All Praise and All Thanks are for Allah سبحانه و تعالى to whom we shall all return to be judged on The Last Day.




At the beginning of this Blessed Month of Ramadan, Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah composed and circulated an open letter to Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin (hafidhahullah) in which he made several criticisms of our Mujahid brother, Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin (hafidhahullah).


Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote: How much blood has been spilled? How many innocent children, women, and old people have been killed, maimed, and expelled from their homes in the name of "al-Qaeda"?

In reply, we say two important things:

(1) How much Muslim blood have the kuffar and their allies spilled in their invasions and occupations of our lands, in their support for apostate regimes and rulers, in their bid to have us accept and bow down before their Tawagheet, and in their support for the Zionist entity which has occupied Filistine? How many Muslims have the kuffar and their allies killed in the last six years, in the last sixty years, in the last hundred years? In the last six years alone tens of thousands of Muslims have been killed in Afghanistan; tens upon tens of thousands in Seeshan, and in the place the kuffar call Iraq; while every week - for the past sixty years - Muslims have been killed in Filistine. Who is lamenting for our dead brothers and sisters? Who is being held to account?

Furthermore, how many Muslim children, women and old people have been injured by the kuffar and their allies? How many expelled from their homes? Millions. Who is lamenting for these, our brothers and sisters? Who is being held to account?

Who has tortured thousands upon thousands of our brothers and sisters in places such as Bagram and Abu Gharib, and who has imprisoned tens upon tens of thousands of our brothers and sisters? Who is lamenting for these, our brothers and sisters? Who is being held to account?

Who has invaded and occupied our lands? Who is oppressing our brothers and sisters? Who is fighting the invaders, the occupiers and their apostate allies and their puppet armed forces? Who are defending their brothers and sisters?

Allah سبحانه و تعالى says:



(2) Who is "innocent" and who defines this term? According to Sheikh Hammoud Al-Uqlaa Ash-Shuaybi (May Allah سبحانه و تعالى have mercy on him): "What many are babbling about and repeating when they talk about "innocent victims", is nothing but the effect of the West and its media, to the extent that many an unwary person repeats the words and expressions of our enemies, which are in direct contradiction with the expressions of Shariah."

As I have written elsewhere:

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

Narrated 'Aa'ishah who said that the Nabi صلى الله عليه و سلم said, "The pen has been lifted from three; from the sleeping until they awake, from the child until they mature, and from the one who is crazy until he is sane."

"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

Therefore, we should consider the matter of such deaths in the correct context - which is of seeking to use only the criteria of Quran and Sunnah; which is of defending our brothers and sisters and our Muslims lands; which is of seeking to defend our Deen; which is of the invasion and occupation of our lands by the kuffar; which is of the interference in our affairs by the kuffar for well over a hundred years; which is of their manufacture, in once Muslim lands, of their Taghut of the nation-State and of the nationalism which goes with it; which is of the determined campaign, by the kuffar, to change our Deen and have us accept their Tawagheet (such as democracy and the so-called United Nations); which is of the support, by the kuffar, for apostate rulers and corrupt regimes in Muslim lands; and so on, and so on.

As Allah سبحانه و تعالى says:






Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote, quoting a Hadith: "Whoever as much as kills a sparrow in vain will find it crying before Allah on the Day of Judgment: My Lord! That person killed me in vain. He did not kill me for needful sustenance..."

In respect of this Hadith, it was reported that Abdullah Ibn Amr narrated that the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم said:


Thus, the question we must ask, in relation to this particular criticism of Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin (hafidhahullah) is: is it just for us, according to Quran and Sunnah, to fight and to kill the kuffar and their allies who have invaded and occupied our lands, who have interfered in our affairs for over a hundred years, and who have killed hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of our brothers and sisters, and tortured and imprisoned tens upon tens of thousands of our brothers and sisters, and who demand that we abandon Deen Al-Islam for their Tawagheet?

Allah سبحانه و تعالى says:



We should also ask: if it is just for us to do this, then what are the limits, according to Shariah? Sheikh ul-Islam ibn Taimiyyah (Rahimullah) gives an excellent summary in Siyasatush-Shariah of who, according to the majority opinion, among the kuffar may not be targeted. According to him, those who should not be killed are women, children, the elderly, the blind, and those who are incapable of physically fighting, provided such persons as these do not assist or aid, through words, or deeds, or by giving assistance or encouragement to, those who are fighting.

Thus, the Shariah argument centres around what constitutes aid, assistance and encouragement, in words and deeds. In addition, it has to be asked and has been asked: who, among the kuffar, are responsible for, or to be held accountable, for the invasion of our lands, for the killing, torture and imprisonment of our brothers and sisters? Is it just the figureheads, such as Bush, Brown and people like Busharraf? Or are - in so-called democratic lands where such figureheads and leaders are said to be acting "in the name of the people" and who derive their authority to govern and to act from the people who elected them - the people themselves accountable?


Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin (hafidhahullah) and those in Al-Qaeda, and many others among the Mujahideen and elsewhere, have saught to answer such questions, according to the only criteria which matters, which is of Quran and Sunnah, and they have - after consulting with the Ahl adh-Dhikr among them - have answers which have explained the limits.


Furthermore, we say in further reply that Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin (hafidhahullah) in particular and the Mujahideen in general have been fighting only in accordance to such limits: that they are well aware of our Rabb, of The Judgement of our Rabb from which neither they nor we can escape, and that their very lives are evidence of this truth, as is their love of Allah سبحانه و تعالى and His Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم and their desire to obey only Allah سبحانه و تعالى. Indeed, we would go further and say that it is such brothers - and such sisters as aid and support them - who are Muslim examples to us in these dire times when many Muslims have abandoned the way of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jammah and Jihad Fee Sabilillah and instead imitate the kuffar and take as their examples in life some kaffir so-called "celebrity" or "entertainer" or some so-called "sportsman" or some other such example of the decadence and ignorance of the kuffar. Allah سبحانه و تعالى says:


Of course, Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin (hafidhahullah) and those in Al-Qaeda, and the many others, who have accepted such answers may be in error, and there are many Muslims who believe they are are or may be in error (May Allah سبحانه و تعالى guide them and us) just as there are many other Muslims who not only admire him but who believe he is not in error in such matters. But it needs to be made known again that even if he and they are in error in respect of such matters we do not - we should not - aid the kuffar against them. According to Sheikh Safar bin 'Abdir-Rahmaan al-Hawaali:



The important issue here, in respect of Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah criticisms of our brother, is that Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin (hafidhahullah) does live and act - according to all those who know him or who have known him - as a Muslim, with a genuine humility, and is much given to remembering Allah سبحانه و تعالى and is seeking only to do what is right and just according to the criteria of Quran and Sunnah. Thus, we do not under any circumstances betray this brother to the kuffar, nor join forces with the kuffar to fight against him, nor join in the kaffir chorus of condemnation against him, nor allow the kuffar to dictate to us how we should view him and those in Al-Qaeda and those elsewhere, for if we use the criteria of the ignorant kuffar (such as the Tawagheet of "innocent" and "terrorism") in our words, thoughts and speech, then we are surely imitating the kuffar, whether we are aware of this or not. Allah سبحانه و تعالى says:



Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote: Didn't you read where the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم said: "One of the prophets once sat under a tree and was bitten by an ant. Because of this, he burnt the ant's nest. Thereupon, Allah inspired to him: "Why not only the one ant?"

This and similar narrations has been recorded by Bukhari (4, Book 54, Number 536) and Muslim (Kitab As-Salaam, 5567, 5568, 5569) and Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah, after quoting the Hadith, says: "If this is the case for a nest of ants, consider how much worse it must be to visit harm upon human beings." However, the correct context would be: how much worse might it be if there were no just cause; if you did not act in accord with the due limits, for as Allah سبحانه و تعالى says:




Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote: Our Rabb tells us: "Whosoever kills a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the Earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the lives of all mankind."

In context, this Ayah (5:32) is:

Thus, even if one interprets this Ayah in general so as to refer to other than a past command to the people of Israel, then it is lawful to kill someone in retribution or for spreading dishonour, defined as such retribution and dishonour are by Quran, Sunnah and thus Shariah.



Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote: what is to be gained from the destruction of entire nations - which is what we are witnessing in Afghanistan and Iraq - seeing them torn them with plague and famine?

What is to be gained from accepting the invasions and the occupations of the kuffar - in Afghanistan and Iraq - which invasions and which occupations have led to the current state of affairs. The fault lies with the kuffar - not with Sheikh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin (hafidhahullah) and Al-Qaeda. It was the kuffar who decided, decades ago after their so-called First World War, to manufacture the artificial nation called Iraq according to their Taghut of the nation-State. It was the kuffar who decided that this artificial nation must be ruled according to their Taghut of democracy - and to achieve this they have now invaded and occupied that land and installed a puppet government, and have killed hundreds of thousands of Muslims; tortured thousands upon thousands of Muslims there and imprisoned many more. Now, they are determined to "re-educate" our brothers and sisters there and are expecting them to admire and follow the nations of the West with the rampant addiction to drugs, alcohol, vice, profanity, violence, oppression, inequality, crime and decadence that is such a feature of Western societies. It is same in Afghanistan. It is the same in Sheeshan; in Algeria; in Egypt; in Somalia; in the Arabian Peninsula.

What is the correct solution? The Taghut of the nation-State? Accepting the diktat of the kuffar and their manufactured laws, and the overlordship of the kaffir United Nations and the division of the world into nation-States? The Taghut of democracy? Or, is the correct solution Islam, and accepting the guidance of Quran and Sunnah, of living in a land ruled only according to Shariah? We are seeking to return to Quran and Sunnah; to Shariah; to living as Muslims in lands free from the influence, the corruption, the decadence, the Tawagheet, of the kuffar. As Allah سبحانه و تعالى says:

"Fight against those who do not believe in Allah, or in The Last Day, and who do not forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, as well as those among the people of the book who do not acknowledge the Deen of Truth, and fight them until they pay the Jizya with willing submission." 9:29 interpretation of Meaning

Furthermore, it is a lie, a myth, to believe as the masters of the kuffar want us to believe in their perfidy, that the New York and Washington expeditions - the Jumaadi Al-Thaani attacks - and the so-called "war on terrorism" are the reason behind the recent invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and behind the killing of hundreds of thousands of Muslims by the kuffar. Rather, the truth is that those attacks were but one part of a chain of events which goes back over a hundred years, and which events include the occupation of Muslim lands by the kuffar, the ending of the Khilafah by that lackey and imitator of the kuffar Ataturk, the occupation of Palestine by the Zionists, and the creation of puppet regimes and lackey governments in lands such as Egypt, Algeria, the Arabian Peninsula and elsewhere. The fault lies with the kuffar - with their persistent and deadly interference in our affairs for well over a hundred years and in their arrogant insistence that they have a right, a duty, a so-called "destiny", to bring the so-called benefits of Western so-called civilization to the rest of the world, and particularly to the Muslims. The kuffar have not let us alone, and they will not leave us alone, such is their arrogance and insolence and their lust for power.

Allah سبحانه و تعالى says:



Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote: War is something hateful that must only be resorted to under the most dire and compelling of circumstances when no other way is found.

We are at war because of the kuffar - because of their plans, their machinations, their desire to have us accept their mastery, their laws, their capitalism, their desire to have us bow down to their Tawagheet of the nation-State, of democracy, of the so-called United Nations.

It is they who have invaded and occupied our lands. They who have interfered in our affairs. We are resisting their invasion, their occupation, their interference. There is no other way than Jihad Fee Sabilillah. As Allah سبحانه و تعالى says:




It was narrated by Abu Da'ud that the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم said: "Whoever loves for Allah, hates for Allah, gives for Allah, and withholds for Allah, is correctly striving for the Deen." [Refer to Sheikh ul-Islam ibn Tamayyah (Rahimullah): Al Furqan bayana Awliya ar Rahman wa awliya ash-Shaitan, ch. 2]


Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote: Is Islam only about guns and ammunition? Have your means become the ends themselves?

Islam is about submitting to, about obeying, Allah سبحانه و تعالى. It is the perspective of Jannah, not of the dunya - the way of viewing the dunya as a means, a test, an opportunity, given to us by Allah سبحانه و تعالى.

We fight to protect our brothers and sisters; to resist the kuffar and the Tawagheet of the kuffar; the implement Quran and Sunnah in the dunya; to raise the Word of Allah سبحانه و تعالى. To do our duty, as Muslims, Bi'ithnillahi Ta'ala.

As Allah سبحانه و تعالى says:




Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote: My heart pains me when I think of the number of young people who had so much potential - who would have made such great and original contributions to society, who had so much to offer that was constructive and positive - who have been turned into living bombs.

Our hearts pain us when we see, when we hear of, our brothers and sisters killed by the thousand by the kuffar and their apostate allies. Our hearts pain us when we see, when we hear of, our brothers and sisters, tortured and humiliated by the kuffar and by the allies and apostate lackeys of the kuffar. Our hearts pain us when we see, when we hear of, our brothers and sisters in Filistine suffer under the brutal occupation of the Zionists. Our hearts pain us when we see, when we hear of, our brothers and sisters suffer and go hungry in what once were the lands of the Muslims.

As Allah سبحانه و تعالى says:

Surely, what matters is striving to obey Allah سبحانه و تعالى - the perspective of Jannah; what does not matter is dwelling on the dunya and what "success" (according to kaffir standards) we might achieve or could achieve in the dunya and what "contributions we might make to society". Whose "society" anyway? That of the kuffar, or that of the Muslims? If of the Muslims, we have no Muslim "society" now where the kuffar and their apostate lackeys have no influence or power and where we can live, as Muslims, ruled by an Ameer according to Shariah alone. As Allah سبحانه و تعالى says:


Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah wrote: Here is the vital question that you need to ask yourself and that others have the right to demand and answer for: What have all these long years of suffering, tragedy, tears, and sacrifice actually achieved?

Here is the essential answer: There has been a striving to submit to, and to obey, only Allah سبحانه و تعالى. Our victory, our success, is Jannah, InshaAllah. Wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah.



In conclusion, let us strive to be, as Allah سبحانه و تعالى says:






May Allah سبحانه و تعالى protect us from all forms of Al-asabiyyah Al-Jahiliyyah, forgive us for our mistakes, and guide us to and keep us on the Right Path.



Abdul-Aziz
16 Ramadan 1428

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