As Muslims, our choices in the current world situation are quite simple. We can either support the infidels - such as the Americans - or we can support the Muslims who have resisted and who are resisting the Americans and their allies in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
 
 

Judged by the Quran and Sunnah, these are our only choices, for it is clear that: (1) the Americans and their allies have been fighting and killing and capturing Muslims, and have overthrown an Islamic government; and (2) it is haram, according to the Quran and Sunnah, to aid, or support or ally with infidels who are fighting and killing and capturing Muslims and who desire to, or who have, overthrown an Islamic government. As Sheikh Safar bin 'Abdir-Rahmaan al-Hawaali has said:

"Aiding the Non-Muslims over Muslims - no matter which form of aid or co-operation it be, even if it is merely in speech - this is clear Kufr and sheer hypocrisy. The one who does this has perpetrated one of the actions which negates Islam, as has been specifically stated by the Imams of the Dawah and others, and such a person is not a believer in the aqeeda of al-Wala and al-Bara (being a patron of someone or disassociating solely for Allah)."  A Statement To The Ummah Concerning the Recent Events

This matter has also been the subject of fatwa by several other scholars, such as Sheikh Rabî' ibn Hâdî, Sheikh Ibn Jibreen, and Sheikh Humood bin 'Uqlaa ash-Shu'aibi, all of whom are agreed that it is haram to support the American infidels and their allies in the war they have launched.

In addition, it is also haram for Muslims to hand-over, or to permit the handing over, or to support the handing over, of Muslims captives (prisoners of war) to non-Muslims. According to Anwar Dabbour, professor of Islamic Shari`ah at Cairo University:
 

"Shari`ah stipulates that it is not permissible to hand over a Muslim captive to a non-Muslim authority. This is the meaning of the Hadith of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that reads: "A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim. He does not oppress him, nor let him down nor even look down upon him.

In addition, handing over Muslim captive to non-Muslims is a form of disdaining a Muslim and a sacrilegious act to his blood."

Thus, anyone who makes any excuse for what the Americans and their allies have done and are doing in Afghanistan - and for their blackmailing of countries such as Pakistan, and for their treatment and confinement of captured Mujahadeen - is aiding those infidels and their kufr ways, and any Muslim so aiding or supporting the infidels through words or deeds has committed one of those acts that negates their Islam. Aiding the Mushrikeen in any way or in any form is apostasy from Islam.
 

"You who believe, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are allies of each other. If any of you takes them as allies, then he is one of them. Indeed Allâh does not guide the wrongdoers." (Al-Mâ'idah: 51 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  (Peace and Blessings of Allah be Upon Him), even if they are their fathers or their sons or their kindred..."  ( Al-Mujadlilah 58:22 interpretation of  Meaning)

This is the truth of the matter; this is how the matter really stands.  One is either for the Muslims - for obeying the Quran and Sunnah - or one is for the infidels and their infidel way of life.
 

Using the Jumaada al-Thaani Attacks as an Excuse:

a) An Excuse Used by the Infidels

What the Americans and their allies have done and are doing, in the name of a war on "terrorism", is inexcusable, arrogant and totally dishonourable, and even illegal by the laws which the American government claims to uphold ( see, for instance,  The Arrogance of America ). And the attacks in America in Jumaada al-Thaani most certainly do not merit the barbaric, terrorist, response of the Americans and their allies, for the truth is that:

1) the people who undertook those attacks are now dead; (2) the Americans have not offered any credible proof whatsoever for their claim that those attacks were planned by Sheikh Osama bin Laden; (3) the Taliban were not in any way whatsoever involved in the attacks or in the planning of those attacks; (4) the civilized response would have been to use the due process of law which the Americans claimed was central to their own way of life: that is, to have investigated the matter thoroughly, and if any evidence was found, use that as a basis for a criminal prosecution against those involved. Rather than trying to negotiate with the Taliban government, America simply made demands which they said were "not open to negotiation".

Instead of upholding the principles and processes of law which it said it believed in, America launched an aggressive war to bring down a foreign government, in the process using weapons of mass murder (aircraft dropping bombs and missles) to kill and main thousands of Muslims. In fact, America acted exactly like a cowardly, violent, aggressive bully: "Do as we say or we will kill you!"

What has happened is that America has hypocritically used the Jumaada al-Thaani attacks merely as an excuse to indulge in imperialist and anti-Islamic aggression all the while using deception, lies and disinformation, and the tactics of the cowardly bully, to get their own way and impose their own laws and their own values upon Muslims. Furthermore, under the cover of their infidel mantra - "War Against Terrorism" - the infidels have tried to divide the Muslims.
 

b) An Excuse Used by some Muslims

Some Muslims have also used the attacks as an excuse to indulge not only in the new infidel-sponsored and deadly game of "Salafi-bashing" but also
to re-define not only Jihad, but the duties and obligations of Muslims. These Muslims, it seems, are trying to tame, to pacify, Islam and make it acceptable to their new infidel masters who will only tolerate this type of modernist tame Islam. For the infidels will not tolerate any Muslim who strives to do their duty and so who seeks to fight in the Way of Allah (SWT) against oppression, injustice, tyranny and who refuses to imitate the kuffar or accept domination by some Kufr State. The infidels wants such Muslims killed, humiliated or captured and imprisoned.

Abdullah ibn Mas'ood (radiallahu 'anhu) said  "Whoever aids an oppressor or taught him an argument to nullify the
right of an ordinary Muslim, has drawn upon himself the anger of Allaah".

"I heard the Prophet (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) saying, 'Any person whom Allah has given the authority of ruling some people and he does not look after them in an honest manner will never feel even the smell of Paradise'. "  [Sahih Muslim - Volume 9, Book 89, 264]

"And what is wrong with you that you do not fight in the Cause of Allaah, and for those weak, ill­treated and oppressed among men, women, and children, whose cry is: "Our Lord! Rescue us from this place whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from You
one who will protect, and raise for us from You one who will help".  Those who believe, fight in the Cause of Allaah, and those who disbelieve, fight in the cause of Taghut (Shaitaan). So fight against the friends and allies of Shaitaan. "  [ An-Nisa'  75 - 76. Interpretation of Meaning.]

It was narrated by Abu Baker Bin Abi Musa, who said: I heard Abu Huraira saying while facing the enemies: "The Prophet (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: 'The doors of Heaven are opened through Jihad'.  (Muslim)

The Fabrication of Evidence:

The clumsy faked video-tape of Sheikh Osama bin Laden - which the American government produced a month ago - is only the beginning. In order to try and somehow "justify" their own terrorist campaign in Afghanistan and elsewhere - a campaign which has so far killed more civilians than were killed in the Jumaada al-Thaani attacks - the American infidels are planning to unleash more forgeries upon the world.

As a senior US Army Officer said: "This is the most information-intensive war you can imagine. We're going to lie about things." (Washington Post, October 7th, 2001) The Officer went on to state that disinformation is part of the US strategy for this war. Even the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, admitted: "Sometimes, the truth [sic] must be accompanied by a bodyguard of lies."
 

Of the first forgery - the video-tape - the American Vice-President Dick Cheney said it was a "smoking gun" that leaves "no doubt" about the al-Qaeda leader's guilt, while US Senator Ron Wyden said he hoped the tape would remove suspicions in countries such as Pakistan that the attacks were an Zionist plot aimed at drawing the United States into a war with Islamic countries.
 

Since that tape is now largely discredited among Muslims, we can be sure that the infidels will soon fabricate or somehow "find" more such "evidence" just as we can be certain that they will manage to obtain "confessions" from some of their captured prisoners, "confessions" which will no doubt the Western Media, the infidels and their apostate allies and helpers will say "prove beyond reasonable doubt" that the war was justified and that people such as Sheikh Osama bin Laden were guilty all along.
 

The Uncivilized Treatment of Muslim Prisoners:

The infidels have shown their true nature in their treatment of captured Mujahadeen. In defiance of the international law which the infidels claim in their hypocrisy to uphold, they have refused these prisoners Prisoner of War status. In addition, they have forcibly sedated these prisoners and humiliated them by forcibly shaving off their beards, in complete defiance of the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam). Thus have the infidels grossly insulted all Muslims by failing to respect the laws and customs of Islam.

Furthermore, they have allowed their apostate allies in Afghanistan to torture these captured Mujahadeen just as they themselves have used what they call "physical interrogation", and drugs, in order to get information from the Mujahadeen.
 
 

Conclusion:

By its aggression, its arrogance, its bribery, its killing of Muslims, its humiliation of captured Mujahadeen, its fabrication of evidence, its propaganda war and disinformation campaign, the Kufr State of America has succeed in doing two things:

(1) It has succeed in gaining the support of many Muslims who sincerely believe the propaganda, the disinformation and lies against the Taliban, Sheikh Osama bin Laden, and the Mujahadeen. Thus, America has succeeded in dividing Muslims, just as they desired to do:
 

"We do not want a war with Islam, we want a war within Islam."  Thomas Freedman, New York Times (December 12, 2001)

(2) It has succeed in arousing even more anger and resentment among the Muslims who - by adhering to the Quran and Sunnah - have not been taken in by the propaganda, the lies, the deceit, the cunning, of the infidels, and who, moreover, are firm in their support of the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
 

These Muslims are the Muslims who adhere to the example of Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) and the words of Allah, the Almighty (SWT):
 

"And whosoever does not judge by what Allâh has revealed, such are the Kâfirûn." [5:44 Interpretation of meaning]

"You who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin: and spy not on each other, nor speak ill of each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, ye would abhor it...But fear Allah, for Allah is Oft- Returning, Most Merciful." - Surah Al-Hujuraat 12.

"You who believe! If a rebellious bad person comes to you with a news, verify it, lest you harm people in ignorance, and afterwards you become regretful to what you have done." - Surah Al Hujarat 6.
 

"You who believe! Take not as (your) Bitanah (advisors, consultants, protectors, helpers, friends, etc.) those outside your religion
(pagans, Jews, Christians, and hypocrites) since they will not fail to do their best to corrupt you. They desire to harm you severely. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, but what their breasts conceal is far worse. Indeed We have made plain to you the Ayât (proofs, evidences, verses) if you understand. " - Surah Al Imaran 118.

These are the Muslims who understand the words of Sheikh Safar bin 'Abdir-Rahmaan al-Hawaali:
 

The tolerance being shown by Allah for this tyrannical nation (i.e. America) is most amazing. They combine the despotism/haughtiness of the Aad, the transgression of the Thamud, the arrogance of Pharaoh, the foulness of the people of Lot and the fraudulence and niggardliness of the people of Madyan. To this they added the cunning plots of the Jews, their ardent desire for life, playing with words and claims of self-righteousness elevating themselves above all others besides them. So what can be awaited for them except that Allah brings on them the Ways with which He dealt with those who have passed and such days from Allah come upon them incessantly? It is not strange at all that their High Priest declared, "This is only the beginning!"

"Everything that befalls on this Ummah in the form of weakness, humiliation, defeat or poverty, is due to its sins and is brought upon by itself."
 
"...if the Ummah grasped on to the rope of Allah, repented to Him and left its sins it will have victory, might and a strong foothold in every sphere. After all, what are its enemies - the People of the Scripture, the Polytheists, its oppressive rulers, and its cunning Hypocrites who plot against it - what are these except a part of its own sins? Then, due to its sins, Allah will empower above them all someone who will afflict them with a brutal punishment - be it from within the Ummah or outside it.

Therefore, the first of the steps toward a change is repentance and humble submissiveness to Allah."
 

"It is Allah alone who can nullify the plots of the disbelievers." [ 8: 15-18 Interpretation of Meaning.]

It seems that, in the near future, there will be three types of Muslim: (1) those who passively accept the world-role which America has given to itself, and who thus accept American usurping that which rightly belong to Allah (SWT); (2) those who actively aid the Kufr State of America and its Kufr ways; and (3) those who oppose America and its allies and who thus strive in the way of Allah (SWT) for the creation of an Islamic society, ruled only by Shari'ah, where Muslims are free to follow the example of Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) and obey the words of Allah, the Almighty (SWT).
 

Abu Huraira narrated that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam) said: "Islam began as something strange, and it will return to its former position of being strange, so good tidings for the strangers." (Recorded by Muslim, Attirmidthi, Ibn Majah, and Ahmad)

"Let there rise among you a group Calling others to Islam, enjoining others to  Al-Maruf [what Allah orders] and forbidding Al-Munkar [what Allah forbids] for they are the ones who will achieve success [Paradise]." [ 3:104 Interpretation of Meaning]
 
 

Allah (SWT) knows best.
 

Abdul Aziz
 1422 AH