All Praise and All Thanks are for Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى to whom we shall all
return to be judged on The Last Day.
"And you will see how those in whose hearts is a disease will run
toward them saying: "We are afraid we will be defeated." But it is
Allah who will bring them victory - or some punishment - and so, one day,
they may awaken from their sleep remorseful about that which they concealed
concerning themselves." (5:52 Interpretation of meaning)
At the beginning of this Blessed Month of Ramadan, Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah
composed and circulated an open letter to Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin
(hafidhahullah) in which he made several criticisms of our Mujahid brother,
Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin (hafidhahullah).
Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote:
How
much blood has been spilled? How many innocent children, women, and old people
have been killed, maimed, and expelled from their homes in the name of
"al-Qaeda"?
In reply, we say two important things
:
(1) How much Muslim blood have the kuffar and their allies spilled in
their invasions and occupations of our lands, in their support for apostate
regimes and rulers, in their bid to have us accept and bow down before their
Tawagheet, and in their support for the Zionist entity which has occupied
Filistine? How many Muslims have the kuffar and their allies killed in the
last six years, in the last sixty years, in the last hundred years? In the
last six years alone tens of thousands of Muslims have been killed in
Afghanistan; tens upon tens of thousands in Seeshan, and in the place the
kuffar call Iraq; while every week - for the past sixty years - Muslims have
been killed in Filistine. Who is lamenting for our dead brothers and sisters?
Who is being held to account?
Furthermore, how many Muslim children, women and old people have been injured
by the kuffar and their allies? How many expelled from their homes? Millions.
Who is lamenting for these, our brothers and sisters? Who is being held to
account?
Who has tortured thousands upon thousands of our brothers and sisters in
places such as Bagram and Abu Gharib, and who has imprisoned tens upon tens of
thousands of our brothers and sisters? Who is lamenting for these, our
brothers and sisters? Who is being held to account?
Who has invaded and occupied our lands? Who is oppressing our brothers and
sisters? Who is fighting the invaders, the occupiers and their apostate allies
and their puppet armed forces? Who are defending their brothers and sisters?
Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى says:
"Allah does not forbid you from treating honourably those who do not
act against you because of your Deen, or who have not driven you from your
dwellings, for Allah loves those who act with honour. But Allah forbids you
from treating with respect, or befriending, those who act against you
because of your Deen, or have driven you from your dwellings or aided others
to do this - for those of you who do this are without honour." 60: 8-9
Interpretation of Meaning
"It is not you who kills them: rather, it is Allah who kills them. You
did not shoot (anything) when you aimed and let go: rather, it was Allah who
shot as a test for the believers, a fair test from the One Who Hears all,
Who understands all. This, in truth, is how things are: for it is Allah
alone who can nullify the plots of the disbelievers."8: 15-18
Interpretation of Meaning
(2) Who is "innocent" and who defines this term? According to Sheikh
Hammoud Al-Uqlaa Ash-Shuaybi (May Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى have mercy on him):
"What many are babbling about and repeating when they talk about
"innocent victims", is nothing but the effect of the West and its
media, to the extent that many an unwary person repeats the words and
expressions of our enemies, which are in direct contradiction with the
expressions of Shariah."
As I have written elsewhere:
What needs be understood by both Muslims and the peoples of the West is that
terms "innocent" and "civilian" have no meaning in
Shariah, and that these are kaffir terms, kaffir concepts, which the kuffar
and their apostate allies project onto Islam in order to distort Islam and
have Muslims imitate the kuffar... The kaffir concepts of
"innocent" and "civilian" have become Taghut - idols,
principles, which the kaffir have created and which they make laws about,
which laws they seek to impose on Muslims. These concepts are Taghut because
they are created without reference to the Quran or Sunnah - created, by
fallible humans, without reference to the Will of Allah سبحانه
و تعالى. In many ways,
it is right to think as these things as objects which the kuffar now
worship, or which they put their trust in - which they make, as standards,
for people to follow and obey. Allah سبحانه
و تعالى
"Their way is to refer matters to a Taghut.
" 4:60 Interpretation of Meaning
Some Muslims, however, quote the following Hadith in an effort to show that
there is such a thing as the concept of "innocent" in Islam:
Narrated 'Aa'ishah who said that the Nabi صلى
الله عليه و
سلم said, "The pen has been lifted from
three; from the sleeping until they awake, from the child until they mature,
and from the one who is crazy until he is sane."
In this Hadith we have a beautiful expression - "The pen has been
lifted..." The question we must ask is - Do we take the context to mean
that the three are "innocent" as the kuffar understand innocent?
That is, do we project a kaffir meaning into this Hadith? Or do we refer it,
for explanation, to what Allah (سبحانه
و تعالى) has told us, and
thus take it in the literal sense to mean that what they are doing, have
done, has not been recorded? If we refer to what our Rabb says:
"And over you are Watchers - just, honourable - who know and record
[write down] all that you do. Thus shall those who do what is commanded be
in bliss while the disobedient will be in the blazing Fire. " 82: 10-14
Interpretation of Meaning
Thus, understood in the context of the words of Allah سبحانه
و تعالى this Hadith refers
not to some kaffir concept such as "innocent" but to the recoding
of our deeds.
Therefore, we should consider the matter of such deaths in the correct context
- which is of seeking to use only the criteria of Quran and Sunnah; which is
of defending our brothers and sisters and our Muslims lands; which is of
seeking to defend our Deen; which is of the invasion and occupation of our
lands by the kuffar; which is of the interference in our affairs by the kuffar
for well over a hundred years; which is of their manufacture, in once Muslim
lands, of their Taghut of the nation-State and of the nationalism which goes
with it; which is of the determined campaign, by the kuffar, to change our
Deen and have us accept their Tawagheet (such as democracy and the so-called
United Nations); which is of the support, by the kuffar, for apostate rulers
and corrupt regimes in Muslim lands; and so on, and so on.
As Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى says:
"Judge between them by what Allah has revealed: do not give in to your
own desires, and beware, for they will try to lead you astray, away from
some of that which Allah has revealed. And if they turn away, there is the
knowledge of their punishment by Allah for some transgression of theirs -
and, indeed, there are many disobedient, rebellious ones [Fasiqun]. Do they
seek to judge according to the ways of Jahiliyyah? The judgement of Allah is
best - for those who sincerely believe." 5:49-50 Interpretation of
Meaning
"Do not believe that those who are killed in the Way of Allah are dead.
Rather, they are alive, fulfilled, and with their Rabb. They rejoice because
of what Allah has bestowed upon them in His generosity. They rejoice because
of those who have not yet joined them, but have been left behind - that no
fear, no grieving should come to them. They rejoice because of the favour
that Allah has shown them in His mercy: for no dishonour touched them and
Allah always rewards the Believers. Thus for those who heard and answered
(the Call of) Allah and His Messenger Muhammad after harm touched them - for
those of them who did honourable deeds and feared Allah - there will be the
best reward of all." 3: 169-172 Interpretation of Meaning
Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote, quoting a Hadith:
"Whoever
as much as kills a sparrow in vain will find it crying before Allah on the Day
of Judgment: My Lord! That person killed me in vain. He did not kill me for
needful sustenance..."
In respect of this Hadith, it was reported that Abdullah Ibn Amr narrated that
the Prophet
صلى
الله عليه و
سلم said:
"When someone kills [even] a sparrow, without
just cause, Allah will ask him about it on the Day of Judgement."
Then someone asked: "Prophet of Allah! What is a just cause?" and
he replied: "To slaughter it for food..." (Narrated by Al-Nasa'i,
7/ 207)
Thus, the question we must ask, in relation to this particular criticism of
Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin (hafidhahullah) is: is it just for us,
according to Quran and Sunnah, to fight and to kill the kuffar and their
allies who have invaded and occupied our lands, who have interfered in our
affairs for over a hundred years, and who have killed hundreds of thousands -
if not millions - of our brothers and sisters, and tortured and imprisoned
tens upon tens of thousands of our brothers and sisters, and who demand that
we abandon Deen Al-Islam for their Tawagheet?
Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى says:
"If anyone attacks you, then retaliate and attack them in the way
that they have attacked you." 2: 194 Interpretation of Meaning
"The retribution for a wrong is to inflict the like (upon the
wrong-doer)." 42:40 Interpretation of Meaning
"If an injury has been inflicted on you, make certain that a similar
injury has been inflicted, by you, on the disbelievers: there are good days,
and bad days, which We give to each side in turn for thereby We know those
who believe and choose from among them witnesses (to the Truth)." 3:140
Interpretation of Meaning
"You who believe! What is wrong with you that you did not rush forth
when called [to aid] the Way of Allah? Or is it that you love this earth so
much - that you crave its comforts so much - that you forget the next life
where such earthly things are revealed for the insignificant comforts they
are?" 9: 38 Interpretation of Meaning
We should also ask: if it is just for us to do this, then what are the limits,
according to Shariah? Sheikh ul-Islam ibn Taimiyyah (Rahimullah) gives an
excellent summary in
Siyasatush-Shariah of who, according to the
majority opinion, among the kuffar may not be targeted.
According to
him, those who should not be killed are women, children, the elderly, the
blind, and those who are incapable of physically fighting,
provided
such persons as these do not assist or aid, through words, or deeds, or by
giving assistance or encouragement to, those who are fighting.
Thus, the Shariah argument centres around what constitutes aid, assistance and
encouragement, in words and deeds. In addition, it has to be asked and has
been asked: who, among the kuffar, are responsible for, or to be held
accountable, for the invasion of our lands, for the killing, torture and
imprisonment of our brothers and sisters? Is it just the figureheads, such as
Bush, Brown and people like Busharraf? Or are - in so-called democratic lands
where such figureheads and leaders are said to be acting "in the name of
the people" and who derive their authority to govern and to act from the
people who elected them - the people themselves accountable?
Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin (hafidhahullah) and those in Al-Qaeda, and
many others among the Mujahideen and elsewhere, have saught to answer such
questions, according to the only criteria which matters, which is of Quran and
Sunnah, and they have - after consulting with the Ahl adh-Dhikr among them -
have answers which have explained the limits.
Furthermore, we say in further reply that Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin
(hafidhahullah) in particular and the Mujahideen in general have been fighting
only in accordance to such limits: that they are well aware of our Rabb, of
The Judgement of our Rabb from which neither they nor we can escape, and that
their very lives are evidence of this truth, as is their love of Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى and His Prophet
صلى
الله عليه و
سلم and their desire to obey only Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى. Indeed, we would go
further and say that it is such brothers - and such sisters as aid and support
them - who are Muslim examples to us in these dire times when many Muslims
have abandoned the way of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jammah and Jihad Fee Sabilillah and
instead imitate the kuffar and take as their examples in life some kaffir
so-called "celebrity" or "entertainer" or some so-called
"sportsman" or some other such example of the decadence and
ignorance of the kuffar. Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى says:
"Turn away from those who, turning away from Our reminders, seek only
the life of the dunya." 53:29 Interpretation of Meaning
Of course, Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin (hafidhahullah) and those in
Al-Qaeda, and the many others, who have accepted such answers may be in error,
and there are many Muslims who believe they are are or may be in error (May
Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى guide them and us) just
as there are many other Muslims who not only admire him but who believe he is
not in error in such matters. But it needs to be made known again that even if
he and they are in error in respect of such matters we do not - we should not
- aid the kuffar against them. According to Sheikh Safar bin 'Abdir-Rahmaan
al-Hawaali:
" This Muslim - supposing that he erred in taking revenge against the
enemy or that he erred in considering someone to be an enemy who is not an
enemy - this Muslim is no more sinful, no more in error, than the
perpetrators of major errors like adultery, theft, and impiety towards the
parents. The position of Ahlus Sunnah wa Jamaah with respect to the
perpetrators of such major errors is well known. They still perform the
prayer on him (if he dies) and seek forgiveness for him. They neither defame
him nor do they make the People of Kufr pleased over the shortcoming of
their brothers by mentioning their defects and sins. As long as the
characteristic of Islam is present in them they are as the Prophet صلى
الله عليه و
سلم said, 'Every Muslim is forbidden for Muslim
- his blood, wealth, honour."
The important issue here, in respect of Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah
criticisms of our brother, is that Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin (hafidhahullah)
does live and act - according to all those who know him or who have known him
- as a Muslim, with a genuine humility, and is much given to remembering Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى and is seeking only to
do what is right and just according to the criteria of Quran and Sunnah. Thus,
we do not under any circumstances betray this brother to the kuffar, nor join
forces with the kuffar to fight against him, nor join in the kaffir chorus of
condemnation against him, nor allow the kuffar to dictate to us how we should
view him and those in Al-Qaeda and those elsewhere, for if we use the criteria
of the ignorant kuffar (such as the Tawagheet of "innocent" and
"terrorism") in our words, thoughts and speech, then we are surely
imitating the kuffar, whether we are aware of this or not. Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى says:
"From each and every direction He has the power to deliver misfortune
to you - to sow confusion and dissension among you. Thus do We reveal our
Signs, that you might understand them." 6:65 Interpretation of Meaning
Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote:
Didn't
you read where the Prophet صلى
الله عليه و
سلم said: "One of the prophets once sat
under a tree and was bitten by an ant. Because of this, he burnt the ant's
nest. Thereupon, Allah inspired to him: "Why not only the one ant?"
This and similar narrations has been recorded by
Bukhari
(4, Book 54, Number 536) and Muslim (Kitab As-Salaam, 5567, 5568, 5569)
and Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah, after quoting the Hadith, says: "If
this is the case for a nest of ants, consider how much worse it must be to
visit harm upon human beings." However, the correct context would be: how
much worse might it be
if there were no just
cause; if you did not act in accord with the due limits, for as Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى says:
"And there shall be no blame for those who take revenge after they have
suffered injustice. The way (of blame) is only for those rebellious ones who
oppress others and who insolently walk on the earth: for these there will be
a painful torment indeed." 42: 41-42 Interpretation of Meaning
Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote:
Our
Rabb tells us: "Whosoever kills a human being for other than manslaughter
or corruption in the Earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and
whoso saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the lives of all
mankind."
In context, this Ayah (5:32) is:
"We prescribed for the children of Israel
that whoever killed someone not in retaliation [for a killing] nor
for spreading dishonour, it will be as if he had killed all the people, and
that whoever saved one of them, it will be as if he had saved all of
them." Interpretation of Meaning
Thus, even if one interprets this Ayah in general so as to refer to other than
a past command to the people of Israel, then it is lawful to kill someone in
retribution or for spreading dishonour, defined as such retribution and
dishonour are by Quran, Sunnah and thus Shariah.
Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote:
what
is to be gained from the destruction of entire nations - which is what we are
witnessing in Afghanistan and Iraq - seeing them torn them with plague and
famine?
What is to be gained from accepting the invasions and the occupations of the
kuffar - in Afghanistan and Iraq - which invasions and which occupations have
led to the current state of affairs.
The
fault lies with the kuffar - not with Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin
Ladin (hafidhahullah) and Al-Qaeda. It was the kuffar who decided, decades ago
after their so-called First World War, to manufacture the artificial nation
called Iraq according to their Taghut of the nation-State. It was the kuffar
who decided that this artificial nation must be ruled according to their
Taghut of democracy - and to achieve this they have now invaded and occupied
that land and installed a puppet government, and have killed hundreds of
thousands of Muslims; tortured thousands upon thousands of Muslims there and
imprisoned many more. Now, they are determined to "re-educate" our
brothers and sisters there and are expecting them to admire and follow the
nations of the West with the rampant addiction to drugs, alcohol, vice,
profanity, violence, oppression, inequality, crime and decadence that is such
a feature of Western societies. It is same in Afghanistan. It is the same in
Sheeshan; in Algeria; in Egypt; in Somalia; in the Arabian Peninsula.
What is the correct solution? The Taghut of the nation-State? Accepting the
diktat
of the kuffar and their manufactured laws, and the overlordship of the
kaffir United Nations and the division of the world into nation-States? The
Taghut of democracy? Or, is the correct solution Islam, and accepting the
guidance of Quran and Sunnah, of living in a land ruled only according to
Shariah? We are seeking to return to Quran and Sunnah; to Shariah; to living
as Muslims in lands free from the influence, the corruption, the decadence,
the Tawagheet, of the kuffar. As Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى says:
"Fight against those who do not believe in Allah, or in The Last Day,
and who do not forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His
Messenger, as well as those among the people of the book who do not
acknowledge the Deen of Truth, and fight them until they pay the Jizya with
willing submission." 9:29 interpretation of Meaning
Furthermore, it is a lie, a myth, to believe as the masters of the kuffar want
us to believe in their perfidy, that the New York and Washington expeditions -
the Jumaadi Al-Thaani attacks - and the so-called "war on terrorism"
are the reason behind the recent invasion and occupation of Iraq and
Afghanistan, and behind the killing of hundreds of thousands of Muslims by the
kuffar. Rather, the truth is that those attacks were but one part of a chain
of events which goes back over a hundred years, and which events include the
occupation of Muslim lands by the kuffar, the ending of the Khilafah by that
lackey and imitator of the kuffar Ataturk, the occupation of Palestine by the
Zionists, and the creation of puppet regimes and lackey governments in lands
such as Egypt, Algeria, the Arabian Peninsula and elsewhere.
The
fault lies with the kuffar - with their persistent and deadly
interference in our affairs for well over a hundred years and in their
arrogant insistence that they have a right, a duty, a so-called
"destiny", to bring the so-called benefits of Western so-called
civilization to the rest of the world, and particularly to the Muslims. The
kuffar have not let us alone, and they will not leave us alone, such is their
arrogance and insolence and their lust for power.
Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى says:
"They long for you to disbelieve even as they disbelieve, so that you
may be the same (as them) so do not choose friends from among them until
they accept the way of Allah." 4:89 Interpretation of Meaning
"You who believe [in Allah and The Last Day]: do not befriend nor rely
upon those outside [your Deen] for they will lead you astray desiring as
they do to harm you: and although hatred issues forth from their mouths what
they conceal in their hearts is far worse. Here are Signs, for those who
have Aql." 3: 118 Interpretation of Meaning
"The Jews and Nazarenes will never be satisfied with you until they
have changed your way of life." 2: 120 Interpretation of Meaning
Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote:
War is
something hateful that must only be resorted to under the most dire and
compelling of circumstances when no other way is found.
We are at war because of the kuffar - because of their plans, their
machinations, their desire to have us accept their mastery, their laws, their
capitalism, their desire to have us bow down to their Tawagheet of the
nation-State, of democracy, of the so-called United Nations.
It is they who have invaded and occupied our lands. They who have interfered
in our affairs. We are resisting their invasion, their occupation, their
interference. There is no other way than Jihad Fee Sabilillah. As Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى says:
"We are rid of you and what you bow down before - and between you and
us there will be hatred and fighting until you accept Allah and Allah
alone." 6:4 Interpretation of Meaning
It was narrated by Abu Da'ud that the Prophet
صلى
الله عليه و
سلم said: "Whoever loves for Allah, hates
for Allah, gives for Allah, and withholds for Allah, is correctly striving for
the Deen." [Refer to Sheikh ul-Islam ibn Tamayyah (Rahimullah):
Al
Furqan bayana Awliya ar Rahman wa awliya ash-Shaitan, ch. 2]
Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote:
Is
Islam only about guns and ammunition? Have your means become the ends
themselves?
Islam is about submitting to, about obeying, Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى. It is the perspective
of Jannah, not of the dunya - the way of viewing the dunya as a means, a test,
an opportunity, given to us by Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى.
We fight to protect our brothers and sisters; to resist the kuffar and the
Tawagheet of the kuffar; the implement Quran and Sunnah in the dunya; to raise
the Word of Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى. To do our duty, as
Muslims, Bi'ithnillahi Ta'ala.
As Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى says:
"Let those who would trade the life of this world for the life
Hereafter fight in the Cause of Allah. And those who do fight in the Cause
of Allah - whether they be killed or are victorious - will have bestowed on
them, by Us, a great reward." 4: 74 Interpretation of Meaning
Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote:
My
heart pains me when I think of the number of young people who had so much
potential - who would have made such great and original contributions to
society, who had so much to offer that was constructive and positive - who
have been turned into living bombs.
Our hearts pain us when we see, when we hear of, our brothers and sisters
killed by the thousand by the kuffar and their apostate allies. Our hearts
pain us when we see, when we hear of, our brothers and sisters, tortured and
humiliated by the kuffar and by the allies and apostate lackeys of the kuffar.
Our hearts pain us when we see, when we hear of, our brothers and sisters in
Filistine suffer under the brutal occupation of the Zionists. Our hearts pain
us when we see, when we hear of, our brothers and sisters suffer and go hungry
in what once were the lands of the Muslims.
As Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى says:
"The believers are as one family." 49:10 Interpretation of Meaning
Surely, what matters is striving to obey Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى - the perspective of
Jannah; what does not matter is dwelling on the dunya and what
"success" (according to kaffir standards) we might achieve or could
achieve in the dunya and what "contributions we might make to
society". Whose "society" anyway? That of the kuffar, or that
of the Muslims? If of the Muslims, we have no Muslim "society" now
where the kuffar and their apostate lackeys have no influence or power and
where we can live, as Muslims, ruled by an Ameer according to Shariah alone.
As Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى says:
"What your heart desires and your eyes delight in will be there in that
Garden of Paradise you can inherit through your deeds in your life in this
world." 43:71-72 Interpretation of Meaning
Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote:
Here
is the vital question that you need to ask yourself and that others have the
right to demand and answer for: What have all these long years of suffering,
tragedy, tears, and sacrifice actually achieved?
Here is the essential answer: There has been a striving to submit to, and to
obey, only Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى. Our victory, our
success, is Jannah, InshaAllah. Wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah.
In conclusion, let us strive to be, as Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى says:
"Loyal to the Believers, stern toward the kuffar, who fight in the Way
of Allah, and who do not heed the criticism of their critics. For this is
the honour that He bestows upon whomsoever He wills - for Allah is The
All-Knowing, The Infinite One. In truth, your champions are Allah, His
Messenger, and the Believers - those who undertake As-Salat, who give Zakat
and who submit [in loyalty to Allah]. For whomsoever has Allah, His
Messenger, and Believers as their Champion, are the ones who will achieve
(the) victory (of Jannah)." 5: 54-56 Interpretation of Meaning
May Allah
سبحانه
و تعالى 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.
Abdul-Aziz
16 Ramadan 1428