Journal of the Turkistan Islamic Party Urges Jihad in China

The latest issue of a journal entitled Turkistan al-Muslimah (Muslim Turkistan) was recently published by a jihadi web forum (muslm.net, March 26). The journal is identified as the work of al-Hizb al-Islami al-Turkistani (Turkistan Islamic Party - TIP). The first issue of the journal was originally published on July 2008 by al-Fajr Institute for Islamic Media, which usually publishes materials on the activities of al-Qaeda affiliated groups in regions such as Afghanistan, North Africa and “East Turkistan” (China’s Xinjiang province). The first issue was republished on jihadi websites in January, with the second issue following in February (almedad.com, January 26; al-faloja.info, February 20).

The three issues are similar to other jihadist journals such as Sawt al-Jihad (Voice of Jihad), published by al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia between 2004 and 2007, Sada al-Malahim (The Echo of Battles), produced by al-Qaeda in Yemen, or Qaddaya Jihadiyh (Jihadi Issues), published by al-Yaqeen Media Center.  Turkistan al-Muslimah follows the practice of dividing the articles between political and religious topics, serving as both “alternative” media and a recruitment tool for jihadis.

Turkistan al-Muslimah focuses on Chinese government discrimination against the Turkic Uyghur Muslims of China, while excluding mention of China’s Hui (Han Chinese) Muslims. The journal has the stated aim of revealing “the real situation of our Muslim nation in East Turkistan, which is living under the occupation of the Communist Chinese and to disclose the falsehood of the Chinese government, exposing its crimes [against Muslims] to the world… [we want the] world to understand our cause and rights, that we are seeking our freedom and independence and to be ruled by God’s Shari’a” (Issue 1).

Like other jihadi journals, Turkistan al-Muslimah publishes an obituary in each issue for a mujahid killed by the Chinese. The first issue devoted several pages to a profile of the late Hasan Mahsum (a.k.a. Abu Muhammad al-Turkistani - referred to in the journal as “Hasan Makhdoom”), leader of the radical East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) until his death at the hands of Pakistani security services in 2003.

The journal also published a multi-part interview with the leader of the TIP, Amir Abdul Haq. In the first part of the interview, Abdul Haq gave details of his early life and religious education and described his passage to Pakistan and then to Afghanistan. In the second part of the interview, the Amir spoke about the training camps he and his Uyghur colleagues attended in Khost, Bagram, Kabul and Herat in the late 1990s, when Afghanistan was still controlled by Taliban. He informed the readers that the Uyghur group was part of the military wing of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) led by the late Uzbek jihadi commander, Juma Namangani (Issue 3 pp 10-11). The TIP was unknown before it emerged last year to make unsubstantiated (and often implausible) claims of responsibility for various terrorist actions across China. It also issued threats of biological, chemical and conventional attacks on the 2008 Beijing Olympics, though the group apparently failed to carry out any operations during that period. Little has been heard from the movement since.

In the three issues published so far, the journal shows a proclivity for using the rhetoric favored by al-Qaeda and its affiliate Salafi-Jihadi groups. This can be noticed in the quotes from Salafi theological materials, in the publication of news of jihadi operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and in the political rhetoric the journal has adopted. In a section entitled: “Sayings of the Leader Hasan Makhdoom (i.e. Hasan Mahsum),” the second issue of the journal quotes the ETIM leader as saying “preparation for jihad” is an Islamic duty. [1]

The journal has also adopted al-Qaeda’s understanding of the global economic crisis. In an article about the crisis, “Abu Khaled Saifallah” wrote, “The causes of this crisis are: 1) the September 11 [attack] and the destruction of the World Trade buildings, which served as the treasury for the world, thus it speeded up the collapse of the capitalist system of free banking and the destruction of all banks and foreign investment; and 2) The riba [usury]-based system, which is called interest, and is prohibited in Islam” (Issue 2, p.32).

In an article written by an individual identified as Abu Ja’afar al-Mansour, the Qaeda style message appears to be more clear, with the writer issuing a warning to Beijing;  “China beware… take a lesson from those who preceded you, the Americans and [their] allies, who were defeated badly in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. Do not walk on the same road and do not use the [same] approach in prejudices [against] God’s subjects and in looting their wealth and fortunes, and in shedding the blood of the children…as America is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan” (Issue 3).

The language of the journal is loaded with concepts and phrases used by al-Qaeda and affiliated groups. Abu Umar al-Farouq wrote an article in the third issue of the journal describing Hasan Mahsum as a jihad leader comparable to Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi and Omar al-Baghdadi in Iraq or Abdul Malik Droukdel (a.k.a. Abu Mus’ab Abdul Wadood) in Algeria. The existing issues of the journal show that either the “Turkistan Islamic Party” is trying to associate itself with al-Qaeda and allied Salafi-Jihadi groups or al-Qaeda is aiming to attract “Turkistanis” to their global jihadi movement.

They hate women!? Don't they?!

Muslim women have become an absolute symbol of oppression, and distorted images of them permeate news coverage. Journalists from across the political spectrum maintained that it was Islam that oppressed women. Beware Muslims, they screamed in their unlikely unanimity. They hate women, don't they? As soon as they turn their attentions to Islam, commentators become missionaries. Muslim women must be saved from a religion that reviles, objectifies and veils them.

First point that needs to be emphasized is that every government in some form or another attempts to force morality on people. Even in America. You rape, steal, murder, traffic drugs, you so much as drive over the speed limit you will expect to receive some kind of punishment. So in reality there is no such thing as unrestricted freedom.

Now their argument rests on the idea that so long as your action does not harm anyone than it should be allowed even if their choice was a poor one. The problem here is when the governing body of society encourages this ideology then society as a whole inevitably suffers for its immoral, indecent and promiscuous behavior and defends it on the grounds that it is freedom, as if unadulterated freedom is a virtue and something to be proud of! All this while completely ignoring the social decay of society.

This is why Islam as a system of governance for both the society and the self is unequalled in its superiority for it has zero tolerance on harming the self and others. It has moral development as its priority, not unadulterated freedom. For example in the Islamic Republic of Iran wearing a scarf over ones head is not just to prevent men from bothering them, and it is not just to be treated as dignified respected human beings rather than as sexual objects, but it is also a symbol that Islamic society has zero tolerance on immoral, indecent and promiscuous behavior so do not even attempt to sink this ship because of your own lowly desires. You want to wear no clothes? No problem, do it at home. You want to wear no clothes outside the home? Then go elsewhere. Go to western world where they encourage that sort of thing. But here it is not tolerated. Here is a society that progresses not only materially but also spiritually. This is a society where you can walk home at night without the fear of being raped or abused or your possessions stolen. Not because if caught you are threatened with punishment by the government, but because such actions distances one self from Allah. That is a not only a free society, but a healthy one too.

The obsession the west has with female appearance and with displaying it as sexily as possible and the extremes western women’s are prepared to go to look good is bizarre. Survey after survey has shown that western women are obsessed about their weight and their appearance. They are either overweight, healthy weight or underweight, and want to lose some. And, if dieting doesn’t do it, more and more of them are prepared to resort to drugs or even surgery. Interestingly, all this effort seems to come to nothing as women get fatter and fatter. And even if all does not resort to such extremes, few still spend a small fortune on expensive face creams that they know wouldn’t work and spend hours and hundreds of dollars at the hairdressers and the beauticians. They are all going to yoga or spin classes under the pretext of staying healthy, though what they are actually trying to accomplish is “maintain their shape”.

The main reason for this western female oppression, created by the need to continually and competitively appeal to the male eye is twofold, first and foremost it is to keep female energy focused on appearance, disempowered them and make them less threatening to the male dominant western society and the second reason is the economics. Entire economies would probably crumble if one day every woman in the western world woke up, slapped herself on the forehead, and said, “Oh my God, I’m fine just the way I am”. Which, of course, is why women’s magazines, marketing, advertising, TV, film, pop music and popular culture of all kinds are so keen on helping women remain terminally insecure about their appearance. In the West, an entire gender, while claiming to be newly liberated, has never been more neurotic about the way they look.