If Muslims are being persecuted in a certain country and a group rises to establish Islamic jihad, is it better for us to stand with them or to undermine them and spread rumors about them?
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The Shaykh : Please go ahead.
The questioner : If these people are living among them, meaning among disbelievers, not in an Islamic state, but the Muslim minority present there is larger, and yet they have no entity or any standing, and they are living in a state of persecution among them.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So from this, if a group rises in the name of Islamic jihad, does it mean it is best that we help them and stand with them, or that we begin to undermine them and start spreading rumors around them, and call them by every name, even though they know us and we know them, and we know their creed? Is it best, at least, to remain silent about these people, or to confront them with such words?
The Shaykh : Here, it appears from your second question that there are two matters: one is joining those who have declared jihad, and the other is confronting them and throwing all sorts of names at them.
In answer to the first question: We say, my brother, the answer to this question can be understood from my previous words. I do not believe that those who want to fight the disbelievers have fought themselves and been raised on the correct Islam. Do you believe this? Or are they various sects and schools of thought, as we see throughout the entire Islamic world? If the matter is the first, which is what we hope for and what we suspect is the reality—this is what we hope for and suspect is not the reality—then how can those who have declared jihad fight while they are divided, quarreling, and hating one another? Because they are not united by a single idea, nor unified by a single creed. If the matter is so, they are not ready to fight. And even if they fight, they will not be victorious, because disagreement in creed, and even in morals, is among the greatest causes of defeat and lack of steadfastness. So you can now take the answer, for I am not able to judge absent people. But if it is permissible for us to measure the absent by the present, the entire Islamic world is divided and split, some against others. Therefore, jihad will not succeed until after this purification that we referred to, which is carried out by a group of Muslims who are raised with a correct Islamic upbringing. When they finish this necessary role, then the role of jihad comes. If you believe that those you say are fighting the disbelievers have finished fighting themselves, as we said recently in a society that was important, may Allah will it, we said: Some contemporary preachers say: "Establish the state of Islam in your hearts, and it will be established for you on your land". If these mujahideen have finished this stage, we congratulate them and support them in their jihad against those disbelievers. But if they are still this one Hanafi, that one Shafi'i, and that one Shadhili or Qadiri, and I do not know what other schools and paths there are.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : I do not know what other names there are. The important thing is that they cannot fight because they are divided. And since the matter is so, it returns to what I answered in the response to the first question. Muslims in every region where they live, as we said yesterday with some detail, must undergo purification and upbringing. They must understand Islam in the two testimonies: La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. They must worship Allah alone, having no partner for Him, and then they must not worship Allah except by what Allah has prescribed through the tongue of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). This meaning contained in these two testimonies, in my belief, the pure Arab world in Arabness has not yet understood, let alone some other countries, whether they are Arab countries that have been affected by foreign influence, or they are non-Arab in origin. How can they understand this correct understanding? So we must follow the example of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
First: That we understand what came from him with true understanding.
And second: That we call people to that.
So when people agree on this correct understanding, then we say it is obligatory to fight in the path of Allah and to raise the word of Allah, so that the word of Allah is the highest, and the word of the disbelievers is the lowest.
Anything else? Do you have something?
The questioner : A final question.
The Shaykh : Please.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : If these people are living among them, meaning among disbelievers, not in an Islamic state, but the Muslim minority present there is larger, and yet they have no entity or any standing, and they are living in a state of persecution among them.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So from this, if a group rises in the name of Islamic jihad, does it mean it is best that we help them and stand with them, or that we begin to undermine them and start spreading rumors around them, and call them by every name, even though they know us and we know them, and we know their creed? Is it best, at least, to remain silent about these people, or to confront them with such words?
The Shaykh : Here, it appears from your second question that there are two matters: one is joining those who have declared jihad, and the other is confronting them and throwing all sorts of names at them.
In answer to the first question: We say, my brother, the answer to this question can be understood from my previous words. I do not believe that those who want to fight the disbelievers have fought themselves and been raised on the correct Islam. Do you believe this? Or are they various sects and schools of thought, as we see throughout the entire Islamic world? If the matter is the first, which is what we hope for and what we suspect is the reality—this is what we hope for and suspect is not the reality—then how can those who have declared jihad fight while they are divided, quarreling, and hating one another? Because they are not united by a single idea, nor unified by a single creed. If the matter is so, they are not ready to fight. And even if they fight, they will not be victorious, because disagreement in creed, and even in morals, is among the greatest causes of defeat and lack of steadfastness. So you can now take the answer, for I am not able to judge absent people. But if it is permissible for us to measure the absent by the present, the entire Islamic world is divided and split, some against others. Therefore, jihad will not succeed until after this purification that we referred to, which is carried out by a group of Muslims who are raised with a correct Islamic upbringing. When they finish this necessary role, then the role of jihad comes. If you believe that those you say are fighting the disbelievers have finished fighting themselves, as we said recently in a society that was important, may Allah will it, we said: Some contemporary preachers say: "Establish the state of Islam in your hearts, and it will be established for you on your land". If these mujahideen have finished this stage, we congratulate them and support them in their jihad against those disbelievers. But if they are still this one Hanafi, that one Shafi'i, and that one Shadhili or Qadiri, and I do not know what other schools and paths there are.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : I do not know what other names there are. The important thing is that they cannot fight because they are divided. And since the matter is so, it returns to what I answered in the response to the first question. Muslims in every region where they live, as we said yesterday with some detail, must undergo purification and upbringing. They must understand Islam in the two testimonies: La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. They must worship Allah alone, having no partner for Him, and then they must not worship Allah except by what Allah has prescribed through the tongue of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). This meaning contained in these two testimonies, in my belief, the pure Arab world in Arabness has not yet understood, let alone some other countries, whether they are Arab countries that have been affected by foreign influence, or they are non-Arab in origin. How can they understand this correct understanding? So we must follow the example of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
First: That we understand what came from him with true understanding.
And second: That we call people to that.
So when people agree on this correct understanding, then we say it is obligatory to fight in the path of Allah and to raise the word of Allah, so that the word of Allah is the highest, and the word of the disbelievers is the lowest.
Anything else? Do you have something?
The questioner : A final question.
The Shaykh : Please.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : How?