Previously I had covered one of the pamphlets of the Saudi Islamic militant Juhayman al-Otaibi, who led an armed takeover of the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979. That pamphlet discussed matters like obedience to rulers, allegiance pledges and the Caliphate, and thus served as a useful starting point to compare Otaibi's thinking with jihadist ideology today.
In this post, I turn to another Otaibi pamphlet, which focuses on the concept of Millatu Ibrahim ('the path of Ibrahim') and also serves as a useful text for comparing Otaibi's religious thinking and ideology with contemporary jihadism. Like the pamphlet on allegiance and obedience, this pamphlet was featured on a site linked to Jordanian jihadi cleric Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi. Stylistically, this pamphlet has a tendency to indulge in repetition- something that is also apparent in the Otaibi pamphlet on allegiance and obedience. In fact, there is some overlap in text citations and concepts between these two pamphlets.
In brief, Millatu Ibrahim refers to the example of Ibrahim mentioned in the Qur'an and ahadith. According to Otaibi, the path of Ibrahim, which was also followed by Prophet Muhammad, entails two fundamental components:
- Devotion of worship to God alone
- Disavowing idolatry and its people and being openly hostile to them.
The latter component of Millatu Ibrahim is arguably the one that receives more emphasis in this pamphlet. In Otaibi's thinking, one cannot keep silent about the un-Islamic deviations and those who practice them in the present society: instead, one must openly and consistently affirm hostility to them and disavow them, even if that means suffering adverse consequences like being driven out of one's home. Within the context of his own time, Otaibi alludes to examples of groups and trends that do not adhere to the path of Ibrahim as he conceives it. For instance, the Wahhabi preacher aligned with the Saudi state may rightly denounce idolatrous practices associated with Sufi trends, but if he does not disavow and denounce the corrupt and un-Islamic practices of the Saudi state out of fear of losing favour with the authorities, then he is not following Millatu Ibrahim.
Indeed, enduring harm and persecution for preaching the truth and affirming hostility to idolatry/disbelief are in accordance with the example of Ibrahim and the example of Prophet Muhammad when he initially preached his message in Mecca. The clearest parallel here with contemporary jihadist ideology is the jihadist emphasis on wala' and bara' ('loyalty and disavowal'): loyalty and affection towards Islam and the Muslims, and disavowal and hostility towards idolatry/disbelief and its adherents. This dualistic framing can be found, for example, in the Islamic State training camp textbook Course on Tawheed, which explicitly mentions Millatu Ibrahim and cites Ibrahim's example of disavowing the disbelievers and their worship of anything besides God.
However, Otaibi is no advocate of merely enduring persecution for its own sake. Instead, in keeping with the example of the Prophet Muhammad, Otaibi advocates that after facing persecution for preaching truth, one should try to undertake hijra ('migration') to a place in which the believers can gather. Once that migration and gathering have occurred, then one can undertake fighting (i.e. jihad), just as the Prophet Muhammad did not engage in military activities while he was persecuted in Mecca but rather waited until he had migrated to Medina and many of his followers had gathered there with him to set up the first functioning Muslim community. It is also likely that this approach Otaibi outlines is meant to parallel his own experiences, as he initially engaged in controversial religious and da'wa practices in Medina and eventually had to flee into the desert in exile to escape the clutches of the Saudi security forces.
Thus, while Otaibi advocates openly declaring hostility to the practices of the people of falsehood and idolatry, he rejects the idea of taking up arms against them whilst in their midst. Quoting poetry by Ibn al-Qayyim (a student of Ibn Taymiyya, who himself partly serves as a model for Otabi in enduring persecution for preaching the truth), Otaibi deems the notion of putting up an armed fight alone in the midst of the enemy societies to be especially foolhardy. This thinking can be contrasted with the Islamic State's discourse on hijra and jihad: while the Islamic State encouraged hijra to its territorial entity in Iraq and Syria, it did not make that a requirement to be able to conduct jihad. Indeed, the Islamic State also urged those Muslims living in the midst of states of kufr in the West and unable to migrate to conduct attacks within their own countries by any possible means. Thus, if an individual in a Western country like France decides to conduct an attack in the name of the Islamic State on his/her own accord without coordinating with others, such a move would be approved by the Islamic State.
Other points of interest in this pamphlet include:
- Otaibi's denunciation of Islamists who try to work within the systems and then subvert them in order to establish an Islamic state. Otaibi considers such methods to be treachery and contrary to the way of Prophet Muhammad.
- Otaibi's references to the concept of Taghut (idolatrous tyrant), which does not feature in the pamphlet on allegiance and obedience.
- Otaibi's approach to studying and understanding the religion. The author writes of the need for tajrid mutaba'at Muhammad ('devotion of following to Muhammad alone'). This concept was discussed by Ibn al-Qayyim, who defined it as follows:
"Tajrid al-Mutaba'a: that you do not give precedence to the words and opinion of anyone, whoever he may be, over what he [Muhammad] brought. But rather you look at the soundness of the hadith first. If it is sound to you, you consider its meaning next. And if it is clear to you, you do not deviate from it, even if someone from between the Mashraq and Maghreb contravenes you."
To be sure, Ibn al-Qayyim is not urging here to disregard the opinions of 'ulama ('scholars'), and neither does Otaibi urge such a thing in this pamphlet. The point is rather that the fundamental proofs in Islam for precepts are the Qur'an and Sunna. One should use the commentaries of 'ulama to help in understanding the meaning if it is not immediately clear, provided the lines of reasoning in those commentaries are based on sound lines of evidence and do not contradict the Qur'an and Sunna. Here, Otaibi is critiquing the idea of citing 'ulama out of partisan reasons (i.e. thinking along the lines of: such-and-such scholar is of the school of thought I belong to, therefore I will cite him without considering whether his thoughts accord with the Qur'an and Sunna).
- The conclusion of the pamphlet with an extended poem, which discusses the youth who clings to the true meaning of the religion in a society where it has been corrupted. The copy of the poem appears to have some transcription errors and I have taken them into account in the translation. Is the use of this poem with a youth as frame of reference meant to give a hint as to the general profile of Otaibi's followers? That is, that Otaibi's followers were primarily young men?
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Removing confusion about the one God has made an Imam for the people
Juhayman bin Muhammad al-Otaibi
Removing confusion about the one God has made an Imam for the people
Introduction:
Praise be to God who "forgives sin, accepts repentance, is severe in punishment, the one of abundance. There is no deity but He, and to Him is the destination. Only those who have disbelieved dispute the verses of God, so do not be deceived by their movement in the land. Before them the people of Noah and the parties after them declared as false and every nation plotted to seize their Messenger, and they disputed with falsehood in order to deem the truth to be false. So I seized them, and how terrible a punishment it was" (Ghafir 3-5).
And I bear witness that there is no deity but God alone, no partner for Him. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. He who says: "I have left for you two things: you will not go astray as long as you cling to them: the Book of God and My Sunna, and they will not separate until they meet at the Hawdh"- narrated by al-Hakim with an authentic chain.
As for what follows:
We wanted to make clear our manhaj by taking up these two principles: the one who takes them up is guaranteed not to go astray, as we make clear our proof for that from them, and make clear the shortcoming of most of those who claim to adhere to them and we will suffice with mentioning three groups who appear to us to be the closest of groups to adhering to the Book and Sunna. We ask God to make them among those who listen to the words and follow the best of it, and that their place among the people should not discourage them, and that they should be granted success just as Abdullah bin Salam was granted success when he accepted the truth that the Messenger of God (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) brought, even as he knew his people would turn his good deeds into bad ones and that he would lose his place among them, as came in al-Bukhari the mention of the story of his acceptance of Islam to the point that he said: "Oh Messenger of God, the Jews are a people who slander. If they know of my acceptance of Islam, they will slander me."
So the Jews came and the Prophet (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: "Which man among you is Abdullah bin Salam?"
They said: "Our best man, the son of our best man, our master and the son of our master."
He said: "What would you say if Abdullah bin Salam accepted Islam?"
They said: "May God keep him from that."
So Abdullah came out and said: "I bear witness that there is no deity but God and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God."
So they said: "Our worst and the son of our worst." And they disparaged him.
He said: "So this is what I feared oh Messenger of God."
And we ask that He protect them against the entry points of Satan who comes upon some of the 'ulama and preacher and thus deceives them by the abundance of followers and we have seen them taking up one aspect of Islam, which is some and seventy branches. So perhaps he takes up from it twenty branches for example so he embraces them and is harsh against those who contravene him in them, and in them he has supporters and enemies, and he has perhaps lost the principle so he deceives himself and deceives those besides him as he and others besides him think that they have undertaken Islam.
The Messenger of God (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: "Only the one who takes up all the aspects of the religion of God undertakes it"- narrated by al-Hakim and Abu Nu'aim and al-Baihaqi in al-Dala'il and al-Hafiz deemed it sound in al-Fatah- part 7, p. 220- the story of which this hadith is a part.
And the reason we have separated from these groups is that they consider disavowal of the idolaters and showing hostility to them and preaching the truth causes objection, hardship and impediment to the spread of da'wa and causes people to turn away from it.
For among them are those who are indulgent in this principle and among those who have abandoned it entirely, and we say that it is the contrary of what they think, because God has removed the objection from us and has commanded us by this principle- and were there an objection He would not have commanded us by it. And listen to the Almighty's words:
"And wage jihad for God: the right of His jihad. He has chosen you and has placed no impediment on your in the religion: the path of Ibrahim your father. He has called you the Muslims from before and in this so that the Messenger may be a witness upon you and you may be witnesses upon the people. So establish prayer, give zakat and cling to God. He is your Lord and excellent is He as Lord and supporter"- (al-Hajj 78).
So if God has commanded us to wage jihad and has made clear to us that there is no objection in it and that that is the path of Ibrahim, so know that this principle (jihad through life and following the path of Ibrahim) is the one that distinguishes the truth-tellers from the one who claims, and hear what God mentioned regarding the truth-tellers:
"Indeed the believers who have believed in God and His Messenger have not slacked then and have waged jihad with their wealth and lives in the path of God. Those are the truth-tellers"- (al-Hajarat 15).
And He said regarding the claimers:
"And those who have believed say: 'Why has a sura not been revealed?' But when a precise sura is revealed and in it is mentioned fighting, you see those who are ill in their hearts looking at you with the look of the one overcome by death. So more appropriate for them is obedience and a good word, and when the matter is determined, had they been true to God, it would have been better for them" (Muhammad 20-21).
And now we will make clear to you the path of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) on the basis of proof, and thus it will be evident to you that it is the difference between truth and falsehood, contrary to what some of them claim that Islam is a religion of civilization, in order that they may mix with east and west, imitate them and live with them.
Making clear the path of Ibrahim
The path of Ibrahim arises on two principles:
1. Devotion of worship to God alone.
2. Disavowing idolatry and its people and showing enmity to them.
He commanded our Messenger (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) to follow him (peace be upon him). The Almighty has said: "Then We ordered you to follow the path of Ibrahim, being hanif. And he was not of the idolaters" (al-Nahl 123).
And the Almighty said: "Say: my Lord has guided me to a straight path, a strong religion, the path of Ibrahim, being hanif. And he was not of the idolaters" (al-An'am 161).
And undoubtedly we are commanded to follow this path and whoso of us dislikes it has made a fool of himself.
The two Khalils went upon it and obtained intimacy with God by that as in Sahih Muslim (may God have mercy on him) when the one (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: "Indeed God has taken me as Khalil as He took Ibrahim as Khalil."
So the path of Ibrahim is the path of our Prophet (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and it is our path and it is the example of our Prophet and our example, as the Almighty has said: "For you has been a good example in Ibrahim and those who were with him when they said to their people: We disavow you and what you worship besides God. We have disavowed you, and between us and you have arisen enmity and hatred forever until you believe in God alone"- (al-Mumtahina 4).
So it has become evident from what has been presented that the path of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) is disavowal of idolatry and its people and separating from them and cutting them off, and Islam did not become supreme except by applying this aspect, and it is the separation of those in the land, as in al-Bukhari in the book of al-'Itisam from the long hadith of Jaber (may God be pleased with him) and in it: "And Muhammad distinguished between the people." And as in the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khidri (may God be pleased with him) in the vision, the chapter of tafsir of Surat al-Nisa' in al-Bukhari, when their Lord- Blessed and Almighty is He- comes to them on the Day of Judgment and says to them: "Indeed every Ummah follows the one it worshipped."
They will say: "Oh our Lord, we separated from the people in this world when we were most in need of them and we did not befriend them."
So they separated from them despite being poor and in need of them and they did not befriend them such that they should do without them, like the state of those who profess affiliation with Islam today.
And this is what As'ad bin Zarara (may God be pleased with him) understood when allegiance was given as he said: "Slowly oh people of Yathrib. Indeed the bringing out of it today is separation from all the Arabs, and the killing of the best of you and that the swords should wound you. So either you are a people enduring that so take it up and your reward is upon God, or you are a people fearing for yourselves so leave it. So make that clear, for it has been an excuse for you in God's eyes"- narrated by Ahmad and al-Baihaqi and al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir said that this is a very good chain of authority on the basis of Muslim (part 2 p. 194). And al-Hafiz in al-Fatah deemed this story sound despite disagreement proceeding on the expression.
So whoso wants to undertake the religion of Muhammad (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and wants its victory today, let him proceed on what they proceeded. Otherwise, as As'ad said in the same hadith: "Or you are a people fearing for yourselves so leave it, for it has been an excuse for you in the eyes of God- Almighty and Exalted is He."
So, oh brother, take it up with pure whiteness as the Companions of Muhammad (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) took it up, and He was pleased with them in its conditions and for that they were given Paradise. The Almighty and Exalted said about them: "Among the believers are men who have fulfilled what they have pledged to God, so among them is the one who fulfilled his vow and among them is the one who awaits and they did not alter anything"- (al-Ahzab 23).
As for the one confused deliberately or unknowingly, we will explain to you their deeds and words so that their state becomes clear to you.
A group of them says that the foundation of the rise of the religion is waging war on grave worshippers and showing enmity to them and warning about them: waging war on the Sufis and the people of innovations.
Another group asserts the words of the first group, and adds to it by assuming blind madhhabist partisanship and calling to defend the hadith and purify it of what was inserted into it: and that is most of their zeal.
A third group has become obsessed with communism and refuting it and proving the existence of the Creator and sincere effort in seizing control over the important centres in the governments with the aim of seizing control over rule.
And there are other groups and there is no reason to get into what they are involved in, because they arise on ignorance.
We say:
As for the first and second groups and their likes, it appears to us from their state of affairs that what they have undertaken is a right that cannot be denied, but as for this arising on their part in confronting the one who does not have authority in his hand, and their silence about those of authority in what they are undertaking from destroying the religion of God, their path that they have undertaken has been the one by which those before them have erred. As he (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) made clear in the hadith that al-Bukhari brought out in the book of al-Hudud on the authority of A'isha (may God be pleased with her): she said: The Quraysh became worried about the Makhzumi woman who stole. They said: Who will speak to the Messenger of God (SAWS)? And only Osama who is beloved by the Messenger of God will dare to do so. So he spoke to the Messenger of God (SAWS) and said: "Do you intercede on one of the hadd punishments of God?" Then he arose and gave a sermon, and said:
"Oh people, those before you erred as, when the noble one among them stole, they left him alone, and when the weak among them stole, they established the hadd on him. I swear by God, were Fatima the daughter of Muhammad to steal, Muhammad would cut off her hand."
So establishing the hadd on the weak is a right of God and it is a justice that cannot be used to condemn the one who does it, nor the one who affirms it and emphasizes it. But the error has come from the one who implements the hadd on the weak and does not implement it on the strong, so these to sects and their likes: when the one who does not have authority in his hand errs, they charge him and are hostile.
But when those of authority under whose hands they live and whom they fear and implore err, they plead an excuse them. And if they do not find an excuse for them, they plead the excuse for themselves on account of weakness and lack of ability to bring about change.
So the nature of the conformity between the two sects becomes clear to you in implementing the right on the weak and being silent about the strong. So in considering the case of their adherence to the path of Ibrahim, you have known that he- peace be upon him- did not go on their path in affirmation or in disavowal.
For being silent about some and affirming to some contravenes the path of Ibrahim who did not ear for himself or his wealth, and it contravenes the guidance of the Messenger of God (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) in his da'wa as his Lord commanded him by His words: "So preach what you are commanded and turn away from the mushrikeen."
Ibn al-Qayyim (may God have mercy on him) said:
"And preach what the Messenger said and do not fear the fewness of the ansar and helpers,
And take up the Book of God and the Sunnas that have established your arms, then call out with heart.
Whoso competes, let him present himself, or whoso vies, let him appear in the field.
For God supports His soldiers and His Book, and God protects His servants by trust.
Do not fear the enemy's plotting and scheming, for they fight through lies and slander.
For the soldiers of the followers of the Messenger are angels,
And their soldiers are the soldiery of Satan.
And be firm, and fight under the banners of guidance, and be patient, for the victory of God your Lord is approaching."
And Ibrahim- peace be upon him- did not say as they say today- we fear fitna- "No doubt they have fallen into fitna."
But rather he- peace be upon him- was bound by it and thrown into the fire and he was steadfast, not retreating and engaging in flattery.
And this is the Messenger of God (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family): Abu Jahl and his people were hostile to him and waged war on him and that did not deviate him from affirming the truth and affirming hostility to them, and likewise the Companions (may God be pleased with them), we see how they were expelled from their homes and wealth and had they understood the religion as these people in this time of ours have understood it they would have lived with Abu Jahl and his helpers as preachers of today live with the supporters of Abu Jahl.
So the Messenger (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was not sent to be at peace with the enemies of the peace but rather he was sent "he distinguished among the people." God sent him to "to try them and to be tried by them, and He sent him to burn Quraysh. So SAWS feared that the Quraysh would smash his head, so his Lord did not establish him on this fear- but rather He commanded him to drive them out as they drove him out"- narrated by Muslim in his Sahih collection: chapter of qualities by which the people of Paradise and people of Hellfire are known in this world.
So we say to the preachers of today: you have known that your affirmation, your hostility and your disavowal of the enemies of the religion will lead to their hostility to you and their getting you out- and this is the path of Ibrahim (peace be upon him)- and it is what Warqa bin Nawfal (may God be pleased with him) understood when he said: "If only I were alive when your people drives you out."
SAWS said: "Will they drive me out?"
He said: "Yes. No man has brought the likes of what you brought without facing hostility" (narrated by al-Bukhari).
Affirming that the rise of the religion will not be through flattery and silence but rather preaching the truth and enduring injury
Let the preachers of today know that victory in this world and Paradise in the Hereafter will only be realized through what they flee from, as the Almighty said: "Or have you reckoned that you will enter Paradise and there has not yet come to you the likes of what came to those who passed on before you? Poverty and hardship afflicted them, and they were shaken until even the Messenger and those who believed with him should say: 'When is the victory of God?' Indeed the victory of God is near (al-Baqara 214).
And this is what the believers understood on the Day of al-Ahzab when God said about them: "And when the believers saw the parties, they said: this is what God and His Messenger promised us. And God and His Messenger have been true. And it only increased their faith and acceptance"- (al-Ahzab 22).
So this is the profession of the convinced believers, but there is a group of impeders who impede the determinations and call the people to what they are in from keeping distance from injury and hardship as God said about their predecessors: "God may know the impeders among you and those who say to their brothers: hasten to us. And they do not go to battle, except for a few"- (al-Ahzab 18).
So they have known that their affirmation to the wrongdoers about what they have fallen into will lead to their fitna, so they have taken up the aspect with which the wrongdoers are pleased and they agree with them upon. And it is well-known that their authorities have hated what God has revealed, therefore they contravene God's ruling, and hear how they are described. God Almighty has said: "Indeed those who have turned their backs after the guidance was affirmed to them: Satan enticed them and prolonged hope for them. That is because they have said to those who have hated what God has revealed: we will obey you in some of the matters, and God knows their secrets. Then how will it be when the angels take them to death, striking their faces and backs? That is because they have followed what angered God and they have hated His contentment. So He rendered their deeds worthless" (Muhammad 26-28).
Sahib Tafsir Adwa' al-Bayan (may God have mercy on him) said: "These verses are in general about all their words pertain to, and all that is in them from the threat applies in general to the one who obeys the one who hates what God has revealed."
And he- may God have mercy on him- said:
"(Issue)- know that every Muslim must in this age contemplate these verses from Surat Muhammad, consider them and be totally aware of what they have contained from the strong threat, because the general populace of the disbelievers- from easterners and westerners- hate what God has revealed, and it is this Qur'an and what the Prophet (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) made clear through it from the Sunan, so all ho have said to these disbelievers who hate what God has revealed- we will obey you in some of the matter- like those who follow the man-made laws, obeying in that those who have hated what God has revealed, there is no doubt that these people are the ones the angels will take in death, striking their faces and backs, and there is no doubt that they have followed what has angered God and they have hated His contentment and that He has made their deeds null. So beware of entering among those who have said: we will obey you in some of the matter."
And we say that these people, even if they make pretenses to the claim of faith, God has called it a claim, because they have not been hateful against ruling by that besides which God has revealed, but rather it is aversion, compliance and a deeming of probability on their part that these people are more guided than those who have believed in a path. God Almighty has said: "Have you not seen those who claim that they have believed in what has been revealed to you and what has been revealed before you? They want to have recourse to the Taghut, even as they have been ordered to disavow it. And Satan wants to mislead them far astray"- (al-Nisa' 60).
So God has called their faith a claim because of this will, so what then of the one in whose state the Taghut has been appointed and he is pleased with him and he punishes the one who contravenes him?!
And the silence of their preachers in warning about them has been the result of obedience to the wrongdoers as they have barred them from speaking in what touches on their Taghut nature embodied in ruling by that besides what God has revealed and allying with the disbelievers and forging brotherhood bonds with the idolaters and so on. And this silence is the opposite of the guidance of Muhammad (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family), as previously affirmed.
So hear- oh brother- you must beware of that and turn yourself to the Book and Sunna, and beware of the deception of the deceivers who have turned away from the words of God Almighty: "Oh you who have believed, enter into Islam completely" (al-Baqara 208).
Indeed they have perhaps entered and gone out just as you have previously seen in the ayah: "Indeed those who have turned back." And as he (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: "The man is a believer by evening and a disbeliever by morning"- (brought out by Muslim).
And do not be deceived by the praise of the people for these people, for your Prophet exposed them to you in what al-Bukhari narrated on the authority of Hudhaifa (may God be pleased with him) in the book of fitnas. He said:
SAWS said: "The trust has taken root in the hearts of men. Then they have known from the Qur'an and then they have known from the Sunna."
And he told us from its raising that he said: "Man will sleep, so the trust will be taken from his heart, and a trace of it will remain like the trace of speckles (i- blackness in colours). Then he will sleep and it will be taken so there will remain it its trace like the trace of a blister (ii- result of work on the hand), as an ember you roll onto your foot. A painful blister (iii- blister filled with water): you see it swollen (iv- swollen) and there is nothing in it. And people will be contracting pledges but scarcely anyone will fulfill the trust so it will be said: among Bani so-and-so is a trustworthy man, so it will be said to the man how intelligent, refined and elegant he is, and there is nothing in his heart but a mustard-seed of faith."
So it has become clear to you from the hadith that the matter of trust is great in God's eyes, and the religion is the greatest trust man has borne. And Ibn Hajer said in Fatah al-Bari p. 39 part 13 what he stipulated:
"And this indeed comes upon what is witness to the one who mixes with the people of betrayal, for he becomes a traitor, because the comrade imitates his comrade."
And consider likewise the features of the man in the hadith: "How intelligent, refined and elegant he is," despite the fact that his heart has been devoid of faith. And the Prophet (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) likened him in his appearance to the painful blister that you see swollen and there is nothing in it.
And the other group proceeds contrary to the guidance of the Messenger (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and adopts the path of implementing the rule of ideas, for among their principles is hiding under different covers, and trying to betray the one under whose authority they work, and he (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said in Sahih Muslim: "There is no treachery in Islam." And he says in the hadith of Ali (may God be pleased with him) on the Khaybar raid: "So call them to Islam."
And likewise these people, if they see the one who calls to Tawheed and condemnation of idolatry in its various types and innovations in their various types and affirmation of the authentic Sunna and purifying it of what is not of it, you see them accusing him of shortcoming in understanding Islam and directing to him their criticisms, claiming that the matter is greater than that (and it is communism), so we say to them:
The idolaters of the Arabs and likewise Iblis acknowledge the Creator, so has that benefited them?
And we say to them: The Saved Sect that the Prophet (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) mentioned, among its qualities is that it is open on truth and is not concealed and veiled, and the Messenger (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was open in his da'wa, displaying his religion and affirming hostility to the disbelievers and disavowing of them publicly, and it is the path of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and therefore he and his Companions were harmed and driven out, as for you: you accept positions as employees, preachers, teachers, soldiers and experts...etc. Were you to affirm hostility to them and adopt the principle of disavowing them publicly, they would conflict with you and inflict on you the strongest harm. They would not appoint you to positions and centers but rather they would drive you out and kill the best of you as happened to the Prophet (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and his Companions, so the principle of their da'wa was that.
And all the sects make excuses on grounds of fewness of numbers, lack of material provision and fear of the dominance of the enemy with its huge forces and large numbers and provisions.
So in response to the first excuse, we say:
What are you to tell us of the number of companions of the Messenger (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) who were tortured and harmed during 13 years in Mecca?
Did the Messenger of God (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) permit them to be silent, conclude a truce, cling to the land and participate with their enemy in works, or did he incite them to obtain the centres among them by betraying them or devising plots against them like your rational plots whose results we have seen and felt?
As for the da'wa of Muhammad (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family), it is not hidden to the one with insight how its results were, for there were fewer than few of the Companions with him, and the Romans and Persians- the equivalents of America and Russia in this time of yours- feared them. And hear the questions of Heraclius the Ruler of the Romans to Abu Sufyan and hear his responses!
In the long hadith of al-Bukhari (part 1 page 7): Heraclius said:
And I asked you: did the noble or strong of the people follow him?
I mentioned that the weak of them followed him and they are the followers of the Messengers.
And I asked you: does he betray? I mentioned: no, and likewise the Messengers do not betray.
Then Heraclius said: "If what you say is true, he will rule a place before these two feet of mine."
So consider the insight of Heraclius and his knowledge based on the supremacy of the matter of the Prophet (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) after he knew that the weak followed him, and he did not ask about his provisions, force or protectors.
So did the matter of the Prophet (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) become supreme or not?
Of course, the religion of Islam became supreme and came to rule over the Persians and Romans, the equivalents of the Russians and the Americans.
So when you contravene, abandon, change and alter, we say to you: your matter will not become supreme.
If you say, how?
We say: you are plotting for treachery, and the followers of the Messenger and the Messenger himself do not commit treachery.
And you strive to be people of the sensitive centers in your view and the people of the centers of power, and the followers of the Messenger (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) were the weak ones.
And the Messenger (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) would distinguish among the people as in the previous hadith of al-Bukhari, and his Companions likewise would say to their Lord on the Day of Judgement: "We separated from the people when we were in the greatest need of them."
But you mix with the people and they are in your eyes Islam however numerous their creeds, ways and madhhabs might be- indeed the important thing is that they agree with you on joining the ranks of the people and taking the highest qualifications and seizing the centres to betray them to establish your Islamic State!
But the Messenger (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) in his open manhaj and affirmation and separation from them and cutting them off established the Islamic State and only some individuals of his Companions, and a small number were taken prisoner, whereas you have hidden and intruded among the ranks and merged and betrayed but you have not established your Islamic State, and thousands of you represented in the movements of betrayal have been killed, and you have not adopted the maxim of the Prophet (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) in the two Sahih collections: "The believer will not be stung from one stone twice."
And we say to you as Malek (may God have mercy on him) said: "Another will not make right this Ummah except through that by which its first made it right." And he (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said in the two Sahih collections: "A sect of my Ummah will remain on truth, supporting it and not harmed by the one who contravenes them, until the matter of God should come."
The Manhaj of the Victory Of the Religion Summarised in Three Things
1. That we assert the truth in da'wa for the Tawheed of God (Almighty and Exalted is He), and disavow idolatry, its people, innovations and their people, and showing hostility in that, and devoting following to Muhamad (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family).
2. With that occurs the harm and being driven out from the abode and wealth [/property] and hijra will be to a place in which they may gather.
3. Then after that will be fighting.
And for you are the lines of evidence:
God (Almighty and Exalted is He) has said: "Those who have believed and who have migrated and waged jihad in God's path: those people seek the mercy of God, and God is forgiving, merciful" (al-Baqara 218).
The Almighty has said: "Indeed God defends those who have believed. Indeed God does not love any ungrateful traitors. Permission to fight has been given to those who are being fought because they have been wronged. Indeed God is capable of granting them victory: those who were driven out of their abodes without right merely as they only said our Lord is God. And were it not that God impelled the people to deter each other, synagogues, churches, prayer places and mosques in which God's name is mentioned frequently would have been destroyed. And God certainly supports the one who supports him. Indeed God is powerful and mighty. Those, if We enable them in the land, establish prayer, give zakat and command what is right and forbid what is wrong. And to God is the outcome of matters"- (al-Hajj 38).
God Almighty has said: "Then indeed your Lord is forgiving and merciful to those who have migrated after they were afflicted with strife and then waged jihad and were patient. Then indeed is your Lord forgiving and merciful after that"- (al-Nahl 110).
And likewise God Almighty has said: "And those who have migrated for God after they were oppressed: We will grant them good in this world and certainly the reward of the Hereafter will be greater: would that they should know of those who endured as they put their reliance on their Lord"- (al-Nahl 41-43).
And this is made clear to you in the deeds of Prophet (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) for he made clear, affirmed and was open about that, then he was driven out, then he fought and after that he attained victory.
And this is what As'ad bin Zarara understood when the Prophet (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said to him on the allegiance pledge: "That you should assert the truth and you should not fear in God the blame of a blamer" (narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim).
As'ad said to those giving allegiance in the hadith of al-Baihaqi in a sound chain: "Indeed the bringing out of it today is separation from all the Arabs, and that the swords should wound you and the best of you should be killed."
And the Messenger (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) hears and is silent in admission to As'ad (may God be pleased with him).
And that happened to the and God gave them the outcome of victory, so they became masters of the land during few years and upon that they were given Paradise in the Hereafter.
So the summation:
1. The one who disavows idolatry and its people and affirms that and shows hostility to them: let him prepare for hostility in kind from the people of the land. And that is the path of Ibrahim (peace be upon him).
2. Whoso devotes following to the Messenger of God (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) in words, doctrines and deeds, war is waged upon him by those who have exchanged this manhaj for the words of men- and those people are the partisan extremists of the madhhabs.
And if you want more information, see 'Ruling on Loyalty to the People of Idolatry' in the book Majmu'at al-Tawheed, and the message 'Being Freed of Loyalty to the Apostates and People of Idolatry' in Majmu'at al-Tawheed as well (this is on the first clause of the summation).
If you want more on the latter clause, see the book Tafsir Adhwa' al-Bayan by al-Shinqiti (tafsir of Surat Muhammad).
And know that you cannot be established on understanding this principle until you only accept as proof and assert what is established and authentic in the Sunna, so if you cite as proof the words of 'ulama without clear evidence, the adversary can cite against you as proof the words of 'ulama among them without evidence, but seek help in the understandings of the 'ulama of the Book and authentic Sunna and do not be isolated in your understanding, and give preference to the understandings of the Companions (may God be pleased with them) of the text precept with lines of evidence and likewise regarding the direction of their direction, and the verses and ahadith of the threat as they have come, and do not declare takfir on a Muslim for a sin so long as he does not deem it halal, and you must believe that God forgives all sins except idolatry and this is the madhhab of the predecessors, and see the Book of Faith by Ibn Taymiyya (may God have mercy on him) for he drew on the healing lines of evidence on the issue of faith. Then after that brace yourself for the vituperation of the ignorant and their cursing and their charging you with takfir against the people, and the 'ulama of evil will turn away from you what they can and call you different names, so they will call you among the rulers a Kharijite, in order that they might kill you and leave for them the space as the brothers of Joseph said. And they will call you among the 'ulama a Dhahiri:
"So endure it and trust in your Lord. This is the path to guidance and right."
And do not let some of them make you reject what they have brought from truth, or Muadh bin Jabal (may God be pleased with him) said: "Take the truth from whosoever brings it: for on truth is light."
And know that the light is the evidence from the Book and established Sunna, and know that you are in a time in which, were Iblis to take a state for himself, he would find preachers for him who would give him a portion in Islam on condition that he give them three bonds: qualification, position and living.
For Iblis acknowledges three things and they are: the established presence of the Creator, belief in resurrection, and praying to God without a mediator.
God said about him: "He said: Lord, show me the day they are resurrected" (Sad 79).
So his preachers will speak on these three things and they are from Islam, and preachers have been found among the one who asserts: "The Qur'an is inconsistent," and the expressions of another we will refrain from mentioning.
And know that the zeal of the Messenger (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was guiding the people, and it was not for him to have a prestigious position among the people or for eyes to turn towards him, for he (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said in al-Bukhari: "Whoso puts on a hypocritical display, God will make a display of him. Whoso tries to make people hear of his deeds, God will make people hear his intention." And in the Sunnan of Abu Dawud by an authentic chain, when a man said to him: "What is your view if a man comes seeking reward and mention (i.e. fame): what reward does he have?" He said: "Nothing for him, until he restores three things then says: 'Indeed God will accept from deeds what was pure and by which His face was intended."
And beware of arrogance and it is resentment of the people and rejection of the truth. He (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: "Indeed God has commanded to me that you should be humble such that no one should transgress against someone and no one should be haughty against someone" (narrated by Muslim).
So make this one of your qualities, and do not admire your own deeds, for he (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said on mentioning the things that cause perdition: "Man's admiration of himself" (narrated by al-Tabarani in an authentic chain).
And I remind you that this religion was chosen by God for us and He obliged us on His victory and He promised us the victory if we support His religion.
And Ibn Sahman said:
So let those of knowledge and piety cry over the religion, for its symbols have been erased in the worlds.
And the initiative of men and their deception have arisen on this material world and the gathering of dirhams,
And the reform of their material world by corrupting their religion, and the yield of their delights and foods,
They vie for them; indeed they are loyal for their sake: they are indifferent to the people of piety and crimes,
While the direction of the path of Ibrahim has been betrayed.
God Almighty has said: "Oh you who have believed, whoso of you apostasises from his religion, God will bring a people He loves and they love Him, humble to the believers, mighty against the disbelievers, waging jihad in the path of God and not fearing the blame of a blamer"- (al-Ma'ida 54).
So know brother that God has been responsible for protecting this religion and its victory so do not be deceived by the abundance of those who refrain in the time of hardship, for hardship is a sign of the nearness of victory, as the Almighty said in the aforementioned verse, so the receding of the people from the victory of God's religion, and their loyalty to the enemies of the religion, are a sign of the fact that God will replace them with a people whose quality is as in the verse, so be steadfast: perhaps God will place you among them, and know that you in this have been commanded so be the first of the Muslims, and know that the suspicions of the defeated with which he is connected do not answer him as Duraid bin al-Sima said on the day of Hunayn when their amir took their wealth, children and women and drove them out with the army to fight the Prophet and that was for them to be steadfast and not be defeated, so Darid said: "Woe to you: nothing stops the defeated."
You must consider the preceding verse and what it has contained from the qualities of the believers through whom there is victory, and the first of these qualities:
God loves them: God said making clear that through which the affection is realized: He said: "Say: if you love God, follow Me. God will love you and forgive your sins."
And the second quality: that they are humble to the believers, mighty against the disbelievers, contrary to most of those claiming affiliation with Islam today.
And the jihad is general: so jihad of the soul, jihad against Satan, jihad against the hypocrites, and jihad against the disbelievers.
So the soul, you wage jihad against it in obedience to God (Almighty and Exalted is He), and you devote it to God alone such that it should have no portion of reputation or fame, for if you as such, you do not fear the blame.
And jihad against Satan, by repelling what he casts from the doubts and fear-mongering from his allies and frustrating you- alongside hope.
And jihad against the hypocrites through proof as the Almighty has said: "And say to them a far-reaching word" (al-Nisa' 63).
And jihad against the disbelievers through the sword and in that is the great reward. God Almighty has said: "And never reckon that those who have been killed in God's path are dead, but rather they are living with their Lord, nourished and rejoicing in what God has provided them from His grace and they take delight in those who have not joined them from behind them. There is no fear on them and they are not sad. They take delight in a blessing from God and a grace and that God does not let the reward of the believers go to waste"- (Al Imran 169-171).
He (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: "The martyr with God has six characteristics: he is forgiven on the first drop of his blood, his seat in Paradise is shown to him, he is saved from the torment of the grace, he is safe from the Great Fright, he is clothed in the garment of faith, he marries al-Hour al-Ayn, and he can intercede for 70 people from his relatives"- (brought out by Ahmad and others with an authentic chain).
And this is the grace of God for the one who has been true.
And know that the religion of Islam's edifice has been demolished and only a small portion of it has remained because its people have done as Abd al-Muttalib did when Abraha the Abyssinian wanted to destroy the Ka'aba. He said: "I am the lord of my camel, while the house has a Lord who protects it." So these people, each of them is the lord of his interest and position, while the religion has a Lord who protects it.
And he (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: "The bonds of Islam will certainly be destroyed one by one, so whenever a bond is destroyed, the people cling to the one that follows it: so the first of them will be destruction of rule, and the last prayer"- (narrated by Muslim and Ibn Habban and al-Hakim and it is authentic).
And the Almighty has said: "And how many a village that is stronger than your village that drove you out? We destroyed them, with no supporter for them. So is the one who is on evidence from his Lord like the one whose evil deeds have been adorned for him and they have followed their arbitrary whims?" (Muhammad 13-14).
So if you are on evidence, do not be concerned for the number and provisions because the Almighty said: "Oh you who have believed, if you support God, He will support you and plant firm your feet and those who have disbelieved, for them is misery and He will waste their deeds. That is because they have hated what God has brought down, so He will render their deeds for naught" (Muhammad 7-9).
And Ibn al-Qayyim (may God have mercy on him) said:
"And truth is victorious and tested, so do not be surprised, or this is the Sunna of al-Rahman.
And thus appears its party from its party, and for that the people are two sects.
So preach the command of God and do not fear men, in God and fear of Him may you attain aman.
And dissociate yourself, even from all of men for that, not on account of your arbitrary whims and the pride of Satan,
And be patient without displeasure and grievance, and forgive without censure the one who sins."
A point that must be borne in mind by the one who takes up the path of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), as he is most in need of it: and that is affirming his position on his adversaries, which is embodied in being aware of the enemy while showing the truth before the encounter and being steadfast on that after the encounter.
The Messenger of God (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said in the Book of Jihad from Sahih al-Bukhari: "Oh people, do not hope to encounter the enemy and ask God for 'afiya, if you encounter them, be patient and know that Paradise is under the shade of swords"- (Fatah part 1 page 120).
And the Almighty has said: "So cling to what you have been commanded to do. Indeed you are on a straight path."
And He said: "And follow what you have been commanded to do, and be patient until God rules, and He is the best of rulers."
And he (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: "The one among you who lives will see a great discord, so you must adhere to my Sunna and the Sunna of the rightly-guided, guiding successors after me: adhere to it firmly, and you must beware of new innovations of matters" (narrated by Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi and Ahmad and Ibn Habban in an authentic chain).
So the discord has happened and the opinions and pronouncements of correctness have become numerous, so take up the counsel of the Messenger of God (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family).
The Almighty has said: "And when you see them: their bodies fill you with admiration. And if they speak, you listen to their words, as though they are pieces of wood propped up. They reckon every shout is against them. They are the enemy, so beware of them. May God fight them. How are they deluded?"
The Almighty has said: "Oh you who have believed, if you meet a group, be steadfast and remember God much: that you may succeed."
And this is a point that frequently slips away from the people of good and it is remembrance on encounter: "And remember God much: that you may succeed."
And for you is the hadith of Ubada bin al-Samit (may God be pleased with him): he said: "We have pledged allegiance to the Messenger (SAWS) to hear and obey in ease and adversity and enthusiasm and compulsion, and that we will not dispute the matter with its people and will say the truth wherever we are and not fear in God the blame of a blamer and for us is Paradise" (muttafiq alayhi).
So the main point of the hadith is his words: "And we say the truth wherever we are." So by God, consider this: how big was the number of the Muslims at that time and under the protection of which states was the Messenger of God (SAWS)?
The response: they were a people who had neither numbers nor provisions, but rather they were under torment and dispersal, and it was not permitted for them to be silent because the religion does not appear except by affirmation. And with the affirmation and statement of hostility there will be injury and being driven out, as Warqa said to the Messenger of God (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family): "that no one brings the likes of what you have brought without facing hostility" (narrated by al-Bukhari).
So the people have divided about that into three groups:
One of them calls for peace and silence about them and not showing hostility, and this is contrary to the Sunna but regrettably this is what most of those who claim affiliation to the religion live upon.
Another group hastens and calls for fighting while they are between the people of falsehood. It has got the Sunna wrong.
And the proof of the first group is the words of the Almighty: "And if they incline to peace, incline to it" (al-Anfal 61), and likewise the treaty of Hudaybiyya.
As for the verse, its evidence is the verse of fighting and it is in the words of the Almighty: "So do not weaken and call for peace while you are the superior: and God is with you and will not deprive you of your deeds" (Muhammad 35).
And for you is the link between the two verses:
Al-Shinqiti (may God Almighty have mercy on him) said: "And know that there is no contradiction between this verse and the verse of al-Anfal such that it is said that one of them abrogates the other, but rather they are both precise and each one has place in a situation besides the situation for which the other was revealed. For the prohibition in the verse of fighting in the Almighty's words- "So not weaken and call for peace"- is about being the first to demand peace, and the command to cling to peace in the verse of al-Anfal applies when the disbelievers begin to demand peace and incline to it as the Almighty's words plainly state: "And if they incline to peace, incline to it and put reliance on God." So it has become clear to us to what the two verses apply. And the Sunna makes that clear and for you is what happened to the Messenger of God (SAWS) with the disbelievers in the treaty of Hudaybiya."
And the story at its length is in Sahih al-Bukhari- the Book of Conditions- chapter on conditions in jihad and conciliation with the people of war, and the main point from that:
1. The Messenger (SAWS), when it reached him that they had gathered their gatherings and sought help in their allies to resist him, sought the counsel of his Companions as to turning against the offspring and wealth of those who helped Quraysh to wage war against him.
So Abu Bakr pointed out to the Prophet (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) to proceed in that for which they had come out and that was to visit the House so if they opposed him before it they should fight them.
2. After they determined to do that, a verse appeared to them making clear to them that they were not allowed to do what they had determined to do from fighting and it was the kneeling of the riding camel of SAWS who was informed that it was from God's keeping away of the she-camel just as the elephant was kept away from Mecca.
3. When that became clear to them he said: "If they ask me of a plan in which they extol the taboos of God, I will give it to them."
4. He offered to them that he should give a pledge to them on condition that they leave a free way for him and the people. If they did not do that, he would fight them. He said: "If they refuse, by the One in whose hand my soul is, I will fight them over this affair of mine until I die or God will certainly implement His command."
So there appeared from what had preceded: that SAWS determined to annihilate the one who had aided his enemy, except that Abu Bakr had pointed out to him to proceed in his initial intention then to fight them if they resisted him, until the command of God appeared to him. And what made him conciliate with them was extolling the taboos of God and despite that he made it a condition that they should leave a free way for him and the people, so he did not conciliate with all the disbelievers but rather he closed off one aspect from them to be free for another, and this truce did not alter anything that they were upon from hostility to the disbelievers. Indeed that hostility remained clear from the Messenger (God's peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions, such that Bilal (may God be pleased with him) thus confronted the head of Quraysh when he- Abu Sufyan- came to extend the treaty. They said to him: "Did not the swords of God exact their due from the enemy of God?"
So Abu Bakr said: "Are you saying this to the Lord of Quraysh?"
So Abu Bakr informed the Messenger (SAWS) of that.
He said to him: "Perhaps you have angered them. If you have angered them, you have angered your Lord" (narrated by Muslim).
In this it becomes apparent that there is no proof for them in this verse or in the hadith or the difference of their state from the state that the two indicate, as they were inclined to peace and that is not for the interest of the religion and extolling the taboos of God but rather to preserve their livelihood and particular interests.
As for the Muslim Imam, he has the right to conciliate that al-Nawawi mentioned to be by consensus. See Sahih Muslim Sharh al-Nawawi part 12 pg. 123.
And we say to the second group that this deed of yours are contrary to what the Messenger of God (SAWS) went upon, with the fact that fighting the disbelievers is wanted, but the Messenger of God (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family), when he was among the disbelievers, made clear to them the truth and bore the harm in that and endured and made his Companions endure as in al-Bukhari from the hadith of Khabab (may God be pleased with him): he said: I came to the Prophet (SAWS) while he was lying on his burda in the shade of the Ka'aba as we had experience harshness from the idolaters. So I said: Oh Messenger of God, will you not pray to God for us? So he sat up and said with a red face:
"There was before you the one who would be skinned with the iron to remove flesh or nerves from his bones and that would not make him turn away from his religion. And the saw would be placed at the intersection of his head so as to be split in two, and that would not make him turn away from his religion. Indeed God will fulfil this matter until the passenger goes from San'a to Hadhramaut only fearing God, and the wolf for his sheep, but you are a people in a rush"- (al-Fatah part 6 page 219 and part 8 page 164).
So consider the guidance of him (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and made them endure and gave them examples in the one before them so he did not impede them or push them to confront in this state of affairs, but he informed them of this matter and its appearance, and this is what Ibn al-Qayyim made clear in his Nuniya he said:
"And if they bear upon you, do not be frightened of their campaign or cowardly,
And be firm and do not bear without soldiers, as this is not praised among the brave.
So if you see the group of Islam whose soldiers have appeared with the authority,
Then penetrate the ranks and do not be the one incapable and weak, or the one frightened."
And God said to His Messenger as in Sahih Muslim: "Get them out as they got you out and wage jihad through the one who obeys you against the one who disobeys you."
So it has become apparent that if you find obedience after the distinguishing of the group of Islam so then there will be fighting, and this is the meaning of the third and fourth line of the words of Ibn al-Qayyim (may God have mercy on him).
And the third group: it has asserted the truth and been established upon it and they have not been weak and they have not submitted and they have been certain of the promise of God. God has said about them: "Indeed God defends those who have believed. Indeed God does not love any ungrateful traitors. Permission to fight has been given to those who are being fought because they have been wronged. Indeed God is capable of granting them victory: those who were driven out of their abodes without right merely as they only said our Lord is God... And God certainly supports the one who supports him."
Imam Ahmad (may God have mercy on him) says: "If the knowledgeable one is silent out of dissimulation and the ignorant one is ignorant, when will the truth become clear?"
And for you is the hadith in al-Bukhari on the raid of Ahad after the Companions of the Prophet (SAWS) were wounded:
Abu Sufyan ascended a high place and said: "Is there a Muhammad in the people?"
SAWS said: "Do not answer him."
He said: "Is there an Ibn Abi Qahafa in the people?"
He said: "Do not answer him."
He said: "Is there an Ibn al-Khattab in the people?"
He said: "These people were killed. Were they alive, they would have responded."
Omar could not contain himself and said: "You have lied, oh enemy of God! May God preserve upon you what ruins you."
Abu Sufyan said: "Superior is Hubal."
The Prophet (SAWS) said: "Answer him."
They said: "What are we to say?"
He said: "Say: God is superior and more exalted."
So see, brother, how in the beginning he ordered them and guided them to be silent and keeping hidden by his words: "Do not answer him." Then finally after Omar's words, he ordered them and guided them to respond and to respond with pride and steadfastness without subjection and lowliness.
So Abu Sufyan said: "We have Uzza, and you do not have an Uzza."
The Prophet (may God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: "Answer him: say: 'God is our Lord and not a lord for you.'"
Abu Sufyan said: "You will find among the people dead men mutilated. I did not order that, and I am not sorry for it."
And this is like the state of some of the people, for even if they do not help the oppressors against the people of good, they are not dissatisfied with what befalls them.
And he (God's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: "The believers are like one body, if one part of it complains, the rest of the parts are provoked by it with restlessness and fever."
And likewise what bears witness to what has passed, is the story of Sa'ad bin Mu'adh (may God be pleased with him)- in al-Bukhari- when he stayed at the home of Umaiya bin Khalaf. He said: "Observe for me a time of emptiness that I may perform Tawaf around the Ka'aba." So he went out around midday.
So Abu Jahl encountered them and said: "Oh Abu Safwan, who is this who is with you?"
He said: "Sa'ad."
Abu Jahl said: "Do I not see you performing Tawaf in Mecca and you had given refuge to those who have changed their religion and have claimed that you will support them and help them. By God, were you not with Abu Safwan, you would not return to your family safe and sound."
So hear the response of Sa'ad without weakness or submission, and he did not speak- ya Tawil al-Amar- out of fear of being barred from his provision or the cutting off of his head.
Sa'ad said, and he raised his voice against him: "By God, if you bar me from this, I will certainly bar you from what is more valuable upon you than it- your path to al-Medina- for the purpose of business."
Umaiya said: "Do not raise your voice against Abu al-Hakm the master of the people of the valley."
Sa'ad said: "Stay out of this, oh Umaiya. By God, I heard the Messenger of God (SAWS) saying: 'He will kill you, oh Umaiya'."
So see in the beginning the warning of Sa'ad when he asked Umaiya to choose the hour of emptiness in order to perform Tawaf around it, then see his steadfastness when he confronted Abu Jahl, thus the Almighty's words: "And to God and His Messenger and the believers are might but the hypocrites do not know."
And this is Khabib (may God be pleased with him)- as in al-Bukhari- when they brought him out to be killed and he prayed two rak'as, so he said: By God, had you not thought that there is anxiety in me, I would have prolonged it. Then he rose saying:
For I do not care when I am killed as a Muslim. In any case my fate was in God's hands.
And that is the concern of God and if He wills, He blesses the amputated parts of a torn body.
Issue:
Among the people are those who are established on the religion so long as there is no harm in that as the Almighty said: "And among the people are those who say- 'We have believed in God'- but when there is harm in God's cause, they make fitna of the people like the torment of God."
And another established on both states in prosperity and adversity.
The reward of the first is what God mentioned on the quality of the one who worships God on the basis of profit. He said: "He has lost this world and the Hereafter."
And the second is what Jaber mentioned in the story of the allegiance of al-Uqba: "He takes upon us his conditions and gives us Paradise for that" (muttafiq alayhi).
And know that on trial the defeatists are numerous, do not be sad for that, as Muslim brought out on the authority of Anas (may God be pleased with him): that the Quraysh conciliated with the Prophet (SAWS) and imposed the condition that "whoso of you comes to us, we will not bring him back to you, and whoso of us comes to you, you restore him to us."
The Companions said: "Was this written?"
He said: "Yes. Whoso of us goes to them, God keep him away, and whoso of them comes to us, God will grant him deliverance and an escape, do not be sad for the one God keeps away."
"So be patient. The promise of God is truth, and seek forgiveness for your sins. And exult the praises of your Lord by evening and morning. Those who dispute the verses of God without authority having come to them: in their hearts is only arrogance, which they cannot attain. So seek refuge in God. He hears and sees" (Ghafir 55-56).
Appropriate to mention in this context is what the Sheikh of Islam mentioned in his book "al-Husna wa al-Sai'a." He- may God Almighty have mercy on him- said in the section "Hubb al-Riyasa wa al-Alu":
"For the soul is corrupted by love of supremacy and leadership according to its possibility, so you find one of them aligning with the one who accords with his arbitrary whim, and hostile to the one who contravenes him in his arbitrary whim, and indeed his object of worship is what he likes and wants."
The Almighty has said: "Have you seen the one who has taken as his god his arbitrary whim? Will you be a trustee upon him?"
And the people among him in this regard are just as they are among the kings of the disbelievers and idolaters from the Turks and others besides them, as they say: "Ya Riba'i"- that is, friend and enemy, so whoso concords with their arbitrary whims is an ally even if he is an idolatrous disbeliever, and whoso does not concord with their arbitrary whims is an enemy even if he is among the pious allies of God, and this is in the case of Pharaoh.
And one of these people wants for his command to be obeyed according to possibility, but he does not realize that which Pharaoh realized from claiming divinity and rejection of the Maker. And even if they acknowledge the Maker: when one comes to them who calls them to worship God and obey him, which includes abandoning obedience to them, they may be hostile to him just as Pharaoh was hostile to Moses.
And many of the people of those who have some mind and faith do not seek to go so far, but rather they seek for themselves what is in their eyes, so if they are humbly obeyed they demand to be obeyed in their affairs even if in them is that which is a sin and act of disobedience against God, and the one who obeys him in his arbitrary whims will be more dear to him and greater in his eyes than the one who obeys God and contravenes his arbitrary whims. And this is a derivative from the state of the Pharaoh and the rest of the rulers who decry the Messengers as liars.
And if he is knowledgeable or a sheikh, he loves the one who extolls him without extolling his rival even if the two recite one book like the Qur'an or perform one act of worship identically like the five prayers. Indeed he loves the one who extolls him by accepting his words and imitating him more than the one besides him, and perhaps he hates his rival and his followers out of envy and transgression as the Jews did when God sent Muhammad (SAWS) calling to the likes of what Moses called to. The Almighty has said:
"And when it is said to them: believe in what God has sent down; they say: we believe in what has been sent down to us. And they disbelieve in what has come after that even as it is the truth confirming what is with them."
And the Almighty has said: "And those who were given the Book did not separate except after the proof came to them."
And the Almighty has said: "And they did not separate except after the knowledge came to them, out of transgression amongst themselves."
And Sheikh Muhammad bin Jamil Ghazi said about Sheikh Ibn Taymiyya: "He is not a man of gatherings who becomes self-conceited through expressions of admiration and praise and is charmed by followers and partisans gathering around him, but rather he is a man of truth, with whom it vanishes whenever he vanishes, and it inclines wherever he inclines. He is a man who goes on the straight path and the fewness of those who go on it does make him feel lonely, and he keeps away from the crooked path, and he is not misled by the large number of people doomed to perdition. He is as he says about himself a "man of a path" and not "a man of a state.""
And we would like to conclude this message with a poem compiled by one of the ikhwan, and it is a story of the state of the believing young man whom God (Almighty and Exalted is He) guides to seek useful knowledge and support the Sunna and preach it in this society that does not commemorate the Sunna, realize it or implement it: this society in which the temptations that turn the people away from the path of God have become numerous. So he said in it:
A servant travelling in the black night, fleeing with his piety from the monstrosity,
Fleeing from the fitnas that have surrounded him, from the fitna of prosperity and adversity.
A young servant at the outset of his youth who has known guidance and its path in pure form.
He has read the Qur'an in understanding and comprehension, and likewise he has been guided to the esteemed Sunna.
And he has seen the life of the just, happy with good by morning and evening.
For his soul has longed for happiness, and he has been secretly rocking his desire.
Even if he embraces the guidance with a devotion to God devoid of arbitrary whims,
The fitnas of error have openly called upon him, and have invited him with embellishment and enticement,
And his material world has been embellished in its garments with black mouths and eyes,
And it has been misleading the people in its allurements, such that it has misled most of the people.
He has been raised in a society in which guidance has been mixed with the forces of perdition and the light with the darkness,
And the people take from it what pleases the arbitrary whims, and if it conflicts, it is sidelined.
And if you bring the clear truth that you establish, and you preach it with pure Sunna,
They do not know it out of ignorance, or it does not arrive by the council of the fathers.
Their judgement and collective mind arises, and they consider you an innovator and the one who deceives:
Do you want to replace the religion of our sheikhs, and the path of the great ones and notables?
And when did you get to know the guidance of the Prophet and his religion? Yesterday you were a youth with the ignorant ones!
And if you establish upon them the proofs of the guidance, and refute their falsehood without concealment,
They say: 'Your guidance is alienating and extreme.' And if you cling to it, you are a hypocrite.
When this youth brings them guidance, they turn away as donkeys and idiots,
And mock his path and religion and they try to turn him away from the guidance through harm.
And if they see him softening or expect that he will heed them, they tempt him with enticement:
Fitnas on the path of guidance that make the youth become attached, and the most harmful of them is indeed the fitna of prosperity.
But his morals have become angry at his state, as faith becomes angry in arbitrary whims.
He has hated study as its foundation was mixings of evil that has spread among the participants.
He has offered advice openly and secretly to his relatives, companions and colleagues,
Especially in his family and kin who have been ignorant, so he has called them with the pleasantness of the call.
But they have not heeded the words of guidance, when it has come from the youngest of the sons.
Rather they have waged war on him through every condemned thing, and charged him with complication and weakness.
They have only begrudged him for saying: "God is my Lord, openly and in secret."
They have increased the pressure on him further, so he has sought refuge, complaining to the Lord of the great tribulation,
So he says: oh Lord, I, your believing servant, indeed fear the fitna of the masses,
I fear the error and I call on You, so accept me and the weakness of my prayer.
Save one who drowns in the darkness, startled by a terrible wave and beast of darkness.
The wave is a storm, error its darkness. Guidance is wrapped in concealment.
How can there be the place and how is it for me to conceal the plain truth out of fear and hope?
And affirming it inevitably requires arms. Knowledge has split asunder the proof of the ignorant.
Fitnas have arisen and I have become an exile, having sought the hadith in Mecca al-Zahara'.
By that I mean the awali al-hadith and its party, implementing its pure guidance.
This is the story of the Companions of guidance in the inundation of enticement and allurement.
Oh Lord, protect them and make them firm on the victory of the guidance and pure Sunna.
And provide as sustenance for them the revival of them with insight, and provide as sustenance for them patience for the revival.
And make for us in it an abundant share, oh Lord, and give us victory over the enemies:
The enemies of the Sunna of Ahmad who have rendered muddy the guidance of al-Mukhtar after it came in purity.
Oh Lord, make us among also among those who are saved: indeed their outcome is in the convulsions of calamities.
Oh Lord, you have promised us one of the two best things. Oh Lord, gather us with the happy."
This message has been completed and praise be to God the Lord of the Worlds.
Juhayman bin Muhammad al-Otaibi.