The C E O

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Osama bin Laden has been reportedly shaheed. If he came back to life, he would probably go to Obama to say ‘shukron’ or ‘thank you’. The seriousness Obama sees off the ambition of Osama getting actualized. He has obtained the reality of happiness which he had looked for all this time. A real joy and not a fake one. When it comes to Dunya (this world), what earthly luxury didn't Osama have? He had more money than Bush. His business was more flourishing than Hillary Clinton's. He had more wives and they are more beautiful compared to Obama's wife. In matters of dunya, it's obviously difficult for those individuals from the American officials to catch up with him. Not to mention those in the class of Hamid Karzai, Zardari, Sidney John and other similar enslaved courtiers; obviously they are not in the class of Osama. Poverty sometimes makes these rulers, politicians, policemen, observers, become slaves of America. Pauperism sometimes leads to kufr. And this country (Indonesia – ed.) is no exception.

For Osama, the abundance of the dunya is not the reality of life. There is no honour that is so desired by a Mujahid except death at the end of the bullets. Sometimes it invites jealousy among the Mujahids; ‘why not me?’ And to be able to attain it, sometimes wirid are performed continually. And it is not rare, when the intimacy that is built with the Lord of All The Worlds makes a Mujahid receive exclusive signals from Heaven. When many media were reporting about the plan for the execution of the three sentenced-to-death prisoners in this country, someone conveyed it to them in prison and he said, ‘not now’. It turned out that his words were proven true. And one day, that sentenced-to-death prisoner told his brother that his end is nigh. “I dreamt of going away, taken by the birds flying high into space.” Not long after, the execution took place.

Almost all Mujahids are ready to die but not all Mujahids are ready to live. Aren't there many Mujahids who were successful on the battlefield but failed when tested with longevity? There are those who are obsessed with power. There are those who are obsessed with dunya. There are those who become the friends of the police. Humans are assessed from their khawatim or ending. The death of Osama is surely considered as quite overdue compared to his friends. That is destiny. There is always a Divine mystery which sometimes is unfathomable by the humans. Isn't there a hadith regarding the rajulul-maakits?; the people whose martyrdom are ‘delayed’ (in fact they die ordinarily) because Allah intends to elevate their rank from those who were shaheed earlier? We hope so.

“Uncle, which news is true; has Osama been shaheed or not?” the SMS of a comrade sounded, reacting to the crisscrossed news of the death announcement; including the disclaimer from the Pakistani Taliban. “What's true; Allah does not die and jihad does not end.” I answered. So it is not too important if Osama was martyred or not for the continuity of jihad because there is no relationship. The Jihad is a shari'at and Osama was only one of its actors. One gone, a thousand would emerge. As long as America is still dzalim (tyrannical, despotic, cruel), there will always be an Islamic thaifah (group of people) who will resist. That's the promise of Allah. As long as there is still the ideology of grabbing the land of the Muslims such as Palestine, then there will surely be conflicts. Alas! There has been no political will from Obama to see the roots of the problem. And alas! many rulers of the Muslim countries are tricked. Apparently, they were not serious in fighting terrorism, upholding justice and creating peace in this world.

But the friend's SMS just now reflects how the death of Osama feels rather bitter. That's humane. The love of Umar bin Khattab for Rasululullah, made Umar seemed to lose objectivity. Until Abu Bakar came to put him in the picture with his popular utterance: “Whoever worships Muhammad, then Muhammad is dead. And whoever worships Allah, then Allah lives and never dies.” Life is sometimes unique. Seeing the good in people, we feel we do not want to be left by them. But then, the one relied on had other wish; day and night, a munajat to Allah was performed so as to be summoned soon with a bloodied body. He had his own world.

And Osama was well aware to not apply jihad which depends on figures but a system. So lossy is a tandzim that relies on the personality of the figures. The most powerful a personal figure can be, he is like sunshine in the evening. While the ‘power of a system’ is like like sunshine in the morning. And Osama had laid the vital foundation of a modern jihad. It's no mistake, Western thinkers dubbed him as The CEO of Jihad. The figure who since birth had been living in the midst of multi-national companies, is surely having the multi-national spirit in him as well. A CEO always have the spirit for expansion, acquisition, franchise and synergy... the behaviour of the business people in this world.

But Osama's business this time is with Allah Ta'ala. What if he did that for the ideology of jihad? ‘Expansion’ makes his ideas transcends beyond space and time. If the Sahwah Islamiyyah (Islamic revival - ed.) in many Muslim countries focused on reforming local authorities, then Osama's focus is on reforming interlocal or long-distance international rulers. ‘Acquisition’ makes the people from diverse tandzims and nationalities come around him; fused in a single container. ‘Franchise’ makes a lot of Muslims who never knew him answer his call. ‘Synergy’ or tansiq makes the Taliban sincere in becoming the ansar (helpers).

This is the ‘danger’ which is most feared by America. An American General who served in Afghanistan was stunned and said, “We are not confronting the Taliban. Apparently we are confronting a networking.” The General even predicted that America would be in trouble and defeated. Yes.. but no concept is perfect in this world. The weak side of a ‘Franchise fikrah’ such as this is that, it will give birth to an ‘unbridled decentralization’. And it is very vulnerable to any ‘false flag operation’; as if the operation was carried out by the flags of the Mujahideen, when in fact it was the intelligence of the enemies. I am confident that Osama was not stupid and there must be a counter-mechanism for it. In order to differentiate, I often use the parameter, ‘Does this operation have any claim or official statement from Osama or the representatives?’ If not, it should be suspected that there is the intelligence at play there.

O Lord.. Save the Islamic Ummah from the conspiracy of the evil people.

An Najah Magz

*original article by Bambang Sukirno

(muslimdaily.net)