“God’s Righteous Allies” or “Apostate Unbelievers”: The Taliban in the Eyes of the Jihādīs

ABSTRACT In mid-2000, the publication of the anti-Taliban book Kashf Shubuhāt al-Muqātilīn caused a stir in jihādī circles. Written by Arab jihādīs based in Peshawar, Pakistan, the book made the case that it was not permissible for Muslims to fight alongside the Afghan Taliban on the grounds that the group was not sufficiently Islamic, having committed a host of polytheist acts. While some of the jihādī movement’s leading scholarly authorities quickly refuted the book, its anti-Taliban arguments nonetheless gained popularity over time. Today, the jihādī movement is divided between those who see the Taliban as a legitimate Islamic movement worthy of praise and support (the view espoused by al-Qaida and its supporters) and those who perceive it as an apostate movement standing in the way of true Islamic revival (the view adopted by the Islamic State and its supporters). The controversy over Kashf Shubuhāt al-Muqātilīn in 2000 prefigures the current divide and provides something of the context in which it should be understood.