ISIS- THE BLACK FLAG ARMY
As is usual with the discourse of the militant takfiri trend of Wahhabism to use imagery of end times and show themselves as characters of end time warriors, “Daesh” (who call themselves as “Islamic state”) – the newest mutation of this trend, are also now increasing their usage of such twisted interpretations of Islamic prophecies as a cover for religious blackmailing, and using it to recruit impressionable young men and women to take part in their crimes. With the rebellion in Syria against the tyrant Assad, Wahhabi groups started to enter Syria by taking advantage of the chaos and from them, Daesh, splintered out and back stabbed the Muslims of Syria and Iraq to form their personal “state” over the blood and bones of Muslims. Daesh are trying hard to form a sellable narrative about themselves, their cause, their role and their authority in the Islamic Ummah and history. For this they are resorting to using end times battles which was prophesied in hadiths, as a tool to fit themselves into and place themselves as the end time righteous Muslim army fighting the battle of Armageddon. In this article we will make a brief number of points below, which would be more than enough to tear off that veil of delusion they have cloaked themselves in.
Below are two reliable hadith that has come regarding the “Malhama” in the Sahih of Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim:
Narrated Auf bin Mali: I went to the Prophet during the Ghazwa of Tabuk while he was sitting in a leather tent. He said, “Count six signs that indicate the approach of the Hour: my death, the conquest of Jerusalem, a plague that will afflict you (and kill you in great numbers) as the plague that afflicts sheep, the increase of wealth to such an extent that even if one is given one hundred Dinars, he will not be satisfied; then an affliction which no Arab house will escape, and then a truce between you and Bani Al-Asfar (i.e. the Byzantines) who will betray you and attack you under eighty flags. Under each flag will be twelve thousand soldiers. [Sahih Bukhari]
Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The Last Hour would not come until the romans would land at al-A’maq or in Dabiq. An army consisting of the best (soldiers) of the people of the earth at that time will come from Medina (to counteract them). When they will arrange themselves in ranks, the romans would say: Do not stand between us and those (Muslims) who took prisoners from amongst us. Let us fight with them; and the Muslims would say: Nay, by Allah, we would never get aside from you and from our brethren that you may fight them. They will then fight and a third (part) of the army would run away, whom Allah will never forgive. A third (part of the army). which would be constituted of excellent martyrs in Allah’s eye, would be killed ani the third who would never be put to trial would win and they would be conquerors of Constantinople. And as they would be busy in distributing the spoils of war (amongst themselves) after hanging their swords by the olive trees, the Satan would cry: The Dajjal has taken your place among your family. They would then come out, but it would be of no avail. And when they would come to Syria, he would come out while they would be still preparing themselves for battle drawing up the ranks. Certainly, the time of prayer shall come and then Jesus (peace be upon him) son of Mary would descend and would lead them in prayer. When the enemy of Allah would see him, it would (disappear) just as the salt dissolves itself in water and if he (Jesus) were not to confront them at all, even then it would dissolve completely, but Allah would kill them by his hand and he would show them their blood on his lance (the lance of Jesus Christ). [Sahih Muslim]
The points to be noticed from this that exposes the hollowness of the claims of Daesh:
1) Prior to the “Malhama”, as in the narration from Bukhari, Muslims are actually in treaty with the Romans such that together they in fact even jointly invade another common enemy, as seen in the narration below:
Zu Mukhammar said I heard the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم say, ” You will make a Hudna (Truce Agreement) with the Romans, and together you and them will invade an enemy (located) behind you. You will be victorious, take much booty, and you will leave. Then, you will camp on a hilly pasture. When one of the Romans will approach (the Muslim army), raise a cross and says “The Cross has won”, one of the Muslims will get angry and take off the Cross. Then, the Romans will trick (bluff or deceive) you, and gather (prepare) for the Malhama (War). They will gather an army against you and come against you with eighty banners, each banner followed by 10,000 (or 12,000) men.” [Ahmad, Abu Dawud, and Ibn Majah]
Hence Muslims would be in a treaty with the Romans prior to battle. But in the case of Daesh there was never a treaty at all. Maybe their leader Mr. Bagdady noticing this PR fail, is going to make a truce with the “Romans” and jointly invade another enemy, to fit himself into the prophecy ? Would be hilarious to watch him try, as most likely his own followers would label him a kaffir and behead him for that.
2) The war starts with Romans breaking the treaty or them first landing in Dabiq or a cross being raised by them. It does not start because of a bunch of terrorists attacking “Roman” civilian buildings, or by gathering savages in Syria to kindnap and behead innocent Christians as a form of incitement against Romans to invade Muslim countries. Rather Muslims only gather army against them after the treaty is broken by them and after the Romans have already landed first in Dabiq.
3) The army against Romans comes from Medina, as mentioned in the narration of Sahih Muslim, while according to another narration below comes from the Hijaz :
Amro bin Awf said that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, “The Hour (of Resurrection) will not come until the nearest enemy-watching outposts (stations) of the Muslims will be in بَوْلَاءَ Bawla.” …The Prophet said, “You will fight Bani Al-Asfar (Romans), and those who come after you will fight them, until the best people among the Muslims, the people of Al-Hijaz (Western region of Saudi Arabia that includes Mecca, Medina, and Jeddah), will go out to fight them, fearing nothing but Allah. They will conquer Constantinople (a variation of this Hadith says ‘Constantinople and Rome’) by (saying or chanting) Tasbih (Subhan Allah, meaning “praise & glory to Allah” ) and Takbir (Allahu Akbar, meaning “Allah is Greater”), and they will obtain booty the like of which has never been seen – they will share it out by scooping it up with their shields. Someone will come and say, ‘The Dajjal has appeared in your lands’, but it is a lie. Anyone who believes it will regret it, and anyone who ignores it will regret it.” (Ibn Majah)
Therefore its clear where the army is raised from and who are they composed off, and they are not by random people from Iraq, Tunisia, Najd and Europe. Mr. Bagdady won’t be able to enter a foot in Hijaz in his life time let alone gather a army there.
4) Looking closely at the contexts of the narration, one can see that this army from Hijaz is actually the army of Imam Mahdi because it is under his leadership Muslims fight Dajjal and gets besieged by Dajjal and his forces, after which Prophet Isa (alahy salam) descends. This is explicit in the narration from Tabrani:
Abu Umamah says that Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said: ” There will be four Hudna (truces) between you and the Romans. The fourth (truce) will be mediated through a person who will be from the descendants of (Prophet) Aaron عليه السلام (or ” from the descendants of Heracles “according to Nuaim bin Hammad) and will be upheld for seven years. The people asked: ‘O Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم , who will be the Imam of the people at the time? ‘ He said: ‘( Nuaim bin Hammad mentions ‘The Mahdi ‘) He will be from my progeny and will be forty years of age. His face will be a shining star and he will have a small black spot on his right cheek. He will wear two Qutwaaniataan cloaks as if he is a man from the Israelites. He will reign for 20 years, extract the treasures, and conquer the cities of Shirk.” [Tabrani]
So the Malhama is an event that occurs after the arrival of Imam Mahdi.
The other alternative is that the narrations refer to a long stretch of period of time whereby it mentions of army right from the time of the Sahaba who fought the Byzantines until end times, in which case then events like conquest of Constantinople (and hence the Malhama) has already occurred and what remains to be fulfilled would only be the battle against Dajjal.
5) Regarding the identity of “Romans”, what is the proof that all of Europe and West are to be considered “Romans” ? During the Crusades the Muslims did not refer to the armies being fought as “Romans”. That the Roman empire during its largest extent controlled much of West Europe does not mean they are all Romans, because the Roman Empire even controlled regions of Middle East and North Africa, including Syria and Palestine, but we don’t say people of Palestine, Syria and North Africa are “Romans”.
6) Another fail in fitting this prophecy to them, is that it is not just the nations of West but Muslim countries as well as Muslim rebels within Syria and Iraq fighting against them. How can they claim they are fighting “Romans” when they fighting against Muslims including Syrians and Iraqis the whole time ?
7) According to a narration from Sahih Muslim, Constantinople would be conquered by descendants of Prophet Ishaq (Isaac) (peace be upon him), rather than a mix bunch of Najdis and Tunisians led by Mr. Bagdady.
Abu Hurairah reports that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: ” ‘Have you heard of a city, a part of it protrudes into the sea ?’ They said ‘Yes’. He said: ‘The Hour (of Resurrection) shall not occur till seventy thousand (70,000) of the descendants of Prophet Isaac عليه السلام shall conquer it. When they come to it, they (descendants of Isaac who are Muslims) will not fight with arms, nor throw arrows. They will only say: ‘There is no god but Allah, Allah is the greatest’, then one of its sides will fall down. They will say for the second time: “There is no god but Allah, Allah is the greatest’, and then another one of its sides will fall down. After that, they will say for the third time: ‘There is no god but Allah and Allah is the greatest’, and then it will be opened for them and they will enter (the city) and acquire booty. While they will be dividing the booty, a caller will come to them and shout: ‘Verily Dajjal (Anti-Christ) has come out.’ Then, they will leave everything and return.” [Sahih Muslim]
The narration is also clear that it will NOT be conquered using arms/ weapons.
8) The “Malhama” happens only after Jerusalem flourishes:
Narrated Mu’adh ibn Jabal:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The flourishing state of Jerusalem will be when Yathrib is in ruins, the ruined state of Yathrib will be when the great war comes, the outbreak of the great war will be at the conquest of Constantinople and the conquest of Constantinople when the Dajjal (Antichrist) comes forth. He (the Prophet) struck his thigh or his shoulder with his hand and said: This is as true as you are here or as you are sitting. [Sunan Abi Dawud 4294]
This flourishing is understood to happen after Imam Mahdi rules from Jerusalem.
9) The narrations say the assembly of Muslims during Malhama will be at Ghota (a place in Syria, East of Damascus).
Narrated Abu al-Darda’: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The place of assembly of the Muslims at the time of the war will be in al-Ghutah near a city called Damascus, one of the best cities in Syria. [Sunan Abi Dawud]
Maybe Daesh should gather few dozen of their followers to sneak into Ghouta and stage a blag flags photo shootout there, to pretend among themselves like they have an assembly ready for the Malhama.
10) The Malhama battle and conquest of Istanbul takes place in 6 months.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Malhama Alkubra (the greatest war), the conquest of Constantinople and the coming forth of the Dajjal (Antichrist) will take place within a period of seven months. (Abu Dawood 4295)
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The time between the great war and the conquest of the city (Constantinople) will be six years, and the Dajjal (Antichrist) will come forth in the seventh.(Abu Dawood 4296)
Since Daesh is already getting bombed by the “Romans” in which case the Malhama has already begun, then time is also ticking for them to conquer Istanbul in 6 more months.
11) Finally, according to the following narration which they usually love to quote (although even Shiites claim it for themselves):
Abdullah ibn Hawalah said: The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said: “Matters will run their course until you become three armies: an army in AshSham (Syria), an army in ‘Iraq, and an army in the Yemen.” I said: “O Messenger of Allah, which one I should join ? ” He said: “You should go to AshSham, for it is the best of Allah’s lands, and the best of His servants will be drawn to there. If you do not (go to AshSham), go to the Yemen and drink from its wells. For Allah has guaranteed me that He will look after AshSham and its people.” (Abu Dawud)
the army of Sham and army of Iraq are two different armies. But is the army of Mr. Bagdady in Syria and Iraq a single army or a separate one ? He probably forgot all about this hadith when hastily trying to fit himself into self fulfilling other prophecys.
THE TRUTH ABOUT THEM FROM THE AHAADEETH
“Abu Hurairah (radhiyallahu anhu) narrated: ‘I was in the home of Ibn Abbaas radhiyallahu anhu). He said: ‘Lock the door. Is there anyone else here besides us (i.e. the Sahaabah)?’
They said: ‘No.’ Then Ibn Abbaas (radhiyallahu anhu) said: “When you see the black flags coming from the east, then honour the riders, for verily our victory is in them.” (Then Abu Hurairah (radhiyallahu anhu) said): ‘I said to Ibn Abbaas: ‘Should I not narrate to you what I had heard from Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam)?’ He said: ‘And, were you surely there?’ I said: ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘Narrate!’ Then I said: “I heard Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) saying: “When the black flags appear, then verily, its beginning will be a fitnah (trial/anarchy/mischief). Its middle ill be dhalaal (deviation from the Haqq), and its end will be kufr.”
Hadhrat Ali (radhiyallahu anhu) narrated: “When you see the black flags, then cling to the earth (i.e. remain where you are). Do not move your hands nor your feet (i.e. do not aid them in any way). Then will appear insignificant people for whom there is no consideration. Their hearts will be like pieces of iron. They will be people of regimes. They will not fulfil promises nor honour pledges. They will (ostensibly) call to the Haqq (Truth) while they (themselves) will not be people of the Haqq. Their names will be patronyms (e.g. Abu this and Abu that), and their relationship will be to towns (cities, etc.). Their hair will be long like the hair of women. (They will perpetrate their shenanigans) until they will differ among themselves. Then Allah will award the Haqq to whomever He wills.” (Kitaabul Fitan of Abu Nuaim)
The book this Hadith is transmitted in (Kitab Al Fitan) was collected by a shaykh of Imam Bukhari (Nu’aym ibn Hammad), but a lot of its Hadiths have been criticized by scholars. The Hadith has weakness in its chain of transmission and is moreover classified as “maoqoof”, meaning it stops with Imam Ali since he didn’t explicitly say the the Beloved ﷺ told him this. However, it’s known in the Hadith and even tafseer disciplines that such reports from companions cannot be said of their own accord. So even if Imam Ali doesn’t explicitly say the Beloved ﷺ told him this, the nature of it (future prophecy) automatically makes up for that issue.
ISIS is summed up in a nutshell in these Ahaadith.
The spectacular rush to ‘victory’ of ISIS – their swift conquest of the city of Mosul, the flight and melting away of the 30,000 Shiah army stationed in the precincts of Mosul, and the rapid capture of large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq and of important oilfields which are the life-support of the U.S.A. by ISIS are not without mystery.
While a number of theories have been provided by people of diverse backgrounds, what appears clear is that the fellow, Al-Bagdadi is a bogus ‘caliph’, or he is the deputy ‘caliph’ while the real ‘caliph’ is sitting in Washington, namely, Murtad Obama who in turn is the surrogate puppet of the Yahood Mafia gang in control of America.
The spectacular and swift gains of ISIS appears to be parts of a massive conspiracy about which the Qur’aan says:
“…………….Verily, their plots are such that even mountains can
move (from their locations or be displaced).”
Some contend that the swift ‘victory’ of ISIS is due to Allah’s Nusrat (Aid). The facts on the ground do not support this theory. The ‘victory’ of ISIS is superficial. When Allah’s Aid arrives, no air force, no army, no nuclear power can stall and thwart it. The Victory will be a genuine Victory which will spread like wildfire and be unstoppable. It will be similar to the Nusrat which was with the
Sahaabah who had spilled out from the desert to overrun the world in a matter of a decade. Like a raging storm and a wildfire they raised the Standard of Islam on shores of the Atlantic Ocean in the West, and penetrated China in the East.
What type of ‘nusrat’ does ISIS enjoy? It has not managed to take Baghdad nor has it indicated any serious concern for marching on Baghdad. It trumpets about invading and taking Spain, when it is miserably impotent to go to the aid of the Palestinians being butchered by Israel. It issues hollow and laughable threats of reaching Washington whilst Baghdad is right on its doorstep, held by a cripple, miserable Shiah rag-tag government.
The U.S.A. cannot afford that Saudi Arabia, Iraq, in fact the entire Middle East with its oil wealth, slip out of its control and influence. The U.S. will never voluntarily quit the Middle east. Its survival as a super power is dependent on Middle eastern oil wealth.