The Shaykh's response to the accusation leveled against him, namely that he does not recognize jihad in any form and that he conditions it upon the existence of an Imam.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : Now, after this explanation, which I consider an answer to what came in your question regarding jihad.
Now, let us mention the doubts or the evidence, in their claim, by which they refuted us, where they assumed that we deny jihad in any form and that we condition it upon the requirement of an Imamate, whereas we distinguish between one type of jihad and another. Let us see the evidence.
The questioner : Jihad without an Imam.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : A doubt: there is no jihad without an Imam, is it? ...
The Shaykh : And now I said, we said that we affirm jihad without an Imam, but we say that the jihad, for example, let us assume that there is a ruler who is a disbeliever explicitly. This is permissible according to the text of the hadith that came in your question, "except that you see clear disbelief." Okay, does this going out against this disbeliever, who is a disbeliever explicitly, not require preparation? Is this a point of disagreement between one Muslim and another? No. Okay, now they say, the group of jihad, where is the group of jihad and where are their preparations that enable them to go out against the ruler who is a disbeliever with clear disbelief? Where is this? And where is the disagreement they claim, that the Imamate is obligatory?
We say that the jihad intended for going out, this must have an Imamate, but this alone is not sufficient; does it not require moral preparation and material preparation, starting from the saying of He Blessed and Exalted is He:[Al-Anfal 8:60] This address now does not have its realization in an Islamic land, unfortunately. And therefore we say that this is necessary. So, did those who named themselves the group of jihad fulfill this obligation?
The questioner : They did not.
The Shaykh : Okay, so they are raising a disagreement where there is no disagreement. We say jihad is of two types: jihad which is an individual obligation, and you have known its form, and jihad which is a collective obligation, and you have known its form.
The first jihad does not need an Imamate, nor does it need preparation like this preparation, the preparation of the disbeliever who is stronger than us, nor does it need preparation like that of the ruler from whom we saw clear disbelief. But preparation is necessary that enables the Muslims. Today, unfortunately, the Muslims cannot... the disbeliever does not possess the means to prevent the Muslims from their preparation for this jihad, I mean the jihad of faith. So there is no group of Muslims who are united and gathered upon a correct understanding of the Book and the Sunnah, and who were also raised with a correct upbringing, so that all their actions are in light of the Book and the Sunnah.
In the recent past, we were discussing this topic, so we say now, if we wanted to wage jihad in a certain country, where would we get the weapons? These are truly a group of unorganized people, and the example has been seen in the jihad that lasted more than ten years, which is the Afghan jihad. Where did they get the weapons? Did they have the preparation to produce weapons locally, or did they import them from the very countries that fight the Islamic call?! How can these people wage jihad when they do not have such preparation? The very painful truth is that the Muslims today are like unorganized children who do not know the magnitude of the responsibility of waging jihad against the disbelievers or the rulers who consider that they rule with explicit disbelief. They did not know the magnitude of this obligation to prepare for it. They think the issue is that we gather a hundred people, a thousand people, two thousand people and we encourage them to jihad in the path of Allah, and then they are not able to make a needle to patch a tear in their clothes, let alone make a weapon to fight their enemy with.
Where is this preparation commanded in the Qur'an from the reality of this group or others from whom we have seen the effects of their jihad, and the outcome is a loss for the Muslim call, starting from the group of Juhayman in the Makkah Haram, and secondly from the group that followed in Egypt, "al-Saburi"?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Al-Buri, yes. Thirdly, in Syria, the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood, and finally the Algerians and the setbacks they are now suffering, etc. What did the Islamic call benefit from this haste in a matter that realizes the truth of some sayings we consider to be wisdom, namely the saying of the one who said: "Whoever hastens a thing before its time is tried with its deprivation" This is what the Muslims are suffering from today. Okay, what else do you have? There is no god but Allah.
Now, let us mention the doubts or the evidence, in their claim, by which they refuted us, where they assumed that we deny jihad in any form and that we condition it upon the requirement of an Imamate, whereas we distinguish between one type of jihad and another. Let us see the evidence.
The questioner : Jihad without an Imam.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : A doubt: there is no jihad without an Imam, is it? ...
The Shaykh : And now I said, we said that we affirm jihad without an Imam, but we say that the jihad, for example, let us assume that there is a ruler who is a disbeliever explicitly. This is permissible according to the text of the hadith that came in your question, "except that you see clear disbelief." Okay, does this going out against this disbeliever, who is a disbeliever explicitly, not require preparation? Is this a point of disagreement between one Muslim and another? No. Okay, now they say, the group of jihad, where is the group of jihad and where are their preparations that enable them to go out against the ruler who is a disbeliever with clear disbelief? Where is this? And where is the disagreement they claim, that the Imamate is obligatory?
We say that the jihad intended for going out, this must have an Imamate, but this alone is not sufficient; does it not require moral preparation and material preparation, starting from the saying of He Blessed and Exalted is He:
And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy
وأعدوا لهم ما استطعتم من قوة ومن رباط الخيل ترهبون به عدو الله وعدوكمThe questioner : They did not.
The Shaykh : Okay, so they are raising a disagreement where there is no disagreement. We say jihad is of two types: jihad which is an individual obligation, and you have known its form, and jihad which is a collective obligation, and you have known its form.
The first jihad does not need an Imamate, nor does it need preparation like this preparation, the preparation of the disbeliever who is stronger than us, nor does it need preparation like that of the ruler from whom we saw clear disbelief. But preparation is necessary that enables the Muslims. Today, unfortunately, the Muslims cannot... the disbeliever does not possess the means to prevent the Muslims from their preparation for this jihad, I mean the jihad of faith. So there is no group of Muslims who are united and gathered upon a correct understanding of the Book and the Sunnah, and who were also raised with a correct upbringing, so that all their actions are in light of the Book and the Sunnah.
In the recent past, we were discussing this topic, so we say now, if we wanted to wage jihad in a certain country, where would we get the weapons? These are truly a group of unorganized people, and the example has been seen in the jihad that lasted more than ten years, which is the Afghan jihad. Where did they get the weapons? Did they have the preparation to produce weapons locally, or did they import them from the very countries that fight the Islamic call?! How can these people wage jihad when they do not have such preparation? The very painful truth is that the Muslims today are like unorganized children who do not know the magnitude of the responsibility of waging jihad against the disbelievers or the rulers who consider that they rule with explicit disbelief. They did not know the magnitude of this obligation to prepare for it. They think the issue is that we gather a hundred people, a thousand people, two thousand people and we encourage them to jihad in the path of Allah, and then they are not able to make a needle to patch a tear in their clothes, let alone make a weapon to fight their enemy with.
Where is this preparation commanded in the Qur'an from the reality of this group or others from whom we have seen the effects of their jihad, and the outcome is a loss for the Muslim call, starting from the group of Juhayman in the Makkah Haram, and secondly from the group that followed in Egypt, "al-Saburi"?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Al-Buri, yes. Thirdly, in Syria, the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood, and finally the Algerians and the setbacks they are now suffering, etc. What did the Islamic call benefit from this haste in a matter that realizes the truth of some sayings we consider to be wisdom, namely the saying of the one who said: "Whoever hastens a thing before its time is tried with its deprivation" This is what the Muslims are suffering from today. Okay, what else do you have? There is no god but Allah.