The Jihadists’ Use of the Black Flag Narrative Is Not Reliable In the Eye of Hadith-Scholars and Hence Should Not be Acceptable
By New Age Islam Edit
Desk
27 November
2020
One of the
narratives used by the Jihadist groups to win the support from the naïve
Muslims is ‘the black flag’. Approximately each of the modern radical groups
such as ISIS, Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra Front, the Chechen Jihadist Fighters
is willing to get highlighted as a prominent feature in the media, with
carrying the black flag in their hands for its ‘symbolic value’ based on some
weak narrations.
Historically
observing, the black flag was utilized by the Prophet (peace be upon him) but
not as a ‘symbol’ of his movement. He used it merely for differentiating
between his army and the enemy’s. According to a variety of reports, the
Prophet also used other colours in his military flag.
It was the
Abbasid revolutionary movement that conspicuously used the black flags for
winning over the support of the Muslims. The Abbasids reportedly felt that it
had been their right to rule the caliphate state as a result of having their
direct family connection with the Prophet (peace be upon him). Therefore they
rebelled against the Umayyad caliphate. With the utilization of the black flag
as a symbolic worth, the Abbasid revolution brought down the Umayyad dynasty
and established its own caliphate state in Baghdad in 750 C.E.
The
historical reports suggest that a number of false stories and narrations were
created even during the Abbasid revolution in a bid to win over the people’s
support for the Abbasid revolution. One of them might be regarding the ‘black
flag’ which became the official flag of the Abbasid dynasty.
The Quran
does not offer any single verse or word to push or regard the black flag as
sacred. At the same time, it is not a coincidence for the present-time Jihadists
to use the black flags. They use it for a certain purpose. That is to win the
support from the common Muslims and inspire them to join their struggle. Since
the Jihadist theological basis of the black flag is derived from the Hadith, we
must check the authenticity of the Hadith so that we can ascertain their
credibility in Islam.
The Hadith
predicts about an army emerging from a region known as Khurasan and carrying
the black banner before the end of this world. In some narrations of such
Hadith, it is reported that the Muslim Messiah, Imam Mahdi will arise from this
army, lead it to gain the victory against the enemies of Islam and restore the
glory of Islam. Muslims are thereby called to join the army of the black flag
when it appears. As per the Hadith reports, the army carrying the black flag is
‘a truth bearing group’, ‘a legitimate struggle’, ‘a victorious group’ and ‘a
group which Muslims are obliged to support and join’.
It should
be noted that the Jihadist groups such as ISIS, Taliban, Al-Qaeda etc have
disagreed with one another; each with carrying the black flag identically and
claiming their respective movement to be the only group ‘which Muslims are
obliged to join’. We should take into consideration that their narrative of the
black flag is based on weak Hadith and thus not reliable for authenticity. For
that matter we made a thorough analysis of all the Ahadith (plural of Hadith)
associated with the black flag. However we would not quote all of them with
technical details in this article but only a few of them in a bid to simply
prove that they are not acceptable and that Muslims should not believe the
reliability of such Ahadith.
Hadith 1;
It was narrated by Abdullah bin Masud that the
Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “A Nation will arise from the east (Mashriq),
carrying the black flags and they will ask for some goodness (authority) but
the people will not give them. Then they will fight and win over those people
(who refused to give them authority). Now the people will give them what they
asked for, but they will not accept it until they will hand it over to a person
from my progeny who will fill this earth with justice just as it was previously
filled with oppression and tyranny. So if anyone of you finds this nation (i.e.
from the east with black flags), then you must join them even if you have to
crawl over ice”
The Argument That This Hadith Is Not Reliable
This Hadith
was recorded by the two books of Ahadith namely ‘Sunan Ibn Majah’ and ‘Musnad
al-Bazzar from the narration of Yazid ibn Abi Ziyad, who took it from Ibrahim
al-Nakhai who took it from Abdullah bin Masud to the Prophet (peace be upon
him).
However the
author of ‘Musnad’ and scholar of Hadith, Imam Bazzar (827-904) said that Yazid
ibn Ziyad, who is the narrator of the above mentioned hadith, was unknown in
terms of taking the Hadith from Ibrahim al-Nakhai. Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, the
founder of the Hanbali school of Jurisprudence, substantiated the same view.
Another scholar of Hadith Waki’ Ibn al-Jarrah Iraqi said, “This hadith is
unknown”.
That Yazid
Ibn Ziyad is a weak Hadith narrator is reinforced by Imam Zahabi in his book
‘Siyar al-Aalam’ and by Imam Ibn Hajar Asqalani in his ‘Taqrib al-Tahzib’.
The
description by these scholars of Hadith makes it patently clear that the above
hadith is weak and thus not reliable.
Hadith 2;
It was narrated that the Prophet said, “(Armies
carrying) the black flag will come from Khurasan. No power will be able to stop
them and they will finally reach Eela (Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem) where they
will erect their flags”.
The Argument That This Hadith Is Not Reliable
Imam
Tirmidhi, the author of Jami’ Tirmidhi (a popular hadith book) described this
hadith as weak and unreliable because the real chain of narrators (sanad) is
doubtful, because some narrated this hadith from Yunus, who narrated it from
Ibn Shihab, while others narrated it from Rusydain who took it from Ibn Shihab.
Hadith 3;
It is reported that the Prophet (peace be upon
him) said, “Three will fight one another for your treasure, each one of them
the son of a caliph, but none of them will gain it. Then the black banners will
come from the east, and they will kill you in an unprecedented manner. When you
see them, then pledge your allegiance to them even if you have to crawl over the
snow, for that is the caliph from Allah, Mahdi”.
The Argument That This Hadith Is Not Reliable
Numerous
Hadith scholars such as Imam Zahabi, Ahmad bin Hanbal, Sheikh Abdul Aziz
al-Turaifi, Tabarani and many others rule that such Ahaidth or narrations on the black flag are not reliable or
acceptable because the content of this hadith has been intermixed with other
narrations associated with the black flag of Khurasan and Imam Mahdi.
It can be
thus concluded that Muslims or anyone else should not believe, support or join
any Jihadist group that uses the black flags for the purpose of legitimizing
their movement. They should not accept them as a ‘trustworthy group
representing Truth’ merely on the basis that they carry the black flags.
URL: https://newageislam.com/radical-islamism-jihad/the-jihadists’-use-black-flag/d/123593
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