The Shaykh’s remarks on the necessity of the Muslim community preparing the material means for jihad in the path of Allah.

The questioner : May Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you. Please, go ahead.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. Our Shaykh, this is a question. I want to clarify whether my understanding of it is wrong or right.
Abu Layla : They are men of the Tabligh movement, the mosque here, apparently from Pakistan, and with them is our Shaykh, do you know them? Muhammad Kamal al-Tablighi, the judge, the legal judge.

The Shaykh : Muhammad Kamal, or is his name Mustafa? This is the judge’s name.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, I say, in truth, I want to clarify whether my understanding is correct or wrong regarding the matter of Muslims in a state of war and fighting, and the material affairs of the disbelievers. For example, we often hear that a Shaykh was studying in Saudi Arabia via the radio. He said that the disbelievers are the people of this world, and we benefit from them in this world from the scientific matters they have brought, and we will benefit from them. Some say no, the principle is that we should have these scientific matters and control them ourselves. And some say that it is not possible for us to have some of them present and others absent. And I, meaning, I understood, and I still do, until it becomes clear to me, if Allah wills, that the principle is that we, as the Islamic community, are a community of da'wah, and the material matters related to fighting and weapons, it is easy to take these from the disbelievers. And this was the situation of the Companions previously, as far as I know, that they relied on the disbelievers for many matters of weapons, swords, and other things, and armor. I do not know if my understanding, O Shaykh, is correct or wrong. May Allah reward you with good?

The Shaykh : It needs correction.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, says, as you know, And this text commanding preparation does not mean "seek the aid of your enemies' weapons," no, rather it means "prepare your equipment yourselves" so that you do not become a burden on others. Therefore, what you quoted from some of them, that these people have knowledge and specialization in worldly affairs, so we benefit from them, meaning, as it appears from what you quoted, that there is no need for us, Muslims, to occupy ourselves with material preparation except by seeking the aid of these disbelievers with their weapons, buying them from them, as is the reality of many scattered Islamic governments today, unfortunately. No, this is not the intended meaning. And what was mentioned in the question that the Companions did not manufacture but bought, this statement is not correct to take in its absolute sense. For they undoubtedly relied on Roman and Persian weapons, but in addition to that, there were Arab weapons, and the Arab swords that were made by the Arab blacksmiths themselves, so this existed. But considering that the Arabs at that time were backward in this aspect related to Roman and Persian civilization because they were a pre-Islamic age of ignorance, but the absolute statement that their weapons were only from others, this is not correct. Rather, it was like this and like that. But Islam does not approve of this. Islam commands the Muslims, as you heard in the noble verse, to prepare, and this preparation must originate from themselves so that they do not become a burden on others. And I think you remember that the jihad that took place in Afghanistan for more than ten years, one of the reasons for not reaping the fruit of this jihad was that they relied on others for their weapons. And therefore, when these weapons were prohibited from that state or from others, the Afghan jihad weakened and its affair ended in a way that does not please any Muslim. Therefore, we say that whoever says we must rely on others, this is a very grave error. In the matter of weapons, we must rely on ourselves. But I say, we may not be able to equal the disbelievers in their material strength, because the disbelievers have devoted themselves to this world and turned away from the Hereafter completely. And it is the sunnah of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in His creation and His making that specialization in something requires its owner to be in it, whether it is religion or world. And the Muslims must achieve, above all, the purpose for which they were created, which is what our Lord specified in His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He: So the purpose is to worship Allah, Mighty and Majestic, alone, having no partner. But this purpose needs care and needs protection, and protection is not achieved except by the like of the previous verse: So if the Muslims combine between the two aspects, the faith-based worship aspect and the material weapon aspect and energy, if it turns away to each of the two sides, it weakens naturally to the extent of its turning away from one to the other. So I imagine that the disbelievers will remain superior to the Muslims in their material weapons, and it is sufficient in this that we have lagged behind them by many, many stages. But it is obligatory for the Muslims to compensate for what they miss of this material superiority with their faith-based superiority, in which they are poor. And then the scale of the Muslims will outweigh the disbelievers, even if the disbelievers are stronger in material. So we will be strong in material, but we will be stronger in faith. If the two strengths gather in us, we will overcome the strength of that disbeliever with them.

The questioner : Yes, may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : This is my opinion on the matter.