''Takfir wal-Hijra'' ( ar, تكفير والهجرة, translation: "
Excommunication
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
and Exodus", alternatively "excommunication and emigration" or "
anathema
Anathema, in common usage, is something or someone detested or shunned. In its other main usage, it is a formal excommunication. The latter meaning, its ecclesiastical sense, is based on New Testament usage. In the Old Testament, anathema was a cr ...
and exile"), was the popular name given to a radical
Islamist group ''Jama'at al-Muslimin'' founded by
Shukri Mustafa
Shukri Mustafa ( ar, شكري مصطفى, ; 1 June 1942 – 19 March 1978) was an Egyptian agricultural engineer who led the extremist Islamist group ''Jama'at al-Muslimin'', popularly known as Takfir wal-Hijra. He began his path toward Islamist ...
which emerged in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
in the 1960s as an offshoot of the
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...
. 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."
[''Islamist Terrorism and Democracy in the Middle East''](_blank)
By Katerina Dalacoura, p.113
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
''Takfir'' or ''takfīr'' ( ar, تكفير, takfīr) is an Arabic and Islamic term which denotes excommunication from Islam of one Muslim by another, i.e. accusing another Muslim to be an apostate. The word is found neither in the Quran nor in ...
'' means to judge and label somebody (specifically one or more self-proclaimed Muslims, in this case contemporary Muslim society) to be a ''
kafir
Kafir ( ar, كافر '; plural ', ' or '; feminine '; feminine plural ' or ') is an Arabic and Islamic term which, in the Islamic tradition, refers to a person who disbelieves in God as per Islam, or denies his authority, or rejects ...
'' (non-Muslim infidel). ''
Hijra
Hijra, Hijrah, Hegira, Hejira, Hijrat or Hijri may refer to:
Islam
* Hijrah (often written as ''Hejira'' in older texts), the migration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE
* Migration to Abyssinia or First Hegira, of Muhammad's followers ...
'' means flight or emigration or leaving, specifically the migration of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
and his followers from
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
where they were being persecuted, to the city of
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
. 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
Shukri Mustafa ( ar, شكري مصطفى, ; 1 June 1942 – 19 March 1978) was an Egyptian agricultural engineer who led the extremist Islamist group ''Jama'at al-Muslimin'', popularly known as Takfir wal-Hijra. He began his path toward Islamist ...
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.
Overview
Takfir wal-Hijra has been described as "a matrix of terrorist cells - allied to
bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated a ...
but often more extreme than him,"
["The secret war,"]
''The Guardian'' (30 September 2001). 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 jihadists living in Europe."
[ Described as a movement that began in Egypt in 1971, by the 1990s it has been described as a "decentralised network" of "cells",][ and as a "radical ideology" and "web of Islamic militants around the world connected only by their beliefs" (rather than "an organization per se").] 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 snot part of the group" are justified.[ Groups that have been described as Takfir wal-Hijra may have had little or no connection to each other.][Jane's World Insurgency and Terrorism]
The group has been said to form "the most extreme and violent strand in the Salafist jihadist movement."[ 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
Al-Azhar Mosque ( ar, الجامع الأزهر, al-Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, lit=The Resplendent Congregational Mosque, arz, جامع الأزهر, Gāmiʿ el-ʾazhar), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the histori ...
at the time) that not only were Egyptian President at the time Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...
and his government officials apostate
Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that ...
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".[
According to Mamoun Fandy, an Egyptian-born professor of politics and senior fellow at the Baker Institute of Public Policy, followers are allowed to shave their beards, drink alcohol, visit topless bars and commit crimes against Westerners — all under the cloak of subterfuge. "They are the mothers and fathers of sleeping cells."][ 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.]["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
Sayyid 'Ibrāhīm Ḥusayn Quṭb ( or ; , ; ar, سيد قطب إبراهيم حسين ''Sayyid Quṭb''; 9 October 1906 – 29 August 1966), known popularly as Sayyid Qutb ( ar, سيد قطب), was an Egyptians, Egyptian author, educato ...
, and he eventually became one of Qutb's most radical disciples.[ 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. An apocalyptic group, according to authors ]Daniel Benjamin
Daniel Benjamin (born October 16, 1961) is an American diplomat and journalist and was the Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the United States Department of State from 2009 to 2012, appointed by Secretary Hillary Clinton. Benjamin was the direct ...
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
The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a Messianism, messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the Eschatology, end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a de ...
". 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."
Some former members of the group were later linked to the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981. According to 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
Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri (June 19, 1951 – July 31, 2022) was an Egyptian-born terrorist and physician who served as the second emir of al-Qaeda from June 16, 2011, until his death.
Al-Zawahiri graduated from Cairo University with ...
", later second in command of al-Qaeda. Takfir wal-Hijra grew substantially through the 1990s as "Afghan Arabs
Afghan Arabs (also known as Arab-Afghans) are Arab and other Muslim Islamist mujahideen who came to Afghanistan during and following the Soviet–Afghan War to help fellow Muslims fight Soviets and pro-Soviet Afghans.
Estimates of the volu ...
" returned from Afghanistan to their homes in the Middle East and North Africa and spread their doctrines, establishing a "decentralised network of believers" that has been active "throughout Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan and Sudan."
Homeland security in the UK: future preparedness for terrorist attack since 9/11
' By Paul Wilkinson, p.47 During the Algerian Civil War
The Algerian Civil War ( ar, rtl=yes, الْحَرْبُ الْأَهْلِيَّةُ الجَزَائِرِيَّةُ, al-Ḥarb al-ʾAhlīyah al-Jazāʾirīyah) was a civil war in Algeria fought between the Algerian government and various Is ...
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
The Armed Islamic Group (GIA, from french: Groupe Islamique Armé; ar, الجماعة الإسلامية المسلّحة, al-Jamāʿa l-ʾIslāmiyya l-Musallaḥa) was one of the two main Islamist insurgent groups that fought the Algerian gove ...
(GIA) which went on to declare Algerian society "takfir", commencing a campaign of massacring civilians.
Hayder Mili of Jamestown Foundation
The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based conservative defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission today is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which ...
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". 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 the killing of 22 people and wounding of 31 others who were praying at a Sudanese mosque six years later.[ 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.]
On 31 December 1999, in the Dinnieh district of Northern Lebanon "hundreds of Takfiris" led by Lebanese-American Bassam Kanj organised attacks killing civilians and clashing with the Lebanese Army, the biggest clashes since the civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. The fighting lasted for a week before it was subdued.[ In 2005, Takfir wal‐Hijra took credit for the killings of Christian civilians in the same area in Lebanon. Lebanese-Canadian Kassem Daher who was arrested by Lebanese authorities in 2000 was accused of being a member of Takfir wal-Hijra.]Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; french: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, ''SCRS'') is Canada's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating int ...
Summary of the Security Intelligence Report concerning Mahmoud Jaballah
February 22, 2008
Takfiris may have been involved in the murder of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley
Laurence Michael Foley, Sr. (October 5, 1942 – October 28, 2002) was an American diplomat who was assassinated outside his home in Amman, Jordan.
Career
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Foley became a Peace Corps volunteer in 1965, serving ...
in Jordan in 2002.[ The assassin of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh in 2004, ]Mohammed Bouyeri
Mohammed Bouyeri ( ar, محمد بويري ; born 8 March 1978) is a Moroccan-Dutch convicted terrorist serving a life sentence without parole in the prison of Nieuw Vosseveld (Vught) for the assassination of Dutch film director Theo van Gogh. A ...
, left a note on Van Gogh's body containing references to Takfir wal-Hijra's ideology.[Murder for the sake of Allah- Blasphemy vs.Jihad in Holland]
''Militant Islam Monitor'' Alleged members of Takfir wal-Hijra were arrested in Ukraine in 2009. In November 2013, Russian security forces detained 14 radical Islamists suspected of adhering to Takfir wal-Hijra.
The group has been involved in the Sinai insurgency
The Sinai insurgency is an ongoing insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, that was commenced by Islamist militants against Egyptian security forces, which have also included attacks on civilians. The insurgency began during the Egyptian ...
since its beginnings in 2011. On 7 February 2011, RPG-wielding militants identified as members of Takfir wal-Hijra carried out an attack in Rafah, Egypt
Rafah ( ar, رفح, ) is an important city in North Sinai and Egypt's eastern border with the Gaza Strip. It is the capital of Rafah center in North Sinai Governorate, and is situated on the eastern Mediterranean coast of Egypt.
Rafah is the si ...
, leading to a two-hour battle with Egyptian security forces and local tribesmen in which two people were reported injured.Amid Egypt Turmoil, More Clashes in Sinai
''New York Times'' 08-02-2011 In 2013, Egyptian police said they had arrested the leader of Takfir wal-Hijra as well as "dozens" of other militants.
See also
* Terrorism in Egypt
Terrorism in Egypt in the 20th and 21st centuries has targeted the Egyptian government officials, Egyptian police and Egyptian army members, tourists, Sufi Mosques and the Christian minority. Many attacks have been linked to Islamic extre ...
References
{{Authority control
Apocalyptic groups
Armed Islamic Group of Algeria
Factions of the Algerian Civil War
History of the Muslim Brotherhood
Islam-related controversies
Islamic terrorism in Lebanon
Jihadist groups in Algeria
Jihadist groups in Egypt
Organisations of the Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014)
Organizations based in Asia designated as terrorist
Sinai insurgency
Terrorism in Sudan
Qutbist organisations
Mahdism