There have been rumours, on the Internet and elsewhere, that you are no
longer a Muslim. Are these rumours correct?
Bismillah. No, they are not correct. I am a Muslim, Alhamdulillah, and I shall
remain a Muslim, InshaAllah.
Can you then explain the reason for such rumours?
Well, part of the reason is that some of my opponents - most noticeably the
pro-Zionist Searchlight organization - have continued to spread lies, rumours,
and dis-information about me in the hope of discrediting me. In some way,
however, I am myself am to blame, for perhaps not making more public statements
about the matter, and for continuing, until recently, with my aim of trying to
bring Muslims, and non-Muslim anti-Zionist groups, together to fight our common
enemies. In pursuit of my aim of striving to bring various groups and factions
together I have tried on occasion to do things covertly, which in some ways may
have added to the rumours.
Narrated Ka'b ibn Malik: When the Prophet (salla
Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) intended to go on an expedition, he always
pretended to be going somewhere else, and he would say: War is deception.
(Abu Dawud, 14, 2629)
I have in the past year or so received some e-mails from Muslims who have asked
me in person, and I have always replied that, yes, I am a Muslim, Alhamdulillah.
I also made a statement to this effect, four or five months ago, on the Reviving
Islam forum, and elsewhere. One thing that has always made me thank Allah
Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is the way the majority of Muslims I have come across have
behaved in this matter. They have done the honourable, the Islamic, thing and
have not listened to, or believed, the rumours and dis-information, for as Allah
Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says:
"You who believe, if a dishonourable person [fasiq]
comes to you with any news, verify it lest you harm people unwittingly and
afterwards regret what you have done." (49:6 Interpretation of Meaning)
Yet, there have been a few - a very few it seems - who have believed some
rumours or disinformation about me. But as Sheikh Muhammad Abdul-Wahaab wrote in
Kitaab At-Tawheed (Chapter 23)
"It is reported on the authority of Ibn Mas'ood (radiallahu
anhu) that the Messenger of Allah (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said:
Shall I tell you what al-adhdhah is? It is an-nameemah." (Narrated by
Muslim)..... The benefits derived from this Hadith are that an-nameemah is
prohibited - and that it is a major sin."
However, I am constantly reminded of just how noble many Muslims are, and always
remember one particular instance. This was when the Mosque where I made my
Shahadah, eight years ago, received some anonymous letters about me and my
previous political associations, letters which made some allegations about my
sincerity. The brother who informed me of this said that he, and the Imaam, did
not even bother to read them all, for I was their brother, and that is all they
needed to know. He burnt the letters. This incident, then, moved me to tears -
as have many similar instances. I remember many such things, about Muslims,
about Islam - things which re-affirm my Islam again and again. Things like how
the Imaam of one Mosque in England where I then regularly prayed - who was from
Pakistan and who could not speak English - always, always embraced me so warmly
after Jummah Namaz. Things like how, when I an ordinary traveller, was in a
country where the majority of people were Muslim, went to pray in a Mosque and
how I was received with such brotherly friendship, and invited to people's
homes, and given gifts. And how when I was in a city only a few months after my
reversion to Islam I found a tourist shop selling Islamic calligraphy whose
owner, finding I was Muslim, treated me as an honoured guest. I remember the
Palestinian I met on one of my travels, and the hours we spent talking, and how
he, then in exile, invited me into his humble home to share with him and his
family a simple but generous meal... I have so many similar stories of the
friendship, the goodness, the nobility, I have found among Muslims. How can I
betray such people? How can I renounce what makes them as they are? How can I
betray the Mujahideen fighting the kuffar, the Zionists? Alhamdulillah, I have
over the years since my reversion really felt and known the dignity, the
brotherhood, of the Ummah.
"Those who have experienced the beauty that is Al-Emaan are those who are
content with Allah as their Rabb, with Al-Islam as their Way of Life, and with
Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) as their Messenger and Prophet."
Narrated Al-'Abbaas bin 'Abd Al-Muttalib (Shahih Muslim)
Furthermore, and as I wrote in my Thinking Like a Muslim, when we
undertake Shahadah - testifying to and declaring our acceptance of Islam before
witnesses - we are making a binding oath of loyalty, bayah, on our honour, to
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and His Messenger, Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa
sallam). This is a life-long oath, loyalty unto death to Allah Subhanahu wa
Ta'ala and to His Messenger, Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam). If we
break this oath - if we abandon the duty we have sworn to do - we are being
dishonourable, and it is right that those who break such a sacred oath as this
are killed. Over eight years ago, I gave this oath, and it is as binding today
as it was then. Thus I cannot, and will not, InshaAllah, break this oath of
loyalty.
Have you achieved any success with your plans to bring anti-Zionist factions
together, and are you still undertaking such things?
Yes, I did achieve some success, Alhamdulillah, but not what I hoped for, and
not what I believed was needed. I spent years trying to explain the truth about
Islam; countering the Zionist and crusader lies about Islam; and trying to
remove, from certain political organizations and certain types of people, the
prejudice and ignorance against Islam and Muslims which was and still is rife in
the West.
But, in practical terms, of action, little has been achieved, for these
so-called "nationalist" political groups, and individuals, do seem to prefer
talk and posturing to deeds. Furthermore, a great many, if not the majority, of
such "nationalists" - and even those who call themselves National Socialists -
are still subsumed by prejudice, just as they are lacking that perspective, that
honour, that sense of duty which would see them prepared and ready to sacrifice
their own lives. Indeed, the Muslims put them to shame.
Furthermore, I have come to four conclusions, after many years of striving for
co-operation. First, that there will not be an uprising, a revolution, in any
Western nation, by nationalists, racial nationalists, or National-Socialists -
because these people lack the desire, the motivation, the ethos, to do this and
because they do not have the support of even a large minority of their own folk,
let alone a majority of their own folk. Second, that in the foreseeable future
no such extreme "right-wing" group, political Party or organization will ever
get elected, voted, into power - all that they can hope for is to be a minority
Party in some Parliament. Third, that the Establishment, the pro-Zionist system
that governs either directly or by proxy in all Western nations will not
collapse in the near future. Thus, these groups, organizations and individuals
of the so-called "far right" do not pose any real threat to the Western status
quo - they are a nuisance; and should they ever become more than that, then the
Establishment, the pro-Zionist system, will invoke the full force of "the law",
or make new laws, to deal with them. The only serious threat to the current
pro-Zionist status quo is, and will remain for the next hundred years or so,
Islam.
My fourth, and possibly most significant conclusion, following discussion with
many Muslims, is that we Muslims do not need the help and indeed should not even
ask for the help, the co-operation, of such "right-wing" groups and individuals,
in the war we are engaged in, in the war the West has launched against Islam.
Islam is sufficient for us, and we Muslims must proudly stand for, and promote,
our Deen, unencumbered by anything, unencumbered by anyone - trusting in, and
submitting to, only Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. If these nationalists, or some of
them, desire to aid us, to help us, if they desire to fight the Zionists and the
Zionist plan for some kind of world government ruled by Zionists and their
Western lackeys, they can do the right thing, the honourable thing, and convert,
revert, to Islam - accepting the superiority of Islam over and above each and
every way of the West, just as I myself have done.
"Do they seek honour from the kuffar? In truth, honour
is with, and from, Allah alone." (3: 139 Interpretation of Meaning)
"You will not find any people who believe in Allah and the Last Day, making
friendship with and loving those who oppose Allah and His Messenger (salla
Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam), even if they are their fathers or their sons or
their kindred..." (58:22 Interpretation of the meaning)
"Allah (alone) has power over, and is the (sole) master of, all things. The
creations in Heaven and Earth, the very change of Night to Day, are Signs
for those gifted with intelligence, those who whether sitting, standing or
reclining on their sides, give praise to Allah and who frequently recall
these creations in Heaven and Earth, (saying): 'You who are our Rabb - You
created all these things for a purpose; the achievement is Yours alone.' "
(3:189-191 Interpretation of Meaning)
"Do not follow anyone except he who adheres to your Way of Life." (3:73
Interpretation of Meaning)
"If we truly love Allah, how can we love the enemies of Allah? How can we love
people who deny the truth when it is presented before them, and who argue and
dispute barrenly against it? How can we love and be deeply attached to a
lifestyle that thrives on disobeying Allah? We should treat people based on
their position towards Islam. The kuffar, including the Jews and Nazarenes, can
never become our intimate friends, confidantes or close allies. This does not
mean we isolate ourselves from them and give up hope for them. What it means is
that our relationship with them should be fair, kind and equitable, and not rude
or arrogant, but we should always be thinking about how to bring them to Islam.
If, however, they display open hostility to Islam,, then we should treat them as
enemies. Those who seize our lands and oppress, torture and kill our Muslim
brothers and sisters cannot be our friends." Sheikh Ahmad al-Ghumari: al-Istinfar
li-ghazw al-tashabbuh bi l-kuffar
Thus, I am no longer pursuing such plans, such co-operation. Islam - or rather
the pure authentic Islam of the revival which recognizes practical Jihad as a
duty - is the only force that is capable of fighting, and destroying, the
dishonour, the arrogance, the materialism, the Taghut, of the Zionists and the
West, just as this Islam is the only Way which can create a noble, civilized,
honourable, and numinous, community; or, rather, a collection of communities,
which is the Khilafah. Our enemies understand the power of Islam, the numinosity
of Islam, which is why they are waging a war against it, and trying to change
it, from within, and without.
You have used the word numinous many times in your Islamic writings. What do you
mean by it?
I use it as a synonym for the sacred. A Sign of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is
numinous - reminding us of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala; reminding us of the
beauty, the purity, of Emaan; reminding us of the truth of Islam itself.
As I wrote a while ago (in my Questions About Islam and National Socialism)
one thing which is now obvious to many people is that the West has forsaken the
numinous; in its arrogance it tramples upon the numinous. For the West, nothing
is sacred, except perhaps Zionists, Zionism, the hoax of the so-called
holocaust, and the idols which the West and its lackeys worship, or pretend to
worship, such as democracy. As Muslims, we are aware of the sacred, of the
numinous - and feel it, when we pray, when we submit in our hearts, in our
thoughts, to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. This numinosity gives us humility,
dignity, reverence and great strength. We reverence the Quran, and our beloved
Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam).
It is this reverence, this dignity - our honour - which the kuffar, the
infidels, in their arrogance, their pride, their hatred, seek to destroy. They
want, and demand, that we abandon the purity of authentic Islam and either bow
down before them and their idols, or accept the tame, secularized so-called
Islam which they and their apostate lackeys have created.
How do you see the war against Islam going in the near future?
This may well be a long war, of decades or more - and we Muslims have to plan
accordingly. There are two important things we can and must do, InshaAllah. The
first is to uphold our true Deen - to counter the attempt, by the kuffar and
their apostate allies and lackeys, to change our Deen, our Islamic Way of life.
We must avoid imitating the kuffar - outwardly, and especially inwardly. We must
think like Muslims - avoiding the terms, the concepts, of the kuffar. We must
affirm that Islam is superior, and complete and perfect, and that our aim is to
create an Islamic community, a Khilafah where we can live, as Muslims, obedient
only to the Will of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala as manifest in the Quran, the
Sunnah and Shariah.
The second thing we must do is affirm Jihad, practical Jihad - to take part in
the fight to free our lands from the kuffar, the apostates, and the fight to
create, by practical means, the Islamic communities we need, the Khilafah. Jihad
is our duty, our obligation - and if we ourselves cannot fight, we must support
those who do, as we must oppose in whatever way we can the enemies of Allah
Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, the enemies of our Deen.
"Fighting is prescribed for you, even though you may
dislike it. But it is possible that you dislike that which is good for you,
and that you love that which is bad for you. Yet although you may not know,
Allah knows." (2:216 Interpretation of Meaning)
"Be loyal and do your duty to Allah; fear Him and always speak with honour.
He will direct you to do honourable deeds and will forgive your mis-deeds.
And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger will achieve the greatest
achievement of all." (33:70-71 Interpretation of Meaning)
What about race and nationalism? Were you not, before your conversion to Islam,
a racist and a nationalist? What are your views about race and nationalism, now?
Before Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala guided me to Islam, yes, I upheld what has been
called racial nationalism. Indeed, I spent several decades of my life fighting
for what I regarded as my people, my race, and my nation, and endured two terms
of imprisonment arising out of my political activities. As I saught to explain,
in my essay Nationalism, Race, Culture and Islam, racialism and nationalism are
'asabiyyah - a sign of Jahilliyah, of ignorance. Race, and nation, are both
irrelevant for a Muslim. They are idols, Taghut, which people obey, and give
their loyalty to, and sometimes even worship, or certainly which they have pride
in and may even be willing to die for. Such loyalty, such obedience, such pride
in such things is a negation of Islam, a negation of that simple loyalty to
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and His Messenger, Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa
sallam) which forms the essence of our Islamic Way of Life. We are commanded by
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala never to bow down before any human being, before any
idol, before any Taghut.
The distinction Islam makes - the only distinction - is between Muslims and
non-Muslims, between those who uphold La ilaha illAllah Muhammadun Rasulullah
and those who do not. All Muslims are our brothers, and sisters, regardless of
their so-called race, regardless of where they were born or how their parents,
or their ancestors, described themselves.
May Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) protect us from all forms of Al-asabiyyah
Al-Jahiliyyah, forgive us for our mistakes, and guide us to and keep us on the
Right Path.
