Shaykh Abdullah Azzam and Not Throwing the Baby Out With the Bathwater 

 

(See also Mujaddideen of the 14th Century AH: A Case for theAfghan and 'Arab' (non-Afghan) Mujahideen Who Fought Against the Soviets)

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Regarding Shaykh Abdullah Azzam, in 2020 someone wrote a book about him which was reviewed by The Observer newspaper. The author of the article gave a concise description of him which was,

 

“Azzam is still revered by many who believe that the Islamic ummah (community/nation) matters more and has greater legitimacy than individual authoritarian Arab and Muslim states.”

 

The Observer's description reminds me of something that he once said which was,

 

“The Ummah of Jihad, which is led by extraordinary people who emerged through the long Jihad movement, will not easily lose command, nor serve as easy prey for collapse. It is also not easy for its enemies to make it have suspicions about its heroes' excursions. The Jihad movement familiarizes the Ummah with all its individuals, informing them that they have contributed to the price paid, and have participated in the sacrifice for the establishment of the Islamic community. Thus they will be trustworthy custodians of this newborn community which has relieved the whole Ummah from the agony of its labor-pains. Without a doubt, the Islamic community will be born, but birth cannot be accomplished without labor, and with labor there must be pain.”

 

Abdullah Azzam was of the view that Muslims would always be made aware of their recent heroes and the sacrifices they had made. This would ensure that they accept the heroes as worthy custodians of the 'Islamic community' when the time comes. However, he was active in the 80s and enjoyed living during a time in which he could travel freely, even to the USA, preaching and collecting money for his cause. He couldn't have imagined that, in the near future, Muslims would be too afraid to mention many of their recent heroes.

 

As Muslims, we should learn from our mistakes, past and present, as they cause weakness and defeat, and if the mistakes are to do with oppressing others then Allah Ta'ala does not support oppressive states. However, acknowledging such mistakes should be based on sure knowledge from reliable sources and we should be weary of accepting information that those who don't have our best interests at heart give us.

 

Even so, learning from our genuine mistakes shouldn't mean that we should throw the baby out with the bathwater especially if its birth was the result of decades of tremendous struggle and sacrifice on the part of people who most of this ummah don't even know.

 

When we are unaware of our past then we see current events as new, isolated incidents instead of seeing them as the legacy of those heroes who came before. As the heroes are unknown, their legacy is easy to ridicule or reject and, to our shame, we have already witnessed this.

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​Wal-hamdu lillahi rabbil 'alamin (April 2023 originally a comment made in 2021)

 

(See also Mujaddideen of the 14th Century AH: A Case for theAfghan and 'Arab' (non-Afghan) Mujahideen Who Fought Against the Soviets)

 

Umm Hafab

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