Rakhshanda Mehtab
What good is a 179-page book on Islamic belief if its own followers never open it? That is the question hanging over a Pashto text attributed to Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Afghan Taliban. It is titled “D Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamaat Aqeeda.” It lays out religious principles that sit very awkwardly beside the conduct of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. If the book means what it says, the TTP has a lot to answer for.
Take the matter of Muslim lives first. Pages 131 and 132 tell believers not to raise the sword against fellow Muslims. The book asks for respect toward life and property. In Pakistan, the TTP has done the opposite. Civilians and state personnel have been its targets. Markets, mosques, schools and police stations have all paid the price. A group that claims religious authority can hardly wave away a text its own ideological patron is said to endorse. Apparently the book only binds when it is convenient.
Rebellion is the next issue. On page 133, the book advises against revolt even when a ruler is unjust. There is one exception, and that is an order to disobey God. It is a very narrow door. The TTP did not bother with the door. It simply knocked down the wall. It fights an open armed rebellion against the Pakistani state and calls that a religious duty. By the book’s own logic, that claim does not hold up. Violence cannot borrow legitimacy from a principle that exists to restrain it.
Then there is takfir. Pages 108 and 109 warn against calling a Muslim an unbeliever just because he has sinned. Pages 135 to 139 go further and condemn sectarianism and any division that tears at the unity of the community. Yet the TTP has built much of its worldview on pushing opponents outside the faith. That habit has been used to justify killing. The book calls it a serious mistake. The TTP calls it strategy. One has to admire the flexibility. Who handed these men the authority to judge the hearts of millions?
Justice gets its own space too. Page 141 treats fairness, honesty and avoiding betrayal as religious duties. Against that yardstick, the TTP’s record is hard to defend. Killing innocent people and betraying the trust of a whole society is not justice by any definition. The gap between what the group says and what it does is plain to see. Apparently, the gap is a feature.
This matters because the TTP openly accepts the Afghan Taliban as its ideological role model. That is no small detail. If the leadership in Kabul really holds these views, then the TTP is following an example it does not actually follow. How does one claim to admire a teacher while ignoring every lesson? The book becomes a mirror. It sets a standard and then shows how far short the group falls.
But the critique does not stop at the TTP. It reaches Kabul as well. Words on a page cost nothing. Policy is where belief gets tested. The Afghan Taliban are responsible for stopping their soil from being used against Pakistan. Yet cross-border attacks continue. TTP sanctuaries remain. Effective action has been missing. It is easy to write about the sanctity of Muslim blood while hosting those who spill it next door. A truly remarkable balancing act.
The TTP has long used religious language to dress up its armed goals. Its actions, though, clash with the very principles it invokes. Respect for Muslim life, avoiding takfir and refusing to rebel against rulers all collide with its methods. A group cannot keep the slogans and throw away the substance.
The way forward is not complicated. The Afghan Taliban should prove their stated beliefs through action. That means stopping the TTP from using Afghan territory against Pakistan. Anything less leaves their religious position looking hollow. Faith that is only spoken and never practised convinces no one. And if the book is just decoration, why bother printing 179 pages?
The writer is MS Research Scholar at IIUI, a freelance content writer and a columnist.
