Earlier this week the Islamic State released via al-Furqan Media a new audio speech by the group's spokesman Abu Hamza al-Qurashi, entitled 'And You Are the Supreme Ones If You Are Believers' (the title being quotation from the Qur'an). The speech is also featured in full transcription in this week's issue of the al-Naba' newsletter of the Islamic State.
Among the main highlights of the speech:
. Commendation to the Islamic State fighters and leaderships in West and Central Africa. In particular of note is the praise for work in destroying the 'fitna' (i.e. tribulation/problems) caused by the 'Khawarij.' The reference here is to the rivalry between the West Africa affiliate and the group that was led by Abu Bakr Shekau, who had previously headed the West Africa affiliate but was removed by the Islamic State's central leadership for problems of erratic behaviour and extremism. Shekau's group, deemed 'Khawarij', had already been denounced in a book released by the West Africa affiliate in 2018, and the two groups fought each other. However, it appears that Shekau was finally killed in a campaign launched by the West Africa affiliate in Sambisa Forest, and many if not most of the fighters in Shekau's group have defected to the West Africa affiliate, with their allegiance pledge now accepted by the Islamic State's central leadership. There is also praise directed to the West and Central Africa affiliate leaderships for supposedly implementing Islamic rule with 'enablement' as per the Qur'an. The reference here is probably to the West Africa affiliate's implementation of zakat taxation in some areas of its operations and some other aspects of governance. In contrast to the Central and West Africa affiliates, the Somalia affiliate, which has proven to be lacklustre, is only praised in passing.
. The Muslim masses in West and Central Africa are urged to support the Islamic State. They should not make the same mistakes of many people of the masses in Iraq and Syria who forsook supporting the Islamic State and now live under supposed oppression of the Islamic State's enemies.
. Praise for the ongoing operations in Iraq and Syria. The spokesman mocks the 'sweeping' campaigns conducted by the Iraqi forces against Islamic State insurgents as media set-ups and failures, achieving nothing. Meanwhile, the fighters operating in the badiyas of Syria (i.e. the Homs desert area) are praised for their efforts, such that they have supposedly made the Syrian government forces unable to move and operate without air-cover or tank-cover. The insurgent cells operating in various parts of Syria (including the Hasakah, Raqqa and Aleppo areas) are praised, but I note the absence of mention of the Hawran region (Deraa and Quneitra) of southern Syria. Is this because the Islamic State covert cells are less effective there, and have a much smaller role than other actors in the ongoing instability in the region?
. Praise for the Sinai affiliate, with an urge to do more and expand operations into cities. This could be a veiled criticism of the general trend of stalemate in the years of fighting between the Egyptian forces and the Sinai affiliate.
. Praise for the Khorasan affiliate (i.e. Afghanistan), with a call to keep targeting the Taliban and the Shi'a. There is also the suggestion to take out the Afghan head of state in the hope it will precipitate the collapse of the Western-backed government.
. Passing praise for the Libya affiliate, which recently claimed operations. The Libya affiliate has long been dormant, and the hope is that the recently claimed operations mark a new beginning. But the praise is only in passing.
. The soldiers of the Caliphate in general should never despair, and should realise that their supremacy lies in their faith, not in whether they are currently 'enabled' in the land.
. A renewed call to free the Muslim prisoners. This is likely issued in reference to the general failure of Islamic State fighters and affiliates to achieve prison break successes reminiscent of the past. Of interest is the suggestion to focus on targeting judges and investigators involved in the prison systems, with the caliph having apparently marked out financial rewards for those who can take these people out. Note that the Islamic State has previously issued financial rewards for performance of certain military deeds.
. A critique of the 'scum of the torrent': derived from a hadith, the reference here is to those who have placed their hope in various Arab states and other actors besides the Islamic State to work to liberate Palestine. The truth of these people was exposed when e.g. Jordan and Egypt worked to stop people crossing over into Palestine. There is also a denunciation of Hamas (part of the 'Brothers of the Shayateen': i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood) for its alliance with Iran. For those who have sense in Palestine: they should realise that their only path to liberation is jihad. Meanwhile, the 'Sahwa' forces should stop trying to prevent the Islamic State from fighting the 'Nusayris' (i.e. the Syrian government) and the Jews.
. General critique of those who attack and deride the Islamic State. Perhaps this is a critique of the dissidents-turned-defectors who have primarily devoted their energies to critiquing the group's policies and leadership, both now and under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
. General advice to Islamic State fighters: avoid calumny, give charity, avoid oppression etc.
Below is the speech translated by me in full.
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And you are the supreme ones if you are believers
By the muhajir Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Qurashi (may God Almighty protect him).
Praise be to God: we praise Him and seek help in Him and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in God from the evils of ourselves and from the evils of our deeds. Whomsoever God guides, there is no one to mislead him, and whomsoever He misleads, there is no guide for him, and I bear witness that there is no deity but God alone with no partner for Him. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. As for what follows:
God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'Whoso thinks that God will not support him in this world and the hereafter, let him extend a rope to the ceiling, then be strangled, then see whether his scheme will thwart what arouses his anger'- (al-Hajj 15).
This is a report from God Almighty that He supports His religion and Messenger (prayers and peace be upon him) until the rise of the Hour, and of the wisdom of the Exalted is that He has made the renewal of the affair of the religion at the head of every age, in spite of the disbelievers, and despite the scheming of the schemers, and despite the hatred of the haters. Yes, let each of you, oh Tawagheet and Crusaders, extend a rope to the ceiling, then be strangled and see, whether your scheme will thwart what arouses your anger! Or have you reckoned that by your war and scheming you will put out the light of God Almighty, deter from the Sunna of his Prophet (SAWS), and destroy His monotheist servants who have borne the message!? No, by my Lord, but rather it is as though you are trying to gather water with the sieve. For here are your failed campaigns that you launch, and here are the soldiers of our Dawla lying in wait and ambush for you and your slaves, competing with each other to fight you. So die in your rage. For have you considered yourselves and what you contemplate? Die in your rage and renew your sorrow over what you have spent in war on God Almighty, His Messenger and His monotheist servants. Die in your rage and continue in your scheming, for you are scheming and God schemes and God is the best of the schemers. Have you thought that you can prevent the support of God Almighty and repel it from His believing servants? Die in your rage whenever you hear of the attacks of the monotheists. Die in your rage. For here is the Dawla that you have waged war on and on whose soldiers you have poured the cup of your hatred and the fire of your rage in Iraq and al-Sham and Khorasan. In the morning by the grace of God Almighty its operations have come to you in West and Central Africa. And it is the Dawla that you have deemed a lie. Yes. It is the Caliphate you have waged war on, and it is in spite of you remaining by the permission of God Almighty whether you like it or not. For your delusion and arrogance have deceived you, and you have thought that by your tyrannical power and tyranny you would destroy it and its soldiers and supporters. So know that the Islamic State today is on that besides which you think, and contrary to what you expect and await.
Incite, plot and scheme
The lions of the Caliphate have got to work for Excellence,
By their jihad they have confounded all creatures,
And the mountains hear and see their steadfastness.
And here you have spent all you can to fight us, and to deter from the path of our Lord. But by the grace of God Almighty, we have only become more determined, insistent and solid, so we will not care for the gatherings of disbelief and its followers and parties, or its armies, soldiers and dogs, for they have thundered, raged, threatened and made threats, for by God we have only come out to support the religion of God the Exalted who says in the decisive revelation: 'Oh you who have believed, if you support God, He will support you and plant firm your feet'- (Muhammad 7). So how can you fight us? And God Almighty by His grace is our supporter and plants firm our feet, and the previous years suffice, as evidence for what we say. For we by the aid of God Almighty fight and perform fearless deeds in battle. And as for the supremacy and withdrawal, it is but a trial and test from the Mighty Great Lord, and purification for His best believing servants (and so that God may know those who believe and take from you martyrs and God does not love the oppressors'- (Al Imran 14).
So how excellent you are oh solders of the Caliphate. How excellent you are oh strangers, in the time of desertion, forsaking and loss, and we specify among you the soldiers of West and Central Africa. May God bless you and your jihad, and may the Merciful reward you best on behalf of us and the Muslims. You have been the best of those who have heeded the call, so the victory and support have come to you from the Lord of Heaven, so praise God the Generous oh soldiers of the Caliphate for His bounties that have covered you and healed the hearts of a believing people. God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'If you are thankful, I will surely increase you'- (Ibrahim 7). So praise God the Generous for His bounties, and know (may God grant you success) that we have no power or force except in God the Lofty and Almighty, so do not be deceived in what God Almighty has granted to you in conquest, and disavow your power and force, and renew your intentions and make just your intentions, and be humble to those around you, and be a shield for the Muslims, and remove from them the oppression of the hateful tyrants.
And to the Muslim masses in West and Central Africa: gather around your Dawla and your imam to support and implement the ruling of the law of the Lord of the Worlds, and may what happened to your brothers in Iraq and al-Sham be a lesson to you that has not and will not be repeated, after many of them forsook and turned away from supporting their religion and Dawla, such that there has come to them today the one who does inflicts painful torment on them and their religion and honour and children and wealth, after they lived honoured and blessed and safe and assured in the land of the Caliphate. So hurry and compete and join your Dawla and support it, and terrify the enemy of God and your enemy. God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'And prepare for them what you can from force and tying of horses by which you terrify the enemy of God and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know but God knows and what you spend from anything in the path of God, it will be rendered back unto you and you will not be wronged'- (al-Anfal 60).
So do not forsake supporting your religion and bearing the banner of Tawheed, and indeed the Dawla opens its doors for all who seek jihad: 'Oh you who have believed, respond to God and the Messenger when He calls you to what revives you'- (al-Anfal 24). So respond to God Almighty and cling to His strong rope, and do not pay attention to the words of those who seek to cause you to forsake, and beware of the scheming of the hypocrite attackers, and strive to go forth, for there has remained no time for justification and theorising.
And to the distinguished walis in West and Central Africa- may God Almighty make your path right: we convey to you the greetings and counsel of the Sheikh Amir al-Mu'mineen (may God Almighty protect him)- counselling you foremost to fear God Almighty and obey the Exalted in what He has brought to you and opened up at your hands in conquest, and that you should strive to restore rights to their people and you should take up the right of every oppressed person whose right the tyrants have dared to transgress against, and that your determination should not slacken, and you should continue the jihad against your enemy, and you should exploit the opportunities and intensify the expeditions. And the Sheikh praises your blessed work in implementing what God Almighty has commanded: 'Those who when We have enabled them in the land, have established prayer, given zakat, commanded what is right and forbidden what is wrong, and to God belongs the outcome of the affairs'- (al-Hajj 41).
We also praise your blessed work in extirpating and putting out the fitna of the Khawarij, and we praise God the Generous that He has granted success to those who have been striving behind them to return to the earnestness of the right path. And we by God pray for them to be guided, so that they should return to the group of the Muslims, abandoning behind them the ways of the labyrinth, loss and error, and that they should gather around the Imam of the Muslims the mujahid Sheikh Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi (may God protect him). And we rejoiced much in the news of their bay'a, and we convey to them that the Amir al-Mu'mineen has accepted their bay'a and specifies them for greetings, and counsels them to be steadfast on the command of their religion, and that they should not be the tools of every person of arbitrary whim and innovation, and that they shouldfear God Almighty for their own sakes, and they should not forsake their religion for the sake of material benefit. And they must do well in fighting the armies of the Tawagheet, so that they should make up for what they lost from the days that they wasted in following the fitnas and engaging in doubts.
And here we would like to point out that this- by the grace of God Almighty- is the greatest affirmation and proof of the soundness of the way of the Islamic State, and its innocence from the deviation and error of the Murj'ites and the extremists since its establishment and until this day of ours, and that it is on the Prophetic Methodology- by the permission of God Almighty- and will not increase or deviate, and indeed the Dawla- by the grace of God Almighty- is firmly planted and rooted like the mountains, not affected by the winds and storms of fitnas and tribulations or the continuation of the battles and fighting, remaining on its manhaj, certain of the support of its Lord. It will not be partial to or flatter anyone. The leaders in it and the soldiers have offered their lives and blood as things cheap in the path of supporting the religion of God Almighty and making supreme the word of the Exalted. For the religion has red lines, for the sake of which we make cheap the lives and the corpses disperse and the blood flows.
We also praise the blessed work of the soldiers of the Caliphate in the wilayas of Iraq, al-Sham, Sinai, Khorasan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan and India, and we specify the lions of the Caliphate in the wilaya of Iraq for what they have expended in Baghdad and its north and south, as well as Salah al-Din, Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninawa and al-Jazeera. How excellent you are oh defiant ones in the face of injustice, oh you who have confounded the Rafidites and made them on alert throughout their life, and they have lost- by the grace of God Almighty- their hopes and have begun to affirm openly their weakness and failure to stop your blessed operations, and the arrogant one among them is the one who does not want to acknowledge the bitterness of what they have encountered at your hands during the past days: it has not been possible for him except to launch the campaigns of their failure to sweep the deserts and the wildlands. So know oh Rafidites of Iraq: if what you are striving for were possible, your American masters before you would have done it, and if you reduce the pressure on the people of agriculture and peasantry, and push your army and Hashds to cultivate the deserts and harvest crops, instead of wasting your time in pursuing the monotheists with vehicles and armoured vehicles, then be preoccupied with yourselves oh Rafidites and oh Hashds, and make the recklessness of yourselves avoid the den and deeds of the lions. And from the intensity of your loss, you have begun to see your obtaining of a worn out piece of cotton or iron here or there, about which you declare victory in the satellite channels, and for the sake of which you prepare interviews, and upon which meetings and clubs are held. So how foolish you are, so we say to you: return to your burrows, and prepare your coffins, and dig your graves, and prepare your funeral cries. For no sooner do you begin to launch one of your new campaigns of failure, than it is followed by your announcement of your entry into emergencies and alert, and then it is followed by despair and destruction, and the corpses scatter and the heads fly like stones. And we promise you more, and we will make your filthy blood- by the permission of God- flow as rivers again.
And as for you oh Hashds of the tribes, oh you who desire to live under the graves: has it not sufficed for you what befell your predecessors from the Sahwa forces of Iraq, that they should be a lesson and admonition for you? Or do you think that you are mightier than they or their masters and supporters? So make available your pieces of advice to yourselves and your predecessors today, before you should fall tomorrow into our hands and you then begin to advice and remind those who see or hear your well-known wretched fate. So do not deceive yourselves that you are safe from our swords, but rathe we are delaying the assault on your homes from time to time, in the hope that you should return and repent before we gain power over you and see us on your bed and above your heads. Then weeping and regret will be of no benefit to you. Or have you not heard what God Almighty has said in Surat al-Qalam: 'We will lure them from where they do not know and I will make clear to them that My scheme is strong.'
And to the lions of the badiyas in Wilayat al-Sham: how excellent you are of men. Words cannot describe you even if we were to write one thousand articles. Oh you who have humiliated the Nusayris and their allies and Hashds from the Russians and Safavid Iran. And by the grace of God Almighty their campaigns have been of no use and have opened upon them doors of attrition and hell, after they thought that they were going out towards you as a picnic and increase of good and bounty, until the state of disaster of what they have seen befell them, such that they- by the grace of God Almighty- do not dare to go forth and cross unless there are aircraft above their heads, or their convoys are surrounded by tanks. And likewise we praise the blessed operations of the lions of the covert units in al-Khayr, al-Baraka, al-Raqqa and Aleppo, and their writing of epic battles in liquidating and killing the leaders of the atheists and Sahwa factions. And we incite and urge you oh valiant ones to kill and extirpate the evil of the turbans of malice and the mashaykh of dishonour, who rise on the backs of the tribes, who annul their pact on every occasion and have no piety: we urge you to disperse through them those behind them. God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'Those from whom you have taken a pledge, then they break their pledge on every occasion and have no piety: indeed you should seize them in war, and disperse by them those behind them: perhaps they will be reminded'- (al-Anfal 56-57).
And we have urged for you, oh soldiers of the Caliphate in al-Raqqa, al-Khayr and al-Baraka, to show us among them killing, despair and destruction: kill them on the paths, or enter upon them in their homes and show them the might of the assaults, and make them hope for death when they do not find it. For they sold their religion and honour to the Kurdish atheists yesterday, and today they have incited to vote for the Taghut of the Nusayris. So how strange is their affair: do they vote for and urge to vote for the one who has killed their children and raped their women, and has plundered their resources, and destroyed their towns and villages?! So we have not read in history of the one who is more vile and despicable than they!
And to the lions of the Caliphate in Wilayat Sinai of might and steadfastness, the land of epic battles and heroisms: how excellent is your harvest by which the leaders have fallen, and in which the barracks have been destroyed, and the blood of the Sahwa forces has flowed. So continue proceeding, for indeed the army of the Pharaoh of Egypt is no less evil than the army of the Rafidites in Iraq, after they opened upon themselves a long list of attrition of their commanders and officers and vehicles and wealth before their soldiers whom they have prepared for incineration and destruction without care. And indeed we urge you oh lions of the Caliphate in Sinai to enlarge and expand your blessed operations to inside the cities, and to prepare the detachments for silencers and sticky bombs, to work to liquidate the heads of the officers and intelligence, and make for these operations of yours a long life, and do not hurry to pick their fruit.
And to the soldiers of the Caliphate in Wilayat Khorasan: strengthen your zeal and determination and disturb the life of the idolatrous Rafidites and the apostate Taliban. We also urge you to pick more intense and worse targets in the head of the government of the Taghut and its sectors. So if God Almighty enables you to take out the head of the snake, its tail will fall along with all of what is upon it.
We also praise the blessed operations of the lions of the Caliphate in Wilayat Libya, for this is the beginning of the launch of the ember, so follow it up with raid upon raid.
So oh soldiers of the Caliphate in every place: do not despair or be sad about the gathering of the paths of disbelief against you, for you are the supreme ones- by the permission of God Almighty- if you are steadfast on your faith and continue the course of your jihad. For supremacy has never been tied with tamkin. God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'And do not despair or be sad, as you are the supreme ones if you are believers'- (Al Imran 139).
The Exalted did not say 'if you are enabled or supreme in the land,' but He- whose affair is exalted- said 'if you are believers,' so we are the supreme ones in our faith, and we are the supreme ones in following the command of our Lord and the guidance of our Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him), so may you be blessed oh strange ones if you cling to your faith, and strive to establish the law of your Lord. For from the Exalted alone is help and the right path, so be the best soldiers for your Dawla and the support of your religion, and be like lofty mountains, like lions in the field who do not fear death, and realise the fear of the Merciful, that you should obtain what has not been reckoned, and know that when the fates of God the Blessed and Almighty arrive, then just as the rain falls form the sky, so no one can deter it or repel it, so be certain that the matter is entirely in the hands of God Almighty, and that victor is from the Exalted alone.
And know oh you who wage war on the Dawla in your various names and forms, that the war on it- by the grace of God Almighty- has worn you out, and you will cease from the lying of your claimed victories behind whose mirage you have been panting for years, for you have exhausted your armies that you launch here, and from there you set forth the tails of disappointment, and upon which you swallow sorrows, and your hearts break at our assaults and the news you hear, and a war that has made you confounded, confused, making choices, and terrified. Here what are you to do? And here what are you to spend?! Indeed no, by my Lord, even after a long time you will be defeated. God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'Say to those who have disbelieved: you will be defeated and gathered to Hell, and how wretched a resting place it is'- (Al Imran 11-12).
Imam Ibn al-Qayyim (may God Almighty have mercy on him) said: whoso thinks that falsehood will prevail over truth, has thought badly of God Almighty.
What is the matter with you as the lions take the dangers square on,
Seeking the guidance of the Merciful that the abode should prevail.
Do the soldiers of a Taghut and shame terrify you?
If they come back, we will render destruction to them.
And we repeat our call to all the wilayas without exception, and we specify among them the wilayas of Iraq and al-Sham, that the Sheikh Amir al-Mu'mineen- may God Almighty protect him- has urged you to expend all you can to destroy the walls of the prisons, and free the prisoners of the Muslims from the prisons of the atheists and apostates. So spare no capacity in that, and seek help to fulfil your needs with secrecy and deception, and do not divulge the secrets of your work except to those whom the matter makes necessary, in order to implement and take up zero-hour. We also urge you oh soldiers of the Caliphate to strengthen your force against the judges and investigators in order to avenge our prisoners. And we inform you that the Sheikh Amir al-Mu'mineen has marked out financial recompenses for all whom God Almighty enables to pick off the heads of the tyrants of the judiciary, and the butchers of the investigators. So seek help in God Almighty and observe your targets, and seek the guidance of the Exalted then consult your brothers. And when you have determined, put reliance on God Almighty, and if you come down in their field, bring down might and hell upon it.
And to our loved ones and the apple of our eyes, our prisoner brothers in every place, we know that freeing you is a Shari'i obligation upon us, and it is a debt on our debts so long as we live, and that your bothers have striven for that as far as they have been able to do so. So know that the matter is entirely in the hand of God Almighty. When the Exalted wishes for a matter, He says to it: Be. And it is so. So oh our loved one and apple of our eyes, be as we have pledged to you: men who believe in the fates of God Almighty, for better or for worse, and do not worry or despair, for the matter is the matter of God Almighty and his judgement. So we patient and counsel each other to patience, and seek forgiveness and remind each other. God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'And if God holds to harm, no one can reveal it but He, and if He renders you good, no one can repel His grace by which He affects whomsoever He wills of His servants, and He is the forgiving, the merciful'- (Yunis 107).
And as for our message to the scum of the torrent: the Messenger of God (SAWS) said: 'The nations are on the point of calling upon each other against you just as guests at dinner call on each other to their bowl.' So someone said: Will we be few on that day? He said: 'On the contrary you on that day will be numerous but you are scum like the scum of the torrent, and God will indeed tear our from the hearts of your enemy fear of you, and He will throw into your hearts weakness.' It was said: and what is weakness, oh Messenger of God? He said: 'Love of this world, and hatred of death.' Has not the time come for you to awaken from your drunkenness and neglect?! Has not the time come for you to be aware of the truth of what is going on around you? Has it not become clear to you that dinner guests are gathering from all the nations against you?! Have you not seen with your own eyes their competing and rushing to eat you and make you go to waste?! For when they have seen from you the silence of graves, they have ventured upon you and the fear from their hearts towards you has been removed, such that they have taken your hands towards loss and waste. The Messenger of God (SAWS) said: 'If you concern yourselves with transactions, and take the tails of the cows, and are content with planting, and abandon jihad, God will impose on you humiliation that He will not remove until you return to your religion.' So this is the summary of the disease, and you have no cure except jihad, and you have tried peacefulness for long years, such that you have become uncontested experts of peace. So what are you waiting for? And what are you contemplating? After all the facts that we have mentioned to you years ago were revealed, in that the apostate Tawagheet of the Arabs are servants of the project of the Jews, and their Bel'aams of the 'ulama of prostration have worked to deny the clear word we have pointed out time and again. For here is the army of the Taghut of Jordan, and here is the army of the Pharaoh of Egypt they have rushed to work to protect the borders of their Jewish masters, when they merely hear that some of the youth are heading to them. So here have become clear the lies of their Bel'aams and the donkeys of their 'Ilm and their deception against you, after you thought that the Tawagheet would support the cause of Palestine and take revenge for its people. And here for you is the right of question? Where are the squadrons of aircraft of the so-called 'Arab Alliance' to support Palestine, the fire of whose hatred was poured out by them yesterday on the Muslims in al-Sham and Iraq? They claim that we are agents of the Jews, for if that was their war on the agents as they claimed, where are they today to fight the Jews themselves and save the people of Palestine from them? And where are the aircraft of the Dajjal of Turkey, which yesterday bombed the towns and regions of north Aleppo countryside when they were under the authority of the Islamic State? Do you know when the aircraft of the disbelief of the Arab Alliance will participate? When you find the soldiers of the Caliphate fighting the Jews in Palestine, in that time the orders will be issued from their masters to defend the Jews. For here are the facts that that have become clear in front of those devoid of sight and insight, but most of you hate the truth. God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'We have brought you the truth, but most of you hate the truth'- (al-Zakhraf 78). And the Exalted has said: 'And most of the people, even if you are keen for it to be so, are not believers'- (Yusuf 103). And how strange are some of the scumbags in Palestine! How strange is your affair! Do you condemn yesterday the normalisation of the Tawagheet of the Gulf and their followers and animals with the Jews, but here today you have shown your normalisation in all braggard behaviour and insolence with Safavid Majusi Iran, which attacks, curses and blasphemes the honour and companions of the best of creation- prayers and peace be upon him?! Or after all this do you ask about the reason for your abandonment?! And you encourage all who barter with you and work to oppress you, kill you and attack your taboos. Indeed by the One who raised the Seven Heavens, no support will arise for you until you repent, turn in repentance and return to your religion. For whoso desires might in something besides Islam, God the High and Mighty will lower him, so what lowliness is there after your lowliness! And what state of affairs is there after your state of affairs! For the cause among you is now only a cause of calls, clapping and drum-beating, and raising the photos of the slain of the Rafidites in Baty al-Maqdis and calling for mercy upon them, and praising the Rafidite Hashds in Iraq who have inflicted the evil of torment on the Sunnis.
And here we address those who still have a mind or have heard and are witness, who have kept safe from the fitna of loyalty to the Rafidites and their slaves. We say to them: oh people of Palestine, know that the right is not recovered by peacefulness and prostration, but rather by jihad and shedding blood and bleeding of the wound. So oh our people, wake up to your state of affairs, and realise your outcome, and wake up from your slumber and neglect, and return to your guidance and right path, and a right upon you oh people of Palestine and all the people of al-Sham, is that you should curse the factions of the Sahwa forces of shame. They have not continued to remain for you, and your eyes have witnessed the destruction, for they have delayed the column of the soldiers of the Caliphate from supporting you and fighting the Jews, after they became a stumbling block on our path. So for God's sake upon you, who are the agents who are working for the Jews and Crusaders by proxy?! And here the truth of the Ikhwan al-Shayateen has become clear to you, as well as that of their mercenary factions in Palestine, or after all this will you seek support from them?! Do not be deceived by mortars and rockets they have launched, for they have not been launched in answer to your screams or to remove oppression from you, but rather in answer to the call of their Persian masters, and it is merely rivalry politics between them and the Jews, and if not, the oppression and weighing down of the Jews upon you is not something that occurred today and in the moment, so then why do those missiles not continue to recover your rights and what the Jews have stolen from you, and to repel their evil from you? So here there have become clear to you the facts and your eyes have observed the disease, so every honest person among you must strive to seek jihad and remove the affliction, and fight the factions of Iran the donkeys of the Ikhwan. And know that the death from which you flee, by God, indeed it will find you, so be keen to expend your lives in the path of God as something cheap while you are in the field of combat, dyed with blood in the conflict, not in the field of peace and prostration and lowly subjection.
And we repeat our call to the Sahwa forces of apostasy and shame, get out of the way between us and the Nusayris, get out of the way between us and the Jews. Has it not sufficed for you that by which you have forsaken the monotheists? Has it not sufficed for you how you have made yourselves slaves and shows and animal vehicles for the agendas of the supporters? So oh factions of the Sahwa forces, get out of the way between us and your masters, that we may free you from them and you may be free from servitude to them.
And our message to the hateful arrogant fatuous ones, who have claimed that that they are on clear truth. On the authority of Ibn Abbas (may God Almighty be pleased with them both): he said: the Messenger of God (SAWS) said: 'The best of the people in the fitnas is a man who has taken up the reins of his horse (or he said the stirrup of his horse) behind the enemies of God, terrifying them as they terrify him, or a man who keeps in isolation in his wilderness, fulfilling the right of God Almighty that is upon him.'
So this is the characterisation of the state of the best of the people if the fitnas strike them, so what is the matter with you oh you who have opened up your chest and launched your tongue and pen and fingertips, and have dared to attack, curse, scandal-monger and backbite against the mujahideen? What is the matter with you, when the fitnas strike: do you not know anyone besides the group of the Muslims to attack and distort their jihad, and curse their soldiers? Has it not sufficed for you that you have abandoned and refrained from supporting your religion?! But it is falsehood that you have adorned for yourselves and whoso has proceeded behind you. God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'So is it the one for whom the evil of his work has been adorned so he has seen it as good? So indeed God misleads whomsoever He wills and guides whomsoever He wills. So do not let yourself perish in regrets over them. Indeed God is aware of what they do'- (Fatir 8). The Sheikh of Islam Ibn Taymiyya (may God Almighty have mercy on him) said: 'Innovation is more beloved to Iblis than disobedience, because the one who disobeys knows that he is doing so so he repents, whereas the innovator reckons that what he does is obedience so he does not repent!' And God Almighty has mentioned in describing the state of the people of hellfire: 'What put you in Saqar?' So they replied form the totality of what they said: 'And we were engaging with those who engaged'- (al-Mudatthar 45). So you who engage with those who engage, and attack and curse the monotheists, such that you dared and relished attacking those who preceded you on the path of jihad around two decades ago, and the person among you- in that time- had not yet completed nursing and had not yet been separated. And hear what God Almighty has said in His great Book: 'That He may ask the honest about their honesty'- (al-Ahzab 8). So Exalted be God, He will ask the honest about his honesty. So what is the matter with you, oh you who devise lies against us? How will be your state of affairs and the question of you? And how will you respond to the Mighty Lord. So prepare a response for this question, and correct yourselves oh poor ones before the Day of Reckoning, and keep your evil away from the jihad of the monotheists, and remember the fate of yourselves, oh renegade youngsters, for how great is the difference between the men of the Dawla who bear the zeal of the Ummah, and the males whose zeal the Ummah bears.
The barking and deeds of dogs have not harmed us,
For the lions only fear the Merciful,
Soldiers of our Dawla, come on and go forth,
Be like the volcano against your enemy,
The people of deviation have been confounded in trying to stop you.
They have put in place the schemes of Satan against you,
But the vanguards of faith proceed steadfast,
Desiring to reach the Paradise of the Merciful.
al-Fadheel bn Ayadh (may God have mercy on him) said: 'You must stick to the path of Truth and do not despair at the fewness of those who proceed on it, and beware the path of Falsehood, and do not be deceived by the abundance of the perished who proceed on it, and whenever you despair in your isolation, consider the prior companion and be keen to join them, and disregard those besides them, for they will not avail you of anything before God, and if they call at you on the path of your proceeding, do not pay attention to them, for when you pay attention to them, they will take you and obstruct you.'
So oh Lord, we ask You by Your grace and generosity and munificence, to tie our eyes and make firm our feet, and not separate our souls from our bodies except through martyrdom in Your path by which You may be pleased with us, going forwards and not backwards, steadfast and not replaced, vanquishing Your enemy and inflicting havoc, as the tongue of the state of affairs says to them:
Like lions in the field on the day of encountering you,
Like the cutting sword above your necks.
And in conclusion: these are some of the pieces of advice by which I remind myself and my mujahideen brothers. Beware oh soldiers of the Caliphate, then beware, beware of the sin of speculative thoughts and lie of hearsay. God the blessed and Almighty has said: 'Oh you who have believed, avoid much speculative thought: Indeed some speculative thought is sin'- (al-Hujarat 12). And the Messenger of God (SAWS) said: 'Beware of speculative thought, for indeed speculative thought is the most lying talk, and do not eavesdrop or spy, and do not boycott, and do not turn away from each other, and be, servants of God, brothers.'
And avoid calumny and slander. God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'Does one of you desire to eat the flesh of his brother as dead? You would hate it. And fear God: indeed God is accepting of repentance and merciful'- (al-Hujarat 12). And for you is to imagine the monstrosity of the sight, that one of you should be above the corpse of his brother and eat of its flesh, while the blood flows from his mouth, so the monstrosity of calumny is like the monstrosity of that sight, so do not be neglect in your affair. May God Almighty make your path right.
And give charity, even if in the little possible. God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'And spend from what We have provided you before death should come upon one of you and he would say: Lord, had you only delayed me to a near time, I would have given charity and been among the just'- (al-Munafiqun 10). So the hopeful one says when he seeks the delay of death from him (I would have given charity) and he did not mention anything besides charity, because of its blessed impact, and what God Almighty has stored in His presence for those who give charity. The Messenger of God (SAWS) said: 'Fear the fire even by the splitting of a date, so if you do not find the means, let it be by a good word.'
And beware, then beware of oppression. Beware of it and warn against it and fear it. The Messenger of God (SAWS) has said: 'Fear oppression, for indeed oppression is oppressions on the Day of Judgement.' So do not oppress yourselves and your brothers and those over whose affairs God has entrusted you. And indeed we disavow to God Almighty every oppression that occurs on purpose or accidentally. SO hurry and take the initiative and give every person who has a right his right before the Day of Reckoning: 'And indeed you will be asked about what you were doing'- (al-Nahl 93).
And you must oh soldiers of the Caliphate remember your position, and the great bounties that God Almighty has bestowed on you before those besides you, and you must thank the Exalted and Almighty for His exterior and interior bounties: those you have known of them and those you have not known. You must give thanks such that there is no separation of tongues and hearts, and by God let the bounty of guidance suffice even if it remains alone among the bounties, for if it were placed in one palm, with this material world opposing it in another palm, the palm of guidance would outweigh, for this material world is transitory and temporary, whereas the guidance conveys to a Paradise that remains and is lofty- by the permission of God Almighty. So await the reward of soldiers of the Caliphate, and our reliance is that you are not only rewarded for your jihad and fighting in the path of God Almighty, but also a reward has been contracted for the monotheists- by the permission of God Almighty- from the mouths of the attackers, who denigrate you and deem foolish your dreams, or attack your jihad and creed and course and your sleeping place and everything in your life. Know that you will be rewarded for it- by the permission of God Almighty- and the reward of that will be taken from them in spite of them.
And this is a reminder to the Muslim masses, and all who have heard what we have mentioned from the words of the Lord of the Worlds. The Lord (Almighty and Exalted is He) has said: 'If We had brought down this Qur'an on a mountain, you would have seen it humbled and cracked from fear of the Lord, and We give those sorts of examples for the people in the hope that they will consider'- (al-Hashr 21). So for God's sake upon you, will you equal a rock or small pebbles from that mountain that stands humbled and cracked from the fear of God and what has been brought down upon it from mention? So oh you who have been created from lowly water, when will you stand humbled and cracked for the command and fear of God the Lord of the Worlds?! 'So where do you go, if it is merely a reminder for the Worlds for whoso among you wills to be upright, and you do not will except that God the Lord of the World wills?'- (al-Takwir 26-29).
Oh God, grant blessings on and bless our Prophet Muhammad and all his family and companions, and praise be to God the Lord of the Worlds.