In Defense of The Mujahidin: An Open Letter to The Respected Shaykh, Safar Al-Hiwali
24-10-2007
The following is an extract from the Mujāhid Shaykh, Yūsuf Bin Sālih Al-Uyayrī’s letter titled ‘In Defense of The Mujāhidīn: An Open Letter to The Respected Shaykh, Safar Al-Hiwālī’ [1].
The Shaykh’s aim in this letter is to request further clarification on statements which remain somewhat ambiguous in Shaykh Safar Al-Hiwālī’s letter: ‘A declaration to the Ummah’ [2]. He adds however a list of 33 statements which appear to be explicitly against the Mujāhidīn at the same time acknowledging that there remained many other statements which were of a lesser explicit nature. Number 5 on the list is the claim that the Mujāhidīn ‘possess no Manhaj’ which can be found in page 8 in Shaykh Safar’s letter. It is this misconception that Shaykh Yūsuf Al-`Uyayrī tackles first before moving on to other claims.
He resolves that the best response would be for him to offer ‘a true portrayal of the thought and methodology of the Mujāhidīn according to a witness who was among them, one who comprehended their method and thought, who knows whom they sought counsel from and whom they didn’t, and how they were treated by the people of knowledge and Da’wah (Propagation)’ [3]. All this he claims will be clarified as a defense for Jihād and the Mujāhidīn.
Shaykh! Indeed, the Mujāhidīn have looked into the Book of
Allāh and found the saying of Allāh: And fight them until there is no more
fitnah and worship is for Allāh Alone [4] And they understood that by fitnah
here is meant kufr and this is due to the statement of Allāh, And fitnah is
worse than killing [5]. And they looked to what is the greatest fitnah
inflicting the Muslimīn and barring them from their Dīn, and there it was: those
secular laws which have been appointed to judge upon the Dīn, blood and honor of
the Muslimīn. So it distanced them (the Muslimīn) from the Sharī’ah of Allāh and
they (the Mujāhidīn) became certain that Allāh is the owner of the rule and
legislation, with none alongside Him, due to His saying, The legislation is only
for Allāh [6] and His statement, Or have they partners with Allāh who have
instituted for them a religion which Allāh has not ordained [7] and beside them
from verses which return the rule to Allāh Alone. So if the entire rule is not
for Allāh Alone then there is no Dīn And whoever seeks a religion other than
Islām, it will never be accepted of him [8]. Thus the Mujāhidīn stood up to
return the rule in its entirety to Allāh Alone and erect Islām for the Muslimīn.
So they were criticized by those that criticized them, saying ‘this contains
more harm (than good) and will result in the death of Muslimīn, so they (i.e.,
the Mujāhidīn) responded to them saying that ‘the harm of disbelief and apostasy
upon the Muslimīn is greater than the harm of killing and annihilation according
to the saying of Allāh: And fitnah is worse than killing [9]. If the
annihilation was in the face of demanding that the rule be for Allāh, then this
is the great success; as Allāh described the people of the ditch the day they
chose death over disbelief, saying about them, Verily, those who believe and do
righteous good deeds, for them will be Gardens under which rivers flow, that is
the great success [10]. This then is the motive driving the Mujāhidīn to return
the rule to Allāh and this is their Fiqh.
The Mujāhidīn then looked, O Respected Shaykh, at the world map and found that
the Muslimīn are the most humiliated nation, while the enemy devastates their
land, kills their children and violates their women; inflicting upon them the
most ruthless punishments. They are regarded without worth or value. They looked
again into the Book of Allāh searching for a solution; they then found a
solution and a command in the words of Allāh: And what is wrong with you that
you fight not in the Cause of Allāh, and for those weak, ill-treated and
oppressed among men, women, and children, whose cry is: “Our Lord! Rescue us
from this town whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from You one who
will protect, and raise for us from You one who will help.” Those who believe,
fight in the Cause of Allāh, and those who disbelieve fight in the cause of
Tāghūt. So fight you against the friends of Shaytān; ever feeble indeed is the
plot of Shaytān [11] So they responded with ‘we hear and obey’ and rushed
forward in defense of the oppressed from the men, women and children who are
unable to do anything or find a way (out). So why are they blamed, is it for
saying ‘we hear and obey’?
The eyes of the Mujāhidīn have opened to the painful situation of the Ummah;
they looked around yet they failed to find a single one of the countries
belonging to the Muslimīn except that the assailant enemy has devastated it,
descended upon it and treated the people and the land according to his whims and
desires. He threatened the five basic necessities of the Muslimīn. So some of
the enemies in several lands threaten the Dīn, the self, the honor, the wealth
and the intellect, while some enemies are ‘civilized’, threatening only the Dīn
and wealth. And they (i.e., the Mujāhidīn) looked about and there were the
Fuqahā’ (Experts in Islamic Legal Law); a great (faqīh) on the authority of a
great (faqīh), all in agreement that the Sharī’ah Laws in the Book and Sunnah
did not arrive except as a protection for these basic necessities, and that
defending these necessities becomes obligatory from whatever threatens them,
even if it may result in the loss of life.
Then the Mujāhidīn looked, O Respected Shaykh, to the state of the degraded,
oppressed Ummah and found that the enemy has attacked their lands; invading and
occupying it. They looked to the books of Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) and found
that the scholars united unwaveringly upon the obligation of repelling the enemy
when he attacks the land of the Muslimīn; that Jihād becomes obligatory upon
each individual; and that there is nothing more important after belief [Imān]
than repelling that attacking enemy [12]. It is these two points that your
Eminency contested with regard to the martyr (Inshā’allāh), Shaykh `Abd Allāh `Azzām
when he related it in his books, (this resulted in nothing) except that when the
Mujāhidīn heard that Jihād was an individual obligation after Shaykh ‘Abd Allāh
‘Azzām had come out openly with it, the youth responded with ‘Here we are! Here
we are! At Your service O Lord of ours!’ So they sold the worldly (life);
leaving behind the wives, children and wealth, and trampled underfoot every
meaning of opulence and luxury and they embraced the stars with heads that bow
to neither disbeliever nor apostate.
Respected Shaykh, the Mujāhidīn read in the Qur’ān Allāh’s statement, Verily,
Allāh has purchased of the believers their lives and their properties for (the
price) that theirs shall be the Paradise. They fight in Allāh’s Cause, so they
kill (others) and are killed. It is a promise in truth which is binding on Him
in the Tūrāt and Injīl and the Qur’ān. And who is true to his covenant that
Allāh? Then they rejoice in the bargain which you have concluded. That is the
supreme success [13]. And asked themselves about the level of their faith; they
found themselves claiming to be upon belief. So they said ‘Indeed the bargain
will be accomplished then if we truly were believers and sincere in wishing for
the great success.’
They were fearful of rejecting this contract while they were able to carry it
out, and by doing so, (they are) actualizing the saying of the Prophet (sallallāhu
‘alayhī wassallam) upon themselves, “The procrastination in paying debt by a
wealthy man is injustice [14], which renders (violating) his honor and punishing
him lawful” [15]. And they became even more certain of Allāh’s threat when they
found the saying of Allāh, Say: If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your
wives, your kindred, the wealth that you have gained, the commerce in which you
fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you delight… are dearer to you than
Allāh and His Messenger, and striveing hard and fighting in His Cause, then wait
until Allāh brings about His Decision (torment). And Allāh guides not the people
who are Al-Fāsiqīn (the rebellious to Allāh) [16]. So, when Jihād becomes
obligatory, the one who refuses the contract of the aforementioned text while he
is able to carry it out due to his desire for the worldly riches, becomes a
Fāsiq (rebellious to Allāh) an oppressor to himself. Rather, he becomes exposed
to a more severe threat, and that is the statement of Allāh, O you who believe!
What is the matter with you that when you are asked to march forth in the Cause
of Allāh you cling to the earth? Are you pleased with the life of this world
rather than the Hereafter? But little is the enjoyment of the life of this world
as compared to the Hereafter. If you march not forth, He will punish you with a
painful torment and will replace you by another people; and you cannot harm Him
at all, and Allāh is Able to do all things [17].
These are some of the motives of the Mujāhidīn O Respected Shaykh, so correct
your view with regards to the Mujāhidīn and know that their motives are not the
search for freedom of expression or a result of having their wishes suppressed
or lack of educational centers for them, or because they found no opportunity to
live a settled life whether in the Arab countries or in the West.
Indeed, the Mujāhidīn have an unambiguous methodology with clear-cut features
concerning every important issue in their path. While, you O Eminent Shaykh,
what is your methodology? And what are the features of your thoughts concerning
many of the issues, let alone those issues that clash with politics? Why is it
that you fall upon the Mujāhidīn while they are today the ones who are described
as ‘those who say and act according to what they believe’. Indeed those who
criticize the Mujāhidīn are unable to say or act according to all that they
believe. So how is it that the one who says and acts according to his beliefs is
described as the one who has ‘neither a methodology nor a banner’? And that the
one who fails to express and act upon all that he believes is the man of a
methodology and upholder of the banner? Bring me from your books and tapes which
demonstrate that you express everything that you believe in. The weapon of the
Mujāhid hangs from his shoulder and he fears none but Allāh.
So I hope that you will correct your information O Respected Shaykh, so that you
may know that the Mujāhidīn belong to a methodology and a banner and posses
knowledge regarding what they say, do and believe in. This does not mean that I
claim everything they say, do and believe in to be correct, however, I am
certain in the correctness in most of it. And to Allāh belongs all Praise and
Favor.
[1] Can be read or downloaded from: http://www.tawhed.ws/r?i=902
[2] Can be downloaded from: http://saaid.net/book/open.php?cat=84&book=542
[3] In Defense of The Mujāhidīn: An Open Letter to The Respected Shaykh, Safar
Al-Hiwālī. Pg 12.
[4] Baqarah, 193.
[5] Baqarah, 191.
[6] An’ām, 57, and elsewhere in the Qur’ān.
[7] Shūrā, 21.
[8] Āl-‘Imrān, 85.
[9] Baqarah, 191.
[10] Burūj, 11.
[11] Nisā’, 75-76.
[12] Referring to the statement of Shaykh ul-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (rahīmahullah),
“The first obligation after Imān is repulsion of the enemy aggressor who
assaults the religion and the worldly affairs.” (Fatāwa al-Kubra 4/608)
[13] At-Tawbah, 111.
[14] Bukhārī, 37/486
[15] Ibn Mājah, Book of Sadaqah (15), #2427.
[16] At-Tawbah, 24.
[17] At-Tawbah, 38-39.