Jihadis on the Kidnapping of Nigerian Girls

Girls Kidnapped by Boko Haram
Image from Memri

Memri reports that jihadis are debating Boko Haram's action in kidnapping over 300 girls and threatening to sell them as slaves:

Reacting to the uproar over the kidnapping nearly a month ago of hundreds of high school girls by Boko Haram . . . in Nigeria, some online jihadis criticized the kidnapping, while others justified it as the legitimate use of the tactic . . . . Abdallah Muhammad Mahmoud, a frequent writer on the jihadi forums, wrote a post on the Al-Fida' forum urging Boko Haram to free the kidnapped girls, saying that the tactic may harm Muslims in general. In the post, titled "An Appeal . . . : Release the Girls," Mahmoud wrote: . . . . "From the supporters of jihad and mujahideen to the brothers . . . in Nigeria, peace be upon you. The peoples of the [Islamic] nation . . . . hear from the channels news that [which] we never hoped to hear -- namely, the kidnapping of Muslim and non-Muslim girls and your announcement that you intend to sell them as slaves . . . . [I]f you proceed with [this,] it . . . will become a dangerous precedent and will bring about grave calamities such as the nation of Islam has never heard of for centuries. Your announcement of 'imprisoning' hundreds of girls will not benefit Islam and the Muslims in any manner. On the contrary, it will reflect tragically . . . on their image . . . . Do not open the gates of evil, . . . protect your religion's reputation . . . . [and k]now that not everything that is permitted in Islam is proper to do at all times and in any manner without considering its advantages and disadvantages . . . . Preventing harm takes precedence over making gains, according to famous jurisprudential principle. We do not know what advantage for Islam and the Muslims will be gained if you do this.

Note that Abdallah Muhammad Mahmoud couches his words only in terms of not harming Islam's reputation, that he apparently accepts Boko Haram's Islamic right to kidnap and enslave, objecting only "that not everything that is permitted in Islam is proper to do at all times." Other jihadis were not so liberal:

[O]ne prominent writer on the forum, who goes by the handle rooooh, objected to this criticism. He wrote: "Honorable brothers, we are in an Islamic forum, and you are discussing an issue of Islamic law which has rules written in the Koran and Sunnah . . . . [and we know that i]mprisonment is permissible according to the consensus among Muslim scholars. Likewise, there are texts in the Quran and the Sunnah that permit it. It is not allowed to forbid something that Allah permitted . . . . [I]t remains in our law, and the international laws do not nullify it" . . . . Another member wrote in support of Boko Haram's actions: "On the contrary, [we should] imprison [as much as we can]. Ripping out the hearts of the infidels who have no morals in war is a legitimate administration of justice. As a Muslim, I think that the brothers, the mujahideen in Nigeria, did a good thing. I pray to the great Allah to give them victory and power throughout the land."

And thus stand things among jihadis, as both the liberal and radical wings agree on the permissibility of kidnapping and enslavement in Islamic holy wars.