OH, ALLAH, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FROM WHAT THOSE HAVE DONE
From Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi- to his brothers the mujahideen in Syria specifically, and to the Muslims in general
A Message directed to all factions and not intended for one specific group:
As-Salaamu ‘Alaykum wa Rahmatullah, as to what follows: Verily I praise Allah before you, He besides whom there is no lord, and I send Salaah and Salaam upon the seal of the prophets and messengers, who was sent by Allah as a mercy to the worlds. Allah the Most High says: “O you who have believed, fear Allah as he should be feared and do not die except as Muslims (in submission to Him). And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favour of Allah upon you- when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favour, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided.” [3:102-103]
It has indeed reached us and pained us, regarding the matter of the ongoing infighting in Syria between some of the Mujahideen groups and their reversal, by way of others,of their rifle barrels and gunfire away from the criminal Nusayri’s – to the chests of their Muslim brothers, because of supposed claims and allegations that do not in any way give rise to the permissibility of the spilling of forbidden blood nor the justification of their turning away from the course of fighting [the Nusayris].
Know, our brothers, that the mujahideen today in the battlefield of Shaam are the elite epitome from the people of Islaam. So if the sanctity of the blood of the general masses of Muslims and the lowest of them was greater than the sanctity of the Sanctified House of Allah [the Ka’bah], then what about the blood of the epitome of the Muwahhideen [monotheists] and the cream of the crop of the Mujahideen?! By way of our trustworthy brothers, news has indeed reached us, news that pained and astonished us- about people who permit for themselves the murder of their mujahid brothers based on a mere suspicion or invalid allegations and for reasons that are not even appropriate for the permitting of a killing of a kafir who has been granted protection [by a muslim authority in an Islamic state, i.e. kafir musta’man] let alone [being circumstances appropriate for] the permissibility of the spilling of the blood of the select elite of the people of Islam [i.e the mujahideen]. The likes of these [invalid] allegations are: communicating with certain other groups even if this involves communicating with those who are considered munafiqeen. For indeed our Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, communicated with the munafiqeen and overlooked and excused them and even the mushrikeen and the worshippers of idols and the Jews and other than them- as is agreed upon in his Seerah [narrations about his life]. So how is this a reason that permits blood to be spilled?!
O possessors of intellect?! Or [also, how can blood be spilled based upon] the claims that everyone who is fighting is from the Sahawaat [groups sponsored by the West to fight the mujahideen as occurred in Iraq during US invasion], based on the [false] impulsion that whoever is not with me then surely he is against me! Or the claims that so and so was with us then he broke his Bay’ah [pledge of allegiance] to us, or that he [merely] changed to another faction from the muhjahideen! Or the claims that he did not listen and obey us and did not give bay’ah to our group, this group of ours that has become like a Khilafah and established state to us!! This is what is rambled on about by some of the fake self-appointed scholars who exaggerate matters and blow them out of proportion. And this is the extremism that was forbade by our Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and that which he warned us against; crossing the boundaries of Allah that He has placed for us and exaggerating the magnitude of things and removing them from their true descriptions. So he peace and blessings of Allah be upon him indeed said, whilst warning against exaggeration in the stones used for the stones thrown in jamaraat in Hajj: “Beware of Ghuloow (extremism, exceeding the limits) in religion, for verily those before you were destroyed because of Ghuluw in religion.”narrated by Imam Ahmad and others.
It has even reached us that some of them permit for their followers to blow themselves up in the locations and dwellings of their mujahid brothers. Indeed I do not know where the sanity of these people has gone, and that of their sheikhs and muftis. Whoever from amongst the elite of the past and present scholars of the muslims who passed edicts [fatawa] permitting these types of [martyrdom] operations in order to inflict losses and slaughter upon the enemies of Allah- [only] permitted it with difficulty upon the self and made it restricted upon very great, burdensome conditions in order to prevent a real, necessary evil which could not be prevented except with operations such as these. So who, then, possesses no intellect, no knowledge, no understanding, nor sight, nor feels no anguish over the blood of the muslims- by giving fatwa for these [fighters] to carry out these kinds of operations which are forbidden by default and only allowed for in those circumstances [mentioned] and those onerous conditions.
Who is the one who gave fatwa to permit these martyrdom operations being directed at the people of Islaam, and specifically their special, chosen ones [i.e. the mujahideen]?! And how was he obeyed in the likes of these fatawa? Has the one who performs these operations no intellect which could repel and prevent him from spilling the blood of the muslims- when he is to face Allah the Most High [when he dies]?!
We have indeed heard the words of some of them, bragging about drinking blood and being proud of living in the midst of body parts! And verily this kind of talk is liked and justified with the enemies of the deen, not with the muslims. And woe to the one who was denied the knowledge of the reality of jihad and has the audacity to put himself forward for the [task of] guiding [others] and passing religious fatawa. How did he miss the fact that jihad is a means towards a great goal and a servant to the noble purpose of tawheed [monotheism] and its superiority [over everything else] and [the goal of] entering people into it [tawheed]. So if this servant and means [i.e jihad] become a reason for the distortion of the ultimate goal and its corruption and turning people away from it- then may Allah not bless [such a] deviant, misguided means that leads to the nullification of its own goal. And may Allah not bless such a servant that insults its own master and antagonises it and distorts it.
It has, by Allah, indeed caused me pain that some of our blessed, Da’wah websites have participated in the publication of those [aforementioned] abnormal, deviant fatawa and hapless theories – and I do not know- did that happen whilst these websites were unaware of the goal for which they were established- that they are a pulpit for all of the mujahideen, one which gathers and does not cause differing, one which distinguishes but does not fall into bias? So verily I remind them to remain keys to goodness and harmony between the mujahideen. I also remind them to not publish any material that is biased towards one group in this fitnah- the outcome of which will be the permissibility and spiling of the blood of muslims. I also remind them to supplicate as our lord taught us, the dua of those who follow in goodness: “Our Lord, forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in faith and put not in our hearts (any) resentment toward those who have believed. Our Lord, Indeed you are the Most Kind, the Most Merciful.” [59:10].
And we do not shy away from declaring our baraa’ah [innocence] from the actions of those who dare to [spill] the blood of the muslims, no matter who he is. For indeed, there has preceded us in doing so [i.e declaring innocence] he who is better than us- with a group that was better than this group [today]. This was when Khalid ibn al Waleed, the sword of Allah, may Allah be pleased with him, killed people [from Banu jadheemah] who prostrated and claimed to enter Islam yet incorrectly stated they had became Sabians [term used by Quraysh for Prophet Muhammad and his followers] instead of saying they had entered Islam. So the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, upon hearing Khalid had killed these people, stated: “O Allah, I declare my innocence from what Khalid has done.” Two times, and the hadith is in sahih al bukhari. And in it is a lesson for followers who commit sins of this nature in obedience to their leaders and disobedience to Allah. For verily Khalid ordered every soldier from his soldiers to kill his captive, so Abdullah ibn Umar refused to obey in this order, so he said: “By Allah I will not kill my captive and not a single man from my companions shall kill his captive.” So they did not obey when they were ordered to do something incorrect, despite their leader being the Sword of Allah, and he is better than all the leaders of jihad in our time.
This, and let the mujahideen know, that raising the banner of tawheed and the guidance of the creation towards it by taking them from the worship of the Tawaagheet [false gods] to the worship of Allah- is the purpose for which they set out to fight for and serve. So if their jihad became a means that prevents people from this honourable goal and causes people to flee from it and distorts it, then let them re-examine this means and correct it. And let them remember that when the Prophet of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, gave the standard [war flag] to Ali on the Day of Khaybar and enjoined upon him: “By Allah, for Allah to guide by you just one man, it is better for you than the most sought after red camels.”
And in the conquest of Makkah, when the battalion of the Ansaar passed by Abu Sufyaan and he had just entered Islaam, Sa’d ibn Ubaadah said to him, whilst he was the amir over them and the war banner was with him: “O Abu Sufyaan! Today is the day of the great battle and today what is unlawful in the Ka’bah will become lawful.” And when Abu Sufyaan informed the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, of what Sa’d said, he said: “Sa’d has lied, however today is a day Allah honours the ka’bah and a day in which the Ka’bah is clothed.” Then the prophet took the standard from Sa’d and gave it to Ali and ordered him to give it to Qays bin Sa’d bin ‘Ubaadah out of fear that Sa’d’s thought would change [that he would unnecessarily attack the people of Makkah after tasting victory]. However Sa’d worried that his son would do something the Prophet would not approve of, so he asked the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, to take it from him, so the Prophet gave the standard to az-Zubayr.
So ponder over the words of the Prophet to a people who harmed him [Quraysh], and expelled him from his home and tortured him. Then he was to pardon them and release them so that they enter into the religion of Allah in multitudes- so this is the objective; opening the hearts of the Slaves to the truth and to tawheed- before conquest of any land. And ponder over the actions of Sa’d and his keenness for the pleasure of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and his obedience and answering to his call and to his constant turning back to him [in obedience], may Allah be pleased with him.
So let the people of Jihad, all of them, remember these lessons and let them extract from them, examples and warnings. And beware lest the means [jihad] dominates and overwhelms its objective, or repels others from it, or distorts it. For verily in this is a deterioration of fiqh and a reversal of understanding.
Despite this, I do not deprive the mujahideen of their due or withhold what I know of their good deeds. For it has indeed reached me, concerning some groups of them, that which brings coolness to the eyes from good news; the significant of which is that they embark upon their operations from one joint, operating room despite them being numerous groups. And [also from this good news] is that they have experienced acceptance from the general masses of the public. They began to love them and gather around them so that they learn their deen from them and receive their help. And also that the call to tawheed has spread amongst the people because of their love for their manners and character of the mujahideen and the mercy the mujahideen have over them. Verily, by Allah, this is the clear conquest and not what some others boast of, of drinking blood and living amongst body parts. For indeed we were sent to make it easy upon others and not to make it hard upon them. And if words the likes of ‘drinking blood and living amongst body parts’ were restricted to the enemies of the deen then we would not have criticised them- however it has become targeted at the chests of the mujahideen and muslimeen, for this reason we rebuke it and we do not care if it pleases whoever it pleases or angers whoever it angers.
Verily it is a type of speech [the threat to drink blood and live amongst body parts] for which we fear the ones speaking it will have their state changed to the state of those whom the salaf interpreted the verse: “Say (O Muhammad); Shall we (believers) inform you of the greatest losers (with respect to their) deeds?”. (They are) those whose effort is lost in the worldly life whilst they think that they are doing good work.” [18:103-104]. For verily the biggest losers amongst the people is he who thinks he is guided and is doing well in his work and actions- in his da’wah or his jihad or his worship. All of a sudden it will be exposed to him on the Day of resurrection that he was from the misguided ones. And [still] even more at a loss are the ones about whom Allah said: “Assuredly, it is they in the Hereafter who will be the greatest losers.” [11:22], so Allah increased in specifying who they are by describing their loss, because they, as is mentioned in the verses before it- added to their misguidance by misguiding others from amongst the creation and preventing others from the way of Allah, and [causing] distortion and crookedness of the path of truth- either by their statements or actions.
So let the mujahid be aware, the mujahid who left his home seeking that which is with Allah, of being from amongst the [greater] losers [as is mentioned in the latter verse], those who lose the way and prevent others from the objective for which Jihad was legislated in the first place and seeking to make it seem crooked [deviant]. And let the mujahid strive to be amongst those who are guided and guide others, those who constantly keep the great objective, for which Allah legislated jihaad, in their sights. This objective is that of tawheed and taking people out of the worship of slaves to the worship of Allah alone. And Beware of those who distort this objective and prevent people form it and let the enemies rejoice over [the misfortunes] of its people [i.e the mujahideen] by infighting amongst them and their permitting the blood of the muslims or by their breaching of the bequests of good manners and morals of the Prophet- and let them take into account and comprehend the [state of the] general masses of the muslims and be merciful to the sinners amongst them- let alone the special ones amongst them and the mujahideen amongst them. For verily, if they are not prosperous at this and do not achieve success in it, then how will they succeed in leading the people when they rule over them?!
And let them know that the conspiracy and plot against their jihad is a great one and overwhelmingly building up against them are the tawagheet [false gods/kafir rulers] of the Arabs and non-Arabs. And this calls them to rise above considerations of the self and to dissolve all the reasons for differing and discord between them- and let them remember that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, indeed said: “Whoever brings hardship to people, Allah will bring hardship upon him on the Day of Resurrection.” narrated by al Bukhari and others.
I ask Allah to unite the ranks of the mujahideen and unite their word [into one cohesive stance] and to bring harmony between their hearts and to unite them upon the most pious of the hearts of their men, and to strengthen and establish [the way for] the banner of tawheed and to degrade and debase the banners of shirk and censure.
And may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad and all of his family and companions.
Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi
Rabee’-ul Awwal 1435 (from the hijrah of the mustafah)
25th January 2014