Dammaj Salafis the launch pad for IS in Kerala: Islamic State leader

KOZHIKODE: Abdul Rashid Abdulla, the leader of the Islamic State (IS) module from Kerala, has claimed that the launching pad for the IS in Kerala was the Dammaj Salafis (a group of extreme Salafis who are against democracy, pluralism and secularism).


In the audio messages circulated through social media, Rashid said that some of the members of the Dammaj Salafis are contacting the IS with the intention of doing hijra (migration) to the areas controlled by IS.

Rashid, who is believed to be in the IS strongholds in Afghanistan, hails from

Kasaragod district

. The audio messages are meant to be a reply to the allegations raised by Salafi preacher Zakkariya Swalahi in his book on the IS.

Reacting to the accusations in the book, Rashid said there was some truth in the argument that it was Salafism that prompted the youth from Kerala to get attracted to the IS. “Had there been no Salafism in Kerala, we would have been continuing with the un-Islamic practices of the Sunnis and Sufis,” he said.

Rashid said many alien practices have infiltrated among Sunnis from

Hinduism

and other religions. “It was Salafism that strived to bring back true Islam. It asked the Muslims in Kerala to return to

Quran

and Hadees, shunning the practices of non-believers,” he said.

In Rashid’s opinion, among the different Salafi groups the one led by Zakkariya Swalahi is closest to the ideology of the IS. “Majority of the Keralites who have joined the IS were associated to Swalahi’s group. We had attended the classes of the group held at Pappinasseri, Kannur and Kozhikode,” he said.

Unlike the Sunnis or other Salafi factions, Swalahi group showed courage to teach hijra and jihad in their classes. But Swalahi and his followers are unwilling to accept the IS for reasons best known to them. He has failed to give a convincing answer to this irony, Rashid said. “After reading Swalahi’s book many from the Dammaj group are contacting us for clarifications. They are doing hijra after realising the truth. So, you (Swalahi) should continue to write against us, then only people will understand the fact,” Rashid said.

Rebutting Swalahi’s argument that those who have joined the IS do not have a proper understanding of Islam, Rashid said Quran was not the monopoly of scholars such as Swalahi. “There are many ways to reach right path and the internet could be one among them. Those who ridicule us also have their own website and WhatsApp groups,” he said.

Discounting the allegation that there is mystery in the emergence of the IS, Rashid said that could be the way Allah wanted it to be. People can ascribe mystery even in the revelation of Quran to Prophet Muhammad, he said.