Does what is happening on the land of the Gulf have any effects on the Sunnah?

The questioner : Does what is happening on the land of the Gulf have any effects on the Sunnah?

The Shaykh : Who?

The questioner : Effects on the Sunnah.

The Shaykh : No, because I understood from your question that there are explicit news reports on the subject, so the answer is no. However, there are general evidences, and without a doubt, this falls under them primarily. For example, the fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) that has occurred now has revealed many unknown truths. When the war between Iraq and Iran was ongoing, many Muslims' emotions were with Iran against Iraq. The reason was somewhat clear to those who did not know the facts about the Iranian Shi'ah. They compared the Shi'ah, especially during the rise of Khomeini with his call, claiming that he calls for Islam and the implementation of Islamic law, while his enemy, Iraq, led by Saddam, is known to be Ba'athist, and the Ba'ath Party's system is not Islamic. So those call for Islam, and these call only for Ba'athism. They are two completely opposite phenomena: one is Islamic, with an Islamic banner, which is the banner of Iran with Khomeini at its head, and the other is a Ba'athist banner. This war continued for those long years, and there were many Muslims who were fanatical for the Shi'ah against the Iraqis. Some of them declared it, and some imitated the clothing of the Iranian Shi'ah sheikhs in their own dress. When Saddam and his army attacked Kuwait, the situation changed for that person who used to declare Saddam a disbeliever explicitly, and then he saw that Saddam is the hope of Islam and Muslims. So, due to the fitnah, people were exposed, either by their ignorance or by being revealed as people of desires, despite their pretense of calling for Islam, defending Islam, and fighting the Jews. Some prophetic hadiths proved true in this, such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) This has appeared in this time exactly because of this fitnah. Also, it became apparent to the general Muslims that there are very strange deviations: enthusiasm for Saddam, knowing that he is Ba'athist, a blind, strange, and very odd enthusiasm. Because he declared, and apparently, that he is the enemy of the Americans and the enemy of the Jews, so you found thousands of good Muslims, but unfortunately, they are ignorant, being fanatical blindly for Saddam, especially when the People's Army was announced here and volunteers signed up. At first, about twenty thousand, then thirty thousand, and the number reached fifty thousand. What are these people doing? They want to go to provide reinforcements for the Iraqi army, which wants to fight whom? The Americans.

The questioner : I am one of them.

The Shaykh : You are one of them? I did not like that word from you, because no, no, I do not care about the intention, but the intention to support Saddam.

The questioner : And not the intention to support Saddam at all.

The Shaykh : Or what?

The questioner : If I were told "On to jihad" or "The Jews have come," I would be ready.

The Shaykh : What is this Dervishism? Where is the jihad?

The questioner : I mean, hypothetically.

The Shaykh : At that moment, I asked you where the jihad is, and you did not know what to say, going east and west. Then you came and stood on your feet and said there is none. So where is the jihad? You want to fight? You think Saddam is fighting in jihad?

The questioner : No.

The Shaykh : If you fight with Saddam, will you be fighting in jihad?

The questioner : If you kill the Americans.

The Shaykh : Answer the question, may Allah guide you. The intention, my brother, we always say in our lessons: Allah the Exalted said Look, let him do a righteous deed and not associate with anyone in the worship of his Lord. There are two conditions here. Scholars of tafsir (Qur'anic exegesis) say that this verse states that the deed accepted by Allah the Glorious and Exalted requires two conditions. The first condition is that it be a righteous deed, and it is not righteous unless it is in accordance with the Sunnah. The second condition is that it be pure for the face of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. If one of the conditions is lacking, it is not accepted by Allah the Glorious and Exalted. So, a man whose intention is good but whose deed is not righteous, not good, is not accepted. His deed is good and righteous according to the Book and the Sunnah, but his heart, his intention, is not for Allah the Glorious and Exalted, it is not accepted. So, always, it is obligatory to link that the deed is according to the Book and the Sunnah and that the intention is pure for Allah the Glorious and Exalted. And the negligence of people today is that they always look at the intention, and his intention is good, but look at his deed: is it good or not? Like many good, righteous people, and the examples are in the tens, if not hundreds. There are people who stand up to pray in congregation on Friday night, calling it "Sarayaa" (expedition) in some Islamic groups. What is their intention? Good. But their deed is not good. Why? Because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) Do you understand? It is not enough for the intention to be good. These people have a good intention, but they are contrary to the Shari'ah. So, now, since you have declared yourself, you bear your burden, so to speak. You want to fight with whom? With Saddam. Your jihad with Saddam is this: is it a lawful deed? Do not tell me my intention is to fight the Americans. Your jihad is to be with the Iraqi army to fight the Americans. I say now, fighting the Americans is me following you, but this following is not on the whole line, it is temporary, we will return to it. When you are with Saddam, you will ruin your religion. You will not be able to maintain the five prayers while you are in Saddam's army and under Saddam's leadership, because he does not rule by what Allah has revealed. You know this fact, but the surging emotions come first, and then superficial thinking is second, and that is what blinds you to how you fight the Americans under Saddam's banner. This is something impossible. And I discussed the issue of the People's Army, and perhaps some of our brothers present now were there, and perhaps, and Allah knows best, if you have not forgotten, Abu Fares was present at that time. We said, O people, you are the People's Army. Will your leader be from you, or will he be from the regular army? The answer was: No, it must be a high-ranking officer who takes charge of the People's Army. Why? For Iraq, so that he participates with them in fighting the Americans. Well, this officer, this commander who wants to lead the People's Army, in your opinion, is he a committed Muslim and a scholar of the rulings of the Shari'ah? If you are walking and on the way, your prayer, the 'Asr prayer, is prolonged, the sun will set, and the officer tells you there is no prayer, we are now going to catch up with the Iraqi army. What do you do? You do this. And this is a very limited example. It is not possible, my brother, for there to be a People's Army unless years have passed, and it is not only training in physical combat, but with this physical combat, it trains in the psychological jihad. And the psychological jihad is much greater, because fighting the enemy is part of jihad. So, if a person does not accustom himself to fighting the Shaytan in the path of obedience to his Lord, he will not be able to truly fight in the path of Allah the Glorious and Exalted. And perhaps it has become clear to you that this People's Army, from the general Islamic perspective, is an illusion that cannot be realized. There may be fighting, and this is possible, and it is necessary if the event occurs, but it is not jihad, like defending oneself, for example. So, the conclusion is: you say that my intention is to fight the Americans. Well, you will fight the Americans. You do not fight here, and they are here, between you and them is one hundred kilometers. You do not fight them. You and those like you say we want to go fight the Americans. What takes you from here to Iraq, which is closer to you than Iraq, perhaps about a thousand kilometers, I do not know exactly, but approximately. But here, between you and the Americans, you have one hundred kilometers. You do not fight them. I do not answer, I will answer for you. You will say I cannot fight the Americans in Palestine, see? You can fight the Americans here in the Gulf. And then, do you fight only the Americans, or do you fight the Americans and the Saudis and the Egyptians and the Syrians, and so on? Meaning, you will fight not only disbelievers, you will fight Muslims. These are the ones who got involved and entered that land and entered this field of combat. If this is a fitnah, a fitnah that has nothing to do with you. You want to defend the land of Islam, and you will attack the land of Islam. Therefore, we said from the beginning of this fitnah, stay in your homes. May Allah reward you. Do not think about jihad with such speed; it is possible to realize it.

The questioner : May Allah reward you, Shaykh. For example, we entered the Free Army. Then, for example, a caller announced that anyone who had joined the Popular Army should come forward. What do we do?

The Shaykh : Come forward where?

The questioner : I hadn't finished. For example, they told me, "Come forward." I entered the Popular Army. They said, "If you don't want to fight, come and fight."

The Shaykh : If the Jews attack this country, be you in the front line.

The questioner : Against the Jews.

The Shaykh : Not in the front line of the Jews.

The questioner : We fight against the Jews, meaning.

The Shaykh : Yes, because the issue is clear here. But there, you will fight Muslims. Not only disbelievers, but Muslims. Then, we have addressed this issue in some detail. How do you view the matter? The Americans will either send their army to fight the Iraqis, or they will send the armies of the Muslims to kill one another.

The questioner : Muslims.

The Shaykh : You want to fight Muslims, is that it?

The questioner : This is the reality that we later came to know.

The Shaykh : And you came to know it later, praise be to Allah.