The Plot of the Disbelievers Against Iraq, and the Obligation of Islamic States to Support It

The Shaykh : We used to say before: It is not permissible to support Iraq because it had attacked Kuwait. But Allah the Great was truthful when He said regarding these criminal disbelievers: ; for they were able to gather many disbelieving states around them. There is nothing strange in that, for it was said long ago: Birds of a feather flock together. But the greatest strangeness is that they were able, through their plot mentioned, to include many Islamic states with them. What was the operative cause they relied upon that enabled them to convince those Islamic states or Islamic governments? They were able to convince them to join them in the path of fighting Iraq. They claimed that the purpose of this dangerous gathering was to return Iraq to its borders and hand Kuwait over to its people. We thought this claim was a truthful one, and that if it were realized, we would have wished for it, but not from the states of disbelief, rather from the Muslims themselves, in fulfillment of the previous verse: . The address is, without doubt and without question, to the Muslims . But, unfortunately, those who took charge of what they claimed, and not what they did afterwards—those who tried to return the Kuwaiti lands to their owners and send the aggressor back to his land—were these disbelievers and the Islamic governments that joined them. So what was the result of this plot? It became apparent and clear to anyone with eyes, even if those eyes had no insight, meaning even the disbelievers themselves saw that this bloc and this gathering was not truly to expel Iraq from Kuwait, but to destroy Iraq. This is a matter that does not need explanation, because the radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and all media outlets have agreed on this truth, even the disbelievers themselves. In this situation now, we say: It is obligatory for those Islamic states that have not been involved to join those they call the allies. It is obligatory for these remaining neutral Islamic states to fight the disbelievers who are now fighting the Iraqis. So it is upon these states, and I do not say individuals, it is upon these states, not individuals alone, but upon the states with their regular, trained, and practiced armies in modern weapons suitable for such an invasion, that these states should take the initiative to join Iraq to fight the disbelievers whose intention has become clear: to destroy the Iraqi people and eliminate them. This ruling I have arrived at now relates to that jurisprudential issue I referred to at the beginning of this speech when I said I would speak to you about a hadith and a jurisprudential issue. The hadith is: . Now Iraq is oppressed. Before, it was the oppressor of the Kuwaitis, but now it has become oppressed by the states of disbelief—I do not know their number, twenty or more—and some Islamic states have joined them. So Iraq is oppressed and must be supported. And when I say this, it should not occur to any listener that we mean supporting the Ba'ath Party or supporting a specific individual. No, this is not permissible Islamically. Rather, we must support the Iraqi people and repel from them these states that used all means of destruction and poured it upon Iraq, while the Iraqi army is still in Kuwait. If they had been truthful in what they spread at first, and Iraq had returned to its borders, and the Kuwaiti state had returned to its owners, the problem would have ended. But, unfortunately, this disbelieving claim that they wanted to support the Kuwaiti people against Iraq was exploited. It became clear that their purpose was to destroy the Iraqi people. Therefore, they must be supported against their enemies who are attacking them.