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Given some recent events, it seems pertinent to ask you about the nature of the Muslim resistance.  Is the deliberate targeting of innocent bystanders by suicide bombers something that Islam should allow, or encourage? 

All Praise and All Thanks are for Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala.


Firstly, I, and many Muslims, object to the incorrect and pejorative terms "suicide bombers" and "suicide attacks". The correct term to describe such attacks - from the perspective of Deen Al-Islam - is Martyrdom Operations, for there is a distinction between Intihar and Istishad.  Istishad is martyrdom and Intihar is what in the West is called suicide.

Secondly, who is "innocent"? That is, what criteria are used to decide if someone is "innocent"? The criteria of the West - or the criteria of Deen Al-Islam? Nowhere in the Quran and Sunnah is there any word such as "innocent". As Sheikh Hammoud Al-Uqlaa Ash-Shuaybi said:

"What many are babbling about and repeating when they talk about "innocent victims", is nothing but the effect of the West and its media, to the extent that many an unwary person repeats the words and expressions of our enemies, which are in direct contradiction with the expressions of Shariah."

What needs be understood by both Muslims and the peoples of the West is that terms "innocent" and "civilian" have no meaning in Shariah, and that these are kaffir terms, kaffir concepts, which the kuffar and their apostate allies project onto Islam in order to distort Islam and have Muslims imitate the kuffar.  To paraphrase what I have written elsewhere: whenever a Muslim uses such kaffir terms, in order to try and understand Islam or in order to in their ignorance obtain some kaffir-pleasing principle from Islam, they are imitating the kuffar - for they are re-interpreting Islam to please themselves, or the kuffar, or they are so in love with the kaffir way of life, with kaffir ideas and concepts, that have lost or are losing their own Islam. The kaffir concepts of "innocent" and "civilian" have become Taghut - idols, principles, which the kaffir have created and which they make laws about, which laws they seek to impose on Muslims. These concepts are Taghut because they are created without reference to the Quran or Sunnah - created, by fallible humans, without reference to the Will of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. In many ways, it is right to think as these things as objects which the kuffar now worship, or which they put their trust in - which they make, as standards, for people to follow and obey. Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says:

"Their way is to refer matters to a Taghut. " 4:60 Interpretation of Meaning

Some Muslims, however, quote the following Hadith in an effort to show that there is such a thing as the concept of "innocent" in Islam:

Narrated 'Aa'ishah who said that the Nabi (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, "The pen has been lifted from three; from the sleeping until they awake, from the child until they mature, and from the one who is crazy until he is sane."

In this Hadith we have a beautiful expression - "The pen has been lifted..." The question we must ask is - Do we take the context to mean that the three are "innocent" as the kuffar understand innocent? That is, do we project a kaffir meaning into this Hadith? Or do we refer it, for explanation, to what Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) has told us, and thus take it in the literal sense to mean that what they are doing, have done, has not been recorded? If we refer to what our Rabb says:

"And over you are Watchers - just, honourable - who know and record [write down] all that you do. Thus shall those who do what is commanded be in bliss while the disobedient will be in the blazing Fire. " 82: 10-14 Interpretation of Meaning

Thus, understood in the context of the words of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala this Hadith refers not to some kaffir concept such as "innocent" but to the recoding of our deeds.



Once such things as this are understood - that is, once the correct view of Deen Al-Islam is known in such matters - then we can move on to consider the matter in a correct way, which centres around two important questions: are Martyrdom Operations Lawful according to Quran and Sunnah, and is it lawful (according to Quran and Sunnah) to intentionally and/or unintentionally target those who are not directly engaged in combat with Muslims?

The view that I and many other Muslims, world-wide, incline toward is that Martyrdom Operations are lawful, according to the Quran and Sunnah. Some other Muslims incline toward the opposite view. Thus, there is some disagreement among Muslims. [I shall return to the question of Martyrdom Operations later, InshaAllah.]

In respect of targeting those not directly engaged in combat with Muslims, there are also some differences among the Muslims, with some asserting that it is lawful (according to Quran and Sunnah, and thus according to Shariah) to  - under certain conditions - target, intentionally or otherwise, those who might not be directly engaged in practical combat with Muslims. [See Note 1]

As for whether, as your write, "Islam should allow, or encourage" such things, I would first like to mention that it would be more correct to write (or say): "Should Muslims encourage or permit such things..." For Islam, correctly understood, is not some "thing" to to be adhered to or identified with like some Taghut is adhered to or to be identified with, but rather Islam is only, and only means, obedience to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala: for it is that Deen, that Way of Life, by which such perfect and such simple submission and obedience to only Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is possible.

Thus, the answer to the rephrased question is that yes, Muslims should encourage and permit such things as Martyrdom Operations if they are lawful according to Quran and Sunnah and thus according to Shariah, for by permitting and encouraging such things Muslims would be obeying Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Furthermore, what the kuffar, what the West and its apostate lackeys, think about such Muslims striving to obey Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, what names or terms they use to describe such Muslims, and what judgement they may pass upon such Muslims, are all irrelevant.



Do you not agree that by deliberately choosing civilians there is a degree of dishonour here?  The deliberate targeting of civilians seems at odds with the warrior ethos, and is exactly the type of behaviour you abhor in the Zionists and others. 

The central question here is: what is honour? Who, or what, defines this? The Muslim answer is that it is Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala who defines this, Who has defined this, and that this Muslim answer can be found in the Quran, the Sunnah, and Shariah. The answer of the West, of the kuffar, is that honour is defined according to some manufactured, human, concept, or according to some ethics which some person has manufactured or constructed. Thus, The Numinous Way, for instance, postulates a theory of ethics based on a particular interpretation, or definition, of honour, and according to this particular fallible human manufactured definition such things are or might be or may be "dishonourable".

As Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says:




In addition, the West - the kuffar - assume and believe that their definitions, that their perspective, that their ethics, are correct and universal and must apply to Muslims, and expect Muslims to engage in debate, and view Deen Al-Islam, according to the Western perspective. Some Muslims already do this, and thus may be said to be imitating the kuffar, for according to Deen Al-Islam, Muslims should use only the criteria established by Quran, Sunnah and Shariah to judge anyone or anything.

Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says:




Hence, if you view honour according to Deen Al-Islam then the judgement will be a Muslim one, but if you view honour according to the perspective, the ways, of the West, then the judgement will be a Western one.

For a Muslim, what is honourable is what Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala has said is honourable: what it is we are encouraged to do or are commanded to do. In this, our guides are Quran and Sunnah (and thus Shariah) and that is all. If Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says something is right, then it is right, whatever we might personally feel about the matter or whatever the ethics of the West may say about the matter. That is, our personal feelings, our personal judgement, are either irrelevant or not important, and, instead, as Muslims we seek to find what it is lawful for us to do, what it is forbidden for us to do, what it is recommended that we do, and then we strive (InshaAllah) to follow the guidance we have been given or which we have found. This is, in many ways, the essence of being Muslim.


Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says:




As for "deliberately choosing civilians", the question more correctly, as I mentioned above, is about targeting, unintentionally or otherwise, those who might not be directly engaged in practical combat with Muslims. We might add to this, "and who are or may be considered to be in support of the actions of their government and their armies."

In this respect, let us consider the invasion of Iraq by the kuffar. This invasion, and the subsequent occupation, led to the killing of tens of thousands of Muslims - probably hundreds of thousands of Muslims if many accounts are correct. It led to the torture of thousands upon thousands of Muslims; to the imprisonment of tens of thousands of Muslims; to the humiliation of tens upon tens of thousands of Muslims. Who, in the West, bears responsibility for this? The governments, and/or the people in whose name such a government allegedly acts and from whom it allegedly derives its authority? After the invasion, there was an election in Britain, and Blair and his cronies were re-elected. Did the British people thus give their assent, by such a re-election, to this invasion, this occupation, and the killings, torture, humiliation, imprisonment of Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere? They clearly had a choice: they could have elected someone, or some political Party, opposed to such things. But they did not. Many of the electorate probably did not care about such things, and were perhaps more concerned about their own lives than the fate of Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, occupied Palestine and elsewhere. Furthermore, is such a care-less attitude approval of such things by default?

It has been argued, by some Muslims, that, since Deen Al-Islam allows revenge and retribution for a wrong, a dishonour, done to a Muslim or Muslims, such Martyrdom Operations as have been undertaken in Dar al-Harb [see Note 3] amount to such revenge and retribution against those who have given their assent to the actions of the kuffar against Muslims in places like Iraq, and Afghanistan and elsewhere, and who thus have condoned, or not done anything about, the brutal interference by the governments of the kuffar in Muslim affairs the world over for more than a hundred years. This interference includes manufacturing artificial nations, according to the Tawagheet of the kuffar such as the nation-State, like Iraq; the occupation of Palestine; the sanctions imposed - before invasion - upon Afghanistan and Iraq (which sanctions cost the life of hundreds of thousands of Muslims); the support for apostate tyrants in Muslim lands; the plan to replace Deen Al-Islam with a manufactured moderate so-called "Islam" which accepts the universality of Western values and which accepts the idols, the Tawagheet of the West, such as the nation-State, democracy, liberalism; the imprisonment of Muslims, in places like the Guantanamo Bay concentration camp, for doing their duty of Jihad; and so on and so on.

In respect of retribution, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says:




Furthermore, and importantly, what must also be considered is that the perspective of Muslims is, or should be, the perspective of Jannah and the judgement of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. That is, this mortal life of ours is considered as but a means, a test, an opportunity to attain Jannah. Thus, the importance of our life does not lie in our personal happiness, our security, our well-being, or in the happiness and security and well-being of our friends or relatives or loved ones. When we die - in whatever way - we will be judged by Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and may be rewarded with Jannah, or condemned to The Fire. Thus, it is - or should be, for a Muslim - when someone dies, a question of this judgement by Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala: that is, of the possibility of attaining Jannah. The criteria of a Muslim in respect of such matters is different from that of the kuffar - for the kuffar say and write things like "they have deprived this innocent person of life," while the Muslim would (or should) say and write things like "they will be judged by Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and may be rewarded with Jannah and may thus attain the goal of life, for it is only Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala who can truely judge, for He is The Most Merciful, He Who Often Forgives." Thus, such a life has not "been wasted" - to view in that way is to view it solely from the perspective of the kuffar. In addition, in such attacks by Muslims, which may cause deaths, those Muslims know that they will be judged by Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala  for their actions, their intentions.


In this particular matter of such attacks, Muslims have a choice - they can, having considered the evidences according to Quran and Sunnah (and thus according to Shariah, derived as Shariah is from these sources) either support such operations, or not support them; engage in them, or not engage in them. However, even if a Muslim is in error in this matter, and acts upon that error, having made the wrong choice, he should not be openly attacked or condemned in front of the kuffar, and he most certainly should not be betrayed to the kuffar, to be imprisoned, humiliated or killed by the kuffar. As it was narrated by Abdullah Ibn Umar, the Prophet (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, "Because a Muslim is a brother to other Muslims, he should neither oppress them, nor hand them over to the enemies of the Muslims. Whoever helps his brother, then Allah will help him; whoever saves his brother from distress, Allah will save from distress, and whoever shields his brother, Allah will shield him." (Bukhari: Vol 3, Book 43, 622)


Further, as Sheikh Safar bin 'Abdir-Rahmaan al-Hawaali said:



Ibn Abbaas narrated that the Prophet, Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said:



In respect of how we might find correct guidance in such matters, Sheikh ul-Islam ibn Taimiyyah (Rahimullah) wrote:



What also needs to be understood is that such actions and such operations that may be taken by Muslims are only undertaken according to guidelines established by Shariah, after consultation with Ulaamah and, in many cases, after consultation with an Ameer, a respected Mujahid from among the Mujahideen.


Furthermore, what I and many, many Muslims find hypocritical and unacceptable is for the West, for the kuffar to lament, often in some operatic way, for their dead - such as the few thousand killed in the Jumaada Al-Thaani attacks in Amerika - but to remain silent about the tens of thousands of Muslims, including many, many women and children and the elderly, who have been killed by kaffir missiles and kaffir bombs, in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, including in occupied Palestine where their Zionist allies regularly, almost every week, kill Muslim women and children. To many of the kuffar, these dead Muslims are "collateral damage" while the Westerners killed by Muslims are "the innocent victims of evil terrorists". The issue is one of the kaffir invasion and occupation of our lands; of their continued and brutal and arrogant and century-long interference in our affairs; of their killing, torture, humiliation, and imprisonment of our brothers and sisters; of their demand that we abandon our Way of Life for their ignoble, profane, decadent, dysfunctional way of life; of their shameless hypocrisy which holds up for us as some kind of model the life of the peoples of the West: of societies where millions upon millions are addicted to drugs and alcohol, and where, in Britain alone, every minute of every day the Police are called by a woman who has been subject to violent domestic abuse.

The problem is the kaffir, not the Muslim, and the solution is for the kuffar to stop interfering in our affairs; to stop supporting tyrant rulers in Muslim lands; to free the Muslims they have imprisoned; to leave our lands; and to cease trying to impose their ways, their Tawagheet - such as the nation-State, and democracy and liberalism - upon us. Until they do such things, the Jihadi Intifada will continue.





And, by their actions, are such suicide bombers not guilty of elevating an abstract sense of ideology (or religion) above their actual experiences?


With respect, your question is an example of the logical fallacy al-musaadarah 'ala la-matlub al-awwaal.

For the Western perspective is inherent in such a question which question, it seems to me, requires an answer in such terms, and which answer would or might imply an acceptance of such a perspective. Such a question also exemplifies the very real clash of cultures which is taking place, and many if not most of the peoples of the West cannot think objectively and rationally about other cultures (or even about their own) despite their often arrogant claims to be able to do so, and thus cannot grasp that Deen Al-Islam, correctly understood, is fundamentally, irretrievably, different from the way of the West. Thus, the kuffar project their concepts and values and abstractions upon Deen Al-Islam and Muslims, and believe they have "understood" Deen Al-Islam and Muslims, whereas in fact all they have done is maintain their own prejudices, and ignorance, and manifested their arrogance.

The question, for Muslims, really is: are those Muslims who undertake Martyrdom Operations obeying Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala? It is as simple as that - no talk or mention of such Tawagheet as "ideology", "religion", "actual experience", "extremism", "innocent civilians", "terrorism", "guilty of", or whatever. To be Muslim is to submit to only Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala; to seek to obey Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala; to be focused upon Jannah rather than upon the rewards, the pleasures, of dunya, of this mortal world. Thus, the perspective of the Muslim is the perspective of Tawheed, of Jannah.

As I mentioned earlier, the view that I and many other Muslims, world-wide, incline toward is that Martyrdom Operations are lawful, according to the Quran and Sunnah. Some other Muslims incline toward the opposite view. Thus, as often, there is some disagreement between the Muslims - but there are also, now, many Muslims who are judging such things according to the Tawagheet of the kuffar, which is incorrect, according to Deen Al-Islam, and it is these arguments, based on judging according to the Tawagheet of the kuffar, that most people in the West hear or read about. What does seem clear is that the arguments of those Muslims who argue against Martyrdom Operations from a Muslim perspective have been shown to be incorrect, although it does seem that many Muslims in the West remain in ignorance of this. [See Note 4]

I found one of your previous replies very interesting: "we offer the Unbelievers, the kuffar, a choice - accept Deen Al-Islam, or pay the Jizya. In practical terms, we say to them: take an oath of loyalty to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and to His Prophet (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) and thus become Muslim or take an oath of loyalty (make a binding contract between us and you) that you will not interfere in our affairs, that you will not offend Muslims or seek to change our Deen, that you will go peaceably about your own business (which includes worshipping in your own way) and that you will pay the Jizya, in which case we will honourably protect you."

As a point of principle, why should English folk be expected to respond to such an ultimatum?  Are those nationalists (or even conservatives) who warn that Muslims want to take over Britain actually correct? (Your answer, albeit in a rather different context, seems to imply that Muslims wish to be tolerant towards minorities, rather than being a tolerant minority-if you see what I mean?)

There is a context to what I wrote. The question, according to Deen Al-Islam, is to be Muslim, or to remain a kaffir; to know and strive to follow, the Haqq, manifest as this is in Quran, Sunnah and Shariah, or to follow one's hawah (desires) or the concepts, abstractions, ideas, idols - the Tawagheet - that have been manufactured in error, ignorance, arrogance and in pride. That is, it is a matter of Tawheed or Kufr; of accepting our Muslim nature, or not accepting it.

There is no compulsion to accept Deen Al-Islam, no "ultimatum" - except the "ultimatum" to stop interfering in our affairs, to get out of or lands, to free Muslim captives, for we will fight until we establish Dar al-Islam again and until these conditions are met. Then, we may establish treaties between you and us, of which one clause will be for any Muslim anywhere to be able to undertake Hijrah, emigration to the land of Islam. If there are any non-Muslims in the land or lands of Islam, they will pay the Jizya, and be protected.

Furthermore, as Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says:



After the re-establishment of Dar al-Islam, and after the above conditions are met, there are some Muslims who incline toward the view that Jihad Fee Sabilillah will continue until Deen Al-Islam is established world-wide with Dar al-Islam, the Khilafah, encompassing the world. Other Muslims - probably the majority - incline toward the view that this would not be the case, with many of these inclining toward the view that the aim would be just for a restoration of former Muslim lands, in Al-Shams and elsewhere.

So, yes some Muslims might well say that one aim would be for Muslims "to be tolerant towards minorities, rather than being a tolerant minority..."

In light of some of your past writings/activities/beliefs, what do you think of English/British people who have a tolerant or benign attitude towards Muslim immigrants to their country?  Are such people, with their anti-racist views, to be admired/praised?  Are they the type of people who "pay the Jizya"?


The attitude toward such people, as Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says, is to be honourable and if necessary co-operative toward those who treat Muslims well and who respect Deen Al-Islam, but not to accept them as allies or close friends or as protectors:

 

"You who believe, do not take the Jews and Nazarenes as allies. They are allies of each other. If any of you takes them as allies, then he is one of them." 5:51 Interpretation of Meaning

"Are loyal to the Believers, stern toward the kuffar, who fight in the Way of Allah, and who do not heed the criticism of their critics. For this is the honour that He bestows upon whomsoever He wills - for Allah is The All-Knowing, The Infinite One. In truth, your champions are Allah, His Messenger, and the Believers - those who undertake As-Salat, who give Zakat and who submit [in loyalty to Allah]. For whomsoever has Allah, His Messenger, and Believers as their Champion, are the ones who will achieve (the) victory (of Jannah)."  5: 54-56 Interpretation of Meaning

It was reported that the Prophet (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Fear Allah, and if a mutilated Abyssinian former slave is appointed as Ameer over you, listen to him and obey him, as long as he obeys, and applies to you, the Book of Allah.” Al-Tirmidhi 1628

It was reported that the Prophet (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: "Allah, Tabarak wa'tala, has removed from you the pride of Jahiliyyah and its boasting about ancestors. A person can be either an honourable believer or an ignoble sinner. You are sons of Adam, and Adam came from dust. Let the people cease to boast about their kin and kin-folk." Abu Dawud, Book 36, 5097

"We prescribed for the children of Israel that whoever killed someone not in retaliation [for a killing] nor for spreading dishonour, it will be as if he had killed of all the people, and that whoever saved one of them, it will be as if he had saved all of them."

"You who believe: do not unfairly squander your wealth on one another, save it be for some purpose mutually agreed upon among yourselves. Do not ruin yourself, or one another, for Allah is most Merciful toward you."

The Prophet (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, "He who commits suicide by throttling shall keep on throttling himself in the Hell-Fire (forever) and he who commits suicide by stabbing himself shall keep on stabbing himself in the Hell-Fire." (Sahih Bukhari)

"The person who commits Intihar by hanging themselves shall keep hanging themselves in the Hell-Fire, just as those who commit Intihar by stabbing themselves will keep stabbing themselves in the Hell-Fire."