What is happening in Bosnia and Herzegovina and matters regarding the da'wah.

Abu Layla : Our Shaykh Abu Ghassan ... went to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he has some information that will reach you, if Allah wills, and if Allah wills, there will be good in it!

The Shaykh : We hope for that.

The questioner : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon Muhammad and his family and all his Companions. As for what follows: You know what happened to the Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely the mass slaughter, displacement, and the delay of the Muslims in providing relief to them. The mission for which we went was to see if there was a possibility for calling to Allah the Mighty and Majestic, so that the tragedy that occurred in Afghanistan would not be repeated. When we learned that the Al-Haramayn Foundation, which had been formed by a committee of distinguished people who knew what happened in Afghanistan and were among those who loved calling to Allah the Mighty and Majestic to establish the oneness of Allah (tawhid), and who had been withThe Shaykh : Jamil (may Allah have mercy on him) in Afghanistan, and who spoke about the cause of the failure that occurred recently, and saw that the tragedy there should not be repeated, this foundation was looking to see if there was a possibility. There is a modest plan, if Allah wills, that involves recruiting imams from the Bosnians and giving them a course on establishing the da'wah, the importance of the oneness of Allah (tawhid), understanding Islam, and preparing for the Hereafter, so that a person in his jihad does not merely want to take revenge for what happened to his people, or to destroy himself and not remain for what he saw of disgrace, but rather he prepares himself for Allah the Mighty and Majestic. He knows the prayer and knows the right of Allah Blessed and Exalted is He upon him. So, praise be to Allah for His grace, this committee was fromThe Shaykh : Mutayb al-Tayyar andThe Shaykh : Al-Aqil andThe Shaykh : Muhammad al-Faraj, and they sendThe Shaykh : Safar al-Hawali, the da'iyah, to strengthen the position of this da'wah or assist it or otherwise. The truth is that this course was in the last stronghold of the Muslims remaining in Bosnia, and praise be to Allah. The person responsible for the mosques, the brother Ayub, was nominated there because he is able to gather the imams.

The Shaykh : And he is from this country.

The questioner : And yes, he is from there. The imams come and attend these lessons, approximately five lessons a day for ten days. Praise be to Allah, we attended some of them to know what this establishment is, and the extent of its strength and benefit for this person. O Allah, to You is praise. We did not encounter from the Bosnians what we encountered from the Afghans in terms of strictness in the Hanafi school and hatred of changing what they were accustomed to, and circumambulating around graves, and other such superstitions. This made these people welcome us with great enthusiasm, especially since the money made their need such that they did not stop from submitting and accepting, at least to hear what we say. So we heard, praise be to Allah, a lesson on expelling the Sufis and their ideas. You take your knowledge from a dead person, from this dead person, and we take our knowledge from the Living who does not die. "Praise be to Allah, in this course, imagine, the basic matters began, and these matters do not lead to the exaltation of people, and consequently to following them blindly. We also attended a lesson on where Allah is in the sky, and other such matters, so we rejoiced greatly. This may be the strong beginning that clarifies loyalty and disavowal (al-wala' wa al-bara') and the reality of the oneness of Allah (tawhid). In our journey, one of the brothers from the Bosnians accompanied us, and many of them are proficient in the Arabic language, which they learned from their region called Sarajevo, where there is a Sharia college. So, in order for these shipments that we wanted to reach their people safely, it was necessary for us to verify this man, and then to see the people of the village and how they live, the extent of their need, and how they think. You know that the closer a war zone and danger are, the more there are stops. We are in the area of the Croats; we see the cross on their necks, and they crowd around and object to our journey into the interior. As for the Muslims there, you can distinguish them by seeing the cheerfulness on their faces when they see you. And the clothes we wore were the best aid in that, and the greatest pride a person can boast of there. The Croats, these people, you notice the hatred; you notice the hatred on their faces. Why are you entering these trucks? It is supposed that they should be transferred to us, and we will distribute them in turn ... "

The Shaykh: And upon you peace.

The questioner : We used to refuse the incoming aid, whoever it was from. Every time, we would stop and ask about the permits and the reason for entry. You could almost see that at this checkpoint, it was either all Croatian Christians or all Croatian Muslims. This mixing made it possible for one to simply expect that they would stop these campaigns and shipments. We are aware of them, and you should turn back. In truth, when we reached this village, which is called "Kushen," the people of the village to whom we wanted to deliver the truck had moved to... behind, because the enemy was bombing their fields and farms. In this village, we were amazed when this Bosnian Muslim told us, "These are the Christians' houses, these are the Muslims' houses, these are the Serbs' houses." So we were amazed. The next day, the shelling intensified in this village where we were. He said, "I am not amazed that the information has reached the Serbs to bomb this shipment with us, for this area where we are is finally overlooking a city named 'Dugov.' Planes circle above its sky and bomb heavily. Four well-known, visible mosques were destroyed, and two mosques remained in the suburbs. These planes try to drop these minarets because they are very tall. People cry when the minarets fall, but they do not pray. This is the reality; the emotions are there, but are the mosques filled with minarets or with people? We were amazed. There was a front for the Arab Muslims. We sat with our brothers and advised them of the importance of knowing the banner, how you fight, and whether you have asked the scholars. We must take a lesson from the lessons of Afghanistan. They say, "Yes, this is correct, but we also call to Allah, and the Bosnians respond." I think we mentioned examples. In truth, people justify that they cannot retreat because of the presence of Muslims inside the area of "Dugov." So protection is necessary, and protection necessitates defense or offense to get those inside out. They mentioned some operations they were happy about, but in truth, we fear something further than this. We said this is preserving the Muslim and his call, especially in this atmosphere where we believe the exclusion of the legal text. So the brothers said, "May Allah the Exalted will, the matter will strengthen, and reliance upon Allah the Mighty and Majestic is present, and so on." There is a group called "Sjautol" or something of that sort, mostly Muslims, but there are Serbs in it, besides the Christians whose leaders are the Croatian Christians who are moving. And the Sjautol, even though most of it is Muslims, has Christians in it, and there are Serbs who manipulate inside and go out. Therefore, the committee saw that a Muslim group should unite under certain conditions, including the importance of calling to Allah the Mighty and Majestic, establishing the creed, praying in congregation, and other conditions. This group is poor in weapons, so you find that it must enter with the Sjautol, and the Sjautol must take from the Croats, and the matter of the Christians is still the strong one and the important one. In truth, we feared the sensible ones more than those who do not know what is going on. How can we deal with them? The problem we see is clear: the supplies are very difficult. O Shaykh, the Christians surround Bosnia with a very strong encirclement. So the situation is not like the Afghans, where people retreat to Pakistan, a Muslim state, and can live a little and enter again. No, it is greater than that, O Shaykh. So the governments, if there are Christians and Muslims in the same places of fighting, they also lack the legal text, and there are Christian governments behind them... not... Yugoslavia does not love the Muslims at all. The questioning increased and the pressures on the Bosnian Muslims increased until they said, "You came late, O Arabs." So many people went to Hungary and to Austria, meaning they retreated a lot. There is no feeding for him except to surrender himself and his family and children to the existing situation. And there, in the camps in the area of Zagreb, for example, for the Muslims who did not surrender to Christian proselytizing, and may Allah protect us from that, but how long can they be patient? The cars of the Christians enter and we see it clearly, and the camp cannot drive them away. They start with the children and entice them to go and find candy and everything there. The Bosnians are strong in preparation for this because, first, Islam is not clear in their lives, and second, there is not that known disavowal between the Christians and Islam. In addition, you are speaking to people of weak resolve, like women, old women, and children. As for the youth, they are at the fronts or elsewhere. And what is the weapon, even for the Muslim group whose banner we say is the cleanest banner? Three hundred men do not have twenty-five to thirty weapons, and we do not know how the ammunition arrives or where it comes from, but it is on the verge of running out.

The Shaykh : Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best Disposer of affairs.

The questioner : In truth, the calamity of taking the children to the churches is a great tragedy. And the planes of the Muslims did not move to take these children and shelter them, or rent land for them and spend on them, or do something else. There are modest efforts by the youth who go to investigate and return to inform, and to collect what they can of money to buy food and clothes from Italy, from Yugoslavia, from food warehouses, and unload it on these camps. And two or three of the youth remain to teach people prayer, the oneness of Allah, prayer, and other matters. And praise be to Allah, there is response, and there is love for the Arab Muslims, and there are follow-ups, but they are naive, O Shaykh. The people are mostly overcome by despair from learning Islam. I remember an example in "Rozar," which is after the area of Beit, meaning a little inside, but it is far from the fronts. I spoke after Friday prayer about the right of Allah the Mighty and Majestic upon us, and how we prepare for the Reckoning, and that we must reform... and so on. A large number attended, but they had come for the Prophet's birthday celebration on Friday. But it was an opportunity the imam gave me to speak with them. I said, "Perhaps in the 'Asr prayer the number will increase from what they heard from me in the speech we mentioned and translated." But we found only five old women. And the custom in this mosque is that only the Bosnian imam and his son, who establishes the prayer, pray, so only two or three. It is strange that the Bosnians present have despaired of something called changing what they are accustomed to. And the matter has crept into his mind that he is wronged. And the emotions, as you know, speak to him in prayer, in this. He says, "I am a Muslim," but if you tell him how he seeks help from Allah, he says, "I am circumcised," as if that is what he knows. This exists even in the fronts...