Some people claim that your position on the issue of the Afghan jihad is that the mujahideen in general refer to the entire Afghan people, and among them are Salafis, and among them are also...

The questioner : Some people claim that your position on the issue of the Afghan jihad is that the mujahideen in general refer to the entire Afghan people, and among them are Salafis, and among them are also those who follow the path of the Kharijites, and among them are those whose creed is not in accordance with the methodology of the people of the Sunnah and the community. They say that this is the reason that prevents you from permitting it, on the grounds of the mixing of the mujahideen?

The Shaykh : This is an opinion that some scholars in some Arab countries hold. I discussed it with them and debated them at length during a long evening we spent in Oman. There is a recorded tape on this topic. Among the things I said to them there: These Arab monotheists who know how much deviation there is among the Afghans in their creed and worship from the Book and the Sunnah, unfortunately, these Arabs must go to that land and strive there with the pen and the sword. Jihad is obligatory for them twice: First, to fight the disbelievers who occupy that land, and second, to call those Muslims, whom I consider to be sick, to be treated with the correct knowledge derived from the Book and the Sunnah. The presence of such deviation in that land confirms the obligation of jihad there, rather than being an excuse for leaving jihad there.