Shaykh Abdullah Al-Muhaysini:

"A non ideal reality

We strived and others strived to reach a merger but Allah did not preordain success for these endeavors so far. I say so far to remind everyone that hope is still present with the permission and aid of Allah. We did not aid a frontal operation and we were and are still convinced that a merger is the real solution for the arena. But having come to this stage let us operate on the (jurisprudential) basis of "That which is achievable is not toppled by that which is unachievable". So if we did not succeed in the merger it does not mean I belittle the pursuit of reaching that which is less "That which is not realized completely is not left completely". I say to the reformers and the scholars and the leaders. Do not despair, we have no other choice but to finish our pursuit and we will not be held accountable for the results for they are in the hands of Allah.

And the Mujahid youth must be warned from carelessness with sacred blood under the title of overpowerment (Taghalub) and the like. Overpowerment equals a sea of blood. That this happened in history does not mean that it is allowed legally in the Sharia, we do not read in the science of fundamental principals (Usool) that history is one of the sources for legal opinions (Islamic verdicts). We take our religion from the Holy Book, the Sunnah, the scholarly consensus, analogy (Qiyas), etc. What good is there in a merger created on a sea of blood with which we will face Allah the Almighty?

And it is not correct to apply the formation of the Taliban and Ibn Tashfin and others to our reality. First, these are eruptive events (Nawaazil) and such events must be judges as individual incidents without any analogy based on it. Second, in these events the corruption has reached the level that those who carried weapons could be described as bandits not as Mujahideen. Third, we saw the experience of ISIS and how much blood was spilled and they did not reach anything with their overpowerment except a sea of blood, and we saw how much blood of martyrs was spilled in Al-Ghouta (in the infighting between Jaysh Al-Islam and Faylaq Rahmaan) and in the end the battle was not decisive for any of the parties.

So be careful oh Mujahid that your anger carries you away from your brothers and you justify overpowerment and underestimate its issue under the influence of psychological functioning. And do not think that they are just quivers and consumptive spits. Rather your acknowledgement of overpowerment will brace and aid you when blood is spilled. So be aware of your tongue of blessed one. Furthermore, the issue has even pushed one of them under the prevailing state of tension at the moment to say about his brothers that they are apostates and that killing them is legal. Oh Allah I declare my innocence in front of you from the spilling of any Mujahid blood with deeds, or incitements to spill blood, with any comment or statement."

Translated from his Telegram channel.