Editing Takfir wal-Hijra

{{short description|Radical Islamist group founded by Shukri Mustafa}}
{{Infobox war faction
| name             = Takfir wal-Hijra
| native_name      = التكفير والهجرة
| native_name_lang = ar
| war              = {{Tree list}}
* [[Soviet–Afghan War]]
* [[War on terror]]
* [[Syrian Civil War]]
* [[Sinai insurgency]]
{{tree list/end}}
| image            = Jam'aatulMuslimeenOfficialFlag.svg
| caption          = 
| active           = 1971–present (as Jama'at al-Muslimin group until 1978, decentralised underground movement since)
| ideology         = [[Takfiri]] ([[Qutbism]])
| leaders          = [[Shukri Mustafa]]{{executed}}
| clans            = 
| headquarters     = 
| area             = 
| size             = 
| partof           = 
| predecessor      = [[Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt]] ([[Sayyid Qutb]]-wing)
| successor        = 
| allies           = 
| opponents        = Governments of Arab countries,<br/>"Apostate" Muslims, non-Muslims
| battles          = {{Tree list}}
* [[Soviet–Afghan War]]
* [[War on terror]]
* [[Syrian Civil War]]
* [[Sinai insurgency]]
{{tree list/end}}
| url              = 
| status           = 
}}

'''''Takfir wal-Hijra'''''  ({{langx|ar|التكفير والهجرة}}, translation: "[[Excommunication#Islam|Excommunication]] and Exodus", alternatively "excommunication and emigration" or "[[anathema]] and exile"), was the popular name given to a radical [[Islamism|Islamist]] group '''''Jama'at al-Muslimin''''' founded by [[Shukri Mustafa]] which emerged in [[Egypt]] in the 1960s as an offshoot of the [[Muslim Brotherhood]].<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/special/sala.html The Salafist Movement] | Bruce Livesey| pbs.org</ref> Although the group was crushed by Egyptian security forces after it murdered an Islamic scholar and former government minister in 1977, it is said to have "left an enduring legacy" taken up by some Islamist radicals in "subsequent years and decades."<ref name="Dalacoura">[https://archive.org/details/islamistterroris0000dala/page/113 ''Islamist Terrorism and Democracy in the Middle East''] By Katerina Dalacoura, p.113</ref>

==Name==
The label "''Takfir wal-Hijra''" ("excommunication and exodus") was from the start a derogatory term used by the official Egyptian press media when talking about the cult group ''Jama'at al-Muslimin''. The word ''[[takfir]]'' means to judge and label somebody (specifically one or more self-proclaimed Muslims, in this case contemporary Muslim society) to be a ''[[kafir]]'' (non-Muslim infidel). ''[[Hijra (Islam)|Hijra]]'' means flight or emigration or leaving, specifically the migration of the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]] and his followers from [[Mecca]] where they were being persecuted, to the city of [[Medina]]. Thus, "''Takfir wal-Hijra''" referred to Muslims who judge mainstream Muslim society to be infidel, and see it as their duty to separate from it until such a time as they can return in strength to conquer and Islamicize it, as Muhammad did with Mecca.

Most Egyptians hesitated to use the title the group used for itself, ''Jama'at al-Muslimin'' meaning "Society of Muslims", as it implied that the group was ''the'' society of Muslims, and those not members were not part of Muslim society and not true Muslims.  In addition, since few Egyptian Muslims (and no one in the government) agreed with the belief of the group's founder [[Shukri Mustafa]] that Muslims in Egypt deserved to be "excommunicated" (''takfir'') as un-Islamic, and that true Muslims were compelled to be in "exodus" (''hijra''), the cult's idea of "''Takfir wal-Hijra''" made it unique to most Egyptians.  Consequently, "''Takfir wal-Hijra''" was the name given to the group by its detractors. Not surprisingly, Shukri and his followers strongly objected to being called that, but "''Takfir wal-Hijra''", and not ''Jama'at al-Muslimin'', became fixed in the popular consciousness.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=iCoYDUv63L8C&q=Understanding+Terror+Networks%3A+Marc+Sageman Understanding Terror Networks]'' By Marc Sageman, (University of Pennsylvania Press) p.28</ref>

==Overview==
{{Salafi}}
Takfir wal-Hijra has been described as "a matrix of terrorist cells - allied to [[Osama bin Laden|bin Laden]] but often more extreme than him,"<ref name=guardian>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/30/terrorism.afghanistan6 "The secret war,"] ''The Guardian'' (30 September 2001).</ref> and as a group which inspired "some of the tactics and methods used by Al Qaeda and whose ideology is being embraced by a growing number of [[Salafist jihadism|Salafist jihadist]]s living in Europe."<ref name=pbs/> Described as a movement that began in Egypt in 1971, by the 1990s it has been described as a "decentralised network" of "cells",<ref name=wilkinson/> and as a "radical ideology" and "web of Islamic militants around the world connected only by their beliefs" (rather than "an organization per se").<ref name=Gleis>{{cite journal|last1=Gleis|first1=Joshua L.|title=National Security Implications of Al-Takfir Wal-Hijra|journal=Al Nakhlah: The Fletcher School Online Journal for Issues Related to Southwest Asia and Islamic Civilization|date=Spring 2005|page=1}}</ref> The networks are said to be specializing in "logistical support to terrorist groups" operating across Europe that loosely follow a number of "core precepts", mainly that "man-made laws" are "illegitimate", that "theft, kidnapping, forced marriages and even the assassination of anyone who [is] not part of the group" are justified.<ref name=Mili-29-6-2006/> Groups that have been described as Takfir wal-Hijra may have had little or no connection to each other.<ref name=JanesWIT>Jane's World Insurgency and Terrorism{{full citation needed|date=September 2018}}</ref>

The group has been said to form "the most extreme and violent strand in the Salafist jihadist movement."<ref name=pbs/> The ''takfir'' of the Takfiris refers to the belief (of at least some of the movement such as Ali Ismael, the sheikh of Egypt's [[Al-Azhar Mosque]] at the time) that not only were Egyptian President at the time [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] and his government officials [[Apostasy in Islam|apostate]]s, but so was "Egyptian society as a whole" because it was "not fighting the Egyptian government and had thus accepted rule by non-Muslims".<ref name=Mili-29-6-2006/>
 
According to [[Mamoun Fandy]], an Egyptian-born professor of politics and senior fellow at the [[James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy|Baker Institute]] of Public Policy, followers are allowed to shave their beards, drink alcohol, visit topless bars and commit crimes against Westerners &mdash; all under the cloak of subterfuge. "They are the mothers and fathers of sleeping cells."<ref name=pbs/> They believe that the ends justify any means and, that killing other Muslims can be justified in their cause and that Western society is heathen and it is their duty to destroy it.<ref name=pbs>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/etc/script.html "Al Qaeda's New Front" ''Frontline'' PBS News, 25 January 2005]</ref>

==History and activities==
The Jama'at al-Muslimin group, was founded by Shukri Mustafa in 1971. Originally a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mustafa had been imprisoned with other members including [[Sayyid Qutb]], and he eventually became one of Qutb's most radical disciples.<ref name=pbs/> Mustafa's group gained nationwide attention in Egypt when they kidnapped and eventually executed Islamic scholar and former government minister [[Husayn al-Dhahabi]], a vocal critic of the group, in July 1977. In the crackdown that followed, 620 alleged members of the group were arrested and 465 tried before military courts. Shukri Mustafa was himself executed the next year, in March 1978.<ref>{{Cite book|first=John L.|last=Esposito|title=Islam and Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SlhxoTHLxeMC&pg=PA239|year=1998|publisher=Syracuse University Press|page=239|isbn=9780815627746}}</ref> An apocalyptic group,<ref>{{Cite book|first1=Martin E.|last1=Marty|first2=R. Scott|last2=Appleby|title=Accounting for Fundamentalisms: The Dynamic Character of Movements|year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XTDteHrDgfAC&pg=PA378|publisher=University of Chicago Press|page=378|isbn=9780226508863}}</ref> according to authors [[Daniel Benjamin]] and [[Steven Simon]], based on the "testimony of those who knew him" and Mustafa's statements during his trial, "it is clear Shuqri Mustafa thought he was the [[Mahdi]]".<ref>''The Age of Sacred Terror'' by Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, pp. 90-1</ref> 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."<ref>Wright, Robin ''Sacred Rage'', 1985, p.181</ref>

Some former members of the group were later linked to the [[assassination of Anwar Sadat]] and the [[1981 Asyut Islamist Uprising|Asyut Islamic Uprising]] in 1981.<ref name="Rabasa">{{Cite book|first=Angel|last=Rabasa|title=Radical Islam in East Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x96UabsFz4AC&pg=PA70|year=2009|publisher=Rand Corporation|page=70|isbn=9780833046796}}</ref> According to [[Paul Wilkinson (academic)|Paul Wilkinson]], Shukri Mustafa's execution "ushered in the emergence of two wings within Al Takfir: one under the leadership of Abbud al-Zammut (considered one of the original founders) and one under the leadership of [[Ayman Al-Zawahiri]]", later second in command of al-Qaeda. Takfir wal-Hijra grew substantially through the 1990s as "[[Afghan Arabs]]" returned from Afghanistan after fighting in the [[Soviet–Afghan War]] and [[Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)]] to their homes in the Middle East and North Africa and spread their doctrines, establishing a "decentralized network of believers" that has been active "throughout Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan and Sudan".<ref name=wilkinson>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=A7PVAMo3-30C&dq=Takfir+wal-Hijra&pg=PA47 Homeland security in the UK: future preparedness for terrorist attack since 9/11]''  By Paul Wilkinson, p.47</ref> During the [[Algerian Civil War]] in the 1990s, the al-Muwahhidun group, which has otherwise been referred to as Takfir wal-Hijra, was central in the formation and the ideology of the [[Armed Islamic Group of Algeria]] (GIA) which went on to declare Algerian society "kuffar", commencing [[List of massacres during the Algerian Civil War|a campaign of massacring civilians]].<ref name="Dalacoura"/>

Hayder Mili of [[Jamestown Foundation]] states that Takfir wal-Hijra has been responsible for "at least five attacks" on worshippers at mosques in Sudan from 1994 to 2006, resulting "in scores of fatalities and hundreds of injuries".<ref name=Mili-29-6-2006>{{cite journal|last1=Mili|first1=Hayder|title=Jihad Without Rules: The Evolution of al-Takfir wa al-Hijra|journal=Terrorism Monitor|date=June 29, 2006|volume=4|issue=13|url=http://www.jamestown.org/programs/tm/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=822&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=181&no_cache=1#.VnQ8MNKrTq4|access-date=18 December 2015}}</ref> Some news reports in which the name Takfir wal-Hijra have been mentioned include the killing of 16 Muslim worshipers in Sudan in 1994, and [[2000 Jarafa mosque massacre|the killing of 22 people and wounding of 31 others]] who were praying at a Sudanese mosque six years later.<ref name=pbs/> In 1995, the Sudanese branch of the group planned to assassinate al-Qaeda-leader Osama bin Laden while he was residing in Sudan because his views were considered to be too liberal.<ref name="Rabasa"/>

On 31 December 1999, in the Dinnieh district of Northern Lebanon "hundreds of Takfiris" led by Lebanese-American [[Bassam Kanj]] organised [[Dinnieh clashes|attacks killing civilians and clashing with the Lebanese Army]], the biggest clashes since the [[Lebanese Civil War|civil war]]. The fighting lasted for a week before it was subdued.<ref name=Mili-29-6-2006/> In 2005, Takfir wal‐Hijra took credit for the killings of Christian civilians in the same area in Lebanon.<ref>[http://fletcher.tufts.edu/al_nakhlah/archives/spring2005/gleis.pdf National Security Implications of Al‐Takfir Wal‐Hijra] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100627084926/http://fletcher.tufts.edu/al_nakhlah/archives/spring2005/gleis.pdf |date=2010-06-27 }}| Joshua L. Gleis</ref> Lebanese-Canadian [[Kassem Daher]] who was arrested by Lebanese authorities in 2000 was accused of being a member of Takfir wal-Hijra.<ref name="csisJaballah">[[Canadian Security Intelligence Service]], [http://cas-ncr-nter03.cas-satj.gc.ca/rss/Jaballah.pdf Summary of the Security Intelligence Report concerning Mahmoud Jaballah]{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, February 22, 2008</ref>

Takfiris may have been involved in the murder of U.S. diplomat [[Laurence Foley]] in Jordan in 2002.<ref name=Mili-29-6-2006/> The assassin of Dutch filmmaker [[Theo van Gogh (film director)|Theo Van Gogh]] in 2004, [[Mohammed Bouyeri]], left a note on Van Gogh's body containing references to Takfir wal-Hijra's ideology.<ref name=MIslamMon>[http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/333 Murder for the sake of Allah- Blasphemy vs.Jihad in Holland], ''Militant Islam Monitor''</ref> Alleged members of Takfir wal-Hijra were arrested in Ukraine in 2009.<ref>{{cite news |last=Zawadzki  |first=Sabina |editor-last=Pearce |editor-first=Time |date=October 26, 2009 |title=Ukraine detains three suspected Islamic militants |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLQ250725 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915040333/http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLQ250725 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 15, 2016 |newspaper=Reuters }}</ref> In November 2013, Russian security forces detained 14 radical Islamists suspected of adhering to Takfir wal-Hijra.<ref>[https://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/27/world/europe/russia-islamists/index.html Russian security forces detain 14 suspected radical Islamists]| By Alla Eshchenko and Laura Smith-Spark| CNN| November 27, 2013</ref>

The group has been involved in the [[Sinai insurgency]] since its beginnings in 2011. On 7 February 2011, [[Rocket-propelled grenade|RPG]]-wielding militants identified as members of Takfir wal-Hijra carried out an attack in [[Rafah, Egypt]], leading to a two-hour battle with Egyptian security forces and local tribesmen in which two people were reported injured.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/world/middleeast/08sinai.html?partner=rss&emc=rss Amid Egypt Turmoil, More Clashes in Sinai], ''New York Times'' 08-02-2011</ref> In 2013, Egyptian police said they had arrested the leader of Takfir wal-Hijra as well as "dozens" of other militants.<ref name=ao1nov>{{cite web|url=http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/85319/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-army-arrests-head-of-Sinai-radical-militant-.aspx|title=Egypt army arrests head of Sinai radical militant group, dozens others|publisher=Ahram Online|date=1 November 2013|access-date=5 November 2013}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Terrorism in Egypt]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Militant Islamism in the Middle East}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Apocalyptic groups]]
[[Category:Armed Islamic Group of Algeria]]
[[Category:Factions of the Algerian Civil War]]
[[Category:History of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt]]
[[Category:Islam-related controversies]]
[[Category:Jihadist groups in Lebanon]]
[[Category:Jihadist groups in Algeria]]
[[Category:Jihadist groups in Egypt]]
[[Category:Organisations of the Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014)]]
[[Category:Organizations based in Asia designated as terrorist]]
[[Category:Sinai insurgency]]
[[Category:Terrorism in Sudan]]
[[Category:Qutbist organisations]]
[[Category:Mahdism]]