Introduction: This is a collection of 21 al-Qa'ida statements. At 131 pages long it was, at time of release, the most complete collection of statements available to the English speaking public. Normally such things are suppressed and then read only within law enforcement circles. Do yourself a favor and print out 10 pages at a time and read them. This document is best read in conjunction with the Timeline available on galeropia.org (issue one: insurgency). The timeline will help you identify which statements are not included within this collection. More importantly, you are able to select each individual document for viewing making it much easier to read this collection. An easier to read pdf version is also available with the timeline in Issue One: Insurgency of Galeropia.org Summer, 2004 al-Qa'ida Statements Collection (Galeropia: Issue One) galeropia.org is a project of why-war.org Transcript: Bin Laden Says Holy War Not His to Call STAFF | World News Connection | August 5, 1999 Takbeer: How far are these reports true that you are moving from Afghanistan to another country? Usama: I consider Afghanistan my own country. Muslims living here areall my brothers and are dear to me. They have been entertaining me for years. I don't want to put my brothers in any further trouble and endanger their lives and their property just for my own life. That is why I thought of moving to some other place. "Countries like the United States determine right and wrong on the basis of their interests. If it is in their interest to arrest General Noriega, they forget years of his faithfulness. If they have to leave the Shah of Iran, they forget years of friendship." Takbeer: Whichcountry? Usama: Leavethisfor thetime being. Itisenough to say that theenthusiasm for jihadisspreading in theMuslimworld like an electric current. Islam has once again broken all idols, eliminated distances, and joined hearts. Islam is the power that gives us the same color from Kabul to Morocco. In the Muslim world, thousands of Usamas have been born, and it is immaterial where one is born or lives. Takbeer: The United States has putyour name on their list of ten most wantedaccused.Whatdo you say to that? Usama: To us the accused are persons who violate God's order, leave thepath of theProphet (PBUH), and breachreligious prohibitions. Countries like the United States determine right and wrong on the basis of their interests. If it is in their interest to arrest General Noriega, they forget years of his faithfulness. If they have to leave the Shah of Iran, they forget years of friendship. They remain silent on the death of the US ambassador killed with General Ziaul Haq and fired missiles at a pharmaceutical company in Sudan. Laws are not made by man, but made by God. As far as putting my name on the list of ten most wanted accused is concerned, I can only say that we should not be afraid of US clutches but of the clutches of God. The United States is mortal and God is immortal. If we recognize the difference between mortal and immortal, it will not be difficult to succeed in the world hereafter. Takbeer: The United States has targetedtheMuslimworld.Why don't you give a call for holywar? Usama: Our religion has taught us a way for everything. Transgressing that way would be abandoning the path of religion. I am a humble and weak Muslim. My job is not to lead but to follow. Giving the call for a holy war is not my responsibility but it is the responsibility of the real leaders of the Muslim nation, the religious leaders, and they understand their responsibility well, when and what they have to do. As far as Islam and the Muslim world is concerned, it is correct that we need Islam; Islam does not need us. The United States cannot harm us at all unless our God wants it so. Not only the United States, but also all powers of the universe together cannot even lift a straw if God's will is not included in it. Takbeer: It has been said that the United States is preparing to attack Afghanistan. Reports have also been published that it has sent commandos to arrest you. Usama: An attack on Afghanistan would cost theUnited States a lot. The attack would be considered an attack on theMuslim world. We hope that the United States will not take this step, whose consequences it will have to bear for a long time. As far as commandos are concerned, I don't have any authentic information on it. I can only say that we are indebted to God for our lives. No one other than God can add or subtract a single moment from our life. To us, the life hereafter is really important, not this life. Takbeer: Isthereany messageyou would like to conveyto young Muslimmen who loveyou? Usama: They should devote their life to the religion and should opt for jihad. There are a lot of ways to earn this world,but there is only one way to earn the life hereafter. Follow that way, and the world will fall in your lap. (Description of source:Takbeer -- weekly advocating Islamicsociety, provides good coverageof Afghanistan andKashmir) toolkit.dialog.com/intranet/cgi/present?STYLE=739318018&PRESENT=DB=985,AN=102150E-mail this article Book Commemorates September 11 'Raid' GMP20031027000226 Internet http://www.cybcity.com/newss/index.htm in Arabic 01 Aug 03 in Arabic 01 Sep 02 [The book is published by Majallat al-Ansar posted on . It consists of four essays by Sayf al-Din al-Ansari, Abu Ubayd alQirshi, Abu Ayman al-Hilali, and Abu Sa'd al-Amili. ] [FBIS Translated Text] What happened to the United States came as no surprise. All of these devastating operations are only part of the harvest that the United States has sown throughout the world. The United States was struck once, yet the United States has struck other countries on numerous occasions. The US people suffered once, yet other peoples have suffered--and continue to suffer--many times from the criminal acts of its Zionist government. Why should the United States not suffer some of what it has inflicted on others? It also came as no surprise that behind this blessed raid(1) stood the international jihad movement embodied by alQa'ida. This organization has been working to this end for a long time. Its previous experience fighting the United States confirms that it is serious about going to whatever lengths necessary. The direct struggle with the United States began with the Al-Khubar explosions on the Arabian Peninsula. They were followed by the attacks on the US embassies in Tanzania and Nairobi and the incident with the destroyer Cole. All of these events prove the seriousness of al-Qa'ida's strategic intentions. It is determined to fight the United States and send it the way of the Soviet Union. Only the likes of al-Qa'ida dare to take on the United States, which inspires dread the world over. The most important factor in this is faith, which gives Muslims hope in their war with the enemy, no matter how arrogant he is, and spurs them on to break down the barriers of fear. Al-Qa'ida can operate globally thanks to the individual capabilities of its members and the structure of its organization. We will not discuss the perpetrators' identity. The mujahidin put an end to this discussion immediately after the raid. Instead, on the one-year anniversary of the raid, we have chosen to discuss its intellectual, strategic, political, and educational ramifications in the first issue of our new project, "Writers of Al-Ansar." This project aims to provide comprehensive treatment of Islamic issues, using an Islamic vision to put events in their proper context to help Muslims to understand and interpret correctly the events of the struggle. Everyone recognizes that the raid was an event of worldwide importance. As such, it deserves study, and especially from an Islamic vantage point. Our enemies have already made every effort to muddy the waters. Their intent is to present the event in a tragic light, although it targeted a criminal state that is hostile to the Islamic community. The truth, however, is too great for poisoned pens and resentful shouts to harm it. The raid's positive significance is obvious to all. It represented a qualitative shift in the clash between the Islamic community and its Jewish and crusader enemies. This book is an attempt to provide a serious interpretation of the event. Each of the writers examines the 11 September raid from a particular angle and supplies a unique view. Readers of varying interests will find here an overview of the event that shook the world. The editors The Raid on New York and Washington A generic description Sayf-al-Din al-Ansari Perhaps one of the most striking characteristics of the jihad movement across the spectrum of its diverse groups is its realistic vision of change. It knows that it confronts a human reality with diverse components, and it divides that reality into two basic sections--societies and regimes. The jihad movement approaches each of the components of reality in the appropriate fashion. It confronts deviant societies, and even unbelieving societies, with a call to embrace the truth by mending belief and behavior. It confronts tyrannical regimes with jihad to end their material power through appropriate methods. The jihad movement does not limit itself to theorizing in the face of regimes supported by material power, nor does it use material coercion on the consciences of individuals. This is why the movement has become enemy number one for the tyrannical regimes. Its mission to spread the faith makes it a movement for reform in society and its mission to fight jihad makes it a movement to destroy the regimes that crush people. Perhaps it is this seriousness about causing change that evokes the vengeful wrath of the tyrants against the groups that make up the victorious party, for they cannot be domesticated or contained. The US state leads the regimes confronting the jihad movement, which is trying to demolish their tyrannical power. The United States is a hostile state and no one is safe from its evil, especially the Islamic community. Suffice it to say that the United States was the greatest supporter of the establishment of the Jewish state on Palestinian territory, let alone a series of other attacks. The goals of the world jihad movement in its war with the United States have been clear from the beginning. They are so just that every reasonable person must respect them and be proud of them, for they express an acute awareness of hostile plans and a positive engagement with Islamic issues. These goals are focused on four main points: A halt to all forms of support for the Jewish state that has usurped Palestinian land; ending the embargo on all Islamic peoples, and first among them the Iraqi people; withdrawal from all Muslim lands, and first among them the land of the two holy places; a halt to support for the tyrants whose rule oppresses Muslim peoples. The raid on New York and Washington came in the course of the war to achieve these goals. For all its fury and fallout, it came to deliver a practical message to all people, and to the United States in particular--the Islamic community will not surrender to humiliation. It will not submit to oppression. It will not give up its means of response. The community's vanguard is capable of striking with an iron fist. It will be better for the United States if it responds to the community's just demands and withdraws from the war before it perishes at their hands. First: The Raid and the Decisive Struggle Our discussion of the raid begins with the question of determinism. We would like to acquaint ourselves with the attested [Islamic] traditions that define the relationship of the two sides [in the struggle]. We examine the issues that are firmly linked with the struggle because this helps us to understand the movement of life. This gives us the tools to interpret the events of the struggle correctly. We know that the recognition of what actually exists is the true precondition for determining what should be. In other words, defining the correct method of interacting with the movement of life depends on an understanding of life, first of all, in order to understand what God created. The Most High said, "Is it not His to create and to govern?" [54:7] Note that "create" comes before "govern." Rather than rushing to present abridged answers--no matter how good or noble their goal--I would like to note the position of authoritative Islamic sources: Such questions must be answered without recourse to personal evaluations that fail to rely completely on the texts of the revelation. The issue is an important one. It touches on the home truths of human existence. Only the Creator has a firm grasp of the matter: "Should He not know, He that created? And He is the One that understands the finest mysteries (and) is well-acquainted (with them)." [67:14] Thus, one must look to God. "And none, (O man!) can tell thee (the Truth) like the one who is acquainted with all things." [35:14] The revelation helps us to understand life's truths. Its texts provide a program for living as God wished by making the tenets [of the faith] laws to order actions. They also came to give believers an all-encompassing view of life as God created it, informing them of the truths that govern life. First comes the legislative aspect, which determines government. The second aspect imparts information; it deals with creation. Both of them come from God as part of the revelation: "The word of thy Lord doth find its fulfillment in truth and in justice" [6:115] The "truth" refers to the news that the words of God convey and the "justice" refers to the words of God in their legislative and governing capacity. It is a great error to limit the Koran to its legislative functions, for in doing so we diminish its purpose and fail to benefit fully from its message. 1. The Raid and the Relation Between the Two Camps The texts of the revelation and the movement of life show that, as God created, the relationship between the two camps is one of struggle. In the broad sense, this struggle goes beyond war. It encompasses all varieties of push and pull between the believers and the infidels. It can take the form of intellectual struggle embodied in peaceful dialogue--"His companion said to him, in the course of the argument with him: "Dost thou deny Him Who created thee out of the dust, then out of a sperm-drop, then fashioned thee into a man?" [18:37]; or amicable debate--"and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious" [16:125]; or conflict and rivalry between the two sides--"they became two factions quarrelling with each other" [27:45]; or open warfare between the two camps--"Nor will they cease fighting you" [2:217]. takes, struggle is struggle. No sooner does it die down in one form then it begins in another! Whatever forms it The clash continues because of the deep-seated hostility between the two camps: "for the Unbelievers are unto you open enemies" [4:101]. This hostility is not a random state of affairs that results from personal considerations or temporary stands that depend on earthly calculations of profit and loss. It is an attitude toward Muslims that is firmly established in the souls of the infidels. It is automatically countered by hostility from Muslims toward the infidels: "Thou wilt not find any people who believe in Allah and the Last Day, loving those who resist Allah and His Messenger" [58:22]. In order to understand the real reasons for the conflict between the two camps, we must recall the nature of the relationship between truth and falsehood. The truth must move to assert itself, and it can only do so by negating falsehood. The two contradict each other; each can exist only be negating the other: "And say: 'Truth has (now) arrived, and Falsehood perished: for Falsehood is (by its nature) bound to perish.'" [17:81] If the truth fails to move, falsehood will bestir itself, for it cannot stand the existence of a rival by its side. This replicates the nature of the relationship between the believers and the infidels: "This because those who reject Allah follow vanities, while those who believe follow the Truth from their Lord" [47:3]. The hostility between the two camps and the unchanging relationship between truth and falsehood are the main variables in the struggle. When we state that this is the nature of the relation, all we are doing is presenting reality as it is and as God created it--without rosy dreams and delusions. We must confront life as it is, without any attempt to change the fateful truths. Such attempts lead to the proliferation of falsehood and the spread of corruption: "And did not Allah check one set of people by means of another, the earth would indeed be full of mischief" [2:251]. The raids on New York and Washington came in the context of this struggle that permeates human existence. They are one of the forms and one of the manifestations of this fateful truth. The community of Muslims responds in this fashion to the law, for Islam calls for the necessity of fighting jihad against the enemy. It scorns capitulation or subjugation to his will. 2. The Raid and the Concept of World Peace After Europe endured the crushing miseries of war between its mosaic of peoples, certain Western thinkers arrived at the idea of world peace. This suggests that this is a Western idea that resulted naturally from European life. Certain Arab intellectuals who are capable only of copying and following imported this idea and popularized it in Arab and Islamic intellectual circles. It has not yet gained a foothold in the real world, however. Instead, it has remained a theoretical construct that has not prevented war or established peace. All of the institutions that have been founded to advance this goal were merely an obedient tool in the hands of powerful countries, which use them as another means of imposing their political agenda. The League of Nations failed to achieve any of the goals it was founded to achieve. The United Nations is nothing but a tool to domesticate Muslims and train them to submit gradually to the goals of the Zionist and crusader project. "The modern age we live in confirms this truth to us. Suffice it to say that imperialism grew strong only through the treachery of international institutions."(2) This means that world peace as it is conceived of in the West is an "idealistic" idea that political leaders exploit to lull their people into a stupor. Strong countries repeat the idea to rob others of their will to fight jihad. Most of the governments oppressing the Islamic community have participated in this deception. They popularized this myth through their official media with made-to-order intellectual products until "peace" became the only strategic option. They abolished all alternatives so that they are no longer taken into consideration. They told people that any option other than peace is a form of recklessness, or even barbarism unworthy of civilized men. This well-planned brainwashing operation aims to undo the idea of the enemy and make the Islamic community easy prey. But the blessed raid and its aftermath was the event that pulled back the curtain to reveal to everyone that the West has its own vision of peace. It fits in only with its ideology and serves only its interests. More precisely, Western countries mean by "peace" capitulation to the Zionist will and prostration before the power of the crusaders so that the oppressed countries continue down the road of humiliating subjugation. Naturally, Islam does not reject the idea of world peace or go in the opposite direction. It is a faith that wants to spread peace and strengthen security for all people. But Islam is a religion of content, not mendacious slogans, a faith of realistic truths, not fleeting wishes. This is why it calls for a true and realistic peace. It does not turn talk of peace into a drug that saps the rage of the oppressed. Instead, it takes a comprehensive view of peace. It grants individuals who do not fight against it, and groups that do not stand in the way of its message, their right to freedom of conviction. It guarantees them the principle of justice in rights and obligations(3). Most importantly, Islam calls for a peace that does not forget that some will reject and obstruct the peace. It is a basic condition of life that people retain their differences. This is why Islam calls for peace without taming people or overturning the truths in their minds. It does not present the enemy as a friend and ally. In short, it calls for peace but does not rule out the option of war when war is justified by the Sharia. The raid on New York and Washington is part of the war that Islam approves and considers natural. It does not contradict the principle of its call for world peace because it is not a war for war's sake with no purpose beyond a lust for killing. It is not a war waged for economic reasons or the exploitation of natural wealth, as is the case with the Zionists and crusaders. It is, instead, a military operation in the context of a declared war with open fronts between the world jihad movement (al-Qa'ida--"the base") and the United States. It was a natural response to the repeated attacks that the United States has made on the Islamic community. Second: The Raid and Islamic Principles of War Some people see fit to raise the issue of Islamic principles of warfare. They claim that the raid does not observe those principles and that Sharia errors occurred. Some "modern" legal scholars see the raid as a violation of the Sharia. This has helped to confuse ordinary Muslims, for they say, "We are not against jihad, but jihad has its principles." We leave aside a legal discussion, which would compel us to differentiate between the conditions of validity for these principles--what is obligatory, and is not part of the conditions of validity; what is desirable, and does not rise to the level of legal obligation. Everyone knows that the groups in the traditionalist mujahid movement are more committed than anyone else to Sharia in their actions. After all, their actions can cost them their dearest possession after their faith-their souls. Two assertions stand out among the objections to the raid. First, that the raid is a form of aggression against others. And second, that the raid harmed the innocent. Everyone who has examined the event's aftermath knows that these expressions of sympathy did not aim to apply God's laws to this case. Their primary aim was to win the affection of the United States and to improve the image of US Islam in the eyes of the West, proving to others that they are patriotic to the core-Americans first and only then Muslims, God willing. 1. The Raid and the Response to Aggression The fact is that the United States is part of the realm of war and has concluded no agreement with Islam. This has Sharia ramifications that are well-known in the jurisprudence of jihad, and they settle the question definitively. They place the raid atop the list of lawful deeds that evoke no doubts from an Islamic vantage point. Muslim scholars are agreed that that realm of war that does not pay tribute to Islam is open to all forms of harm, as the prophet practiced with combatants when he seized subjects (of the Aqil tribe, for example), blocked caravans (of the Quraysh tribe, for example), assassinated leaders (such as Ka'b Bin Al-Ashraf), burned land (of the Al-Nadhir tribe, for example), and destroyed fortresses (in Al Ta'if, for example)(4). We prefer, however, to avoid a long discussion with those whose understanding of the Islamic vision of jihad remains incomplete. In order to simplify matters, we will use language that everyone understands. The raid came as a response to the vile aggression that the United States perpetrates against the Islamic community. This is a right guaranteed not only by divine law, but by earthly law as well. The United States helped the Jews to occupy Palestine and displace its people. To this day, it continues to help them with the money and weapons they use to inflict daily suffering on the Palestinian people. More than a third of Palestinians have perished as a result of ongoing Zionist aggression for more than half a century. The United States has also provided [the Zionists with] unlimited political support in international organizations and rejected and crushed all efforts to find a serious, just solution to the Palestinian issue. The United States killed Muslims in Iraq, using all varieties of internationally banned weapons against them. The United States also engineered the genocide of the Iraqi people through the imposition of an unjust embargo, a slow killing operation that was intended to destroy Iraqi civilization. The United States imposed an embargo on Afghanistan that killed more than 500,000 people. The United States has killed Muslims in the Philippines, Indonesia, Kosovo, Somalia, Libya and Sudan. Its hands are dripping with the blood of all Muslim peoples, demonstrating that it has a concerted plan to target the identity of the Muslim community and destroy its cultural moorings. A response was natural and necessary: "Will ye not fight people who violated their oaths, plotted to expel the Messenger, and took the aggressive by being the first (to assault) you?" [9:13] Responding to aggression is part of jihad in Islam. The blessed raid fits into this context. This is why no honest, knowledgeable person doubts that it was an undiluted act of jihad. 2. The Raid Did Not Target the Innocent Despite the assertions of the Zionist enemy's bought-off media, the raid did not target the innocent. It targeted institutions that are directly subordinate to the enemy country. The Pentagon houses only the makers of mankind's destruction in general, and the engineers of Muslim murder in particular. Where are the innocents? The World Trade Center is the backbone of the US power that imposes its mandate on the world. US power uses it to impose its arrogance on Muslims. It also teems with intelligence operatives, nests of spies, and companies that provide direct and unlimited support to the Zionist enemy. They are directly responsible for starving and impoverishing people and exploiting the natural wealth of the oppressed. Yet some claim that some of the raid's victims were women, old people, and children whose blood is sacrosanct even if they belong to the combatant nation. Naturally, we do not deny this. But we stress in this regard that they do not fall outside of one of the special cases in which they can be killed if they are among the combatants. It has been established legally that the prohibition on spilling the blood of sinless infidels is not absolute. It provides for exceptions, and even one exception is sufficient to remove the difficulty. I list the following: The first case: It is permitted to kill blameless infidels on the combatant side in the course of "equal treatment," especially when targeting the "innocent" is part of the enemy's military strategy(5). If the enemy targets Muslim women, children, and old people, then it is permissible for Muslims to respond with similar treatment. The Most High said, "If then any one transgresses the prohibition against you, transgress ye likewise against him." [2:194] The second case: It is permitted to kill blameless infidels on the combatant side if they help the combatants in battle in any fashion, either in word or in deed. The prophet ordered the killing of Durayd Bin al-Simmah when he went out with the tribe of Hawazin, though he was 120 years old at the time. The third case: It is permitted to kill blameless infidels on the combatant side in the case of an attack where it is not possible to distinguish the blameless from the combatants. They perish as a result, not an aim. The prophet was asked about the women and children among the polytheists who plot and do harm. He said, "They are of them" (Ahmad). The fourth case: It is permitted to kill blameless infidels on the combatant side if there is a need to strike the enemy's fortresses. They are killed as a result, not an aim, for sensible reasons that make it difficult to avoid such damage. The cases we have enumerated are sufficient to show that the non-combatant victims of the raid undoubtedly fall into one of these categories. Even if some of the victims were Muslims, there is no cause for a hue and cry. The compelling assumption is that the targets that were struck--the Pentagon and the World Trade Center--housed only infidels. Sharia principles dictate that a compelling assumption is binding on a legally competent individual. The basic principles of the faith establish this. Some scholars, however--primary among them Al-Shafi'i--assert that it is permissible to burn, drown, and destroy the belligerents' land even if there is compelling reason to assume that Muslims could die as a result because an absolute refusal to do battle for fear of harming Muslims would halt jihad against the enemy in an instant. In any case, I do not want to get into a legal discussion, especially since religious scholars have given us ample material to respond to certain "modern" legal scholars who draw their knowledge of Sharia from the fatwa column in Al-Sharq al-Awsat(6). I did not intend to make fine legal distinctions the topic of this article. I intended only to inform the reader that the prattle of satellite TV scholars and jurists of "verbal jihad" cannot take away from the legal validity of jihad, for it rests on a strong basis of both theory and practice. In general, mujahidin do not target women, children, or old people for death. If some of them were killed in the raid of victorious Tuesday, this was as a result, not an aim, and for sensible reasons that made it very difficult to avoid. It is impossible to fight jihad without this. I write this so that everyone will know that our war is with the infidel regimes that attack the rights of Muslims. I dispute the hostile media, which tries to convince people that the mujahidin are only trying to target women and children! Third: The Raid and the Mobilization The groups that make up the Islamic movement agree that the community needs to play a more active role in the project of Islamic change. It must take its place in the struggle with the enemy who threatens its existence and identity and prevents it from performing the mission it was brought forth to perform. The Islamic movement is not a substitute for the Islamic community; it is the vanguard that goes ahead of it. The ultimate goals of the Islamic change project--the caliphate--are too large for any group, no matter how capable, to achieve in isolation from the community. The problem that confronts us is the community's negative situation at the present stage. We see clear signs of a tendency toward isolationism and withdrawal among Muslims. The important question in this regard is: How can we bring the community up to a level that will enable it to perform its role? How can we activate it so that it embraces action for change and becomes an effective and influential element on the battlefield and responds positively to the needs of the vanguard? Before turning to the answer, which involves numerous programmatic details, we would like to direct our attention toward the importance of seeking out the hidden reasons for the ailment--negativism--that has crept into the body of the community. If we diagnose the reasons for the illness, it will be easier for us to treat it and reach our goal, especially when we distinguish between the subjective and objective causes. We need to focus first on healing our souls (subjectively) without blaming others as though we want them to solve our problems. The Most High said: "...never will Allah change the condition of a people until they change it themselves (with their own souls)." [13:11] The general causes of negativism are many and diverse. They are the result of long-standing, numerous problems. What matters most is that despite their number and diversity, two basic factors are needed to treat them. The jihad movement believes that the blessed raid and its consequences were a step toward those two factors. 1. The Liberation of Islamic Will For a person to take action, he needs two things. The first of them is a strong will. The second of them is sufficient ability. Without will, there can be no action, and without sufficient ability, there will be smoke but no fire. One must also note the important correspondence between the type of action, level of will, and required ability. The fact that psychologists stress, however, is a clear one--the stronger the will, the more room for action, and the greater a person's activity and positive energy in life. Will spurs a person to activate and employ all possible mechanisms, no matter how "ordinary" they are, leaving the individual resolved to move forward and make use of his ability. But when his will is weak, a person does not exploit his abilities, no matter how great. He fails to use his visible endowments, let alone those that are hidden. Instead, he may flee responsibility and make constant attempts to justify himself, procrastinate, and make excuses. Weakness of will is the most serious ailment afflicting our Islamic community. As a community, we do not lack ability. Our power stands at 1 billion Muslims, most of whom are still in the prime of youth. We enjoy an excellent geographical location. Experts agree unanimously that it is of great strategic importance. We possess tremendous natural resources that are more than sufficient to meet our needs. Even the issue of technical backwardness and lagging scientific development is a sham. There are abundant Islamic intellects that possess great expertise, but they are oppressed and exiled. As a community, we cannot complain of weak abilities. We can only complain of the weakness that has afflicted our will. What is certain is that the weakness that has struck the Islamic will did not come out of a void. It came about as the result of numerous factors, the most influential of which is the state of dread and fear that present circumstances have inspired. This has been accompanied by concepts and ideas intended to awaken terror in Muslims. As they built up, they came to form a great weight on the will, binding it in thick chains. These are the first obstacle to movement, the basic barrier to action. If we want to get moving and are truly serious about the project of Islamic change, the first step is the liberation of Islamic will. It must be taken out of the cage of ideas and concepts that current conditions inspire. This can only be done by breaking down the barrier of fear. But this task undoubtedly requires more than intellectual exertions and theoretical lessons. In addition to cultural mobilization, it requires the sort of practical lessons that provide tangible proof through observed reality that most of these reigning concepts and ideas are merely delusions and illusions that emerge from a weakwilled mind. Defeatism has popularized them under the pretext of realism. The truth is that falsehood is always less than one fears, no matter how inflated it may be: "falsehood is ever bound to vanish." [18:81] The blessed raid came to achieve this goal--to break the barrier of fear. It came to give Muslims tangible proof: This the United States that everyone fears has been trampled by the mujahidin. We recall that they numbered only 19. They were not a great army, yet they were free men! God is great! A small group destroyed symbols meant to last for eternity, and they did so with an operation that surprised everyone. They made the terror that the United States inspires a thing of the past. Each of you should ask: Where is the security empire? Why did it not predict the raid? Why didn't it prevent it? Why couldn't it stop it? The answer is that the United States is human--"for man was created weak." [4:28] And the attackers were mujahidin. There you have it. After 11 September everything is possible. What is impossible is for the United States to continue. The fact is that the mujahidin have taught these lessons on many occasions in their long jihad. They taught them in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, in Bosnia-Herzegovina against the Serbs. They continue to teach them daily in Chechnya against the Russians and they are providing a skillful demonstration yet again in Afghanistan with the United States and its allies. But few have heard of these lessons. And fewer still have grasped their meaning. World media policy is constantly moving to prevent a broad swath of the community from tasting the fruits of victory or benefiting from the lesson. But the media could hide nothing about the blessed raid. This time, the mujahidin decided to teach the lesson live on the air to break the United States' hold over everyone. By breaking the United States' arrogance, they broke the chains on the Islamic will. They did what some thought was impossible, yet they made it possible. By the grace of God, they did what they wanted. They taught the Islamic community that it is capable when it has will and that its real problem is not a lack of numbers or preparation, but as the prophet said, "You are many, but you are like the froth carried along by the stream, and great is your weakness." [Ahmad] Al-Qa'ida planned, acted, and executed, and the martyrs went off to their Lord. The others withdrew, God willing, and no evil befell them. The world changed entirely in two hours. The defeated continue to ask themselves to this day, "Could alQa'ida really have done this? Or was it just a Jewish deception?" This question did not result from a shortage of information. If that were the case, they could be excused for asking. The tragedy is that our leaders' minds have long ago fallen prey to a psychology of weakness. The solution is not to cry over the past, to wail for the sympathy of others, or even to escalate the rhetoric, for words are only words. None of these approaches can cure the illness. They may even have the opposite effect. The solution is serious, continuous work in a spirit of challenge to break the barrier of fear, restore self-confidence, and free the Islamic will from the fetters that have robbed it of its ability to act. 2. Raising Awareness of the Enemy Our Islamic community has been subjected to a dangerous process of narcosis. As a result, it has lost the vigilance that comes from faith and fallen into a deep slumber. The most dangerous consequence of this is that most Muslims can no longer distinguish between their enemies and their friends. The fallout from choosing the peace option and normalization [of relations with Israel] has caused a great confusion of ideas. The resultant situation poses a genuine threat to our very identity. When the Al-Aqsa intifadah began, one of its most important services to the Islamic community was that it reawakened an awareness of the enemy. Though the enemy exists and is hacking away at our body, the feeling of ease and security inspired by the negotiating table dulled the sense of the enemy's existence, especially when the general trend among Arab governments--including even the country of the two holy places!--was full normalization with the Jewish enemy. One of the most important pieces of established wisdom about God's guarantee to the mujahid faction is that he maintains the Islamic community's sense of vigilance. The struggle and its challenges serve as a reminder that the enemy is still there, stripping away the thin façade of deception and distortion. This acts as an antidote to the ill of ease that results from a life of security. The truth is that the war against the community has not let up for a single day. It was merely a covert war fought in a single direction. The quisling rulers acted as the enemies' trustees. Their peoples were always the target in the war, as was their faith, their culture, their natural wealth. They were targeted through starvation to condemn them to a slow death, through impoverishment to plunge them into a vortex of social problems. They are targeted openly in Palestine, Iraq, Kashmir, and the Philippines. They suffer privations the enemy has not visited on any community since the age of imperialism. The blessed raid came to move this war from the shadows out into the open, to make the community aware of the enemy. It revealed the perils that surround us in a way that everyone can understand. It let everyone feel the extent of the present danger so that everyone kept repeating: "How deceived we were!" The skillfully executed attacks succeeded in laying bare the enemy's soul, and we heard unembarrassed talk of a new crusade with all the historical baggage the phrase entails. It became clear to everyone that this is a campaign against Muslims more than it is a war against the mujahidin. Neither charitable foundations nor religious school curricula escaped unscathed. Islam itself is the target, unless it is American (against its will). The raid showed just how fragile is the supposed coexistence of Muslims and crusaders. As soon as the event took place, all of the West's vaunted values collapsed. What emerged were feelings of hatred and racist practices against everything Islamic, revealing that the crusaders' worldwide policy of connivance aimed only to contain and absorb Muslim abilities. The blessed raid also sparked tension between the community and its traditional enemies, thus helping to restore the true Jewish and crusader enemy in the community's conscience after it had been all but erased by subjugation to the peace policy of lambs. The challenge it offered up served to awaken an awareness of the enemy, and to rouse Muslims from the torpor of peace. For at the same moment, others are conducting a well-planned operation to encircle us. The greatest danger this poses is slow strangulation that kills the body without provoking the masses. The maintenance of the community's identity gives rise to a state of tension with the enemy who threatens the community's existence. We must not act with confused emotion, but rather with carefully considered movements on the field of battle, presenting an ongoing challenge. This is what moves the issue forward in thought and conscience, generating the necessary vigilance. Yes, local projects may require at certain stages a "slow-cooked" approach that avoids confrontation. This is because the local movement is subject to specific conditions and particular goals that impose minute political calculations. The world jihad movement, on the other hand, moves in open conditions and pursues general goals. It seeks primarily to make use of strategic precepts and views the community as a whole, acting as a vanguard force to confront great dangers. Fourth: The Raid and the Community's Issues The world jihad movement today as represented by al-Qa'ida is a vanguard movement that has succeeded in carving out a place for itself in modern thought. As a movement, it has all the prerequisites for action. As a group, it is close to the community, cutting across borders and nationalities. It embodies the idea that there is no difference between an Arab and a non-Arab. A belief in monotheism is the identity card of the Muslim community. This is why al-Qa'ida cares about the concerns of all. It is not limited by the imaginary borders that colonialism imposed. Its involvement in the community's concerns is practical and effective. It does not limit itself to the rhetoric of condemnatory statements and protest positions. These evaporate quickly in the light of day, especially if they are not tied to forceful action on the ground that makes others recognize your presence on the field. Al-Qa'ida's involvement with the community's issues is what liberated Afghanistan from the Soviet Union, liberated Bosnia from the Serbs, expelled the United States from Somalia, restrained the Russians in Chechnya, and is today once again teaching the United States and its allies in Afghanistan what pride and dignity really mean. Through this approach, al-Qa'ida is trying to restrain the fury of the unbelievers: "Then fight in Allah's cause - thou art held responsible only for thyself - and rouse the Believers. It may be that Allah will restrain the fury of the Unbelievers..." [4:84] Both Islamic law and actual events have shown that the policy of begging for help and making a show of weeping at the enemy's doorstep will not end the injustice or restore anyone's rights. 1. A Practical Response to Palestine The story of the relationship between the United States and the Zionist state is a long one. It began with the advent of Jewish immigration to the United States in 1654 until the number of Jews in the United States reached 4.2 million in 1924. Today, they number more than 5 million. Implementing a vile plan, they have seized control of most commercial markets. They have infiltrated intellectual centers such as universities, institutes, and research centers. They are deeply involved in the media. This has helped them to extend their influence to politics and decision-making. We know that the real rulers of the United States are the Zionist movement that the Jews founded. The US administration is a Zionist administration. For a long time it has provided the real support for the Jewish state in Palestine. For example, as soon as President Wilson heard about the Balfour Declaration, he announced, "I believe that the allied nations have decided to establish the Jewish state in Palestine with complete support from our government and our people." We do not have space to detail the role Zionism has played in the United States, which has been marked by its love for Zionist terror. Nixon expressed this unambiguously when he wrote, "Our commitment to the maintenance of Israel is profound. We are not official allies. We are bound together by something stronger than a scrap of paper--a moral commitment that no president in the past has ever broken. Every president in the future will faithfully observe it."(7) The bond is a strong one. Its strength derives from more than mutual interests, for it is a part of the conscience and mindset of the US ruling elite. Carter said, "They are unique ties because they are rooted in conscience, in morals, and in the beliefs of the American people itself."(8) The state of the Jews would not exist were it not for the United States' absolute support. This is surely what makes the Palestinian issue so vast and complex. Its solution requires a marshalling of all the Islamic community's efforts for positive, palpable involvement that goes beyond verbal consolation. It must rise to the challenges at hand. The blessed raid was part of the work to this end. It is part of the effort to topple the state that sponsors Zionist terror and provides limitless support to the Jewish state. Without toppling the United States--or at least weakening it so that it is distracted--the Palestinian issue cannot be resolved. Israel is rooted in the conscience of the Zionist administration that rules the United States. 2. Restoring the Community's Stature We know that the Islamic community is a chosen community. God chose it and made it the best of communities. He singled it out for special stature. The Most High said, "Ye are the best of Peoples, evolved for mankind" [3:111]. The community must be well aware of this fact, which must always be present in its thoughts and conscience. It was brought forth to be in the vanguard, to lead. The Most High said: "Thus have We made of you an Ummat [community] justly balanced, that ye might be witnesses over the nations" [2:143]. The Islamic community must not accept subjugation. It cannot move in an orbit set by another. It cannot submit to the dictates of other nations, for it was brought forth to be led and to lead. This is the duty that confirms the status God conferred upon it and the goal that it was brought forth to achieve. This does not mean that we can soar above the exigencies of reality. It is, instead, a reminder of the goal that continues to stand before the community and of the truth that must remain alive in our thoughts and consciences, for it is the raw material of momentum. The blessed raid's demonstration of how an earth-shaking event is created did a great deal to pull the community out of its life "in the shadow of" and "under the influence of." It set down the first stone to pave the way for a transition from being acted upon to acting. It put things back in their proper places. Its true effect can only be seen from this vantage point. Its global message brought the truth to people. We saw an upsurge of interest in Islam after the raid, and the reason is that true guidance had come to many people. When the voice of Islam reached those who would not have heard it but for the raid, this outweighed in God's eyes all the peripheral "problems" that the authors of stagnant projects go on about. Fifth: The Raid and the Long Term The raid on New York and Washington was a huge event by all measures. The jihad movement succeeded in putting the United States under fire in a skillful operation that struck at the core of US arrogance, destroyed its mendacious braggadocio, and gave it a taste of the bitterness of humiliation. The operation's planners insisted on striking the enemy in his home. The blow hit close to the military, intelligence, and security agencies so that everyone would know that this beast is not as great as people thought and that the mujahidin are greater than this beast that people fear. It represented a qualitative turning point. Among its most important aspects: 1. The United States and the Countdown The mujahidin differ from others in that they have a correct understanding of fate and a positive interaction with the Sharia. At a time when some people are crying over the factors that led to the fateful fall in the United States, you find the mujahidin making real efforts to topple this state and seal its fate with their own hands. They share a belief in what the law obligates them to do and what fate has already decreed (9). The most powerful economy in the world collapsed along with the World Trade Center because it suffered a blow to its very heart. It incurred billions of dollars in losses from the attack itself, let alone the cost of rescue efforts and the clean-up that lasted for six months. The experts agree that the fallout from the raid left the US economy with chronic ailments, and it is having difficulty recovering despite all attempts at treatment. In targeting the headquarters of the war department and destroying a large part of the building, the raid put an end to the dread of the United States that held the world in its grip. It opened the door wide to "dare" to take on the United States. The barrier of fear fell. The United States' power was of no avail against the attack. By triggering the collapse of the US economy and nullifying the dread of the United States, the raid on New York marked the beginning of the countdown for the most criminal state modern history has ever known and signified the beginning of the end for the US empire. 2. Execution and Coded Messages Everyone without exception agrees that the raid had no parallels in modern history. Intellectuals feel that the way it was carried out conveyed many messages, written in red by the authors so that they could not be erased from the pages of history. First: The skillful execution of the raid tells the entire world that the jihad movement is capable of action. It can produce events that have life-altering consequences and remake the map of the world. This is a clear indication that the mujahidin's ability is a constant in the equation of the struggle between the community and its enemies at home and abroad. Second: The skillful execution of the raid encourages everyone to throw out the distorted image that the enemies tried to paint of the mujahidin as a group of simpletons. The entire world realized that this image is false. It was spread by a hostile media apparatus to achieve vile aims. The most important of those filthy goals was to create a psychological barrier between the Islamic community and its mujahid vanguard so that the community remains in a state of capitulation and subjugation. The jihad movement revealed its exceptional abilities when it destroyed what was known as the Soviet Union. With the Tuesday raid it confirmed this without any room for doubt. It proved that it has what it takes and that its ability to lead deserves the community's trust. Third: The skillful execution of the raid announced a new generation of mujahidin. Though it follows the same principles as its forbears, it stands out for its ability to make use of the means at its disposal. It does not hesitate to put to use all the varied means the law allows to renew and advance the movement. In doing so, it relies on the great fund of expertise it acquired from its earlier experiences. This undoubtedly gives it more room to maneuver and opens up new horizons in the struggle with the enemy. We are certain that the Tuesday raid was only the first part of the battle and that the lesson will be continued. Fourth: The skillful execution of the raid sent a message to the enemy that the mujahidin are capable of responding in kind and striking the enemy where he lives and in ways he cannot imagine. The victorious Tuesday raid warns a new generation of the strikes that await it. The world has learned, especially since the international crusade began, that the jihad movement exists. It is vital and flexible. It adapts easily to changing conditions, no matter how exceptional they are, and cowardly, underhanded threats will not shake its resolve. The raid on New York and Washington was a great event. Its significance is too great for the hate-filled voices and hired pens. It rewrote history and opened windows of hope for the community. It pointed to the horizons of a reawakening, especially because it came at a time when the dominant mood was one of prostration. Naturally, this is only a first attempt to interpret the event that came to answer the question, "Where is the action?" and recall the truth of the verse, "to see how ye would behave!" [10:14] It is as though the martyrs were saying: What we left behind speaks for us. After us, look at what was left behind God have mercy on the innocent martyrs of the raid. May God take heed of their deeds and grant victory to our mujahid brothers everywhere. Written on the first anniversary of the victorious Tuesday raid. Praise be to God, who bestows success. The 11 September Raid The Impossible Becomes Possible Abu Ubayd al-Qirshi A year has passed since the blessed raid of 11 September, the first jihad raid in the modern age to bring the battle to the infidels in their homes. Words fail in the face of this great effort to revive the hopes of millions in the Islamic community in a better future under an Islamic caliphate predicated on justice and dignity. Many changes have ensued since this achievement last year. Winds of change have swept over Muslims. God has lifted up some nations and laid others low. Among those God lifted up were the mujahidin, and primary among them the 19 men who carried out the blessed raid, and those who defend Islam the world over, fighting the tyrant of our age--the United States. The raid strengthened the faith of Muslims in God, who is strong and great. No one imagined in his wildest dreams that the United States, the superpower with its unrivaled economic and military might, would suffer a blow to its heart that would leave it in a political, economic, security, and military crisis. This is why, one year after 11 September, we must look anew at the event's background, lessons, and aftermath so that it can shine as a light to all in their striving to restore Islam's lost pride. 1. Historical Background The jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan provided an unparalleled opportunity to hone the ideas of jihad and put them into practice on the ground, especially since this jihad followed lean decades of a declining Islamic presence on all levels and the tyranny of ideologies imported from East and West. Secularism and Westernization held sway throughout the Islamic world. Yes, the Islamic world witnessed a jihad against British, French, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch colonialism. Unfortunately, Islamist elements were at that time unable to have an impact on the blinded masses. Moreover, colonialism's helpers encouraged them, sometimes covertly and sometimes overtly, to be obedient and subservient to colonialism and do its bidding. In any case, the first Afghan jihad gave some faithful preachers an opportunity to awaken the ardor of Muslims. By 1984, practical work had begun to create the institutions of the Arab jihad in Afghanistan such as the Bayt al-Ansar [Home of Helpers] that Usama Bin Ladin founded and the Office of Services founded by Shaykh Abdallah Azzam. Bayt al-Ansar was founded in Peshawar as a temporary location to receive those arriving to fight the jihad before they went on for training and jihad. The Office of Services was established to improve media relations, collect donations, and urge Muslims, and especially Arabs, to fight jihad through personal effort and financial support. By 1986, Shaykh Usama Bin Ladin had decided to broaden the sphere of jihad operations, setting up camps and supply lines. Shaykh Usama was able to establish six camps. His construction experience allowed him to move them around under wartime conditions. Usama's reputation began to spread among the Arab mujahidin, and large numbers of them soon began to flock to the Bayt al-Ansar and the camps. The Arab mujahidin began to take part in numerous clashes with the Soviets and their agents. Soon they were involved in pitched battles, the most famous of which was the battle of Jaji in late 1986. In that battle, the Arab mujahidin defeated one of the Russians' best-trained and best-armed units, killing a large number of Russian commandos. A few years later, the mujahidin movement became a global phenomenon. More reinforcements than could be absorbed arrived in Afghanistan and to aid the mujahidin in other parts of God's earth like Kashmir, the Philippines, Tajikistan, and so forth. As soon as Iraq invaded Kuwait and the Saudi regime asked the filthy infidels to defend their land, it became clear to the leaders of the mujahidin that the great jihad would be with the United States, especially after US colonialism set down roots in the heart of the Muslim world. They already knew that if the United States sets up a base in a country, it will not leave unless forced to do so. US intervention in Somalia gave the mujahidin an opportunity to clash with their new enemies. A small group of Afghanistan veterans undertook a number of skillful operations against the Americans in Somalia. The United States was forced to withdraw after these operations. In Yemen, a number of Americans were killed in one of Adan's hotels while en route to Somalia. In both cases, the mujahidin came away convinced of the weakness and cowardice of US soldiers. If not for technological superiority and advanced logistical tools, the United States would not have endured on this earth. Young people committed to jihad then began a string of impressive operations against the US presence on the Arabian Peninsula, beginning with the explosion in Riyadh and followed by the explosion in Al-Khubar in June 1996 that killed 20 US soldiers and wounded hundreds. Shortly after the Al-Khubar explosion, Shaykh Usama issued his first statement entitled "Declaration of jihad to expel the infidels from the Arabian Peninsula." It was the first personal statement to appear under his name. At the end of 1997, Shaykh Usama obtained a fatwa from some 40 religious scholars in Afghanistan and Pakistan in support of his declaration to expel the infidel forces from the Arabian Peninsula. In a parallel development, the leaders of a number of Islamic groups, and especially the Egyptian jihad group [Jama'at al-Jihad], gathered together and arrived in delegations from Pakistan, Kashmir, and Bangladesh as Shaykh Usama's guests. This meeting bore fruit in the announcement of the world Islamic front in February 1998. It called for the killing of Americans and Jews everywhere and at all times. Along with Shaykh Usama Bin Ladin, the declaration was signed by Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of the Egyptian jihad group, and Rifa'i Taha, a representative of the Egyptian jihad group, as well as the head of one of the Kashmir factions and one of the well-known Pakistani leaders. A short while after the declaration of the world Islamic front, Bin Ladin announced that he would strike within weeks. The Americans were in a state of anticipation in the Arab world and the Gulf, and even in the Horn of Africa. Even as they were in a state of complete mobilization, the blow came from a direction they did not expect--their embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Two trucks filled with explosives blew up the embassies on 7 August 1998. With these two operations, jihadist elements proved that they had the logistical, technical, and human ability to carry out specialized, complex missions, and that they could use the element of surprise to great effect. They also succeeded in coordinating the two operations and causing a great amount of damage. In response, the Americans undertook two famous strikes against Sudan and Afghanistan. Dozens of cruise missiles rained down on Sudan and Afghanistan to strike two specific targets. But this US strike was a total failure, both in its selection of targets and its execution. The martyrdom operation against the destroyer Cole in the harbor of Adan in October 2000 made the Americans and their lackeys in the region even angrier. Jihadist elements succeeded in inflicting murderous damage on the Cole, which was equipped with the latest military technology. Its displacement was 8,600 tons, it carried a crew of 350 men, and it cost more than $1 billion. The mujahid managed to put a hole in it with a diameter between 6 and 12 meters, causing serious internal damage, killing 17 US sailors, and wounding more than 30 others. The weapon consisted of a boat outfitted with a tractor engine and filled with explosives. The operation cost no more than $10,000. It revealed the Americans' weakness in the face of an inventive, skillfully executed strike at a weak spot. Resistance to US arrogance is possible with limited means as long as there is a will. The US administration tried various media methods to prevent Shaykh Bin Ladin's popularity from growing. Despite this, Shaykh Bin Ladin became a symbolic figure throughout the Arab world. Nothing proves this more clearly than the appearance of posters with his name in the Palestinian intifada for the first time after the Cole operation. From the beginning, al-Qa'ida had a penetrating strategic vision. This is why it tried to establish relations with all the jihad movements all over the world. These ties required significant time and effort to build trust and establish cooperation on a firm footing. The organization also conducted a profound study of the Islamic and jihad experience, leading it to focus from the beginning on organization and security to prevent any form of infiltration. This benefited it greatly in directing the struggle with the United States from the early 1990s on. One notes with surprise that Western intelligence agencies estimate the number of trained mujahidin to emerge from al-Qa'ida's camps in 1989-2001 at 10,000-110,000, an enormous spread. This shows that these are not estimates, but guesses. 2. Al-Qa'ida and the Preparation of 11 September a.. Preparing the mujahidin We can be sure that al-Qa'ida placed special emphasis on forming the mujahid vanguard that is the backbone of the jihad operation. This is what has produced such stunning results on all levels. The average mujahid from al-Qa'ida is better trained and prepared for his mission than any other fighter. On the theoretical level, al-Qa'ida spared no effort to develop the various military theories needed to advance jihad capability. The complete jihad encyclopedia(10) that the organization prepared for all of the mujahidin during the first Afghan jihad covered all the details of armed combat. It set a major precedent. It consists of some 7,000 pages (10 volumes) and is considered an unparalleled primer for the mujahid on the hardships of jihad. It discusses military tactics, security, intelligence, light weapons, first aid, explosives, hand grenades, armor, weapons manufacturing, topography, and so forth. After the first Afghan jihad, the Islamic community still faced tremendous challenges on various battlefields: Palestine, Central Asia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Kashmir, the Philippines, and so forth. Al-Qa'ida was the standard bearer of the world jihad movement. It provided a new theoretical basis to improve the training and combat skills of the mujahidin. They published a separate section on specialforces operations. It includes chapters on preparing identity documents, setting up military camps, living quarters, concealing communications and movement, buying and delivering weapons, member security, security planning, and so forth. The training camps provided the best possible jihad preparation for fighting tyranny. They split the training course into three levels--basic, advanced, and special. Training was provided to tens of thousands of mujahidin to gain God's favor, aid His faith, and help the wretched of the earth. No organizational tie to al-Qa'ida was required. Only a small number of them with exceptional faith and mental, psychological, and physical ability were approached and asked to join alQa'ida. The purpose went beyond preventing infiltration. No organization, no matter what its capabilities, has succeeded in infiltrating al-Qa'ida. No one can join simply because he wants to. The leadership extends membership on the basis of a great deal of accurate information. This is what has allowed al-Qa'ida to recruit the cream of the jihad elite, which is positively reflected in the organization's jihad operations. This is why, when the heroes of September carried out their brilliant operation, it did not come as a surprise. AlQa'ida had a vast backlog of information and experience. History records that not one of those unique individuals retreated from his purpose or flinched at the journey to certain death. The investigation that US intelligence conducted shows that most of the people who carried out the operation did not undergo training at an al-Qa'ida camp. But their strong preparation of faith steeped them in self-effacement, skill, and sacrifice. The effective, mature guidance of the group leaders--who received the necessary training in Afghanistan according to some reports--enabled them to make full use of the abilities latent in each of the individuals selected for this crucial mission in the history of the Islamic community. b. Preparation of the Necessary Material Means Some army leaders say, "Money is the nerve of war." This has become truer as time passes and life becomes incomparably more complex and costly. The business of jihad is no exception. Each organized jihad operation that bears fruit requires generous financing. It usually requires months or even years of preparation and careful work to ensure that the enemy suspects nothing. Al-Qa'ida realized this early. As a result, over the years it developed a complex financial network to provide funds for its needs. This has led several respected experts to state that neither the CIA nor Britain's MI6 has ever encountered an international financial network as complex as the one al-Qa'ida constructed. Making matters even more difficult for hostile intelligence services, the network is divided into numerous parts that are usually connected to each other only by the thinnest of threads. According to reports by strategic institutes, al-Qa'ida's requirements to conduct training and operations inside and outside of Afghanistan are probably about $50 million annually. If this estimate is correct, then it's hardly odd that the organization includes a few financial specialists and pays great attention to training in finances and business, putting significant effort into its transnational investments. Despite this, the mujahidin of the 11 September raid proved the extent of their asceticism. They acted carefully with the organization's funds, especially in terms of their own personal needs. They only went to economical hotels and restaurants. They only used cheap cars. They returned the money they had left over to the organization, an act of unparalleled loyalty and self-effacement in a world of material globalization and money-worshipping. But as soon as it was necessary to spend money for the sake of the operation, the mujahidin purchased first-class tickets to be closer to the cockpit. This shows the supreme effectiveness and prudence of these heroes. There are also specialists who do not feel that the organization's financial capabilities are as great as the reports suggest. The operations that targeted the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar al-Salam did not require extensive financing. The operation that was to have struck the Los Angeles airport, and another that was to have hit Zionist and US hotels in Jordan, were financed by armed and unarmed acts carried out by the mujahidin themselves. The operation against the destroyer Cole cost less than $10,000. This demonstrates that al-Qa'ida shows restraint when conditions exist for a successful operation. The organization spends the right amount in the right place without overspending or underspending. c. Planning Al-Qa'ida clearly puts a great deal of planning into the details of each operation it carries out. All researchers have admitted that one of the factors in the organization's strength is the enormous effort it makes to plan and prepare all its operations. In its drive to become more efficient, al-Qa'ida divides each operation into three stages: information gathering, logistical preparation, and execution. Each group is individually responsible for the stage it is charged with carrying out. The information gathering stage is considered extremely sensitive, which is why al-Qa'ida treats it with the care and patience it requires. This was clear in the raids on New York and Washington, which required a year and a half of planning and preparation. 3. Lessons of the Raids Lessons about al-Qa'ida By following Sharia and universal traditions, al-Qa'ida succeeded in threatening the greatest power in the world, despite its vast capabilities. One of the most important universal traditions that al-Qa'ida followed in its material and military preparation was its focus on building a strong organization structure that has not been weakened by successive strikes and a global hunt. The complex network, decentralized mentality, and concept of a jihad league are all factors that contributed to al-Qa'ida's success in absorbing and minimizing all of the blows it suffered. Its secrecy and security precautions in all places and at all times are an important factor worthy of emulation by other Islamic movements. Al-Qa'ida follows a clear strategy. The choice to target the United States from the beginning was a smart strategic choice for the global jihad movement. The struggle with the United States' hangers-on in the Islamic region has shown that these hangers-on cannot keep their tyrannical regimes going for a single minute without US help. This is why we must strike the head. When it falls, it will bring down the rest. The choice to target the United States is understood and accepted throughout the Islamic community because everybody knows the crimes the United States has committed against Islam and Muslims. This is what ensures popular sympathy and support. From the beginning, the organization's leaders prepared for all possibilities, and especially the worst ones, readying appropriate alternatives. In the war in Afghanistan, they wisely withdrew fighting formations, removed equipment and stockpiled it in the mountains, and prepared for a long guerilla war. Abroad, jihad cells spread out in various countries, each preparing to carry out its mission according to a plan with no room for improvisation or confusion. The success of this jihad planning put fear in the hearts of Americans everywhere. Warnings of impending jihad attacks have taken a murderous toll on the nerves of the US masses, who do not understand why their vast military apparatus has failed to stop these attacks. With this raid, al-Qa'ida established a model of a proud Islamic mentality. This outlook does not view anything as impossible. By embracing the principle of initiative and action over reaction, preparing the next move before finishing the current move, and avoiding reactions that might upset the plan, al-Qa'ida set an example for other Islamic movements. The basic characteristics of the al-Qa'ida mujahidin emerged from Islamic jihad training that combined discipline and obedience to commanders with absolute trust in God, a willingness to die in God's path, patience, and generosity of spirit. These qualities will undoubtedly lead to victory, God willing. Al-Qa'ida embodies Islamic unity. Blood from all the countries of the Islamic community has mixed together in the jihad that al-Qa'ida leads with no distinction between Arab and non-Arab. In and of itself, this is a step on the road to Islamic unity and the destruction of the idolatrous colonialist treaties that have torn the body of the Islamic community apart. "Remember God and He will remember you." The mujahidin of al-Qa'ida have put this saying of the prophet into action and seen the real effects it can have. No matter how much the United States bombed the mountains in its hysteria, using every type of internationally banned bomb it has--incendiary, poison, smart, stupid--it could not weaken the mujahidin. Praise be to God, Who preserves and Who knows. Lessons About the United States For the first time since the Soviet Union was at the height of its power, the United States felt a direct threat to its existence--and not merely its interests. The surprising aspect this time is that the threat didn't come from a powerful state or a great alliance, but from an organization that does not possess the same prerequisites of power as wellestablished states. Despite this, the United States was forced to mobilize its international alliances, including NATO. The latter activated article five of its treaty, which states that if one member-state is attacked then all member-states have been targeted. The United States also relied on its traditional allies (the Zionist entity, Japan, Korea, Australia, and so forth) for help in eliminating al-Qa'ida. It also turned to traditionally hostile powers such as Russia and China, asking them to do what they could to help the United States. One can only marvel at the spiritual power that aids the mujahidin in the path of God. The United States mobilized a vast army that it does not even need, a force capable of destroying everything that moves on the face of the earth. Yet the United States has been unable to harm the mujahidin. One year after it was hit where it is most vulnerable, the United States has not yet slaked its thirst [for vengeance]. It is still looking for real or imagined victories against enemies that may not matter to convince itself and its allies that it is still a superpower. As soon as the first real crisis hit the United States in the form of the September attacks, the United States embraced the opposite of all the principles it espouses: such as respect for freedoms and human rights. The detention camp at Guantanamo, which the United States wanted to use to terrorize Muslims, was a shameful stain on US "democracy." The unjust arrests that affected thousands of members of the Muslim community in the United States, and which violated the detainees' most basic civil rights, forever sullied the rosy image that the United States painted of itself. The US model for justice became arrest without a specific charge, a refusal to disclose the names of detainees, pressure and torture, claims without proof, widespread monitoring of telephone conversation and e-mail, the disclosure of individual bank accounts, and secret military courts that try cases by presidential order and do not allow defendants to appeal their sentences (including death sentences). The raid of 11 September was a clear failure on the part of the US intelligence agencies that used to strike fear into the hearts of so many people. The United States' satellite-based Echelon surveillance system (which includes 120 spy satellites and cost billions of dollars) and its 13 spy agencies with their enormous budgets could not stop 19 mujahidin armed with knives who used the enemy's own weapons against his economic and military installations. In terms of strategy, al-Qa'ida used the 11 September raid to destroy the United States' strategic and defensive foundation, which not even the former Soviet Union, or any other state, had been able to harm. This foundation consists of: the early warning system and the principle of preventive attacks and deterrence. The raid also stretched US capabilities substantially, forcing the country to deploy its forces in numerous theaters without achieving victory in any one of them. The raid also showed that the United States suffers from a strategic crisis in the post-Cold War period. It no longer has a clear, comprehensive strategy or a single goal, as was the case during the Cold War. As a result, it treats everything on a case-by-case basis with an open-ended strategy that rests more on experimentation than on a future-oriented vision. One of the reasons for this is that it faces an amorphous, faith-driven enemy that is difficult to strike or infiltrate. It comes together in disturbing forms that cannot be observed. Militarily, the 11 September raid is a great threat to the United States' current military standing. The asymmetric strategy that al-Qa'ida is pursuing entails the use of means and methods that the defender cannot use, recognize, or avoid. They rendered the United States' tremendous military superiority useless and reduced the effectiveness of US military deterrence internationally. The proliferation of the "martyrdom bomb" and its expansion beyond Palestine to US targets has thrown off US calculations and caused the United States' sense of security to evaporate. In the media, the United States has failed to market its crusade. The US propaganda machine has been unable to defeat feelings of hatred toward the United States. It has not even managed to dispel the doubts within the United States. The immensity of the Western propaganda apparatus did not prevent its defeat at the hands of Shaykh Usama. The cameras of CNN and other Western media dinosaurs undertook the task of filming the raid and sowing fear in its aftermath. It didn't cost al-Qa'ida a cent. Moreover, the "terror" tapes that CNN showed later demonstrated the mujahidin's increased capabilities and endeared them to the Islamic community. Al-Jazirah's exclusive videotape of Shaykh Usama and other leaders brought the network worldwide notoriety and carried the voices of the mujahidin to the Islamic community and the entire world at no cost. By way of contrast, one should note that many revolutionary organizations in the past took hostages merely for the sake of airing their message. Today, the international media is in a race for scoops on the latest statements by the mujahidin. The mujahidin have also put the Internet to work, using it effectively to deliver their voices and points of view to hundreds of thousands of Muslims. 4. Stages and the Future The 11 September raid marked the beginning of the collapse of the US empire. These strikes proved that the foundation of US power is fragile. The economy, which is the most important part of the foundation, is based on usury, fraud, and consumerist avarice. When these ebb, the economy suffers. The raid had an enormous psychological effect on the US population, changing consumption habits and causing losses in such sectors as air travel, tourism, and insurance. It gave rise to fears about the health of the US economy. Suffice it to say that the US economy's losses in the airline transportation sector alone after the attacks reached $100 billion and led to the loss of some 100,000 jobs. All told, total losses came to $1 trillion and hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their jobs. The horror of the attack marked the beginning of the US collapse. The attacks' effect on international relations was the equivalent of a geopolitical earthquake. This earthquake took the following forms: The United States used it to gain entrance to the region of its past struggle with the Soviet Union, and especially the independent republics of the Soviet Union. Its bases there indicate that it is gearing up for a long-term presence in the region. This factor will give rise to increased friction with Russia and China in the foreseeable future. The US-European alliance became shaky, especially after the United States defined its real goal of "interference in the internal affairs of countries in the third world" with the aim of rearranging their features or remaking the region in accordance with the United States's strategic interests. Cracks appeared in the United States' alliance with Saudi Arabia, and to a lesser extent with Egypt. The Saudi regime is no longer the United States' pet. Rather, leading figures in the regime are described in the US media as linked to corruption, embezzlers of their people's money, and supporters of "extremism." This would appear to be the prelude to seizing direct control of government in Saudi Arabia now that the checkbook diplomacy that Saudi rulers used to follow is no longer enough to satisfy the masters of the White House. The United States seized control of most of the world's seaways under the pretext of hunting for Shaykh Bin Ladin and preventing his flight. This led the United States to strengthen its naval bases and increase the amount of equipment and ammunition stored there. This move will cost Washington a great deal militarily and financially, especially in light of the United States' ongoing economic decline. The raid pushed the United States toward martial law. For the first time in the history of the United States, a military command was formed to supervise internal security. A general heads it. A secret government was also formed. It works in two locations, taking over vital administrative functions in case the United States suffers a sudden military attack. No constitutionally mandated institution monitors it. The Bush administration set up this scenario with no Congressional input at all. It refused point-blank to provide any information about its plans for this government. This measure confirms the move toward a totalitarian military government. It is a crushing defeat for US values. President Bush's efforts to combat leaks have lowered a thick curtain of secrecy on government, hindering transparency and accountability before the legislative branch. The result is that no official was held responsible for what happened on 11 September. The Taliban were a stumbling block for the United States' ambition to seize control of Caspian oil. With the removal of the Taliban government (temporarily, God willing) and the establishment of a quisling government in Afghanistan, the stage is set for the construction of oil and gas pipelines to connect the Caspian with Turkey and Europe. This means that demand for Arab oil will decrease once Caspian oil becomes available on the market. The official support of Gulf nations for the crusader campaign was a grievous error. Its consequences for the Gulf's economy will emerge after a violent, external shock that will end growth for the GDP of the Gulf nations. The raid coincided with a rising tide of popular hostility toward the United States, once the model for the free world and a model of democratic values. This issue brought together Islamic popular forces with other forces in the world opposed to the United States. Opposition to globalization/Americanization began to spread. This became clear in the many demonstrations that the United States itself witnessed, as well as Europe and South Africa. There is a genuine popular rejection on all levels (intellectuals, environmentalists, pacifists) to US policy. The cries and shouts that greeted the speech by the US Secretary of Sstate during the Earth Summit on 4 September 2002 were only an example of popular global awareness of the United States' unjust policies. Interest in Islam increased throughout all of last year. Islamic books circulated, and especially copies of the Holy Koran. This shows that the light of jihad and sacrifice for the faith have more power to convince others of the truth that Muslims possess than millions of books and sermons. The 11 September raid was indisputably a crucial operation in the history of the Islamic community. The community was languishing in a state of humiliation after the possible (the implementation of Islamic law, the liberation of Palestine, etc.) had became impossible because of the treachery of Arab quisling regimes. The raid made the impossible possible. -------------------Footnotes (1) Throughout the text, the authors use the term "ghazwah"--literally, raid- to refer to the 11 September attacks. The word is associated with much of the fighting that accompanied the early history of Islam, and its use is a conscious attempt to evoke that history and place the 11 September attacks in the context of that history. We have retained the authors' usage in the translation. (2) (3) (4) Dr. Muhammad Yusuf Musa. Humankind's Need for Islam [Al-Islam wa-hajah al-insaniyah ilayhi], p. 271. Naturally, these generalizations must be linked to the tenets of Islamic jurisprudence and Sharia. The basic principle is that the United States is a belligerent. This is true even if one argues that it only became a belligerent as a result of the aid it has given the Jews in Palestine since 1947. (5) (6) See: "Tyrant of the Age" by Abu Ubayd al-Qarshi, Al-Ansar, No. 14. Those who want more legal detail and scholarly study of the matter should refer to The Truth of the Crusader War [Haqiqat-al-Harb al-Salibiyah] by Salah-al-Din Al-Ayyubi. (7) (8) (9) (10) Victory Without War, p. 291. For more, see his book, Seize the Moment. Evangelical Fundamentalism, p. 85. See the author's article "Allah will punish them by your hands" [9:14]. Certain Arab and Asian agencies have managed to obtain scattered parts of the encyclopedia since 1997, but the Belgian security forces were the first to find a complete copy. They did not, however, have the material resources to translate it. The CIA did not obtain a complete copy until the quisling Jordanian security services provided them with one. -------------------Sources "An Interpretation of the Battle between the Faruq of the Age (Usama) and the United States." Center for Islamic Studies and Research "Annual Report on Strategic International Changes Caused by the 11 September Attacks in the United States and World Weapons Production and Sales," Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, June 2002. Justice and the US War on Terror, Al-Bayan, UAE, 3 April 2002. Rohan Gunaratna, "Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror," Hurst & Company, London, 2002. Rohan Gunaratna, "The Lifeblood of Terrorist Organizations: Evolving Terrorist Financing Strategies" in Alex Schmid (ed.) Countering Terrorism Through International Cooperation, Rome, International Scientific and Professional Advisory Council of the UN and the UN Terrorism Prevention Branch, 2001. Victoria Grifith, Peter Speigl, and Hugo Williamson, "How the Hijackers Went Unnoticed," Financial Times, November 29, 2001. Walden Bello, "Washington: Triumphant or Overextended?" Focus Web, July 22, 2002. Steven Simon and Daniel Benjamin, "The Terror," Survival, Volume 43, Number 4, January 2002. David Cole, "Trading Liberty for Security after 11 September," Foreign Policy in Focus, September 2002. The Real Story of the Raids on New York and Washington Abu Ayman al-Hilali The martyrdom attack/raid on New York and Washington that al-Qa'ida mujahidin carried out under the leadership of Usama Bin Ladin--God preserve him and grant him victory--on 11 September 2001 targeted symbols of the United States' hegemony and economic, political, and military might: the Defense Department and the World Trade Center. This came as a violent shock to the United States' government and people, and to all the world's countries, not to mention politicians, intellectuals, and military men... [ellipses as published] The shock sowed terror, fear, and insecurity in the souls of Americans. They have become easy prey for the mujahidin and they will be a target for similar attacks unless the United States renounces its tyranny, arrogance, oppression of the exploited peoples, and complicity in Zionist terror against our Palestinian brothers. The United States the superpower proved weak and incapable of defending its institutions and vital interests, let alone its citizens. The fearsome CIA and FBI failed utterly to forestall or even predict this great historic event, which threw the United States into such doubt and confusion that the cowardly Bush and his Vice President Cheney fled the capital to hide in fear for their lives. Despite tyranny and arrogance, the weak superpower was stripped of its power. The capitals of money and politics--New York and Washington--resembled ghost towns. The US regime's first response clearly reflected the terrible shock and confusion that befell the United States' leaders. Bush the coward said that Tuesday, "The United States has suffered a national tragedy because of terrorist attacks. This is a difficult moment for the American people." He said, "I have ordered that all the resources of the federal government be used to help the victims and their families and to conduct thorough investigations to pursue and capture those who committed these acts." He said, "Terror against our nation will not continue." The next day, Wednesday, he said after a meeting with his national security team in the White House, "The premeditated and murderous attacks that were carried out against our country were more than acts of terror. They were acts of war." A fundamental change took place in US foreign and domestic policy, as well as in the country's rhetoric. It began to sense the precariousness of its position. It sensed that another challenger had appeared--after the fall of the Soviet Union--on the international arena. Someone was vying with it for political and global influence to redraw the political and international map. This time, the enemy refused to accept the world's unjust political terms--the subjugation of peoples, groups, and governments to the Zionist-US system through a strategy of globalization. The strategy's key elements are as follows: - Economic globalization links the global economy to the United States for ultimate control over capital through the World Trade Organization, transnational corporations, the IMF, and the World Bank. - Political globalization entails direct political interference in various countries, the division of the world into geopolitical regions, the creation of a strategic framework based on vital interests, the imposition of economic sanctions on those who resist (under the pretext that they practice terror, human rights violations, and political despotism), and protection for the children of Zion and all of their allies through the veto weapon...[ellipses as published] - Educational globalization involves direct intervention in curricula to shape minds and raise people with US values. Egypt is a living example. USAID has given 90 billion pounds to the Egyptian regime over the last 25 years and $185 million to education since 1981, along with specialists, programs, and advice. - Cultural globalization imposes the United States' culture and way of life through US schools and restaurants...[ellipses as published] - Security globalization entails coordination between all international intelligence agencies to strike at anyone who lets himself be seduced by the CIA into attacking them. This was all reflected in the secret meeting held on 16 September 2001, five days after the blessed raid. The heads of intelligence agencies from Europe and the Middle East met with the CIA director to set up a plan for future coordination between security agencies in various countries to entrap terrorists. The raids on New York and Washington send a clear and eloquent message to all the pioneers of change and reform. They are a direct call to rise up and rebel against the worn-out intellectual and political leadership that must be sent into retirement. This is a rare historical moment, a point of fundamental change in the course of the struggle. It must be seized and used. Analysts agree that the raids marked a historic turning point in international relations and the global political arena. They sparked a sea change in the policy of the United States, the global leader, as well as fundamental change in the geopolitics of Central Asia, the Arab world, and Islamic countries. They ignited a far-ranging intellectual and political debate that continues to this day over sensitive issues in the world's political future--Palestine, the freedom of oppressed peoples, justice, natural resources such as oil, independence, Islamic law, the refusal to submit to US tyranny and its tools like the Security Council and the United Nations...[ellipses as published] This came about with the appearance of a new political actor, albeit an obscure one. The little that was known came from the guesses of the US-Zionist enemy and the dossiers of quisling regimes and their mercenary thinkers, politicians, and media. It strove to break through the intellectual and political stagnation of traditional political movements. As everyone knows, the actor was al-Qa'ida, the Taliban movement, and jihad movements in general. The great event of the blessed raid posed a number of questions to analysts and observers of global politics about the raid's history and consequences--its political purpose, its international repercussions, its importance for the new world order, the Palestinian issue, the concept of political cooperation, help for the oppressed, the future of Islamic movements, and other issues. The various political interpretations that emerged were still beholden to the standard conception of global politics. They repeated the same defeatist theories that have been eclipsed by great political developments such as the Al-Aqsa intifadah, the intifadah in the Arab and Islamic streets, the Zionist-US attack, martyrdom operations, the blessed raid, and jihad in Chechnya, Kashmir, and Afghanistan. We present the following clarifications in accordance with the Sharia and our political responsibility to explain matters and answer the questions posed by the blessed raid. First: The General Political Situation before the 11 September Raid We will focus on the basic political facts of two global hot spots--Palestine and Afghanistan. They stand in direct relation to the Zionist-US enemy. They are the crux of the struggle between the Islamic community and the Zionist-crusader enemy, the dividing line between the Islamic camp and the enemy's camp. The facts are as follows: A. In Palestine The Zionists defiled the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the direction of the pig Sharon and the Al-Aqsa intifadah began. The Zionists continue to murder the Palestinian people, and especially children, women, and the elderly. This was crowned by the murder of the child Muhammad al-Durrah, whose death was captured on film as a living testimony to Zionist brutality. The Palestinian response was harsh. It has inflicted tremendous losses on the Zionist enemy's military, economy, and media image since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa intifadah, especially after the intifadah became an armed uprising and began to use mortars and martyrdom operations. The crowning operation took place at a club in Tel Aviv. It was carried out by the Al-Qassam Brigades and killed 21 Zionists, wounding 120 of them according to Zionist sources. Awareness of the Palestinian issue is on the increase. This has translated into solidarity with the Palestinians on the part of Arab and Islamic peoples through demonstrations. Al-Qa'ida blew up the destroyer Cole on 12 October 2000 in Adan harbor, killing 17 Americans. Another attack targeted the British Embassy in Sanaa, filling the enemy with fear at the internationalization of the Palestinian-Zionist conflict and threatening his interests and presence in the region. Imam Bin Ladin broadcast a tape on Al-Jazirah in which he calls on the community to aid the Palestinian people, urges his followers to slaughter the enemy, and swears allegiance to the Mullah Omar, commander of the faithful. The security of the Zionist-US enemy has undergone a dangerous decline, sparking feelings of insecurity and instability. This has translated into the flight of the children of Zion from Palestine and the closure of most of the US enemy's consulates and embassies in the Middle East and Africa. The Zionists experience feelings of futility, regret, and disappointment over Sharon's illusory promises of security. Golad Shenanini [as transliterated] expressed this clearly when he said, "We're very disappointed because we entertained a number of illusions. And we're angry because overanxious leaders promised us a second and a third time that they would end the wars so that the children of Zion could live in peace on their land. They promised that no external danger would threaten us. But this is an illusion and there's no basis for security."(1) The children of Zion were condemned for racism at the Durban Conference and the United States was unable to stop the condemnation. The United States withdrew from the conference in an attempt to thwart it and express its solidarity with the children of Zion. The Zionists and Americans continue to commit crimes against our Palestinian brothers and put pressure on the quisling Arafat. The United States will ignore him until he eliminates the intifadah and arrests all who resist. He has agreed to carry out this filthy task. Senator Mitchell was dispatched to study the facts. Months later, he produced a report that placed some of the blame on the Zionists. They rejected it even though they knew that it would aid their purpose of ending the intifadah. US CIA Director George Tenet, a Jew(2) and a specialist on HAMAS and Islamic Jihad, also visited the region. He arrived on 6 June 2001, a date of great political significance to the Zionists, for it marks the anniversary of the June 1967 disaster. His purpose was to end the intifadah and eliminate the mujahidin by arresting members of the resistance. Naturally, this took place with the consent of certain quisling Arab countries that he visited such as Jordan and Egypt. Some Arab newspapers reported this, as well as the Zionist enemy's radio on 13 June 2001. The BBC also reported it on 16 June 2001. The motivating factor was fear of the intifadah's repercussions for the Arab and Islamic region. This came out in the Tenet report to Congress on the threats of 2001(3). B. In Afghanistan The mujahid Taliban implemented Islamic law in Afghanistan. For the first time in the history of Afghanistan, people began to feel secure for their lives, money, and honor. This came as a clear challenge to the Satanic culture headed by the United States and the children of Zion and brought with it the danger of the "Taliban" model's spread to neighboring Asian countries and the rest of the world. The establishment of a youthful, independent Islamic state in the Islamic regions of Central Asia angered the enemies, the resentful, and the recalcitrant heretics. A number of them were inspired to wage a fierce campaign against the Islamic Emirate, which stood accused of implementing Islamic law, aiding Islamic issues, readying an army (which they termed sheltering terrorists), ignoring human rights, failing to observe international law, and banning music and alcoholic beverages...[ellipses as published] The main participants in this rabid attack were the United States, the European Union, the children of Zion, Russia, India, the Islamic Republics, the United Nations, most nations in the Islamic Organization, and secularists in general. The countries of the Shanghai Organization, which includes Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, China, and Tajikistan, met to change its mission and goals from an economic and political alliance that confronts US hegemony to an organization that combats extremism and terror in Central Asia. Iran, India, and Russia cooperated to support the Northern Alliance against the Islamic Emirate. The Islamic Emirate fell victim to a complete embargo for allegedly sheltering terrorists and failing to cooperate with the United States by handing over Usama Bin Ladin. They put up barriers by land and by sea to kill the mujahid Afghan people through starvation and oppression. After this, they claim that the Taliban are the killers and oppressors. This embargo killed more than 70,000 Afghans, including children, women, and the elderly. The Islamic Emirate lost billions of dollars that could have gone to solve the Afghan people's problems. The Emirate began to destroy idols, mainly those of Buddha. This sparked worldwide condemnation. Certain preachers and religious scholars visited the Emirate to pressure it to go back on its decision. Thankfully, their visits redounded to the benefit of Islam and the Islamic Emirate in particular. They saw the truth of the Taliban up close and realized that the enemy's claims were propaganda. Some of them presented a pure, shining image of the Emirate in the media. The mufti of Egypt, Dr. Nasr Farid Wasil, is a living example with his testimony to the falsity of the enemy's propaganda. Their attempts backfired. The Taliban emerged victorious and the enemies were defeated because the Islamic community realized the truth before the war--if they failed in their duty to aid the Islamic Emirate, it would be an argument against them on Judgment Day. The Emirate imprisoned a number of missionaries and tried Afghan apostates who renounced Islam for Christianity. Ahmad Shah Mas'ud, leader of the Northern Alliance, was assassinated two days before the blessed raid. This is very significant, and we see the blessings of his assassination in the current situation in Afghanistan. Second: The Decisive Need for the Raid The battle with the US-Zionist enemy has begun. Striking evidence can be found in Islamic countries. The advocates of globalization/Americanization are not content with their own blatant corruption and atheism. They want to impose it by force on all humanity, including those who have accepted God's law and implemented it on their land like the Taliban movement. They follow in the footsteps of Pharaoh. The verse in the Koran reads: "Fir'aun [Pharaoh] said: 'I but point out to you that which I see (myself); nor do I guide you but to the Path of Right!'" [40:29] This is what the infidel United States does with its definition of terrorism, peace, and justice. With its policies, it sets itself up as a rival to God in His magnificence, greatness, rule, and law. The United States is the enemy of God's faith and Muslims. It is fighting against them. The situation in Afghanistan and Palestine before the raid is the best evidence. The United States would have launched a military attack against the Islamic Emirate even if al-Qa'ida had not carried out the raid because the US economic and media attack had not achieved the desired results. Pakistan's former foreign minister explained this to the BBC on 19 September 2001, "Highly placed officials in the US Government reported in mid-July that the United States would take military measures against Afghanistan by mid-October. They reported this plan during a meeting of the Afghanistan Support Group held under UN sponsorship in Berlin. The broader goal of the operation was to have been the removal of the Taliban and the installation of a transitional government composed of Afghan moderates. Washington was going to conduct operations from its bases in Tajikistan, where there are a number of US advisors. Uzbekistan and Russia were also going to participate. The target date was before the first snowfall in Afghanistan."(4) The former head of Pakistan's intelligence service said at a news conference that the United States wanted to achieve two goals by striking Afghanistan: a. Prevent the formation of an Islamic alliance that would include Pakistan and Afghanistan; b. Reactivate the old British plan for the region to contain Russia and prevent it from reaching warm waters, as well as to contain China's desire to obtain passage to the Indian Ocean through Pakistan and Afghanistan. Another factor is the oil in the Caspian Sea, which holds the greatest reserves in the world. The mujahidin needed and expected the raid, or any other attack on US interests. It confirmed the seriousness of their political intentions and capabilities. It came as a profound reflection of their understanding of the hostility and confrontation on earth--the opposite of the wait-and-see mentality of Arab and Islamic policy, which contents itself with mere words and leaves the initiative to the enemy. The obsession with analysis means that it is always reacting. Al-Qa'ida took the enemy by surprise with the raids on New York and Washington. Roles were reversed, and the enemy was thrown into confusion by the event. He was left looking for explanations, a prisoner of his reactions. The mujahidin were in motion, moving the battle along, a powerful factor in their favor. This is the secret of the United States' fear of al-Qa'ida. Al-Qa'ida has hit on the correct method for fighting and defeating the United States, God willing. Third: The Raid's Significance The 11 September raids mark a historic turning point in international relations. The significant aspects of this event include: 1. The country targeted was the United States, the superpower that no one dares to oppose or fight because it has the most modern aircraft carriers, destroyers, and submarines at sea, Stealth bombers in the air, and a missile shield in space...[ellipses as published] 2. It was targeted at home and in broad daylight. This is a powerful challenge. 3. The raid was both symbolic and political. It struck vital institutions that represent the United States politically and militarily (the Pentagon) and economically (the World Trade Center). They are also part of the US people's memory and emotions. 4. The economic consequences were enormous. The building destroyed housed the offices of the largest international organizations, and among the dead were many of the minds that supported economic life. Documents and money were also destroyed, not to mention the huge losses companies incurred. This weakened the economic system. The enemy is still suffering from the political, economic, military, and security damage. 5. It confounded the US enemy's plans. A State Department report had claimed two months before the raid: "It seems relatively certain that the United States will remain the only military and economic power in the world until 2030." This is the secret behind the policy confusion that continues to afflict the United States. 6. It was a blow to the credibility and competence of the famed security and intelligence agencies and their legendary status in the US and global imagination. They were revealed as weak and ineffective against the mujahidin. Moreover, they had miscalculated. The minds that stood behind their equipment and computers had not been able to calculate anything. 7. A small group of 19 martyrdom-seekers had carried out a martyrdom operation of unprecedented size and complexity, causing tremendously dangerous repercussions on a global level. This sent a clear message to the Islamic community about resistance to the US enemy and his defeat. 8. A small group can triumph over numbers and power and make its life hell through organization, courage, planning, and sacrifice. Jihad organizations have all of these things. Our Lord was right when he said, "How oft, by Allah's will, hath a small force vanquished a big one? Allah is with those who steadfastly persevere." [2:249] 9. The true face of the United States' barbarous culture was revealed, as well as the ugly face of its allies in the West and among our own people. Moreover, the truth was revealed to many Muslims who had believed the secularists' claim that Western hostility to Islam is a myth. They realized the true nature of the beliefs, values, and principles that are the cause of that hostility. This fact stands at the core of the struggle. The battle is like the crusades, as Bush said in the garden of the White House after he returned from talks with his closest advisors at Camp David on 16 September 2001. He declared war on terror, promising to conduct what he called a long crusade to rid the world of what he called evildoers. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi followed suit when he declared the "superiority of Western civilization to other civilizations, because the West has human rights and freedom of religion, which do not exist in the Islamic world." Similarly, the French [foreign] minister [Hubert] Vedrine spoke repeatedly of France's responsibility since the crusades. Today we see planes above Afghanistan and the Pope conducting missionary work and celebrating in Kazakhstan with the Gospels in one hand and a hand grenade in the other. 10. The raid revealed the weakness, foolishness, indecision, and confusion that characterize the US administration under Bush the fool. This was reflected in the contradictory statements on the name of the operation--a crusade, Noble Eagle, Infinite Justice, Enduring Freedom--as well as in the enormous movements of the military apparatus to establish a reassuring presence and strength so that no one would suspect the US military of weakness or indecision. 11. The raid exposed the false pragmatism of calls to accept reality no matter how much reality might be in conflict with the truth. Such calls represent capitulation to a stronger will across the globe. 12. The raid caused a revolution in the strategic thinking that had been based on a struggle of economic, military, and political equals and on economic liberalism. It came as a huge shock to the Pentagon, which had constructed its scenarios around traditional battles like the Second World War and the Cold War. It had not occurred to Pentagon planners that armed conflict could change in the direction of the 11 September raid. A report by the Joint Chiefs of Staff led by Henry Shelton defined it as follows: "It is an attempt by a group hostile to the United States to sidestep the United States' power and exploit its weak spots by using various types of operations that are completely unexpected. This asymmetry means that the enemy is using psychological warfare and all of the shocks that accompany it to seize the initiative and gain freedom of movement and will." 13. The raid showed the entire world that the struggle is between just Islamic law and unfair international law, between US sovereignty and the sovereignty of jihad organizations led by the Taliban and al-Qa'ida. The latter is a worldwide organization. It has the ability to infiltrate the most sensitive institutions and strike with unparalleled accuracy. 14. Jihad groups have the advantage of superior strategic thinking, which is the most important factor in warfare. 15. The Islamic world has discovered that it is the target of US embargos, accusations, and so forth. This will spur it to search for its identity and goals, possibly helping it to unite. 16. Power has limits and weakness has power. 17. Absolute conviction that everything is possible. This community has enough courage, self-sacrificing spirit, intelligence, and ability to continue its jihad against the US-Zionist enemy. 18. Jihad and martyrdom operations are our strategic weapon against the enemy. Martyrdom is the general rubric for all of our doctrinal, intellectual, political, economic, and military programs...[ellipses as published] Fourth: The Political and Strategic Revolution The raids on New York and Washington and the clearly delineated struggle they produced between two poles on the political and international arena--the Islamic pole, led by Imam Bin Ladin and commander of the faithful Mullah Omar, and the Zionist-crusader pole, led by the United States--set off a fundamental revolution in political and strategic thinking. This affects traditional political ideas as much as it affects the practices of Western analysts and their hangers-on in the region. Before the 11 September raid, the global political arena focused on sham democracy in international law and conventionbased constitutions on the local level. In point of fact, these merely reinforced the dominant status quo. We find that the participants in the "democratic game" are nothing more than decoration and decor with no real influence on political and strategic decision-making. The best example is US-Zionist policy in the Security Council and the United Nations. The United Nations acts as the executive branch of US policy. The same applies to the despotic quisling regimes and their policies toward their people and political and cultural elites. This miserable political state of affairs clearly reflects the dangerous decline of political elites, the crushing failure they have suffered through their glorification of democracy, and the political impotence that has resulted from a reliance on such mythical concepts as civil society, political participation, and development. These ideas serve only to perpetuate the status quo. In fact, they are intended to be nothing more than a narcotic to some and a soporific to others. The blessed raid heralds a policy of renewal that removes the constraints that affect traditional, failed, backward political activity. It removes it from the political and strategic dead end where it has ended up. At the same time, it puts in place new political ideas in response to globalization/Americanization. They are capable, God willing, of confronting the octopus of US hegemony. Every objective political thinker must note the historic fact that al-Qa'ida under the leadership of Imam Bin Ladin rescued the oppressed and downtrodden from the state of impotence, stagnation, confusion, and contradiction that had gripped them as various political bodies slowed, sickened, and died yet remained unburied. Al-Qa'ida laid the foundation for a new political line and new political concepts for the global arena--political participation, political realism, political initiative, political growth...[ellipses as published] It also set up new mechanisms that will be clarified and refined in the future, such as political and cultural guerilla war. Fifth: Political Participation The goal of political participation, generally speaking, is to change the terms of political decision-making by widening society's role in the process. This requires immersion in political reality, compassion for people's suffering and problems, and practical cooperation on the ground. One must go beyond the delegation of authority, shouts, and playing on emotions as practiced by officialdom (parliament, the government, political parties). Political participation assumes many forms, from the meeting of people's basic needs (food, work, medical care) to such advanced functions as the establishment of God's rule and the punishment of tyrants. It is also influenced by political reality--for example, political participation in an oppressive quisling regime differs from participation under an Islamic government. In light of globalization/Americanization, everyone agrees that the Arab and Islamic countries have submitted to USZionist hegemony. They remain colonies. Under these conditions, political participation aims to liberate Arab and Islamic countries, primarily Palestine. This requires a group to work for change by creating a political force for liberation, a vanguard for change that works on the ground (instead of limiting itself to rhetoric) and begins to organize people so that everyone participates in jihad against the imperialists and their stooges to free the country. This applies to al-Qa'ida's blessed raid, as well as to Imam Bin Ladin's appeal to the community asking for its participation. Like all jihad movements, al-Qa'ida is based on doctrine, ideas, education, politics, and military action. Its project is a civilization. It aims to liberate global political thought and the current political reality from the fetters of globalization-fueled US hegemony. Al-Qa'ida intends to implement its political program through a strategy of jihad. It has chosen the military option: "Through jihad and martyrdom-seeking operations we establish and preserve our faith, obtain our freedom, dignity, and pride." Naturally, this does not negate the obligation to spread the faith, educate, relieve the aggrieved, and practice compassion for the downtrodden and deprived. They did not accept the role of decoration they were assigned by sham global democracy and the United States' criminal policy. Their political actions came as a shock to the dominant political and cultural logic, which fears the deconstruction of the failed, deceptive projects they have been based on the worship of neoliberalism and democracy. The United States is the leader of the free world and the symbol of the liberal democracy that some madmen still worship. It has not practiced this, however, in its battle with the Taliban and al-Qa'ida. Despite the United States' tremendous media arsenal and its hegemony over most, if not all, of the media, it fears one man who was a spokesman for the Taliban. He is the mujahid Abd-al-Salam Da'if, may God set him free. The same holds true for al-Qa'ida's website. Al-Qa'ida is an effective player on the global political arena. The raids on New York and Washington fit into this context because they aimed to change the United States' policy and reshape the US people using a language they understand--a surgical operation, a raid. The enemy conducted such a policy of surgery on Japan and Germany. It is conducting it now on the Arab and Islamic peoples, and with some success. Al-Qa'ida succeeded with the blessed raid. The United States made a number of political, military, and security decisions that represented a break with the past. The morale of its people also fell. Martyrdom operations caused the same thing to happen to the people of Zion. The concept of political participation in general refers to acts of will that shape public policy--activities that one chooses to perform with the aim of influencing the public's political choices. This is how it has entered the international lexicon of sociology: "Acts of free will that individuals in a particular society undertake in order to choose their rulers and take part in shaping policy either directly or indirectly." (5) The various forms and types of jihad are the true and ideal means of political participation in light of globalization/ Americanization because real political participation consists of material action and tangible behavior, not just intentions and feelings. A strike against the economy affects politics. This is what happened to the Soviet Union in the past and to the Arab mercenaries. The same law applies to our enemy the United States. Sixth: Political Realism With the 11 September raid, al-Qa'ida illustrated the concept of "political realism" in action and on the ground. It made a direct and effective effort to rejuvenate the concept, unlike the demagogues who practice trickery and illusion. As everyone knows, political realism entails an awareness of reality without excessive optimism or pessimism, a knowledge of one's capabilities, the use of realistic methods, and an unwavering commitment to one's goals. There can be no excuses about weak resources or ability. Instead, one must strive to make the best possible use of one's abilities no matter how weak or humble they may be. This is what al-Qa'ida's mujahidin did. They stuck to their stated goal of striking the US enemy's institutions. They used realistic tools at their disposal like airplanes. God indicated in the divine verse: "And if they had wished to go forth they would assuredly have made ready some equipment, but Allah was averse to their being sent forth and held them back and (it was said unto them ) : Sit ye with the sedentary!" [9:46] The conditions of the political and military confrontation, or what can be termed the "equation of attack," require two basic conditions: will (and there is no will without belief) and preparation (moral/faith-based and material). Seventh: The Liberation of Palestine The school of "political trickery" tried to raise doubts about the timing of the blessed raid, as well as its political usefulness, accusing Imam Bin Ladin of recklessly endangering the Palestinian cause. This defeatist stance is a clear expression of this faction's intellectual impoverishment on both the strategic and the political level. This is mainly a result of what can be termed the "political unconscious" that still dominates its behavior, relations, and positions. The intellectual bankruptcy of its political reasoning has many aspects. Its limited number of ideas all orbit around the same dominant concept--preserve the system. This has paralyzed their will and stupefied their political and social senses, leading them to give up on political life. Despite its shameless laments, this school has not offered anyone a comprehensive program or even a basic concept of the means and mechanisms for liberating Palestine. It continues to hem and haw, contenting itself with flaccid, empty slogans. It has not managed to move from the stage of slogans to the stage of serious thought for a strategy and a program to liberate Palestine. The blessed raid performed a good service for the Palestinian cause. It conveyed the seriousness of the al-Qa'ida mujahidin. They did not merely wait and watch, which is what the school of trickery does best. The difference between the two can be summed up as follows: Suppose that a man had a painful accident and began to bleed. People gather around him repeating loudly, "This man is dying!" But no one takes the initiative to help him. Does this save the man from death? This is how the school of trickery deals with the Palestinian issue. At best, it screams and shouts in the street or on TV, condemning--as they put it--Zionist crimes. And they leave the Palestinians to die. But what if a passerby took action and did everything he could to save the man? Would this change the dying man's prospects? This is what Imam Bin Ladin and his forces are doing. The blessed raid benefits the Palestinian cause in a number of ways: It brought the Palestinian issue back into an Islamic context by establishing a connection between the raid and what is happening in Palestine. This is what caused Bush to raise the issue of a Palestinian state. Naturally, we do not deny the role of jihad and martyrdom operations within Palestine. It lured the United States into Afghanistan and the Philippines, causing it to open numerous new fronts that will exhaust it and reduce the pressure on our Palestinian brothers. This harms Zionist interests on the strategic level. It spurred the mujahidin from Arab and Islamic countries to strike US and Zionist interests everywhere. This harms US interests and could lead it to rethink its policies. It exposed the real defenders of the Zionist entity. The longer the war in Afghanistan lasts, the longer the state of emergency lasts in the United States. This puts tremendous pressure on the United States, and it may retreat. The stupid suggestions on satellite networks that the Afghan Arabs or the jihadist movement should, in general, fight jihad against the Zionists in Palestine are a reflection of political naivete or collaboration with the enemy. The reasons are as follows: They lack strategic political thinking skills. They do not understand the scope of the struggle in Palestine and the elements involved in it. They are the real defenders of the Zionist entity. They are harming the Palestinian cause and preventing their mujahid brothers from carrying out jihad operations against the enemy. The best example is Ghassan Bin Jiddu, who moderates the monthly program "Open Dialogue" on Al-Jazirah. He is a Shia Zionist American because his programs and comments serve three interests--his political reporting provides excessive and obvious support for Iranian positions; he condemns martyrdom operations against the Zionists; and he condemned the blessed raid against the Americans. On 31 August 2002, he prefaced his program with vile remarks that had nothing to do with journalism. An American would have been embarrassed to say such things. The context was intended to terrorize and control participants. He augmented this with a hysterical attack on a participant who described what was happening in Afghanistan as resistance against the US occupier that takes the pressure off the Palestinians. Bin Jiddu acted like Bush's official spokesman. He even defended the despotic quisling regimes in a response to Isam Al-Aryan on the crisis of freedom. The following questions help to get us closer to the truth: Who defends the children of Zion? The United States. Who defends the United States? The quisling regimes. And who defends the quisling regimes? The school of trickery. Who prevents the mujahidin from slipping into Palestine? The quisling regimes. Who defends the quisling regimes? The school of trickery. Who prevents people from cooperating with the mujahidin? The school of trickery denounces their actions and their opposition to the quisling regimes. We use this occasion to voice a challenge. We say to the school of trickery: Can you offer the mujahidin logistical support in the form of money or refuge? Can you help the mujahidin get into Palestine? Or, as usual, do you continue to support regime policy? So who really defends the children of Zion? Who really serves the Palestinian cause? Eighth: The Downtrodden Begin To Rise Up By the grace of God, the 11 September raid destroyed the superpower myth, the myth of an invulnerable continent guarded by two great oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific. The power and significance of the raid on the US enemy lay not only in the loss of life and property, but also in the political message that the raid sent to the freedom-loving downtrodden who yearn for freedom, dignity, and pride. It threw US policy into confusion and chaos, the repercussions of which are still being felt. It was unexpected and unimaginable. It struck a sudden blow at the pagan god of the age--the United States--from an unexpected direction. The United States had intended to provide its citizens with total security through a missile shield to ward off any possible attack from what it called "rogue states." But the blow struck at its heart and came from people the enemy saw as lacking ideas, will, or ability. They are the free men of this earth, the representatives of the oppressed, the real lovers of freedom, the followers of Imam Bin Ladin. Their stupid intelligence services knew nothing of him. US citizens had experienced nothing like him since their civil war in the mid-19th century. The blessed raid was the main political turning point in modern history. It put US power on the scales. It will not be restored no matter how hard the United States tries. This is the conclusion the well-known US historian Paul Kennedy came to when he said that the real beginning of the 21st century came with the murderous strikes, which formed a dividing line in human history. No matter how hard the United States tries to regain its balance and impose its hegemony, it will not return to what it was before the collapse of its symbols--the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. The raids on New York and Washington cut the United States down to size. The passages in the [Islamic] tradition on strength, weakness, and the vicissitudes of fate apply here to the United States. The United States' slaves deified it, thinking it capable of everything. The divine verse says, "The likeness of the life of the Present is as the rain which We send down from the skies: by its mingling arises the produce of the earth, which provides food for men and animals: (it grows) till the earth is clad with its golden ornaments and is decked out (in beauty): the people to whom it belongs think they have all powers of disposal over it: there reaches it Our command by night or by day, and We make it like a harvest clean-mown, as if it had not flourished only the day before! thus do We explain the Signs in detail for those who reflect." [10:24] This marked the beginning of the decline and stagnation. Weakness was apparent to everyone in the United States' political hysteria. As students of politics and history know, stagnation is usually hard to spot. Its results take time to appear. It is, God willing, an indication that the downtrodden are beginning to rise up. God said the following about this in the Koran: "And We wished to be gracious to those who were being depressed on the land, to make them leaders (in faith) and make them heirs" [28:5]. We must work to raise people's awareness of US-Zionist tyranny and the policies they pursue to maintain their tyranny and enslavement. We must reach as many people as possible so that we can finally change the balance of power with real operations on the ground. You can feel the effects of this rising consciousness in what people say and in the popular marches condemning USZionist terror, in the demonstrations opposing globalization/Americanization, and in the operations that target their symbols. The downtrodden, oppressed, and destitute are united in their fight against US-Zionist tyranny. The wretched of the earth are unhappy with the policy of US-Zionist hegemony that tries to enslave people. Their dissatisfaction is rising. Revelation, history, and the blessed raid tell us that in the end the downtrodden will rise up to confront tyranny. The fear that is the foundation for continuing tyranny and oppression will pass away in as the dissatisfaction grows. As the enslavement grows worse, so will the unhappiness, dissatisfaction, and desire for liberation. The unhappier a person is, the greater his desire to challenge and change reality. We take this opportunity to inform our mujahid brothers in Palestine, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and the Philippines, as well as right-thinking scholars, that a decisive defeat awaits US tyranny. The installation of Bush in the United States, and of his faithful scion Sharon over the children of Zion, is a great good for the community. Our Lord was correct when He said, "Fighting is prescribed upon you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not." [2:216] Ninth: Conclusion Has the United States achieved its stated goals? Has it eliminated al-Qa'ida and the Taliban? Has it succeeded in capturing Imam Bin Ladin and the commander of the faithful, Mullah Omar? Has it discovered their whereabouts? Or is the United States in a state of confusion? Has it achieved peace and security for the Afghan people? Who rules Afghanistan today? The Taliban or Karzai? Or has the United States changed its views and goals? Is the attack on civilians in Afghanistan, the barbaric treatment of the Guantanamo detainees, its turning on its allies--from the quisling Saudi ruler to the quisling Arafat to the Egyptian quisling--a sign of the political confusion that afflicts it and an attempt to deflect attention from its crushing defeat in Afghanistan, the Philippines, and Palestine? Does changing the quisling Egyptian for the quisling Sudani fit into this context? Have the old quislings outlived their usefulness? Does the warmongering over Iraq come from a reluctance to reveal the truth to the stupid US people? Is this a policy of flight into the future? Or is this part of a calculated strategy? The United States lost the battle in Afghanistan. It has achieved nothing worth noting beyond the murder of innocent civilians. The real rulers of Afghanistan are the Taliban and al-Qa'ida. We find sufficient proof of this in the fact that the head of this fabricated state is guarded and defended by Americans. They do not trust the mujahid people--or even mercenaries--because they know well that vengeance awaits the traitors. This is the fate that befell Karzai's deputy. The United States, Karzai, and the international alliance are part of a historical and political farce...[ellipses as published] The Taliban, al-Qa'ida, and all of the jihad movements have become more dangerous than before. They now possess strategic political consciousness based on the magnanimous teachings of Islam, a precise awareness of the enemy's plans and tactics, the history of the community's struggle, and serious preparation for the confrontation. This is the opposite of the quisling Arab countries. As everyone knows, they entered the First World War on the British side and fought against the Ottoman caliphate. Britain rewarded them with imperialism--it gave Palestine to the Zionists, transferred the Arab's natural wealth to the West, and oppressed the Islamic peoples. The same holds true for their alliance with the United States against Iraq. They were rewarded for the Madrid Conference and the Oslo agreements. They are the allies of the United States and the children of Zion against the mujahidin in Palestine and Afghanistan, and we see their reward in the current straits of the quisling Arafat, the Egyptian quisling, the Saudi quisling...[ellipses as published] Has the time come to benefit from history, or are our hearts locked up?(6) -------------------Footnotes (1) Ma'arev, 23 May 2001. (2) See the newspaper Al-Bayan, UAE, 15 June 2001, Political Dossier. (3) See the State Department's Arabic-language site: http://usinfo.state.gov/arabic (4) See Al-Watan, Hamid al-Ali, 22 September 2001. (5) McCloskey, H. Political Participation, p. 253. (6) The final phrase is a reference to a verse in the Koran: "Do they not then earnestly seek to understand the Koran, or are their hearts locked up by them?" [47:24] Learning Lessons From the Raids on New York and Washington Abu Sa'd Al-Amili Praise to the Lord God, who said, "Let not the Unbelievers think that they can get the better (of the godly): they will never frustrate (them)." [8:59] I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, the one and the everlasting, the magnificent and the proud, who does what He will. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Prophet, who says, "God gathered together for me the earth and I saw the whole of it. The domain of my community is what was gathered together for me" [Muslim]. He said, "This will extend as far as the day and the night, and God will leave no house among either the settled peoples or the nomads but that he bring His faith into it--pride to the proud or lowliness to the lowly. God strengthens the proud with Islam and lays low the infidels" [related by Ahmad and Al-Tabarani]. Blessings upon his family, his companions, and his followers in charity until the Day of Judgment. There can be no doubt that the times bring with them vicissitudes, for the truth has its supporters and falsehood has its allies. No matter how high falsehood's banner flies, or how bright its star shines, the supporters of the truth will bring it to naught: "And say: "Truth has (now) arrived, and Falsehood perished: for Falsehood is (by its nature) bound to perish." [17:81]; "Nay, We hurl the Truth against falsehood, and it knocks out its brain, and behold, falsehood doth perish!" [21:18] The traditions establish that God sometimes sets up His enemies over the supporters of the truth by a stroke of fate. This happens when the supporters of truth lag behind in power and ability and stray from the true path. Their enemies gain the material advantage and they emerge victorious over the supporters of the truth. Yet at the same time, we cannot say that these periods are entirely evil, for they can bring great good to the supporters of the truth. It brings them face to face with falsehood that they might taste its brutality and humiliation. This then spurs them on to overcome the defeat and restore the natural, lawful state of affairs: "And never will Allah grant to the Unbelievers a way (to triumph) over the Believers." [4:141] The Islamic community has gone through dark times. It has strayed far from the way of its Lord and its enemies have held sway over it. Yet no sooner has it sought to put things right then they have returned to their rightful state: "Ye are the best of Peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah." [3:110] The community's most recent series of missteps took place after the toppling of the Ottoman caliphate in the first quarter of the last century, when the forces of unbelief and apostasy gained control over the centers of power. They divided the Islamic community into fragmented parts. They set up borders and barriers to isolate the peoples and prevent them from returning to their religion so that they might remedy their affairs. Despite all this, groups espousing the truth emerged from under the weight of humiliation and disparagement. Scattered here and there, these groups gave whatever they could, swam against the current, and opposed all man-made customs and laws. They revived the duty of jihad in people's souls and restored hope in a return to the quest to end subjugation, humiliation, and abasement. They have achieved what they worked for and what God willed for them according to His judgment, destiny, and wisdom inasmuch as they serve His faith and His way. Al-Qa'ida spearheaded this caravan of change. It was the living conscience of the community, the beating heart of resistance to all that is negative, an attempt to raise up the community to restore its pioneering role and status. Al-Qa'ida--the base of the jihad--brings together the jihad experience of the past decades, both within our countries and in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya. It includes groups of the victorious from all places, firstly, to help Muslims on this earth: "but if they seek your aid in religion, it is your duty to help them, except against a people with whom ye have a treaty of mutual alliance." [8:72]; and secondly, to perform the obligation of jihad: "Go ye forth, (whether equipped) lightly or heavily, and strive and struggle, with your goods and your persons, in the Cause of Allah" [9:41]; and thirdly, to perform the duty of preparation: "Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war" [8:60]. This organization represents a rare and valuable blend that came together at God's behest and beneath His eyes, as though God had prepared it for these times and what will follow them: "...[ellipses as published] and (this) in order that thou mayest be reared under Mine eye...[ellipses as published] Then didst thou come hither as ordained, O Musa!" [20:39-40] Moses was reared under Pharaoh's arms, though Pharaoh met his end at Moses' hand by God's will and decree some years later. God's prophet Moses was not raised by Pharaoh's hand but by the hand of God and beneath His eyes. He was raised not in Pharaoh's castle: "And I have prepared thee for Myself (for service)." [20:40]. God the Most High put Pharaoh and his realm to His use to rear Moses in body, in mind, and even in knowledge as a means of making what was fated come to pass. These are the qualities that every leader needs, let alone an awaited prophet. The key ingredients of spirit and faith Moses received outside the palace and far from Pharaoh's pollution and corruption. "Truly Fir'awn elated himself in the land and broke up its people into sections, depressing a small group among them: their sons he slew, but he kept alive their females: for he was indeed a maker of mischief." [28:4] This is what his successor, the United States, has done along with its Hamans and their armies in this age. They have spread every form of corruption on earth and combated and throttled every attempt at reform. Moses received his upbringing in the faith under God's watchful eye in a pure, unblemished atmosphere: "Verily I am thy Lord! therefore (in My presence) put off thy shoes: thou art in the sacred valley Tuwa. I have chosen thee: listen, then to the inspiration (sent to thee)." [20:12-13] We see that the truth of this verse is repeated today. The mujahidin of al-Qa'ida were brought up and gained military and security experience under the nose of the crusader and apostate forces during the Afghan jihad against communist forces. They at times received material and logistical support from them. The crusaders and apostates were like a man who digs his own grave and destroys his own home. God sent down on the pharaoh of this age--the United States--and its allies great signs consisting of many and varied woes(1). These woes continue on every level. The most recent were the fires, floods, and storms that God sent down to distract pharaoh/America. What is to come is greater, more terrible, and bitterer still. We now mark the anniversary of the great jihad strike at the United States' heart, or what is properly called in Islamic terminology the raid on New York and Washington. New York represented a profound economic raid and victory, while Washington represented a military and political victory. Before the blessed raid, the United States thought of itself as a divinity and overlord because people submitted to it and obeyed it: "I am your Lord, most high." [79:24]; "no god do I know for you but myself" [28:38] It thought that it would continue to rule over all and sundry until the end of time, especially after the political and economic collapse of communism cleared the way for it to spread its gospel without heed or constraint. Despite the presence of a few Islamic movements here and there in certain countries, the United States considered them mere soap bubbles that would soon vanish in the absence of effective leadership to gather together the scattered remnants of their forces. We find proof of this in the United States' failure to pay sufficient attention to the jihad groups that helped to destroy the communist system. It viewed them as a group of mercenaries who came to take their share of the booty from this devastating war. After helping to eliminate the communist system, they would set out in search of new opportunities to slake their thirst. They did, in fact, set out for new lands like the Balkans, and especially Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Kosovo, Somalia, and the Caucasus (Dagestan and Chechnya). This became another Afghanistan. Last but not least, jihad groups have begun to battle the apostate regimes in our occupied countries(2). It never occurred to the Americans and their allies that the day would come when these fighting groups would unite in a tight-knit organization to continue the adventure of jihad, let alone confront and threaten their presence as is happening today. Many varied lessons have been learned from this raid. There is, however, unanimous agreement that this raid succeeded in influencing the course of events on all levels. This applies to politics, the economy, the military, and society, both in enemy entities and within the community itself. The beginning of the third millennium bears the fingerprints of jihad. These surprise attacks will be, by God's power, the beginning of the end for the enemies of God and the end of the setbacks, humiliations, and debasement for God's servants and his allies, the mujahidin. The earthquake was powerful, and the fissures and cracks it caused run deep and wide. It would be difficult to mend them and restore the status quo. The blow came as a surprise to everyone. This is the essence of the Prophet's wisdom and the soundest application of his advice: "War is deception." He also said, "Today we raid them; they will not raid us." I pause on some of the instructive aspects of the blessed raid, for the beloved brothers can cover the remaining topics of faith, strategy, and politics. We begin by noting the most important differences between the raid and the other raids--more accurately, battles--that jihad groups fought against the forces of unbelief and apostasy. We then discuss the chief qualities of the men who carried out the raid. We then turn to the profound effect the raid had on people's souls in and around the struggle. Finally, we ask, what are the duties these groups must perform for the struggle to take its natural course as ordained by the tradition? The remainder of the article will focus on these issues. First: The Main Characteristics of the Raid The raid was purely religious in nature. The mujahidin's stated aims were to strike the enemy in order to expel him from the Arabian Peninsula in keeping with the prophet's order: "Expel the polytheists from the Arabian Peninsula." This slogan had been forgotten, but it calls for the unification of all the scattered Muslims and mujahidin to restore the caliphate and reunite the community. The enemy surely realized this. He confirmed the religious nature of the raid when he declared a crusade against the mujahidin in particular and against the community in general. The raid was complete. It covered all of the crucial areas. It was not military or traditional, as in previous battles, for it extended to culture, the media, and the economy as well. War has become more complex, requiring soldiers of exceptional ability and skill, not to mention the faith and commitment to jihad that set them apart from the enemy. The raid aroused the feelings of the mujahidin and their supporters, hardening their resolve to sharpen their skills and seek out the enemy's weak spots. This was missing in the past, when the mujahidin suffered from dejection, fear, and a feeling of inferiority. The battle has become more complex and varied, stretching the enemy's forces thin. This is why they are weak in confronting the mujahidin, let alone eliminating them, as they dreamed of doing before the war. Each time the mujahidin succeed in broadening the field of battle, they succeed in weakening the enemy and confusing him, drawing nearer to victory and turning the enemy's methods against him. The raid took place on enemy soil. All of the previous battles occurred far from the United States. Losses to the United States' military and economic infrastructure were minimal or non-existent, and US security in general did not suffer. Now things have changed. The United States has become the main battleground. War scorches the United States' economic and military institutions, as well as its people. This is something new for Americans. They cannot stand it for a moment, let alone years. In and of itself, this is the greatest victory over them and the greatest danger to their future. The raid came as a surprise and its continuation is a mystery. "For they (the mujahidin) watch you from a position where ye (the enemies of God) cannot see them..." [7:27] This is the true, profound meaning of the prophet's utterance: "War is deception." He also said, "Today we raid them; they will not raid us." The raid must take the enemy at unawares. This is what the tradition has preserved of our prophet's teachings on war. It is a strong point that tips the scales in war and confuses the enemy. The mujahidin took the enemy by surprise twice in this blessed raid. The first surprise was when they struck the enemy on his own soil even as he expected the blow to come abroad. The second surprise was the surprise itself. Despite the enemy's boasts after the fact that he knew, he had done nothing to prepare himself. Everyone knows that this is a lie to make excuses for his impotence and his intelligence agencies' inability to defend him. The continuation remains a mystery because the enemy--despite his numbers, ammunition, and material resources--has been unable to get at the real strength of the mujahidin, let alone learn their exact numbers or location. Eliminating them will be more difficult still. They are fighting people they cannot see, and they cannot parry their blows. This is the tip of the spear for the mujahid groups, a new weapon in war. This is the riddle that continues to baffle the enemy and tip the scales in the mujahidin's favor on the battlefield, God willing. The war goes on. The enemy continues to bleed on all levels, especially economically, which is his strong point and backbone. All current indicators show that the mujahidin need only a short time to administer the coup de grace to the enemy by destroying what remains of his economy. This is what he is still proud of and what he uses as a magic wand to tame the disobedient or to lure them into his orbit. The first signs of collapse are on the horizon. Every day we hear of new scandals in the enemy's economic institutions. The list of bankrupt companies is growing longer. Each day, the United States draws nearer the abyss.(3) Surprises will continue to gladden the hearts of the believers and sadden the enemies of God, with sudden strikes and covert planning and execution. Second: The Qualities of Those Behind the Raid We begin by noting that the blessed raid managed to provide the community with the rare examples it needed to emerge from the state of oppression, torpor, and servility it had been in for decades. These men--the leadership and the base--have today become a model for the community to emulate. They bring together young and old in the hopes of imitating them as the highest possible ideal. How could they not do so, when they distinguished themselves through the following: 1. Sacrifice These heroes sacrificed everything they had to aid their faith. From the first day they joined the forces of truth, they knew that this oath of allegiance would demand a great deal of them (4). They gave up everything except what pleases God. They embraced faith, and in doing so opposed all [man-made] customs and laws. They sacrificed many material bounties and human ties, and when they heard the call of jihad, they gave up everything else to prepare themselves for the blessed jihad wherever jihad is fought and there are mujahidin. They traveled from country to country, seeking martyrdom and nothing else. Finally, they reached the end of the line, where God selected them to join the band of martyrs--"He may take to Himself from your ranks martyr-witnesses (to Truth)." [3:140]--as an offering for the community to bring it out of abasement and oppression. They gave themselves up cheaply in this sacred raid, knowing that there would be after it no return to this fleeting earth. Instead, they advanced and entered the gardens of eternity, God willing. This was the last link in the chain of great sacrifices in the journey of faith, exile, and jihad. 2. Discipline One of the most important qualities that distinguishes the jihad organization from ordinary Islamic groups is that the movements of its members must be exact and calculated. Nothing must be wasted. We saw what a profound role this played in the practice of the heroes who gave their lives in the raid, as well as those who are waiting within the organization to cause the enemy more pain, suffering, and harm. They would not have accomplished what they accomplished and they would have not gained the high martyrdom they gained-to be with their Lord--were it not for their discipline and obedience to their leadership. 3. Courage Many people claim to fight jihad and want to inflict harm on the enemy. But few of these people have sufficient courage to overcome the material and moral obstacles to carry out their claims. A Muslim may want to join a jihad group or organization, especially one on the level of al-Qa'ida, but when he gets the opportunity, he finds himself reviewing his calculations and connections with this world. At the last moment, he pulls out. He cannot overcome the first barrier. If he does manage to overcome it, he finds himself facing a second barrier--the barrier of exile. In most cases, he must leave his job, his profession, his family, and his tribe to join the ranks of the mujahidin. Very, very few people have the courage needed to overcome this second barrier. If he overcomes this successfully, he will find himself facing a third barrier--joining the battle in deed and in act, rather than in word. This is the highest summit of Islam. When they overcome these three barriers--and the heroes of the raid overcame them successfully--they find themselves facing the last barrier. They must offer their souls to their Creator and place their lives in His hands. They race to their Maker, crying, "We have hurried to Your side, our Lord, that You might be pleased." Then they have risen up to the summit of jihad, which is martyrdom in the path of God to aid His faith and inflict harm on His enemies. They were only able to overcome these obstacles with unique courage. This is the power of the divine that overcomes all barriers. 4. Balance of Theory and Practice One of the accusations the tyrants level at the mujahidin--an accusation echoed by some cowardly defeatists among Muslim preachers--is that the mujahidin are ignorant of Islamic law and that they follow their leaders out of emotion, compulsion, or other factors. This is an old accusation that dogged the prophets and their followers: "nor do we see that any follow thee but the meanest among us, in judgment immature" [11:27]; "And keep thy soul content with those who call on their Lord morning and evening, seeking His Face; and let not thine eyes pass beyond them, seeking the pomp and glitter of this Life; nor obey any whose heart We have permitted to neglect the remembrance of Us, one who follows his own desires, whose case has gone beyond all bounds." [18:28] The young people in jihad groups, including the heroes of the blessed raid, have not escaped this accusation. They were, however, beyond reproach. They knew the basic principles of the faith, the principles of unbelief and apostasy. They put their knowledge into practice in accordance with God's law and the practice of His prophet, the prophet's companions, and the righteous forbears. Their theory and practice were in harmony as they carried out the orders of their Lord. They did not act out of ignorance, fanaticism, vengeance, or flight from this life, as the enemies would have it, as well as the cowardly preachers of false change.(5) Jihad brought forth these unique examples, who remind us of the companions of the prophet. The unique generation of the Koran says what it does and does what it says. It obeys the law of piety. It is disciplined. It shows great courage in carrying out these orders. It sacrifices everything of value it possesses to please God and God alone. Third: The Raid's Influence on the Souls of Men Before we discuss the raid's influence, we need to enumerate the groups that were influenced, both positively and negatively, by the raid. I would like to note that this is the crux of the matter, for it cuts to the heart of the struggle between truth and falsehood. Because of its centrality to the struggle, it can tip the scales in one direction or the other: "He it is that hath strengthened thee with His aid and with (the company of) the Believers" [8:62] We cannot deny the enormous, and possibly decisive, role of the human factor in this battle. This is what we will try to show in what follows, God willing, for we are focusing on the instructional aspect of the raids on New York and Washington. This will give many people a chance to review their stance or hold fast to their beliefs. In the future, the new crusade will progress against the Islamic community in general and the mujahidin in particular. We can classify these groups in terms of their importance and their connection to the struggle: The Supporters Some supporters stand alongside the mujahidin in the trenches with their souls, their money, and everything they have. They have linked their fate to the mujahidin and to jihad. They no longer have any earthly possessions or positions to lose or to fear for. They are an indispensable part of the jihad community. They obey its commands and prohibitions. They let the interests of jihad be their guide. These are the thousands of young people who have traveled to the land of jihad and joined the ranks of the mujahidin. Some of them are participating directly in battle. Others are still in training. Others have spread out in the cities waiting to play their role in the war at the right time and place. They are always ready to do their part. This group is highly disciplined and organized. They are the long arm of the jihad community. The enemy calls them "sleeper cells." In reality, they are cells of wakefulness and awareness. This is why the enemy cannot and will not discover them until they carry out their missions with God's protection. Another category of supporter has not yet arrived at the battlefield. Some of them are practicing voluntary jihad in enemy territory, others are practicing compulsory jihad and carrying out their duty to render assistance on Muslim lands occupied by the crusader infidels such as Afghanistan, the Balkans, and the Caucasus. They face obstacles and borders that prevent them from carrying out these missions. They are present everywhere, especially in Islamic countries ruled by apostate regimes. They long to worship God through jihad, yet they lack the necessary training and are waiting to obtain it. We find that they do many things to help the mujahidin, either through preaching, economic activity, or security. At the same time, they try to prepare themselves for compulsory jihad in their countries under apostate occupation. They are well aware that there is no difference between the crusader infidels and the apostate rulers--jihad is necessary against all of them. They are two sides of the same coin. They realize that it is a nearer and more pressing priority to fight the apostate than the infidel. The raid against New York taught them that they are the second line, always ready to confront the crusaders. The raid left them with a feeling of pride and power mixed with a feeling of care and caution. They saw the enemies prostrate, in flight, powerless to pursue the mujahidin or stop their movements. This made them work harder and place greater faith in God to keep on and inflict harm on the enemy. It is as though they were saying, "When the Believers saw the Confederate forces they said: "This is what Allah and His Messenger had promised us, and Allah and His Messenger told us what was true." And it only added to their faith and their zeal in obedience." [33:22] They are the hidden forces, eminently capable of changing the course of events. They are patient, waiting for orders and the chance to carry out the missions entrusted to them. They make do with the smallest rations and the humblest ammunition. They are a new type of soldier. The enemy has not encountered the likes of them before and does not know how to identify them, let alone eliminate them. If they should fall into the enemy's hands, he will not be able to extract anything from them and God will sow grief in their hearts. In their fealty unto death, effort, generosity, and sacrifice, they remind us of the supporters of the prophet at AlAqabah and Badr, on the day of Al-Ridwan's oath, the day of the Al-Ahzab raid, and other immortal occasions. With such supporters we can triumph and push back the enemy. Jihad has no meaning without supporters, both overt and covert. The Hypocrites and Defeatists Throughout history, the battlefield has never been free of them. They were the chief support for the camp of falsehood even during the age of prophets and messengers. Their presence was a virtually indispensable part of the struggle, a basic prop in falsehood's foundation. Without them, falsehood can do little against truth. This is why the allies of the truth cannot ignore this group. They must replenish their arsenal to deal with them and keep them under control. This group is famous for its prattle and its calls for struggle and fight in times of ease: "He said: "Is it not possible, if ye were commanded to fight, that ye will not fight?" They said: "How could we refuse to fight in the cause of Allah, seeing that we were turned out of our homes and our families?" But when they were commanded to fight, they turned back, except a small band among them. But Allah has full knowledge of those who do wrong." [2:246] Would that they had merely fled the battle, but they went farther than this. They lambasted the mujahidin and accused them in the terms their enemies had contrived in order to misrepresent them and drive people away from them. They did this to continue their chatter far from the field of action and deeds. Before the blessed raid on New York, these hypocrites and defeatists still had a fig leaf to cover up their shame. They filled the world with their clamorous sermons and strange legal rulings. People sought them out for solutions to their problems--chiefly to maintain worldly positions and possessions. But after the blessed raid, all of these fig leaves fell away and the imposters' shame was revealed. They foamed and frothed, using their legal rulings and rhetoric to denounce the blessed jihad operations, describing them as barbarous, un-Islamic acts whose perpetrators were merciless beasts. They offered the most sincere condolences to the enemy. Overcome by pity for the "innocents," some of them went nearly so far as to call the dead martyrs. They are driven by jealousy and hatred for the virtuous, sincere mujahid preachers because this jihad exposes them and reveals the truth of who they are to people. They are nothing but cowards who capitulate under pressure. They accept crumbs and operate within the limited realm of freedom that the apostate regimes grant them. Their faith is partial and distorted. They accept the rulers' whims and policies, doing nothing to awaken Muslims' zeal or to direct them to their obligation to spread the word, guard public morals, and fight jihad. This group is not content merely to shirk jihad and abandon the mujahidin. They seek to dissuade people and spread lies and biased propaganda to prevent people from fighting jihad or aiding the mujahidin (6). This is why they are dangerous. The allies of the truth must pay attention to their vile, despicable role and deal with them decisively. This is absolutely necessary. It would not be wise to leave these vile individuals any chance to play their dangerous role in security or isolation. They must be countered harshly to cut them down to size and expose them publicly so that their actions backfire. The Middle of the Road: "Those who would have listened to them" These are the ones who follow the middle path between the supporters of the truth and the hypocrites and defeatists. They always need someone to remind them of their obligations to their faith. If you leave them unattended for even a short time, you will find that they have changed course, broken ranks, and joined the defeatists: "some among you who would have listened to them" [9:47] You find them repeating their doubts without understanding or awareness. They stray from pious practice even as they spread the word and struggle with falsehood. It is as if they were saying what the tribe of Israel said to Moses: "They said: "We have had (nothing but) trouble, both before and after thou camest to us." [7:129] Their positions are similar. It is as though they drank from the same spring and were predisposed to grumbling and complaining of the burdens in God's path. They want God to grant them paradise on earth and in the afterlife without their doing anything in the path of God. Before the blessed raid, these people experienced some trouble with the apostate tyrants and the infidel crusaders, whether inside our occupied countries or in the lands of unbelief. This trouble consisted of repeated constraints on activities that set them apart from the enemies, especially in terms of outward conduct. After the raid, this trouble increased and the constraints multiplied to touch on some of their worldly interests. This angered them, and they blamed the pious mujahidin as the sole direct cause of their problems. "We had trouble before the raid and we have more trouble and greater constraints after the raid. We are losing many gains, and numerous doors are shutting in our faces. May God withhold his blessing from the raid and whoever was behind it." These are the curses this group repeats as the trials and ordeals continue. This will only get worse as the war goes on between the mujahidin and their enemies--the alliance of crusaders, Jews, and apostates. This group will continue to be unhappy with the state of affairs until something changes inside it and it decides to move to a higher level of commitment and responsibility. The middle-of-the-road group, "those who would have listened," will not go away and we cannot eliminate it completely. But we can direct their attention to statements of the truth so that "those who would have listened" join the ranks of the mujahidin, if only to offer help and support instead of adopting a hostile, defeatist position. Statements by the mujahidin in al-Qa'ida and those who support them have had a great influence on many people. They are now able to exert a positive influence and have won for themselves a prominent and respected status, as even their enemies attest. The best proof of this is the great fear that the mujahidin's speeches and statements have caused among the enemy. The enemy has rushed to close all media outlets to the mujahidin and their supporters to block their dangerous influence. The middle-of-the-road group has gradually come to pay more attention to the mujahidin's statements now that it is a prisoner of the tyrants' rhetoric. The Spectators This is a fairly large group. They do not belong to any of the aforementioned groups. Their most important characteristic is that they are inclined to join the supporters of the truth. In time of war, they prefer to remain far from the trenches and wait for the outcome. They may applaud and greet the victories of the mujahidin, but they never take part either in word or in deed, because they fear the enemy or they are not entirely convinced that they should confront him. They are content to be spectators. They do not work against falsehood or support the truth. The Koranic verse that applies to them is: "(They are) distracted in mind even in the midst of it, being (sincerely) for neither one group nor for another." [4:143] As long as the battle leaves them unscathed, they will stick to this neutral position. This is, in a way, good for the mujahidin. It is better than if they were swelling the ranks of falsehood and supporting it, or in the category of "those who would listen...[ellipses as published]" Their position on the struggle depends on the enemy's attitude toward them. Their position is fluid. The more pressure the enemy puts on them, they closer they get to the enemy and closer they are to joining his camp. They do not play a direct role in the struggle. On the other hand, each time the mujahidin score a victory or an advance, or draw closer to a final victory, we see them gather around them to express their joy. Many of them join the ranks of Islam and expand Islam's realm, as the verse indicates: "When comes the Help of Allah, and Victory, And thou dost see the People enter Allah's Religion in crowds, Celebrate the Praises of thy Lord, and pray for His Forgiveness: for He is Oft-Returning (in Grace and Mercy)." [110:1-3] If one examines the struggle between the people of truth and faith led by al-Qa'ida and the Taliban and the people of falsehood and unbelief led by the United States, one finds many examples of people who are considered to be part of Islam or who claim to be part of Islam. We see them waiting on the sidelines, watching the battle without doing anything to aid the truth, though the nature of the battle is clear and the lines have been drawn. You sometimes see them disparaging and distorting the image of the mujahidin, arguing that this is the wrong time to engage the enemy, or that this could impede the task of spreading the word and distort it in the eyes of non-Muslims. If they had adopted a neutral position and remained spectators, it would have been better for them. They would have saved the mujahidin the effort of responding to them and their accusations and engaging in marginal skirmishes that sap the energy we need to combat the enemies' lies and destroy what remains of his pride. It is as though these spectators were saying, "Our hearts are with you from now on, but our tongues are waiting to see what the battle will bring before they speak. We're sorry, but our hands are tied." The majority of Muslims today are in this position. Silence and waiting, indifference and torpor, grief and pain--nothing is translated into action. Many of these people have lost even the ability to respond negatively. They no longer have time to observe or wait. You see them spending their time on leisure or chasing after a crust of bread polluted by humiliation and abasement in the shadow of an infidel, apostate regime. The blessed raid had a great influence on these souls, yet they hid their heads in the sand of indifference. They try to lose themselves in the cares of daily life to escape the need to help and support the mujahidin. The correct attitude toward these people is to maintain a ray of hope that they will join the ranks of the supporters. We must maintain good relations with them through fruitful cooperation, kind words, hard work, and ongoing sacrifice in the hopes that this will eventually win over their hearts and bring them over to the truth. This is a far better and surer method than declaring war on them. Conclusion These are the most important groups on and around the battlefield. Some participate directly in this crusade. Others participate indirectly. Others still are neutral observers awaiting the outcome of the battle. The common denominator between these groups is that they were influenced to varying degrees by the blessed raid. Their circumstances and behavior changed, as did their way of thinking. The raid was like a violent earthquake that caused fundamental changes in their souls, ideas, and behavior. If it is correct to give it a name, then the new war that began successfully in New York and Washington should be called World War Three because of the great changes and widening fissures it has caused in the enemy edifice. As we bring this study to a close, we must note that the raid awakened the community and opened its eyes to the dangers and ruses that served to subjugate it, exploit it, and corrupt it. Al-Qa'ida under the leadership of Shaykh Usama Bin Ladin and the Taliban under the leadership of the commander of the faithful, Mullah Omar, revived the duty and practice of jihad. They also succeeded in gathering together the scattered mujahidin in tight-knit organizations with a detailed plan to defend the interests of Islam. To this end, they sacrificed property, prestige, and power. Thanks to this blessed raid, Muslims regained their understanding of the Koran and the tradition as though the revelation had been handed down anew. Many neglected legal concepts also returned to take the place of the pre-Islamic ignorance that had intruded on the community. Muslims began to regain something of their pride, even if this came at the price of the pain and cruelty the infidels and apostates inflicted. Muslims were feared, and the enemy took them seriously. A large part of the victory and empowerment God had promised His servants has come to pass. Only a small part remains. But it requires of us--believers, mujahidin, and their supporters--that we hold fast to our faith and its values, that we obey rightly guided leadership, and that we stand strong in the way of jihad and martyrdom. This is the path of salvation and sovereignty, and it will bring defeat upon our enemies. Tomorrow will come soon enough for those with eyes to look: "They see the (Day) indeed as a far-off (event): But We see it (quite) near." [70:6-7] -------------------Footnotes (1) See our article, "If ye are suffering hardships, they are suffering similar hardships" [4:104] in vol. 5 of AlAnsar. (2) One notes the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat in Algeria and the Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines as the best examples of this type of jihad. (3) See the article "America Draws Nearer the Abyss" on the Neda web site, Center for Islamic Research and Studies. (4) See our series of articles: "The Third Oath of Aqabah," Al-Ansar, Nos. 9, 10, 11, 12, 14. (5) We will treat these categories in separate articles, God willing, in forthcoming issues of Al-Ansar. (6) See the article by Sayf-al-Din al-Ansari, "Thou shouldst have known them by their marks" [47:30], Al-Ansar, No. 12. Source-Date: 09/01/2002 al-Qa'ida Statements Collection (Galeropia: Issue One) galeropia.org is a project of why-war.org Transcript: Al-Qa'ida Training Official Threatens to Clip Wings of US Eagle STAFF | World News Connection | June 22, 2003 Abu-Muhammad al-Ablaj, al-Qa'ida official in charge of training, has reported in a new electronic message to Al-Majallah correspondent in Dubai, Mahmud Khalil, that the difficult stage has passed and that the stage of shock, meaning the start of the war in Afghanistan, is over. He added that they are now going through the stage of preparation, close examination, and filtration [altanqiyah] throughout the nation. "I swear to you, my brother, that the strike is coming. As I said earlier, you don't use the winning card at anytime. The strike must be well prepared. This means that it must be timed to occur when the giant starts staggering in his blood." Al-Ablaj noted that Bin Ladin believes that Iraq's hypocrites who have supported the United States by fighting with the Americans or providing bases, administrative backing, or any other types of support and assistance, even if verbal only, to kill Muslims in Iraq must realize that they are apostates who have dropped out of religion and that their blood and property are free to target. Preparation Once again, he criticized the Americans, and those who cooperate with them, adding that they wish to squeeze the nation even further until it cannot breathe anymore and until one thinks it's almost dead. Al-Ablaj pointed out that the Americans want a misfit religion, a "modern Islam" [last two words published in English and transliterated in Arabic], and a Turkish model, as Bush says. They are calling for an end to terrorism and the killing of innocent people. They are now going through a state of fogginess and uncertainty, unable to decide which side the need to be on. He who God has misguided will never find his way. Al-Ablaj added: It's true that this is the situation that we want. The Americans are spending whatever is in their pockets to find out how Bin Ladin is thinking, planning, and dealing with the events, the time, and the place. They also want to know what he is hiding and whether the war with him will be short or long. This is a major secret. The Media Snake Al-Ablaj continued: The enemies will not drag us to what they want, no matter how hard they try and how much they provoke us and inflate and exaggerate things in their media. We will follow our plan and we will drag them. We will let them say what we want. When the corrupt media reaches the peak of its tyranny and lies, surprises will emerge, as you have come to expect from us. Abu-Abdallah (Bin Ladin) is following up the course of events day by day. He follows hears of those US acts of heroism and showoff and smiles. Al-Ablaj added: Abu-Abdallah wants to deal a crushing blow to the head of the media snake that is running the world media based on US interests and desire. This should not be new to you as a media person. The blood of journalists is still damp as a result of being bombarded by the US Apaches in Iraq to hide the truth. He added: People want to see one incident after another and one strike after another, and we give them an excuse for this sometimes. However, our plan does not follow their desire. Whether or not we have the upper hand, nothing will change in our plan. Abu-Muhammad al-Ablaj also answered some questions put forward to him by Al-Majallah correspondent on some current issues. [Khalil] You mentioned that Abu-Abdallah wants to deal a crushing blow to the head of the media snake that is running the world media based on the US desire and interests. Does this mean that it is part of your plan to target the world media institutions? [Al-Ablaj] My dear brother: The blow here means making them fail and burning all their cards. In other words, let them make statements and lie. Our operations will reveal their lies; that is, expose their vulnerability and falsehood. As regards the journalists who spy for the United States, be they Jews or Americans, they are also targets. HAMAS Knows Better [Khalil] What is your assessment of the Sharm al-Shaykh and Al-Aqabah summits? And what about the US threats made by the US President to combat HAMAS? Do you support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state? [Al-Ablaj] Brother: HAMAS is in a better position to judge its situation and to run its affairs. We not only support the establishment of a Palestinian state but also back the liberation of all of Palestine from the filth of the Jews. All that the Jews have built in Palestine will, God willing, be a booty for our Palestinian people, including Haifa, Yafo, Sidon, Ashqelon, and all these places. In response to a question if priority is being given to striking at Islamic states rather than the United States in view of the strict security measures adopted by the latter, Al-Ablaj said: As regards giving priority to striking these states than to striking America, the answer is no. The strikes against America have their time. Crushing and devastating strikes against America will come at the suitable time. In other words, after wearing it out with injuries our strike must be a knockout. This is how a strike ought to be. As I mentioned earlier, the wings, meaning the wings of the US eagle, must be clipped, and this is the name of the current stage. This stage will be followed by the stage of cutting off the veins. The last stage will be the stage of slaughtering according to the Islamic method, and it will be a major surprise for the entire nation. Internal Differences [Khalil] Does this mean there are differences within your organization between a current that calls for focusing on striking at the United States and another current that calls for striking at the Arab states that are allied with America? [Al-Ablaj] Dear brother: The Arab states will not witness harm or aggression; only the US and Israeli targets and those who protect these colonialist interests [will be targeted] Let me emphasize here that there are no differences, disputes, or anything of the sort. The organization is under the command of leader Abu-Abdallah. As I mentioned earlier to you, we are talking about several fronts and about the clipping of wings, but all of this serves the interests of the world Islamic jihad. Iran and the Negotiations [Khalil] What is your comment on reports that Iran has detained the organization's official spokesman? Are any of your detainees in Iraq senior officials? [Al-Ablaj] Dear brother: The question of Iran is not ready for negotiation yet. The issue is too big to talk about it in a marginal way in the media. Yes, there are pressure cards on Iran, but let Iran find out where its interest is and, God willing, this issue will prove to be a headache for America and dissipate its diplomatic efforts. The Iranians are Muslims and America is an infidel and Crusade state that is trying to undermine the regime in Iran. The issue is a lot bigger than the arrest of a few individuals from the jihad youths. It's a long story, my brother. A New Strike [Khalil] What about the major strike that you have been saying for long that you are planning to carry out against America? [Al-Ablaj] I swear to you, my brother, that the strike is coming. As I said earlier, you don't use the winning card at anytime. The strike must be well prepared. This means that it must be timed to occur when the giant starts staggering in his blood. At that time, he is ready for the fatal strike. New Weapons [Khalil] Are you in the organization prepared to cooperate with Saddam in what is being attributed to him at present in terms of preparations to fight America? And have the secrets of Iraqi weapons industry been leaked to you through members of the former regime, particularly since you said that they reached at no price? And are Saddam's supporters in Iraq trying to contact you to coordinate the resistance against America? And do you have more lethal and effective weapons than the ones you talked about, and if they are available are you planning to use them in your future operations? [Al-Ablaj] Saddam's current situation is reassuring and there is coordination and cooperation among all the resistance factions in Iraq. We have an independent brigade. As regards the more lethal weapons, you can rest assured. We will certainly use them in our future operations. Woe to the west from the approaching danger. Woe to those who set foot in our territory. [Khalil] Did you have anything to do with plane that hit a Jewish building in Los Angeles or was it an accident? [Al-Ablaj] I have no knowledge of this because of my position. However, we have supporters everywhere and those who sympathize with us are even more. [Khalil] Is it possible for you to target the US President and is it part of your plan to target senior US officials? [Al-Ablaj] Brother: They have received advance fortifications [as published]. The truth is that I do not wish that Bush would be killed. I wish he would live to die a thousand times as he sees America collapses in front of his eyes. We want to kill him a thousand times every hour. We want the Americans to hang him and leave him dangling from their Statue of Liberty for being responsible for the destruction of their alleged civilization. [Description of Source: London Al-Majallah in Arabic--London-based Saudi-owned weekly; sister magazine of Al-Sharq al- Awsat newspaper providing independentcoverage of Araband international issues] wnc.fedworld.gov/cgi-bin/retrieve.cgi?IOI=FBIS_clear_new&docname=0hh39t6011im43&E-mail this article al-Qa'ida Statements Collection (Galeropia: Issue One) galeropia.org is a project of why-war.org Qaeda Position on Recruiting Europeans, Americans STAFF | World News Connection | August 3, 2003 For the first time, Al-Qa'ida organization officially admitted that it recruits foreigners of various nationalities, especially Americans and Europeans, who have converted to Islam. Al-Qa'ida also admitted to cooperating with nonMuslim groups with whom it has common interests in viewing the United States as an enemy. The idea is to use these people as a cover in the operations it has already carried out in many countries in the world, as well as those which it intends to carry out. Al-Qa'ida claims that it has recently succeeded in recruiting some soldiers from the US forces occupying Iraq who had converted to Islam recently, but did not elaborate on the matter, "Asked if what he wants to convey is that Al-Qa'ida is succeeding in penetrating US institutions in the United States or abroad, he said: 'We have already penetrated US institutions. What is coming is worse. I cannot go into any more details because the matter is very sensitive.' " considering the fact that some of them have reached high ranks in Al-Qa'ida organization as something natural. Al-Qa'ida revealed that it is assigning crucial assignments to those it described as "blue-eyed" in more than one country in the world. Abu-Muhammad al-Ablaj, a leading figure in Al-Qa'ida organization, said in answer to Al-Majallah's questions through e-mail that the fact that some members of foreign nationalities, especially US and European, assume leading positions in Al-Qa'ida is something quite natural and simple. He said that the expertise that these people gained in various areas in their countries was done under the instructions and the orders of the higher command of Al-Qa'ida. He said: "...In the organization, colors and races dissolve. There are no foreigners among us. We are all brothers, believers, and have a close relationship. There is no problem in these brothers reaching the rank of a leader in a group, although we often sense that they seem to shy away from anything that gives them the title of leader over their brothers. Their hearts yearn for God and paradise and they see the position of leader as a trust and a big responsibility. As for the expertise they acquired in various fields, they did so under our instructions." Answering a question, he admitted that recruiting Americans and Europeans serves Al-Qa'ida from a security point of view to cover up military schemes and help carry out some operations in many countries, whether those that have already been carried out or those Al-Qa'ida intends to carry out in the future. This is because their movement in terms of security is easier than the movement of those with Middle Eastern or Arab features. Answering a question on the same point, he said that this is something obvious, revealing the fact that Al-Qa'ida has entrusted blue-eyed members with many assignments that pertain to the organization. They hide their Islamic affiliations and their association with Al-Qa'ida and are all over US institutions. It is impossible, he said, to detect them just by observing their behavior, their looks, or their way of dealing with others. They are people who know exactly how to play their role, he said. Asked if what he wants to convey is that Al-Qa'ida is succeeding in penetrating US institutions in the United States or abroad, he said: "We have already penetrated US institutions. What is coming is worse. I cannot go into any more details because the matter is very sensitive." Al-Ablaj went on to say that hundreds of Americans who converted to Islam following the September 11 incidents recruited themselves without belonging to Al-Qa'ida organization in order to fight the United States from within and to tear it apart because they oppose what he called "the bohemian principle" which is based on a materialistic lifestyle and spiritual emptiness. He added: Successive US Administrations have entrenched this principle as a basis for the American lifestyle. He added that from talking to Americans who converted to Islam and who compared Islam and Jihad to the bohemian life they were leading, Al-Qa'ida sensed that there is this discrepancy. The fact that Usamah Bin Ladin urged Americans to convert to Islam did not come out of the blue, he said. Answering another question, Al-Ablaj said that the majority of Americans and Europeans, as well as people from other nationalities who join Al-Qa'ida, do so with a full understanding of what they are doing because they believe in Islam and they believe in standing up for what is right and staving off injustice. Asked if Al-Qa'ida is cooperating with non-Muslim groups, whether those who are hostile to the United States based on ideology or those that are after financial gains, he said: We believe that those with whom we share common interests and those who are only after financial gains and black market traders fall outside the organization. In the black market, everything has a price. The eastern market is a common place for these deals, whether the intention is to make money or to get back at the western camp to break it and tear it apart, just as the west tore them apart and overthrew their empires. Those from the eastern camp who cooperate with Al-Qa'ida believe in the need to deal with United States based on the eye for an eye principle. Answering a question on the same point, Al-Ablaj refused to give any more details. He made sure he was ambiguous when he was answering the question about the validity of reports on the arrests of foreign nationals in Al-Qa'ida such as the case of the Jamaican who was supposedly intending to make a dirty bomb for Al-Qa'ida, Musawi who is being tried in the United States, and others. He was asked if these foreign members were among those who were arrested or they are the ones who assume certain responsibilities in the organization and are safe waiting for the right moment to carry out their operations. He said: "Although we do not wish to go into this matter, we will say this because it is being raised: There is no doubt. You have already seen something, and you should expect to see more. The matter is extremely serious and the leaders do not wish to go into the details. The hints I made earlier about this are sufficient." Asked if the decision of Al-Qa'ida to recruit foreigners among its ranks has achieved its aspired goals, he said: "Yes, it has and it has already yielded fruit. Work is continuing. The war on us only made us more enlightened and more knowledgeable about the reality that surrounds us. In the past, it seemed as if we were in a minefield, and we do not know where to put our feet. But now that the cards are out in the open and the facts are known, we can safely say that we have better knowledge of the points of weakness and the points of strength of our enemy much more than before thanks to our experience and to previous confrontations with them. Our enemy has gone to the farthest limits to fight us. Let me illustrate this further by using the example of a land on which signs were planted saying "this is a minefield, take another road that is safer." A strike that does not kill me, makes me stronger. Hervey Luwazo Real Name: Hervey Luwazo Nom De Guerre: Jamal Born in Paris on March 21st 1973. He converted to Islam while serving in the military in the military airbase of "Colmar," in northern France. After being dismissed from the military, he began to go to mosques where Algerian extremists go in the neighborhood of "Balville" in the 10th district in Paris. He was sent to Afghanistan in the late 1999 where he received his training in the camp of "Khalidin," south of Kabul. He participated in the fight against the US forces in Afghanistan and his body was found in the mountains close to Tora Bora after he died from the cold on December 24th 2001. Gazavier Gavo Real Name: Gazavier Gavo. Nom De Guerre: Mas'ud al-Banin. Born in 1971 in Bordeaux, southern France, of a French mother and a black father originally from Benin. He became a Muslim in London in 1993 and went to Finsbury Park Mosque where the followers of Abu-Hamzah al-Masri usually went. In 1994, he joined the ranks of Arab Mujahidin in Chechnya after having met his leader Khattab in Bosnia. He was seen in Chechnya, Georgia, and in Al-Qa'ida camps in Afghanistan. He visited London for the last time in 1999. He was martyred in a battle against the Russian Army in Groznyy on April 12th, 2000. Louis Jose Gilan Gonzales Real Name: Louis Jose Gilan Gonzales. Nom De Guerre: Yusuf Ghilan. Comes from Basque-Spanish origins. He began his secret activity in the ranks of the Basque leftists (Abricelli). Then in 1999 he converted to Islam and joined European networks of AlQa'ida. He was arrested in Barcelona on September 18th, 2001 with the network of Imad al-Din Barakat, also known as Abu-alDahdah, which is the same network that took in Muhammad Ata, Ramzi Bin-Al-Shibah, and Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad between 7 and 19 July 2001 at the Spanish resort of Sallo where they put the final touches on the September 11 attacks. Jose Padilla Real Name: Jose Padilla Nom De Guerre: Abdallah Al-Muhajir. He was born in 1971 in Brooklyn, New York, of an American family that originally came from Puerto Rico. When he was a teenager, he joined a criminal gang in Chicago and was imprisoned for being an accomplice in a murder crime. He converted to Islam in prison and married an Egyptian after he was released from jail in 1991. A year later, he went to live in Pakistan and connected with Islamic groups there. Then he joined AlQa'ida and lived in Egypt for a short time between 1997 and 1998. He was arrested in Chicago airport on 8 May, 2002 with the charge of planning a terrorist attack using a radioactive bomb. John Walker Lindh Real Name: John Walker Lindh. Nom De Guerre: Abd-al-Hamid. Born in 1981 in Washington of a white American family. His father is a Catholic lawyer and his mother is a Buddhist nurse. They named him John after the Beatles Star John Lennon. He became a Muslim at 16 following in the footsteps of the African-American leader Malcolm X. As soon as the US war against terrorism in Afghanistan began, he suddenly disappeared from his parents' house in California. Then he sent them an e-mail from the Pakistani city of Panu, telling them that he decided to fight in the war with the Taliban forces. He was arrested during the rebellion of Al-Qa'ida prisoners in the Jhangi Fortress near Mazar-e Sharif. Currently he is in the cell that is adjacent to the cell of Zakariyah Musawi in the US prison of Alexandria, Virginia. Richard Reed Real Name: Richard (Colvin) Reed. Nom De Guerre: Abd-al-Rahim Tariq al-Raja. Born on August 12 1973 in Bromley, southeast of London of an English mother and a Jamaican father. He was imprisoned several times for robbery. He became a Muslim in prison. He met Zakariyah Musawi in Brixton Mosque, southwest of London in 1997 and attended with him a training course in the same year at the "Khalidin" camp in Afghanistan. He was arrested in Boston in December 22d 2001 after he tried to blow up an American Airlines plane heading from Paris to Miami using explosives he hid in his shoes. This is why he was known by the media as the "shoe bomber." Antoine Robert Real Name: Pierre Richard Antoine Robert. Nom De Guerre: Abu-Abd-al-Rahman. Born on January 30th 1972 in the city of Chambon-Feugerolles, south of France. He became a Muslim in 1989 and went to a small mosque in the neighborhood of (Kuton) in the town of (San Ghust), near Saint-Etienne where the majority of the residents are Moroccan immigrants. Early in 1996, he moved with his Moroccan wife Fatimah to the city of Tangiers. He went on a trip to Afghanistan in 1997 and stayed there for several months in the training camps of Al-Qa'ida. Last year he was made leader of the "Salafi Jihad" groups in Tangiers. He is considered the mastermind of the recent explosions in Casablanca. ChristianGancarski Real Name: Christian Gancarski Nom De Guerre: Abu-Ibrahim. Born in 1966 in (Hut Silizay) in Poland. His parents fled the communist rule in Poland in 1976 and settled in Germany. He became a Muslim in 1990 after marrying a Muslim woman. Two years later, he got a scholarship to attend a course in the Islamic Sciences University in the Medina, Saudi Arabia. He visited Pakistan and Afghanistan before returning to Germany to resume his normal life. Investigators into the case of the Jewish Synagogue in Djerba were shocked that Nizar al-Nawwar, the suicide bomber, had contacted him before he carried out the operation. He was arrested on 15 April 2002, but the German police never found any evidence that implicates him and so they released him. After leaving Germany clues were discovered that proved his connection to Munir al-Mutasaddiq and the Hamburg cells which were led by Muhammad Ata. He was arrested in Paris on 3 June 2003. (Description of Source: London Al-Majallah in Arabic -- London-based Saudi-ownedweekly; sister magazineof Al-Sharq alAwsat newspaper providing independent coverage of Arab and international issues) toolkit.dialog.com/intranet/cgi/present?STYLE=739318018&PRESENT=DB=985,AN=175100E-mail this article al-Qa'ida Statements Collection (Galeropia: Issue One) galeropia.org is a project of why-war.org New Book by Al-Qa'ida's Al-Ayiri Views Region's Future After Fall of Baghdad STAFF | World News Connection | August 29, 2003 Al-Qa'ida yesterday revealed its latest books entitled "The Future of Iraq and the Peninsula After the Fall of Baghdad." It is the last book written by Yusuf Bin-Salih al-Ayiri, the person primarily in charge of al-Qa'ida Internet site who was killed in an exchange of fire with the Saudi security forces in early June. Al-Ayiri, also known as Abu-Muhammad and Abu-Maryam, ranks 10 on the list of 19 people wanted by the Saudi Interior Ministry as suspects in the Riyadh bombings. "Al-Ayiri noted that 'the collapse of the Ba'th government is a blessing for Islam and Muslims as the fall of the Arab Ba'th signals the collapse of the infidel panArab slogans that swept the Islamic nation.'" In his book, a copy of which Al-Sharq Al-Awsat has obtained off the Internet, Al-Ayiri noted that "the collapse of the Ba'th government is a blessing for Islam and Muslims as the fall of the Arab Ba'th signals the collapse of the infidel pan-Arab slogans that swept the Islamic nation. After Communism, pan-Arabism, secularism, and modernism, the Iraqi Arab Ba'th (Party) has fallen to be replaced by the Islamic banner, which has remained steadfast throughout history to serve as an alternative for the nation, which has realized the failure of the non-Islamic calls regardless of their principles." Al-Qa'ida webmaster added: "Had the Ba'th achieved victory, this victory would have contributed to the spread and the promotion of its ideology among the Muslims. It would have been difficult for members of the nation to turn down the ideas of a party that achieved a major victory. In addition, the party had recently started to pursue marriage with Islam. It changed its terminology from a purely Ba'thist line that rejected the Islamic slogans to one the embraced Islamic Ba'thist slogans." He added: "A victory by the Ba'th would have caused a major crack in the true concept of Islam within the Islamic nation. A Ba'th military victory certainly would have been less dangerous than the advance of the Crusades, but still it would have constituted a threat to the nation in its creed that would have made it difficult for the nation to revolt against at a later stage, unless it started to threaten the rest of the Muslim countries militarily." Continuing in his preamble to the book, Al-Ayiri added: "After Baghdad's fall, Iraq's occupation by the Americans, and the latter's victory in the first round of the war, which is yet to end, an important question came to mind: What will the region's religious, military, political, and economic future be if one side triumphs over the other? And what can we do to avert the negative impact? This question requires a long talk and the answer to this question is the talk of analysts nowadays. All analysts, be they Shari'ah scholars, military, economic, or political experts, are trying their best to use the past and the current events to make conclusions about the future. By this we do not mean telling the future as sorcerers do. We mean talking about the future based on current or historical facts, which is part of good planning and proof of sound judgment if a decision is based on these givens. These givens, however, may not be entirely correct. Nevertheless, understanding the givens available on the land of reality is one of the most important elements needed to make a decision." Al-Ayiri dedicated a whole chapter to talking about the future of the region in light of the US occupation of Iraq. In this chapter, he pointed out that "one of the most wicked aspects of secularism is democracy, which cancels the authority of the Shari'ah on the society and which is in total conflict with it in form and substance. God Almighty has stated that there is no governing but by God. Democracy, however, says that governing is done by the majority of the people." He added: "The expectations that we have for the future of the region in all domains are generally against Islam and Muslims, and this is not out of pessimism. It is the result of a simple reading of the reality today. Having renounced jihad and settled for worldly affairs, the nation, unfortunately, has left its affairs in the hands of the enemy to run, either directly or by proxy. By mentioning the tragic reality of the nation we are not trying to drive people to despair or pessimism. It is a way to incite people to reject this humiliation, which the Arab infidels would not like to see for their Arabism." Through the Center of Islamic Studies and Research, the primary spokesman of al-Qa'ida, Al-Ayiri has issued several books; most importantly, "The Truth of the Crusader Wars", "Al-Mizan (the balance) and the Taliban Movement", "Hidayat Al-Hayara fi Hukm Al-Asara" (Guiding the confused people on issues related to prisoners), the "Martyrdom Operations: Suicide or Martyrdom", and other political books. One of the latest books talked about the "theater operation in Moscow and what did the mujahidin benefit from it. Another book is entitled "Firm Principles on the Path of Jihad." A third talked about the "role of women in the jihad against the enemies." The latter was published unofficially in a book by Abdallah al-Zayd. According to other fundamentalist sites, Al-Ayiri was one of the instructors at "Al-Faruq" site affiliated to Bin Ladin in Afghanistan. From there he left for Sudan, where he spent four months during which he was Bin Ladin's personal guard. He was very close to al-Qa'ida leader during their presence in Sudan. Al-Ayiri was a fervent admirer of the genius of Abu-Hafs alMasri, the former military commander of al-Qa'ida who was killed during the military operations in Qandahar in October 2001. Al-Ayiri pointed out that "Iraq's fate will not be any better than that of Afghanistan. Corruption and corrupting are US policies strongly backed by the government. To strengthen the plans for corruption in Iraq, Iraqis will be taught how to cooperate with the occupation government and improve the social and civilian conditions in Iraq. Iraqis, particularly women, will be offered opportunities to contribute to making public decisions. This plan will run along four axes. The first will be to establish an educational system in Iraq that ensures freedom for all, assesses the basic needs of the country, improves public health, and fights diseases." The author added: "Undoubtedly one of the biggest threats to the domination of Islam and the rule of the Shari'ah in the nation is the US secularism, which will be imposed on the region by force. The people of the Cross want this secularism to be applied throughout the Islamic world. After the occupation of Iraq, the application of this plan in the Islamic world is more likely. As a result, the Islamic world will move from dictatorship to democracy, which means paganism in all aspects of life." He noted that the application of secularism in the Islamic world is a primary, not a secondary, option for the "Zionist-Crusader alliance. He claimed that the era of imposing secularism in the region will be ready for implementation after the renouncement of the "loyalty (to God) and disavowal" (of infidels)" and the rejection of jihad, as is the case in Turkey and other countries that have pursued the same line. He noted that one of the main features of this scheme is to "renounce violence and abandon jihad under justification of reason and the need not to drag the nation toward unequal confrontations." (Description of Source: London Al-Sharq al-Awsat in Arabic -- Influential Saudi-owned London daily providing independent coverage of Arab and international issues; editorials reflect official Saudi views on foreign policy) toolkit.dialog.com/intranet/cgi/present?STYLE=739318018&PRESENT=DB=985,AN=176400E-mail this article [A book published by the Center for Islamic Studies and Research: "THE OPERATION OF 11 RABI AL-AWWAL: THE EAST RIYADH OPERATION AND OUR WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES AND ITS AGENTS"] [FBIS Translated Text] THE OPERATION OF 11 RABI AL-AWWAL: THE EAST RIYADH OPERATION AND OUR WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES AND ITS AGENTS Prepared by: The Center for Islamic Studies and Research Introduction: In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate Praise be to God, the Lord of the Universe, and prayers and peace be upon the most righteous Messenger. God is great, abundant thanks be to God, and praise be to God morning and evening. The Center's custom has been to issue a statement about every operation carried out by the mujahidin. However, the operation of 11 Rabi al-Awwal 1424 AH [corresponding to 12 May 2003] was special in several respects and demanded that we devote this book to it. The operation was just the first bullet, God willing. The mujahidin needed this detailed statement to explain the demands of jihadi activity in the Arabian Peninsula and to remove some of the ambiguities from the religious and military standpoints. This book "The Operation of 11 Rabi al-Awwal: The East Riyadh Operation and Our War with the United States and Its Agents" is divided into four chapters: First: The Situation in the Islamic World Second: What is the Solution? Third: Why Riyadh? Fourth: Have You Not Become Acquainted with the Mujahidin Yet? CHAPTER ONE: The Situation In The Islamic World Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, one superpower has been leading the world: the United States. Students of history know that two powers have dominated the world in all ages, except in few eras mentioned in history and expositions, like the eras of Solomon, Dhu-al-Qarnayn, Al-Namrud, and Alexander. The fact that two powers checked each other in the world was a mercy from God to humanity. The Almighty said, "And did not God check one set of people by means of another, the earth would indeed be full of mischief." Judging the current world situation in the light of this historic fact leads us to one of two conclusions: 1. The United States was able to deviate from this rule by virtue of its comprehensive economic, social, and military power, as happened to Solomon--peace be upon him--Dhu-al-Qarnayn, and others. The current situation of the United States rules out this possibility. 2. We live in an unstable international situation or more correctly in a transitional period to which the rules applied in normal conditions do not apply. It also does not have the prerequisites to survive for long. The second conclusion is definitely the situation that exists in the world today. The United States, which has become the uncontested sole superpower, is adapting to the situation. It got rid of the restrictions, which the conflict with the Soviet Union had imposed on it, and adopted a new policy. This policy is summed up in taking a direct approach to secure its interests in the world without regard to the interest of others, because it considers itself the sole power in the world and the world should adapt to what it wants. The talk about the United Nations as an independent party ruling the world is nonsense. Perhaps the United Nations was a body whose judgment was sought and accepted by the nations that established it, including the United States. However, today, it is a toy in the hands of World Zionism. The United States ignored the United Nations when it shyly opposed its invasion of Iraq. Three Crusader countries officially participated in the war with it, disregarding the UN resolutions. Something called the New World Order has recently appeared. The United States designed it as a map for the world it is seeking to shape. Writer Louis Atiyatallah wrote his new book about it: A Clarification of the Reality of This Order. In view of the above, the situation of the Muslims will only be a reflection of what the United States wants. The situation in some Islamic countries, however, might require some gradual progress in the implementation of the plans to ensure safety against negative results. We can sum up the issue and say: The Muslim countries today are colonized. Colonialism is either direct or veiled. Veiled Colonialism: The past century was the century of the direct colonization of the Muslim countries, under which they languished for many years. This was a time when the Islamic World had reached the highest degree of ideological deviation, polytheism, and disregard for jihad. Colonialism could not find any significant resistance in most countries, particularly at the beginning. Toward the end of the colonialist era, the colonialist countries were no longer able to bear the painful blows they received from the mujahidin in the colonized countries. They clearly realized that the new generations were moving toward resisting colonialism. They found themselves struggling between the strong desire not to give up their colonies and the painful deterrent posed by the jihad, which they saw growing day after day. At this stage, Zionism intervened and put its touches on a colonialism that would ensure the interests of the colonialists and save them from the predicament that they faced. It masked colonialism in a very naïve way--a way that only can fool the gullible. The colonialist plans did not change. The colonialists changed the face of their policies. Why could they not respond to the wishes of the resistance men and remove their men with the blue eyes and the blond hair from their midst and replace them with people of their kind who spoke their language and wore lambskin over wolf hearts? What is wrong with replacing the name of John and Napoleon with Muhammad, Anwar, and Abd-al-Aziz? Because that period had gone and today's generations have forgotten it, the colonialists decided to repeat the process of masking colonialism before their eyes so they can imagine what happened in the past. This is exactly what happened in Afghanistan when the United States occupied that country and installed an Afghan agent, Hamid Karzai. As everyone can see, this agent has been more eager to promote the interests of the United States than the United States itself, although he has been less successful because of the mujahidin attacks that God ordained against his government. The Karzai system is the system officially in use in all the Muslim countries. The Karzai method is the same method by which all the rulers were installed, with some difference in details. The legitimacy of every such Karzai is no different from the other. There is no difference between the Karzai of Yemen, the Karzai of Pakistan, the Karzai of Jordan, the Karzai of Qatar, the Karzai of Kuwait, the Karzai of Egypt, and the long list of Karzai traitors ruling the Muslim countries. The rulers of the land of the Two Holy Mosques [Saudi Arabia] are no different in the above details from others, although the masks the colonialists put on them are so good that they fooled many people. However, the accelerated events and the successive pressures made the situation become clearer. The idol rulers started to say what they used to deny before and make public what they kept secret before. In the past, Sultan [the Saudi defense minister] denied the presence of foreign forces on Saudi territory, and some people believed him. Today, they admitted this openly when attention started focusing on the Crusader bases in Al-Kharj and other places, which commanded the Crusader war against Afghanistan and more recently against Iraq. They no longer could make the same mistake of denying the American presence. In the past, they strongly denied their subserviency to the United States and stressed that their alliance with it was an alliance of mutual interests, and nothing more. When the American pressures increased, Bandar Bin-Sultan [Saudi ambassador in Washington] and Al-Faysal [presumably Foreign Minister Prince Sa'ud al-Faysal] rushed to admit some of the shameful deeds that had no precedent in history. If one talked about the United States exploitation of the land and its resources, the other announced that the government removed the education of girls from the religious department to satisfy the United States. If one mocked everyone who engaged in the jihad for the sake of God, the other boasted of the secular trend in the Saudi leadership. This is as far as words are concerned. As for deeds, there is much to say. The aircraft of the Crusader campaign took off from Saudi Arabia. They were supplied with fuel from bases in Saudi Arabia. The supreme command of the war was in the Sultan Base in Saudi Arabia. There is also much to say about their absolute support for John Garang in southern Sudan in killing the Muslims, their support for communism in southern Yemen before it fell and their support for it when it tried to come back after it fell, their support for the agent Algerian government against the mujahidin when that government was about to fall, and their support for the Russian government when it was killing the Muslims in Chechnya. The latest episode in their subserviency was their broad cooperation with the United States in pursuing the mujahidin in the world, collecting intelligence information about the mujahidin, and helping the United States arrest them. Because of information collected by the Saudi intelligence agencies, many mujahidin were arrested and many operations in the world and in the United States itself were foiled. Because of this despicable cooperation, the prisons in Saudi Arabia have become full of prisoners, held on charges of fighting with al-Qa'ida and Taliban against the United States or fighting with Khattab, and recently on charges of attempting to infiltrate into Iraq to fight there. The shari'ah duty imposed on all the nation has become a punishable crime. They are doing all this to please the United States. No one reviewing ancient or modern history can find an example of agentry or treachery greater than this. This brings us back to the issue of the veiled colonization of the Islamic countries. No sensible person can disagree that the Saudi government is a cover for the colonialists. Colonialism is manifested in the economy, in the military bases in the country, in political decision-making, and in international relations. Veiled colonialism has reached a point unmatched by direct colonialism. It reached the point of violating honors and removing the education of girls from the authority of the religious department at the orders of the United States, as Al-Faysal said. The 11 September events were not the reason for the Americanization of the system; it only accelerated it, as Bandar Bin-Sultan said. Could The United States have obtained 1 percent of these interests if it had tried to occupy Saudi Arabia militarily and rallied the Muslims in the entire world? Was it not better for it to install someone in its place to achieve all its interests? This was a brief review of the situation in Saudi Arabia. The same--if not worse--is taking place in the other Muslim countries. Look at what is happening in Yemen, Egypt, Kuwait, and other Muslim countries. You can see various pictures of subserviency and treachery that have one thing in common: finding different ways to fight God and his prophet. One of the important principles observed by veiled colonialism was establishing states combining the largest possible number of Islamic contradictions. They govern by ungodly laws, pay allegiance to The United States and the Crusader countries, turn for justice to the international body in all their cases, embrace the infidels and help them against the Muslims, turn against the religion, pursue the mujahidin, spread evil and atheism and defend them with troops and laws, and participate with The United States and the Crusader countries in their war against the honors, religion, people, and country. The ruler of a country is the one that has the authority in it. Unless he is an atheist, he can rule even if he lacked the shari'ah conditions, as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn-Taymiyah maintained in the Minhaj al-Sunnah and elsewhere. A ruler who represents lack of sovereignty, reflects subserviency, pays primary attention to the interests of the enemy of the nation, disregards the shari'ah intentions and the interests of his people when they contradict the desires of the enemy of God, his apostle, and his believers is an agent without authority, according to jurisprudence. The real ruler is the Crusader United States. The subserviency of such rulers is no different from the subserviency of the amirs or governors of provinces to the king or the president. The rule of the agent is the rule of the one who made him his agent. Fighters really will be fighting those who put them in this position and made them rulers over the Muslims. Direct Colonialism: In view of the above, there is no doubt that to the colonialists, veiled colonialism was better than all other forms of colonialism and the best means for achieving their interests. Therefore, no country is free of it today. The colonialists are seeking to achieve their goals through veiled colonialism because of the strength of the Muslims and not because the enemies of Islam had renounced colonialism, which their religion and economic interests dictate. However, the Jews--may God's curse be upon them--became so arrogant they could not be satisfied with the veiled colonialism acceptable to the Crusader states. Their occupation of Muslim Palestine was based on an ideology they were unable to give up or abandon or else they would become apostates from Judaism, just as the Arab rulers have become apostates from Islam to which they are affiliated. The Jewish occupation of the first qiblah used other masks to cover the occupation and many concepts associated with it. The Palestinian issue became the issue of the Islamic World, the issue of every Muslim, and part of the religion that could not be separated from the Muslim conscience--and this is a fact. The effort of the Zionist and agent media to neutralize the non-Arab Muslims by calling the Palestinian issue the Arab issue--and repetition has a great effect in falsifying awareness and concealing facts--made every non-Arab Muslim disinterested in the Palestinian issue. Instead of Palestine being their "cause," it became a "cause that they sympathized with and attracted some of their attention." It became the "cause of the Arab Muslims with whom they sympathized and who received part of their attention." The trumpets of Zionism then focused on the confrontation states and tried constantly to make the Palestinian issue a central issue for Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan and make it an important issue for other Arabs, but not for them. The Jewish intrigue reached its climax with the establishment of a Palestinian entity to fulfill the role of direct colonialism in areas that were not under Jewish occupation because of the fierce resistance and heroism of the mujahidin in them, like the Gaza Strip. The establishment of a Palestinian state removed the issue from the hands of the confrontation states. They established a state with an agent government headed by the most despicable agent in history: Yasir Arafat, who will receive what he deserves from God. The issue became secondary to the confrontation states. Attention was focused on the Palestinian state and its leadership. This was accompanied by some acting roles, the latest being the famous siege on Yasir Arafat. When a Palestinian leadership assumed power and people started looking to it as the official mouthpiece of the Palestinian cause, the Palestinian leadership began playing its despicable historic role, which is to perpetuate colonialism and change the view and treatment of the usurping Israeli entity. It launched a peace process and established coexistence with Zionism as an established fact and as a neighbor with whom it must deal on this basis, even as it was killing Muslims everywhere and at any time. When the relationship with Israel was hostile, the efforts of Zionism were focused on neutralizing the enemy and confining the confrontation to the least number of Muslim countries. However, when the relationship turned into a relationship of peace, Israel sought to export the peace to the other countries. It began entering one Arab state after another. Initiatives for peace and capitulation were launched. Abdallah Bin-Abd-al-Aziz [the Saudi crown prince] launched his famous initiative to normalize the relations with the Zionist enemy and sell the issue cheaply and, in fact, without anything in return except to continue his subserviency. Shaykh Nasir Bin-Hamad al-Fahd--may God release him from prison-published his book then, entitled "Clarifying the Dangers of Normalization to Muslims." This is a valuable book dealing with the primary issue of the Muslims with unique shari'ah documentation. It is important to know that the colonialist enemy might give up veiled colonialism and establish, through its armies, explicit colonialism when there is little fear of resistance or the agent leadership could not achieve the interests of colonialism or had deviated--even in a small way--from its hegemony. For this reason, the United States chose to invade Iraq militarily and might choose to invade any Muslim country near or far from Iraq at any time. The situation of the armies in the agent Islamic states clearly confirms that they almost cannot resist an aggression, particularly an American aggression, because of improper ideological and religious education of the troops and their military preparedness. The Situation of the Army of the Saudi Government: There is a special importance to Saudi Arabia. Besides being the subject of this book, it is the cradle and bastion of Islam and the region from which the first conquerors set out. The sensitivity of its situation demands that this country have a strong army, just as all Muslim countries, as the Almighty said, "Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies of God and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom God doth know." As for the army of the government of Saudi Arabia, the government has spent huge sums of money over many years on the pretext of equipping it with weapons. However, when the country felt the danger of Saddam, the rulers of Saudi Arabia simply announced that the army was unable to defend the country. They allowed the American Crusader armies--in the first precedent in the history of this blessed region of the world--to enter the country and establish fortified bases on the pretext of defending the country. There is no doubt that every occupier defends the country it occupies and exploits its resources for its own benefit, and this is what happened. The small state of Israel, which has a population of no more than six million people, has an army of more than one million soldiers, and all men able to carry arms are in the reserves. However, in Saudi Arabia, the army is the smallest and weakest in terms of armament, men, equipment, and preparedness to defend our religion and honor. The defense treaty with the United States prevents the army from procuring weapons except from the United States and its allies. Purchasing Chinese missiles has even become tantamount to disobedience and offense to the American patron. The American presence in sensitive positions in the army command and American intervention in the country's affairs are no longer a secret. No command and control center in any sector, whether the navy, air force, or army, is without American officers. American technicians also are present in various highly secret sectors, such as in the AWACS [Airborne Warning and Control System] aircraft and satellite communication centers. They are providing abundant information to Israel, which is keen on maintaining its military superiority, because the areas covered by the Saudi AWACS aircraft are within its range of interest. They are also present in other sensitive military sectors, including radar control centers. The radar system in Saudi Arabia is unique. The equipment in the Kingdom is used only in the United States, Israel, and the Kingdom. All the activities in the Saudi army depend on this radar system, which American satellites can operate much easier than humans in Saudi military bases can. More clearly, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can fire Chinese-made strategic missiles at Israel, but the United States can control the missile after it is launched the same way it can control any American missile fired from Sultan Base. The United States can guide this missile to hit any vital installation in Riyadh. The intention here is not to exaggerate the American strength. The United States can do this not because of its strength, but because of the subserviency of the leadership of Saudi Arabia. If any country can run the radar equipment, the AWACS reconnaissance aircraft, and the air, land, and sea command and control centers, it can occupy a country whenever it wants, and this is exactly what the United States is doing in Saudi Arabia. The above should not prevent us from drawing attention to all the shari'ah violations and contradictions in totally depending on Western systems in the army. These include such abominations as allowing military law and not God to be the judge, the polytheist method of standing up for the royal anthem, and the military salute, which includes beating the ground with the feet and saluting the rank and not the one who carries it, and copying Western laws shamelessly. If a military rank were placed on a dog, you must salute it, because it is a "royal decree," as they call it. Scholars have written about this, warning against and criminalizing such practices, beginning with the Shaykh Muhammad Bin-Ibrahim--God bless his soul-several contemporary scholars who are being held in prison, and the council of senior ulema, the official fatwa council of the Saudi government. Nevertheless, the situation has remained the same without any change. Is this an army destined to strive in the way of God? Is this an army to be depended upon, after God, in dangerous and gloomy times? This and other things clearly show that the army was not created to defend the country and carry out the inevitable duty of liberating the Muslim holy places. If people have forgotten about the cause of the Muslims in Palestine and about defending the oppressed Muslims in the entire world, have they forgotten the enemy laying in wait for them who does not find a deterrent in a country if he wanted to occupy it anytime? No one can excuse himself by depending on God. God on whom you want to depend has said to you, "Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies of God and your enemies." He is the one who also said, "Then fight in God's cause--thou art held responsible only for thyself--and rouse the believers. It may be that God will restrain the fury of the unbelievers; for God is the strongest in might and in punishment." CHAPTER TWO: What Is the Solution? Earlier, we discussed the situation in the Islamic World, which has been colonized through the agent governments and directly by its enemy. We talked about its bleeding wounds. We went into some length in explaining aspects of the situation, because the Riyadh events had revealed some ignorance or indifference about the situation of the Muslim nation and showed a desire to maintain the miserable situation for fear of losing something on this earth or fear of some tribulation that God couples with jihad. The hypocrites have never been exposed in the history of Islam as they have been during these events. We also explained some of the American crimes against the Muslims. Even if religion did not urge us to fight the United States, its crimes are sufficient to move us to seek justice. Even if religion and manhood did not demand it, logic and a rational view of the situation demands that we deter the enemy as much as possible and not wait until he occupies the land, eliminate our religion, and violate our honor. In reviewing history, we cannot find a nation that did not fight and defend its sanctities by force, urge its people to do that, and glorify its fighters. The Muslim countries range between those occupied by military armies that shed the blood of their people every day, violate their honor, and commit crimes that no Muslim would accept for his Muslim brother and countries colonized through agent local governments, which carefully carry out the plans of colonialism that the colonialists themselves are unable carry out. The Muslim countries, which are in this state, need the jihad more than water or food, because jihad is the shari'ah solution. It is the duty of every Muslim. People might disagree today on which of the two parties should be the subject of their jihad: the apostate agent traitors or the colonialist enemies. There should be no disagreement between rational people that the jihad is the solution and treatment to this and that. The Prophet--God's prayers and peace be upon him--said that the jihad will continue until the end of days. A group of people in this nation is fighting in the cause of God, not disturbed by those who disappoint or contradict it and determined to fight the charlatans to the last man. If this painful situation and this flagrant Zionist-Crusader aggression is not the field of battle for this group of people, then when, where, and how will it be? The almighty God has ordered us to fight the infidels who are fighting us. He ordered us to fight the infidels as they fight us. If what they are doing today by fighting us does not demand that we fight them, then when, where, and how will it be? God has ordered us to fight in His cause and rally the people to stop the oppression of the unbelievers. The oppression of the United States, Israel, their patrons, and their allies falls into this category and demands that we fight them to end their oppression. If we do not do this, then when, where, and how should we do it? The Almighty God enjoins us to fight to satisfy the believers. He said, "Fight them, and God will punish them by your hands, cover them with shame, help you (to victory) over them, heal the breasts of believers, and still the indignation of their hearts." If this indignation in the hearts of the believers does not motivate them to fight the aggression of the infidels, then when, where, and how will it be? There is no sense in what some people say about qualification for the duty of jihad. There is no disagreement that jihad is a duty of everyone. Only very few people are engaged in the jihad. All religious scholars believe it is a duty and those who do not fulfill it should be incriminated. Otherwise, what does it mean being a duty if a person who ignores it is not incriminated? We must not neglect this great duty on the pretext that this is the duty of the mujahidin. If this is the duty of the mujahidin, the duty of the non-mujahidin is to become mujahidin. Where is the distinction among the Muslims in God's words, "God hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the Garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in Truth, through the Law, the Gospel, and the Qur'an: and who is more faithful to his Covenant than God? Then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded: that is the achievement supreme." While your brother mujahidin in the al-Qa'ida Organization are keen to unite the jihad and praise the Almighty God for the big steps made in this respect, they confess that they are just a group of Muslims seeking to fulfill God's commandment to struggle in His cause. They do not compel anyone to work with the army of the al-Qa'ida Organization in this respect. They do not favor a mujahid with al-Qa'ida over another or show its loyalty or partisanship toward him. Every Muslim and every mujahid on every front is our brother in religion and jihad and has the right to receive support and help. A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim; he does not do injustice to him, disappoint him, or surrender him. While the al-Qa'ida Organization is fighting in defense of the nation, it is not fighting on behalf of the nation. A Muslim cannot disregard the duty of jihad because he cannot join the al-Qa'ida Organization. Any Muslim earnestly seeking the jihad and is unable to join any jihadi fronts, after making every effort as if he was searching for an excellent doctor to treat a dreadful disease of a loved one, he is forgiven by God. He would be like those about whom God said, "Nor (is there blame) on those who came to thee to be provided with mounts, and when thou said, I can find no mounts for you, they turned back, their eyes streaming with tears." Repulsing aggression by fighting the infidels is clear in the Koran. It is also a logical duty and a fact in history. Only through force and might, nations were able to repulse their enemies. Have the Mujahidin Known Their Enemy? When the mujahidin went out to fight in the cause of God against the Zionist-Crusader alliance represented by the United States, they assessed the enemy from all aspects. Our enemy is the United States, which was one of the two superpowers in the world and then became the sole superpower in this period in history. It sought to complete its domination of the world by imposing American culture, the values of American society, and aspects of the corrupt life in the United States. It also sought forcefully to impose a system on the countries of the world similar to the systems governments impose on individuals. It is moving earnestly to Americanize the entire world, particularly the Muslim World. The backbone of this strong enemy is its economic strength. The United States was able to survive through this economic strength and to bring down the Soviet Union. This US strength is manifested in two aspects: First: The intrinsic strength of the country used in building huge projects, undertaking research, and promoting advanced industries to survive and achieve prosperity for the American people. The United States regards prosperity as one of the most important elements in shaping American society. Second: Dominating other countries, subduing them to American policy, and enlisting them in the effort to secure American interests by using the economic weapon. To do this, the United States provides grants to some countries, forgive their debts, as with Egypt, terrorize them by threatening to impose economic sanctions on them and by imposing economic blockade as happened in Iraq, Sudan, and Afghanistan. One of the most important tools to control countries of the world was the World Trade Agreement project, which was the hanging rope for the economic independence of any state and its liberation from American hegemony. However, this project failed, thank God, after the heroes hit the Trade Towers in the 11 September operation. The economy, which is the source of American strength, depends on the following pillars: - Advanced technology - Freedom - Security The successive attacks of the mujahidin have undermined the American economy and the sources of its strength. The 11 September blow led to a loss of three trillion riyals within one week. Losses are continuing because of its effects. The Center for Studies will issue a study about "the distortion of American losses," which will provide a detailed economic report about the situation in the United States. As we have noticed, the United States has begun unwillingly to abandon its principles. It gave a free hand to espionage and violated its commitment to maintain individual rights. It restricted the freedoms of investors and account holders with many regulations as a precaution against terrorism. Its economy has lost security and capital has fled. Other capital stopped flowing into the country. The shares of American companies and corporations declined in world stock exchanges. Companies reduced their research and development investments. The three pillars of the American economy are quickly collapsing. Regarding the American army, the mujahidin have tested it in many fields. The mujahidin gained experience in fighting the biggest power in the world then, the army of the Soviet Union. Whoever was engaged in the two wars can confirm that there is no comparison between the two armies. The United States superiority is in its air power only, and air power, as everyone knows, cannot decide a war. Advancing in enemy territory is impossible without ground forces. Although the US ground forces are strong technologically and in air support, their strength is inconsistent with the power of the United States and its international reputation. In all its history, the United States has not waged a successful ground war and has not depended on ground forces in battles in a large way. Its greatest strength was air power. Air power can be neutralized in many fields. It is useless in jungle warfare, as in the Philippines. Therefore, it withdrew quickly after it tried to attack the mujahidin in the Philippines. Tunnels in mountains are also very effective in reducing the effects of air power in a war. Air power is ineffective in urban areas, unless there are important installations or bases for ground forces. In short, the United States does not have the power that matches its international position and reputation. It depends mostly on the principle of deterrence. In deterrence, it mostly depends on the media with which it has fascinated the nations of the world. For years, American television exported American culture to the world, portraying the United States as the superpower that cannot be defeated. The magicians of the modern day pharaoh were the media people. "They bewitched the eyes of the people, and struck terror into them: for they showed a great (feat of) magic." [Koran verse] However, the media image of the United States was more flimsy than the ropes and canes of magicians. When the valiant soldiers of Islam came to them with the rod of Moses and the mujahidin poured their fire on them, the Americans withdrew from Somalia in an unexpected haste. They also withdrew from Aden within 24 hours after the mujahidin showed them hell with explosive charges. The heroes proved that the United States could not protect its military installations, which were supposed to be on constant alert against strikes like the one that took place against the destroyer Cole. This gave the green light for attacking the United States at home, and thus the blessed 11 September operation took place. The attacks by the mujahidin against the United States and its interests in the world continued. They faced threats everywhere and at anytime. The attacks made the world wake up from the nightmare and illusion of the huge and absolute American power. Some people have even given them divine descriptions. The mujahidin knew their enemy well, praise be to God, when they decided to confront the United States, continue on this path, and move in every direction to achieve their objective. They knew the enemy's weaknesses. They attacked the pillars of American economy and American weak points. Had it not been for the enormous American information capability and the muscles the United States flexed in several areas to restore some of its prestige and restore some security to its markets, its economy would have collapsed much sooner. The United States is now on the verge of exhaustion and only needs a few blows, which are coming, God willing. God has prepared brave soldiers to bring down calamities on it. Are jihadi operations permitted if they lead to military reactions? Needless to say, an enemy with some power will respond if attacked. It is, in fact, stupid for anyone with some knowledge of history who knows the reality to raise such a question. Martyr Shaykh Yusuf al-Ayiri, God bless his soul, responded to this question in details in "Questions about the New Crusader War." If jihad elicits enemy response: First: The Prophet--God's prayers and peace be upon him--wanted to attack Quraysh in the Badr operation. His goal was to hit the enemy militarily and economically. Let us consider this operation: It was possible and indeed almost certain that when the Prophet--God's prayers and peace be upon him--decided to raid a Quraysh trade caravan, he knew that the response will be fierce, because Quraysh did not tolerate attacks on its trade and economy. The facts confirm this. Quraysh mobilized its forces to defend that caravan. It came out with its cavalry to punish those who carried out the attack. Nevertheless, although the Prophet--God's prayers and peace be upon him--knew that, did he consider it an obstacle for the implementation of that operation? The Uhud operation was, in fact, a reaction of Quraysh to the Badr operation. The Muslims suffered a tragedy in this operation. Did blame come down from heaven for the Muslims' haste in the Badr operation and for drawing the enemy to them? The Muslims scored a victory in Badr. The response did not change the result. The same can be said about the Hunayn, Tabuk, and other operations. Second: The logic that any jihadi action could elicit a violent reaction by the enemy could ultimately hamper many aspects of jihad, and even the jihad orally, in writing, in giving advice, and in enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil. Actions disliked by the atheists, ignorant, and opponents will always be met with a reaction by them that ranges between strong and weak. If the atheist enemy or ignorant opponent sensed that the believers are afraid of such reaction, he will spread alarm and ideological terror and encourage the instilment of this feeling to build a defensive wall that will cost him nothing more than media campaigns and other disciplinary actions to confirm that strong reaction. Whoever accepts this logic will not support any action in Palestine, because the Jewish reaction is strong. There are daily examples of this. Every mujahidin operation in the holy land in which a Jew is killed or wounded had always been met with fierce reprisal, which probably left scores of casualties and caused Israel to make it hard for Palestinian workers to work. Although the example here is Palestine, this applies to every act of "legitimate" resistance carried out by the Islamists or nationalists. They are similar to the 11 September actions, although not in terms of achievements. This applies to the current Islamic jihad in Afghanistan against the forces of atheism and their allies. This is legitimate resistance by all standards and laws. Governments that support the Palestinian issue and legitimate resistance against the Jews should support it everywhere. What is permissible, legitimate, and supported against the Jews should be the same against those behind the Jews, the treacherous head of the Jewish snake. Third: Why should we measure matters by their immediate apparent results? The best measurement is to assess the original action as to whether it met the conditions. It does not matter after that if the action did not achieve its goal. Measuring actions by their results only is not something that the believers should be concerned about, because they know that results are in the hands of the Almighty God. His servant must only do his best. That includes learning from previous experience, consulting with experts, and then making a decision and depending on the Almighty God, as He said, "And consult them in affairs (of the moment). Then, when thou hast taken a decision, put thy trust in God, for God loves those who put their trust (in Him]." If a believer achieves his goal, this will be good, and if he fails, his reward will be in the hereafter. To say that because your action did not achieve the desired result or caused certain harm is wrong and reckless is incorrect in measurement and weight. The Almighty God says, "If you judge, be fair." He also says, "Give just measure and weight, nor withhold from the people the things that are their due." The Almighty God told his Prophet--God's prayers and peace be upon him--"All you have to do is relay the message." He said, "Whether We shall show thee (within thy life-time) part of what we promised them or take to ourselves thy soul (before it is all accomplished), thy duty is to make (the Message) reach them: it is our part to call them to account." The Almighty also said, "It is true thou wilt not be able to guide every one, whom thou lovest; but God guides those whom He will and He knows best those who receive guidance." There are many verses that the servant should do what he is ordered to do and not be blamed for the outcome." If a Muslim is defeated, killed someone, or taken prisoner, this is part of the jihad, and should not be considered a mistake as long as it is based on sound principles. The Almighty says, "So lose not heart, nor fall into despair; for ye must gain mastery if ye are true in faith. If a wound hath touched you, be sure a similar wound hath touched the others. Such days (of varying fortunes) we give to men and men by turns that God may know those that believe, and that He may take to Himself from your ranks martyr-witnesses (to truth), and God loves not those that do wrong. God's object also is to purge those that are true in faith and to deprive of blessing those that resist faith." All this is part of the rules of jihad and the will of Almighty God. Why should we subtract all this in quick temporal victory? God willing, we will dwell further on all these verses from Surat Al Umran because of their great meanings, which might be overlooked. Perhaps some people when they hear reports that some mujahidin or their families were killed or some of the families faced harm, shelling, and displacement they become sorry and sad and perhaps forget some of the above meanings and fall in a trap they have no control over. Yes, our hearts are filled with sorrow and pain when we hear that a brother or sister was hurt. However, in no way we must forget the clear meaning of these Koran and Hadith verses, to which we must adhere. The afflictions they suffer are the will of God. Martyrdom and afflictions are the means by which we are tested and elevated and through which we give pride to Islam. Women were involved in the jihad with the Prophet--God's prayers and peace be upon him, although there was a possibility they would be taken prisoners or killed. In the Sahih Muslim, Umran Bin-Hasin, relates a story about a Muslim woman taken prisoner. We give the good tidings to the Muslims that there are female mujahidin raised to face any possibility, after seeking the help of the Almighty God. We pray to God to protect them and increase their strength and steadfastness. Therefore, any Muslim striving in the cause of God must educate himself to tolerate changes and to take into consideration all possibilities. A Muslim should have faith, depend on God, and have some knowledge to survive in misfortunes. One of the examples in this respect is that an Arab sister in Kandahar asked her husband to swear by God that if he embarked on a martyrdom operation he would take her with him to help him in the jihad and attain martyrdom together in the cause of God. A bomb dropped by the patron of peace and defender of human rights killed both of them. May God gather them with the martyrs, amen. If this is the affair of the believers, one of the characteristics of others is that they underestimate the results and blame the people and the actions that produced them. The Almighty says, "O ye who believe! Be not like the unbelievers, who say of their brethren, when they are traveling through the Earth or engaged in fighting: If they had stayed with us, they would not have died, or been slain. This that God may make it a cause of sighs and regrets in their hearts. It is God that gives Life and Death, and God sees well all that ye do." He also says, "(They are) the ones that say, (of their brethren slain), while they themselves sit (at ease): If only they had listened to us they would not have been slain. Say: Avert death from your own selves, if ye speak the truth." The Almighty also says, "There are certainly among you men who would tarry behind; if a misfortune befalls you, they say: God did favor us in that we were not present among them. But if good fortune comes to you from God, they would be sure to say-as if there had never been ties of affection between you and them--Oh! I wish I had been with them; a fine thing should I then have made of it!" Previous Operations against American Targets: Al-Qa'ida's declaration of war against the Zionist-American alliance was a statement confirmed by deeds. The mujahidin of al-Qa'ida launched successive operations against the United States and its interests. The following is a list of the jihadi operations carried out by or attributed to the al-Qa'ida Organization. Some excerpts are quoted from the article of Abu-Ubayd al-Qirshi, may God grant him success, entitled "The 11 September Operation: An Impossibility that Had Become Possible." - Somalia: After the second Gulf War, American forces came to Somalia and killed 13,000 Muslims. Then, the lions of Islam, the Afghan Arabs, and their brothers challenged them on that land. They trampled their pride in the mud, killed some of them, destroyed some of their tanks and installations, and shot down some of their aircraft. The United States and its allies then fled under the cover of darkness. Thanks and praise be to God. The battle of Somalia was the first battle in which the mujahidin faced the United States. In this battle, the mujahidin learned the truth about the American army and tested its strength. They learned aspects of its combat plans. The myth of its mighty army collapsed before a small group of mujahidin. The guerrilla warfare experiment in Somalia was the most successful except for the problem of the shortage of water. The Somalia battle convinced several leaders of the jihad about the possibility of confronting the United States and clarified the significance of the American army in the balance of power. - Aden: In Aden, the young mujahidin planted some explosive charges for the American army, creating alarm and terror among the Americans and forcing them to leave in defeat within 24 hours, praise be to God. - Kenya and Tanzania: In 1418 AH, following successive threats by the mujahidin to the United States and demands that it stop harming the Muslims in Palestine and withdraw its armies from the land of the Two Holy Mosques, Usama declared that he would hit the United States within weeks. The Americans prepared themselves for such a strike. However, the attack occurred in a place they did not expect or take into consideration. The mujahidin dealt two big blows to its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in east Africa, with two trucks loaded with explosives. By the two operations, the jihadi elements proved that they have the logistic, technical, and human capabilities to carry out special complex operations. They were able to use the element of surprise to the maximum. They were also able to coordinate between the two operations and use huge destructive power. - The Destroyer Cole: In an unprecedented attack, God granted success to the mujahidin in attacking the American destroyer Cole. The presence of this destroyer near a Muslim country was a military aggression, tantamount to a declaration of war. American military media described it as a destroyer that cannot be destroyed. The Cole operation took place in October 2000. The destroyer weighed 8600 tons and carried a crew of 350 seamen. Its price was more than one billion dollars. The mujahidin blew up a gap in it ranging between 6 and 12 meters in diameter. The explosion caused serious damage inside the destroyer, killed 17 American seamen, and wounded more than 30 others. A boat loaded with explosives rammed the destroyer, and the entire operation did not cost more than $10,000. The destruction of the destroyer Cole destroyed the American military myth. It was also a clear statement about the subserviency of the Yemeni Government, which supported the presence of such a force in a Muslim country. The Yemeni Government pursued those who carried out the operation. The agent Saudi Government joined it in pursuing suspects and handing them over. The time of the agents is coming, God willing. - Al-Khubar: In 1417 AH, an American housing complex in Al-Khubar was blown up, killing 19 Americans and wounding about 400 others, according to the American and agent media, but the number was much larger than this. - New York: The Cole operation was the real test for US capability, and could be considered the prelude to the blessed 11 September operation (the Manhattan Operation). Talking about this operation will require many volumes. It has continued to preoccupy the world since it was carried out and will continue to do so until the world becomes occupied with another story very soon, God willing. - Post-11 September Operations: Before 11 September, al-Qa'ida operations took place at the rate of one major operation every two years. However, after this date, God opened the jihad door and the average became two or more operations per year. Because of the enormity of the "Manhattan Operation," most people have not paid attention to the increased operations after it. This is because no similar huge operations have taken place until now. We pray to God to support the mujahidin and grant them success in their jihad. The 11 September operation was followed by several operations about which statements were issued at the time. The latest was the blessed Riyadh operation. We pray to God to grant success to the mujahidin everywhere, make them aim right, increase the damage of their explosives on their enemy, and facilitate their paths to strike the enemy at his vital centers. A book has been published about the blessed operation entitled "The 11 September Operation." CHAPTER THREE: Why Riyadh? Although many jihad lovers and mujahidin supported the bombing incidents against the United States and its interests in other countries, they have been surprised or have denounced the bombing incident in Riyadh. Here we want to respond to the question asked by many of them: Why Riyadh? In answering this question, we must state that many things in many jihadi operations should remain secret, either temporarily until the mujahidin achieve the purpose for which they carried them out or permanently because they affect some military secrets regarding the type of mujahidin operations and pertain to the way they choose their targets. Nevertheless, the amount of information we can reveal regarding every operation is sufficient to give the reader an idea and conviction about the operation, if he is unselfish and was seeking the truth and the interest of Islam. A person who wonders why this operation was carried out in Riyadh should consider the shari'ah texts that command the Muslims to fight all polytheists. The Almighty God says, "And fight the polytheists all together as they fight you all together." He also says, "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them." God has legitimized the fight against the infidels everywhere without exception. Action against the enemies of God is based on texts. The Americans were in Riyadh so we killed them in Riyadh. We must also understand that the al-Qa'ida Organization has adopted a strategy in its war with the Americans based on expanding the battlefield and exhausting the enemy, who spread his interests over the globe, with successive and varied blows. The average strikes before 11 September was one every two years. However, after the blessed Manhattan Operation, the rate increased to two operations per year. Expanding the battlefield has invaluable benefits. The enemy, who needed to protect his country only, realized that he needed to protect his huge interests in every country. The more diversified and distant the areas in which operations take place the more exhausting it becomes for the enemy, the more he needs to stretch his resources, and the more he becomes terrified. This strategy might cause some Muslims to endure some of the damage to protect the Muslim nation. This happens anytime and in every jihad. The Afghan people have endured war for many years by taking a stand against the communist invasion, which intended to occupy other countries, including Saudi Arabia. The Soviet Union had indeed established a foothold in the southern Arabian Peninsula represented in the defunct communist government in South Yemen. Even the agent states act according to this principle and endure war, but not for the benefit of Islam. They endure it for their own benefit or the interests of the United States or for some nationalist interests. Because some Muslims benefit from it is secondary to the leaders that make the war decision. Iraq was involved in war against Iran. All the countries in the region supported it in this war, because they had a common interest in it. The people of the country of the Two Holy Mosques, or what is called Saudi Arabia, tolerated living in the atmosphere of the war and endured its effects. They endured the danger of the Iraqi army, which was then considered the fifth strongest army in the world, for the benefit of Kuwait. The Saudi government is now making the people pay for its campaign against the mujahidin under the name of the war against terrorism. The government imposed strict military measures in the country. Its excuse was that damage is inevitable to achieve the interests of the people. Is it not more worthy for the people to endure some damage for the sake of the supreme religious interests than to bear that to entrench the positions of the rulers and agents? If the people knew this, then there is no sense in the question: Why the operation was not carried out in a place other than Riyadh? Because operations are possible outside Riyadh does not mean we should cancel a possible operation in Riyadh. Your alQa'ida brother mujahidin are striving with God's help and fighting the Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are preparing operations against the United States everywhere, which you will see and hear about soon, God willing. Every Muslim should have a broader outlook than the narrow region in which he lives. As long as an operation in Riyadh is sanctioned by the shari'ah, is possible, and would be successful in military calculations, we must carry out this successful operations enjoined by the shari'ah. Whoever asks why in Riyadh should ask himself--if he was honest--why in Chechnya, why in Kabul, why in Jerusalem, why in Bali, and why in Mombassa. These countries are ruled by agent Karzai-type rulers and occupied by Americans or Jews who are considered infidels and untrustworthy in God's book. Opponents of this operation who speak in the name of the "internal front" have made it clear that they are not talking about Islam in general or about the interests of the Muslims everywhere. They are speaking in the name of the internal front, within the political borders, and ignoring the interests of all Muslims. Even if they paid attention to these interests, they are putting the interest of the "internal front" ahead of the general interest of the Muslim people. Anyone with such claims should keep silent when those who shoulder the burdens of the nation speak and sacrifice their blood to keep the word of God supreme. If we should remove the Americans from the Muslim countries in accordance with the correct and explicit texts that enjoin us to fight the aggressor infidels, we should remove them from the Arabian Peninsula in particular, because this is what our Prophet--God's prayers and peace be upon him--commanded us to do after his death. By God, no commandment deserves more consideration and implementation than the commandment of our beloved Prophet Muhammad--God's prayers and peace be upon him. If the Muslim countries in general are more pure and honorable than to be desecrated by the Crusaders, the most honorable and the purest of them all, the country of the Two Holy Mosques, is more deserving to be cleansed. Removing the Crusaders and cleansing the country are our most important duty. Removing the Americans from Saudi Arabia is a definite duty. However, removing them becomes a greater duty when they use Saudi Arabia as a Crusader base and launch the third crusade from it against the Muslim country of Afghanistan, kill the Muslims in Iraq, and defend Israel's security against its enemies. The Crusader bases exist everywhere in the country. The Sultan Base in Al-Kharj, built as a command and control center for American operations, was used in the US war on Afghanistan. There is also the Tabuk Base from which they launched air operations against Baghdad and the Ar'ar Base from which American ground forces set out to occupy Iraq. They exist east and west of Saudi Arabia. Is it not appropriate for the mujahidin, who see that the Saudi government is preventing them from going to Iraq, blocking all exists, and jailing those who try to go to support their brothers, and who see that aircraft are taking off from Saudi Arabia to kill Muslims in their country--is it not appropriate for them to attack their Crusader enemy and his interests where it is possible? Would this not be the least of their duty and the least expected of them? The East Riyadh Operation: On 11 Rabi al-Awwal 1424 AH [corresponding to 12 May 2003], a group of Muslim youths attacked Crusader complexes in eastern Riyadh in one of the most powerful operations. Some American officials admitted that this was a commando operation carried out with careful planning. The attacks targeted three American complexes. The first was the complex of the American intelligence Vinyl Company, one of the largest and most obscure intelligence companies in the world. The second was the Al-Hamra housing complex in Gharnatah [Seville]. The third was the Jadawil complex. These operations caused great damage to the Crusaders, praise be to God, and shuffled the cards of the American officials. They reminded the Americans that they would never dream of security until the Muslims can live in security in Palestine and until all the Crusader armies leave the peninsula of Muhammad--God's prayers and peace be upon him. The East Riyadh operation was a link in the long chain of war against the Crusaders waged by your brothers, the alQa'ida mujahidin, in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places. The mujahidin are carrying out significant operations against American interests wherever they exist. The first stage of this war culminated in the Manhattan Operation on 11 September, and God willing, it will result in operations that will bring joy to every believer. As we explained earlier, this war is based on a strategy to widen the battlefield. The entire world has become a battlefield in practice and not in theory. They cannot ensure that another operation will not take place in a country where an operation had taken place against the Americans before. The Americans could also become a target to create lasting terror among them in a country in which the mujahidin have not carried out operations, as the shaykh of the mujahidin, Usama Bin Ladin--may God support him--has pledged. Since the 11 September operation, no months have passed without the Americans being the target of a painful blow and a terrifying attack. With God's help, they will not feel secure anywhere in the world, particularly in Saudi Arabia. Facts About the Operation: The Nineteen Wanted Men: The Seville raid preceded the Riyadh operation. Three mujahidin were raided during it, but all escaped, thank God. The Interior Ministry hastened to issue a statement accompanied by the pictures of nineteen men whose pictures had been circulated in certain ministries sometime before the Seville incident. One should bear in mind that they were group of mujahidin united only by their being fighters against United States known for the damage they had caused to unbelievers. They were wanted by the FBI long before the incident. Three religious scholars wrote a statement revealing the true story of the nineteen, and the late Shaykh Yusuf al-'Ayiri refuted the story with a number of proofs in a statement. We shall attach the text of these two statements. I. The Statement of Sheikhs Nasir al-Fahd, 'Ali al-Khudayr, and Ahmad al-Khalidi: In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds, and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet, Muhammad, his family, and all his companions. To proceed: A group of brothers have asked us about the names and pictures published of the nineteen mujahidin and what has been said about them, the position to be taken regarding this, and what we know about them. Our response: Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds, and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet, Muhammad, his family, his companions, and those who take him as their friend. To proceed: God the Exalted has enjoined justice, fairness, and honesty, and He has forbidden calumny and injury. He has said: "And those who hurt believing men and believing women, without that they have earned it, have laid upon themselves calumny and manifest sin." (Koran 33:58). It is documented in the Sahih from Abu-Hurayrah that the Messenger of God, God's prayers and peace be upon him, said: "Be servants of God, brothers. A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim; he does not wrong him, he does not abandon him, and he does not despise him. The fear of God lies here." (He pointed three times to his breast.) "Sufficient evil it is for someone to despise his Muslim brother. The whole of a Muslim is forbidden to a Muslim: his blood, his property, and his honor." Another tradition from Abu-Hurayrah is that the Prophet said: "One believer is the other's mirror, and one believer is the other's brother: he prevents him from suffering loss and he protects him." The texts on the subject are many, and we therefore have written this statement to clear our conscience and give sincere advice to the Ummah. And so we say: First: We know some of those whose names and pictures have been published. They are excellent mujahidin in the Way of God, god-fearing, righteous men. Thus we deem them, and we vindicate no one against God. They are men who have given of themselves, their property, and their blood for God the Exalted. They engaged in the jihad against the malevolent Crusaders in Afghanistan and scored noteworthy deeds of bravery and heroism in the battles of the Tora Bora Mountains. The vengeful took revenge on them only because they waged war on God's enemies. God has said: "They took revenge on them only because they believed in the All-mighty, the All-laudable." (Koran 85:8). Second: God rescued these mujahidin from the Crusaders and their helpers, thanks be to God, so that the latter were unable to do away with them in Afghanistan or to seize them when they departed thence, although the Crusaders distributed their pictures and names to their lackeys as soon as the battles of Tora Bora ended. Third: These mujahidin, who offered what they possessed in service to God's religion, who gave their lives in the Way of God, and who scored noteworthy deeds of bravery ought to be the pride of every Muslim. The sad fact is that when they returned from the land of jihad, the world shut its heart to them. They were greeted with frowns. Prison camps were opened for them. They were subjected to terrible torture. They were either killed, imprisoned, made fugitives, or persecuted. Jihad became a crime; the mujahid became a terrorist. Accusations were heaped on them, and they were subjected to calumny -- God help us! Fourth: The Investigation Bureau long ago distributed their pictures and names to the police in response to American demands for their arrest. When the forces of the police proved unable to do so, they decided to exploit this alleged operation -- we do not know about its truth -- to publish their pictures to the public, so as to enlist the rest of the Muslims in the crime of pursuing and arresting the mujahidin in the service of the Crusade. Fifth: These mujahidin are too god-fearing and pious to kill a Muslim, wreck the homes or establishments of Muslims, terrorize them, or violate their families, property, or honor. How could they do so when they have given their lives only to defend Muslims against the Crusader enemy? The attempt to bring such charges against them is a vile act -- God help us! Sixth: This having become clear, we say to all Muslims that it is utterly forbidden to abandon these mujahidin, take a stand against them, mar their reputation, give aid against them, report them, publish their pictures, or pursue them. Doing these things in fact means helping the Americans, who are doing all they can to arrest them and achieve their goals that they have not been able to achieve. Beware, my Muslim brother, of being an aide to the Crusaders against the mujahidin! Anyone who does anything of the sort has committed an outrage and aided sin and enmity. God has said: "Do not help each other to sin and enmity." (Koran 5:2). The Prophet, God's prayers and peace be upon him, said: "Help your brother, wronging or wronged" -- an accepted hadith transmitted through Jabir. The Sahih documents that Humam Ibn-al-Harith, may God have mercy on him, said: "A man used to relay conversations to the Commander. We were seated in the mosque. The men said, 'This is one of those who relay conversations to the Commander.' He came and sat with us. Hudhayfah, may God be pleased with him, said that he had heard the Prophet say, 'No talebearer will enter heaven.'" The Sahih documents that Abdallah Ibn-Umar, may God have mercy on him and on his father, said that the Prophet had said: "The Muslim is brother to the Muslim: he does not wrong him or betray him. Whoever satisfies his brother's need, God will satisfy his need. Whoever dispels a Muslim's grief, God will dispel his grief on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever covers a Muslim, God will cover him on the Day of Resurrection." Al-Bukhari transmits a hadith from Ibn 'Abbas, may God be pleased with him and with his father, that the Messenger of God preached to the people on the Day of Sacrifice, saying: "People, your blood, property, and honor are as inviolable to you as the sacredness of this day in this territory of yours and this month." Having repeated it several times, he raised his head and said, "O God, have I communicated the message? O God have I communicated it?" Ibn-Abbas continued: "By Him who holds my life in his hand, that was his testament to his Ummah. Let those who were present tell those who were absent!" Among the hadiths transmitted by Ibn-Abbas is that the Prophet said: "Whoever covers the nakedness of his Muslim brother, God will cover his nakedness on the Day of Resurrection; and whoever uncovers the nakedness of his Muslim brother, God will uncover his nakedness so as to expose him for it in his own home." (Ibn-Majah included the hadith in his collection.) A hadith is transmitted from Abu-Hurayrah that the Messenger of God said: "Whoever helps in the killing of a believer with half a word will meet God the Mighty and Exalted with it written between his eyes that he has despaired of God's mercy." (Ibn-Majah included it in his Sunan in the chapter entitled, "Stern Warnings Against the Killing of Muslims." Ahmad Ibn-Hanbal also included it.) Jabir Ibn-Abdallah and Abu-Talhah Ibn-Sahl al-Ansari transmitted a hadith that the Prophet said: "Anyone who abandons a Muslim in a place where his sanctity is being violated and his honor demeaned, God will abandon him in a place where he wants God to help him. Anyone who helps a Muslim in a place where his honor is being demeaned and his sanctity violated, God will help him in a place where he wants His help." (This is included by Ahmad IbnHanbal and Abu-Dawud.) A hadith is transmitted from Abu-Umamah Ibn-Sahl, who had it from his father, that the Prophet said: "He in whose presence a Muslim is humiliated and who does not help him, being able to help him, God will humiliate him before all creatures on the Day of Resurrection." (Ahmad Ibn-Hanbal included the hadith.) A hadith is transmitted from Imran Ibn-Husayn that the Prophet said: "Whoever helps his brother secretly, when he is able, God will help him in this world and the next." (The hadith is included by Al-Bazzar.) We fear God's punishment and vengeance against anyone who gives aid against them and abandons them; for they are God's friends, whom God and His Messenger love, and we likewise account them so. We can vindicate no one against God, for God will take vengeance for His friends. The Prophet said: "Whoever attacks a friend of mine, I have declared war on him." (Al-Bukhari includes it as a hadith transmitted by Abu-Hurayrah.) Yet -- God be praised! -- instead of standing with them and helping them against the Crusaders, the Muslims have been mustered against them! They are being described in the vilest terms, that they are terrorists! The media speak against them and slander them in terms they do not use against the tyrants of the United States who have burned much Islamic territory and killed many Muslims! Seventh: We appeal to our brothers who are ulema, scholars, and preachers not to abandon them and to stand by them and explain the facts about them to the people. They cannot be silent while their brothers are being fought in this way. This is not a favor on their part; it is their duty. Eighth: We ask our brothers to distribute this statement in all gathering places, to print it, duplicate it, and publish it in homes, mosques, markets, and everywhere in order to come to the aid of the victims of injustice and uphold their rights. We ask God the All-praised to protect the mujahidin who fight in His Way. May He abandon those who abandon them and wrest away the protection of those who wrest away their protection. May He reward with the best of rewards those who protect their lives and defend them. May he give the best of Muslims charge over the Muslims and gladden us by aiding Islam and the Muslims; for He is the master of this and has power over it. May God bless our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and all his companions. Ali Bin-Khudayr al-Khudayr, Nasir Bin-Hamad al-Fahd, Ahmad Bin-Hammud al-Khalidi II. The Statement of the Shaykh and Martyr Yusuf al-'Ayiri: Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds, and blessings and peace be upon the Imam of Mujahidin and leader of horses forehead-blazed and white-footed, the greatest of those who vied in patience and endured, the best of those who fought the jihad and were victorious; upon him be the best of blessings and fullest peace, and upon his family and all his companions. To proceed: From the Servant of God Yusuf Bin-Salih al-Ayiri to Muslims one and all: I received news of the charge that the Interior Ministry fabricated against me and some of my brethren on Wednesday, 6 Rabi' I, 1424 [7 May 2003], when my picture was shown with some young people. They said that we were planning to commit a criminal act, as they termed it. I received the charge without amazement or surprise, for I had become used to such false charges in previous cases. As one of those wrongly and unjustly accused by the Interior Ministry in the case related to a number of young people, I am writing this letter to state what I hope will help clarify the truth, avert injustice, and stop those who have defiled our honor or insulted Islam or jihad on the basis of that false accusation. When I saw how our pictures were linked without evidence to the bombings, how we were accused in advance, and how a death sentence was pronounced against us by the Supreme Judiciary, the Board of Senior Ulema, and the Interior Ministry, I decided to write this letter to show the falseness of the charge and how we had no relation to it close or remote. Hopefully, this business will alert the unaware, bring back the straying, or deter the wrongdoer. First: My brethren and I were glad that Muslims as a whole received the charge with disbelief and discovered some of the aspects of falsehood in the Interior Ministry's statement that brought this weighty charge against us. We were heartened by the expressions of rejection that we saw on the part of most Muslims of the cheap way in which the authorities aimed at achieving something greater than our arrest: namely, the liquidation of some mujahidin they had or the targeting of a larger sector of mujahidin and people of good will. This charge and the media campaign that followed the statement were contrived at night and had their effect. It is not unlikely that they may concoct another incident in order to draw the country into a bloody whirlpool that wreaks havoc and spares no one. We therefore warn Muslims of the effects and consequences of the charge if they do not publicly reject it and disapprove of it. Rather than condemning the accused before the charge is proved against them and they are heard from, their duty is to condemn and censure the actions of the Investigation Bureau, which is dragging the country into civil strife with these blatant conspiracies. Second: The amount of falsification and lying in the Interior Ministry's statement has become clear to every informed person, thus confirming our innocence of what has been attributed to us. As only one example, the statement alleged that they found in the apartment "391 bars of a highly explosive plastic material." They showed on the screen some TNT in boxes. Anyone with the slightest amount of information about explosives knows that TNT is a solid, not a plastic. There is a difference between a plastic and a solid! On the same day, a responsible source in the Interior Ministry told the newspapers, including Al-Sharq al-Awsat, that the high explosive that the statement mentioned was RDX. I say that this material is known to be a solid, crystalline substance. In addition to being solid, it is known to be the whitest of explosives. The material that was shown was yellow in color. There is a difference between yellow and white and between a plastic and a solid! Take note: if this indicates anything, it indicates that the statement was prepared away from the director's eyes. It was something concocted by night. Whoever wishes to ascertain this need only scrutinize the statement and the officials' pronouncements that followed it to see that the wanted men had no connection to this incident. God help us! Third: Strangely, the discovery of the apartment, or what they termed the thwarting of a major terrorist operation, took place on Tuesday afternoon, and the announcement came less than twenty-four hours later. This has never been the custom of the authorities, to issue a detailed and illustrated statement of any incident before twenty-four hours have passed since its occurrence. If such haste indicates anything, it indicates that the matter had been prepared previously. The strangest part is that the statement said: "The source stated that these terrorists had planned to carry out extensive sabotage. Their names were determined to be the following." We marvel at how quickly the names and pictures of all the suspects were obtained. How were the names and pictures determined during the pursuit? If they claim to have found the names and pictures in the alleged apartment, that is a lie. No rational person could imagine that a person wanted for more than a year could leave his picture or his name in an apartment full of explosives and weapons. Fourth: As for me personally, no active connection links me to the people in the pictures that were displayed with my picture. The only link between me and them is the bond of belief in God's unity (tawhid) and jihad. I can only think that this was the real relationship; for they displayed pictures of youths not bound by a tie of terrorist activity, as they alleged, but bound by a single attribute, that of carrying on jihad against the Jews and Christians and of having been on the CIA's list for over a year. Fifth: Some may ask: if they were not behind the terrorist operation that the government attributed to them, why are they being pursued? I say that the reason we are being pursued is that the United States wants us. Immediately after the fall of Kabul, the United States sent a request for information about 141 names and aliases that had been obtained from the prisoners at Guantanamo during questioning supervised by a Saudi major general from the Investigation Bureau who headed the delegation assigned to Guantanamo to help the Americans in the questioning. The authorities were able to arrest some of them; others, having learned of the original request, decided to keep out of sight. I was among those who decided to do that. This request for me and many other brothers happened a year ago or a little more. Unable to determine our location and comply with the American request, which became more pressing after the fall of Baghdad, the authorities decided to enlist the help of the people to aid them. They fabricated this charge against us to justify publishing our pictures and names and announcing a reward for anyone who would give information about us. This request must have had a reason hidden from the people. The case was fabricated and inflated. The media were given free rein to magnify the crime so that it might be a strong motive for people to help apprehend us and give any information about us. The list, of course, was long; in subsequent days, sheikhs and businessmen were to be announced if they finished with this installment. This is what the Interior Ministry statement hinted at when, after enumerating our names, it said, "in addition to others who will be announced at the appropriate time." If, as the statement alleged, these others had participated with these (as the statement described them) "criminals," why was the announcement about them delayed, when, according to the statement, they were "a great danger to the country's security and people"? This only shows that the names had already been prepared some time earlier, that the incident had been fabricated, and that the list was long. Sixth: I have seen what my brother, Ali Bin-Abd-al-Rahman al-Faq'asi al-Ghamidi, one of the accused in this open lie, wrote one day after the accusation. I confirmed the truth of the ascription of the letter to him. I emphasize in this letter of mine what he said in his letter, that this blatant falsehood will not turn us from engaging in jihad against the Jews and Crusaders. It will not draw us into a confrontation with the police, although we reserve the right to repel any hostile attacker of whatever form, appearance, affiliation, or religion. We shall treat anyone who wants to convey us to the United States or carry out what the United States wants to do to us as if he were an American. We shall repel the injustice and enmity from ourselves by all means. Anyone who wants to be safe from us should not interfere with us. We will interfere with no one except the enemy whom we originally laid down in our project for jihad: the Crusader and Jewish enemy. Seventh: I will also stress what my brother 'Ali said in his letter, that we have not raised the banner of jihad to kill believers. Sound minds, not to mention proofs from religious law, refute this charge against us. How could we leave, suffer hardships, face dangers and strife, and leave our country, an easy life, and safety, to go to Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, Somalia, Kashmir, and other Islamic lands? Why did we go there despite all the hardships and dangers? We went there to defend the honor, religion, and security of Muslims, to protect their lives, and to set our blood before their blood. Is it logical that we would ransom people far away with our blood, risk our necks for them, and then decide to terrorize our own people closest to us and shed their blood? No sound mind will accept this, not to mention the Muslim who knows God's law and the precepts of the Koran and Sunnah. We are not people of error and deviation, that we should turn our weapons against any Muslim. If anyone alleges that we declare the generality of Muslims to be unbelievers and countenance killing them, we take refuge in God from this error. If we held the generality of Muslims to be unbelievers, why did we go to defend our brothers in Bosnia or Chechnya, who know nothing of Islam except the profession of faith (shahadah)? If we are defending with our blood those who know of Islam only the shahadah, judging them to be Muslims and considering it our duty to ransom them with our blood, does it make sense that we would sacrifice our blood for those we considered to be unbelievers? -- and then that we would kill a Muslim who lives in a society that follows all the principles of religion? We declare no one who prays toward Mecca to be an unbeliever for any sin, as long as he does not consider it licit. Our method in this is that of the People of the Sunnah and Al-Jama'ah [Sunni Muslims]. We do not need to expound it, for it is well known to every Muslim. Eighth: We say to our Muslim brethren everywhere that our crime, by God, is no more than carrying on jihad against the Crusaders. Our standing against them in Afghanistan and elsewhere upset them. They are afraid that we will stand against them in Iraq -- and this is what we have done by the grace of God Almighty. We proclaim to them that we will not retreat from this path. We shall fight the Crusaders until victory or martyrdom. These conspiracies will not frighten us; these lies will not intimidate us. We shall proceed on the way of jihad. We have put our lives at risk and donned our shrouds. We have left family and children, desiring what is with God Almighty. We pray that God will strengthen us on this path until we meet Him. Of our Muslim brethren, we ask that they back and aid the people of jihad by every way and means. Beware of slander against them. Beware of giving aid against them. Let anyone who does so know that he is a helper of the Crusaders against his Muslim brethren. What a great crime it is to help an unbeliever against a Muslim! Know that our foe is the Crusaders. They are the ones who have been demanding us dead or alive. Do not be a guide to the Crusaders against your sons and the people of your religion. They have demanded us only because of the religious practice of jihad, which has disturbed their rest and embittered their life. We shall continue on the path with our heads high, neither flagging nor tiring, God permitting. Ninth: I was very saddened to see some people affiliated with the Islamic call and learning among those who defiled our honor, attacked us, and hurled the vilest epithets against us. We received insults and abuse. Their evidence against us was the Interior Ministry's statement. It was as if the Interior Ministry's statement were immune to falsehood. Worse still, before they knew who had detonated the explosions in Riyadh, they accused us and judged us. There is no power and strength save in God! The duty of every Muslim is to proceed with caution before accusing anyone. God has said: "O believers, if an ungodly man comes to you with a tiding, make clear, lest you afflict a people unwittingly, and then repent of what you have done." (Koran 49:6). God also has said: "O believers, when you are journeying in the path of God, be discriminating, and do not say to him who offers you a greeting, 'Thou art not a believer,' seeking the chance goods of the present life." (Koran 4:94). The main thing is that our consciences are innocent of everything that the Interior Ministry has attributed to us. How then if our accuser's wrongdoing and injustice have become notorious? Whoever would place us in the position of criminals needs proof, evidence, and witnesses acceptable to a legitimate court. The burden of proof is upon the accuser, and upon the defendant to swear an oath. Yet, by God, we do not exonerate those who defamed our honor, who attacked us, gave aid against us, or slandered us explicitly or implicitly. We shall meet on the Day of Resurrection, when antagonists come together in God's presence: on the day when the hornless sheep's claim against the horned sheep will be taken, before Him in whose presence no one is wronged -- praised be He, who is qualified to administer right and justice, no god there is but He. Our meeting place with anyone who has defamed us in any way -- our meeting place is on the Day of Court; the day when all nursing women will be so amazed that they forget those whom they suckled; the day when you shall think that men are drunk, but they are not drunk; the day when the prophets shall say, 'O God, save, save from the terror of the place.' We have a meeting, you who have used your pulpits to censure and wound us. We have a meeting, you who have loosed your tongues against us. Do not say, "The Interior Ministry's statement misled us." You will stand before Him who knows treacherous eyes and what hearts hide. Will you rush into anathematizing us, declaring us dissolute, accusing us of heresy, and pronouncing us astray before you verify what has been attributed to us? -- before you know the truth of anything? -- instead of standing with us and redressing our grievance? Will you take this stand against us? They have persecuted us, driven us from our homes, seized our property, raided our houses, and separated us from our fathers and mothers, children and wives. They have deemed our blood forfeit, so that they open fire on us wherever they find us. They have laid wait for us everywhere, as if God had commanded them to carry on jihad against us, instead of against the United States. They have committed every abomination against us; they have subjected us to every injustice. They began by declaring us infidels and accusing us of being Kharijites. They considered our property subject to confiscation, and so they raided our homes and confiscated everything in them. Then they considered it permitted to wrong us: any of us whom they found they took; and there was no one to call them to account or oversee them save God. They kept no promise or oath to any of us. Anyone they could not take they pursued. If they got hold of him, they took him and shackled him. If they did not get hold of him, wherever they overtook him they opened fire on him, so that he was either killed or wounded. What is the charge? -- jihad! There is no power and strength save in God! Instead of relieving the injustice against us and defending us, we encounter this kind of unjust aid against us on the part of preachers and sheikhs. They issue the kind of judgments against us that were never issued against the Rafidites who blew up Al-Khubar, or against the British who blew things up everywhere, or against the Isma'ilis of Najran. They issued no judgments and made no pronouncements against the criminals. They did not even issue judgments against the United States, which has killed so many Muslims that only God can count them. They kept silent about the Jews and Christians. The kept silent about the people among them who associate other objects of worship with God. They kept silent about the people of heresy, unbelief, secularism, atheism, hypocrisy, and apostasy. They found naught but our flesh and honor to feed on. As if the Investigation Bureau had not done enough in wronging us or in declaring our property, honor, and blood fair game, they decided to volunteer their assistance against us. All we say is that God is sufficient for us, and what a good defender He is against you all! Let anyone who would take us to task for defending ourselves with weapons know that we did not reach this point by choice; we were driven and forced to it by the actions of the Investigating Bureau, with the aid of the sheikhs. Let everyone who has uttered a word against us in any form whatever -- journalist, student, preacher, or scholar -- know that he is a helper against us wittingly or unwittingly. Yes, he is a helper in the injustice against us, the spilling of our blood, and the delivery of us to these wrongdoers. Let each one of you fear God, for your words are only increasing the wrongdoer in his wrongdoing and further depriving the wronged of his rights. We have no device save to raise hands of entreaty to God at all times and wait for His answer always. We say: "O God, avenge us against those who have wronged us. Help us against those who have attacked us. Do not cause us to be injured in our religion. Do not make this world our greatest concern or the limit of our knowledge. Do not give power over us to those who have no mercy on us." O God, fight those who have wronged us or helped in wronging us. O God, turn your prosperity away from them; remove your blessing from them; surprise them with your vengeance; send down wrath upon them all, and make death their fondest wish. O God, congeal the blood in their veins. O God, tread them down with vigor, and show us in them that which will relieve our hearts. O God, rend them utterly. Send down on them such disasters and blows to their property, lives, children, and religion as shall divert them from thinking of us. For Thou art the strong and the powerful. Tenth: These are words which I send to my daughters, since the apparatus of oppression and investigation has prevented me from seeing them and kept me away from them. I have become a stranger in my country, with the aid of men of eminence [the ulema]. I apologize, as I am not a person who is good at poetry and remembering verses. I bless and pray for peace upon the Messenger of God, his family, and all his companions. Written by Yusuf bin Salih al-'Ayiri Sunday 24 Rabi' I, 1424 [25 May 2003]. The Crusader Housing Complexes in the Land of the Two Holy Places: Many reformers have spoken for many years about the Crusader presence in the Land of the Two Holy Places. The shaykh of the mujahidin, Usamah Bin Ladin, has alluded to it in a number of his written, broadcast, and televised statements and speeches. He has made it clear that this issue is a basic one for the mujahidin, like the issue of Palestine. Since the American troops entered in such an immense number at the time of the Second Gulf War until today, American Crusader forces in the Land of the Two Holy Places have been increasing and settling in. Neighborhoods of Riyadh and Jedda are full of American housing complexes, and they have a large presence in the other cities. There has been an agreement between the client government of the Land of the Two Holy Places and the United States that these complexes should be a piece of American land. Americans in them have religious freedom and are not forbidden anything of their religion and their desires. The complexes have churches and bars; they have dance halls and mixed swimming pools and various kinds of unbelief and licentiousness. Shari'ah law is not imposed on them; indeed, they are not subject to the sovereignty of the government itself. The police, security forces, and organizations that command virtue and forbid vice do not enter them. Those Who Carried Out the Riyadh Operation: The client media, citing the Interior Ministry, announced that the perpetrators had been identified by means of DNA. In fact, identifying them all solely by this method is practically impossible. They would have to bring in every family member and take samples from them -- at least each family one of whose members was missing -- even those who were in Iraq and other theatres of jihad. The fact is that during one of the raids they stumbled upon a group of testaments written by the mujahidin, among them those whose names were announced. They used DNA only to determine their genuineness. The number announced in the media is not correct, because some of those who carried out the Riyadh operation did not suffer martyrdom and are now continuing to strike blows against the American enemies of God in Iraq, where they are recording the most wonderful acts of heroism. Were it not for certain security precautions, we would mention some of the names that confirm this point. Perhaps the coming days will be sufficient for this, God permitting. The Real Number of Dead and Wounded: Eager to stop people from sympathizing with the bombers and from feeling satisfaction over what had happened to the Crusaders, the client government did all it could to lie about the number of American dead. They greatly minimized their number, lest those who heard the news should feel the relief that God had given to believers' hearts. Likewise, they did all they could to inflate the number of Muslim dead and to mention them repeatedly on every occasion to create the impression that they were many in number. One should bear in mind that a complex as important as the Vinyl complex, which belongs to an intelligence company, is very unlikely to be occupied by anyone but company employees. This is something obvious when it comes to intelligence work. As usual with the Americans, their hirelings announced that there were only seven Americans killed. They tried to minimize the number, but the American Vice President Dick Cheney's tongue slipped, and he mentioned that the American dead were ninety-four. NEWS TV announced that 140 Americans had been killed. The truth is that the number is even greater. The number of people killed by the explosions is estimated to be 250 to 300, if not more. Those wounded number in the hundreds, not tens. The National Guard hospital within the first hour received seventy charred bodies, all of them American, from the Vinyl complex, not counting the dozens of other wounded who died under the ruins before they could be rescued or who died on the following day. Also, 200 were taken from the Al-Hamra complex, which housed nearly a thousand foreigners. The number of them who died was very high. Furthermore, with God's help, a number of commando groups, after opening the gate and setting off the car bombs, entered the buildings away from the blast and massacred the Crusaders with automatic weapons and hand grenades before leaving the scene of the operation. As for the Muslim dead, the media mentioned only two or three. If there had been others, they would have mentioned it. This is apart from the guards, whose case is different. They fall into a different category, as will be explained later, God willing, when we discuss questions of religious law. Questions About Whether the Operation Accords With Shari'ah: A number of questions have been raised about the Riyadh operation. Some writers and students have taken it up on the internet and revealed the facts about it, as well as the decision to prevent any sympathy and the despotic government's threat to consider anyone who looked for a justification for the operation as an accomplice in the crime. In this, the despots followed the principle, "I show you only what I decide to show you, and I lead you only on the right way." The martyred Shaykh Yusuf Bin-Salih al-Ayiri wrote an article entitled, "O God, Attack the Americans in Response to those who Wrote Fatwas Against the Operations." Husayn bin Mahmud wrote a number of useful articles on the subject, as did Bashir al-Najdi in response to questions about the bombings. Abu-Bashar al-Hijazi wrote, "Words About the Riyadh Bombings." 'Abdallah bin Nasir al-Rashid wrote a book entitled, The Collapse of Objections to the Riyadh Bombings. These and other studies and articles published on the net dealt with the specious arguments of opponents to the Riyadh operation, demolishing them with learning. We shall cite a few passages here in reply to specious arguments. We refer you to the articles and books published on the net for details on the questions. Are the Americans Mu'ahadun? To argue that the Americans are mu'ahadun [persons with whom a covenant of peace has been made] one must establish that the covenant is sound and not in violation of the religious law. In fact, the covenant violates shari'ah in that one of its provisions is that it is permanent and based on the legitimacy of the United Nations and international law, which we Muslims consider an idol [taghut] that must be disavowed. Furthermore, it is a covenant that requires violating the provisions of shari'ah that apply to mu'ahadun. The rule of Islam is not to apply to them. The person who concluded the covenant is a ruler who has betrayed the Muslims and who is unfit to conclude anything on their behalf. If nevertheless one assumes that a covenant was made, it was undoubtedly invalidated by their making war on Muslims everywhere and by their using the Arabian Peninsula as a base from which Crusader armies could deploy to make war on Islam. We shall quote at length from the book The Collapse of Objections to the Riyadh Bombings, by Abdallah Bin-Nasir alRashid on the subject of the Americans' covenants and their validity, because this specious argument [that the Americans have a valid covenant] has been repeated frequently. Replying to the argument that the Americans in the Arabian Peninsula are mu'ahadun, he says on pages 9-21 of his book that four points must be established to validate the argument: 1. One must establish that there is a covenant and that it is sound in itself and in its formulation. 2. The competence of the grantor of the covenant must be established, and that his promise is binding on Muslims. 3. It must be established that the covenant is not being invalidated by warfare against Muslims in another jurisdiction. 4. It must be established that the covenant has not been invalidated by something that occurred in the jurisdiction where the bombings took place. If proof of these points is provided and the contender establishes them, then the Americans in the Arabian Peninsula are mu'ahadun whose lives are sacred and we shall say in reproof to anyone who fights them, "Killing a mu'ahad is a great sin." But barring from God's way, disbelief in Him, killing Muslims everywhere, betraying them, and expelling them from their homes are more heinous in the eyes of God. Allowing power to unbelievers, enforcing man-made laws, allowing forbidden things, and concluding an agreement of friendship and quittance on pagan principles is greater in God's eyes, and persecution is more heinous than slaying. If one of these four points is not true, the conclusion that the Americans are mu'ahadun is also not true. Let us examine each of them. You will see that each point needed for those who hold that the Americans' covenants in the Arabian Peninsula are sound is contradicted in a number of respects. The first point depends on the facts of covenants existing in this age, for the covenant has been established since the United Nations was founded or before. Hardly any ordinary person or religious scholar -- indeed, no religious students answering this question -- knows the terms of the covenant in detail. The amount that is known of the terms is sufficient to invalidate those covenants. Covenants must be considered with regard to their term, the lawgiver of the covenant, and the juridical status of the covenant and its obligations. As for the term, jurists have disagreed about the maximum term for which the imam may enter into a truce with unbelievers. The companions [of the Prophet] and some jurists fixed it at ten years, no more. They deduced the rule that the overall evidence indicated that fighting the unbelievers is a duty and that a covenant is an exception. It can be demonstrated that the practice of the Prophet was to make treaties for ten years. Thus, making concessions is limited to a place where there is specific provision; everything else remains subject to the general rule, namely its being banned. Some thought that the term could be extended. This is correct: the imam may increase it beyond ten years when he deems that there is benefit (maslahah) in doing so. As for entering into a truce without fixing a term, its form is as follows: The imam may enter into a truce without a term provided that he can rescind the treaty or dissolve it with them equally [cf. Koran 8:60]. This is as the Prophet said to the Jews of Khaybar, "I allow you to remain as long as God allows you to remain." Thus, the Muslims may end the covenant whenever they wish, provided they dissolve it with them equally and inform them in sufficient time. A form of truce without setting a limit is to set the length of the treaty with respect to its end, not its beginning. One can say, "I may rescind your covenant one year after I give notice," or the like. Some have held the view that every covenant whose length has not been fixed has a length of four months, based on God's words: "Journey freely in the land for four months." (Koran 9:2). They argue that God set this as a term for covenants with all the unbelievers whose covenants were ended in the verse. Each of the two preceding forms of truce is different from the one that was signed between the Saudi government (and its likes) and the United States (and its sister countries). The latter is a perpetual truce, effective forever. This form clearly strays from the religious law and amounts to apostasy from the faith. As Abu-Abdallah, Usama [Bin Ladin] has said: "Whoever alleges that there is perpetual peace between us and the Jews has denied what was revealed to Muhammad, God's prayers and peace be upon him." The reason for this is that it is a contract to nullify and renounce God's rule completely. A similar case of denying the rule of the religious law would be for someone to promise or swear not to fast Ramadan or make the pilgrimage to the Kaaba until his death or to promise not to fight the unbelievers or a people of them until his death. Anyone who disagrees with this argument--if there is any Muslim who would disagree concerning this form--must either allege that fighting is a duty that can be abandoned because of a covenant with the unbelievers and a treaty with them in perpetuity to leave off fighting, so that its obligation lapses; or he must deny the obligation of fighting the unbelievers. Both of these things are unbelief. Furthermore, this treaty involves ceasing to abide by a precept of the religious law mandated by God. The abandonment of all or some of God's precepts is unbelief. Pronouncing one's renunciation of them is a second act of unbelief. Deeming their legitimacy to be derived from adherence to the law of the idolatrous legislator (international law) is a third act of unbelief. The fact that this is obedience to unbelievers is a fourth act of unbelief, because God has condemned for unbelief those who say to unbelievers, "We will obey you in some of the affair." (Koran 47: 26). Strangely, those who replied to the query quoted in their definition of a covenant something that negates their terming the Americans mu'ahadun and nullifies it because of the aforementioned stipulations for the term of the treaty. "A covenant," they say, "is a treaty between Muslims and people against whom Muslims have been commanded to make war [ahl alharb] stipulating a cessation of fighting for a known period of time." I do not know whether they understand the meaning of what they have quoted and think that the covenant in effect now stipulates a known period of time. Or is it that they know the state of the covenants today and do not understand that what they have quoted is at odds with them? We have been speaking about the term of the covenant; as for its legislator, Muslims are commanded by God's legal precept to fight the unbelievers. As is well known, God's precept is not to be opposed by the rule or whim of another. Muslims may not abandon legally mandated fighting, except by concession allowed by the shari'ah and by the judgment of God who commanded them to fight. God has made covenanting permissible for them. Whenever Muslims follow a covenant that God has permitted for them, they are obedient to God and abiding by his command. A covenant is valid in this way and no other. It is well known that every Muslim signs his covenants only under these conditions and that they must be interpreted in this way. However, we find the covenants of these men following other conditions than the aforementioned. That is to say, they agree in their covenants to the legitimacy of the United Nations. All their covenants are a practical application of their joining these United Nations and membership in its idolatrous pact, which is not based on the choice of every covenanter, but is an imposition by the United Nations, to which they have agreed to grant legislative power to interdict and criminalize, to forbid and command. They have the right to fight anyone who refuses to enter it and sign its unbelieving terms. The least of them in terms of unbelief is their agreement not to discriminate between Muslim and unbeliever and to deny matters known to be necessary parts of religion; indeed, they have deemed them to be among the things that they have agreed among themselves to be crimes: for example, terrorism, under which head they have classified fighting by Muslims against unbelievers for a religious reason. This covenant therefore does not safeguard the blood of the recipients who are unbelievers; rather, by God, it endangers the life of those covenanting members of Islam who were protected by its sacredness before entering the covenant. The covenant is legally based on idolatry (taghut). It derives its legitimacy from idolatry. When there is a dispute, the great idol [taghut] is appealed to for a decision. But whoever disbelieves in the idol and believes in God has grasped the most firm handhold. As for the obligations of this covenant, the Prophet has said, "Every stipulation not in the Book of God is invalid." The precise meaning of this statement, though only God knows best, is that every stipulation that mandates what violates the shari'ah is invalid. This includes leasing that ends in ownership in the form in which it exists, as has been decided and written down in another place.(1) These covenants permit, among other things, and among the things set down in the community of the United Nations, the building of churches in Muslim lands. There is a well-known consensus that the building of new churches is forbidden in Muslim lands. These covenants grant the unbelievers Muslim land that before their arrival had been ruled by the law of God; they make it land over which only the law of their country prevails, like diplomatic zones and like the housing complexes of these Americans. A more detailed discussion of them will come when we discussion the question of the prohibited religious sect in the response to the second question, God willing. This insofar as the first point is concerned, namely the validity of the covenant in itself. It has become clear that it is invalid with regard to its term, its lawgiver, and the obligations it imposes. Each of these three things is enough to invalidate the covenant under the first point; and its invalidity under the first point is enough to invalidate it. However, we shall go into the three other points so that you can clearly see, may God protect you, that calling the Americans killed in the Riyadh bombings mu'ahadun is as false as can be and as far as can be from being the truth or anything like the truth. As for the second point, the covenant that they claim for the Americans was made by the Saudi government. The Saudi government is not competent to enter into covenants for the Muslims in its territory. It is an apostate government that must be fought. How then can it grant protection to anyone else? A discussion of the apostasy of the Saudi government would be a lengthy one. I have discussed it in sufficient detail elsewhere. I will summarize it in a few points. First, the Saudi government gives rule to the taghut in the courts that operate under positive law, such as the Labor and Workers Court, the Trade Court, the Media Court, and the Bank Committees. It appeals for judgment to the idol of the United Nations and other organizations and accepts their judgment; indeed, it promises to combat anyone who rejects the decision of the taghut or whom the taghut rules must be fought. Second, it puts unbelievers into positions of authority, allows them the highest ranks of office, allies itself with them against Muslims, obeys their orders, and gives them authority over Muslims in its territory in many matters in absolute obedience to them. Third, it scoffs at God and the verses of the Koran in its newspapers. It makes war on religion and its people. It protects scoffers by force and laws. I have explained the question of the unbelief of the Saudi government, along with the answer to the allegations against it, and discussion of the conditions and impediments, in a book. Even if the covenant were from a Muslim, if it in fact is a betrayal of the religion and a befriending of unbelievers -even if one concedes that the ruler was not an unbeliever -- it is invalid and sinful and it must not be followed or approved. As for the third point, establishing that the covenant is not invalidated by making war on Muslims in another jurisdiction, the most they can muster as evidence for it is two things: First, God's words: "Yet if they ask you for help, for religion's sake, it is your duty to help them, except against a people between whom and you there is a compact." (Koran 8:72). Second, the fact that the Prophet repatriated the Quraysh believers under the terms of the Truce of Al-Hudaybiyah and that his covenant and warfare were independent of Abu-Basir, who used to fight those with whom the Prophet had entered into a covenant. The first argument involves mutilating the verse and removing it from the context that clarifies it. It involves making absolute that which is mentioned with restrictions in the text. Here is the full verse: "Those who believe, and have emigrated and struggled with their possessions and their selves in the way of God, and those who have given refuge and help -- those are friends one of another. And those who believe, but have not emigrated -you have no duty of friendship towards them till they emigrate; yet if they ask you for help, for religion's sake, it is your duty to help them, except against a people between whom and you there is a compact; and God sees the things you do." (Koran 8:72). The verse conditions the lapse of the obligation to help on the sin of omitting to emigrate. Whoever did not emigrate, his friendship with the Muslims lapsed. "You have no duty of friendship towards them." When the word for friendship, walayah, is pronounced with the vowel a in the first syllable, it usually means only help; if it is pronounced wilayah, with the vowel i, it includes help and other things. God made it a consequence of the lapse of their friendship that if they asked for the believers' help against a people between whom and the believers there was a compact, they should not be helped. God fixed their emigration as a limit to this. The required inference from this verse is that one say: The covenant of unbelievers is not invalidated if they make war on Muslims who have been remiss with the duty to emigrate to Muslim territory and who reside in the abodes of unbelief. However, the verse was abrogated when the duty of everyone to emigrate to Medina was abrogated; for there was no emigration after the conquest of Mecca. However, it is still an obligation for anyone in the abode of unbelief who cannot openly perform the rites of his religion, its outward fundamentals and observances, disclaim anything worshipped instead of God, and proclaim hostility to unbelievers. Under such circumstances, emigration does not cease until repentance ceases. As for anyone who dwells in another Islamic country, he is not obliged to emigrate, not to mention those who are prevented from entering the country of the two holy places, whose ruler you consider to be a Muslim. How does the duty to help him lapse, when he is eager to emigrate and come but cannot do so, or when it is not in principle incumbent upon him and not demanded of him by the religious law? The friendship of Islam is more fitting than any other to be preserved, cared for, its obligations maintained, and its duties fulfilled. The partisans of this thesis claim that a Muslim is in every respect like an infidel state that enters into a treaty with us: we must not help one of the two against the other. Even conceding all this and classifying every Muslim throughout God's world outside this country as being among those whom we are not obliged to help if they wage war with people who have a treaty with us, the verse is about asking for help against the enemy, not about appealing for rescue. The difference is that one who appeals for rescue is one whom the enemy has taken by surprise or whose land and country he has seized. One asking for help is someone who, fighting the enemy as an attacker or as an equal, is unable to overcome him and therefore needs someone to help him. Someone asking for help is asking for help against the enemy; someone appealing for rescue is someone asking for rescue and safety from an assailing enemy. Sometimes the word for helping (nasr) is used in an unrestricted sense and is intended in the sense of rescuing from the enemy; in which case one says, "he helped him from his enemy," not "against his enemy." Helping from has the sense of rescuing; helping against has the meaning of backing. The word for helping in the Koranic verse is construed with the preposition against: "It is your duty to help them, except against a people between whom and you there is a compact." This is if "against" in the verse is construed with the word help. However, if it is taken to qualify the phrase ask you for help, it includes both meanings. However, the plain sense is that the phrase beginning with "against" qualifies help. If the enemy enters a Muslim country, repelling him is a collective duty [fard kifayah] incumbent upon the Ummah. It is an individual duty [fard ayn] for the people of the country. If they do not fulfill it, it becomes a duty for those around them, and then the duty expands, so that everyone sins if no one adequate to it undertakes it, as is well known in the case of collective duties. Can it be permissible to enter into a covenant with an enemy on condition of canceling one of the duties incumbent upon and obligatory for each Muslim? Every covenant with such content is null and void. God's Book has a greater claim; God's stipulation is firmer. I do not know whether the author of this argument, if he found a Muslim woman at a crossroads in an infidel land being forced into fornication by an American, would consider it his duty to help her against someone "between whom and himself there was a compact" or whether he would pass on unconcerned. If it is a duty to help her despite her not having a Saudi identity card, is it be a duty to help her if someone wants to kill her? Is it a duty only toward her, or toward the old men, children, and the helpless in Islamic countries? Is it a duty to defend only their bodies, or is one bound to defend their religion from the Crusader enemy trying to spread corruption and godlessness in lands and among peoples? Suppose the United States decided to invade the land of the two holy places and mustered armies to occupy Mecca and Medina, would the advocate of this line of thinking adhere to the implications of his position and advise all the Islamic countries that it was forbidden to aid the Muslims in the holy places? Would he forbid them to defend Mecca and Medina and command them to abide by their covenant with the United States? Is it only Mecca and Medina that must be aided and whose sanctity protected, to the exclusion of Muslims' other sanctities? Would he forbid aiding the Muslims in Najd and the rest of the Hijaz? Would he enjoin silence if Riyadh were occupied and the country that they call "the state of Islam" fell? As for their drawing an inference from those Muslims whom the Prophet sent back, the first thing in it is that the above invalid requisite is necessary for them. When the Prophet's companions were reluctant to accept this condition, the Prophet said to them: "God will give them deliverance and a way out." Therefore, it was a matter exclusively for the Prophet, as shown by the prevalence of texts enjoining the defense of helpless Muslims. Conceding that, it then is specifically for those whom we know that God will give a way out. Furthermore, even as the Prophet sent them back, he abrogated the pact with Quraysh to help them against allies of his outside Medina. Is an alliance more of an incentive and obligation to giving aid than faith? Or does the obligation to help a Muslim have precedence? For Islam is stronger, and its bond is firmer than an alliance. The Prophet said: "A Muslim is a Muslim's brother: he does not hand him over, wrong him, or abandon him." This is one of the firm requirements of brotherhood for every Muslim. God has made the condition of persecuted Muslims a cause for jihad, saying in more than one place: "How is it with you, that you do not fight in the way of God, and for the men, women, and children who, being abased?" (Koran 4:75). God urged the believers by reminding them of "those who, being abased, can devise nothing and are not guided to a way." (Koran 4:98). And, "Who say, 'Our Lord, bring us forth from this city whose people are evildoers, and appoint to us a protector from Thee, and appoint to us from Thee a helper.'" (Koran 4:75). This is the firm general precept, the fundamental rule; the action [of the Prophet] should be interpreted as a special case, contrary to the argument. Ibn-al-Arabi said in Ahkam al-Qur'an, 4:1789: "No one after the death of the Prophet may conclude a treaty stipulating the return of those who have become Muslims. God permitted it for him because of the wisdom he knew to be in it and the benefit he realized. He subsequently manifested in it such a good consequence and praiseworthy effect on Islam that it made the unbelievers agree to its being repealed and made them intercede for its reduction." Furthermore, the argument is about the downtrodden in infidel lands. It is not about unbelievers entering and occupying Islamic lands or attacking Muslims outside their governance; it is about those among them who have become Muslims and about the Muslims who are in their hands. As for their attacking Muslims or their allies who are out of their hands, the Prophet made this an infringement of their covenant that would make their lives forfeit. He attacked Quraysh when some of them helped some of the Bakris against the tribe of Khuza'ah, who were allies of the Prophet. If after this one still concedes it and accepts the position of someone who argues for the universality of the legal provision and its not being restricted to the Prophet, and if one makes no distinction between the Abode of Islam and infidel lands, its place must not be exceeded; for an act has no universality, and this act came in contravention of verbal universalities. So it is restricted to Muslim individuals having no power or state, of whom it is known that they will not be tempted from their religion and for whom God will most likely appoint a way out; Muslims who before the treaty were in infidel lands and in infidel hands, or who were themselves unbelievers with a treaty who then converted to Islam. Thus, prisoners of war captured after the treaty are not joined to them. Making concession after concession, God appointed it only for men. Concerning women, God revealed: "Return them not to the unbelievers." (Koran 60:10). If the arguer thinks the evidence really implies his position, he must exempt Muslim women from being covered by this precept. The fourth point is to establish that the covenant has not been invalidated by something that has occurred in this country itself. Some of the things whereby a covenant becomes null and void are things that we have mentioned previously under the first point. They are things with which the covenant could not be validly established initially. Their continuance is the continuance of what invalidates and nullifies the covenant. Among these things are their building of churches, such as the church damaged by the explosion in one of the complexes, houses of immorality, dance halls, and bars -- and they did not restrict access to these things to themselves, but opened by them to Muslim men and women. I have mentioned this issue elsewhere. Here I shall quote from what I have said before. The entry of an unbeliever into Islamic territory generally, apart from the Arabian Peninsula, may take place only under one of the following conditions: A. A Safe-Conduct (Aman) There are two forms of this. Form one is that a non-Muslim may request protection so that he may hear the words of God. He must be granted protection and given a safe-conduct until he hears the words of God; then he must be conveyed to his place of security. This form is obligatory for Muslims whenever an unbeliever requests protection for this purpose: "And if any of the idolaters seeks of thee protection, grant him protection till he hears the words of God; then do thou convey him to his place of security -- that, because they are a people who do not know." (Koran 9:6). Form two is that the unbeliever may request safe-conduct to enter Muslim territory for transit or for trade or to accomplish another end; in which case he may enter until his need is accomplished. Muslims are permitted to grant this form of safe-conduct. The ruler chooses the benefit to be gained. For example, they [the non-Muslims] may allow Muslims to enter [their lands] as they enter [Muslim lands], or Muslims may need them for some work at which they excel, or the like. B. A Covenant (Ahd) If there is a covenant between the Muslims and unbelievers, that one of them may enter for such and such a purpose, entry is permitted under the conditions in which it is permitted by a safe-conduct, the difference being that the beneficiary of a covenant (a mu'ahad) does not need an individual safe-conduct; the covenant granted to his people suffices. C. The Status of Being a Permanent Protected Alien in Muslim Territory (Dhimmah) This is the status of the inhabitants of the countries that the Muslims conquer. They pay the poll tax (jizyah) "out of hand and are humbled," and they accept the rule of Islam over them. D. Enmity (Udwan) If an unbeliever enters Muslim territory not under one of the preceding conditions, there are two cases: - If a single individual who can be overpowered enters, his blood may be spilled and his life taken. - If a powerful group of them enters, it is attacking Muslim territory and must be fought and repelled. The same applies to an individual who enters, if he does so with the force and protection of his clansmen. Falling under the latter category are the Crusader bases in the Arabian Peninsula. Their status is too obvious to escape notice. However, the obscurities of the obscurantists need to be dispelled. So the following things need to be said: First, they entered bringing force and war materials with them. This is not the case of someone who enters with a safeconduct, covenant, or the status of a protected alien (dhimmah) and who is subject to Muslim rule. Second, the force that they brought in is superior to what Muslims have to repel it. Strength therefore belongs to them. Victory and dominance belong to their forces. Can a safe-conduct be granted to such people? Are not they the ones who should be giving the safe-conduct? Third, they entered not subject to Muslim rule over them. Rather, they are entirely independent as regards their affairs. Fourth, they announce and make it known that their entry is not by the permission of the country they are entering, but by virtue of international legitimacy (al-shar'iyyah al-duwaliyah). In addition to being an idol (taghut) that must be denounced, international legitimacy mandates first of all that Muslims renounce independent sovereignty and comes in as a ruler over them. Fifth, they are using this power to secure their own interests. They are forcing the country that they entered to do things that harm it, things that are part of the unbelief that the New World Order advocates. Anyone such as this is a conqueror, a despot, a dominator. I do not know what occupation is if these things be not part of it! Sixth, they are fighting Muslims, warring on them in every one of God's lands. If one assumes that they have a covenant and safe-conduct, it is nullified by what they are doing; the legal status of having a covenant and safe-conduct is lifted from them. Seventh, the well of strength that they have placed in the peninsula is making war on Muslims. Armies waging war on God and His Messenger set out from it or rely on it. If their fighting Muslims were not a reason for fighting them, the fact that Muslims are fighting them in Islamic territory would be sufficient, as we have said. If their fighting Muslims were not enough with regard to our case, their using Muslim territory as bases for war would be sufficient. * End of Citation * Anyone who claims that the Americans have a covenant here must validate each of these four points. If one of them has been violated, he must rule that their covenant is void. It has already been proven and shown that each of the points is invalid and void. Suppose someone says: "It is clear and indisputable that things that nullify the covenant have been done by the Americans. However, only the imam may break the covenant." The response would be: First, the ruler concerned is an apostate from his religion, a renegade from God, who has broken God's covenant that He established with him. How can covenants with them be concluded by him and not be nullified unless he nullifies them? Second, they know very well that the ruler in question is a traitor to his religion, a friend of these unbelievers. It will be impossible for him to break their covenants until his rule is challenged in some way. His religion is a mere trifle for him to give. Even supposing that he is not an unbeliever, he is like a person who could not be trusted with any Muslim property in his hands. How then can he make a covenant with people who are waging war on God and His Messenger in every land? Third, covenants with unbelievers become void if they do something that invalidates them. They do not need an imam's repudiation of them. This is what scholars have maintained and what explicit texts indicate. Ibn-al-Qayyim says: "Concluding a pact of protection [dhimmah] is not the right of the imam; it is the right of God and the generality of Muslims. If they [viz. the beneficiaries of the pact] violate anything that has been stipulated for them, some have said that the imam must rescind the contract and that this is done by conveying the person back to his place of security and expelling him from Islamic territory. They suppose that a contract is not nullified merely by violation; it must be rescinded. So they maintain, but the argument is weak. This is because when the conditions are the right of God, not the treaty maker, the contract lapses in his absence, without rescission. The conditions that have been imposed on people with a pact of protection [ahl al-dhimmah] are God's right; neither the ruler nor anyone else may accept the poll tax [jizyah] from them and allow them to reside in Islamic territory unless they abide by them. Otherwise, he must fight them as specified in the Koran. (Ahkam Ahl al-Dhimmah, 3:1355). "The Koranic evidence for this is explicit. God has said: 'How should the idolaters have a covenant with God and His Messenger? -- excepting those with whom you made covenant at the Holy Mosque; so long as they go straight with you, do you go straight with them.' (Koran 9:7). Thus, God disapproves of covenants with idolaters, albeit with an exception. God says: 'Excepting those of the idolaters with whom you made covenant, then they failed you naught neither lent support to any man against you: with them fulfill your covenant till their term; surely God loves the god-fearing.' (Koran 9:4). Thus, God has exempted from the disavowal of covenants those who have neither failed the Muslims in anything nor lent support to anyone against them. Thus we know that the covenant of anyone who fails in anything or lends support to anyone becomes null and void. God says: 'But if they break their oaths after their covenant and thrust at your religion, then fight the leaders of unbelief; they have no sacred oaths; haply they will give over.' (Koran 9:12). God's judgment regarding such men is that they have no sacred oaths. He commanded that they be fought. A ruling that their covenant continues to exist contradicts the command to fight them." [End of citation from Ibn-al-Qayyim]. What Is the Legal Status of the Guards at the Crusader Complexes? In answering this, we shall content ourselves with the fatwa of the late Shaykh Ahmad Shakir in his book Kalimat alHaqq, pp. 126-37. Cooperation with the English by any means of cooperation great or small is willful apostasy and manifest unbelief. No excuse can be accepted for it; no interpretation of it can avail; no stupid fanaticism, no foolish policy, and no hypocritical flattery can save from this judgment, whether it come from individuals, governments, or leaders. All of them are equal in unbelief and apostasy, save those who, having erred in ignorance, make amends and repent and take the path of believers. Perhaps God will turn toward them, if they are sincerely devoted to God, not to politics or people. I think that I have been able to elucidate the legal status of fighting the English and that of cooperating with them with any kind of cooperation or dealings so that every Muslim who reads Arabic can understand it, from whatever class of people he may be and wherever he may be on the earth. I think that no reader will now doubt that it is a self-evident proposition needing no clarification or proof that the French are the same in this regard for every Muslim on the face of the earth. The hostility of the French toward Muslims and their willful fanaticism in attempting to wipe out Islam and make war on Islam are many times greater than the fanaticism and hostility of the English. Indeed, they are furious with fanaticism and hostility. They are killing our Muslim brothers in every Muslim country in which they have rule or influence. They are committing crimes and atrocities in comparison with which the crimes and savagery of the English pale. Therefore, they and the English share the same legal status: their lives and property are lawful to be taken everywhere. No Muslim in any place on earth may cooperate with them in any kind of cooperation. The legal status of cooperating with them is that of cooperating with the English: it is apostasy and complete departure from Islam, whatever the kind, sort, or type of cooperation with them may be. I have never been so foolish or naive as to believe that the governments in the Islamic countries would respond to the precept of Islam and sever political, cultural, or economic relations with the English or with the French. I see myself as enlightening Muslims about where their feet are standing, what God has commanded them, and the shame He has promised them in this world and punishment in the world to come if they submit themselves and their minds to the enemies of God. I want to make known to them God's precept concerning this cooperation with their enemies, who have humiliated them and waged war on their religion and lands. I want to make known to them the consequences of this apostasy in whose fury everyone who persists in cooperating with enemies wallows. Let every Muslim in every place on earth know that if he cooperates with the enemies of Islam and enslavers of Muslims -- the English, French, and their allies and likes -- with any sort of cooperation, or if he makes peace with them and does not make war with them however he can, let alone helping them by word or deed against brothers in the faith; that if he does any of this and then prays, his prayer is invalid; or if he purifies himself by ablution with water or with sand, his purity is invalid; or if he fasts an obligatory or supererogatory fast, his fasting is invalid; or if he makes the pilgrimage, his pilgrimage is invalid; or if he gives the mandatory alms (zakat) or voluntary alms (sadaqah), his alms are invalid and returned to him; or if he worships the Lord in any religious rite, his worship is invalid and returned to him: he shall have no reward from any of this, but rather it shall be to him as sin and burden. Let every Muslim know that if he commits such despicable actions, his work will fail, be it any religious act that he performed for the Lord before sinking into the mire of this apostasy that he has approved for himself. God forbid that any Muslim deserving so great a title and believing in God and His Messenger should approve of such actions! This is because faith is a condition for the validity and acceptance of every religious act, as is self-evident and known necessarily with regard to religion. No Muslim disagrees with this. For God says: "Whoso disbelieves in the faith, his work has failed, and in the world to come he shall be among the losers." (Koran 5:5). And God also says: "They will not cease to fight with you, till they turn you from your religion, if they are able; and whosoever of you turns from his religion, and dies unbelieving -- their works have failed in this world and the next; those are the inhabitants of the Fire; therein they shall dwell forever." (Koran 2:217). And God also says: "O believers, take not Jews and Christians as friends; they are friends of each other. Whoso of you makes them his friends is one of them. God guides not the people of the evildoers. Yet thou seest those in whose hearts is sickness vying with one another to come to them, saying, 'We fear lest a turn of fortune should smite us.' But it may be that God will bring the victory, or some commandment from Him, and then they will find themselves, for that they kept secret within them, remorseful, and the believers will say, 'What, are these the ones who swore by God most earnest oaths that they were with you? Their works have failed; now they are losers.'" (Koran 5:51-53). And God also says: "Those who have turned back in their traces after the guidance has become clear to them, Satan it was that tempted them, and God respited them. That is because they said to those who were averse to what God sent down, 'We will obey you in some of the affair'; and God knows their secrets. How shall it be, when the angels take them, beating their faces and their backs? That is because they have followed what angers God, and have been averse to His good pleasure, so He has made their works to fail. Or did those in whose hearts is sickness think that God would not bring to light their rancour? Did We will, We would show them to thee, then thou wouldst know them by their mark; and thou shalt certainly know them in the twisting of their speech; and God knows your deeds. And We shall assuredly try you until We know those of you who struggle and are steadfast, and try your tidings. Those who disbelieve and bar from God's way and make a breach with the Messenger after the guidance has become clear to them, they will nothing hurt God, and He will make their works to fail. O believers, obey God, and obey the Messenger, and do not make your own works vain. Those who disbelieve and bar from God's way and then die disbelieving, them God will not forgive. So do not faint and call for peace; you shall be the upper ones, and God is with you, and will not deprive you of your works." (Koran 47:25-35). Let every Muslim man and woman know that those who rebel against their religion and aid their enemies: whoever intermarries with them, his marriage is fundamentally invalid and cannot be made valid. No effect of legal marriage ensues, either legitimate progeny or inheritance. Anyone who has already married one of them, his marriage is likewise invalid. Anyone who returns to his Lord and his religion, makes war on his enemy, and aids his Ummah, neither the woman whom he married while in a state of apostasy nor the woman who herself apostatized while married to him is his wife or under his protection. Having repented, he must repeat his marriage to her and contract a legally valid marriage with her, as is selfevident and clear. Let Muslim women in any part of the world be on their guard to ascertain before marriage that those who propose to them are not of this outcast group who have left the faith, to protect themselves and their honor, lest they live with men who suppose them to be wives when they are not husbands because their marriages are invalid under God's religion. Let Muslim women whom God has tested with spouses who have sunk into the morass of such apostasy know that their marriages are invalid and that they have become forbidden to these men. The men are not their husbands until they repent validly and in practice and then marry them in a new, valid marriage. Let Muslim women know that any of them satisfied with a husband who is a man in this state and who knows his state or agrees to remain with a husband whom she knows to be involved in such apostasy, shares with him the same legal status of apostasy. God forbid that Muslim women should accept any such thing for themselves, their honor, their children's legitimacy, and their religion! The matter is serious, not jest. No law passed to punish those who cooperate with enemies will avail. How many legal devices there are to evade the provisions of laws! How many ways there are to exculpate criminals by means of specious arguments and distorting the evidence! However, the Ummah is responsible for establishing its religion and working to aid it always at all times. Individuals are responsible before God on the day of Resurrection for what their hands commit and what their hearts enfold. Let everyone examine himself. Let him be a protective fence to his religion against the scorn of the scornful and the treachery of the disloyal. Every Muslim is on one of the frontiers of Islam. Let him beware, lest Islam be attacked through him. Help comes only from God, and God will surely help whoever helps Him. * End of Citation * We must bear in mind that anyone who harbors doubt and confusion about the question and who has been taken in by the deceit of those who would insinuate to him that the Americans were mu'ahadun, having a covenant with the guards, and that their guarding was on this basis and foundation -- such a person has an excuse with God and will be judged on the Day of Judgment according to his intention. This is not only in the Arabian Peninsula. It also is in every country where there are Crusader or other occupiers, be it Afghanistan in the American bases of the Northern Alliance or in Chechnya in the Russian bases of followers of the client Chechen government, and elsewhere. What Is the Legal Status of Operations in Muslim Countries? This objection has been answered in the book The Collapse of Objections [to the Riyadh Bombings]. The author [Abdallah Bin-Nasir al-Rashid] states: There are a number of ways to reply to their argument from the fact that the country is an Islamic country. First: This is a stronger reason for fighting the unbelievers, their armies, intelligence services, and their individuals. Their being in an Islamic country (for hostile purposes, as has been established) is one of the strongest reasons and causes for fighting them. There is no evidence for prohibiting surprise attacks on unbelievers in Islamic territory. Second: If they mean by an Islamic country one whose ruler is a Muslim, the ruler of this country is an apostate. Conceding his Islam, prohibiting surprise attacks does not depend on the ruler's belief or unbelief. The proof is that if unbelievers seize an Islamic country, the dominion of the Muslim ruler over it does not cease, along with the permissibility of making surprise attacks on the hostile unbelievers there. If an American army attacked the land of the two sanctuaries and established a base in Najd, none of you would be prohibited from attacking it even though the land is an Islamic one and even its ruler in your view. Third: If they mean by an Islamic country one over which the precepts of Islam hold sway, then these complexes by common consent are not governed by the precepts of Islam. Rather, among the precepts of Islam that did apply to them were the bombings done by the heroes. Fourth: If they mean by an Islamic country one where Islam is the dominant religion of the people, again most of those in the complexes by common consent were unbelievers. Only two Muslims have been mentioned as killed there, as against hundreds of Americans. * [End of Citation] * What Is the Legal Status of the Muslims Who Resided in the Complexes? Many brothers have proffered information about one of the Muslims killed in the bombings. They have mentioned that he was one of the greatest advocates of obscenity and debauchery. The have shown joy and gladness at this. One must call attention to a number of important points related to this: First point: The debauchery and sins mentioned in connection with that victim killed in the complexes do not justify his killing. Rather, the killing of anyone who was present in the complex, whatever the reason for his coming there, even if he was a righteous person, was based on other reasons. The mujahidin based their action in executing the operation on these reasons, not on the debauchery of some person or other. As for the bombing's being punishment for a person of such a character, that is possible, just as it is possible that it might be an atonement for his sin and bring him closer to his Lord. The reasons justifying the killing of the Muslims who were killed collaterally in the bombing are too long to be expounded in this brief book. We cede to those who have discussed the question in detail. Let us list the overall reasons and basic issues of the question only. The presence of Muslims in the complexes is beside the basic principle, which is that the legal status of the complexes was that of abodes of unbelief. This is because they were protected by force and because the precepts of Islam did not apply to them. The person carrying out the operation did not know about the presence of Muslims, though that was possible, as happens in most of the operations of the mujahidin in Chechnya, Palestine, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. If their presence in the complex had been known, the operation still would not have been prohibited. At best, the Muslims in the complex would have been like human shields by means of which the unbelievers shielded themselves. Indeed, a human shield would have had a better status inasmuch as he would really be compelled, while the persons in question were not compelled to enter the unbelievers' complexes. The Prophet was free of blame vis-a-vis those who lived among the idolaters. He paid compensation at half the normal rate for those whom Khalid killed who had been living among the idolaters. The jurists explained that they were giving aid against themselves by residing among the idolaters, and so he assigned half the normal compensation for them. It is like the case of someone who shared in the killing of a person and was obliged to pay half, and the half that they owed lapsed from the compensation. Second point: Under the shari'ah it is not permissible to rejoice at the slaying of a Muslim, whoever he is and whatever his sinfulness. Rather, we grieve at what descends on Muslims, and we pray to God to forgive them and show them mercy, unless such unbelief be proved against the man as removes him from the community. At the slaying of such a man we rejoice, because he was an unbeliever, not because of his sinfulness. However, if the rejoicing was over the ceasing of the evil and debauchery he was spreading, that is another matter. Conceivably, such rejoicing might be mixed with prayers for mercy and forgiveness for the dead man. One must call attention to the fact that accusing a person of debauchery and the like is not allowed except with legally acceptable evidence. Even after it has been established by evidence, it is not permissible to disparage him with it after his death, save in legally exceptional circumstances indicated in the hadith, "Speak evil of her." But only God knows. Third point: Some of those who used these arguments to infer the permissibility of the operations and who rebutted the sophistries of discrediters, set out from love for the mujahidin and eagerness to defend them. We would call attention to the fact that the mujahidin must not be defended by speaking about religious matters without knowledge. There is a difference between someone who says, "I do not know what is the reason why killing the man is permitted; perhaps the mujahidin had a valid reason, and presumably they would not venture to kill without a clear reason someone whose life is protected," someone who defends them with words like this, and someone who draws inferences in their behalf from what does not justify bloodshed in the shari'ah and who argues on that basis. Muslims have an obligation to fear God and to speak what is right. We ask God to guide and lead the mujahidin and all Muslims everywhere. What Is the Legal Status of Disturbing Security in Muslim Lands? When the Prophet, God's prayers and peace be upon him, died, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq sent out the army of Usamah in obedience to the Prophet's command, "Send out Usamah's expedition." When he was about to send out armies to fight the participants in apostasy (riddah), some of the companions of the Prophet consulted him in the matter, lest Medina lack a force to protect it. Abu-Bakr said, "Even if the dogs should drag the feet of the wives of the Prophet, God's prayers and peace be upon him, I would not abandon this matter." It is self-evident that anyone who fights the enemies of God will not be safe from their attack and retaliation. Security will then be shaken, whether he attacks them in their own country or attacks those of them who are attacking his country. See how Abu Bakr refused to abandon the fight against the apostates in order to protect the people of Medina. If a man wanted absolute security in the material sense, he would suspend many duties along with jihad. Whoever risks his life in obedience to God's command, believing, and not overlaying his faith with wrongdoing, will have security from God, even in battle, as He will cover him with slumber as security from it. However, anyone who abandons God's command, and gives preserving himself from fear as an excuse, will be overcome by fear from his place of security. Anyone who thinks he will be left alone and secure when he claims to have faith and that God will test him in nothing is ignorant of God's word: "Do the people reckon that they will be left to say 'We believe,' and will not be tried?" (Koran 29: 2). Even more ignorant is someone who thinks he has a right to claim faith yet to be released from its requirements whenever he fears for something in this world, using security as an excuse. Is not this like someone who "serves God upon the very edge -- if good befalls him he is at rest in it, but if a trial befalls him he turns completely over; he loses this world and the world to come." (Koran 22:11). Or it is like someone who says, "Give me leave and do not tempt me." (Koran 9:49). Anyone who understands the real situation of the Muslim countries today knows that they are not in a state of security. They are in a period of respite. God gives a respite, but He does not forget. The danger they fear is hovering over all the Muslims lands, surrounding them. How is anyone to be blamed who preempts the enemy and repels him before he descends on the Muslim scene and attacks their homes? The Benefits and Detriments in the East Riyadh Operation: Abdallah Bin-Nasir al-Rashid has discussed this in some detail. This is the text of his discussion from the book The Collapse of Objections to the Riyadh Bombings, pp. 57-62. We quote at length: They have spoken here about the alleged detriments resulting from the Riyadh bombings. Before going into what they have said, let us mention some important rules about benefits, beside what will come during the discussion. Among the rules concerning benefits and detriments are the following: 1. A detriment is not to be taken account if despite its presence the legal precept remains firm with proof from a text, report, consensus, or analogy. 2. A detriment that cancels the legal precept is one that departs from what is usual in its like and that exceeds the detriment necessarily connected to the basic rule. 3. A detriment which when taken into account would lead to suspending one of the observances of religion is invalid. 4. Individual damage is tolerated in order to ward off public damage. 5. Whoever considers the benefits and detriments in a matter must consider in it all the Muslims whom the matter affects. 6. Abandoning the fundamentals of religion and the occurrence of idolatry are absolutely the greatest detriments. 7. Estimating the detriment in a matter is to be done by people with knowledge of the religious law and acquaintance with the world. 8. The judgment of the commander (amir) in evaluating benefits and detriments, as long as it is not a pure detriment, is given precedence over any other. 9. Someone who considers benefits and detriments is held accountable for anything whose signs were visible at the time of his consideration, not for what lay hidden in the affair; for only God knows what is hidden. Indeed, the Prophet as well as mujahidin after him estimated what would be beneficial in matters of jihad and yet they turned out differently from what he thought and estimated. 1. A detriment is not to be taken account if despite its presence the legal precept remains firm with proof from a text, report, consensus, or analogy. The first rule excludes the argument of anyone who cites the existence of detriment in jihad while knowing that the same detriment was present in the time of the Prophet. For example, someone might argue that jihad damages the preaching cadres. He might say, "If they had been with us, they would not have died and been killed." Yet the Prophet used to send out in jihad everyone without distinction, and so did the companions, until, in the war with Musaylimah, hundreds of Koran readers were killed. So this argument is invalid, given that this detriment existed in the time of the Prophet without the precept [of jihad] being cancelled because of it by a specific text for its cancellation. The reply lies in the verses: "Say: 'Then avert death from yourselves.'" (Koran 3:168). And, "Say: 'Even if you had been in your houses, those for whom slaying was appointed would have sallied forth unto their last couches.'" (Koran 3:154). It also excludes the argument of anyone who argues that it would draw the enemy into Muslim territory, since that possibility existed in the time of the Prophet, when he initiated fighting against Quraysh, and they then came to Medina at the battles of Badr and Uhud. It also excludes the argument of anyone who cites damage to security and disturbance of the country. Abu Bakr al-Siddiq sent out armies and said, "Even if the dogs should drag the feet of the wives of the Prophet, God's prayers and peace be upon him, I would not abandon sending out armies" -- or however he phrased it. Although he was obliged to send out Usamah's army by specific injunction, fighting the apostates was not like this, and he knew that some of the Bedouins were lying in wait around Medina. 2. A detriment that cancels the legal precept is one that departs from what is usual in its like and that exceeds the detriment necessarily connected to the basic rule. The second rule is because some precepts are based on a kind of damage. For example, if death results from the duty of commanding the right and forbidding the wrong, it is a damage for which the duty lapses. However, if death results from fighting [in jihad], the duty does not lapse, because the basis of fighting is the risk of damage to life and property. Inherent in fighting is repelling the enemy, his retaliation, and his attempting to harm Muslims, and the inevitable accomplishment by him of some of these goals. At Uhud, the unbelievers captured a Muslim woman. Jihad is not cancelled because of such damages, because they are not out of the ordinary in the like; they are concomitants of every fighting and jihad. This is the general rule in other precepts. Much wealth is spent for zakat, but the large amount does not cancel the obligation. However, if a rich man needs water for purification for prayer and he cannot obtain it except at more than the normal price, he is not obligated to buy it; he may purify himself with sand, even though he expends much more money for zakat -- and so on. 3. A detriment which when taken into account would lead to suspending one of the observances of religion is invalid. As for the third rule, if one wishes to infer from damage that a particular precept is cancelled, if one desires to suspend it for a short time or in one particular place and not others, this is valid. This is not the case if one wishes to suspend the basic rule of the precept, as do those who want to suspend jihad, relying on some of their well-known arguments, which, if carried to their consequence, would completely close the gate of the religious duty of jihad. 4. Individual damage is tolerated in order to ward off public damage. The fourth rule means tolerating the damage of killing a human shield, for example, to avert damage from the generality of Muslims. It also means tolerating the occurrence of a certain amount of fear, hunger, and the loss of wealth, lives, and resources in some Islamic territory to avert damage to the generality of Muslim lands. 5. Whoever considers the benefits and detriments in a matter must consider in it all the Muslims whom the matter affects. The fifth rule replies to anyone who measures benefits and detriments in one of the Islamic countries and concludes that the damage would outweigh the benefit, without at all taking into account the benefits that would be obtained in the other Islamic countries. Jihad against the unbelievers realizes the benefit of injuring them, which is a way to repel them from Muslim territory. The wider the battlefield becomes, the greater the injury becomes due to the fear and terror, due to the security expenses that exhaust their economy, due to their expectation of operations in every country where there is a Muslim they fear, and due to impediment to their interests, which are to wage war on God and His Messenger in every country. The project of al-Qa'idah is a worldwide project for jihad. Its yield is for the entire Ummah. These other people look only at the domestic front, leaving other Muslim lands out of their consideration, not paying attention to them, and not mentioning them. They neither attempt to repel aggression from them by the means by which it can be repelled nor do they urge others to do so. 6. Abandoning the fundamentals of religion and the occurrence of idolatry are absolutely the greatest detriments. The sixth rule is important in replying to those who take unbelievers as friends, or who justify doing so, or who excuse those who do so on the pretext of benefit. They will gain no benefit greater than the strict monotheism (tawhid) they relinquish, and they will ward off no detriment greater than the polytheism and idolatry (shirk) into which they fall. It is not to be alleged that by this rule it is necessary to fight every unbeliever immediately or rebel against every apostate ruler regardless of strength and ability. We are discussing balancing between a man's committing shirk and encountering detriment and his maintaining tawhid and obtaining benefit; we are not discussing postponing the removal of the shirk committed by the unbelievers. 7. Estimating the detriment in a matter is to be done by people with knowledge of the religious law and acquaintance with the world. From the seventh rule you learn that someone who does not know the kind of benefits realized by jihad and who has no understanding of them from experience, study, or knowledge that stands in the stead of experience cannot judge whether a particular detriment is normal in jihad, one without which jihad cannot take place, or whether it is unexpected and too great to be tolerated. Someone without knowledge of the religious law and a sound view, even if he knows the detriment, cannot balance worldly detriments that occur against religious damages. Each side has an importance that makes it forbidden for someone ignorant of it to speak about the matter. 8. The judgment of the commander (amir) in evaluating benefits and detriments, as long as it is not a pure detriment, is given precedence over any other. The eighth rule exists in every army, such as the al-Qa'idah organization, that embarks on a jihad operation. The individuals of the army may differ in their assessment of benefits and detriments, but none of them can disobey his commander when the commander has done what he has been commanded to do, has given sound consideration to the matter, and chosen his command to his men. The mujahidin who carried out this blessed action obeyed the order of their commander, whether it was Usamah or someone to whom Usamah gave command over them in the peninsula. They emanated from him. They did not have the right to leave jihad because of an assessment that one of them might make. When you know this, their assertion that the question is not merely a weighing of benefits and detriments, until someone says to us, "You can keep quiet and not criticize, excuse and not condemn," is invalid in two respects. First, anything beyond considering benefits and detriments has been answered in their reasoning. So there remains for them only looking at benefits and detriments. So they are told that they can keep quiet until the benefits are considered and discussed, so that they can be told, the argument about benefits having been issued, you cannot remain silent; rather you can only support the bombings and abet them. The second respect is that avoiding criticizing is not limited to matters in which pronouncement depends on consideration of benefits and detriments; rather [it extends to] those where there is disagreement over some proofs and about whose soundness there is conflict, as long as the disagreement is intense and sound in approach. Those who disagree with them over this question have a powerful, sound, and apparent proof. There is not with them any one who basically opposes it. The least of it, assuming the greatest concession, is to say that those who disagree with you are qualified jurists (mujtahidun) who have held to a strong place of adherence so that criticizing them is not permissible. CHAPTER FOUR: Have You Not Become Acquainted With the Mujahidin Yet? Sadly, words and deeds have become apparent on the part of some people that indicate that they really have not learned who the mujahidin are. They have not learned what they want and what they have gone out seeking. They have not learned who they are who have protected the Ummah from dark calamities and have given their lives, time, and money to preserve Islam and protect its lands. They have not become acquainted with the heroes for fear of whom the enemy trembles and whose valor turns him from his designs. Indeed, does the United States fear the armies of the Islamic states today? American knows all about them. They were fashioned under her eyes and constructed under her domination, supervision, and direction. They have not learned this, although the mujahidin have often made it clear, especially their shaykh, Abu-Abdallah, Usama [Bin Ladin], may God aid him and protect him, in his repeated written and voice messages for more than ten years. However, the media have brought a great charm and obvious lie by which they have enchanted people's eyes and frightened them. Here we shall review some questions that remained in the minds of some excellent men after the blessed operation because of the effects of the media and journalists. - Do the mujahidin pronounce the generality of Muslims to be unbelievers? The martyr Yusuf al-'Ayiri, may God have mercy on him, answered this question in his letter the text of which has been quoted above. "Seventh: I will also stress what my brother Ali said in his letter, that we have not raised the banner of jihad to kill believers. Sound minds, not to mention proofs from religious law, refute this charge against us. "How could we leave, suffer hardships, face dangers and strife, and leave our country, an easy life, and safety, to go to Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, Somalia, Kashmir, and other Islamic lands? Why did we go there despite all the hardships and dangers? "We went there to defend the honor, religion, and security of Muslims, to protect their lives, and to set our blood before their blood. Is it logical that we would ransom people far away with our blood, risk our necks for them, and then decide to terrorize our own people closest to us and shed their blood? "No sound mind will accept this, not to mention the Muslim who knows God's law and the precepts of the Koran and Sunnah. We are not people of error and deviation, that we should turn our weapons against any Muslim. If anyone alleges that we declare the generality of Muslims to be unbelievers and countenance killing them, we take refuge in God from this error. If we held the generality of Muslims to be unbelievers, why did we go to defend our brothers in Bosnia or Chechnya, who know nothing of Islam except the profession of faith (shahadah)? If we are defending with our blood those who know of Islam only the shahadah, judging them to be Muslims and considering it our duty to ransom them with our blood, does it make sense that we would sacrifice our blood for those we considered to be unbelievers? -- and then that we would kill a Muslim who lives in a society that follows all the principles of religion? We declare no one who prays toward Mecca to be an unbeliever for any sin, as long as he does not consider it licit. Our method in this is that of the People of the Sunnah and Al-Jama'ah [Sunni Muslims]. We do not need to expound it, for it is well-known to every Muslim." - What is the sickness from which the mujahidin are suffering? The media have squawked and the brains of the false gods (taghut) have screeched out all the obfuscation they have. They have tried with all their power and more to mar the reputation of the mujahidin and to dry up the pure spring of the Islamic call and veil its gleaming light. They have been no exception to and will not be an exception to what every tyrant does in every age. Among the charges they have heaped on the mujahidin is that they are mentally ill. This is exactly what the polytheists said to the prophets and messengers: "We say nothing, but that one of our gods has smitten thee with some evil." (Koran 11:54). "Even so not a Messenger came to those before them but they said, 'A sorcerer, or a man possessed!'" (Koran 51:52). This is the device of someone who has no other device, the means of someone for whom all other means have failed. If they see the shining truth, they flee from reasoning to caviling. This is their habit and the habit of their forefathers. If by the sickness of the mujahidin they mean that for which God urged them to seek healing, concerning which God said: "Fight them, and God will chastise them at your hands and degrade them, and He will help you against them, and bring healing to the breasts of a people who believe" (Koran 9:14) -- if they mean this, then all of us, thank God, are sick and all of us are seeking the healing that God commanded us to seek. This is what believers feel in their hearts. This sickness, in this sense, is one of the inseparable attributes of faith. Let the one who has termed the mujahidin sick then look for his faith, wherever it may be. When the tyrants affirm this and repeat it, they are eager to turn people from listening to the summoner to truth and considering the plain evidence. How they resemble their first head, Pharaoh, when he said: "You have believed him before I gave you leave. Why, he is the chief of you, the same that taught you sorcery." (Koran 26:49). In other words, do not listen to his arguments or consider them; he is a sorcerer from among the sorcerers. - Do the mujahidin in their points of departure base themselves on knowledge of the religious law, or not? The hired media and mercenary journalists have kept harping on the theme of ignorance. They have made the mujahidin out to be ignorant. They have wrested from them the attribute of knowledge and divested them of it, on the pretext that there is a monopoly of knowledge -- a pretext facilitated by the tyrants' untiring efforts to monopolize the ulema, until no one can give a fatwa except someone whom the tyrant selects and appoints, whose fatwas he approves, and whose statements he finds congenial. The mujahidin, who have given their lives to God, possessing nothing more precious than their lives, would not have entered into the transaction with uncertainty; they would not have hurled themselves into a burning furnace without asking and learning God's precept. Did anything impel them to give their heartblood and risk their lives except obedience to God's command, surrender to Him, being bound by His precepts, and being led by Him the All-praised and Exalted? How could they venture upon this in ignorance, or turn bedazzled onto the way of error? This is not a discussion about hypotheses that ought to be; it is a discussion of the reality that the mujahidin are living, to which they are clinging, for which they are most eager, and which they follow as much as they are able. Can you find anything that clarifies and proves this better than the writings of the scholars to whom the mujahidin turn for legal opinions? Look at the books of Shaykh Nasir al-Fahd, may God release him from prison, and the statements of the late learned Hammud al-Aqla, and the writings of Shaykh Yusuf al-Ayiri, may God accept him among the martyrs. This does not mean exonerating the mujahidin in everything and in all respects. Error can take place at any time, as well as haste and legal violations, just as they occurred into the time of the Prophet, God's prayers and peace be upon him. For example, Khalid Ibn-al-Walid, may God be pleased with him, killed those who took refuge in prostrating themselves and said, "We are Sabians, we are Sabians." [A religious sect that the Koran considers, along with Jews and Christians, to be "people of the book," and hence not to be converted by force.] Some of the Prophet's companions killed people who offered them the greeting [i.e., the Muslim greeting, al-salamu alaykum]. God thereupon revealed the verse: "And do not say to him who offers you a greeting, 'Thou art not a believer,' seeking the chance goods of the present life." (Koran 4:94). Usamah Ibn-Zayd, the beloved friend of the Messenger of God and son of his beloved friend, killed a man who said, "There is no god but God," because he supposed him to have said it merely to escape death. One of the commanders of the expeditions that the Messenger of God sent out lit a fire and commanded his companions to enter it. They refused, saying, "We have followed the Messenger of God only for fear of the fire"; and the Prophet said they had spoken truly. On one of the expeditions it happened that a man who had been wounded polluted himself in a dream; they commanded him to wash his entire body, and he died. The Prophet became angry and reproached them for it. There are so many other examples that it is hard to exhaust them and list them all. Mistakes were committed by mujahidin in the time of the Prophet, God's prayers and peace be upon him. This undoubtedly was something reprehensible and not pleasing to God. It cannot be approved; it must be criticized and warned against. However, when it happens, one does not as a consequence utterly reject the mujahid and invalidate his fighting in the jihad. This concerns a sin and violation of the religious law that has taken place. How then with regard to something that is an individual pronouncement on a legal question? How with regard to something that is a truth about which there is consensus and for which the violator has no proof? Your brothers the mujahidin do not embark on an action before making certain of its conformity with the religious law and before asking knowledgeable people, such as those mentioned above and others. They act on the basis of the Koran and the Sunnah. They seek light from the guidance and understanding of the early Muslims (al-salaf). They give the ulema precedence as lamps and lanterns guiding them on the way. We pray that God will make them successful in knowledge and in works. - Do the mujahidin intend to bomb the two sanctuaries? After the arrest of the sheikhs and some mujahidin in Medina and the raids in the al-Khalidiyah neighborhood of Mecca, many people believed the rumors circulated by the Ministry of Domestic Lying and Fabrication, that the mujahidin intended to bomb the two noble sanctuaries, for which every Muslim would give his life and prized possessions in ransom. Yet the mujahidin prepared their supplies of force and reserves only to terrorize the American occupying enemy, whom nothing would turn away from the two sanctuaries if he wanted them. The army of the client state is unqualified to protect an inch of Muslim territory, but for the protection and defense of Almighty God. The media circulated the rumor that the mujahidin intended to bomb commercial establishments and places where people gather. I wish I knew why, if these open markets and gathering places without guards were a target of the mujahidin, they would trouble themselves to storm fortified complexes and confront the armored vehicles protecting the Crusaders. Would not an attack on one of the markets or complexes of Riyadh have been much easier and have produced more victims, if that had been the intention of the mujahidin? Does anyone doubt of these mujahidin that if an enemy were to attack the country or an occupier pollute its land, as the Americans are doing today, they would give their lives as a shield for land and honor? Do you not see your brothers, the mujahidin -- how the Arab and national armies withdrew, and there remained only these heroes, the mujahidin of the people of Iraq and their brothers the Ansar in the Arabian peninsula, Syria, Morocco, and elsewhere? The mujahidin have announced their goal many times. They target only the Crusader enemies of the faith and whoever stands in their ranks and helps them. They repel the attacker as much as possible. If he is repelled by a warning, then it is a warning; if he is not repelled except by more, then they do it by God's leave, whoever their attacker may be. The Americans and the client governments that back them, be it the government of Karzai in Afghanistan, the government of Musharraf in Pakistan, the government of Fahd in the land of the Two Holy Mosques, or the government of Ali Abdallah Salih in Yemen, are legitimate objects for the mujahidin, targets for their fire. They and the Americans are equal in their war on religion and in their being targeted by the mujahidin. Conclusion: O our brothers on the frontiers of Islam and in the battlefields of jihad, in Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Chechnya, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula (both Najd and the Hijaz), in north and east Africa and every part of Africa, and everywhere on God's earth, march forth with God's blessing. Pray for God's help; for God is your protector, and the unbelievers have no protector. However much they exalt themselves, God is more exalted and sublime. However many they kill, there is no equality: their slain are in hell; your slain are in paradise. Be resolute and bind your hearts to jihad as long as you live. When you resolve, rely on God. Let their hosts not frighten you; for the hosts of the godless will be broken, though they be great in number, and the armies of the obstinate will turn back and be destroyed, for all their bold schemes. The resolves of men astray will be shown to be effeminate and humiliated, though their possessions be manly and great. Do you not see that God the All-praised made each Muslim overcome two of them, and he gave the male the share of two females in intellect and planning? It is our duty to fly at them in groups and alone, to attack them on foot and horseback, and to risk with them lives and heartblood. We must travel the deserts of the land and billows of the sea to reach rank. We must cross the billows of brimming seas in ships like dark nights setting forth by day. We must go to live as foreigners among them in ravens that fly without wing in every airport and possessors of feet that race the long-bodied camels and the birds. We must unfurl the banners of Islam on vessels like high mountains. We must penetrate the deserts of bravery on footless thoroughbreds. We must cause to flow on the land a sea clamorous with smoke and with neighing fleet ones dashing waves -- until the floods of horses choke the hills and the dales, and the lands and towns flow with the swords of stallionlike men. Let each of us spend the night with the sword and wrath as his bedmate. Let the field of fierce battle be for him a spring pasture. Let the heat of battle's furnace be for him a refreshing rain. Let him answer the summoner of death obediently and willingly. Let him betake himself to fame, though he be thrown down and left slain. Let us strive to release every prisoner and troubled one and to face every chance and danger. Let us destroy with the hands of jihad the morass of idolatry and its helpers. Let us attack with sharp blades the proponents of unbelief so that we tear off their coverings. Let us cleanse ourselves with the blood of idolaters and unbelievers from the filth of sins and the impurity of guilt. Let us wrap ourselves in the cloak of patience in the fray of battle, when the hosts form their ranks with the brave and heroes, when the clouds of dust contend and spearman closes with bowman in the thick of the fray; when the shooters pelt each other with shafts and arrows; when the defenders are pressed in the places of conflict; when the ironclad ones show their bravery with thrusting long spears; when the knots of spear shafts meet with spear shafts; when men shake hands with the palms of blood shedders; when the eagle of death snatches the beloved of spirits; when souls are plundered by the hand of combat; when cups of death are passed round to possessors of nobility and generosity; when the white trenchant ones shine in the gloom of dust like darkness; when gushing blood flows from throats by means of daggers. There the gates of heaven are opened. Its couches are raised and its cups are set down. The wide-eyed houris appear as their companions and mates. Their call arises for the brave on the foot of effort. So, they struck with the white blades of Mashrafi swords on necks. They deemed bitter-tasting death to be sweet. They sold transitory life for enduring life. They went down to drink deeply at the pool of martyrdom, never to thirst afterward. Their commerce bore profit, and they became the most fortunate of the fortunate. They profit by the enterprise they have undertaken, "rejoicing in the bounty that God has given them." (Koran 3:170). To Thee O God we stretch hands of beseeching, that Thou wilt make us to be of them, and not cause us to swerve from them when the Hour shall come; that Thou wilt bestow on us of Thy grace a martyrdom that shall cause Thee to be pleased with us, forgiveness for the sin that burdens the back and distresses, and acceptance for our souls, for we have offered them to Thee, of Thy grace and favor. Far be it from Thy generosity that we should return disappointed of what we desire and hope for; and Thou art the most merciful of those who have mercy.(2) And God knows best. And God's prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and all his companions. NOTES: 1. The correct legal device, according to those who do not stipulate taking possession in the requirement for a security, is that the item for sale be sold and that an uncollected security be given for its price. See Ibn-al-Qayyim's discussion of valid legal devices in A'lam al-Muwaqqi'in. 2. From the book, Mashari al-Ashwaq ila Masari al-Ushaq," by Ibn-al-Nahhas [d. 1411, the book concerns the merits of jihad], may God have mercy on him. al-Qa'ida Statements Collection (Galeropia: Issue One) galeropia.org is a project of why-war.org Transcript: Al-Qa'ida's Abu-Muhammad al-Ablaj on Bin Ladin, Weapons, US Targets Abu-Muhammad al-Ablaj | World News Connection | September 21, 2003 Abu-Muhammad al-Ablaj, the man in charge of training in al-Qa'ida organization, has revealed in a new interview with Al-Majallah correspondent Mahmud Khalil conducted through the Internet that Usama Bin Ladin's appearance is significant and renewed the promise of a major strike against the United States. He said al-Qa'ida forced the United States into a war with it and dragged it into a confrontation. He added that the US economy and everything that has "Made in the United States" written on it are targeted everywhere. He referred to the US companies' losses as a result of their employees' depression and the foreign wars, which caused a deficit and tax increases for "The United States invaded the world with the magic of media exaggeration and controlled it by political acumen. Everyone agrees on that. We do not ignore its military power. But it is impossible and difficult for the United States to embroil itself in such wars. The United States was compelled to send its armies or enter into these battles that are exhausting its strength and economy." the American people, whom he said would not dream of security. He also revealed that Golboddin Hekmatyar has resumed action with them. He did not deny that confessions were wrested from al-Qa'ida's leaders who were arrested but noted that every plan changes as the situation and reality requires. He reiterated that "al-Qa'ida" organization was behind the electricity outage in New York but refused to provide any evidence or proof of the way this was carried out. He pointed out that "alQa'ida" has prisoners but did not give their number or the conditions for exchanging them. Al-Majallah correspondent Mahmud Khalil sent several questions by e-mail around two months ago, expecting Bin Ladin to answer them. But the answers came intermittently and at wide intervals, some of them before Bin Ladin's recent appearance and the others after it. Following is the interview: (Khalil) On the second anniversary of the September bombings, how do you see the gains and losses balance? (Al-Ablaj) Dear brother, this cannot be answered in a press interview held in a rush because we will say we are the ones who won -- thanks be to God Almighty -- and the United States the one that lost and we are the ones moving from one victory to another and the United States from one hole to a pitfall and the losses are following each other, thanks be to God. If you ask the United States this question about the gain and loss, they will say arrogantly: We have achieved many of the objectives of our war on terrorism. Therefore I say that such a question needs to have a television program devoted to it that runs for at least two hours in which we review all the facts and the irrefutable evidence, sum up a little of what is known, and summarize tomes, books, and reports confirming that the United States is on its way to the abyss, disappearance, and breakdown. By the grace of God Almighty and what the whole world is seeing, and we mention in particular the experts, whether in the military or economic fields, the analysts, or those interested in strategic affairs, they know who is the winner and who is the lose. Ask the children of Israel, ask them what did they gain and what did "al-Qa'ida" lose; what did they lose and what did "al- Qa'ida" lose. By the grace of God, the goals and intentions were achieved; the first was the masks of imperialism falling off and the nation awakening from its sleep. US Security (Khalil) Bin Ladin vowed that the United States would not rest until security becomes a reality in Palestine. Do you not think that you have helped push the United States into achieving its objectives in the region, starting in Afghanistan and ending in Iraq? (Al-Ablaj) As to Bin Ladin's vow, ask the Americans. Do they have security? Is American's security, internal security (sentence as published)? Have they secured their trade? Are they assured about the black future whose clouds they see before their eyes? Is there relaxation and stability in the American psychology? I ask you to read the report on the US companies' losses because of their employees' depression. The Americans are dreaming of security. This generation that lived through the 11 September events is a totally depressed generation, an inactive and depressed generation, a generation that sees the world before it black, a generation that the US administration exhausted with a war that they have no power on it, with its lies, and with its deceit. It did not care about the shock its people suffered at all levels but dragged them directly into foreign wars that scatter their efforts, squander their resources, and lose their possessions. The result is losses, deficit, and increased taxes on this promised people. This people will not dream of security. The Caves (Khalil) Where is the wisdom in challenging the United States when the majority of you, especially Bin Ladin, are in dark caves and incapable of delivering his message to the people? (Al-Ablaj) O people, is the battle over. Has the war come to an end and has it been resolved. The United States, the one concerned, has not said this. The United States is always stating and saying that the war is not over. The war is still at its beginning and is even going to be a long one. Why are the na?ve people ending it in favor of the United States? As to the "shaykh" being in his cave, his cave is the center of operations and the planning and administrative center. "Betake yourself to the Cave: Your Lord will shower His mercies on you and dispose of your affair towards comfort and ease." (Koranic verse) From it come the orders to destroy the United States. From it came the orders to destroy the Pentagon that was unable to destroy his cave. The "shaykh's" message was received and is continuing in Afghanistan, Iraq, and inside the United States. It is presented to the whole world only with blood. The Appearance (Khalil) What is the wisdom behind Bin Ladin's staying away from view for more than a year? Is it fear or has he changed his appearance for security requirements? (Al-Ablaj) You made me laugh, o brother. As I told you, the "shaykh" does not sell words and his enemies know who he is. As to changing his appearance, this is the heresy of the na?ve. As to his appearance, he will appear, but not before the surprise that necks have craned to see and before the Americans' throats have dried from swallowing their saliva. He will emerge, God willing, "and say, 'When will that be?' Say: 'Maybe it will be quite soon!'" (The question and answer were before the recent appearance of Bin Ladin in the company of Ayman al-Zawahiri) The Promised Strike (Khalil) We have heard a lot about the preparations for a strike against the United States similar to the September one. Does it mean to say that you still exist or wish that someone would carry out such an operation so that you adopt it, as it reportedly had happened in several operations? (Al-Ablaj) Praise the Lord. This is part of the psychological war on us that has continued to slander us before and after 11 September. They designated a whole team on which they spent billions of dollars to fight a media war on us, especially the Islamic world's mentality. Read the report on the large US expenditures on the radios beaming to the Islamic world. Brother, the United States is trying to dwarf and belittle us so that their morale (Muslims) will not rise and also to raise the morale of its people that has hit rock bottom. Al-Qa'ida is present in strength in the whole world and is run from the greatest cave that history has seen after the "Proclaim in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher who created" cave. It is the successive strikes and not media statements that furnish the proof. The wagering now is on this promised strike: Either it does not happen and we are lying or it happens and we are telling the truth. The Big Deception (Khalil) The French writer Terry Mayson (as transliterated), author of "The Big Deception" book, says that Bin Ladin was treated at the American Hospital in Dubai in June and met the US intelligence director but was not arrested, that he was then treated at a military hospital in Rawalpindi under Pakistani protection and was not arrested, and that he was seen recently in a motorcade in Jalalabad last November but was not arrested. He concludes that he is an American agent. How much does Bin Ladin know the Americans or has he cooperated with them? It is reported in many circles that there are disagreements over the roles? (Al-Ablaj) We resort to reason and logic for the sake of the na?ve who are swayed by the media wave. The French author Terry Mayson says that the "shaykh" was treated at the American Hospital in Dubai. We tell him how did you know, who told you, and where is your evidence so that you can prove it to the people. Bring your witnesses and the hospital's reports and we will believe you. Otherwise, who has told you? You will say security reasons. What reasons when you have claimed and said this publicly in the first place? The courage that made you do this will not fail to confirm the evidence. (He says) Bin Ladin met the US intelligence director. Who is this person that the author had met and who leaked this information to him, especially about the director of the largest intelligence power in the world? How strange they are. "Say: 'Produce your proof if ye are truthful.'" (Koranic verse) As to his claim that he was within the range of their rifles and missiles, we say: Will the United States leave alone the one who destroyed its economic pride, sullied its military dignity, and wrecked the impregnable Pentagon fortress and its international prestige that is represented by its intelligence apparatus and media strength with which it bewitches such people? Will it leave him alone? The Inveiglement (Khalil) Let us leave all of this. More to the point, does the United States do this to itself so as to invade the world? (Al-Ablaj) Brother, the United States invaded the world with the magic of media exaggeration and controlled it by political acumen. Everyone agrees on that. We do not ignore its military power. But it is impossible and difficult for the United States to embroil itself in such wars. The United States was compelled to send its armies or enter into these battles that are exhausting its strength and economy. The United States was forced to go into a war with al-Qa'ida. The latter dragged the United States into the confrontation. As to the United States needing reasons to invade the world, I address your question to them. Let the United States and Britain give a convincing reason for their invasion of Iraq. What is the justification? The Americans do not need an excuse if they want to invade a country. Only the other camp's strength and weight deters them. What is refraining them from invading Korea? (Khalil) You said that you have started to clip the American eagle's wings and targeting the American media. Does not this mean that you do not have a strategy that determines the targets and moves toward implementing them one after the other? (Al-Ablaj) Brother, the eagle's wings were clipped in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. The clipping continues. As to the targeting of the media, I believe I explained it to you previously. What is the use of a media that does not have credibility? Is not the Western media's lies a blow? Is not "Abu-Abdallah's" disappearance from view and then his sudden appearance a battle in itself? Is not this a blow to the head of the media snake, its credibility, and those it cites. Is it not a refutation of what the agents and traitors had said and claimed? The American media and the American voice have lost their credibility, even with the American people. The Deception (Khalil) You said you have lowered the curtain on the September team and that there is a strategy you are following. Does this come within the framework of misleading the US investigations and does it mean the formation of a new team? (Al-Ablaj) Brother, the soldiers of the Most Gracious who implemented had gone to their Lord in that regiment. The brains that plan still remain. The action and planning are afoot and, God willing, from the great cave. Military people are not ignorant of the deception and intelligence war. What do you know, the misleading information could be two things: Either deception and blackout or confirmation. As Al-Ma'sum said, war is a ruse. Brother, we cannot be summed up in such a short interview. The Strategic Weapons (Khalil) Why are you afraid to disclose the strategic biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons you have and will you use them if you have them? (Al-Ablaj) Is there a sane person who discloses his secrets? Brother, the strategic weapons are not just remove the pin and strike. If such was the case, then it would have been available and would have been carried out before the blessed strike. The matter needs time. Such a massive strategic weapon is bound to have reactions commensurate with its size. It must therefore be used at a time that makes the crusader enemy beg on his knee that he does not want more strikes and that he will withdraw into himself and occupy himself with his misfortune with the tails of shame, failure, and disgrace between his legs and licking his wounds after the utter defeat. (Khalil) Is it true that Abu-Hafs was killed? (Al-Ablaj) I do not know. (Khalil) Is it true that Sulayman Abu-Ghayth was arrested? (Al-Ablaj) I do not want to discuss this and explained this to you before. The issue is much bigger than this and you saw and followed it up. I believe, God alone knows, that I have not deviated from what was said to the media after me. I did not say more than what I told you before they (not further identified) talked about it. This is a matter where prudence ought to be observed. (Khalil) Are there future plans and when will "Bin Ladin" appear, or has he dropped the idea of appearing in person before the media? (Al-Ablaj) Of course, my brother came out and sorry for the delay in answering. He came out and struck the media snake. This appearance of his is significant and the promise of truth. Iraq (Khalil) Some are saying that you were hoping that the Americans would invade Iraq so that this would facilitate the confrontation for them and for you. Have you actually started action in the Iraqi arena? (Al-Ablaj) The talk stops here. The sword has spoken, shut up o pen. Brother, there is no doubt that we were hoping that the situations would ease and the blessing would come out from the tribulation. Only blood and sacrifice will bring this nation back to its senses. As to our presence in Iraq, ask the Americans about it. I tell them be ready for the slaughter and for being dragged on the ground, God willing. Hekmatyar (Khalil) Are you coordinating with Golboddin Hekmatyar? (Al-Ablaj) Hekmatyar has carried out attacks in Afghanistan. There is cooperation with him and with all the old commanders and those who had split from the Northern Alliance, repented, and returned to God. The Afghan nation has realized and understood the game and many have returned better than they were before and are cooperating with the students (Taliban). (Khalil) Are you targeting Hamid Karzai? (Al-Ablaj) Brother, let it be known to one and all that everyone who has put his hand in the hand of the United States in its war against us is a target. The targets are according to their sizes, as happened before that with Mas'ud (Ahmad Shah Mas'ud). The US economy is targeted everywhere, not only in the United States but also in the whole world, anything that has Made in US (in English) written on it is targeted. (Khalil) Will you include in your future plans the targeting of US and European officials in retaliation for the arrest of your leaders abroad? (Al-Ablaj) The answer is in the previous question. The war is one of stages and, accordingly, the crusade leaders, their ambassadors, and every American and Jew are all of them targeted. (Khalil) Do you intend to kidnap Western officials and hold them as hostages to exchange them for your prisoners in Guantanamo and elsewhere? (Al-Ablaj) Brother, regarding the prisoners, thanks be to God that we have enough crusaders as prisoners. The time will come when the United States will humbly offer an exchange of prisoners. (Khalil) During the past two years, did specific comrades betray you and are you not afraid that the confessions of your senior detainees in the United States and elsewhere -- such as Abu-Zubaydah, Khalid "al-Shaykh", and others -- will expose your plans? To what extent were you militarily affected by their absence? (Al-Ablaj) Brother, with what and for what does one who has sold himself to God Almighty change this? The traitors are those who sell for this world and for animal pleasure. Treason has reasons. Brother, regarding the confessions, all this is likely and we do not deny that confessions are wrested. Every plan changes according to the situation and reality. As to whether the organization's military action has been affected, the answer is no. Of course, we were affected by the loss of prominent leaders. It pains us what is happening to our secondary commanders. The US Electricity (Khalil) What evidence do you have that you were behind the electricity outage in the United States? What is the truth about the Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades, knowing that you said in an old message that Abu-Hafs was not killed and that Khalid "al-Shaykh" and other leaders were not arrested? (Al-Ablaj) Do we tell the people how we enter, how we plan, how we arrived, and what we did? Does everyone disclose his secrets to the people? Brother, there are very elementary pieces of evidence. The United States is at war with a group that is threatening it and had threatened to strike it inside and abroad. The United States will not admit that we struck it and had kept silent about strikes we carried out. It did not admit them because this would have required it to react and then it would have had a file that it must close to satisfy the American street. Brother, our proof that we were the perpetrators is in the report that "Al-Majallah" published which said that we have secret hands with blue eyes in the United States. This is enough and everything will appear at the right time. The perpetrator does not interest us as much as the action itself. The important thing is that the United States is being hit and burned, whether they admit it or not. [Description of Source: London Al-Majallah in Arabic--London-based Saudi-owned weekly; sister magazine of Al-Sharq alAwsat newspaper providing independent coverage of Arab and international issues] toolkit.dialog.com/intranet/cgi/present?STYLE=739318018&PRESENT=DB=985,AN=177550E-mail this article al-Qa'ida Statements Collection (Galeropia: Issue One) galeropia.org is a project of why-war.org Qaeda Leader: Meetings Held to Carry Out bin Laden's Threats STAFF | World News Connection | October 26, 2003 Contrary to the conclusion of several observers that the two messages attributed to al-Qa'ida organization leader Usama Bin Ladin were tantamount to a gift for US President George Bush whose popularity in the polls is dropping noticeably, the organization believes that these two messages were tantamount to the program that al-Qa'ida would pursue freely in the coming stage against the United States. It also believes that Bin Ladin's appearance for the second time in one month underlines the failure of the US security policy after US circles tried to cast doubts that Bin Ladin was still alive following his public appearance with his aide Ayman al-Zawahiri last September. "We are acting according to a simple formula, namely, that the building is very difficult but the demolition might be done with a matchstick and that this is easier than easy. For example, can the United States protect its earthquake fault lines and forests?" Abu-Muhammad al-Ablaj, a leading al-Qa'ida figure, said in an electronic message to "Al-Majallah" that al-Qa'ida's commanders, cadres, and key leaders have been holding extensive meetings wherever they are for almost one month in preparation for carrying out what was said in Bin Ladin's two messages. He pointed out that the contents of Bin Ladin's two messages expressed precisely the plans laid down by those he called the leaders around him as a program that all the organization's cells all over the world would act according to it. He said these meetings are the prelude for something big that will happen, but without giving any further details. He added: "Time is running fast. We are preparing for a great day in the Arab region and in a place in the Western countries that Abu-Abdallah referred to in his message to the American people." He expressed his belief that countries would take stringent security measures after Bin Ladin's message, adding that no security measures would stop al-Qa'ida's plan, no matter how stringent they are. He said that past experiences are the best evidence of what we are saying in this matter. Asked if the threats in the last message attributed to Bin Ladin means that their plans now include a threat to Arab and Islamic interests, Al-Ablaj said: "Targeting Gulf states is not among our plans. Our targets are known and American. We will strike US trade in the Gulf." But he hastened to add: "We will not be content with the boycott. The big misfortune now is that many US goods have had their market names changed into other names and local addresses and companies. They will be the targets of our strikes as part of our plans whose implementation has become imminent." On the significance of Bin Ladin addressing a message to the American people at present, he said: Bin Ladin warned them a long time before taking the battle inside the United States. Now that the people back, support, and finance Bush, they are to us like the Jews and we will treat them the same. Asked if al-Qa'ida organization has the resources to strike the countries that Bin Ladin named in the two messages attributed to him, and specifically the United States, he said: We have finished examining the United States and dissected it like the surgeon dissects the human body. The United States is a massive land force but could at the same time be paralyzed with a very simple and easy action. We are acting according to a simple formula, namely, that the building is very difficult but the demolition might be done with a matchstick and that this is easier than easy. For example, can the United States protect its earthquake fault lines and forests? This applies to all the countries that Abu-Abdallah referred to in his message. Description of Source: London Al-Majallah in Arabic -- London-based Saudi-owned weekly; sister magazineof Al-Sharq alAwsat newspaper providing independent coverage of Arab and international issues) toolkit.dialog.com/intranet/cgi/present?STYLE=739318018&PRESENT=DB=985,AN=179300E-mail this article al-Qa'ida Statements Collection (Galeropia: Issue One) galeropia.org is a project of why-war.org Al-Qa'ida Member Recalls US Bombardment, Accuses Taliban of Betrayal STAFF | World News Connection | October 29, 2003 Sayf-al-Adl al-Masri, the "al-Qa'ida" organization's chief of military operations whose name appears on the US list of the 22 most dangerous wanted persons, related his recollections of the US bombardment of Afghanistan and what he called the "convoy of women martyrs on the soil of Kandahar." This was included in an article published in the second edition of the "Sawt al-Jihad" magazine, a copy of which Al-Sharq al-Awsat received the day before yesterday by e-mail. "We heard a missile passing over our heads immediately before we had finished eating and it exploded 100 meters from the house. We immediately started to leave fearing that we were the target and the targeting would be corrected so as to hit us." The recollections of Sayf-al-Adl, the former Egyptian officer, came in a special chapter under the heading "Knights Under the Prophet's Banner", which is the same title given to Ayman al-Zawahiri's will that Al-Sharq al-Awsat published in several parts before two years. Sayf-al-Adl criticized the "al-Qa'ida" elements' security indiscipline for not following the security instructions when using satellite telephones, saying that this helped the Americans pinpoint easily the "Arab Afghans" locations in Kandahar during October and November 2001. He accused "some Taliban elements of betrayal by identifying some Arab families' houses in Kandahar which were later attacked with cruise missiles. He also accused them of indifference in the fight against the Americans during the war that broke out on 7 October 2001. He disclosed for the first time his relationship by marriage with Abu-al-Walid, an Egyptian journalist and one of the oldest Arab fighters in Afghanistan, and said he has five children from his wife the daughter of Abu-al-Walid, all of whom were in Kabul during the US bombardment of Afghanistan. According to fundamentalists in London, Abu-al-Walid is Hashim al-Makki who wrote several articles after Taliban's downfall that Al-Sharq al-Awsat published and in which he criticized Bin Ladin and his "strategic" vision for exacerbating the struggle with the Americans and which led to the "Arab Afghans'" loss of the Taliban state under which they lived in peace and security. Abu-al-Walid was until few days before Taliban's downfall in charge of the Arab edition of "Al-Imarah" magazine that Taliban published in Afghanistan. Sayf-al-Adl talked about the death of several Moroccan, Saudi, and Arab "al-Qa'ida" leaders and their wives and children in the US bombardment of Kandahar with cruise missiles. They included Asim al-Yamani, the trainer at Al-Faruq Camp in Afghanistan; Abu-Abd-al-Rahman Al-Abiy; Abu-Ali al-Yafi'i; the wife of Rayyan al-Ta'zi; Abu-Usamah al-Ta'zi; the wife of AlBarra al-Hijazi who was arrested in Morocco before the Casablanca bombings. Sayf-al-Adl said: "On Sunday night, the third night of the blessed month (Ramadan) and after 0100 in the morning, I woke up feeling anxious and sensed there was a danger close to me. I woke up the brothers with me, Abu-Muhammad al-Abyad, Abd-alRahman al-Masri, and Abu-Usamah al-Filastini. Brother Abu-Husayn al-Masri and Faruq al-Suri spent the night with us as we were operating in one position during the day and sleeping in my empty house at night." He added: "I woke them all and told them of my anxiety. I also told them that a missile would not fall on us if they heard it coming since the time difference between one missile and another is between five and seven minutes if they are not launched simultaneously and therefore we can gather ourselves and our things and leave during that period. We heard suddenly the sound of a big explosion far away. I asked the brothers by telephone and learned that the second house of the "Al-Wafa Charity" foundation in Kandahar had been pinpointed and hit with a cruise missile because satellite telephones were used. The hit killed brother Abd-al-Wahid." Sayf-al-Adl went on to say: "The young men were surprised by my anxiety. We prepared the last meal before daybreak and sat down to eat. We heard a missile passing over our heads immediately before we had finished eating and it exploded 100 meters from the house. We immediately started to leave fearing that we were the target and the targeting would be corrected so as to hit us. We left the house and saw the smoke at the end of the street as the US aircraft flew overhead. There were two houses where the missile fell. One belonged to the Arab Afghans families but was empty and the other belonged to Taliban. I thought they targeted the students (Taliban's members). We looked at the aircraft and saw it fire the second missile and we took cover. It fell in the middle of the road. The brothers and I walked on foot to a nearby position. A students patrol we met on the way told me that there were Arab women in the house and that a brother was killed and another injured and both were evacuated to hospital while all the women left and went to the villages." Continuing with his recollections, Sayf-al-Adl said: "I went to the hospital to learn the details from the wounded brother. I asked to see the dead person when I arrived and discovered he was brother Asim al-Yamani, the trainer at Al-Faruq Camp. I went to see the wounded and discovered he was Abu-Abd-al-Rahman al-Abiy (an old brother) and his injury was not fatal but would leave him handicapped. I asked him what happened. He said: We were staying near the Al-Wafa foundation house when it was hit with cruise missiles. When we finished removing the young men and Abd-al-Wahid (from under the debris), the brothers consulted each other and feared that their house was also being watched. We moved the women and took them to the house next door. We then took the women out quickly and sent them to the villages. We had two vehicles and I and Asim al-Yamani stayed close to the house trying to remove some of the possessions. The aircraft fired the second missile and I saw it moving toward us and threw myself on the ground. The missile fell close to brother Asim and I do not know that happened next. I told him about Asim and asked the doctor about his condition. He said he most probably needed to go to Pakistan to complete the treatment. I asked the brothers to arrange this in the morning." He added: "I returned to the new position where I had left the brothers. We heard the sound of clashes as soon as I entered it but the voice of Abu-Ali al-Suri broke our silence as he shouted nervously: O Abd-al-Ahad, the dogs machine gunned us and killed the women. I asked him where. He said: On the Banjway Road. I told him: I am on my way to you. I took with me AbuAbd-al-Rahman al-Masri and went to the village. We saw the tragedy on the road and it was a story and lesson. When some brothers in Banjway village felt the intensity of the fire at the outskirts and saw the many aircraft over the Kandahar sector and its suburbs, they became worried about their children. The men decided to send the women in four vehicles to sleep in the open. Two vehicles were at the same time bringing the women whose house was shelled a short time earlier. They saw the Moroccan's vehicles parked 100 meters from the road edge. They reversed and were soon joined by brother Suraqah al-Yamani and brother Hamzah al-Suri. Aircraft were following the vehicles and the brothers stopped to talk a little before moving toward the village. The helicopters engaged them as soon as the distance between the vehicles got down to 5.1 km. The first vehicle was hit and in it were Abu-Ali al-Yafi'i, his wife, four women, and two children. The second vehicle was also hit and in it were Suraqah al-Yamani and Hamzah al-Suri. Abu-Ali al-Maliki and his family were in the third vehicle and when he saw the attack on the two vehicles, he accelerated toward the mountain trying to escape the aircraft. He switched off the vehicle lights and sped over the rugged terrain until he disappeared from the aircraft's view. All the vehicles were "Corolla station wagons." Sayf-al-Adl added: "The casualties on the night Kandahar was bombarded were: Abu-Asim al-Yamani and Abu-Ali al-Yafi'i who was the guard when the house of Abu-Hafs al-Masri (Muhammad Atif, "al-Qa'ida's" military commander who was killed in Kandahar). All the women that were killed were Yemeni except one and were the wives of Abu-Ali al-Yafi'i, Abu-Usamah alKini, Rayan al-Ta'zi, Abu-Usamah al-Ta'zi as well as his two children, Al-Zubayr al-Dali'i who was waiting for her husband to take her, and Abu-Al-Barra al-Hijazi (who was arrested in Morocco before the Casablanca bombings) and she is Moroccan. (Description of Source: London Al-Sharq al-Awsat in Arabic -- Influential Saudi-owned London daily providing independent coverage of Arab and international issues; editorials reflect official Saudi views on foreign policy) toolkit.dialog.com/intranet/cgi/present?STYLE=739318018&PRESENT=DB=985,AN=179450E-mail this article al-Qa'ida Statements Collection (Galeropia: Issue One) galeropia.org is a project of why-war.org Qaeda Leader Says Strike Against US 'Closer' Than Ever STAFF | World News Connection | November 23, 2003 The Dubai office of the London-based magazine Al-Majallah has received an electronic message from a prominent al-Qa'ida leader in which he announced his organization's responsibility for the bombings that targeted two Synagogues in Istanbul early in the week, and also al-Qa'ida's responsibility for the explosion that hit the Italian forces' headquarters in al-Nasiriyah in southern Iraq. "If they are seeking the elimination of their economic might, devastation, and destruction under the feet of the soldiers of God, let them come to Iraq, as our strikes will reach the center of Tokyo ... if they are seeking that, let them try their luck with us." In his electronic message Abu-Muhammad al-Ablaj threatened to carry out devastating strikes deep inside the Japanese capital Tokyo if the Japanese Government sends troops to Iraq. He said that al-Qa'ida's volcanoes will erupt under the feet of the Jews and the Americans. He pointed out that the strikes against the two synagogues in Istanbul which, according to him, were carried out by al-Qa'ida members are a prelude to strikes which he said will be painful to the Jews and the Americans. He added: "The strikes against the Jews and the United States will continue. So the United States and Israel should begin as of today to mourn their dead and the devastation that will afflict them. Al-Ablaj said: "We have in the past threatened Israel and the United States, and our strikes on this or that target will be painful. An example of this is what we did to the Italians in Iraq, especially against their command in al-Nasiriyah in southern Iraq. He added: "Turkey has received its share through our strike against the two synagogues of the brothers of the monkeys and pigs. We have dealt it a blow deep in its relations with Israel. Al-Ablaj said: The Jews and the Americans will never feel safe as long as we are alive. He went on to say: "If they are not safe at their homes, how will they be safe elsewhere in the world. We will sever the arteries and jugular veins of the United States and the Jews whatever the price. He pointed out that the date of the strike against the United States is getting closer than ever before. In his message Al-Ablaj threatened to carry out painful strikes against Japan if it sends military forces to Iraq. He said: "If they are seeking the elimination of their economic might, devastation, and destruction under the feet of the soldiers of God, let them come to Iraq, as our strikes will reach the center of Tokyo... if they are seeking that, let them try their luck with us. (Description of Source: London Al-Majallah in Arabic -- London-based Saudi-ownedweekly; sister magazineof Al-Sharq alAwsat newspaper providing independent coverage of Arab and international issues) toolkit.dialog.com/intranet/cgi/present?STYLE=739318018&PRESENT=DB=985,AN=180700E-mail this article al-Qa'ida Statements Collection (Galeropia: Issue One) galeropia.org is a project of why-war.org Transcript: Al-Qa'ida Tape Pays Tribute To Saudi 'Martyrs' in Clashes With Saudi Forces STAFF | World News Connection | December 5, 2003 Several Jihadist websites, including the Global Islamic Media website, were observed on 5 December to post a link to a 38-minute multimedia production called "The Martyrs of the Confrontations in Bilad al-Haramayn (Saudi Arabia)," produced by the Sahab Foundation, which had previously produced several Al-Qa'ida videotapes. The videotape includes a narration by an unidentified speaker who profiles Saudis who were killed recently in confrontations with Saudi security forces. "In the first stage, the stage of attrition and engaging the enemy in battle, you need to make your enemy tired more than you need to kill a large number of its members. You need to scatter the enemy, demoralize it, spread it out over a large area, and cause it to get tired." The tape also includes old video comments by Usama Bin Ladin and video comments by some Saudi officials. The narration is interspersed with religious songs and a recitation of Koranic verses. The videotape begins by showing pictures of young men and a religious song glorifying Saudis killed in "confrontations" with the Saudi troops. It then shows an old recorded video statement by Usama Bin Ladin, in which he says: "In no circumstances would a Muslim wonder what benefit did they get. No Muslim would say that they wasted their lives. The ignorance of a Muslim who would argue in this manner is compounded, for these men have won the satisfaction of the Almighty God and the immortal heavens they were promised by Almighty God. For victory is not only material gain, but rather adherence to firm principles." This is followed by a religious song and Koranic verses. Then, the video shows another old recorded statement by Usama Bin Ladin, in which he says: "They truly believe that what the Almighty God, Glory to Him, holds in store for them is better than this earthly life. This is not only reflected in their utterances. Rather, they speak about it and have faith in it. This has taken root in their hearts. In their minds and hearts, divine secrets have become like visible things. It is as if they are seeing the heavens of God, Glory be to Him." Video footage of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, and of the Riyadh bombings in May 2003 is then shown. This is followed by a religious song. Then, Usama Bin Ladin says in an old recorded statement: "With respect to Muslims, I would urge them to trust in the victory that will be granted by God, Glory be to Him, and to respond to the commands of God, Glory be to Him, and to the commands of His messenger, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, regarding waging jihad against world infidelity. By God, the happy person is the one who is martyred today. The happy person is the one who is honored by standing under the banner of Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, under the banner of Islam to fight world Crusaders. Let each and every one of them step forward to kill these Jews and Americans, for killing them is one of the most urgent duties and one of the most pious acts. Let them remember the instructions of our prophet, may God's peace and blessings be upon him. For he, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, addressed Ibn-Abbas (a companion of Prophet Muhammad), who was a boy then, saying: O boy. I am teaching some words. Abide by God's commands, and He will safeguard you. Abide by God's commands, and you will find Him next to you. If you ask for something, ask God; and if you seek the help of anybody, ask for God's help. And know that if the whole mankind joins hands, it will fail to bring you any benefits except for that which God has ordained for you, and if the whole mankind joins hands, it will fail to hurt you except for something which God has ordained for you. The pens have been removed, and what has been written has dried up. Do not consult anybody about killing Americans. Forge ahead with God's blessings, and remember what you were promised by God, Glory be to Him, in the company of the best of prophets, may God's peace and blessings be upon him." Then, the commentator on the tape mentions the names of the Saudis killed in "confrontations" with the Saudi troops, saying: "Muslim al-Shamrani, Riyad al-Hajiri, Abd-al-Aziz al-Mi'thim, and Khalid al-Sa'id initiated the plan. They carried out the first operation against the US occupation of our holy lands. But, the agent regime killed them to avenge the occupiers' blasphemous blood." This is followed by a statement by Usama Bin Ladin, who says: "We incited the nation to expel this usurper and occupier enemy from the land of the two holy mosques. Some of the youths responded favorably to this. Among these youths were Khalid alSa'id, Abd-al-Aziz al-Mi'thim, Riyadh al-Hajiri, and Muslih al-Shamrani. We pray to God, Glory be to Him, to accept them as martyrs. They enabled the nation to hold its head high and removed a large part of the disgrace that has enveloped us as a result of the Saudi Government's betrayal and collision with the US Government in allowing the desecration of the land of God, the land of the two holy mosques. We regard these youths as great heroes and mujahidin who walked in the footsteps of our messenger, may God's peace and blessings be upon him. We initiated the instigation, and they responded favorably to this. We pray to God to accept them as martyrs, to bestow patience on their kinfolk, and to turn them into people who can plead with God on their relatives' behalf and on our behalf. May God accept them as martyrs and bestow His mercy on them." The commentator adds: "They were followed by convoys of martyrs and caravans of fedayeen who did not desist from waging jihad against the Crusaders and those who protect them inside and outside our Peninsula. Even in the heartland of the Crusaders, they carried out operations that were really successful by all standards." The commentator goes on to say: "The Crusaders were enraged. As a result, they issued orders to their agents in the region, asking them to accomplish the task in the most evil manner. Thus, campaigns by proxy were initiated to liquidate the free and lofty youths who pledged to sacrifice their lives to serve their faith and expel the Crusaders from the peninsula of Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon him." This is followed by a newscaster of Saudi Television who, citing US Secretary of State Colin Powell, says: "The harm caused here will deter neither the United States nor the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from engaging in joint efforts to pursue this kind of terrorism, its finance resources, its information systems, and its intelligence networks taking advantage of all the security capabilities of the United States and Saudi Arabia." The background video shows Colin Powell during his visit to Riyadh in May 2003 in the aftermath of the bombings that hit Riyadh at that time. This is followed by a statement by Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayif Bin-Abd-al-Aziz, who says: "The method of handling terrorism, even though you already know that we, the Arab states, signed the Arab anti-terror agreement in 1998 (sentence incomplete as heard). By the way, today, and this is an issue that I reviewed with the cabinet, I today raised with the cabinet the issue of endorsing the strategy of combating terrorism prepared by the Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The interior ministers convened a meeting, formed committees, and endorsed this strategy. So, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia endorsed this strategy today." Video shows a seated Saudi interior minister addressing correspondents. The commentator continues: "But, how can a hand that has grown accustomed to treason and lowliness control men who are willing to sacrifice their lives to uphold the cause of God. The price that they obtained is the fact that their dreams of obtaining martyrdom has come true. Yes, they went out seeking death in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and elsewhere in the lands of the Muslims. Nonetheless, they were destined to achieve martyrdom on the lands of the peninsula of Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, and at the hands of their countrymen. May God bless them. May God bless them." This is followed by a religious song starting with the refrain "Allah is Great." The video then shows pictures of several books written by Yusuf al-Ayiri, with the following comments by the commentator: "This young man memorized the Koran and the six books. He is a seasoned military man. He is a genius and theorizer who served jihad with his writings and theorization. He never wavered for a moment from waging jihad by himself and his pen in the various Muslim countries. He is an inspired genius and a miracle of the age. Had he been in another nation, they would not have made him walk on the ground. They would have carried him on their heads. But the tyrants in our country, and in order to serve the Cross, have insisted on killing or capturing him. He chose martyrdom and its virtue over everything else." The video of this portion shows Prince Sultan meeting with Donald Rumsfeld. This is followed by a recorded video statement by Usama Bin Ladin, in which he says: "Also, a book was written by one of the religious students, which is called The Truth of the New Crusader Wars. In this book, he refuted the claims of those who allege that this fighting is not correct. Also, he refuted claims by those who argued that such an action entails negative effects. I read the book. He was successful in his compilation (of religious evidence). May God bless him." The video then shows young men training with the following recorded portion by a speaker over the video. The speaker is identified by the following screen caption "Shaykh Yusuf al-Ayiri, one of the training sessions in the Arabian Peninsula." Al-Ayiri says: "In the first stage, the stage of attrition and engaging the enemy in battle, you need to make your enemy tired more than you need to kill a large number of its members. You need to scatter the enemy, demoralize it, spread it out over a large area, and cause it to get tired. If the enemy is spread out, it will need supply armies and a lot of other things. You need to make the enemy reach this stage. In this stage, you should strike, run, and disappear. Strike at the weak points. If you see your enemy modest, you must make it arrogant. You must appear weak in front of your enemy for some time to make it become arrogant. This is what the brothers in Afghanistan managed to do very skillfully." The video then shows another picture of a bearded young man with the following comment by the commentator: "Turki al-Dandani: a brave man from the nation and one of its heroes. He is an audacious person who does not fear death. Through the unique military experience he acquired from jihad in the countries of the Muslims, he managed to form, along with his fellow mujahidin, a military strike force for jihad in our (Arabian) Peninsula. However, the hand of treachery and treason extended to him and did not hesitate to kill him. In fact, they demolished the mosque over his head when he sought shelter inside it." The video then shows another picture of a bearded young man with the following recorded comment by the narrator: "Ahmad al-Dukhayil: He memorized the Koran and Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim (two well-known books, which contain Prophet Muhammad's authoritative sayings). He is an eloquent preacher. He is a brave man who is not afraid to tell the truth. He translated sermons into actions until he met God as a martyr on Al-Qasim farm." The tape then carries a portion of a speech by the late Arab Afghan leader Abdallah Azzam over a picture of Al-Dandani. Azzam urges people to love death and renounce life in order to uphold religion. He quotes from the Koran. The commentator then introduces another Saudi young man as follows: "Fahd al-Sa'idi: He had a tender heart. He performed worship and fasted a lot. He was known for his gentle attitude toward the believers and tough attitude toward the unbelievers. He acquired extensive experience in manufacturing weapons and explosives. He then won martyrdom. The convoys of heroic martyrs then followed: Sa'ud al-Qurashi, Sultan al-Qahtani, Abd-alRahman Jubarah, Rajih al-Ajmi, Ibrahim al-Nafisi, Abu-Abdallah al-Makki, Ammash al-Subay'i, Kurayim al-Harbi, Muhammad al-Harbi, Isa Khatir, Mit'ib al-Muhayyani. Their blood will always remain a torch that lights the way for those behind them. Indeed the person who said that the blood of a martyr is light and fire has uttered the truth." The speaker on the tape then talks about Abd-al-Ilah al-Utaybi. As the narration begins, the video shows people driving luxury cars speedily. The commentator begins by saying: "He is one of the Muslim youth who had led a life of fun and pleasure, oblivious to what they have been created for. His life went on like that until the zero hour struck." The video then shows the twin towers in New York burning and pictures of the 9/11 attackers. The commentator continues: "The United States was struck in its own backyard. The youth of Islam attacked it on that memorable day. The world turned upside down as a result of this blessed attack. However, a great change overcame the youth of Islam. Many of them returned to guidance, praise be to God and to those young men who died so that their blood would revive their nation once again and make it live as God wanted it. The vanguards of repentant people started. Abd-al-Ilah was one of them. He followed the path of jihad and stuck to it. He left for Afghanistan. In Kandahar, he managed to train with his brothers at the training camps. He then achieved his wish and the wish of the youth of Islam to fight the Americans and their stooges. God honored him with participation in the battles of Shahi Kot (in Afghanistan) in which a number of the soldiers of the Cross were killed. He refused to leave Afghanistan until he was wounded in the shoulder. He then received an order to leave for treatment. He left for Pakistan and then managed to reach the country of Al-Haramayn (Saudi Arabia). This hero returned from a sacred and honorable mission. He returned after performing one of the duties of religion. He returned after he was wounded for the sake of Allah. He returned after he participated in the jihad to repel the attacker who invaded the countries of the Muslims. The entire nation is unanimous on the need to repel this attacker. He arrived in the Arabian Peninsula. But the soldiers of the tyrants, the agents of the United States, captured him at the airport. He was put in prison for several months. His only guilt was that he fought the Cross. When he was released from prison, he did not rest and did not want to lead a relaxed life, especially after he had ascertained the collaboration of those tyrants with the United States." The video then shows Saudi Prince Sultan Bin-Abd-al-Aziz during a meeting with Donald Rumsfeld saying in a recorded statement: "I would like to assert that Bin Ladin is not a Saudi and does not belong to Saudi Arabia. He has been renounced by Saudi Arabia. We hope that our free press would not regard him as a Saudi. He does not belong to Saudi Arabia at all. He is a murderer at any time and place." The commentator then says: "He was disturbed by this, but he had great determination. He joined the mujahidin in the Arabian Peninsula and took part in many training sessions and special courses. He fought at Al-Amanah rest house and performed very well." This is followed by a religious song. The speaker then says: "On Wednesday, 10 Ramadan, he performed prayer late at night and then a raid took place by the emergency forces of a house in Al-Suwaydi neighborhood. He put on his battle gear immediately and fought like a hero until he was wounded in the lower abdomen. He then got down on his knees and fell on his back. One of the brothers asked him to read Al-Shahadah (Muslim declaration of faith, I testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the prophet of Allah). He said it and then his neck tilted while he was smiling. He then died. May God have mercy on you, Abd-al-Ilah, and may God accept you as a martyr." The commentator then praises Abd-al-Ilah al-Utaybi, saying that he performed much worship and fasting and that he sacrificed worldly pleasures for the sake of Allah. He then says that he will leave the viewers "with these words by this hero." The tape then shows a young man surrounded by weapons and reading a will. Al-Utaybi begins by citing Koranic verses and sayings by Prophet Muhammad that call on Muslims to engage in jihad, promising them paradise as a reward. He says: "What are you waiting for O worshippers of God, rise from your slumber, for only through jihad for the sake of God can this disgrace be eliminated." Al-Utaybi then condemns "the tyrant rulers of the age, who in ruling the homeland have failed to observe God's laws, inflicted severe torture on our brother mujahidin, and wreaked havoc on earth." He says: "They were not satisfied with that, for they served the Cross. The servant only cares about receiving his pay, whatever it is. (word indistinct) that obedient servant, who, not satisfied with serving his master, has allowed the Crusaders to gain a foothold among us and occupy our land and wealth. He offered them the land and wealth on a gold platter." "We will fight them (Crusaders) until we drive them out of our land or we get killed; and that is a great victory. I am particularly referring to the Arabian Peninsula, for our prophet, may God's blessings be upon him, had asked that the Jews and Christians be driven out of it. I wonder, brothers, how you still keep it hostage and humiliated under the command of the apostates and their Crusader masters, who devoted their efforts to exterminating Muslims, especially the mujahidin." He says that those who had returned from "jihad" missions are being harmed, their money is being "plundered", and they are asked to sign papers pledging they would not engage in jihad again. Al-Utaybi lashes out at the "evil ulema" and "many mosque preachers" who began speaking against the "mujahidin" after the "Riyadh incidents", calling them "liars and hypocrites." He says that "our brothers did a great deed" and "pursued the path of pride" and "we will follow in their footsteps." Al-Utaybi then talks about the 19 men wanted by the Saudi authorities and whose photos were published in newspapers. He says that the US Government obtained information about them from the Guantanamo prisoners. "America issued orders to the servants, who did not hesitate for a moment to give free rein to the press and media to distort their (the 19 men) images. They were not satisfied with that, so they gave free rein to their ulema and preachers (words indistinct) who issued rulings they never issued against America, which killed (word indistinct) of Muslims. They remained silent about the Jews, Christians, polytheists, infidels, secularists, hypocrites, and apostates among them." He appeals to the ulema "who are known for defending right" to "remind people of the need for freeing prisoners," saying "we are seeking to achieve that end." On what he calls a Crusader campaign against Muslims, Al-Utaybi says: "Here I remind you O Muslims of the blessed 11 September strikes, after which there emerged facts that had been unknown to many. These include the continuation of the Crusader campaign, which had been targeted against a small group of Muslims in Afghanistan. I swear by God that these campaigns will not stop as long as Islam exists. Look at our brothers in Palestine, Chechnya, Bosnia, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and the Philippines. And now they are in captive Iraq." Concluding, Al-Utaybi implores God to "kill all the tyrant rulers" and "destroy" the United States. toolkit.dialog.com/intranet/cgi/present?STYLE=739318018&PRESENT=DB=985,AN=181300E-mail this article al-Qa'ida Statements Collection (Galeropia: Issue One) galeropia.org is a project of why-war.org Al-Qa'ida's Al-Ablaj Warns 'Zero Hour' for Strike Inside US Has Been Set STAFF | World News Connection | December 28, 2003 The US federal authorities' announcement early last week that raised the state of alert to a higher level, "orange color", in anticipation of terrorist attacks coincided with new assertions by al-Qa'ida organization that the zero hour for the anticipated attack inside US territories has been set. Previous electronic messages from al-Qa'ida set the month of Shawwal (started on 25 November), or the period between Id al-Fitr and Id al-Adha, as the date for the strike that it has consistently threatened to carry out. "Let them prepare from now for more sorrows and let them prepare the coffins and the largest number of hospitals and graves. The coming days are full of surprises and major events that will make them an historic example. We will teach them the painful lessons that they will never forget." The latest electronic message from al-Qa'ida organization showed new assertions from the organization's leader of the imminent strike inside US territories and said he would appear later on in a televised speech to speak about this operation. Abu-Muhammad al-Ablaj, an al-Qa'ida leader, said in his new message: "I was talking with the brothers around the shaykh (Usama Bin Ladin) and they asked me to confirm that the strike would be between the two ids, that it would break the back, and would upset the balances." He reiterated previous statements he had made: "Let them prepare from now for more sorrows and let them prepare the coffins and the largest number of hospitals and graves. The coming days are full of surprises and major events that will make them an historic example. We will teach them the painful lessons that they will never forget." The organization's electronic message did not reveal the nature of the attack that they are intending to carry out or the type of weapons that they will use in it. But Al-Ablaj said that he would open the way for an expanded and detailed dialogue with one of this operation's leaders after the implementation. He hinted that the attack would consist of several qualitative and simultaneous strikes inside US territories and other countries he did not name. He said: "We will set them off soon." The US authorities' deployment last week of specialized US military units to look for nuclear and biological weapons in addition to chemical ones in New York, which suffered severe damages on 11 September, and in other US cities reveals that there are real US fears that al-Qa'ida will resort to the use of non-conventional weapons in the anticipated attack inside US territories. This is consistent with the threats that al-Qa'ida officials had repeatedly made that the next strike would exceed in its scale the New York and Washington ones. The USDepth The al-Qa'ida organization persistently refused throughout the period that followed the 11 September bombings to deny or confirm its possession of weapons of mass destruction, though Al-Ablaj did not rule out in his previous messages to "AlMajallah" his organization's resort to poisoning drinking water in one of the US cities and using the lethal Sarin gas against US crowds. Bin Ladin hinted in a meeting with a Pakistani correspondent at al-Qa'ida's possible possession of some nuclear briefcases from some of the former Soviet Union's republics. Though the likely US targets are not known to the US security apparatuses, al-Qa'ida is in return refraining from talking about them or even giving any hints about them, justifying this by the impossibility of revealing such details for security reasons and for maintaining the secrecy of its plans. But it is stressing at the same time that its declaration before implementation of its intention to strike deep inside US territories again, as had happened with the September attacks which took the Americans before the world by surprise, falls within the context of the psychological war and, according to Al-Ablaj, is even part of the steps of their wars on what he called "the alliance of the world crusader-Zionist unbelief" so that al-Qa'ida would expose the failure of "this alliance." Scenarios Previous messages from Al-Ablaj showed preliminary features of hypothetical scenarios of the nature of the strike that the alQa'ida organization might carry out inside US territories through the following points that were contained in these messages: --The operation will be qualitative and distinguished by lethal strikes in depth. --The female suicide bombers are ready (Al-Ablaj's reference to the female suicide bombers in his previous messages coincided with a recent remark by a US security official that Chechen women were ready to carry out suicidal bombings inside New York city). --The sinking of US battleships and the poisoning of US soldiers through what Al-Ablaj's asserted are al-Qa'ida elements inside the US Army and whom he described as ones with blue eyes. He pointed out that they are exactly like Na'im Bin-Mas'ud who hid his conversion to Islam. --A strike on electricity is likely as part of al-Qa'ida's plans, according to the previous messages, to "paralyze" and stun the United States. --The pinpointing of the earthquake fault line inside the United States and then causing explosions on it in several places and points. --The targeting of areas inside the United States where there is strong volcanic action and activating them by humans so that the rocks "will slide" and the catastrophe will start. --The poisoning of a drinking water plant that supplies an entire US city and using the lethal Sarin gas against US human crowds. He pointed out that some Japanese groups had resorted to this way easily. --The strike to be carried out simultaneously with strikes against US and Western embassies in the world. --There will be a strike in winter and one in summer. --The use of what he called the booby-trapped death vehicles and also human bombs, which he said will move freely in the US cities streets. --The existence of a list of US officials to be assassinated. "The suicide bombers' teams have arrived and the weapons, ammunition, explosives, and bombs caches are easy to reach." One can deduce from al-Qa'ida's previous messages these scenarios and the nature of the attack it intends to carry out against the United States. It is gathered from Al-Ablaj's talk that Bin Ladin will appear on videotape after implementation of this operation and that the wagering inside al-Qa'ida is that the destruction that this operation will cause will far exceed the one caused by the 11 September attacks. Bin Ladin will refer in his speech to the success of his followers in striking again deep inside the United States on such a scale and in return show the Americans' failure, locally and externally. Al-Ablaj said: " As I have told you, his appearance this time will have this huge significance and scale. A messenger from him asserted this to me and I am now writing to you with only two persons to carry (messages) between him and me, in other words, from me to you from so and so from Abu-Abdallah." He reiterated: "Dear brother. The days are coming nearer day after day and what is coming is more drastic and more harmful. This is what I can say now and I will provide an opportunity for conducting an expanded and detailed dialogue with one of the operation's leaders after the implementation." Al-Ablaj admitted that al-Qa'ida's recent operations in Riyadh and Istanbul were just to waste the efforts of what he called "the giants of evil and unbelief in the United States." He said: "We are benefiting from the situation that is prevailing in the region and our calculations for the fatal strike deep inside US territories is based on the continuity of this chaos and its intensification in the region." He said he has a message from Bin Ladin to the US President to the effect that he should concentrate his efforts on fighting terrorism against his country as this is more useful and beneficial to him than wasting his efforts in the world, specifically as "they have what will hurt Bush inside his country." Al-Ablaj concluded his message by swearing that the date of the strike has drawn nearer and that the world would see the scale of the destruction that would befall the United States. He said woe unto the West from a harm that has drawn near. (Description of Source: London Al-Majallah in Arabic -- London-based Saudi-owned weekly; sister magazine of Al-Sharq alAwsat newspaper providing independent coverage of Arab and international issues) toolkit.dialog.com/intranet/cgi/present?STYLE=739318018&PRESENT=DB=985,AN=182450E-mail this article al-Qa'ida Statements Collection (Galeropia: Issue One) galeropia.org is a project of why-war.org Transcript: Full Text of Bin Ladin 4 January Audio Message Usama Bin Laden | World News Connection | March 4, 2004 The website of the Islamic Studies and Research Center, located at http://www.pages4free.biz/image333/index.htm, on 4 March 2004 posts the entire text of Usama Bin Ladin's audio message which was broadcast by Doha Al-Jazirah Satellite Channel Television in Arabic on 4 January 2004 "Thanksgiving and praise are due to God alone, we seek aid from Him alone; and we beseech forgiveness of our sins from Him only; and consign ourselves to the protection of God against the evils of our souls and against all offenses. Truly, whomsoever God guides on the straight path -- and He puts him only on the straight path who sincerely desires to walk along that way -- no one can lead him astray. And whomsoever God deflects -- and He deflects only him who yearns to be deflected -- no one can put him on the straight path. And I bear witness that there is no deity except God and I testify that Muhammad is the bondman of God and His Messenger "It has become clear that the rulers are not qualified to apply the religion and defend the Muslims. In fact, they have provided evidence that they are implementing the schemes of the enemies of the nation and religion and that they are qualified to abandon the countries and peoples. Now, after we have known the situation of the rulers, we should examine the policy they have been pursuing. Anyone who examines the policy of those rulers will easily see that they follow their whims and desires and their personal interests and Crusader loyalties." "O Believers, Fear Allah, as He should be duly feared; and die not save you be Muslim" (Koranic verse) From Usama Bin-Muhammad Bin Ladin to his brothers and sisters in the Islamic nation God's peace, prayers, and blessings be upon you. My message to you concerns inciting and continuing to urge for jihad to repulse the grand plots that have been hatched against our nation, especially since some of them have appeared clearly, such as the occupation of the Crusaders, with the help of the apostates, of Baghdad, the house of the caliphate, under the trick of weapons of mass destruction. There is also the fierce attempt to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and destroy jihad and the mujahidin in beloved Palestine by employing the trick of the road map and the Geneva peace initiative. This is in addition to the crusader media campaigns against the Islamic nation. These campaigns show how malicious are the evils they harbor against the nation in general and against the people of the two holy mosques in particular. The Americans' intentions have also become clear in statements about the need to change the beliefs, curricula, and morals of Muslims to become more tolerant, as they put it. In clearer terms, it is a religious-economic war. They want the believers to desist from worshipping God so that they can enslave them, occupy their countries, and loot their wealth. It is strange that they want to dictate democracy and Americanize our culture through their jet bombers. Therefore, what is yet to come is even more malicious and devilish. The occupation of Iraq is a link in the Zionist-Crusader chain of evil. Then comes the full occupation of the rest of the Gulf states to set the stage for controlling and dominating the whole world. For the big powers believe that the Gulf and the Gulf states are the key to controlling the world due to the presence of the largest oil reserves there. The occupation of Baghdad is only one practical step of what the United States has thought of and planned before. The entire region was targeted in the past. It is being targeted now, and will remain so in the future. What have we prepared for that? The Zionist-Crusader campaign on the nation today is the most dangerous and rabid ever since it threatens the entire nation, its religion, and presence. Did Bush not say that it is a Crusader war? Did he not say that the war will continue for many years and target 60 states? Is the Islamic world not around 60 states? Do you not realize this? Did they not say that they want to change the region's ideology, which vents hatred against the Americans? They mean Islam and its peak after all. They know full well that they will not enjoy our wealth and land as long as we remain mujahid Muslims. So, learn this and keep it in your mind. O Muslims: The situation is serious, and the misfortune is momentous. By God, I am keen on safeguarding your religion and your worldly life. You are my brothers in religion and my family in kinship. An honest person would not cheat his people. So, lend me your ears and open up your hearts to me so that we may examine these pitch-black misfortunes, and so that we may consider how we can find a way out of these adversities and calamities. To talk about that, let me tell you what God's messenger Shu'ayb -- may God's peace and prayers be upon him -- told his people: "I only desire your betterment to the best of my power; and my success in my task can only come from Allah. In Him I trust, and unto Him I look." (Koranic verse) In so doing, I seek God's assistance and trust to enforce His will no matter what the consequences are. I seek the truth and fear nobody in championing rightfulness. I am after God's satisfaction even if this angers some people. Our life terms will come to an end and our sustenance is predestined by God. So, why should one fear telling the truth and championing rightfulness? No one should desist from championing jihad when it becomes obligatory except those who have lost their direction, humiliated themselves, and deprived themselves of unmatched reward. Therefore, the first step to emerge from this dilemma is to return to God Almighty, pray for His forgiveness, turn in repentance to Him, and follow the path of his great Koran and the tradition of his faithful messenger, may God's peace and prayers be upon him. We should also look for the main reasons that diverted the march from the straight path from inside and identify the active forces that caused this deviation. We will find, without much effort, that these reasons are the princes, ulema, and preachers of evil, and those who have done injustice to the Islamic action, as well as the media persons of these states and those who followed them. The bitter truth is that the princes have managed to seduce many of the individuals of these groups and muffled the voices of those who refused to join them. Since telling the truth and differentiating between right and falsehood are part of the teachings of the Koran and the prophet's tradition so that people would not mix between falsehood and right and thus stray from the right path, God said: "And cover not Truth with falsehood, nor conceal the Truth when ye know what it is" (Koranic verse) To remove any ambiguity, things have to be called by their true names and described with their religious terms, especially when we talk about the forces that influence the nation's march. This helps us have a clear image of these forces and their actions and makes it easier for us to deal with them since judging things comes after knowing about them. Therefore, religious terms should be used when describing the ruler who does not follow God's revelations and path and champions the infidels by extending military facilities to them or implementing the UN resolutions against Islam and Muslims. Those should be called infidels and renegades. Those forces that consciously support tyrants upon their own free will are partners in the injustice being done to Muslims. I appeal to the people of the Islamic action to oust their leaders who supported those tyrants and select strong and honest leaders who can shoulder their duties under the current difficult circumstances and defend the Islamic nation. The media persons who belittle the religious duties such as jihad and other rituals are atheists and renegades. This is as far as those forces that have diverted the course of our march from inside are concerned. As to how to resist these enemy forces from outside, we must look back at the previous Crusader wars against our countries to learn lessons that will help us confront this onslaught, understand the most important causes of these attacks, and learn how they were repulsed and resisted. I say that the West's occupation of our country is old, yet new, and that the confrontation and conflict between us and them started centuries ago. The confrontation and conflict will continue because the conflict between right and falsehood will continue until Judgment Day. Such a confrontation is good for both the countries and peoples. God says: "And did not Allah check one set of people by means of another, the earth would indeed be full of mischief." (part of Koranic verse) Those who interpret the Koran say that this verse means that had the believers not fought the infidels, the latter would have defeated the believers and the earth would have been corrupted by their ill deeds. So, pay attention to the importance of conflict. There can be no dialogue with the occupiers except with weapons. If we look at the nature of the conflict between us and the West, we find that when they invaded our countries more than 2,500 years ago they did not have a sound religion or ethics. Their motive was to steal and plunder. Our ancestors in Bilad al-Sham (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine) remained under occupation for more than 10 decades. We defeated them only after the mission of our Prophet Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon him. It was the true commitment to Islam that reshaped the Arab character, liberated it from the preIslamic concepts, enlightened the hearts and minds, and released energies. Neither the Arabs nor anybody else could stand in the face of the battalions of faith at the time. The Persians, Tatarians, Turks, Romans, and Berbers collapsed in front of the shouts of God is great. We were the pioneers of the world. We rescued the people from worshipping people to worshipping the God of people, praise be to him. When our adherence to our religion weakened and our rulers became corrupt, we became weak and the Romans (Western Christians) returned by waging their infamous Crusader wars. They occupied the Al-Aqsa Mosque, but after 90 years we regained our strength when we returned to our religion. Thus, with the help of God, we regained the Al-Aqsa Mosque at the hands of a wise leader who pursued a sound approach. The leader was Salah-al-Din, may God bestow his mercy on him, and the approach was Islam, whose peak is jihad in the cause of God. This is what we need today and should seek to do. Islamic countries in the past century were not liberated from the Crusaders' military occupation except through jihad in the cause of God. Under the pretext of fighting terrorism, the West today is doing its utmost to tarnish jihad and kill anyone seeking jihad. The West is supported in this endeavor by hypocrites. This is because they all know that jihad is the effective power to foil all their conspiracies. Jihad is the path, so seek it. This is because if we seek to deter them by any means other than Islam, we would be like the one who goes round in circles. We would also be like our forefathers, the Al-Ghasasinah (people who lived in a state historically located in the northwest of the Persian empire). The concern of their seniors was to be appointed officers for the Romans and to be named kings in order to safeguard the interests of the Romans by killing their brothers of the peninsula's Arabs. Such is the case of the new Al-Ghasasinah; namely, Arab rulers. Muslims: If you do not punish them for their sins in Jerusalem and Iraq, they shall defeat you because of your failure. They will also rob you of the land of Al-Haramayn (Mecca and Medina). Today (they robbed you) of Baghdad and tomorrow they will rob you of Riyadh and so forth unless God deems otherwise. Sufficient unto us is God. What then is the means to stop this tremendous onslaught? As you may recall, the nation had made several attempts in the recent decades to resist the Zionist-Crusader alliance to liberate Palestine. The republics and kingdoms embraced several earthly religions in the region, like pan-Arabism, socialism, communism, democracy, and other doctrines. These material forces have proved beyond any shadow of doubt that they surrendered to the US-led Crusader-Zionist alliance. The people followed these forces for a long time only to find they are still at square one. We have had enough of chasing mirages. Stop manipulating the peoples' minds. In such hard times, some reformers maintain that all popular and official forces should unite, and that all government forces should unite with all their peoples. Everyone would do what is needed from him in order to ward off this Crusader-Zionist onslaught. The question strongly raised is: Are the governments in the Islamic world capable of pursuing this duty of defending the faith and nation and renouncing allegiance to the United States? Let us have an objective look at these governments' history with regard to the nation's crucial issues to understand their policies so that we will not be led to a dead-end and so that we will not experience what had been experienced for many decades. 1. Their (the governments) position on the Crusader aggression in World War I: When they (the Crusaders) attacked the Islamic world and sought to topple the Ottoman state, these rulers rose up against the Ottoman state, divided the Muslims, and made an effective contribution in terms of fighting this state, thus leading to its fall under the Crusader occupation and division into more than 50 countries. The prominent role in this treason was played by King Abd-al-Aziz al-Sa'ud and Al-Sharif Husayn and his sons. 2. The Palestine Question: The position of these rulers toward this pivotal issue for nine decades has been based on pledging to the British to allow the Jews to establish a state on the land of Palestine, letting down the people of Palestine, and misleading them on several occasions to lay down their weapons. The most prominent of these attempts was made by King Abd-al-Aziz al-Sa'ud. When the Zionist organization, or the so-called United Nations, issued its resolution on dividing Palestine and establishing a Jewish state in it, the Arab rulers stood idly by. They even remained members in this organization until today. They have done nothing, except for shameful actions, to prevent this from happening. A fabricated war erupted after the Jewish state was established one year after the issuance of the resolution of partitioning (Palestine). Then, the Arab rulers agreed to sign a temporary truce in response to the request of the United States, which asked them to sign a permanent truce after one year. Thus, they almost buried alive Palestine and its people, but God protected them. The conspiracies continued, including the Madrid conference and what came after it. The efforts continued to abort the first intifadah. In the Sharm al-Shaykh conference in 1416 Hegira, corresponding to 1996, they supported the Jews and Christians against our oppressed people in Palestine. In addition, the Beirut initiative recognized the Jews and a large part of the land they occupied in Palestine. The most recent conspiracy is the road map. In the course of these conspiracies, they give some money to the people of Palestine to throw dust in the eyes. History attests that they have restored nothing of Palestine during the past nine decades. What is surprising, and disgusting as well, is the position of those rulers toward the families of the mujahidin who carried out martyrdom operations. While these families were expecting good deeds from them, they met them with evil. Not only did they condemn the martyrdom operations, but they also came up with something that is more annoying and distressing. Look at the conditions of these families in Palestine as well as the conditions of our sisters the widows, whose husbands were killed by the Jews. Some of them sacrificed their sons for the sake of Islam and Islamic sanctuaries. After the possessors of thrones and armies abandoned them, the Jewish soldiers came to corrupt the land of Jerusalem, destroy the agricultural lands, and kill the people. They forced the Palestinian widow to leave her house and destroyed its contents, not allowing her to take her precious possessions. She became homeless on roadsides, and tears filled her eyes not knowing where to take her children and those of her son -- whom we consider a martyr but God knows best -- as a result of her suffering and dire distress. Thanks to God, some kindhearted people from the land of the two holy shrines (Saudi Arabia) and other countries were sending alms to the families of those widows and orphans to ease their suffering and distress. Unfortunately, the conceited, arrogant prince, Abdallah Bin-Abd-al-Aziz, ordered that these well-doers be prevented from sending money to these families so that the martyrdom operations would stop. What kind of heart is that to issue such an order? Is it a heart of a human being, or is it a heart made of stone? What kind of meanness is that to prevent small amounts of money from reaching a widow, an orphan, or a poor person? Can such cruel-hearted people bring us good or defend our countries and peoples? Those hypocrites, worshippers of money, claim that they are our leaders and will defend us. I am surprised how those calling for reform say that the way to righteousness and defending our countries and peoples comes through these apostate leaders. I say to these people: If you have an excuse preventing you from jihad, it should not give you the right to stand beside those unjust leaders and thus be responsible for your sins and those of whom you misled. Fear God for your sake and for your nation's sake. God does not need your flattery and praise for the tyrants for the sake of His religion. God almighty says: So hearken not to those who deny the truth, their desire is that thou shouldst be pliant, so would they be pliant (Koranic verse). It is better for a person to be at the bottom of right than to be at the peak of wrong. 3. The Gulf states proved their total inability to resist the Iraqi forces. They sought help from the Crusaders, led by the United States, as is well known. How can these states stand up to the United States and the Iraqi forces, which are being formed these days under the US command? The decision made by Jabir al-Sabah (the Kuwaiti amir) and his comrades following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait -- when they fled the country -- is the same decision that will be made by all the Gulf rulers, unless they reach an agreement with the United States to leave their thrones and be given other jobs to deceive the people and protect US interests, pledging not to ask about oil revenues, as happened with their agents in the transitional Iraqi Governing Council (IGC). What proves their defeatism and submission to the occupier is their acceptance to receive IGC members and cooperate with them. In short, these states came to America's help and backed it in its attack against an Arab state which is bound to them by covenants of joint defense agreements. These covenants were reiterated at the Arab League just a few days before the US attack, only to violate them in full. This shows their positions on the nation's basic causes. 4. These regimes wavered too much before taking a stand on using force and attacking Iraq. At times they totally rejected participation and at other times they linked this with UN agreement. Then they went back to their first option. In fact, the lack of participation was in line with the domestic desire of these states. However, they finally submitted and succumbed to US pressure and opened their air, land, and sea bases to contribute toward the US campaign, despite the immense repercussions of this move. Most important of these repercussions is that this is a sin against one of the Islamic tenets and high treason against the nation. This move would also stir up popular anger and pave the way for bringing down these treacherous, apostate, and powerless regimes. Most important and dangerous in their view was that they feared that the door would be open for bringing down dictatorial regimes by armed forces from abroad, especially after they had seen the arrest of their former comrade in treason and agentry to the United States when it ordered him to ignite the first Gulf war against Iran, which rebelled against it. The war consumed everything and plunged the area into a maze from which it has not emerged to this day. The wars that followed were repercussions of this war. They are aware that their turn will come. They do not have the will to make the difficult decision to confront the aggression, in addition to their belief that they do not possess the material resources for that. Indeed, they were prevented from establishing a large military force when they were forced to sign secret pledges and documents long ago. 5. What shows their position toward the nation's causes is the support they provided to the United States by opening their bases to contribute to its crusader campaign against Afghanistan. It is an obvious support for the infidels against an Islamic country. This is a cardinal sin that renders one an infidel. 6. One of the obvious facts that showed what kind of position the Gulf rulers were ready to take when they came under US pressure to hand over oil fields to the United States was their collective support for Zayid's Initiative, which called on Saddam Husayn to hand over Iraq, its people, and its oil to the United States; to leave power; and to accept to be given political asylum under the pretext of sparing the Iraqi people the bloodshed. Sa'ud al-Faysal repeatedly and shamelessly underlined this principle. Ostensibly, and based on what has been said, this apparently shows that if they come under US pressure and face a US desire to occupy the oil regions, the Gulf rulers, including the Riyadh ruler, will take the same stand. 7. The most obvious reflection of the rulers' stand vis-a-vis repulsing the aggression is the stand taken by their leader, which manifested itself when US tanks entered the Arabian Peninsula and its waters were disturbed by the Crusader aircraft carriers that were carrying the most sophisticated ammunitions and weapons to occupy the region. Their leader, who taught them submission, came out to address the public to instill into the nation submission, humiliation, and subjugation, and say: These troop concentrations are not for war. How shameful? If you do not know, that is a calamity. If you do, the calamity is greater. (line of poetry) In short, the ruler who believes in some of the above-mentioned deeds cannot defend the country. How can he do so if he believes in all of them and has done that time and again? Those who believe in the principle of supporting the infidels against Muslims and leave the blood, honor, and property of their brothers to be easy prey for their enemy in order to remain safe, claiming that they love their brothers but are being forced to take such a path -- of course this compulsion cannot be regarded as legitimate from the shari'ah point of view -- are in fact qualified to take the same course against one another in the Gulf states. Indeed, this principle is liable to be embraced within the same state itself. For example, the Riyadh ruler is capable of abandoning the eastern, central, and other provinces to the Americans. Likewise, he is capable of abandoning the northern province and part of the western province to Jews in exchange for keeping Jazan, Samitah, and Abu Arish. Those who read and understood the history of kings throughout history know that they are capable of committing more than these concessions, except those who enjoyed the mercy of God. Indeed, the rulers have practically started to sell out the sons of the land by pursuing and imprisoning them and by unjustly and wrongly accusing them of becoming like the Al-Khawarij sect (a rebellious Islamic group in early Islam) who held Muslims to be infidels and went to excess in killing them. We hold them to be martyrs. Sufficient unto them is God. All this happened before the Riyadh explosions in Rabi al-Awwal of this year (around May 2003), which the regime advances as a pretext. This campaign came within a drive to implement the US orders in the hope that they will win its satisfaction even though it was the regime which provoked the youths by opening the country for the Crusaders in violation of religion, in disregard for the Muslims' sentiments, and in defiance of the manliness of the men of the two holy mosques. Consequently, it was the regime which really disturbed security. Because this message cannot accommodate all my thoughts in this regard, I discussed this issue in a special message addressed to the lands of the two holy mosques which I hope will reach you soon. What sums up the situation of the nation, the ferocious attacks of the enemies against it, the treason of the atheistic rulers, their betrayal of religion, their tyrannical treatment of their peoples, and the failure of Islamic groups to wage jihad are the following lines of poetry which are mostly written by Dr Yusuf Abu-Hilalah, who says: The great nation has become a play thing in the hands of the priest and rabbi. It is like a nation that, in terms of standing, makes no difference regardless of whether it remains idle or stands up. Now that calamities are eliminating it, its leaders are sitting on their thrones as skeletons and bones. Jerusalem, woe unto Jerusalem, its chastity has been desecrated, and Muslims have chosen not to engage in jihad. Baghdad, O house of caliphate, woe unto you, why has your chastity been defiled by rabble? Why did those who betrayed their religion yesterday choose to turn a blind eye to the raids on your sanctuaries? Are you assaulting lions when dealing with peoples, and rabbits and ostriches when it comes to dealing with Jews? I no longer have a home whose shelter I can seek, for my homeland has been desecrated and set on fire. O my nation, I am a bird who has seen a thicket, may I sing? Will I be blamed if I do? Am I to blame if I present you with a fact; namely, that the rulers are our mortal enemies? They are unbelievers; yet, they are called the servants and imams of Muslims. They pretend to be our support, when, in point of fact, they are our disease and death. The Crusaders' army has enveloped the universe, where are the pious, magnanimous, and audacious men? (Lines of poetry) Based on the above, the extent of the real danger, which the region in general and the Arabian Peninsula in particular, is being exposed to, has appeared. It has become clear that the rulers are not qualified to apply the religion and defend the Muslims. In fact, they have provided evidence that they are implementing the schemes of the enemies of the nation and religion and that they are qualified to abandon the countries and peoples. Now, after we have known the situation of the rulers, we should examine the policy they have been pursuing. Anyone who examines the policy of those rulers will easily see that they follow their whims and desires and their personal interests and Crusader loyalties. Commitment to Islam is not one of the constants in their policies and religious practices. They believe in a part of the Book and reject the rest in conformity with their whims to keep their thrones, which is a grievous act of infidelity, as the Almighty God demonstrates in the following Koranic verse: Then is it only a part of the Book that ye believe in, and do ye reject the rest? But what is the reward for those among you who behave like this but disgrace in this life?- and on the Day of Judgment they shall be consigned to the most grievous penalty. For Allah is not unmindful of what ye do. (Koranic verse) To them, the only major constant is keeping the seat of power. Therefore, the flaw does not involve a secondary issue, such as personal corruption that is confined to the palace of the ruler. The flaw is in the very approach. This occurred when a malicious belief and destructive principle spread in most walks of life, so that absolute supremacy and obedience became for the ruler, and not for the religion of God. This means that slavery is for the ruler and not for Almighty God. This is the important reality that the rulers manipulate even if they use Islam as a cover in some countries especially after they assigned an army of ulema, preachers, writers, and the entire mass media for about a century to exaggerate the meaning of obedience to the ruler away from the restrictions to this concept stipulated in God's religion. Therefore, the ruler became an idol that is worshipped instead of God -- as the situation in the land of two holy mosques (Saudi Arabia). If any of the ulema refuses to flatter the rulers his fate will be prison until he is forced to flatter. In other countries they used parliaments and democracy as a cover. Thus, the situation of all Arab countries suffers from great deterioration in all walks of life, in religious and worldly matters. It is enough to know that the economy of all Arab countries is weaker than the economy of one country that had once been part of our (Islamic) world when we used to truly adhere to Islam. That country is the lost Andalusia. Spain is an infidel country, but its economy is stronger than our economy because the ruler there is accountable. In our countries, there is no accountability or punishment but there is only obedience to the rulers and prayers of long life for them. We have reached this miserable situation because many of us lack the correct and comprehensive understanding of the religion of Islam. Many of us understand Islam to mean performing some acts of worship, such as prayer and fasting. Despite the great importance of these rituals, the religion of Islam encompasses all the affairs of life, including the religious and the worldly, such as economic, military, and political affairs, as well as the scales by which we weigh the actions of men -- rulers, ulema, and others -- and how to deal with the ruler in line with the rules set by God for him and which the ruler should not violate. These rules also include enacting legislation contrary to God's will, allegiance to infidels and supporting them against Muslims, or tampering with, or embezzling huge amounts of the nation's money. Many people think that this is part of the ruler's authority and do not know that these actions by the ruler are some of the cardinal sins in our Sharia that should not be accepted. Furthermore, enacting legislation contrary to God's will by the ruler and his allegiance to the infidels constitute a greater atheism that drives the person who does them away from faith, which necessitates rising against him after good preparation. Had they read the Koran and Prophet Muhammad's traditions and had they learned lessons from them, which is what we should do, this would have become very clear to them in several texts. Among these texts is a hadith by Uday Bin-Hatim, who converted to Christianity before Islam, and who thought, as many people think, that following the leaders and ulema in allowing what has been forbidden by God and banning what has been allowed by God is not worship of these leaders and ulema and is not atheism, because this does not mean praying or fasting for them. However, when Bin-Hatim came to the messenger of God, peace be upon him, while he was reading this Koranic verse: "They take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of Allah" he said that he told the prophet: They did not worship them. The prophet answered: Yes, but they forbade what is allowed and allowed what has been forbidden and followed them. Therefore, this is what they worship. Be careful with this verse, because this verse and that hadith clearly show that obedience to the ruler, a scholar, or anyone else in allowing what has been forbidden by God and banning what God has allowed is tantamount to worshipping them rather than God. This is a greater polytheism and drives the person away from faith, may God protect us and you from this. This is what Almighty God disassociated himself of when he says: "Praise and glory to Him: (Far is He) from having the partners they associate (with Him)." (Koranic verse) after he says: "yet they were commanded to worship but One Allah. There is no god but He." (Koranic verse). This shows that issuing legislation concerning what is allowed and what is banned is a type of worship. This is one of the most important traits of God and one of the most important prerequisites for testifying that there is no god but Allah, the first and most important pillar of Islam. This is a serious warning to those who think that Islam is mere words uttered in which one testifies that there is no god but Allah, while they do not know that these words have requirements that if they do not heed, they would not be committed to the testimony that there is no goThe gist here is that the absence of a comprehensive understanding of God's religion as a system for all walks of life, including Islam's way of holding the rulers accountable -- because if they follow God's religion things become good for the country and the people -- is one of the greatest flaws in the nation at present. We should be fully aware of this issue and start the reform march today in order to follow the right path, God willing. We should not continue in this wrong path for another century. One of the beneficial books that explained the previous Koranic verse is Kitab al-Iman (the book of faith) by Shaykh IbnTaymiyah, may God have mercy on his soul; and also the book titled Fath al-Mujid by Shaykh Abd-al-Rahman Bin-Hasan Al alShaykh, may God have mercy on his soul; and the book entitled Concepts that Should be Corrected by Shaykh Muhammad Qutb. These showed that the rulers are incapable and traitors and that they have not followed the right path of Islam but followed their wishes and lusts and this is the reason for the setbacks in the nation's march during the past decades. Therefore, it becomes clear to us that the solution lies in adhering to the religion of God, by which God granted us pride in the past centuries, and installing a strong and faithful leadership that applies the Koran among us and raises the true banner of jihad. The honest people who are concerned about this situation, such as the ulema, leaders who are obeyed among their people, dignitaries, notables, and merchants should get together and meet in a safe place away from the shadow of these suppressive regimes and form a council for Ahl al-Hall wa al-Aqd (reference to honest, wise, and righteous people who can appoint or remove a ruler in Islamic tradition) to fill the vacuum caused by the religious invalidation of these regimes and their mental deficiency. The right to appoint an imam (leader) is for the nation. The nation also has the right to make him correct his course if he deviates from it and to remove him if he does something that warrants this, such as apostasy and treason. This temporary council should be made up of the minimum number of available personnel, who should be tough on the rest of the nation, except what the religion allows in case of necessity, until the number is increased when the situation improves, God willing. Their policy should be based on the book of God and the tradition of his prophet, God's peace and blessings be upon him. They should start by directing Muslims to the important priorities at this critical stage and lead them to a safe haven, provided that their top priority should be uniting opinions under the word of monotheism and defending Islam and its people and countries and urging Muslims to carry out jihad and prepare for it. The people should be given easy access to arms, particularly light weapons; anti-armored rockets, such as RPG's; and tank mines; as well as the declaration of a general mobilization in the nation to prepare for repulsing the raid of the Romans, which started in Iraq and no one knows where it will end. God suffices us and He is the best supporter. My brothers in faith, we should be certain that our success and happiness in this world and in the hereafter lies in implementing Islam and carrying out jihad. Our pride and happiness lie in them based on the true prophet's saying, which was told by AbuDawud citing Ibn-Umar, may God be pleased with them. The prophet, may God's prayer and peace be upon him says: "If you practiced Tabaiya al Ainiya (i.e. selling goods to a person for a certain price and then buying them back from him for a far lesser price), followed the tails of cows, satisfied yourselves with agriculture, and abandoned jihad, Allah will cover you with humiliation and will not remove it until you return to your religion." Caliph Umar told Abu-Ubaydah, may God be pleased with them: "We are a people whom God made powerful with Islam and if we seek strength from other sources God will humiliate us." Therefore the advocates of reform should know that reforming and uniting the nation under Islam cannot be achieved through lectures and books only, but there should be a practical plan involving the entire nation each according to his own capabilities, beginning with prayer to God and ending with fighting in the cause of God, for fighting in the cause of God is an indivisible part of our religion. In fact, it is the peak of religion. So, how can religion survive without its peak? It is a pressing need for our nation's life, glory, and survival. Although our enemy lies, it tells the truth when it says: You fight, so you exist. This is what they teach their children, but they tell us the contrary. Moreover, fighting is a need for the survival of big powers. Just read history if you want, including the history of America. It (the United States) ignited dozens of wars throughout six decades only. This is because that was one of its most pressing needs. When the United States makes a sincere decision to stop wars in the world then it knows before anyone else that that day will mark the beginning of its collapse and the disintegration of its states. This day is coming, God willing. So, beware of any call for laying down arms on the pretext of achieving peace. This is because this will be a call for humiliating us. Only a hypocrite or an ignorant person can promote such calls. Before concluding, I urge the Muslim youths to carry out jihad, particularly in Palestine and Iraq. I also call on them to be patient and pious, and to weaken the enemy by inflicting wounds on it, along with protecting Muslims during this. They also should be careful not to expand on applying the law regarding the use of human shields, for this should be left to their honest ulema on a case by case basis. We beseech God to grant us victory through patience and piety. May God make us patient and pious. Concluding, I would like to say a few words to Muslim youths, words which we heard from your grandfathers who had been tested by events throughout many years in Palestine, and who had been witness to many initiatives, conspiracies, calamities, and calls for peace. I just want to remind you of these words. These are: My son, they will talk to you about peace, do not listen to such calls, because although I once believed them I am still living in a tent. And Allah hath full power and control over His affairs; but most among mankind know it not. (Koranic verse) "Our Lord! Give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and defend us from the torment of the Fire!" (Koranic verse) O God, I beseech you to strengthen the mujahidin everywhere, particularly in Palestine, Iraq, Kashmir, Chechnya, and Afghanistan. We beseech God to grant them success, to strengthen them, to unite their ranks, and to grant them victory over their enemies, especially since no one grants them victory except Almighty God. O God, we beseech you to put this nation's feet firmly on the right path in order to strengthen those who obey you and to humiliate those who disobey you. Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds. (Koranic verse) May God's prayer and peace be on the last of prophets and messengers. toolkit.dialog.com/intranet/cgi/present?STYLE=739318018&PRESENT=DB=985,AN=185750E-mail this article al-Qa'ida Statements Collection (Galeropia: Issue One) galeropia.org is a project of why-war.org Transcript: Qaeda Leader Deplores Muslims' 'Renunciation' of Jihad STAFF | World News Connection | January 5, 2004 The "Islamic Terrorism," an online Jihadist chatroom and news network, located at www.alerhap.com, was observed on 6 January 2004 to post links featuring a 60-minute "audio message by Abu-Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, commander of the mujahidin in Iraq and the person who tops the US wanted list, addressed to the Muslim nation." Al-Zarqawi's real name is Ahmad Fadil Nazzal al-Khalayilah. "You must know that what prevents you from joining jihad is nothing but your soul and Satan. If you hope to live a long life and fear death, then you must know that death is inevitable. You should not fear the path that you must tread." Additional Links TakeAction The following is the translated text of the audio message: Praise be to God. We praise Him, seek His help and His forgiveness. We seek the protection of God from the evils of our own souls and from our bad deeds. Nobody will be able to misguide those who are guided by God, and those who are destined to be misguided will have nobody to guide them. I testify that there is no God but Allah, having no partner with Him; that Muhammad is His servant and messenger; and that he communicated the message and fulfilled the trust and was honest in the counsel he offered the Ummah (Muslim nation or community). He left the Ummah on an uncultivated straight path: Its night is just like its daylight. Whoever budges from this path is doomed. "O ye who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam." (Koranic verse) "O mankind! reverence your Guardian-Lord, who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, His mate, and from them twain scattered (like seeds) countless men and women;- reverence Allah, through whom ye demand your mutual (rights), and (reverence) the wombs (That bore you): for Allah ever watches over you." (Koranic verse) "O ye who believe! Fear Allah, and (always) say a word directed to the Right: That He may make your conduct whole and sound and forgive you your sins: He that obeys Allah and His Messenger, has already attained the highest achievement." (Koranic verses) God may bring together two displaced men who might have thought that they would never meet. (a line of poetry) O brothers in approach and comrades, O beloved ones of my soul: I address you while the longing to you spurs me on, and while there is still hope that God will bring about a reunion and that the group will gather once again along the path of obeying God and jihad in His cause. I address you while waiting the day when you will renew the old amity and rehabilitate the old fraternity. O brothers: My love for you is no longer a secret. How can this be a secret while my two eyes speak of this love? With the love of the Almighty God, I love you. I harbor for you a love that is shinning on the sides of my heart. Each individual has a place in my heart. Even though the heart is small, it has space for everybody. (lines of poetry) I address you after the approvers and backers have become in short supply, after the wounds have multiplied and the misfortune has worsened, and after many pioneering knights and legendary heroes have passed away. God has spared us for a reason that He knows. We pledge to the Almighty God and to you to remain a thorn in the throats of the oppressors, a sword that is drawn against the necks of the unjust, and soldiers for Islam to defend Muslim lands. We will surmount difficulties to fight in its cause. Similarly, we are ready to sacrifice ourselves until either God grants victory for our religion or until we die. I address you as a compassionate man, as an admonisher, and as a sad person who is puzzled as to why people such as you failed to join the caravan and lagged behind to stay alive. You failed to mobilize even though the Crusaders came to you fully equipped and in huge numbers and fought you in unison. Where is the talk of old times, the nightly chats, the wounds of the days, and the sighs of those who yearn to jihad, paradise, and black-eyed maidens? Do you accept to be a bad example? The Almighty God says: "Hast thou not turned Thy vision to those who were told to hold back their hands (from fight) but establish regular prayers and spend in regular charity? When (at length) the order for fighting was issued to them, behold! A section of them feared men as -- or even more than -- they should have feared Allah." They said: "Our Lord! Why hast Thou ordered us to fight? Wouldst Thou not Grant us respite to our (natural) term, near (enough)?" Say: "Short is the enjoyment of this world: the Hereafter is the best for those who do right: Never will ye be dealt with unjustly in the very least! Wherever ye are, death will find you out, even if ye are in towers built up strong and high!" (Koranic verses) Here is the United States coming fully equipped and in large numbers. It has come with its pride and haughtiness to fight God and His messenger. Where are the lions that are capable of experiencing inconvenience, the knights of the field, the heroes of monotheism, and the men of the creed? "Is it not possible, if ye were commanded to fight, that ye will not fight?" They said: "How could we refuse to fight in the cause of Allah, seeing that we were turned out of our homes and our families?" "But when they were commanded to fight, they turned back, except a small band among them. But Allah Has full knowledge of those who do wrong." (Koranic verses) In the past, our imams said: If you want to know your standing, examine the actions that you are carrying out thanks to God's predestination. Blessed be the person who is inspired by God to engage in jihad, in fighting His enemies, and in inciting against them. The Almighty God says: "Then fight in Allah's cause - Thou art held responsible only for thyself - and rouse the believers. It may be that Allah will restrain the fury of the Unbelievers; for Allah is the strongest in might and in punishment." (Koranic verse) The Almighty God says: "O Messenger. rouse the Believers to the fight." (part of a Koranic verse) The Almighty God also says: "O ye who believe! Shall I lead you to a bargain that will save you from a grievous Penalty? That ye believe in Allah and His Messenger, and that ye strive (your utmost) in the Cause of Allah, with your property and your persons: That will be best for you, if ye but knew! He will forgive you your sins, and admit you to Gardens beneath which Rivers flow, and to beautiful mansions in Gardens of Eternity: that is indeed the Supreme Achievement. And another (favour will He bestow,) which ye do love,- help from Allah and a speedy victory. So give the Glad Tidings to the Believers." (Koranic verses) Bin-Majah, citing Kurayb, relates that he heard Usama Bin-Zayd saying: The messenger of God, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, said: Has anybody rolled up his sleeves and dress to be qualified to enter paradise? There are no perils in paradise. I swear by the God of the Kaaba that it is a shining light, a moving sweet basil, a palace that is built up and high, a flowing river, a ripe fruit, a good-looking and beautiful wife, many garments, eternal abode in an unblemished place, fruits, vegetables, silk shawls, and a life of ease in a lofty and magnificent place. They (the companions of the prophet in attendance) said: "Yes, O messenger of God. We are rolling up our sleeves and dresses for it." He said: Say God willing, and so did the men. He then spoke of jihad and incited jihad. In a mawquf (restricted) hadith, Ali (Bin-Abi-Talib) cited Prophet Muhammad as saying: Whoever incites his brother to engage in jihad will have the same reward as his brother. Whenever this brother takes a step along the path of jihad, the inciter will be given the same rewards given to a Muslim who worships God over one whole year. O my folks, the clouds of victory will not cause rainfall unless there is an extremely generous and audacious generation. Take up arms and respond to the call, for there is no comfort in a life of misery. The trunk is Meccan and the branch is Ansari (one of the holy Medina residents who backed Prophet Muhammad when the Quraysh tribe persecuted him in the early years of Islam). The banner of monotheism still flutters, and the extremely sharp edge of the sword is honed. (Lines of poetry) We were pained, and our livers were ulcerated when we saw that the traces of jihad have disappeared, that its lights are not being seen by mankind, and that its nights have become dark after they were moonlit. Its days have become dark even though they were illuminated. Its branches, which were leafy, have dried up. Its beauty, which was shining, has shriveled. Its doors have been closed. They are not being knocked. The rationale for jihad has been overlooked and left unheeded. Its horses have been standing with one foot slightly raised: They are not running. Its lions are lying down with the chest to the ground: They are not rising up. The servile infidels have extended their hands to hurt Muslims, but these hands were not gripped. The swords were put in their scabbards instead of being used to fight the enemies of the religion. This was prompted by a desire to lead a life of meekness and security. The general call to arms addressed to them was muted even though it was a cry addressed to the believers. The bride of the martyrs has almost become a widow because nobody asked for her hand in marriage. People overlooked jihad as if they are not called upon to engage in jihad. Everybody has either overlooked jihad, been burdened by the ephemeral bliss of the worldly life demonstrating a dislike for jihad, or renounced jihad because he is afraid and scared of death. He might have shunned jihad because he does not want to spend money on jihad or because he is greedy. He might have been ignorant of the generous rewards for jihad; he might have preferred the worldly life to the afterlife. "But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the Hereafter." (Part of a Koranic verse) O brothers in creed: How are you rationalizing things? You are supposed to be the advocates of right. O, people of honesty: What is the cause of this renunciation (of jihad)? Is it the kinfolk, children, and dwelling places? The Almighty God says: "Say: If it be that your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your mates, or your kindred; the wealth that ye have gained; the commerce in which ye fear a decline: or the dwellings in which ye delight - are dearer to you than Allah, or His Messenger, or the striving in His cause;- then wait until Allah brings about His decision: and Allah guides not the rebellious." (Koranic verses) The Author of Al-Mashari book elaborated on this noble Koranic verse, which contains warnings and threats to those who give up jihad and remain content with their families and wealth. So, the wise should derive a lesson from this verse. God says: "Ye who believe! What is the matter with you, that, when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, ye cling heavily to the earth? Do ye prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the Hereafter. (Koranic verse) Al-Qurtubi, may God bestow mercy upon him, said that this verse rebukes (the believers) for leaving jihad and becoming immersed in the pleasures of life. God says: "Those who were left behind (in the Tabuk expedition) rejoiced in their inaction behind the back of the Messenger of Allah. They hated to strive and fight, with their goods and their persons, in the cause of Allah. They said, 'Go not forth in the heat.' Say, 'The fire of Hell is fiercer in heat.' If only they could understand! Let them laugh a little: much will they weep: a recompense for the (evil) that they do. If, then, Allah bring thee back to any of them, and they ask thy permission to come out (with thee), say: 'Never shall ye come out with me, nor fight an enemy with me: for ye preferred to sit inactive on the first occasion: Then sit ye (now) with those who lag behind.' Nor do thou ever pray for any of them that dies, nor stand at his grave; for they rejected Allah and His Messenger, and died in a state of perverse rebellion." (Koranic verses) Consider this strong warning. Look at the severe disgrace and bad fate of those who fail to engage in jihad and hate to spend money for the sake of jihad. Although these verses referred to certain people, they contained a warning and threat to those who do the same and shirk jihad as those people did. This is such an ugly deed. The warning is very strong. Is there worse failure than this failure? So, you have to fear God and those who disobey God's orders must beware of his punishment. The author of Al-Mashari book said: You, who do not engage in jihad, which is a duty, and fail to pursue the path of success, must know that you will be distanced (from God) and will not achieve your aspirations. You have refrained from fighting, joining the battles of heroes, and spending money for the sake of God, because you had great hopes in life, feared death, and did not want to leave a beloved one, wealth, children, brother, relative, intimate friend, a pretty wife, a high position, a palace, nice clothes, or good food. Nothing else would prevent you from launching jihad and keep you away from God. By God, this is a not a good deed from you, brother. God says: "O ye who believe! What is the matter with you, that, when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, ye cling heavily to the earth? Do ye prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the Hereafter." (Koranic verse) Listen to the clear evidence that I cite. You must know that what prevents you from joining jihad is nothing but your soul and Satan. If you hope to live a long life and fear death, then you must know that death is inevitable. You should not fear the path that you must tread. Jihad does not shorten the lives of mujahidin and failure to join jihad will not prolong your life. God says: "When their term is reached, not an hour can they cause delay, nor (an hour) can they advance (it in anticipation)." (Koranic verse) "But to no soul will Allah grant respite when the time appointed (for it) has come; and Allah is well acquainted with (all) that ye do." (Koranic verse) "Every soul shall have a taste of death." (part of Koranic verse) Death has stupors. Death is fearful, but you are not aware of that. There is torture in the grave. Only the good ones will be spared from this torture. In the grave, you will be questioned by two angels. God says: "Allah will establish in strength those who believe, with the word that stands firm, in this world and in the Hereafter; but Allah will leave, to stray, those who do wrong: Allah doeth what He willeth." (Koranic verse) Afterward, you will face the great danger. You will either be blessed and enjoy an everlasting paradise or be wretched and be punished in hell. The martyr will not face anything of this sort. The prophet, may God's peace, mercy, and blessings be upon him, says that when the martyr dies he only feels little pain. So, brother what prevents you from seizing this chance, avoiding the torture of the grave, pleasing God, and avoiding the questioning of the angels and other calamities. The martyrs "live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord." (part of Koranic verse) "The (Martyrs) glory in the fact that on them is no fear, nor have they (cause to) grieve." (part of Koranic verse) The martyrs rejoice in the bounty provided by God. Their souls are inside the bodies of green birds that fly in the heaven. There is a big difference between this noble death and the painful death. If your wealth is predestined by God, then it is better not to worry about what you earn. If your wealth will be left (after you die), then why do you hesitate to donate money? If life is precious, then God's reward is far better. If all will die, then getting killed by the sword in the cause of God is much better. God says: "O ye who believe! if any from among you turn back from his Faith, soon will Allah produce a people whom He will love as they will love Him, lowly with the believers, mighty against the rejecters, fighting in the way of Allah, and never afraid of the reproaches of such as find fault. That is the grace of Allah, which He will bestow on whom He pleaseth. And Allah encompasseth all, and He knoweth all things." (Koranic verse) The verse shows that this is because of supporting the infidels. What will God do? He will bring a people whom he loves and who love him. Who are these elite people whom God preserves to support his religion and raise his banner when people fail to fight and the believers get disunited? They love God and he loves them. They deal gently with the believers and harshly with the infidels. What else? They engage in jihad for the sake of God and fear no blame. God decides that not all people will win this status. "That is the grace of Allah, which He will bestow on whom He pleaseth. And Allah encompasseth all, and He knoweth all things." (Koranic verse) I warn you against not joining this march. My brother in faith, you must be careful to be among those whom God loves and who love God. If the convoy moves, the bad ones will not join it and the right will be distinguished from wrong. God says: "Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth, through the Law, the Gospel, and the Qur'an: and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah. then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded: that is the achievement supreme." (Koranic verse) When the number of those claiming that they love God increased, they were asked to give evidence of their claims. If people get all that which they claim, then they will get everything. No claim will be accepted unless evidence is produced. Say: "If ye do love Allah, Follow me: Allah will love you." (Koranic verse) All the people lagged behind and the followers of the beloved prophet remained steadfast by adhering to his deeds, sayings, and morals. They were asked to give evidence. They engage in jihad and fear no blame. Most of the prophet's followers lagged behind. The mujahidin, who rose to their feet, took the floor, saying "the souls and property of the prophet's followers are not their own. So, come to make your pledge to him." "Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs in return is the garden of Paradise" (Koranic verse) When the prophet's followers realized how high the price they would pay and what a great reward they would receive and the loftiness of the person who would oversee their pledge-taking, they came to know how important their pledge was. So, they did realize that they would do a grave injustice to themselves if they made this pledge to others. So they made their pledge to him (Prophet Muhammad) at Al-Ridwan upon their own free will. At the conclusion of the pledge-taking event, they said: "By God, we will never oust you or do without you." When they made their pledge to him, they were told that "your souls and property will be returned to you, and even more." "Think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord" (Koranic verse) Ibn Kathir (a narrator of Prophet Muhammad's sayings), may God have mercy on him, says: "God will compensate his believers if they sacrifice their property and souls in His cause by granting them his paradise. God's acceptance of compensation for what he bestowed upon his believers is one of His blessings." This is what prompted Al-Hasan al-Basri and Qatadah (Hadith narrators and scholars) to say: "God has accepted their pledge and compensated for that very dearly." "He may take to Himself from your ranks Martyr-witnesses to Truth." (Koranic verse) Prophet Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Among those who will be allowed into paradise, none would love to return to the world, except the martyrs. Those would wish to return to the world to get killed 10 times for the great and high reward martyrs would receive from God." When Abdallah Bin-Amr Bin-Haram was killed in the battle of Uhud, Prophet Muhammad, may God's peace and prayers be upon him, said: "O Jabir, shall I tell you what God said to your father? God has never talked to anyone except from behind a barrier, but he did talk to your father. He said: 'Ask for anything to give you.' He said: Allow me back into life so that I will get killed again for your sake.'" God, therefore, revealed this Koranic verse to His messenger: "Think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord" (Koranic verse) Ibn Abbas qouted God's prophet, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, as saying: "When God's calamity befell your brothers in the Battle of Uhud, God ordered that their souls be placed in green birds that fly to the rivers of paradise, eat from its fruits, and sleep in lanterns dangling from God's majestic place. When those came to realize how sweet and comfortable their stay was, they said: who can tell our brothers that we are alive in paradise so that they will not spare any effort in jihad or show leniency in war. God said: I will tell them instead of you." God, therefore, revealed his verse "think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord" to Prophet Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon him. Abdallah Bin-Umar, may God be pleased with him, said: "I heard Prophet Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, saying that the first group of people who would be allowed into paradise is the poor. Those listen attentively when asked to do something. Although their needs were not met in the world by their rulers, Almighty God will place them in paradise on the Day of Judgment. Paradise will be fancily decorated with ornaments to welcome those poor people. God will then call on the believers who fought and got killed in his cause. Then, He will ask them to enter paradise. The angels will be summoned to bow in front of them. The angels will tell God: We always worship you, day and night. Who are those who were accorded precedence over us? Who are those? God Almighty will say that those are the believers who fought and got harmed in my cause." Ibn Mas'ud (a hadith narrator), may God be pleased with him, was asked about God's saying "think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord." He said: "We were told that their souls would be placed in green birds in paradise. They go wherever they want and sleep in lanterns dangling from God's majestic place. God asked them: Do you want anything more? They said: O Lord, what more shall we ask for? We go everywhere in paradise. He then asked them again. When they realized that God would keep asking them, they said: Bring our souls back to us so that we can return to the world to get killed in your cause once more." God's messenger, may God's prayers and peace be upon him says: "By God, I wish I could fight in God's cause and get killed several times." What more blessings can one get? What more honors can he receive? Here is America among us. So, come take revenge on it and extinguish your thirst from its blood. Come defend the honor of the Muslim women and receive this generous award. Citing Prophet Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, Abu-Hurayrah (a Hadith narrator) says: "No infidel and his killer will meet in hell." Ibn Abi-Shaybah, citing Salman Bin-Abi Rabi'ah, said: "I killed with my own sword 100 infidels, all of whom did not worship God." Ibn-Sirin (a hadith narrator) once said: "Al-Bara Ibn-Malik lay down and began singing. Anas told him: Remember God, O brother. So he sat upright and said: O Anas, the son of my father, I wouldn't die in my bed, I would not die in my bed, for I have killed 100 polytheists in duels, not to mention those I helped in killing. O brother of monotheism, beware of the pitfalls and mazes of Satan. Be careful not to make him stand between you and jihad for the sake of God and place obstacles and reasons that justify for you the failure to observe (the duty of) jihad, even if these were in obedience to God and His messenger. For this ousted, rebellious Satan does not cease to prevent man from doing what pleases his God." Ibn-al-Qayyim (early Muslim scholar), may God have mercy on his soul, drew attention to this dangerous matter. He said that the devil is importunate and does not despair fast. He lies in wait for the believer and sets traps for him along his path toward God. (In setting traps), Satan does not stoop to using light methods unless his serious methods fail. He begins with the trap of polytheism and disbelief in God. If he (the believer) survives this trap, Satan would set for him the trap of heresy. If he survives this one, Satan would set for him the trap of grave sins; and if he survives this one, he would set for him the trap of minor sins. If he survives these, Satan would make him preoccupied with what is permissible. If he fails in this, he would place before him the obstacle of acceptable rituals (Ibadat Maqbulah) and make him preoccupied with them. He made them (rituals) look beautiful to him and showed him what advantage and profit he could get from them so that he would be distracted from what is better and more profitable. When Satan failed to make him lose the essence of (God's) reward, he wanted to make him lose his integrity, merit, and high qualities. He made him preoccupied with what is acceptable and thus diverted his attention from what is better for him. He makes him preoccupied with knowledge about collective duties, thus distracting his attention from the individual duty of Jihad. While the door for jihad by sword is wide open, Satan would make the jihad of call (for Islam) look better. "Do ye make the giving of drink to pilgrims, or the maintenance of the Sacred Mosque, equal to (the pious service of) those who believe in God and the Last Day, and strive with might and main in the cause of God? They are not comparable in the sight of God: and God guides not those who do wrong." (Koranic verse) Our imams had said that an (Islamic) jurisprudent is not the one who can recognize good, but rather the one who can recognize what is the best of two good things. Ibn-al-Muabark quotes Safwan as citing Abu-Huryarah as saying: "Can anyone of you remain awake (for worshipping God at night) without getting tired and fast without breaking his fast as long as he is alive. Abu-Hurayrah was told: Who would bear that? He said: By God, the sleep of a mujahid for the sake of God is better than that." If this is the status of a sleeping mujahid, what would then be the status of a conscious mujahid? If this is the rank of an inactive mujahid, then what would be the rank of an active one? By God, this is an undisputed virtue. Let active people work for the sake of it and let the negligent and weak cry for having missed it. And let the careless grieve for having wasted their lives. How many of our beloved ones have You, God, chosen from among us, thus depriving us of that (fate of them) because of our sins? God, do not deprive us of their reward, do not put us to tests, and make us join them. (A religious song is heard in the background) If I forget, I would here not forget our brother martyrs, may God's mercy be upon them. They were with us in good and bad times. They were patient with us despite the adversities of the path. Chief among those is the beloved brother, martyr Abd-alHadi Daghlas, (nicknamed) Abu-Ubaydah. After God showed me the right path, I have had no misfortune such as the loss of this brother. I used to see myself small in front of him because of his excessive courage, boldness, patience, and good morals. Let eyes cry for people like Abd-al-Hadi. Whenever I remember him, I remember the hadith of the prophet, may God's blessings be upon him, which was narrated by Ahmad and Ibn-Hubbal. They cited Ibn-Mas'ud as quoting the prophet as saying: God was surprised by two men. He talked about one of them, who engaged in a raid for the sake of God and whose companions were defeated. He knew what he would lose if defeated and what he would get if he retreats. He retreated until his feet got worn. God tells his angels: Look at my servant; he retreated hoping to win what I have until his feet got worn. When the mujahidin were forced to evacuate their positions as a result of the continuing heavy bombing, he (Daghlas) refused to retreat. He and a group of his brothers vowed to die. They engaged the enemy. I ask God to accept them (as martyrs). They died and their bodies were buried in earth; bones decay, but victory is sweet-smelling. (poetry) He was a mountain, a lion, a worshipper, and an ascetic. Frankness could be recognized in his face. He ignites a war even if accompanied by (a handful of) men. He does not fear blame when he does what he does for the sake of God. He is tough on the enemies of God and lenient toward his brothers. May God have mercy upon you, Abd-al-Hadi. You were a beloved brother and compassionate friend. You were ears and eyes (to me). Your position is still vacant and no one can fill it. With your loss, I lost a part of me. If I forget, I will not forget that day when you told me: "I pray to God for your sake more than I do for my parents." What loss is more severe than this? What catastrophe is more terrible? I lost you when I needed you badly. I ask Almighty God to make Paradise your abode and make us join you as righteous martyrs along with prophets and faithful ones. They are the best of companions. You and your brothers, whom I did not mention in this short message, have been like sweet basils for our souls. I should not forget here to give a piece of advice to the scholars of the nation and those who call (for Islam). "And remember God took a covenant from the People of the Book, to make it known and clear to mankind, and not to hide it; but they threw it away behind their backs, and purchased with it some miserable gain! And vile was the bargain they made!" (Koranic verse) God took the pledge from you to do what He ordered you to do in propagating good and renouncing evil; engaging in jihad for God's sake; preserving His religion; and sacrificing lives for the sake of His religion. Extremely regrettably, instead of observing the duty ordained by God, you preferred safety, rest, family, money, and children. You left the mujahidin face the strongest power in the world, which came to them with weapons and men. (a religious song is heard in the background) Where are you, o scientists of the nation? For how long will you bow and be unwilling to do right. Are interests and corruption still a religion and methodology for you? Is it not time for you to return to your religion? Ibn-Umar, may God be pleased with him, said: Prophet Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, said: When you enter into usury, hold the tails of cows, are pleased with agriculture, and give up conducting jihad, then God will make disgrace prevail upon you and will not withdraw it until you return to your religion. The prophet's saying until you return to your religion implies that leaving jihad and seeking worldly existence is deviating and abandoning religion, and that by itself is a manifest sin. Is it not time for you to awaken from your carelessness. Is it not time for this long night to end? Which sedition are you talking about and what interests are you speaking about? Is there sedition, o scientists of the nation, greater than what we are in? Sedition is polytheism. Sedition is the rise of wrong over right. Sedition is the loss of God's rule on earth. Sedition is when lions are trapped behind cages in Cuba and elsewhere. Some of you are 30, 40, or 50 years old, or even more, but you do not burden himself with one day for tBy God, it is one of two things; either that you are dearer to God than his prophet, who suffered different pains for the sake of God, or that you follow a path different from the prophet's. God forbid, that it be the first one. God forbid, that it be the first one. (preceding sentence repeated twice as heard). By God, no one has brought up what you have and was not contracted the enmity of others. For whom have you left the nation? Have you left it for the tyrants of the east and the west to violate it and impose the worst punishment on it, massacre the best of its mujahidin sons, and seize its wealth? Is this what our virtuous ancestors, who were watchful over their nation, like? Where are the sacrifices, o scientists of the nation? Where do you stand from the saying of the prophet, God's blessings and peace be upon him, about the master of all martyrs Hamzah and a man who went to an unjust imam and enjoined for what is right and forbade what is wrong, so the imam killed him. Where do you stand from Sufyan al-Thawri, the divine scientist who said: By God, I may see something against which I ought to speak out but I cannot, then I urinate blood. Sufyan urinated blood when his soul became devoted to God without a need for worldly existence. He urinated blood when his blood and breath became mixed with his love for this religion. Have you not heard, o scientists, that Yunis Ibn-Ubayd, may God have mercy upon him, looked at his feet when he was dying and cried. He was asked: What makes you cry Abu-Abdullah? He said: My feet did not become covered with dust for the sake of God Almighty. His feet did not become covered with dust when jihad was a collective duty; if a group performed it then others were exempt from this duty. What if jihad was an individual duty? If Ibn-Ubayd lived in our time, what do you think he would have said? By God, he would have said the same thing. O mountains, hurl stones, and o sky rain molten brass and corruption from the washing of wounds, and o planets, it is time for pelting stones, so begin, for it would not be you if you did not pelt the devils. The catastrophes and setbacks that have befallen the nation and the disorder in the laws of God of heaven and earth took place once the scientists of the nation failed to sacrifice for the sake of this religion and once the usefulness of