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political islam 449assassination of \is§m al-BaãåjÊ, the leader of the military wing ofthe al-Jih§d al-Isl§mÊ group in BanÊ Swayf by #Us§ma ‘iddÊq Ayoub,another leading member of the group which was then headed byAim§n al-£aw§hirÊ, purely because of an internal dispute over leadership.Moreover, members of the Islamist groups are convictedcriminals who committed daylight robbery by extorting, in the styleof the real Mafiosi, protection money while claiming that as Muj§hidÊnthey were entitled to receive a share of people’s money even, if necessary,by force. They were similarly involved in money launderingin order to finance their clandestine activities, as frequently happenedin Syria during the 1970s. 118 Such criminal activity has absolutelynothing to do with the fight in God’s way as the Book describesit. Because of its character as a fight by only one side, the doctrineof assassination which the so-called Islamic insurgents adhere to isnot al-qit§l but rather politically motivated murder in the traditionof assassinations of statesmen, for example, the killing of emperorsin Ancient Rome, the killing of Husayn at Kerbala, or the assassinationsof al-Naqr§shÊ B§sh§ in Egypt 119 and John F. Kennedy in theUnited States.We would also look less critically at the Islamist movement’s desirefor power had it produced successful governments with a proudrecord of admirable cultural and civilisational achievements, but thepitiful nature of, for example, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan,makes us wish that the Muslim-Believer—in the words of the Prophet(ß)—‘is not stung from the (same) hole twice’. 120The Islamists’ slogan of God’s rule on earth ( al-ȧkimiyya) is, inreality, nothing more than their code word for political power. Tocall the only acceptable form of political governance ‘the rule of God’is empirically nonsensical since there are many successful and powerfulstates in this world that do not represent ‘God’s rule’ and yet arerun by politicians who sincerely believe in God. The Islamists’ seeminglyreligious slogan of God’s rule on earth is, paradoxically, a118MS refers here to the time (1976–82) when the radical wings of the SyrianMuslim Brotherhood turned to violence in their fight against the Ba"th state and the#AlawÊ-dominated regime of H§fií al-Asad. The attacks culminated in a massacre onmostly #AlawÊ cadets at a military camp near Aleppo which caused the regime torespond with an equally brutal crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, ending withthe bloodshed at \am§ in 1982.119MaÈmåd al-FihmÊ al-Nakr§shÊ P§sh§, Prime Minister of Egypt, assassinatedby Islamist militants on December 28, 1948 (1368 A.H.).120Muslim, ‘aÈÊÈ Muslim, Kit§b al-zuhd wa’l-raq§"iq (ÈadÊth no. 1695).