When the incident of the Front Porch of Makkah (another name for Aceh) is still hot, with the release of some videos by the people/group who claimed to be the “Tandzim Al Qaeda of ‘Serambi Mekah’ (Front Porch of Makkah)”  and then the operatives who were involved in the military trainings in the blessed Bumi Rencong (the Land of the Rencong [Acehnese Dagger symbolizing Aceh] i.e. the second title of Aceh) were hunted, arrested and killed by the thaghut and their lackeys, an article with the title REFLEKSI JIHAD ACEH came out which then spread and caused both a pro & con in addressing the choices made by the group of young men who were conducting i’dad ashkariyah in the land of Aceh, until the editor Jurnalisalam found an article in the URL http://sjihad.wordpress.com which criticized the aforementioned article. The following is the complete excerpt presented here as a treasure for all the brothers, so that we can become more objective based on the Shar’ie scales in addressing an issue. Here's the full text:

Misleading “Refleksi Jihad Aceh”

“Refleksi Jihad Aceh 2010” (A Reflection On Aceh Jihad 2010), a writing that originated from a blog owned by God-knows-who (no clear identity of the owners mentioned in this blog) with the address http://elhakimi.wordpress.com, and then in a short time later it was adapted (read: copied & pasted) by many other websites and bloggers, posted in the Islamic forums and Facebook, to the point that it later became a polemic and debate material, and eventually it was featured in the Ansharut Tauhid magazine, the 11th edition, as a supplement.

The author of Refleksi Jihad Aceh, as was described in his writing, wishes to provide a critical analysis on the amaliah of the Aceh jihad with evaluating records, so as to become a lesson for the following generations. It is not because of factors of hate or envy at all, he said, but in the spirit of advising each other with love. A very noble purpose in our opinion.

But an advice is not enough if only based on good purpose or sincere intention? It will be more perfect, if presented with a language that is wise, description that is correct and good understanding of the problems or on the object going to be evaluated or advised.

There are some important notes from us, related to some points in the article, the Refleksi Jihad Aceh, we are not saying that everything in the article is wrong, but some things which we have documented are very important to be conveyed, some of those mistakes are very fatal in our opinion, some others have the potential of developing a confused perception for those who read but not seated proportionally in the scales of the Shari'a.

The Selection of Language

It cannot be denied that the selection of language is the most important thing in a communication, let alone in matters of mutual advising, the selection of language which is not wise enough often raises skepticism on the objects which in this case are the Mujahideen who are personally involved with the Aceh Jihad, their families and the Muslims who are pro towards them.

We do not know, if the writer of Refleksi Jihad Aceh is khilaf (erred) and not careful, or it was because of the presence of emotional elements that he later did not act fairly in choosing the good language in his writing, to the extent that painful terms and designations for the Mujahids came out, like the accusation that the Aceh Mujahideen are isti’jal, wanting to establish Islam like magic. Or at least they want to achieve results like thugs; point the guns, everything will be done.

Calling those Aceh Mujahideen as busy in their own world as if they are living on another planet, in fact even equating them with people suffering from autism.

Another injustice was when the author expressed that the police had called the Mujahideen evil people, there is no manifest enemy but they are inciting people to war, they only want to make troubles, if the people of Aceh participate, it would only add to the sufferings. The author said that such provocation is called a successful DA'WAH of the POLICE on the people of Aceh.

As it should, that is not da'wah, it is more appropriate to use the term ‘evil provocation on the Mujahideen.’

Just as Allah SWT quips,

"They want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths but Allah will not allow but that His light should be perfected, even though the Unbelievers may detest (it)." (QS 9:32)

What have been called out by the police was an effort to extinguish the religion of Allah, just as they called the Mujahideen 'terrorists', as well as the terms 'fundamentalists', Wahabiyyin' (another examples of terminology pinned in order put out and discredit the efforts of returning back to Dien). The labeling of terrorists on the Mujahideen, initiated and proclaimed by George Bush, is the author going to mention those as da'wah too?

Baseless Vicious Allegations

The author of the ‘Refleksi Jihad Aceh’, whether he is aware of it or not, had been hurling accusations which were not founded on the testing of the reality, at least by doing tabayyun (getting clarification) from the actors where some of them at this time are inside the prisons of the thaghut and some others are carrying the status of DPO’s (listed wanted persons).

The author of the ‘Refleksi Jihad Aceh’ accuses that the Aceh Mujahideen are disparaging the role of da’wah, they (the Mujahideen) are wiping out everything else except Jihad. The essence is jihad. An accusation which is very distant from the reality, to our knowledge it is of the opposite, not a few amongst them, the people who were involved in the Aceh Jihad (regardless of how far the truth of their allegations are) are Da’ies who are hardworking in proclaiming the tawheed da’wah in the midst of the society, just mention the name Ustadz Ubaid (arrested) who was active in da’wah and translating Islamic books, next is Ustadz Amman Abdurrahman (arrested) and a number of his students who were active in carrying out daw’ah to make the ummah understand the tawheed, whether it be through translation, as well as dissemination of books and articles, conducting da’wah through the website media (millahibrahim.wordpress.com), to carrying out the safari da’wah (da’wah journey) routinely every month thorough out Indonesia, some others who are involved, whether they have been arrested or are on the run as DPO's in the Aceh cases, are also Da’ies in their localities.

Some Important Notes

What follows is our attempts in analyzing some records on the article ‘Refleksi Jihad Aceh’ by responding to some points in the article. The version of the article that we use in this paper is the one which was contained in the Ansharut Tauhid Islamic Media Magazine, the 11th edition, made up of 15 pages.

The words of the author that, “Jihad requires a "trigger" which could attract the Islamic ummah in a massive number to unite. If the igniter is not strong enough, the society won't be motivated to support jihad. The fact is, the executors did not think about this igniter at all. They only make the fardh (obligation) of jihad and the honor of dying shaheed as the igniter.” (Pg. 4)

To the sentence…

"… i.e. the presence of the foreign invaders who are kafir and very brutal. Those three words (in bold) became the igniters which are very strong…" (Pg. 5)

"The triggers used by the executors are the lexis of jihad, fardhu 'ain, Al-Qaeda and die shaheed." (Pg. 5)

"The Aceh Mujahids seemed to be in the belief that jihad is an objective, not the means. In fact, what's even more extreme is making the death of shaheed as the objective." (Pgl. 5)

We assess that these allegations do not fit with the waqi’ (theme) today and they are not in accordance with the Shar’ie.

If the author is saying that there is no foreign, kafir and cruel invader, it is obvious that this does not fit with the reality, among the facts are the formation of the detachment 88, which are formed by the government with the financial support by America and Australia, as well as being specially trained by American special forces namely the FBI and SWAT, which aims at combating the terrorist (Mujahideen). That is just one example of the various clutches by the kafir invaders in the country where its leaders are refusing the implementation of Islamic Shari’a.

Next, from the view of Shar’ie, if the people who are conducting jihad today make the lexis of jihad fardhu ‘ain and die shaheed as the triggers, then according to us, that is sufficient and justified enough in a Shara’ way based on the Shar’ie nas (texts) below,

Allah Ta’ala says which means:

“Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties [in exchange] for that they will have Paradise. They fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth, through the Law, the Gospel, and the Qur'an: and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah. Then rejoice in the transaction which you have contracted: that is the achievement supreme.” (QS At Taubah 111)

And another verse,

“O you who believe! Shall I guide you to a transaction that will save you from a grievous Penalty? (It is that) you believe in Allah and His Messenger and conduct jihad in the cause of Allah with your wealth and your lives. That is best for you, if you should know.” (QS As Saff 10-11)

Then, in the hadith of Rasulullah SAW, he inflamed the jihad spirit of the Sahabahs with the motivation of paradise, such as during the battle of Badr when Rasulullah said to the Sahabahs, “Get to your feet, to head for Paradise which is as wide as the heaven and the earth.” Then, one of the Sahabahs rose and said, "O Rasulullah, Paradise which is as wide as the heaven and the earth?" “True!” he SAW replied. "Tsk..tsk..," Umair commented. Rasulullah asked, "What induced you to say words Tsk..tsk ?" He answered, "No, O Rasulullah, feels like I have no chance to be its dweller." “But you can be among the dwellers!” he clarified. Then, Umair took the dates out from his pocket, he ate some, and said, "If I'm still alive to enjoy these dates, it is indeed a life long." Then he threw away the dates that were in his hands and he advanced to fight until he was slain. (HR Muslim)

In the aforementioned hadith, the Sahabah, Umair right away struck the enemies just at the moment when Rasulullah promised Paradise to Umair bin Hammam, are we going to say Umair the Sahabah is someone who is isti’jal who only think of dying shaheed? Just as alleged by the author on the people who were conducting jihad in Aceh with the term isti’jal (hasty), Rasulullah did not say to the Sahabahs that "basically just fight, there are already cruel kafir people at hand in front", but Rasulullah still gave the motivation of shaheed and Paradise to the Sahabahs, and there are many other similar hadiths which are not possible for us to lay out here. The essence is that the motivations of dying shaheed and jihad becoming fardhu ‘ain are more than enough for us to carry out Jihad fie Sabilillah.

The words of the author, "Whereas, if the Mujahid only plans to die (shaheed), he is already planning for defeat." (Pg. 5)

How the author claims that if a Mujahid is planning to die (shaheed), he is already planning for defeat, we have previously pointed out regarding the Sahabah, Umair RA.

Martyrdom is the choice determined by Allah for His slaves. Meaning, whoever Allah chooses to be able to attain this status means that he has achieved success and victory. Martyrdom is the peak of all ambitions because martyrdom is the choice of Allah, to the extent that Rasulullah wished for martyrdom up to three times in his speech: