FIVE

Further establishing the point that preceded, the way out of the crisis is only by returning to the beginning of the road and by correcting the beginning of the station, as Ghazali (May Allah show mercy to him) after having pursued every path in the wilderness he returned to the Book and the Sunnah and he died with the Saheeh Bukhari on his chest and he used to repeat on and on saying,

"I left the passion for Laila and Sada by the retreat (place for quarantine)
And returned to correcting the beginning of the station"

The point from it all is the return to the Book of Allah, the Wise, wherein is the story of those before us, information of what is to come after us and the Ways of Allah in dealing with us and others besides us, as well as an exposition of the reality of our enemy. The point is to turn to the Book of Allah by reflecting on it, understanding it and deducing from it and acting accordingly. How many Verses from it we find as though they were revealed on us today, particularly about what we find ourselves in! But most Muslims pass over them heedless of these. After all, did Allah elaborate the discourse on the People of the Book in the longest Sura (Chapter) except with knowledge and wisdom and so that it be a guidance, reminder and mercy to the Believers?

Thus, if the Mujahideen abided by the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (s.a.w) entirely - and this includes consultation with those who are concerned with this matter and give up separating themselves and isolating from the rest of the Ummah - if they were to do this then they would have been successful in striking down the enemy and acquiring a position of strength in a way that actually benefits and does not harm. And then none would have had anything to object except a hypocrite who is known to be just that.

If the Muftis, the writers, the public speakers and the announcers were to judge this incident and the manner of dealing with it by the Quran, they would have had the best results and achieve the biggest gains and benefits and would have avoided many harms including the chaos and conflicting views although the common folk at the time this incident occurred were on one view and with one heart. Whoever amongst them deviated did so only after the differences amongst the people of knowledge and opinion.

If the reformers, the educators and the people of Dawah all were to abide by that, they would not have become 'an acoustic phenomenon' [giving their own opinions] ! Instead they would have turned to drawing plans and design programs to prevent division, and the shortcoming in major areas of the religion would have been avoided which was in the name of 'wisdom', 'good of Dawah' or what the sheikhs who are followed were on.

If those residing in the West were to abide by that it would have been the greatest of victories for Islam in those dark astray societies.

SIX

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).

So, it is duty on the opposing Afghan factions and others who made such promises to come forth with repentance and recompense for this vile act by supporting their Muslim brothers even if it were by supplication and verbal statements.

While we remind of this great matter, we call upon our old Mujahid brothers - particularly Sheikh AbdurRasul Sayyaf and Sheikh Burhanuddin Rabbani - to distance themselves from this and hasten in raising their voice absolving themselves from it. We remind them by Allah and then of what we used to advise them with during the days of Jihad and they used to assure us that it will never happen, and here it is, it did happen and that too worse than we expected. And here is the Shaitan, he wants to nullify their previous Jihad against the Russians due to their patroness of the Americans! And let them consider and learn a lesson from what Mo'tamad ibn Abbad, who said, "Attending to the camels of Ibn Tashifin is more beloved to me than to attend to the pigs of Alfonso (Alfonso was the leader of the Spanish Christians)." And let them consider and learn from the consequences faced by the one who allied with Hitler and accepted being the leader of his own country under the influence of the Nazi rule and then became accursed by his own people for ever, as it occurred with the French General, Petan. And let them also learn from what America did with the Kurds for it is a living contemporary witness.

Likewise we call upon the Government of the Islamic emirate in Afghanistan to take the initiative and make peace between itself and the opposing Alliance by declaring a general amnesty, accepting some of the demands, opening the door to a dialogue and understanding and giving the Muslim leaders from them an opportunity to gain positions in the Government and other such measures which remove the divisions or at least decrease it.

We also call upon the Writers, the Announcers and Public Speakers, in this country and others, to fear Allah in regards to what they say. In neglecting this, they may have aided the killing of a Muslim by a word or as little as half a word and as a result of that their present life as well as the Hereafter gets ruined and their actions become of no avail in Allah's view, for "a man (may) say a word which displeases Allah without giving it much notice and it makes him fall into the hell fire by seventy years", as has been informed by the Truthful whose truthfulness has been verified.

So now how would it be, given that the goal is to wipe out a whole Muslim community and thereby take revenge for the successive defeats of the Crusaders at this community's hands (i.e. the Muslims) - from as far back as a century and a half until the expulsion of the Russians from it? How the whole world speaks of a sweeping all-out attack whose frontline is in Afghanistan, the rear is all the way back in America and it stretches over the depths of the oceans while its mission is to exterminate a hunger-stricken community from the Ummah of Muhammad (s.a.w), and they will surely follow-up after this nation with others and yet those Journalists and the Public Speakers (in their Sermons) from amongst the people of Islam will speak of aiding the attack and the campaign against terrorism and describe the Mujahideen as 'terrorists'. They fall into the trap of deceptive terminologies and declare that 'Allah has forbidden Terrorism' or 'the religion of Islam is free from Terrorism', whereas in reality, the terrorising of the enemies of Allah is a requirement as stated in the Book of Allah, {And make ready against them all you can of power, including steeds of war to threaten the enemy of Allah and your enemy}. And victory by fear is one of the special characteristics of this Noble Prophet and his Ummah (may the peace and blessings of Allah be on him and them). Allah the Exalted says, {Verily, you (Muslim Believers) are more fearful in their chests than Allah}. As for the various divisions of Kufr, each of them defines Terror as he pleases. But they all agree that the Muslim mujahid in Palestine, Lebanon, Chechnya, Kashmir, Philippines or Eritrea is a 'Terrorist'!! Moreover, every Muslim who enters an airport is liable to be discredited and labelled so.

And let it be known to everyone who did condemn and denounce in such a manner that this is essentially a permission from him to them for revenge! And America doesn't want from the public any more than this. Then it will decide by itself how that revenge will be, specify who is to be included in this treatment and to what extent the vengeance will be carried out - it will decide on all of this, unaccountable to any and without anyone to oversee it.

While we have had bitter experiences with them, as in its war against Iraq, it took an authorisation from the Security Council to fight as did from some of the Muslim scholars to prevent the aggression and now where has America reached? It has surpassed all limits and is yet to stop. Three of the member nations of the Security Council and all the Islamic Arabic Nations have sought from it to stop the boycott but it didn't nor will it ever stop or withhold until it drains the last drop of petrol from the Gulf and Iraq and destroys - if it could - every Muslim person in that region. O Allah, we beseech You in this situation which is like relating the story of the bandits of Uraniy in front of Hajjaj, but in fact in front of one whose vice and mischief is even more than his, far more, beyond any measure.

SEVEN

One of the fundamentals of the belief of AhlusSunna wal Jama'ah is that Jihad takes place until the establishment of the Hour. It is to be undertaken with any leader - be he righteous or a sinner - who holds the banner for the aid and victory of the religion and checking the aggression of the Non-Muslims. Raising the voices from here and there thereby distorting the understanding of Jihad or narrowing it to be limited to past historical stages, or limiting it by conditions which perhaps will never be met until the Day of Resurrection, this is all from self abasement and defeat. Moreover, some of them absolve themselves and Islam from it, and we seek refuge in Allah from such things.

In fact the Truth is between the extreme on the one hand and one falling short on the other, with regards to this matter.

And the difference is very clear to anyone who contemplated/considered the difference between a Jihad operation on the one hand which produces a little damage in the enemy with the aim of revenge and deterrence, whereas on the other hand is the Jihad with a general leadership and takes its rightful place as a constructive means of reformation and development (Tarbiya), and is founded in order to return the Ummah to its former might and honour and to establish the religion completely for Allah in the daily lives - this effort made to an extent that is humanly possible and to the extent of the means that are at hand.

Thus did Hudhaifa (may Allah be pleased with him) follow the advice of the Prophet (s.a.w) to him at a moment when he had the arrow in his hand with the chest of the leader of the Non-Muslims exposed in front of him in the most difficult standpoints encountered by the Muslims. As did before him those who gave their oath of allegiance to the Prophet (s.a.w) on the night of Aqaba when they proposed to him that they deal with the Polytheists with the sword, but he refused. Whereas on the other hand, the Prophet (s.a.w) when he took the oath of allegiance with those who were with him below the tree, no one remained behind (from willing to fight) except the hidden hypocrite. Similarly when he (s.a.w) sought from the companions to dispatch for the war with the Romans in the campaign of Tabuk none remained behind except the hypocrites - besides the three whose repentance Allah accepted.

So it is the duty of all those who strive for reform and development to perceive the utmost importance of studying the life sketch of the Prophet and to deduce the stages of the propagation (dawah) from that period with an understanding that distinguishes between the various abrogated rulings and the circumstances at various stages thereby knowing the place of Jihad and its rulings for each stage. It is also their duty to remember that the Muslim tendency in the later period has been that of unbalanced emotions. Thus it prefers to dive into a battle now or give all that it possesses in a moment of passion even if it is of little benefit, preferring this above the following of a plan or a program for the wide general benefit of the religion which comes through after a year, by putting an enduring organised effort or ongoing spending!!

EIGHT

It is a duty on the sincere Da'ee (caller to Islam) and the honest followers of the way of the Prophets to strive to attend to and guard the religion from all sides.

As the case was in the Prophet's life with the delegation of Bani Shaiban who guaranteed the Prophet (s.a.w) that they will guard Islam from the direction of the Arabs but excused themselves from guarding it from the direction of the Persians. So the Prophet said, "None stands by the religion of Allah except who safeguards it from all of its sides."

Thus the Prophet did not accept the oath of allegiance from them, and instead Allah decreed better for him in the persons of the Ansars (may Allah be pleased with them) who gave him the allegiance on the principle 'The blood (of your) is the blood (of ours) and the demolition (of you) is the demolition (of us)'.

So the Muslims are one Ummah and their responsibility and pacts are undertaken by the least of them [in status] and they are all one single hand on others besides them. Whoever amongst them stands up to undertake a facet of religion be it to do with knowledge, Dawah or Jihad, loving him and supporting him becomes obligatory, while they ought to all strive to have their efforts done side by side supplementing each other and completing. But if the people of knowledge started attacking the people of Jihad or the latter deny and disavow the former and so on, then the strength and spirit of the Believers will disappear and their ranks will scatter and split up amongst themselves and they will fall in the way of those who incurred the wrath (of Allah) or the way of the astray.

Sheikhul-Islam Ibn Taymiya (may Allah show mercy to him) said, "The two wrong ways are the way of those who affiliated with the religion but did not complete it with its requirements such as the ruler, Jihad and wealth, and the other path of those who embarked on these - the ruler, the wealth and war but did not seek from it the establishment of the religion. These two ways are the ways of those who incurred the wrath and the astray. The first is of the astray - the Christians, while the second is of those who incurred the wrath - the Jews. Verily the upright way, the way of those whom Allah graced - from amongst the Prophets… (until further-on where he wrote)… Verily the establishment of the religion is with the Guiding Book and the Aiding Iron, as Allah the Exalted mentioned (i.e. the saying of Allah in the Quran: {Indeed We have sent Our Messengers with clear proofs, and revealed with them the Scripture and the Balance (justice). And We brought forth iron wherein is mighty power (in matters of war), as well as many benefits for mankind, that Allah may test who it is that will help Him (His religion) and His Messengers in the unseen. Verily Allah is all-Strong all-Mighty.} [Sura Hadid: 25] So it is a duty on everyone to strive to harmonise and combine the Quran and the Iron for Allah the Exalted." [Majmo Fatawa, vol 28, pp395]