12 October 2014

By Shaykh Abū Muhammad al-Maqdisī

A New Message By ISIS Jihādī idiologist Abū Muhammad al-Maqdisī regarding the Islamic State / Caliphate.

"And Be Not Like Her who Undoes the Thread which She has Spun, After it has Become Strong" (An-Nahl, 92) – 13 Ramadan 1435H

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

All praise be to Allah. Peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. And henceforth…

The Caliphate and the Imamate are among the important positions and great matters for the people of Islam, which the faithful of the people of Islam continue to aspire to restore and establish, and their anticipation of these affected them until a group rose out of haste to establish the Caliphate and install a Caliph. They made the Imam already established on the people of Islam, a man with no authority nor dominion, who sought refuge in London, and they called upon people to pledge allegiance to him and made those who did not pledge allegiance to him sinners… and others narrowed the issue by claiming to be guides for others. Without a doubt this depicts a search for a rightly-guided Caliph whose leadership people would accept.

These attempts and their like were and still come in service of one person, and they have no place in reality among the Muslims. Instead, he is named and elected by his people and group, and he is not the choice of the actual responsible people in the Ummah, its divine scholars, who would always fade and recede without the Muslims being hit with despair or distortion of this great position in their chests…

But a group comes with predominantly extremist rhetoric, and an exclusionary approach in dealing with opposition, and has no consideration for the scholars of the Ummah and its prominent figures, and for it to claim its desire to implement the Shariah upon the Ummah, while it does not accept to be judged by it in disputes of blood and money of others! So it overcomes some aspects of the lands of the Muslims, and before it holds matters firmly, and people and the virtuous scholars agree upon it even in those lands, it declares the obligation to pledge to its Caliph that it named upon the Muslims all over the world, and the obligation upon the Muslims to emigrate to him, and it considers those who do not sinners… until it was necessary for fatwas such as that of Imam Malik about the invalidity of compelled divorce and the pledge of allegiance. I have received questions from women whose husbands gave them the choice between pledging to this Caliph or divorce. I said: Pledge if you hate divorce. This the pledge to something hated and it is not obligatory. The words of Imam Ahmed are known regarding the coercion of a woman by her husband even if it is correct if her husband threatens her with divorce… I categorize such questions and fatwas for the intransigence of the intransigent and their restriction upon the Muslims and intimidating them with the sword and branding them as sinners and infidels, and they exceed this by threatening women with divorce…

More serious than this divorce, and this is what called me to write these words, is what they made as a consequence of divorce among the members of the Mujahideen and their groups and leaders, and what they will spread of chaos in the ranks and destabilization of their structure, when their official spokesman said: "The message to the factions and groups all over the face of the earth, the Mujahideen, and those who work to support the religion of Allah, and raise the slogans of Islam, and to the leaders and emirs, we say: Fear Allah in yourselves, fear Allah in your Jihad… By Allah, we find no Shariah excuse for you in delaying to support this Dawla." And he said: "As for you, the soldiers of the factions and organizations, understand that after this empowerment and the establishment of the caliphate, the legitimacy of your groups and organizations is invalidated, and it is impermissible for any of you who believes in Allah to sleep and not have bear loyalty to the Caliph."

Therefore, reflect on how they invalidate the Jihad of the Mujahideen and incite to follow the followed, and put students over sheikhs… What is this conspiracy to fragment the ranks of the Mujahideen and undermine and weaken their structures…

We say to our brothers, the preachers and the Mujahideen all over the world: Listen to the words of Allah and His appeal, and strike against the wall that which violates them…

Allah the Exalted said: "O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the messenger, and make not vain your deeds!" (Muhammad, 33) And the Exalted said: "And be not like her who undoes the thread which she has spun, after it has become strong." (An-Nahl, 92)

So rally around your leaders, your heads, and your senior figures, and do not be weakened by the calls of those who fragment the ranks of the Muslims, those who see that there is no truth today but with them, and all who are not with them are the enemy…

They have even used and still used – I do not know if it is deliberate or by mistake or nonsense – in achieving the pillars of this heinous plot against this blessed group in particular and against the people of Islam in general… putting on the dress of a genuine Islamic project! And thus a segment of the children of this Ummah were deceived by them, and I do not doubt the sincerity of many of them and their fervor for Islam, but I question the wisdom of their minds and the accuracy of their understanding and knowledge… It is no secret to them that due to the intransigence of the leaders of this organization and their superficiality, haste, and short-sightedness, and their refusal to be guided by the guidance of the scholars, on whose writings they were raised and they are still studying, probably because of their penetration by deviants and extremists or others, that this plot was carried out and is still carried out against the people of this current in many ways, including:

- Eliminating those who oppose them from the veterans of the Mujahideen and those who are relied upon to reap the fruits of Jihad in Syria so that all that remains in the field is the stubborn and the ignorant, or the foolish and the inane.

The atmosphere is clear for you, so make it white and yellow *** and destroy what you wish to destroy

- Taking down the symbols of the jihadi current and its scholars because they did not get caught up with the choices of this organization and did not support its intransigence, its transgressions, and its deviations.

- Corrupting the compass of the current, dispersing the circle of its conflict with the tyrants, and moving the rifle from the chests of the enemies of the Ummah to the chests of its children from the sincere mujahideen or the Muslims in general, citing various excuses and generalizations they are not allowed to make.

- Distracting the people and diverting their attention from the Islamic project and burning any potential popular support and deterring any of the supporters across the Ummah from this current due to their bad practices and their application on the ground, and the ill-dealings with the people in their various strata and religions.

- Distorting the project of the Caliphate and the Islamic State in the chests of the people with their practices, their intransigence, and their extremism and bloodshed. This could deter the people from this project for a period a time after the failure of their experiment that is replete with drawbacks, transgressions, and violations.

- They exceeded all this with their aforementioned declaration: They work to fragment the ranks of those who strive for this religion, and the Mujahideen, and sabotage their groups that strive for the religion of Allah and pit their followers against their emirs, and their students against their sheikhs!

Have you ever seen fruits more ominous than these for this current and its children, than the call for building the Caliphate?! Does building the caliphate in a spot of the earth require taking down Da'wa and Jihad in all the other areas by fragmenting and scattering the jihadi groups and pitting them against their Sheikhs in the various battlefields?!

It is another conspiracy against this blessed current and its sincere groups. In summary: Either you are with us or we sow division in your ranks and strive to fragment them. It is the method used by the anarchists in our country when they impose themselves upon others, and during games you see them say, "either I play or I will ruin your game," meaning, either they impose themselves and accept a primary player, or they will sabotage the game. These are morals apt for children of the streets and are not worthy of those who are part of Da'wa and Jihad… So What then if the choice that these people impose, either to preside over the game and directing it according to their whims, ignorance, and intransigence, or they will sabotage and corrupt it!?? Or in other words: Them or the flood.

The face is that this is the most dangerous part of their most recent declaration. As I said before, it does not harm me if they declared the Caliphate in Sham or in Iraq or in London!!

But the harmful matter is what have those people arranged and what did they arrange in terms of effects and acts based on this declaration??

We are not the enemies of the Caliphate, but we are from among the best of its supporters and preachers and those who strive to establish it and seek to restore it. However, the Caliphate is legitimate to preserve the essence of the Muslims and put their fragments back together, and not fragment or split their ranks. Thus is the Imam, as told by the Chosen Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him: "They fight behind him and they are protected by him." (Narrated by Muslim) It is Paradise and protection of the Muslims from all evil, not a call or invitation to evil…

The Caliphate should be a haven and safe place for every Muslim… not a threat and a matter that intimidates and brings worry to the minds…

They abrogated their first pledge of allegiance to their leaders and rebelled against their emirs, and they transgressed against their senior figures when they declared the first state, and when they declared the second they shed protected blood and refused to be judged by the Shariah. Therefore, it is our right to ask: What will they do after the declaration of the Caliphate??

The most dangerous thing they have done so far call to fragment the Muslims and strive to split the ranks of their Jihadi and Da'wai groups, after they had split the Muslims in general betwen those who are with them and those who are against them. They did not show mercy to the weak among them, and did not excuse those who aligned with other than them from the groups in Syria. Instead, all who opposed them was either a backstabber who contradicted the pledge to them, or a Salooli, a Suroori, or Sahawati or supporter the Sahawat or lover of the Sahawat, or is seen or walks or goes with the Sahawat and so on… and they would kill those who did not pledge, and they were blamed for threatening to kidnap the wives of those who are against them!! This has not yet been proven to us, but if it were true then we would have with them quite an issue, may Allah defend the Muslim women from the evil of every aggressor and oppressor.

They know today when they call to disband the groups in order to pledge to them and to them, that there are superficial people in most of the groups, and most of those who listen to them are from this rank and from the ranks of the extremists, as well… and those whose enthusiasm and extremism dominates their wisdom, thought, and insight, their ignorance exceeds their knowledge. They build their hopes and manage the fuel of their battles upon those due to the separation from them of the scholars, the sages, and the people of understanding…

And then there is the fact of their call to abrogate the pledge of allegiance of the groups to break the jihadi current fragment their groups, and split their ranks. This makes us look to what is behind the masks and not take their path with the naïveté and superficiality of the masses… If the situation before declaring the Caliphate was: either you are with us or against us, how will they be after…?

The Caliphate should be a haven for the Muslims and their lost paradise that they seek, so do not make it hellfire upon them and increase their frustration…

It is the dream of the Muslims that they are trying to achieve, so do not maim this beautiful dream with your bullets that split open the heads of those who oppose you, and spill what is inside!! Instead, achieve it, if you wish, while having mercy for the Muslims and supporting the oppressed. You are mortal as others are mortal, so keep the good thought and not the mutilation, and contribution to the construction, which will be the pillars of the rightly-guided Islamic Caliphate, and not the intransigent, transgressing, and unjust one. Contribute to reuniting the people of Islam and their groups, and not fragmenting them. Contribute to supporting the oppressed and removing from them the hardships and not increase them. Contribute to preserving the blood of the Muslims, not spilling it…

Imams Ahmed, Muslims, and al-Nisa'i reported that Abu Huraira said: "Whoso attacks my Ummah killing the righteous and the wicked of them, sparing not even those staunch in faith and fulfilling not his promise made with those who have been given a pledge of security – he has nothing to do with me and I have nothing to do with him."

The Caliph Sulaiman bin Abdul Malik said to the Follower Salamah bin Dinar al-Madani, the ascetic: O Abu Hazim, what do you say in what we are in? [Salamah] said: Would you pardon me [from this question], O Emir al-Mu'mineen? [The Caliph] said: But as an advice, give it to me.

[Salamah] said: Your fathers established rule over the people in this matter, taking it by force of the sword without consulting nor meeting with the people, and killing in a heinous fasion, then they departed. So if you were feeling what they said and what was said to them. So a man among the sitting ones said: How regretful is what you said!

Abu Hazim said: You lied. Allah the Exalted had the covenant upon the scholars to set it forth.

Yes, by Allah: They departed, so if you were feeling what they said and what was said to them…

And if thy Lord created for ants *** Their wings they would have retreated

Every person has limits *** And the end of him is when he crosses it

In the Hadith of Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased him, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "An Imam is a shield for them. They fight behind him and they are protected by him."

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was and remains to be the Imam of not only the Muslims, but the world, and his Imamate was not to separate the Muslims and fragment them, but to unify them; and it was not to fill the heads of the protected with bullets or to split them with swords to empty what is inside them, but to preserve those heads and what is in them, and develop them, and elevate them to the highest of stations and raise them above their meager options. Even the fighting factions that were unable to give allegiance to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, or to enter under his political

territory, like the gathering of Abu Baseer at the time of the Treaty of Hudaybah, and also those working against al-Aswad al-Ansi after his revolt against the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, in Yemen, he did not call any of their jihad void or their Hijrah mandatory while leaving the lands of work and jihad. They were not declared as sinners or threatened or exiled or their group dissolved; instead they were left alone and working until they were able to emerge victorious and catch up to Dar al-Islam.

This is the case in the time of the Caliphate. The Caliphate was never a position that works to invalidate the Jihad of the Mujahideen or to fragment them or call upon them to turn against their seniors, leaders, and scholars in the lands that were outside of or left the fold of the Caliphate. Instead, the likes of those scholars would call to remain steadfast on their method and support them from the Caliphate. They were sponsored and not asked to leave the fields of Jihad and dissolve their groups, and those who did not do so were not called sinners. History has glorified and recorded the steadfastness of such groups from the people of Islam with the leaders and scholars in lands who left the fold of the Caliphate and its rule and pledge, and entered under the rule of the Ubayyads, Tatars, or Crusaders…

Therefore, we warn the Muslim public and particular ones among them from responding to the call of fragmenting the ranks, destabilizing the structure, and scattering the Mujahideen. We call upon them to remain unaffected by this psychological, moral, and physical terror that is being spread by the advocates of fragmentation and to remain steadfast on their promise, and around their leaders, gathered and prevalent on the truth, unharmed by those who oppose them and from those who disappointed them, until the order of Allah arrives.

I conclude with these warnings:

- The Imam of Haramayn said in his book Ghiyaath al-Umam fi al-Tiyath al-Zulm):

"If the era is void of an Imam, and lacks the presence of a wise, intelligent and able Sultan, the matters turn over to the hands of scholars, and it is mandatory upon the creation in spite of the differences in their status, to return to their scholars and take all their matters and concerns to them. If they do this, they have been rightly-guided. The scholars will then turn into caretakers of people. If they cannot agree upon one, every area should follow their scholars, and if there are many scholars in one area, the most knowledgeable among them should be followed".

This is the weakest point of those who declared the Caliphate today. Not even one scholar from the divine scholars supported them or trusted them or aligned with them, from the scholars attributed to them in creed, thought, and method… Let the people think of this, and let the reasonable person think of it well: Why did those people lose the trust of the scholars from whose letters and ooks they studied and learned, until they abandoned them and no one supported them?!! They are scholars who do not fear the blame of anyone other than Allah… there must be an answer.

- The Caliphate cannot achieved by Da'wa and the name, nor by intentions or want, but by the actual application on the ground. When Omar named Abu Bakr the Caliph, he did not become the Caliph just because of this announcement; he did not become the actual Caliph until the Sahaba pledged allegiance to him and he firmed up his position unchallenged… Every Emir who is not given loyalty by the Muslims and the best of the people of knowledge from the divine scholars is the emir of his group or his emirate, but not Emir al-Mu'mineen in general or the Caliph of the Muslims, and it is not right to call sinners those who do not pledge allegiance or travel to him. The fact that the outstanding scholars who are trustworthy have not flocked to give their allegiance shows that the one named and his group are not their point of trust with regards to religion and the world.

- It is necessary to state that if there was no other group on the fronts, then the knowledge of these scholars would have forced them to support the emir of this group because they are required to put the most ideal emir at the lead. So there is no doubt that these are better than the tyrants and the apostate rulers. However, as the front is filled with fighting factions and groups who rival and are on equal footing with this group in power and strength, and better in methodology and leadership, then the worse should not put about the better…

- Lastly, we do not accept for ourselves to be from those who do not engage in anything except words with Jama'at al-Dawla, and we do not like our enemies to feel pleased when we speak, or that they think that we are on their side, that is in truth not against Jama'at al-Dawla, but against the project of the Islamic State and the Islamic Caliphate. We do not like these people to be pleased with what we write, for it is not for them that we write, and we seek refuge in Allah that there must be any connection or understanding between us. What we are writing and saying is due to the trust of knowledge and Da'wa, and telling the statement of truth and supporting the truth and its people. Other than that we do not care who is pleased with our saying or who is angered, and who is happy or whose throat narrows on it. If we sought the approval of the people and put fame and glory in what we write and say, we would have ridden the wave of the Dawla and they would have raised us above their heads or even above the clouds, but we have decided to ride the wave of truth no matter how difficult it is. We shall not step back from it or leave it, even if they put us below the earth, or fill our heads with bullets and empty their contents.

However, the dilemma is that Jama'at al-Dawla and its chiefs and spokesmen attack us every day, which obliges us to respond to them; otherwise we would have left ourselves to statements and their confirmation, as the war is not declared on Jama'at al-Dawla, from my side at least. Instead, it is truth that I support and speak of when there is need, and it is not permissible to delay the statement when it is needed. They are the ones who compel us to this and we can no longer remain silent.

O Allah, we ask You for guidance, rightness, determination, and a good conclusion. May Allah pray on and have peace on our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his companions, all of them.

Written by Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi

13 Ramadan 1435H