behalf of the Claimant that the reference was merely to Moazzam Begg, who had
travelled to Peshawar in Pakistan with his family in 1998 and later to Afghanistan for
charitable purposes to build a school and teach and was, therefore, engaged in hijra
(in the sense of a journey in order to benefit Muslims) for charitable purposes. The
Claimant considered this to be an act of jihad. The ensuing three years during which
Moazzam Begg was incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay without trial constituted further
jihad in the sense of spiritual struggle; he had endured this in order to carry out hijra.
It was common ground that Mozzam Begg was in the audience.
‘Hijra’ and ‘Jihad’
276.
The starting point is to consider the meaning of hijra and jihad in this context. The
word ‘hijra’ means literally ‘migration’. The phrase 'to make hijra' derives from the
original migration (hijra) in 622 CE of the Prophet Muhammad and 100 followers
from persecution in Mecca to safety in Medina (see above). This Prophetic hijra
marks the starting point of the Muslim calendar. Thus, in mainstream Islamic
theology, to make hijra generally means to migrate in the path of God (fiy sabilillah)
away from a place of difficulty for Muslims towards a place where it is possible to
practise Islam and live in safety as a Muslim.
Experts
277.
The experts disagreed about the meaning of hijra and jihad as used by the Claimant in
the context of the CAGE PRISONERS SPEECH (2010).
278.
Professor Gleave considered the terms most likely to be references to migrating
(hijra), or travelling in order to fulfil the objectives of the shari’ah (divine law) and
struggle (jihad) in the path of God to achieve those objectives. His basis for this was
contextual, namely that the Claimant referred to “our brothers who made Hijra in the
path of God… made jihad in the path of Allah… who suffered in the path of Allah, our
brothers from Guantanamo Bay” in the context of a dinner for an organisation
(CAGE) which had campaigned against what they viewed as unjust detentions,
including at Guantanamo Bay, of people who had travelled to Afghanistan to engage
in charitable work like Mozzam Begg. Thus, Professor Gleave argued, the reference
to the hijra and jihad by the Claimant in this speech are more likely to be in their
general Islamic sense of migration (hijra) to fulfil the objectives of the shari’ah in this
case charitable works, and struggle (jihad) in the path of God to achieve those
objectives. He suggested that, on the balance of probabilities, the hijra referred to was
‘completely unconnected’ with violent military jihad.
279.
Dr Wilkinson considered the terms referred to migration (hijra) to engage in armed
combat (qital) in theatres of conflict involving Muslims. Dr Wilkinson’s reasoning
was twofold. First, that the Claimant, in his DEVIANT GROUPS SPEECH (2009)
and elsewhere, makes it clear that “fighting” (qital) is the primary, if not sole,
religious meaning of the term jihad, and his use of the term here in the CAGE
PRISONERS SPEECH (2010) contextualises the Claimant’s use of the term hijra, i.e.
and, accordingly, migration in order to carry out armed combat (qital) is the most
likely intended meaning.
Answer to first issue
280.
I am satisfied that the word jihad bears the same meaning here as it does generally in
the Claimant’s lexicon (see my analysis of the Claimant’s DEVIANT GROUP
63
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