Meeting with a mujahid from Eritrea with the Shaykh during Hajj, and the Shaykh’s advice to the mujahideen of Eritrea to maintain unity and not divide into sects and parties as happened with the Afghans

The questioner : We entered the state of ihram on the twenty-seventh of Dhul-Qa'dah.

The Shaykh : The twenty-seventh of Dhul-Qa'dah, if Allah wills. By plane?

The questioner : Yes, by plane.

The Shaykh : And where did you enter the state of ihram?

The questioner : From Yalamlam.

The Shaykh : Meaning, this is the nearest miqat to you?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : And you entered the state of ihram for 'Umrah, without a doubt.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : May Allah accept your 'Umrah and Hajj.

The questioner : May Allah bless you.

The Shaykh : Welcome.

The questioner : I am your brother in Allah, Muhammad Ali Sulayman.

The Shaykh : Muhammad Ali Sulayman, welcome always, in every time and in every place.

The questioner : A member of the Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement and a member of the Da'wah Office.

The Shaykh : Very good.

The questioner : So, the Amir of 'Arafah tasked us, meaning, to pray for his victory and for the Muslims in Eritrea, because they declared jihad in the path of Allah to raise the word: There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed.

The questioner : In those Islamic lands that were wronged, we were wronged severely, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, the word of the Muslims united on one imam. Since that time, the ummah pledged allegiance to one amir, and they established, if Allah wills, the restoration of the Islamic caliphate.

The Shaykh : We hope that Allah grants you success in that, but I remind you of this bitter reality that we faced in Afghanistan, where we had great hope that rule by Islam would return in those lands, because they also declared it a word of jihad in the path of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. But surely you have heard, as we have heard, that that heat and that strength which enabled them to stand firm against the disbelievers and against the greatest of the states existing today on the face of the earth in material weaponry, and they stood firm against them and even drove them out of the lands of the Muslims, and finally they stopped at some lands. It appears, and Allah knows best, and the witness sees what the absent one does not see, that their division into sects and parties is what caused their defeat and cost them the efforts of ten years, where they stood against two capitals or two large towns, namely Kabul and Jalalabad, for example. It has been said: "Whoever takes a lesson from others, let him take a lesson." So I remind you, and remembrance benefits the believers, to be one word and not to open the door to dividing the Muslims into groups and parties. For we read with you all the saying of the Lord of the worlds, Mighty and Majestic: and the story of the Battle of Hunayn is a lesson for those who take a lesson. Therefore, I remind you of this first, and second, that the concern of the responsible one, whom you say you pledged allegiance to—I know nothing about him and I hope he is as we hope him to be—with knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah and application of the Book and the Sunnah, that he impose that on the people who have gathered under his banner. These are two matters, which I summarize as: first, the obligation to take a lesson from others and not to divide; and second, the attention to applying the rulings of Islam to individuals, because that is the first step for these individuals to be able to establish the Islamic society and the Islamic state.

The questioner: May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And beware of it.

The questioner : So, in terms of this man, he is a man in the middle of his age, approximately fifty years, which he spent mostly in seeking knowledge, and he is a graduate of the Islamic University, graduating from the College of Sharia at the Islamic University.

The Shaykh : Good.

The questioner : And since he graduated in the seventeens until now, he has worked as a teacher in the Ansaar al-Sunnah al-Muhammadiyyah al-Salafiyyah institutes in Sudan, and he was also an imam.

The Shaykh : Very good.

The questioner : So, when the fitnahs intensified in Eritrea, and before that, we had made a plan in terms of placing some students, students of knowledge, in the institutes and khalwas, and some in the Islamic universities. The opportunity came and the matter intensified greatly, and the ummah was wronged and the girls were violated. So, praise be to Allah, the ummah rose to pledge allegiance to him, considering what we saw in him and what we believe in him of goodness.

The Shaykh : If Allah wills.

The questioner : We hope that Allah makes him as we hope him to be, so this, and praise be to Allah, is a Salafi man and a scholar who knows from the Book and the Sunnah.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah.

The questioner : The thing that qualifies him for that, at least in this stage.

The Shaykh : If Allah wills.

The questioner : This is in terms of knowing Ahmad Muhammad...

The Shaykh: All right.

The questioner : And the other thing, meaning, your advice, if Allah wills, we will preserve it, and it is not to divide. We consider ourselves, if we can maintain it, we started from where the Afghans ended.

The Shaykh : You started.

The questioner : From where the Afghans ended, so that we do not differ later. We did not establish multiple fronts in Eritrea, but we established unity first and the pledge of allegiance to the imam on the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the Salaf al-Salih, may Allah be pleased with them. So on this matter we pledged allegiance to the amir. As for maintaining it, we ask Allah for us, and you also, pray to Allah for us that we may be granted success.

The Shaykh : We ask Allah for you success, rather, more success, and that He grants you victory over your enemy.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Okay, and if Allah wills, do you find assistance from the Islamic states?

The questioner : From the states, we have not found anything but a little, but from the individuals who are zealous for Islam, praise be to Allah, we have found a lot.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed.

The questioner : From it, we started first with the little effort of the Eritrean ummah, which gave a lot from its daily sustenance relative to them. So, praise be to Allah, we started the battle with it for the first time.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed.

The questioner : Despite the exorbitant price of weapons, praise be to Allah, from it we started and from it the victories began by the grace of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. We prepared what we could, and although this thing that we started with is not equal to anything compared to the arsenals existing with the enemies, but , so praise be to Allah, victory was our companion despite that.