Jihad in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Supporting Their Brothers There

The questioner : First, O our Shaykh.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : The brother says,The questioner : Those who are well-versed in the conditions of the Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who are close to the Islamic forces there, report that a jihad is taking place there, characterized by the raised Islamic banner and by a type of strength with which they terrify the disbelievers who are fighting them. If this is true, what is your opinion regarding the attempts of many young Muslims, both Arabs and non-Arabs, to go there to support their brothers and fight the enemies of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in support of their brothers in religion?

The Shaykh : We say, as we always and forever say, that jihad today is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn) because of the many countries being attacked, the many Islamic countries being attacked by disbelievers of various religions and persuasions! However, we believe that jihad requires taking the necessary measures, causes, and preparations that enable Muslims to achieve victory over their enemy. In this regard, we say that the causes we mentioned earlier are among the diseases our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) referred to in some of those hadiths. In one of them, as we concluded in the final part of the answer by explaining the last phrase, "so that you may return to your religion," I say, with great, great, great regret, let whoever is satisfied be satisfied, and let whoever is not satisfied be not satisfied; what concerns us is only the pleasure of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). The jihad of Muslims against disbelievers requires them to take the measures that qualify them for victory over their enemy. The first of these measures is that they believe in Allah and His Messenger as Allah and His Messenger intended. This faith is not currently available in a group united on the methodology we explained earlier. I believe that those who go are only scattered individuals in various countries, not united by a correct Islamic creed; rather, they differ greatly. We have seen this, with great regret—I repeat, with great regret—in the Afghan jihad, which we had hoped and prayed to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that we would now have reaped the fruits of, because the group, meaning the Afghan Muslims, had declared it a jihad in the path of Islam. But today, there is no declaration by the Bosnians and Herzegovinians, if that expression is correct; they have not declared jihad in the path of Allah. Yes, this is a great difference between the fighting currently taking place between the disbelievers, the Serbs and those who support them, and the Muslims in Bosnia and those who support them from various Muslims whom I referred to earlier. Despite this vast gap between the Afghan jihad and the Bosnian fighting, we have not yet reaped the fruit after twelve years of the Afghan jihad. Why? Because they did not take the preparations we are currently discussing, and I will explain this with some detail. We all know, with regret, that there were seven parties, and the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) was true of them: . And there was one party that declared it was on the methodology of the Salaf al-Salih, upon the Qur'an and the Sunnah. And yet, what happened was that some of the parties fought this group established upon the Book and the Sunnah. All these parties know the saying of the Lord of the Worlds: , . The first generation, the purest and brightest, namely the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), failed in the Battle of Hunayn only because they were afflicted with fatal arrogance, even though they were perfect in all other respects. They did not achieve victory except that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) ultimately granted them victory over the disbelievers. So how can Muslims today achieve victory over their disbelieving enemies, the Serbs, with all of Europe behind them? Even if it appears that they are merely talking about victory for these invaded people in their homeland, I say that jihad requires preparation, and this is explicit in the Noble Qur'an: . I say to these enthusiastic young men, and this enthusiasm is obligatory for them, have they prepared the means that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) referred to in this verse, "and of the tying up of horses, as much strength as you are able"? There is no doubt that when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) mentioned "strength" and specifically singled out "the tying up of horses," it was because the tying up of horses was one of the causes of fighting that helped the mujahideen achieve victory over their enemies. But before mentioning the tying up of horses, he mentioned "strength," saying: . So what is the strength that these young men have prepared? I think they will say that they do not have airplanes or tanks, and they do not have organized fighting in the modern military style, in terms of the style of fighting, the style of attack, the style of defense, and the style of retreat when retreat is permissible, and so on. Then I draw the attention of these individuals from all Muslim nations who want to fight with these ordinary weapons: what about the Islamic states watching these Muslims being invaded in their own homelands, and these Muslims supporting them with such ordinary weapons that are worth nothing compared to the weapons of the attacking disbelievers, namely the Serbs? Why did they not equip their armies? Why did they not send their tanks? Why did they not send their airplanes? So that we can say that they have prepared their means to the extent of their ability, and perhaps Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will grant them victory. We advise our enthusiastic Muslim youth, especially after seeing that the jihad of those enthusiastic men in Afghanistan went down the drain, even though the jihad there was first in the name of Islam, and second, it received supplies that these young men cannot receive. And this is what we say, explaining to these young men a point in the previous verse, which provided the occasion to speak about it. Our Lord (Mighty and Majestic), when He addressed the first believers, saying: . The address here is directed to the Companions who were prepared to accept the execution of this command and ready to carry it out, meaning that they had fulfilled the duty of spiritual preparation. Therefore, this verse was directed to them: . So I derive from this verse something that commentators usually do not mention, even though it is a clear matter and must be explained on such an occasion. When Allah (Mighty and Majestic) addressed the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with His saying: , they were worthy of such an address, meaning they believed in Allah and His Messenger with true faith, that is, in the manner we are currently discussing, which we cannot achieve except with great effort. We are discussing purified Islam to reach it; we need tremendous efforts from Muslim scholars, as previously mentioned. As for the Companions, as I also said at the beginning of my previous speech, they received Islam from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) fresh and green, so they did not need, as we do now, to spend much of our time understanding the purified Shari'ah of our Lord (Mighty and Majestic). They received purified Islam directly from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and then applied it in their souls, so they were prepared to accept that divine command: . O Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him)! When I say this, I do not want to cast doubt on people's creed and their righteous deeds, but at the same time, I do not want to be like the ostrich, which is cited as an example of foolishness, when it sees the hunter aiming at it, it puts its head in the sand and does not see the hunter; due to its foolishness, it thinks the hunter will not see it and will not catch it. I also do not want to be unaware of describing the disease that Muslims must treat. So I say, O young men, have you received Islam fresh and green as the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) received it? And from that, or from the most prominent matters that confirm to you that you are likewise, have you agreed upon a just word? Have you united in your creed, your morals, and your sincerity toward one another? Does every individual in you fit the description of what he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: . I say, with regret, we hardly find a group of ten people in whom such faith as mentioned by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is true. So how about hundreds, and how about thousands scattered who have not gathered in one place to be a single group in creed and behavior? And of that behavior is that you obey this divine command: , to the end of the verse. This is what I am discussing, and I do not want you to become fuel for the fire. You are between disbelievers who are fighting Islam in every land of Islam, and you must have heard what happened to our brothers in Somalia, in Eritrea, in the Philippines, and in... and so on, and finally in Algeria, and perhaps in Sudan as well. What is this, O our enthusiastic Muslim brothers, whose enthusiasm is emotional and not accompanied by planning and sound reason? Before you are these disbelievers who plot against you, and behind you are Islamic states that do not support you. Therefore, I say, in conclusion to my speech with you: . This is the end of my answer to this question. And I hope that I have been successful.

The questioner : May Allah reward you, O our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : And may Allah protect you, if Allah wills.

The questioner : He says.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : What is the ruling on some American Muslims participating in voting to elect the President of the United States, relying on the principle of the lesser of two harms, under the delusion that one of these candidate presidents will be less severe and less harmful to Islam and Muslims?

The Shaykh : Disbelief is a single religion, and our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, mentions these Muslims who think they are applying the principle of the lesser of two harms. Allah the Exalted said: And I am amazed, more than amazed, at these young people who rush to such a delusion, as mentioned in your question, may Allah bless you. And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: The fire of this world before the fire of the Hereafter. Therefore, we say that it is not permissible to participate in such elections, because this participation means practical allegiance to the disbelievers, and that is forbidden by the explicit text of the Qur'an, where the Lord of all creation said: .

The questioner: May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And may the same be for you.

The questioner : His other question asks: What is your opinion, also, regarding some American Muslims, Arab or non-Arab, who are trying to form an Islamic party by participating in the American parliament? These people justify this by saying that this action is one of our constitutional rights in American law, and we must not let it go.

The Shaykh : I think the previous answer, may Allah bless you, serves as an answer to this subsequent question!

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : And it is not permissible to form parties among these people, because this party formation will make the Muslims there into two factions: a faction that is partisan for these elections, and another faction opposing it. And other parties may arise. We complain about Islamic parties in Islamic countries, so what do we say about party formation in the lands of disbelief? We advise these people who have been afflicted with residing in the lands of disbelief, as we have said, we advise some of them individually when they contact us and ask us about some rulings that they encounter in their lives there. We always and forever advise them not to settle in the lands of disbelief, but to flee to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, by returning to the lands of Islam. Because Islam forbids the Muslim to migrate from the lands of Muslims to the lands of disbelievers and polytheists. And there are many, many hadiths on this, among them his saying, peace and blessings be upon him: meaning whoever mixes with And among them is his saying, peace be upon him: And also his saying, peace be upon him: Therefore, we find that some of the religious among these travelers or residents in the lands of disbelief, when we visit them there on a brief visit, as you are currently in your situation there, we find that they are influenced by the atmospheres and environments in which they live, which is an environment of disbelief, open sinfulness, lewdness, and misguidance. They are influenced without realizing it, or they realize it, and then, before they realize it, they try to justify what they are doing, falling into various justifications or excuses that align with the desires of the self and with ignorance of Islam, as you heard just now regarding the justification of voting for the one who is less evil. They claim this is from the application of the principle of taking the lesser of two harms. This principle is only applied when it is more likely that taking the lesser of two harms will eliminate the greater evil. But if George goes and Antonios comes, from where do we judge that Antonios is better than George, or Bush, or the like? They think nothing but a guess, and they are not certain. And Allah is the One to be sought for help.