Continuation of the topic of the previous tape: namely the issue of Bosnia and the advice of Shaykh Al-Albani to the commander Abu 'Abd al-'Aziz.

The questioner : May I mention something here?

The Shaykh : Please go ahead.

The questioner : And all praise and grace belong to Allah. In terms of food and drink, we are self-sufficient, and if some of the brothers bring us food items,

The Shaykh : What kind of items?

The questioner : Food items.

The Shaykh : Food items.

The questioner : They come from individuals, not through organizations.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : And likewise, the people of the country, by Allah, we found them to be generous, O our Shaykh. The generosity of these Bosnians is something strange, O our Shaykh; we did not find it in Afghanistan, nor in Kashmir, nor in Africa, nor in the Philippines.

The Shaykh : Strange.

The questioner : The places I have visited and know.

The Shaykh : Strange.

The questioner : So these people, by Allah, cut from their own food and drink, from the milk, and offer it to us. Let me give you a simple example. For instance, the salary of the imam of one of the mosques is ten marks, and the value of a sheep is between seventy and one hundred marks. Then one of the people comes to us with two sheep and says, "This is a gift for the mujahideen."

The Shaykh : What Allah willed.

The questioner : And so on. This is not a one-time thing; we have found it many times. People bring us winter clothes, woolen garments they spun with their own hands, such as shawls or caps. O our noble Shaykh, the manager of the winter clothing factory came to me a month ago and brought with him one hundred suits

The Shaykh : What Allah willed.

The questioner : of woolen clothing.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed.

The questioner : They are Bosnians, but we have not found this, O Shaykh, from the countries or from the Islamic organizations. They say, "If we provide you with this, the West might get angry with us."

The Shaykh : May Allah help them against their enemy.

The questioner : And all praise and grace belong to Allah. Now, we lack nothing, whether it is individual weapons, food and drink, or clothing. Yes, perhaps in the near or distant future, Allah knows best, but truly, in verification of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): And Allah the Exalted says:

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : And all praise belongs to Allah, the way is open. Yes, entering Bosnia may have some difficulties, but some brothers came and were turned back twice, but on the third time they entered, and many of them came on the first time.

The Shaykh : The ones who turned them back were the Bosnians?

The questioner : No. The Croats.

The Shaykh : The Croats.

The questioner : The Croats from the country of Croatia, from the airport, some of them. Then they came from other routes, and the Croats turned them back from inside Bosnia, but they came from another route, and all praise belongs to Allah. Of course, there are young men who fear these rumors that the Croats will turn you back or that you cannot enter. And unfortunately, there are some organizations present in a city called Zagreb or Split, which is the entrance to Bosnia. They receive the merchants and tell them, "We will bring in weapons or bring in funds for the mujahideen." I swear to Allah, nothing has come to us from these people. And we learned that millions were given to these people. One of the officials, not the president, but someone who works under him within this organization, and I can prove this, that this organization brought in weapons worth nine million dollars and delivered them to the army. Which army? I do not know! And not a single bullet reached us from them.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : And so on. But, all praise belongs to Allah, O our Shaykh, up to now I have not found a case where a mujahid brother comes to me and says he can go to the front, and I tell him, "I cannot find anything to carry," but I have found, and all praise belongs to Allah. There was a period when I thought that if another person came, I might not be able to, but before another person came, by Allah, the simple one comes.

The Shaykh : May Allah make it easy.

The questioner : And I buy weapons with it, and when it comes, it is ready for entering the battle. And all praise belongs to Allah, we have not entered a battle without succeeding in it; we have not been defeated up to now, and all praise and grace belong to Allah. Correct, we did not achieve the objectives, but we achieved steadfastness.

The Shaykh : Now, a question comes to mind here.

The questioner: Go ahead.

The Shaykh : Were you able to understand what the end of the fierce attack by the Serbs on Bosnia and Herzegovina is? Is it the seizure of this government represented by the Muslims as the majority, or is it specific areas?

The questioner : There are three things, meaning, in the Serbian objectives. The first objective is religious combat over the creed.

The Shaykh : Over the creed?

The questioner : Yes, they fight for the creed, or they kill everyone who is not Orthodox, because the fighting at the beginning started

The Shaykh : Even if he is Catholic?

The questioner : Catholic. Indeed, at the beginning it was against the Catholics, but because of the intervention of the European Church, the Vatican, saying, "How do you fight your cousins while the great enemy, the Muslims, is before you?" the fighting shifted against the Muslims. So first, it is a creedal fight. The second thing is retaliatory, and they repeat some hymns or some stories in their churches that the Muslims must be killed because they killed their ancestors, and they also mention, meaning, the Ottoman conquests

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner : in that region, and that the Ottomans ruled for about four hundred years.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner : And the third thing is expansionist, and this is in sequence, meaning, the one I mentioned in sequence. The biggest objective is creedal, and the objective less than that is retaliatory, and the third objective

The Shaykh : is expansion.

The questioner : The expansionist one. So the areas they have taken control of, and these are areas where the majority of the population was Serbian, they wanted to join Serbia. And these Serbs are not original inhabitants, but they settled during the period of Serbian colonization in the region, and the Serbian government distributed government lands to them because they were the owners of the occupation.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner : The owners of the conquest. As for the Croats also in the north, the area where there is a Croatian majority, they are now putting up Croatian flags, not the flags of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Shaykh : Were they attached to Bosnia and Herzegovina?

The questioner : No, no, that is not it; rather, they were settlers there from long ago, perhaps original inhabitants of the region.

The Shaykh : Excuse me, you are saying now that they are raising the flags of the Croats.
The Shaykh: The flags of Croatia.

The questioner : Before that, what were they?

The questioner : They were Bosnians. They were in all of Yugoslavia; the whole of Yugoslavia was one state, all the regions. But now, because they are planning to join, because they found that the Serbs can join Serbia, they said, "We also will join Croatia."

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : As for Bosnia, the region is now approximately divided into thirds: one-third, one-third, one-third. The Serbs control one-third of the region, and the Croats one-third of the region, and the Muslims remain in one-third of the region. So these are things

The Shaykh : Now, meaning, are they still in the third plan as you said, meaning, in expansion?

The questioner : Yes, they are trying.

The Shaykh : They are trying.

The questioner : Perhaps to establish safe borders, as the language of Israel now

The Shaykh : says.

The questioner : Safe borders. They want to apply the same theory to establish safe borders so that if there is an attack, they are still in their region, even if they leave a large area. And I would like to mention that many rumors are circulating, among them that the state or the government does not want jihad or the mujahideen. But, all praise belongs to Allah, I met our noble brother, Dr. Ali Izet, the President of the Republic. In fact, he was the one who asked me to visit him in one of the cities... .

The Shaykh : Very good.

The questioner : I visited him after hesitating, because I was afraid he might impose certain conditions or something of that sort, so I was reluctant. I had asked our noble brother Mahmoud ... the Muslim forces, but we could not find him. So I sought guidance from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) and went there. The meeting was formal, with the presence of army commanders, and they introduced me to them and welcomed me with the best of welcomes. I told him that we had come here solely for jihad, and that we had no intention of changing the system or the government or anything of that sort, and that when the crisis ended, we would return to our countries, just as we did in Afghanistan, and so on. When the conversation ended after half an hour, I felt it was appropriate to leave the place. He stayed with me and came to see me off at the door. There he held my hand and told me that he loved me. I replied, "And I do too; we love you for the sake of Allah, and that is why we came." He said, "But I want to sit with you longer." I told him, "I am on duty." He said, "Not here, but what do you think about going together to my private room?" Of course, I was pleased with that. One of the Arab brothers was with me, as well as another translator and one of the Bosnian brothers who live in the area where we were. We went up to his private room, and he ordered his guards to leave, saying, "These are my brothers; there is no fear from them." I should mention that I was carrying a visible pistol, so much so that I was ready to hand it over if the guards had asked me to.

The Shaykh : the weapon.

The questioner : the weapon, as a sign of respect, but they did not ask me to do so, and he saw that. We sat for approximately three-quarters of an hour. When I mentioned to him the importance of jihad, tears were in his eyes, and he was encouraging us. He said, "I have witnesses to this: I know well that there is no salvation in this battle except jihad in the cause of Allah."

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : He said, "I hope to come to you to shake hands with every mujahid, because I am amazed at how these brothers left their homes, their palaces, and their homelands and came here. I find that nothing but jihad brought them, and I see that jihad is the only solution. I am now in a position on the front line, because I mentioned to him that there are Croats. He said, 'Yes, this is the first front now, but I am sure another front will open after the front of the Serbs, who are the Croats, is finished. But I cannot say anything except that you should ask your brothers to send to their countries to pray for us, that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) will save us from these Serbs and these Croats.' And the session, my Shaykh, was truly a session of sincerity.

The Shaykh : moving, moving.

The questioner : moving, because I saw tears in his eyes and I saw sincerity in his work. But he is surrounded by many problems. He is the head of a prison, and because of his writing for Islam, they sentenced him to fifteen years in prison, but he spent nine years. The last year was the year of independence, so he was released.

The Shaykh : I think he speaks Arabic.

The questioner : He does not speak Arabic, but the translator was translating.

The Shaykh : He does not speak Arabic.

The questioner : He does not speak the Bosnian language.

The Shaykh : It was like on television, as if I had seen him speaking.

The questioner : Perhaps, but he was speaking to me in Bosnian until I asked him; he was speaking to me in English because I am proficient in it. He said, "No."

The Shaykh : Okay, and I did not know anything about him. Did he study at al-Azhar, for example, or at the university?

The questioner : No, as far as I know, he is a lawyer who studied law, and Allah knows best. And he obtained a doctorate in this field.

The Shaykh: Okay

The questioner : I mean, I expect a lot of good, especially if we start with the same effort in fighting, in da'wah, and in guidance. I hope that charitable institutions send preachers, and the land is fertile, and no one from the destructive schools of thought has entered it except these Shi'ah, but they are very few. However, we can enter it from the Islamic countries, especially those who follow the correct, sound, pure Salafi da'wah, because the response there is rapid, and I have experienced it and found it to be so. For example, I trained more than two hundred of the TO forces, who were consuming intoxicants and other things. By Allah, my Shaykh, I found them, because I visit them in their hotels, and there they are performing the five daily prayers and spreading the religion. So much so that in one of the fronts where the brothers I trained are, about five hundred and forty people, all of them with their leader, joined the Muslim forces because they said, "This is the correct, the correct fighting."

The Shaykh : This is what is beneficial, Abu 'Abd al-'Aziz, it is the da'wah.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : it is what is beneficial and it is what revives the hearts.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : As for jihad in the sense of fighting, this does not benefit. Jihad in the sense of fighting does not benefit; fighting in the name of jihad is what benefits, meaning jihad in the cause of Allah (Mighty and Majestic).

The questioner : Yes, that is it.

The Shaykh : Yes, but I say that you and the Muslims with you who grew up on Islam and the correct Islam, these people know jihad and know the difference between jihad and fighting.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : As for the Bosnians who are far from Islam, even traditional Islam, they no longer hear anything called jihad. Therefore, they fight the Serbs as the Serbs fight the Bosnians, meaning it is not from jihad in the cause of Allah. So our belief is that the praiseworthy work now there is not jihad in the sense of fighting, because there are no possible preparations that help you in true jihad in the cause of Allah. I began just now to say, in the saying of Allah the Exalted: This verse is an explicit text regarding material preparation. But to whom was this address directed? To the companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), who were directed before this address to believe in Allah and His Messenger. Do you understand this from me? The address is to the companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and then to those who follow their path and their way and their methodology. And therefore, I personally

The questioner : I want more detail, clearer.

The Shaykh : I am in this regard

The questioner : Yes, I mean, once again

The Shaykh : Ah, okay. I say that this verse, in terms of its text, is an explicit text regarding the command for material, armed jihad, as we explained just now or a few minutes ago. The saying of Allah the Exalted: with the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) etc. But I understand something else, which is not usually mentioned on the occasion of citing this verse. I understand that the command of the Lord of the Worlds (Mighty and Majestic) in His saying: is not directed to the Bosnians, meaning those who do not know of Islam except its name, but rather it is directed to the Muslims who truly believe in Allah and His Messenger.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : And therefore, for years I have been going around what I call, I do not know if you have had the opportunity to hear a tape on this topic which I call "Purification and Education." Have you heard anything of this?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Beautiful. You, and praise be to Allah, as it appears, are with us on the line with the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the righteous Salaf. But ask the general Muslims who have been dominated by following schools of thought.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : in jurisprudence on four schools, in creed on two schools, the Asha'irah and the Maturidiyyah. So we are in need now of first educating ourselves, and then those who take refuge in us and those who surround us, in the correct Islam, which is the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the righteous Salaf. On this day, unfortunately, I say in Saudi Arabia, which is the land of tawhid (the oneness of Allah), this methodology is not general or comprehensive, though it contains blessing and good for the country. As for other countries, as you know, they oppose this sound methodology.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : I understand that this verse necessitates that there be people qualified to accept this divine command and so on. The Bosnians, and the Afghans too, are in need of the Salafi call. If this call is accompanied by jihad, it is light upon light. And you see now the effects of jihad: ten years of division and tearing apart. Before, we were afraid, we were fearful of this sectarian division, and we still are. Now the effects have shown that this jihad has gone to waste. So let whoever sees a lesson in the experience of others take heed. We are not concerned now with armed jihad in Bosnia and Herzegovina for two reasons. First, these individuals are unable to wage jihad. For the last two nights, I have been in the position of answering questions; every night I have two hours of questions coming from various countries. Just yesterday, a question came to me regarding jihad in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I said, "My brother, jihad requires prerequisites. Where are the commanders who command the commanded, and where are the commanded who respond? We know that we live like sheep without a shepherd. Jihad in the path of Allah requires many, many qualifications and prerequisites. Jihad does not become jihad without a commander, and an army without a leader does not work, my brother. Furthermore, an army and a leader without weapons do not work. So now, going to that country, the doors are not open as they were in Afghanistan.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : And you yourself say, in secret.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Fine, you are one, five, ten, a hundred, two hundred, etc., thousands upon thousands of the Serbian army and the Croatian army, as I said, etc. Does this mean that one can offer oneself for jihad in the path of Allah truly without taking these prerequisites that I am referring to? First, by observation, as the Exalted said: And second, by material preparation. I was wondering, what if, God forbid, a plane came to you and you were five hundred of these Arab and Bosnian mujahideen, and you had no weapons to resist the plane? Then your blood, God forbid, would be wasted with no value. Blood was shed by the thousands in Afghanistan, and then what was the outcome? Division and loss, and so on. My point is to say, my question is complete. I said to him:The questioner : If the countries that call themselves Islamic states do not present their trained armies for modern, contemporary fighting today, and do not provide weapons such as heavy artillery, tanks, and planes, this jihad will not succeed. But what succeeds is what you are talking about, which is This is the jihad now in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As for material jihad, I fear, by Allah, the outcome will be the loss of these pure, innocent lives. And therefore, we want two things from you. First, yes.

The questioner : Can we clarify some things before you make your suggestion?

The Shaykh: Go ahead.

The questioner : First, what we are doing now is teaching and conveying the message to the Bosnians. The second reason for our presence on the front lines is that it encourages the youth, and they have gained toughness, lack of fear, and faith in divine decree and destiny, and that death is in the hand of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). Another point: when you mentioned that a large number is necessary, the number is now more than one thousand for the Bosnians alone, excluding the Arab brothers, and it is not as it was at the beginning. And another point: if there is not a large preparation of missiles or tanks or these things, do we consider ourselves an unequal army and therefore leave the brothers on the battlefronts? I am not speaking about the call; the call, of course, you encourage it, and even if it is one person from us, there may be much good in it, and it is distributed. But I am speaking from the military and combat aspect. I wanted to mention these things: I do not expect that any Islamic state can send an army because of international laws and the United Nations, and the prohibition of entry, even in the organization, the conference of the organization.

The Shaykh : I want you, Abu 'Abd al-'Aziz,

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : to speak with legal precision. I said finally, because of the laws, etc.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : That is not the reason. The reason is that there are no Islamic governments waging jihad in the path of Allah.

The questioner : Authentic

The Shaykh : Fine, this is the problem. It is not the problem that there are external obstacles. The problem, as they say in some old Arab proverbs: "The worm of the vinegar is in it."

The questioner : Correct.

The Shaykh : Yes. So now, the best state we hoped would perform the religious duty in the call and in jihad in the path of Allah is Saudi Arabia. Now Saudi Arabia declares what they call international legitimacy, international legitimacy.

The questioner : International legitimacy, yes.

The Shaykh : Yes. Allahu Akbar. International legitimacy is what they follow under its banner today. The best state we hoped for good is Saudi Arabia. So, coming down to that, I say:

The questioner : Go ahead.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : You want to make a suggestion.

The Shaykh : Therefore, I say:

The questioner : Yes, please.

The Shaykh : I advise you that your stay there be for the sake of the call, that is, the good word, and then defense, and then defense.

The questioner : Defense how?

The Shaykh : Material, armed defense.

The questioner : Yes, meaning we defend these people?

The Shaykh : But.

The questioner : Fine, what is the work we are doing in defense?

The Shaykh : I am not criticizing now, hehehe, may Allah forgive you.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : No, I do not want you to intend to attack the disbelievers with this number and this number. No, rather, assume yourself to be like a man attached to his home, and the enemy comes to him, so he defends himself. If the enemy is killed, he is in the Fire, and if the attacker is killed, he is in Paradise; he is a martyr, as you know in the hadith: But we now see disbelief spreading from every side. So I say, for example, now, to explain my idea to you clearly.

Another questioner : Excuse me, Shaykh, if he is killed, is he in the Fire, or the one who killed?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : If the attacker is killed, he is in the Fire, and if the one who was attacked is killed, he is in Paradise, and he is a martyr.

Another questioner : Repeat, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Go ahead. So you now, and those around you, and those who may come to you with Islamic, jihadist enthusiasm.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Fine, if we said to you here that Palestine is closer to you than Bosnia and Herzegovina, why did you go far away? What will you say? Allow me, is not jihad in Palestine an individual obligation?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Fine, why do you not perform this obligation which is closer to you? You will say what I am saying, but my saying is not your saying. You will say, "I am not able to do it there." Do you have no other answer than this?

The questioner : No, I am able.

The Shaykh : And I say you are not able to wage jihad there except with the good word, because the outcome of the matter will be as it was in Afghanistan, as it was in Palestine. Who brought the Jews to Palestine? First, the weakness of the Muslims, and then the lack of cooperation of the Islamic states with the Palestinian people. So now, what can you do there regarding armed, material jihad? On this I based my previous idea. You stay there for the good word. If you are attacked, defend yourself. But you, with five hundred people, a thousand, two thousand, five thousand, with the Baroudi, with bullets, and they with planes and tanks and missiles and the like, you have not fulfilled the obligation. You have not fulfilled this obligation. Correct, you are not able. So I say, as you are not able in Palestine, you are excused. But you are not excused in not conveying the good word. You are not excused in not calling, whether near or far, whoever is far from Islam. So I think, legally and rationally, that you should be a caller to Islam, and especially regarding tawhid (the oneness of Allah), you should revolve around it, because all the non-Arab countries, and I am one of them, do not know tawhid at all. They only know the tawhid of the polytheists, which is tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship), as you know. So revolve around this and do not care about this at all, because some callers see the importance of prayer and morals and the like, but they do not revolve around it at all. In fact, some of them may see that researching this good word divides the ranks. Perhaps you have heard something of this?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: All right.

The questioner : And at the beginning, they prevented us from entering Bosnia for that reason, because they know about me personally.

The Shaykh: Okay

The questioner : So they prevented me, meaning, and they tried to mediate for me with some shaykhs.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : That not going to the interior, and that it is not the time now for Abu 'Abd al-'Aziz.

The Shaykh : This is a calamity for the Muslim community. So, if you remain there calling to Islam in the correct sense—tawhid (the oneness of Allah), prayer as it was practiced by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), morals, and everything else—this is obligatory, and you are not excused for failing to carry it out. But exposing yourself and those with you to being killed in the name of jihad? This is not, first of all, jihad, because you have not prepared—and I say this with a caveat, so you don’t get ahead of me—you have not made the necessary preparations. Your situation there is the situation of Palestine, the situation of every Islamic country that is attacked by disbelievers. But as long as you are able to , as long as you are currently permitted to train the individuals you have gathered in good numbers, teach them, and supervise them in what Allah and His Messenger commanded, that is the jihad. As for material jihad, I do not believe it will succeed except by way of defending yourself if you are attacked, and defending your da'wah (calling others to Islam) if it is attacked. But exposing yourself to attack when you have no means of attack? I do not see this as prescribed (mashru') at all. And on this basis, I keep repeating everything related to jihad. For example, regarding Algeria: we are not with the Algerians who revolted against these rulers who rule by other than what Allah has revealed, because they did not prepare for such fighting and such jihad. And so what was the outcome? They were captured, individually and in groups, and thrown into prisons, and we wait for them to be released. Whereas, if they had continued calling the Algerian people to tawhid (the oneness of Allah), there would have been a great gain. We met with some of them here when their leader, whose name you know, Hajj Ali, came.

Another questioner : Ali al-Hajj.

The Shaykh : Ali al-Hajj. We said to them, "O people, you have twenty-five million. Do you think ten doctors are enough to treat physical diseases?" They said, "No." "Are a hundred enough?" They said, "No." "You need thousands." They admit this. So, how many scholars do you have for twenty-five million Muslims? They said, "We have no scholars." So, those who have no scholars to teach them tawhid, to teach them prayer, and so on—can they overthrow these disbelievers who rule by the law of France, for example? Can they, if they manage to eliminate them, rule by Islam when they do not have scholars who know Islam? If they knew Islam, it would be obligatory for them to call Muslims to Islam. And you know well, if Allah wills, that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), when he first called, did not call for establishing the Muslim state, but rather . He lived for ten years while being oppressed and wronged, his companions being tortured, and so on, in Makkah, until Allah the Exalted permitted them to migrate, as is known in the biography. So why do these mujahideen not start with what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) started with? If they start and unite on the basis of this good word and correct Islamic upbringing, then they are the mujahideen. But nations here and there, where everyone carries an idea and everyone carries a character—these people cannot be fought with in the path of Allah the Exalted. And reality is the greatest proof of that.
Abu Malik: Perhaps you heard, our Shaykh, today?

The Shaykh : No, I heard nothing. What is it? An attack?
Abu Malik: A fierce battle between the Afghan factions.

The Shaykh : Strange.
Abu Malik: Today, yesterday in Kabul.

The Shaykh : Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah). This is a calamity. Perhaps you understood me, Abu 'Abd al-'Aziz?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: All right, go ahead.

The questioner : A simple inquiry.
Abu Malik: One moment.

The Shaykh : Please go ahead.
Abu Malik: There is a doubt that is often raised everywhere where young Muslims are driven

The Shaykh : to jihad.
Abu Malik: To jihad. This doubt that is raised concerns the hearts: Will we remain waiting for the upbringing of these people, or this generation, or this number? And what will that number be? And what is the time in which the educators or scholars will continue to raise them? And do we wait until the enemy attacks us in our own homes and then drives us out? These doubts, or this gathering of doubts, is raised, our Shaykh, in every place where such a matter occurs. So I wish you would also clarify this doubt.

The questioner : I add to it something we are facing now: these Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina. We leave them and do not stand with them.

The Shaykh : I did not tell you to leave them. How?

The questioner : In the combat lines, we leave them in the combat lines.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : And that we do not stand with them in one line for fighting.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : And they are being attacked by the Serbs? I would like you to clarify this point.

The Shaykh : No problem, I have already given the answer: defend.

The questioner : Defend these people?

The Shaykh : Defend these people and yourself.

The questioner : That is what happened.

The Shaykh : But do not attack.

The questioner : I do not attack, but I want to reclaim the land they seized from us.

The Shaykh : That is an attack.

The questioner : That is an attack?

The Shaykh : Yes. Where are you? Let us call it Area Number One.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : So if you are attacked, you defend. Why? Because your primary duty is to call, to teach those around you, and also, as much as you can, to connect with the Bosnians to teach them the religion. Because these people, I tell you frankly, you cannot do jihad with those who do not share your creed.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : You can fight, but you cannot do jihad.

The questioner : This simple hair's breadth: you can fight, but you cannot do jihad, because

The Shaykh : Very clear.

The questioner : It is very clear to me, but I wanted to clarify the legal term for the listener.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good. So I say now, the wars currently taking place on earth, and those that occurred in World War I and II, were not jihad, because they were states of disbelief fighting each other. But they were not doing jihad against each other; they were fighting each other. The Islam that legislated fighting legislated it for jihad in the path of Allah, so that the word of Allah is the highest. So I say now, you and the Bosnians around you can fight their enemy with them, but you cannot do jihad with these Muslim disbelievers. You do jihad with those who carry your correct creed. You do jihad with them. But these people, let us assume they entered the religion of Allah in droves, they have not yet been raised on the correct creed and the correct Islamic upbringing, as I explained to you just now.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Therefore, it is sufficient for you if you remain there for the da'wah, if you remain there to defend. But if you attack, that means you want to lose a strength we are saving for the most important day. Perhaps you understood?

The questioner : Yes, what I understood now is that I can stand and participate in defensive operations.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : As for offensive operations, I leave them to the Bosnian brothers themselves to fight.

The Shaykh : Well done.

The questioner : But in defensive operations, when we see the enemy advancing, we also shoot at them or fight them.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : So our youth must fight in the lines, or do jihad in the lines of the Bosnians, in the case of defense in the area if they are attacked by the enemy.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Abu Malik: There is something here.

The Shaykh : But if you allow me.
Abu Malik: Please.

The Shaykh : So that I do not miss anything. Why do I say this? Because we need people like you.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And we do not want you to expose yourselves to destruction so that we lose your da'wah. Is that clear, I think?

The questioner : Very clear now.

The Shaykh: Go ahead.
Abu Malik: I say, our Shaykh, what confirms this matter with absolute certainty is that the TO army, the army that holds the power

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
the power of weapons, and this does not pledge allegiance to Allah or to Islam.

The Shaykh : That is the problem here.
Abu Malik: So these brothers who are there, like the brother Abu 'Abd al-'Aziz and others, they do not have anything like what these people have. And therefore they were forced to separate, and so the weakness in them became very severe when the army commander threatened that he would sit in his house, and whoever among you wants to go, let him go. This is a sign of weakness.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Abu Malik: It is not with TO. So TO asks, meaning, they went, they stayed, they came, they left; they do not ask about this. And I think you have realized this completely. What was it with these people when they never asked, and never said, "Why are you doing this?" This is a brief comment on our Shaykh's statement that if you attack, we will lose you. The loss is not for yourselves, but for the da'wah, because you are performing a great duty there.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Abu Malik: And this duty cannot be performed by anyone other than you.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Abu Malik: Never, even from the committed people of the country, who are, of course, a very small number, because they are very few.

The Shaykh : A small number, and new to the scene, new to the scene.

The questioner : Yes, exactly.
Abu Malik: Even if, for example, they say, "We graduated from the Islamic University,"

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Abu Malik: or from the universities in the Arab countries, or something like that. In truth, that does not avail anything of the truth at all. Therefore, in truth, my advice to you, our Shaykh, is the advice that must be your motto in this land and in those lands, so that, if Allah wills, there is at least victory and dominance, and the manifestation of the da'wah (calling others to Islam).

The Shaykh : For guiding a man by your hand is more beloved to me than the red camels.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : For guiding a Bosnian to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) is better for him than dying a killed man, a killed man who is not a martyr.

The questioner : A killed man, yes, this is what was happening in Afghanistan when they killed, approximately, more than a million, and Allah knows their intentions.

The Shaykh : Their intentions, this is it. And therefore, may Allah reward you, send a wise man and advise him. Did I understand you well?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : So when we say there is no jihad there, you have understood what jihad is and why we say this. These young men who want to go there to truly fight in the path of Allah, we hold them back for the promised day. And if they have energy, let them spend it in the da'wah (calling others to Islam) in the path of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. And if they are attacked, they have the right to defend themselves. But I want to attack, like in our case in Syria, and perhaps here too, but perhaps he does not know. They say in Syria: "An eye that resists a needle."
Shuqara: We have a saying: "A palm that does not butt a needle."

The Shaykh : In our case in Syria, the eye is more precise than the palm; it does not resist a needle, meaning a pin. This is very logical, and this is among the meanings of . That is, now ten or twenty or a hundred young men can gather and attack the Jews. This is not jihad; this is a revolution, and there are no revolutions in Islam.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Islam is organized in everything, including jihad. And therefore it said: , etc. So may Allah reward you, you have now understood the idea completely, and you are the best to convey it with precision and trustworthiness.

The questioner : If Allah wills.
Abu Malik: Our Shaykh, also, a comment. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has arranged things with their causes, without doubt, regarding their manifestation.

The Shaykh : Yes.
Abu Malik: So if we rush a cause, the effect is delayed with us. And therefore,

The Shaykh : Whoever rushes a thing before its time is tried with its deprivation. This is wisdom.
Abu Malik: Then notice how the Noble Qur'an presents things, for example, the verse that our Shaykh made the core of the fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) of the issue, which is His saying, the Exalted: . This was among the verses revealed after the Battle of Badr, and it was the battle that was the divider between faith and disbelief.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed.
Abu Malik: And a cause for the manifestation of Islam. Before it, His saying, the Exalted, was revealed: . This is a warning and drawing attention to what is necessary . It did not say "fight" or "strive" or "kill," but rather it said: .

The Shaykh : You are correct. And the story of Badr: they were attacked.
Abu Malik: Yes, so the Muslims defended themselves.

The Shaykh : So the Muslims defended themselves. Why did the Messenger of Allah not attack the people of Mecca in Mecca? Because they did not have this material preparation. They were attacked in their own homes, so they had to defend themselves.

The questioner : So, meaning, the material efforts must also be exerted to strengthen the weapons of these Bosnian brothers, even if it is for an attack.

The Shaykh : Strengthening them in everything is possible. This is the duty of the Islamic states and individuals. But this is not limited to individuals, because no matter how much individuals extend a helping hand, they will not accomplish anything.

The questioner : Okay, the Bosnian brothers' attack, is this a legitimate attack as defense? Meaning, do we supply them with weapons so they can attack?

The Shaykh : It is possible if there is room for this. This is obligatory.

The questioner : Yes. As for us, we do not attack, but we encourage the Bosnians to attack.

The Shaykh : We, yes, I have said this before and we agreed on it, and you repeat it and we repeat the agreement on it. But I repeat: why the difference?

The questioner: Yes, I understood.

The Shaykh : I understood.

The questioner : Seriously, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.
Abu Malik: Our Shaykh, also, a precise point regarding the concept of defense, because this Bosnian, if he does not take a step forward,

The Shaykh : then he is finished...
Abu Malik: Yes, and this is the most obligatory duty upon him, and this is part of the concept, yes, of the concept of His saying, the Exalted:

The Shaykh : Yes, even the story itself, you remember in the story of Badr how they pursued them.
Abu Malik: Yes, exactly.

The Shaykh : Do you remember this?

The questioner : Yes.
Abu Malik: Our Shaykh, even in Badr, they were forced to do this because they did not go out to fight in the first place. They did not go out to fight.

The Shaykh : Correct, yes

The questioner : I did not want to say the previous sentence, that we encourage our Bosnian brothers to fight, so that they do not think that if the Arabs' attack is not sound, why do we also attack? We stand and defend as the Arabs defend.

The Shaykh : No, no, the outcome will be as you heard: they will lose everything.

The questioner : May Allah reward him with good, Abu Malik, meaning, you clarified with decisive evidence.

The Shaykh : Yes. Of course, later on, it will require you to have tact and attention, so that they do not feel that you have separated from them and no longer care about them, because here something of a difference may appear between the previous position and the later position. This

The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh: You must cover up the matter so that this danger does not occur, meaning, you combine in brief between bringing benefit and repelling harm.

The questioner : If Allah wills, we will try with all our effort, at least to encourage the attack by the Bosnian brothers to attack.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : And they will fare well, and we, meaning, we can defend in the rear lines if they are attacked, or from the sides if they are attacked.

The Shaykh : That is it.

The questioner : So, by the permission of Allah, the Exalted, and we try as much as possible to make them understand what fighting means,

The Shaykh : It is this one.

The questioner : and what jihad means.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you and increase you in success.

The questioner : The Bosnians and the Arab mujahideen.

The Shaykh : We are now leaving the closing word to Professor Abu Malik. Yes.
Abu Malik: No, I was going to...

The Shaykh : It is fine, this is it and that.
Abu Malik: No, our Shaykh, if you record a word in the language,

The Shaykh : Albanian?
Abu Malik: Yes.

The Shaykh : No, there, they do not understand the Albanian language, meaning the Croatian Yugoslav language. Now, we have here a group of Bosnians, some of whom attended at my place, and with them the Yugoslav Albanians. These understand me, but the others do not understand me, and I do not understand them, because the language is completely different.

The questioner : But these brothers, specifically the imams of the mosques who graduated from countries where they understand the Arabic language.

The Shaykh : Yes, yes.

The questioner : And they know you well, even if some of them are still new to the da'wah (calling others to Islam) and correcting the creed, they long to hear your words, and if Allah wills, they will adhere to them.

The Shaykh : In any case, my advice to Muslims in general, and specifically to our Bosnian brothers who are being attacked by the Serbs, is first to focus on their understanding of Islam, which is the religion that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has chosen for the community, whether it is the community of the call or the community of the response. It is the Islam that Allah revealed to the heart of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). However, this Islam, which the Qur'an brought and explicitly stated in the words of the Exalted: , has, as the ages and eras have passed, had things mixed into it that were not part of Islam. It is a spiritual remedy for all the diseases that afflict hearts and societies in every time and place; it is the divine medical prescription for treating these heart diseases. But what I mentioned earlier has happened to this divine prescription: things that are not part of it have been mixed into it, just as if a skilled doctor prescribes a physical medicine for a patient and mixes into it something that is not part of it, it will not yield the fruits it is supposed to yield for the patient who applies it, because something that is not part of it, and indeed its exact opposite, has been mixed in. This is an example we bring closer to our brothers who are hearing my words, and I am in Jordan, in Amman, in a land where many, many jihad efforts were made by the early Arab Muslims until Islam was able to take hold of this land. We live in it today, enjoying its spiritual blessings first and its material blessings second. Those Muslim mujahideen from whom we received these lands, and in whose blessings we live as I mentioned earlier, used to treat the diseases of their hearts and their bad morals with this pure Islam. But today, Islam is not as it was when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: . This Islam today has many, many concepts, and I am not in a position to explain that now because the time does not allow it; rather, I am reminding, and the reminder benefits the believers. So my advice to our brothers in the entire Muslim world in general, and to our Bosnian brothers in particular, is that their greatest concern, especially since the enemy surrounds them from every side, should be to strive earnestly to understand this Islam that our Lord has chosen for us as a religion. And that is by connecting with the people of the call to the truth, which is nothing but a call that relies explicitly and practically on the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). And I say the authentic Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), because what has happened to Islam in general has happened to it: things that are not part of it have been mixed in. In what is thought to be part of the Sunnah, there are weak and fabricated hadiths. And therefore, I say that they should expose themselves and pay attention to understanding Islam derived from its two pure sources: the Book of Allah and the authentic, authentic Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). In addition to that, as Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and His Messenger commanded, they should understand the Book and the Sunnah according to the methodology of our righteous predecessors, as they were, as our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) indicates to us in His saying: