Ghazwul Fikri: Psychological War - The Impact Of The
Crusades
5 January 2010Al-Ikhwah Al-Mujahidun
The Crusades according to
some historians, ended by the end of the 13th century.
Whereas, other historians stated that the war
continues until today. When Alfonso de Albuquerque
from Portugal annexed Malacca in the 16th century, he
said:
“We are now able to cut off Islam from the West by
destroying Andalusia and from the East by destroying
the Islamic government in Malacca. Due to this, we
guarantee that Islam would not be able to move again
because we are pinning it from the West and the East.”
The Crusades brought sufferings to both parties.
However, Europe obtained the positive side by bringing
back various scientific knowledge and new culture to
their countries. Meanwhile, for the Islamic ummah
there was no positive side that could be learned from
the arrivals of the Crusader forces besides sufferings
and the knowledge that the Franks (the Crusader
forces) were a very barbaric people.
A Western writer wrote:
“The Crusade was a piece of history that is too
crazy in the epic of humanity. The Christians tried to
invade the Muslims in a wave of expeditions for nearly
three hundred years until eventually, thanks to the
perseverance of the Islamic ummah, they faced defeats,
resulting in exhaustion and despair. The whole of
Europe was constantly short of men, energy and funds,
as well as experiencing social bankruptcy, if not
total destruction.
Millions of people were killed in the
battlefields, whereas the danger of hunger, diseases
and all kinds of catastrophes imaginable raged as
shames on the faces of the Crusader forces. The world
of the Christian West at that time was obviously
stimulated towards blind religious fanaticism by Peter
The Hermit and his followers for the purpose of
liberating the holy land of Palestine from the hands
of the Muslims.”
Whereas, according to Gustav Lebon, "There was no
good thing on the Crusaders that could be learned by
the Muslims. They were depraved morally. They crushed
both friends and foes, as well as butchering them both
without mercy. It is not surprising considering that
generally the Crusader forces were made up of
unemployed men, criminals and rabbles. There was
nothing that could be hoped from the Crusader forces
except the killings of the innocents, lootings and
violations of honors."
Meanwhile, Michael Hart in his book the 100 Figures,
said:
“Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that the
Crusade brought Europe and Byzantium closer to the
Islamic culture which at that time was more advanced
compared to the European culture. This contact had
paved the way towards the period of “Renaissance”
which in its turn was kindling the development of the
European culture.”
Ghazwul Fikri
Ghazwul Fikri or Ideological Battle is one of
the methods founded by the West to destroy the Islamic
ummah. This idea was created post-the
Crusades where the battles that took place for three
centuries never yielded any victory in the hands of
Europe, the West instead suffered unequivocal defeats.
Post-the Crusader War, Western scholars and thinkers
analyzed the factors that had caused the victories of
the Muslims. The result was, the closeness of the
Islamic ummah to Al-Qur’an became a huge
strength for the Muslims that their resistance against
the invaders never lessened. Based on this, the
orientalists (Western specialists on Eastern
world/Islam) formulated an idea, that the most
effective way to destroy and invade the Islamic
ummah was by distancing the ummah from
Al-Qur’an and Islam itself.
King of France, Louis IX launched the Crusade VII
(1248 – 1254 AD) by attacking Egypt. He was captured
and then freed in return of a very huge ransom. After
he was freed, in the year 1270 AD, he returned to
revive the Crusade VIII by attacking Tunisia, but they
were defeated when they were just landing in Tunisia,
again they failed to capture a Muslim country.
When Louis IX was imprisoned during the Crusade VII,
he managed to devise the means of how to destroy the
Islamic ummah which he immediately announced
to the European society,
“You can’t possibly defeat the Muslims in the
battle arena, you must first defeat them in the arena
of ideology. Then, it would be easy for you to
dominate them. And, they are a people who are careful
against cultural sedatives from you.”
The words of Louis above became the guidelines for the
political, military and religious figures in Europe
even to these days. In fact, even Napoleon Bonaparte
pretended to become a Muslim in order to destroy Islam
from within when he invaded Egypt in the 19th century.
By weakening the strength of their iman,
surely the Muslim’s voice of Jihad could
never be kindled again in order to expel the invaders.
Exactly like what an orientalist, Shatilin, had said:
“A glass and an artist could destroy the ummah of
Muhammad more than a thousand cannons, therefore sink
the ummah of Muhammad into the love of materials and
lusts.”
The ideological assaults started to be thrusted into
the minds of the Muslims after the fall of
Constantinople. The teachings of Secularism,
Communism, Nationalism and the Theory of Evolution
were crudely consumed by the Islamic ummah
who were already far from the Qur’anic teachings.
These are the targets of the Ghazwul Fikri,
besides setting up Muslim puppets who could be
controlled by the kafirs.
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the misguided
stream, the Ahmadiyah, one of the victims of the
ideological battle who became the British puppet said:
“Almost the whole of my life had been spent to
support and help the British government by preventing
jihad and compelling the people to bow and be loyal to
them. I have written a lot of books and publications
which, if they are to be collected, could fill 50
shelves. All these books and publications have been
spread to various Arab countries such as Egypt and
Sham.”
This is the Ideological battle which is not in any way
less severe than the battle in the battlefield. The
enemies of Allah invaded the minds of the Islamic
ummah with various methods. The invasions are in
the form of:
Tashkik, i.e. instilling doubts and the
trivialization of Islamic knowledge.
Tashwih, i.e. removing the pride (izzah)
of the Islamic ummah for their Dien,
such as the projection of negative image that Islam is
brutal, terrorism, radical, uncivilized, etc. Included
in this manner is the distortion of history and facts.
Tadzwib, i.e. the mixing-up of the haq
(truth) and bathil (falsehood), by inventing
shubhats or grey areas, until the Islamic
ummah becomes confused in choosing.
Taghrib, i.e. the westernization of the
Islamic world by encouraging the Islamic ummah
to accept the teachings and culture of the West such
as secularism, nationalism, capitalism, hedonism, etc.
It is here where the words of Allah SWT have its
significance:
“ …And they will continue to fight you until they
turn your back from your religion (towards disbelief)
if they are able.” (Qur’an 2:217)
It is for this reason that it is incumbent on all the
Muslims to reflect and do some Muhâsabah
(self-criticism). By taking into account all the
aforementioned expositions, let's ask ourselves, where
do we stand in this case? Are we winning or are we
defeated in this Ghazwul Fikri? Are we in the
same camp as the kuffar or are we in the
opposing camp where the arrows of the crusaders are
heading?
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EsinIslam.Com
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