What is your opinion on the Afghan jihad?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : In a question from the youth of Algeria... What is the Shaykh's opinion on jihad?
The Shaykh : Where is the jihad?
The questioner : Currently...
The Shaykh : Where is the jihad? In a specific country, or in general?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : If there is a faction in any of the Islamic countries where jihad has been declared in defense of Islam, it is an individual obligation. Therefore, we distinguish between jihad in Afghanistan and jihad in other places. This is because jihad in Afghanistan is, first, Islamic jihad, and second, defensive jihad against the attacking disbeliever. So we see that it is an individual obligation there. As for Palestine, you know the situation: "Stay in your place!" It is easy, and moreover, it is an individual matter, not a collective one. Likewise, you know better than anyone about your country, Lebanon, and the differences and parties there, and so on. Unfortunately, there is no place where jihad in the path of Allah is declared except in one place, which is Afghanistan. And I fear, as I most fear, that a day will come when the Afghan issue becomes exactly like the Palestinian issue. Therefore, I believe that it is obligatory to seize the opportunity and make the most of the time before this problem I am referring to arrives. Every Muslim youth who is zealous for his religion and able to carry a weapon, and who has no political obstacles or similar impediments that would drop the obligation from him, must hasten to jihad there before the Afghans are overcome in their affairs and their land.
The questioner : ...the person sitting in his country.
The Shaykh : It is not possible... Why did we exclude the Afghans from the rest of the countries?
The Shaykh : Where is the jihad?
The questioner : Currently...
The Shaykh : Where is the jihad? In a specific country, or in general?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : If there is a faction in any of the Islamic countries where jihad has been declared in defense of Islam, it is an individual obligation. Therefore, we distinguish between jihad in Afghanistan and jihad in other places. This is because jihad in Afghanistan is, first, Islamic jihad, and second, defensive jihad against the attacking disbeliever. So we see that it is an individual obligation there. As for Palestine, you know the situation: "Stay in your place!" It is easy, and moreover, it is an individual matter, not a collective one. Likewise, you know better than anyone about your country, Lebanon, and the differences and parties there, and so on. Unfortunately, there is no place where jihad in the path of Allah is declared except in one place, which is Afghanistan. And I fear, as I most fear, that a day will come when the Afghan issue becomes exactly like the Palestinian issue. Therefore, I believe that it is obligatory to seize the opportunity and make the most of the time before this problem I am referring to arrives. Every Muslim youth who is zealous for his religion and able to carry a weapon, and who has no political obstacles or similar impediments that would drop the obligation from him, must hasten to jihad there before the Afghans are overcome in their affairs and their land.
The questioner : ...the person sitting in his country.
The Shaykh : It is not possible... Why did we exclude the Afghans from the rest of the countries?
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.