Mohamed Ousman
(Abu ‘Ubayda’s real name was Hudhayfa Samir Abdullah al-Kahlout.)
Further, the anti-zionist, postcolonial, and anti-imperialist frameworks, enriched by Zafar Bangash’s sirah-based movement analysis and Muhammad al-Asi’s discourse on ideological independence must also be utilized.
Rather than focusing on tactics or operational dimensions, we must analyze ideology, narrative construction and power, situating Abu ʿUbayda within a broader genealogy of Muslim resistance fighters.
These are exemplified by figures such as ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jazāʾirī and ʿUmar al-Mukhtār.
Abu ʿUbayda functioned less as an individual actor than as a conversational node within the ongoing Islamic movement confronting imperialism and zionism.
From Individual Death to Movement Narrative
The contemporary Palestinian struggle is marked by the transformation of individual figures into collective symbols.
Abu ʿUbayda—a nom de guerre rather than a personal name—illustrates how modern resistance movements deliberately de-individualize leadership to protect continuity and emphasize ideology over personality.
This process aligns with Muhammad al-Asi’s insistence that the Islamic declaration of faith is not merely theological but political and civilizational.
“The break from the materialistic and nationalistic worldview is summed up by the article of ideological independence, social self-determination and doctrinal clarity: ‘I testify that there is no Authority/Deity except Allah and I testify that Muhammad is His Messenger’” (al-Asi, vol. 11, p. 324).
Within this framework, death does not conclude meaning; rather, it inaugurates a narrative phase in which power, legitimacy and resistance are rearticulated.
Kalim Siddiqui and the Islamic Movement as Process
Siddiqui’s central contribution was to conceptualize the Islamic movement not as an organization or insurgency, but as a historical process.
He writes: “The Islamic movement is a process, not an event; it is not confined to one organization, nor limited by geography or time” (Stages of Islamic Revolution).
From this perspective, the significance of Abu ʿUbayda lies not in his personal biography or military role, but in his symbolic function within the process of resistance to illegitimate power.
Dr. Siddiqui consistently rejected personality cults, arguing that Islamic movements must dissolve individual egos into collective purpose.
“Leadership in Islam is meaningful only insofar as it serves the movement and disappears into it” (Issues in the Islamic Movement).
The death of such a figure, therefore, tests the movement’s maturity: whether it can reproduce meaning without relying on charismatic individuals.
Zafar Bangash’s Sirah-centric Reading:
Zafar Bangash’s sirah-based approach insists that the life of the Prophet must be read not merely as a record of personal virtues, but as the historical trajectory of a movement confronting and replacing jahili power structures.
In his sirah-centered works, Bangash argues that reducing the Prophet’s life to devotional morality strips it of its essential political and civilizational significance.
The sirah, in this reading, functions as a blueprint for ethical authority, institutional formation, and systemic transformation rather than individual heroism (Bangash, Power Manifestations of the Sirah).
Within this framework, Abu ʿUbayda’s narrative parallels early Muslim experiences in which personal sacrifice was absorbed into a collective historical mission.
Death does not terminate meaning; rather, it is subsumed within the continuity of struggle.
The emphasis remains not on the finality of individual loss, but on the persistence of the movement and its objectives beyond any single life.
Narrative Construction, Power and anti-zionism
From an anti-zionist standpoint, the figure of Abu ʿUbayda emerges within a settler-colonial context characterized by the “logic of elimination.”
Zionism, as a political project, seeks not merely territorial control but narrative dominance by defining Palestinian resistance as irrational or terroristic.
The posthumous narration of Abu ʿUbayda directly contests this framing by:
- Embedding struggle within Islamic moral discourse, and
- Recasting resistance as anti-colonial self-defense,
- Refusing recognition from colonial legal or ethical regimes.
This aligns with Dr. Siddiqui’s insistence that legitimacy cannot be derived from colonial or international systems.
“The Islamic movement cannot seek validation from the structures it seeks to replace” (In Pursuit of the Power of Islam).
Thus, Abu ʿUbayda’s symbolic death functions as a counter-hegemonic narrative, challenging zionist claims to moral and political authority.
Postcolonial and anti-Imperialist Dimensions
Abu ʿUbayda’s figure is constructed in opposition to imperial epistemologies and embodies the “counter-narrative of the nation,” except that the nation is explicitly subordinated to the ummah.
Anti-imperialism situates Palestinian resistance within a global system of power, in which zionism functions as a regional expression of western imperial interests.
Abu ʿUbayda’s anonymity—his erasure as a personal identity—undermines imperial strategies that depend on targeted decapitation and spectacle.
Historical Parallels: From al-Jazāʾirī to al-Mukhtār
The symbolic trajectory of Abu ʿUbayda resembles earlier anti-colonial Muslim figures:
- ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jazāʾirī resisted French colonialism through a fusion of Islamic authority and anti-imperialism, yet insisted on Islamic ethical constraints.
- ʿUmar al-Mukhtār became a symbol of Libyan resistance precisely because his execution did not terminate the legitimacy of the struggle.
In each case, death functioned as narrative intensification, not closure.
Abu ʿUbayda’s figure operates within this same symbolic economy, shaped by modern media but rooted in older Islamic movement logics.
Conclusion
Analyzed through Siddiqui’s Islamic movement theory, Bangash’s sirah-centric methodology, and anti-zionist and postcolonial frameworks, Abu ʿUbayda emerges as a figure of resistance, not a tactical model or object of celebration.
His reported death highlights:
- The primacy of ideology over individuality,
- The role of narrative in contesting colonial power, and,
- The endurance of Islamic movement logic across historical contexts.
As Muhammad al-Asi emphasizes, the core struggle is over authority and meaning, not merely territory.
In this sense, Abu ʿUbayda’s significance lies not in how he lived or died, but in how his figure is mobilized within a broader contest over power, legitimacy, and the future of Palestine.
Bibliography
Asi, al-, Muhammad: The Ascendant Qur’an: Realigning Man to the Divine Power Culture. Vol. 11. Toronto: ICIT (2017).
Bangash, Zafar: Power Manifestations of the Sirah. Toronto: ICIT. (2011).
Bangash, Zafar. Articles in Crescent International (various issues)
https://crescent.icit-digital.org/articles/power-dimensions-in-the-sirah-of-the-noble-messenger-saws
https://crescent.icit-digital.org/articles/the-importance-of-re-examining-the-seerah-of-the-prophet
Bangash, Zafar: Editorial introduction to Siddiqui’s collected works
Siddiqui, Kalim: Issues in the Islamic Movement. Toronto: The Open Press (1982).
Siddiqui, Kalim: Stages of Islamic Revolution. London: The Open Press (1996).
Bangash, Zafar (ed): In Pursuit of the Power of Islam: Major Writings of Kalim Siddiqui. Toronto: The Open Press (1996).
Dr. Kalim SiddiquiGazaIslamic movement in PalestineIslamic ResistancePalestineStages of Islamic RevolutionAbu UbaydaPower Manifestations of the SirahZafar BangashImam Muhammad al-'Asi
