Have you heard that Shaykh Ibn Baz supported what happened in the Gulf Crisis? And that he permitted the killing of Iraqis while they were praying?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : He saysThe questioner : From your knowledge of Shaykh Ibn Baz, may Allah reward him with good, have you learned of a position supporting what happened in the Gulf Crisis, and have you heard what is said about him, that he issued a fatwa for the killing of Iraqi soldiers who are praying?
The Shaykh : As for whether I have heard, I have heard as others have heard. But as for whether I have verified it, the answer is no. Today, our brother Abu Malik Muhammad Shuqara, may Allah reward him with good, gave the Friday sermon regarding[Al-Hujurat 49:6] and added to this verse another hadith, an authentic hadith, which is his saying (peace be upon him): Riyad as-Salihin 1547 So we have heard, but we have not verified it, because we have no way to verify such reports except through personal contact with him and with everyone who reports a saying from him. It is necessary to contact him if it becomes feasible, and it has not been feasible for us. I say this not in defense of any person, no matter how high his status or how elevated his rank,The Shaykh : Ibn Baz, may Allah reward him with good, because every person, as the Imam of the Abode of Migration, Malik ibn Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), said: "Everyone, none of us is exempt from being refuted and having things refuted against him, except the one in this grave," and he pointed to the grave of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). It is possible for any person to make a mistake and it is possible for him to forget. But just because it is possible for him to make a mistake and to forget, it is not permissible for us to attribute to him everything that reaches us without verifying the accuracy of the attribution to him. Yes.
The questioner : And the Gulf War
The Shaykh : Likewise, regarding the Gulf War, unfortunately, we can say that the Saudi shaykhs had an ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) in supporting the war against Iraq and the Iraqi people, and they held fast to a principle in which they may have erred in its application. As for me, I am certain that they erred in its application. When a Muslim is caught between two evils, he chooses the lesser of the two evils. They saw that if they fought alongside the disbelievers, the Americans and the British, and perhaps the Jews were with them, they would be fighting a Muslim people, which is the Iraqi people. And I do not say the Iraqi state, because it is not a Muslim state. So they saw that from the perspective of the lesser of two evils, they should support this fighting. As for us, we have clear tapes stating that it is not permissible to seek the aid of disbelievers, and now is not the time to repeat the discussion on this issue.
The Shaykh : As for whether I have heard, I have heard as others have heard. But as for whether I have verified it, the answer is no. Today, our brother Abu Malik Muhammad Shuqara, may Allah reward him with good, gave the Friday sermon regarding
O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one with information, investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and become, over what you have done, regretful.
يا أيها الذين آمنوا إن جاءكم فاسق بنبأ فتبينوا أن تصيبوا قوما بجهالة فتصبحوا على ما فعلتم نادمينIt is enough for a man to prove himself a liar when he goes on narrating whatever he hears.
كفى المرء كذبا أن يحدث بكل ما سمعThe questioner : And the Gulf War
The Shaykh : Likewise, regarding the Gulf War, unfortunately, we can say that the Saudi shaykhs had an ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) in supporting the war against Iraq and the Iraqi people, and they held fast to a principle in which they may have erred in its application. As for me, I am certain that they erred in its application. When a Muslim is caught between two evils, he chooses the lesser of the two evils. They saw that if they fought alongside the disbelievers, the Americans and the British, and perhaps the Jews were with them, they would be fighting a Muslim people, which is the Iraqi people. And I do not say the Iraqi state, because it is not a Muslim state. So they saw that from the perspective of the lesser of two evils, they should support this fighting. As for us, we have clear tapes stating that it is not permissible to seek the aid of disbelievers, and now is not the time to repeat the discussion on this issue.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.