The Shaykh's comments on Ali Khushan's reading of the chapter "The Jihad of the Victorious Group and Its Impact on Removing Alienation" by Salman al-Oudah

The questioner : We are reading from a valuable chapter in the book "Means of Removing Alienation" by our brotherThe Shaykh : Salman Fahd al-Oudah. We are now reading under the heading "The Jihad of the Victorious Group and Its Impact on Removing Alienation." It says: "If it is established that the victorious group, whose continuation and persistence until the Hour and until the command of Allah comes is promised, undertakes the jihad missions in the majority of circumstances, to the point that its final engagements will be in fighting the Dajjal (the false messiah); then what is the role of this group in the times when the state of Islam disappears from existence? When the legitimate imam who leads the Muslims with the Book of Allah is lacking? And when alienation grows and intensifies? To clarify this, we must realize that the jihad of the victorious group is sometimes by attack, and sometimes by defense.
Its jihad by attack occurs when a Sunni Muslim state is established; one that raises the banner of jihad in the path of Allah and fighting the enemies of Allah, and possesses the strength and establishment that enables it to carry out this massive task. Its jihad by defense occurs when the Muslim state exists but is weak and exposed to attacks from lurking enemies; such that it cannot take the initiative or launch an offensive, but rather guards itself against the attacks of its enemies and repels them as much as it can. Its jihad is also by defense in the case of the absence and disappearance of the Muslim state, where the victorious group defends the beliefs, morals, honor, blood, and homelands of the Muslims to the extent of its capacity and ability, and carries the sword and weapons in that cause. This includes its earnest effort to establish the Muslim state that declares jihad, revives this great neglected practice, and works to remove the obstacles and barriers that prevent the establishment of the state and the declaration of jihad. Since preparing for jihad in the case of its collapse due to incapacity or otherwise is obligatory; for that which is not completed except by means of an obligatory act is itself obligatory. It says: Look at the Fatwas, volume twenty-eight, page two hundred and fifty-nine.
Thus, the victorious group is in continuous, unceasing jihad. If the existing Muslim state is strong, this group strives to spread Islam, make the religion entirely for Allah, and subject people to the judgment of Allah and His Messenger, thereby removing alienation from it and from all Muslims. If the state is existing but weak, this group strives to protect it, repel enemies from it, work to strengthen it, and remove the causes of its weakness. If there is no state or authority for Islam, the group strives to protect the Muslims in their religion, bodies, and lands, and to defend them on one hand, and to remove the obstacles that hinder the establishment of the Muslim state and the declaration of jihad on the other hand. The victorious group is in continuous, unceasing jihad in all circumstances. Therefore, it has become alienated among people; because it raises the banner of jihad when it has fallen from the hands of the Muslims, renews what has been lost of the banners of religion, and offers its soul and what is most dear in this path. It does not accept for itself what people have accepted for themselves: preoccupation with the world, contentment with planting, abandoning jihad, enduring humiliation, and allowing enemies to dominate. If this is its state, it moves from one battle to another, and from one field to another. At times it is in fighting the enemies of Allah and His Messenger and striving against them, and at times in enjoining good and forbidding evil. It is overcome by its enemies and it is patient, and it overcomes them and it is grateful. It does not occur to it to withdraw from the field; because it considers that fleeing from the peers. This constant, diligent jihad has a great impact on removing the alienation of Islam and the Sunnah, and removing the alienation of the Muslims and the people of the Sunnah. This is through many aspects. First: Jihad aims to remove fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) from the believers and protect them from torture and oppression; as in the saying of Allah the Exalted: . Connected to the removal of fitnah is the removal of the pressures and barriers that stand between people and Islam. Fitnah is a form of alienation that the early Muslims suffered in Mecca and elsewhere, and it has continued to face generations or groups of Muslims until today. The pressures and barriers that prevent many people from entering Islam have existed and still exist in many lands; whether they are represented by conditions and systems based on disbelief and the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, controlling public life and upon which people are raised, or represented by laws that prevent entering Islam, or represented by the torture of those who have become Muslim and their coercion into apostasy. Thus, raising the banner of jihad in the path of Allah is a practical, prescribed movement to remove this alienation, eliminate it completely, or alleviate and limit it. Second: It also aims for the religion to be entirely for Allah. In the religion being entirely for Allah lies the humiliation of disbelief and its people, their degradation, the imposition of jizyah (the tax on protected non-Muslims) upon them, and the enslavement of their captives. This is achieved by their submission to the judgment of Islam, their obedience to it, and their leaving the peoples free to choose Islam. When this goal is realized by the existence of a strong, secure Muslim state that carries out the practice of jihad in the path of Allah, initiating with the disbelievers nearest to it, Islam becomes noble and manifest, even if it does not extend its authority over the entire inhabited earth. Therefore, the first alienation of Islam disappeared; as indicated by the hadith , by implication. Although at the time of the death of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) it was controlling a limited area of land, not exceeding the edges of the Arabian Peninsula, it carried the banner of jihad and worked to achieve it. It continued to move from victory to victory, and from country to another, until most of the inhabited earth submitted to it, and Allah made His religion superior through it over all religion.
Third: If one of the goals of jihad is establishing the Muslim state that implements the law of Allah, protects His religion, and defends the Muslims; then it follows from that that one of its goals is protecting this state and preserving its power. Because the state that realizes these great objectives is a security for Islam and the Muslims from alienation. Therefore, it is fitting that the Muslim offer his soul in the path of preserving and protecting it; indeed, in the path of strengthening it and expanding its territory. Fourth: Through sincere jihad, the believers emerge; those who perform well in it and sacrifice everything they possess for its sake. Such that the Muslims recognize their worth, and they become the true leaders entrusted with guiding and guarding the ummah (the Muslim community). The issue of sincere leaders emerging through the practical test of jihad is a serious matter. For the believers have long been tested by empty leaders who claim to love Islam, be eager to honor it, and raise its banner, but their actions contradict what they claim in their words. And the believers have long been tested by leaders from those who say "We believe in Allah," but when they are afflicted for the sake of Allah, they make the trial of people like the punishment of Allah.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar.
Khashan: And from whom, when good befalls them, they become complacent, and when a trial befalls them, they turn on their heels, losing both this world and the Hereafter. The role of these leaders, whatever they may be, in achieving or repelling the state of being strangers (ghurba) is clearly evident. For it is part of this state of being strangers that Muslims follow a handful of hypocrites who display Islam, granting them absolute trust, submitting to them in what they desire, and having a good opinion of what they do, so that these hypocrites destroy the houses of Islam with the hands of the believers while they are unaware! And what repels this state of being strangers, or raises or lowers it, is that the leaders and heads of the Ummah be from the sincere men of Islam, who are more enthusiastic for the religion than others, and more sacrificing in its path, and more knowledgeable of the Shari'ah, and more acting upon it and calling to it. Fifthly: Jihad exposes the hypocrites and reveals their plots against the believers, which manifest in undermining the ranks, weakening resolve, spreading terror among the people, and sowing doubts, doubts, and rumors. Allah the Exalted said: And He said: , and He said: . And through this, the Muslim rank is distinguished, and the infiltrators within it are exposed, those who seek to sow fitnah among the Muslims. "Up to here we have read in... We began this message called 'Jihad, the Matter of Great Importance in Strengthening the Faith of the Believers.'"

The Shaykh : You have reached your goal, and may Allah reward you with good.
Abu Layla : Amen, and may the same be for you.

The questioner : But we want to read, if there isThe Shaykh : no comment on, meaning, a chapter on the topic of enjoining good and forbidding evil in the conflict between public benefit and harm.

The Shaykh : If I have a comment, it is that our brother Salman, may Allah reward him with good for these writings that revive hearts with their strength and clarity, that I would have liked him to address, in what he addresses, the reality of Muslims today; who are at the height of weakness and who are unable to perform the jihad he was singing about while explaining its benefits in a wonderful manner. I would have liked him to speak about what Muslims today, who are strangers, should do. So I hope he would grace us with a word from him regarding the duty of Islamic preachers today; and those who gather around them, what is their duty? For they are surrounded by those rulers he referred to, who do not allow these strangers to perform jihad at all, oppressing and tyrannizing them with force. So in my opinion, in this situation, jihad is only achieved by calling all Muslims to the two things we constantly revolve around, and we wish the noble brother would join us with the strength of his pen in this field, and I mean what we refer to as purification and education. Perhaps the noble brother will grace us in the near future, not far off, if Allah wills, with a word on this issue; because it is the jihad of the hour. This is my comment on the wonderful speech I heard.
Abu Layla : May Allah preserve you, my Shaykh.

The questioner : Meaning, he says after that, from what we read last time.

The Shaykh : Do you hear the word of Abu al-Harith?

The questioner: Yes.