ISLAM AGAMA SYUMUL

Prophet Muhammed (saw) said: "The master of martyrs is Hamza bin Abdul-Muttalib and a man who stood to an oppressor ruler where he ordered him and forbade him so he (the ruler) killed him." [Al-Haakim]

The high profile martyrdom of Alexander Litvinenko, a former FSB Colonel turned writer who became Muslim two days before he died, exposes the brutality of Russia and its complete disregard for human life whether at home or abroad.

Litvinenko was poisoned with the highly toxic radioactive isotope polonium 210. Traces of polonium 210 have been found in restaurants, hotels and homes across London. Thousands of people fearing their exposure to the radiation have gone for testing.

Although speculation is rife as to who was behind Litvinenko’s murder, there is no doubt that the trail of polonium 210 goes all the way back to Moscow. On his death bed Litvinenko explicitly named Russian President Vladimir Putin as being directly involved in his murder.

With the media focussed primarily on the polonium trail there has been scant coverage of the real reasons behind Litvinenko’s murder. Some politicians such as Home Secretary John Reid have sort to discredit Litvinenko. He told the cabinet “not to make assumptions” about Litvinenko’s death, pointing out that the former spy had been “involved with” organised crime as well as the KGB, Chechens and exiled Russian oligarchs.

Its vital we never forget what Litvinenko was famous for. He was famous for writing a book exposing Russia’s 9/11 – the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings where 300 civilians were killed, as an inside job. In the aftermath of the bombings Putin immediately blamed Chechen rebels for the attack and used it as a pretext to launch a second brutal war against Chechnya after having been defeated there just a few years prior.

Litvinenko’s death comes only weeks after journalist and author Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead. Again just like Litvinenko she is famous for her opposition and exposure of Russia’s dirty war in Chechnya.

Since 9/11 and Russia’s signing up to the war on terror, the west has turned a blind eye to the suffering of the Chechen people. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia has a green light to pursue its dirty war in Chechnya with impunity.

If some find it hard to believe Russia would slaughter its own citizens in pursuance of political objectives just look at the polonium 210 poisoning. Litvinenko’s assassin(s) could have killed him using any number of methods. Yet they chose a poison that not only killed Litvinenko but endangered the lives of countless other ordinary people.

In 1944, Stalin started the persecution of the Chechens by deporting the entire population, and their Ingush neighbours, from the Caucasus to Central Asia. Communism and the Soviet Union may be dead but its cruel and brutal methods live on in Putin, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Shanghai 5.

A new report by Human Rights Watch reveals that torture in Chechnya is “widespread and systematic”. Russia’s man in Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov runs his own private force charged with executing “enforced disappearances”. Human rights groups have estimated the number of disappeared between 3,000 and 5,000 in the last seven years, although many consider this to be a conservative estimate.

Chechnya’s population numbers around 1 million. During the first and second wars in Chechnya, between 150,000 and 200,000 civilians died. That is a staggering statistic taking into account the population. Today, the capital Grozny can be described as nothing more than a wasteland. By comparing the pre-1999 aerial shots with those taken after Russian carpet-bombing one can partially appreciate the horrors.

Uzbekistan, a member of the CIS and close ally of Moscow, is another country the world has forgotten. With the help of Russian troops and intelligence agents they staged a prison breakout and a subsequent massacre of 7000 civilians in Andijan. The massacre dwarfed that of China in Tiananmen Square, but the world was silent.

Hizb ut-Tahrir which has born the brunt of oppression by the Uzbek regime has produced a disturbing report of the treatment of its members in Uzbekistan. Craig Murray, former Ambassador to Uzbekistan has also written a book exposing the attrocties committed by the Uzbeks.

Chechens, Russians and all peoples of Central Asia are crying out for an end to the totalitarian states that suppress them.

The only alternative for Russia and Central Asia is the return of the Islamic Caliphate to the region. The Caliphate will abolish torture, spying on its citizens and imprisonment of political opponents. Instead it will establish the rule of law, representative and accountable government and an independent judiciary to put an end to the totalitarian regimes that exist.

We must take an important lesson from Alexander Litvinenko’s death by seeing how highly Allah looks upon the one who speaks the truth even if it leads to his death. Two days before his death, Allah guided Litvinenko to Islam, wiping off a lifetime of sin and rewarding him for his last action of speaking the truth to the tyrant ruler Putin, making him the best of martyrs (shaheed).

Litvinenko takes his place alongside the thousands of Muslims who have been martyred in Uzbekistan and other countries simply for exposing the treachery of the tyrant regimes in the Muslim world.

Those Islamic political parties and Muslim dissidents, journalists and authors working tirelessly against the tyrant rulers of this world cannot lose. If they die, they become the best of martyrs; and if they achieve their goal they help in bringing the Caliphate one step closer.

May Allah guide those non-Muslim dissidents, journalists and authors to Islam so their noble actions of speaking the truth can count for them when they die.