Special Instructions of the Islamic Emirate’s leadership regarding precautionary means to prevent civilian casualties in the ongoing Jihad
The Islamic Emirate’s leadership imparts the following instructions to all Mujahideen regarding the ongoing Jihad:
قال الله تعالی مَنْ قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا الی اخره . المائدة ۳۲
Allah Almighty states: ‘Whosoever killed a soul not to retaliate for a soul, nor for creating disorder in the land, then it is as if he killed all mankind.’
Jihad is a holy obligation. Just as this struggle of Jihad is obligatory, similarly, in all military campaigns and operations, it is obligatory on Muslims to follow the guidance of Allah Almighty, the instructions of His Messenger (SAW) and the rights specified in Islamic law.
You have also received the instructions of the esteemed Ameer ulMu’mineen through his messages regarding the importance of observing the rights and duties entailing our Jihad in all your plans and operations. He has specifically emphasized that all Mujahideen operations should be executed with utmost care to avoid any civilian casualties.
Human life is priceless and a holy gift. You should thus exert all human efforts to avoid causing death of innocent lives and even those of animals thus becoming a cause of usurping this priceless gift. In general human beings are considered as the creations and buildings (ابنية الله) of Allah Almighty. Therefore no one has the right to demolish these buildings of Allah Almighty except by His command and in accordance with His guidance.
In Jihad the killing the enemies of Islam (infidels and those supposed Muslim lackeys who aid them) is made permissible according to the commands of Allah Almighty and in defense of His religion. In such circumstances the killings of such enemies of Islam becomes a cause of reward and Paradise by Allah Almighty. However it is equally imperative that in carrying out this holy duty we do not cause the death of innocent or uninformed civilians.
Once an innocent life is taken then it cannot be returned back even if we were to gather all the riches of this world. Such loss causes immeasurable sadness to the victim’s family, relatives, children and those that know him and this act is then described as cruelty and evokes the wrath and displeasure of Allah Almighty.
يقول الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم : والذي نفسي بيده لقتل مؤمن أعظم عند الله من زوال الدنيا
The Messenger peace and blessings be upon him states: ‘I swear by the One in Whose Hand is my soul, the killing of a Muslim is greater near Allah than the destruction of the Earth’.
In order to remind the Mujahideen that they must take even more care to avoid civilian casualties, thus becoming accountable for such a death in the Hereafter, or defaming the name of the sacred Mujahideen, or allowing such incidents to become propaganda tools for the enemies of Islam, we reiterate our command that you must take severe precautions to prevent civilian casualties in any operations that are undertaken. You must not carry out operations or bombings in any area where civilians could be harmed as a result of such actions.
If you cancel an operation against a high value target because you fear that civilians could be harmed as a result of this operation, then we are hopeful that Allah Almighty will provide an even easier opportunity for the Mujahideen to target this enemy and do so without risking the lives of civilians. When launching an operation against the enemy, the Messenger of Allah (SAW) used to gather all the Mujahideen and forbid them from killing children, women or the elderly from amongst the enemy and also he (SAW) used to forbid them from destroying trees or farms.
Hence we also consider it obligatory that whenever Mujahideen commanders are launching military operations, they should gather their soldiers and remind them about the forbiddance of killing women, children or the elderly. Those people who do not stand shoulder to shoulder with the enemy forces and are not carrying out actions against Jihad are to be considered as civilians and no harm is to be caused to them.
If anyone fails to take precautions, plans negligent operations, causes civilians deaths or destroys civilian property then such person will be answerable to Allah Almighty on the Day of Judgment and will be reprimanded in this life by the Islamic Emirate in accordance with the principles and commands of Islamic law.
Wassalam
The leadership of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
13/03/1436 Hijri Lunar
14/10/1393 Hijri Solar 04/01/2015 Gregorian