includes all those who believe in democracy, secularism, socialism etc.
Shahzad argues, on the basis of evidence from 1996 to 2010, that al Qaeda and the Taliban are not the same. Al Qaeda, in contrast to the Taliban and other militant groups, has a universal agenda based upon the ideas given above. Thus, al Qaeda wants to expand its war to Central Asia and India as a prelude to defeating Israel and its supporters.
The battle had to begin by weakening the United States, which was attacked on 9/11 so as to bring it in the minefield of Afghanistan. Ilyas Kashmiri, who he confirms as the mastermind of the Mumbai assault (November 26, 2008), told him: We planned this battle to bring the Great Satan (the United States) and its allies into this swamp (Afghanistan).
Allegedly, Kashmiri planned the Mumbai attacks, which were meant to precipitate a war between Pakistan and India so as to relieve the pressure on the Taliban and al Qaeda on Pakistan’s western border.
This ideology has affected some army officers also. Shahzad gives the names of people like Captain Khurram, Major Haroon, Major Abdul Rahman among the most outstanding of them. The sketches of Khurram and Haroon are quite detailed and even emails from them are produced as evidence. Khurram, who was a commando officer in 2001, joined the Lashkar-e-Taiba in Kashmir. He left the army in 2003 and died in Afghanistan in 2007. Haroon trained the rag-tag army of the Taliban and was later jailed in Pakistan. Kashmiri, also an effective commander, carried out many attacks, including the 26/11 one in Mumbai. When Shahzad interviewed him, he told him that this attack was “nothing compared to what we have planned for the future” (p. 97).
The worth of the book is in these interviews and its inside knowledge — and it was probably too much of it which brought about his end!
Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st, 2011.
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I am surprised at how people are reacting on Saleem Shahzads book!Why are they so upset about the existence of AQ and taliban in our society whether it is army, beurocracy,parliament or ordinary people.I think it is so obvious that taliban mindset is everywhere from how people react in different situations.Saleem Shahzad gave just a few names from the army and never said that most of the army had link with AQ.He was the man who warked hard and did some research whereas many of us condemn him just because what he is saying we dont want to hear.Go out and do some research yourself if you want to know some truth instead of blaming that poor man.
Syed Shahzad Saleem did for the longest period of time (in fact several years between 2005 and till his reported death) give context on a weekly basis sometimes twice or thrice a week to the news reports coming out of the Pakistan-Afghanistan war zone. He was Pakistan's answer to Indian Amabassador Bhadrakumar. He was considered required reading for people like me, who wanted to stay abreast of trying to make sense out of all that was being reported.
His interview with Kashmiri in fact helped understanding of the Pakistani indegeneous element within Al Qaeda and how the links of the Arab Pakistani connections may have materialized during the last thirty years or more. There were occiasions when his predictions or conclusions were not completely accurate, but on a significant number of occaisions specially his analysis of the TTP and how the Mehsuds, Waziris and other players were expected to react in the situations as they developed.
For someone like me his death was a personal disconnect to the unfolding events. I have yet to read another journalist from Pakistan who can offer the insights that Saleem Shahzad managed to convey. Now every day during the week when I read Asia times I can detect the absence of Saleem's contribution which enhanced the analyis that ATOL typically offers.
What he was trying to write a novel we has been reading these novel since our childhood and this mehdi and messia things meking us so fool and agnorent of future and leaving us far behind from the other world please woke up and get rid of there shezada gulfam stories and come to real world.
"The basic idea is that the Messiah (Imam Mehdi) will come in the Middle East and the war will begin in Khurasan (identified with Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia) and go on to India. Eventually, Israel will be defeated and a just caliphate will be established over the earth. "
Does it mean that the Muslims believe that Israel cannot be defeated till all other powers are defeated for the establishment of the "just caliphate" over the earth.
If this is what the journalist really wrote in his book, it sounds neither particularly original nor very plausible to me. Just tedious balderdash, actually. Which is not to say he should have been killed, (by whomever) in case there are the usual chronic misunderstanders out there!
I think the war in Khurasan would be a sectarian conflict :D
Common stop the Fuss about Al-Qaeeda: CIA invented the Terminology and used it to attack Iraq and Afghanistan.
@Frank: When popular opinion is that he got killed because of the information he was giving it automatically implies that it was the truth. His death turned what would normally be debatable and uncertain accusations into what some consider the "gospel truth." As if he was wrong, he probably wouldn't have been killed for it. That, of course, is if that is what he was killed for. Signs point to the fact that it was and it seems to be enough for the majority to continue on about it confidently.
May Saleem Shazad rest in peace, and with strong apologies to his soul and his family, I think that his tragic death became the attention drawing stimulus towards his otherwise not so serious work. Based solely on his 'personal' encounters with Talqaida (Taliban-Alqaida) war-lords, and lack of any citations of other original works, his book is no more than a piece of speculative (as opposed to investigative) journalism. There are places where he gets some basic facts utterly wrong. For example, saying that President Burhanudin Rabbani and his defence minister Ahmad Shah Masoud invited OBL to Afghanistan in 1996 is unforgivable for a journalist whose claim to prominence is based on his knowledge of Afghanistan. There are other examples, where his explanations are more likely work of spin-doctoring. His treatment of 26/11 in the book leaves a message different than what he actually reported in Asia Times Online during first week of Dec 2008. Larger than life role given to one individual Maj Haroon in cultivating AlQaida links in Pak Army, and the way he described Ashiq brothers, gave me the feeling that Maj Haroon Ashiq and Cap Khurram Ashiq had left somewhat very strong indoctrinating impression on Shahzad himself.
Finally I find it difficult to believe that ISI killed him. It is like saying that ISI themselves killed Col Imam, or Raymond Davis was trapped into trouble by CIA themselves. More likely he was killed by the people who planned and executed PNS affair, and who had trouble with Naval high command as was reported by Shahzad in the first part of his last report.
We never knew about Salim Shahzad, before his murder. His revelations are neither new nor very alarming. There had been so many authors who had been producing such material. His writings are based on his opinions and assumptions. He is often seen drawing bizarre conclusions from trivial facts
I don't know why some people treat Saleem Shahzad's every word as gospel truth. With all due respect to him, like most other journalists Saleem Shahzad had his axe to grind. There is hardly any such thing as an impartial or unbiased news source.
People from khurasan will join the army of Imam mehdi,to fight against evil forces(including some so called muslims) of Dajjal.MUSLIMS will prevail under the Leadership of Imam Mehdi and Essa(JESSUS). This will happen sooner or later,no matter how strong the evil force would be.
The question one needs to ask is that how did Islam and Muslims progress from a small society in Madeenah to overwhelming numbers of nations after nations. Was it a war or the very likeable and loveable nature and characteristics of those who practised Islam in its full spirit? What did those Muslims do to create an Islamic state? This is exactly what we are not doing. They all, yes all of them, in their spare time would converge in their only Musjid i.e. Musjid ul Nabee and continue their congregation after prayers to work to create a system that would make the Laws of Allah the Laws of lands (under their control) through their Jameeyah and Shoorah i.e. through peoples' practice and through their self help. Did they have a President, a King, a Ruler, a General, a Dictator or even a Custodian of US interests,in Arabia? No. None whatsoever. So what sort of system did they create? They created an envy of democracy. How? Each and every one of them came forward to shoulder their Divine responsibility to work to create a self helping, vigilant, just, caring and responsible society and thus also created an Authority. Authority of no man but that of Allah alone. Which Authority? The Authority Allah commands Muslims to obey along with Him and His Prophet (pboh). Everyone came forward to make the Laws of Allah, as these came through the holy Prophet (pboh), their Laws to obey and hence by their practice, the Laws of the land. Are we in thefootsteps of those early Muslims who by their nature and character became winners. Winners of hearts and minds. No. Certainly NOT. So we are looosers today and will remain so until we reform our ways and come together to organise ourself in the manner those early Muslims did.
With due respect to the deceased author. These are some extraordinary leaps of logic. AQ by the admission of several CIA officials and other analyst has approximately 50 members in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Its described as a "network of network". I.e Ideology, tactics, inspired acts etc. Not at all a monolitihic organization bent on world domination.Its has not been at all effective since 2001 when most of its leadership was apprehended in Pakistan. Consider the statement from the former National Counter Terrorism Head Richard Baer since 2001 AQ has killed 17 US citizens(of which 14 were in the Fort Hood massacre where the AQ link is very tenuous actually non exsistent).I have also read Saleem Shahzad work in Asia Times online(Hardly a major or dependable Publication) and his reports are just filled with "orignal" research, not at all in concordance with any other source(For example in one he claims KSM died in the raid in Karachi and the CIA covered it up, many more such fallacies you can check the articles yourself).. I personally take all his work with a grain of salt.There is lot of pressure on journalist in the international press to provide a compelling narrative in regards to the rather absurd "war against terror". Now if you take the rants of a single militant as a detailed manifesto of world domination you have to provide much more compelling evidence. Extraordinary proof for Extraordinary claims after all. As for the Capt Khurrum angle, he was a "Captain" and was force to retired , that by itself just shows our military wont promote the religiously inclined or the Ideologically driven.The recent purging of the rather benign Hizb e tahrir members is case in point. Our military planners know well its actions in coordinating drone strikes and operations in Tribal areas and Boloachistan and its considerable "collateral damage" may well turn some of its members and it does ALOT of internal policing to nip this problem when it comes up. With regards to Ilyas Kashmiri he was rather a very small part of LET and a was a long time military asset. I highly doubt he was major planner or had anything to do with the Mumbai massacre.Well to the very least there isnt even circumstantial evidence in this regard.Except ofcourse Slaeem Shahzad purported interview. I seriously doubt there is a AQ infestation in the Higher ranks. Of course how he died was very tragic and should be fully investigated(along with the case of Tribal journalist Hayatullah and his wife where the Security forces are much more clearly implicated).But his reporting leaps of logic, lack of evidence and fear mongering would mean it does not make any sense to take anything he has written too seriously.
Writing names of two army officials did not prove the theories presented in this article. Books of Husain Haqqani or author of "Shia Crescent", Amir Mir and many others put forward same theories. All of this theory is part of neo-Cons doctrine. It is always better before writing any poisnous article to see the historical context. Whether Tatari's were not so wild that eliminated Muslim culture and civilizaation, and talk of river Dajla became black with the ink of books thrown in river what tells to PhD's on scholarships of Western countries. Please don't convert craziness of American war mongers into sectarian conflict, US attacked on Iraq for before birth of Al- Kaeda called first Gulf War. Quoting one unknown cleric is mockery and nobody knows him in Pakistan. Neither Saleem Shahzad or any other so called experts of war of terror ever studied culture of Pushtoon areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Every report is based on myth without knowing facts because nobody is allowed to Visit in those areas. Whereas Saleem Shahzad was based at Karachi and moved to Islamabad recently. If you want to raise finger towards Pakistan army, don't be coward, say openly or don't write such kind of articles when case is already in courts.