بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم HOW SHOULD WE AS MUSLIMS JUDGE THE ISLAMIC STATE (IS/ ISIS/ ISIL) By Dr. Abu Layla ash-Shaami My dear brothers and sisters, I greet you with the greeting of Islam… السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته My dear honorable brothers and sisters, those that wish to gain the pleasure of Allah and make His word (SWT) most high, lend me some of your time to read what I have written as a reminder for my poor self and as advice to those that have the right of brotherhood upon me… The subject of discussion, is that same subject that is being discussed within the east and the west, the young and the old, the Muslim and the Non-Muslim… The Islamic State (IS - previously known as ISIS) lead by Shaykh Ibrahim Awaad AbuBakr Al-Baghdadi Al-Husayni Al-Qurashi (May Allah preserve him). However, instead of discussing the Islamic state itself in details, I will firstly address the important issue of the method that the Muslim must use when judging any group of people (whether a state or organization) that are working towards an aim. Accordingly, I will begin with that which is general and move on to that which is specific to the situation of Iraq and the blessed land of Sham... Generally, whenever we Muslims judge a group of people it is important that we judge according to Islamic principles, prioritizing that which the Quran and the Sunnah has ordered us to prioritize. This judgment can be explained in the two following steps… The Aqeedah of the Group The Ground work of the group The Aqeedah of the group This is the creed that the group believes in. We as Muslims have the Aqeedah of Tawheed, That Allah is the only one worthy of worship. While the Kuffar (non-muslims), their Aqeedah is the worship of false gods (Known as taghut) in its many different shapes and forms from idols, desires and secularism in all its forms (Democracy, Nationalism, Communism etc). Naturally, the Aqeedah of the group will indicate its aims. Those upon the Aqeedah of worshiping Allah (SWT), will put their efforts in the path of the All-Mighty (SWT). Whilst, those that worship the Taghut, they will undoubtedly strive to establish the Kuffr and Shirk system. This is made clear by the following ayah… الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ۖ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ الطَّاغُوتِ Those who believe fight in the way of Allah, and those who disbelieve fight in the way of the Taghut (EMQ 4:76) Thus, it is critical that the first step we take in judging a group, is to know its Aqeedah. Why is this critical my brothers and sisters? Because if the group aims to spread the Aqeedah of Kuffr and Shirk, then we must not ally with them regardless of their other work. For the one that builds a house based on the fear of Allah is not the same as the one who builds a house on the bases of falsehood… even if that house of falsehood appears beautiful in our eyes. أَفَمَنْ أَسَّسَ بُنْيَانَهُ عَلَىٰ تَقْوَىٰ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٍ خَيْرٌ أَمْ مَنْ أَسَّسَ بُنْيَانَهُ عَلَىٰ شَفَا جُرُفٍ هَارٍ فَانْهَارَ بِهِ فِي نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ Is he, therefore, better who lays his foundation on fear of Allah and (His) good pleasure, or he who lays his foundation on the edge of a cracking hollowed bank, so it broke down with him into the fire of hell; and Allah does not guide the unjust people. (EMQ 9:109) Therefore, Allah (SWT) Has informed us, that those that carry the Aqeedah of Kufr and Shirk, will have all their work nullified, for if Tawheed is not the aim, then there is nothing left except for oppression to one’s self and surroundings… وَلَقَدْ أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ وَإِلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ لَئِنْ أَشْرَكْتَ لَيَحْبَطَنَّ عَمَلُكَ وَلَتَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ And it was already revealed to you and to those before you that if you should associate [anything] with Allah , your work would surely become worthless, and you would surely be among the losers. (EMQ – 39:65) Consequently, we must realize that our allies are the Muslims, and the Muslims only… إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا الَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَهُمْ رَاكِعُونَ Only Allah is your Ally and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the Zakat while they bow (EMQ 5:55) Once, we establish that the group at hand is upon the Aqeedah of Tawheed, we must then see if this group is upon the pure Aqeedah of Islam or if they are from the deviant Muslims that have innovated in the religion. For we have been told in both the Quran and Sunnah, that not all Muslims are upon the same degree, there are some that are deviant in their belief while there are some that are solid on the straight path. لا تزالُ عصابةٌ من أمتي يقاتلون على أمرِ اللهِ ، قاهرين لعدوِّهم ، لا يضرُّهم من خالفهم ، حتى تأتيهم الساعةُ ، وهم على ذلك There will always be a group in my Ummah that will fight according to the order of Allah, victorious over their enemies and there will be no harm on them from their detractors until the hour comes and they will be triumphant (English meaning – Sahih Muslim) And so, we see in the above hadith that is narrated in the mutawatir (many times) that there will always be a group upon the truth and hence not everyone in the Ummah. However, the deviant Muslims, unlike the Kuffar, maintain the aqeedah of Tawheed without their deviance reaching the level of shirk and Kuffr. (Note, it is not intended that I go into details into the meaning of the above hadith, as it was only presented here to emphasize the point that not all Muslims are upon the same level) From what has been discussed before, the reader may have the following two questions… How can I know which is the correct Aqeedah? How can I Know if certain group is upon the correct Aqeedah? As for the first question, then I would say the following without trying to be harsh or tough… The same way that the student goes out of his or her way to learn about the stories of those that preceded them at university, of how person X got a ‘expelled’ for such and such, all out of precaution that they don’t fall in the same mistake. Yes, the same way that we learn that Doctor ‘A’ doesn’t like us to be late or put our stethoscope around our neck so ‘put it in your pocket’ – again all out of fear of being ‘kicked out’ of a round or lecture. Indeed my dear brothers and sisters, the key to learning or bettering oneself at something is effort. In regards to the religion of Allah, then this effort must be sincere. If one does this, then it is guaranteed that this person will be upon the straight path, for Allah (SWT) does not change His (SWT) promise… وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ And (as for) those who strive hard for Us, We will most certainly guide them in Our ways; and Allah is most surely with the doers of good (EMQ 29:69) What is meant by effort, does not refer to having a discussion over a cup of tea to pass time, or watching a program on T.V. Real effort is done by those that love the Jannah and fear the fitna of Kuffr and apostasy which will lead to an endless time in the blaze. This was the attitude of the companions, namely Salman Al-Farasi RAA (read his journey to Islam) and Hudhayfah Ibn Al-Yaman (RAA) who said, كان الناسُ يسألون رسولَ اللهِ صلَّى اللهُ عليهِ وسلَّم عن الخيرِ ، وكنتُ أسألُه عن الشرِّ ، مخافةَ أن يُدركني - صحيح البخاري ‘‘The people used to ask the Messenger of Allah about the good, and I used to ask the Messenger of Allah about the evil out of fear that I might fall into it” (Bukhari) And how can this not be the attitude of the companions who had heard the warnings of the Prophet (PBUH) that we seem to be heedless of… بادروا بالأعمالِ فتنًا كقطعِ الليلِ المظلمِ . يصبحُ الرجلُ مؤمنًا ويمسي كافرًا . أو يمسي مؤمنًا ويصبحُ كافرًا . يبيعُ دينَه بعرضٍ من الدنيا - صحيح مسلم Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah said ‘Be prompt in good deeds before there comes a trial like the darkness of night, during which a man would wake up a believer but would be a disbeliever by evening, or he would be a believer in the evening but would be a disbeliever by morning, selling his religion for some goods in this world’ (Muslim, 1/213] ولا تقوم الساعة حتى تلحق قبًائل من أمتي بًالمشركين ، وحتى تعبد قبًائل من أمتي الأوثان - أبو داود The Hour will not be established until tribes from my Ummah attach themselves to the polytheists, and until tribes from my Ummah worship idols. (Abu Dawood - Authenticated by Shaykh Albani – May Allah have mercy on him) Therefore my brothers and sisters, we must put a proper effort to learn our religion. We must not all become scholars and experts, but we must all learn that which is obligated on every individual – that which will protect us from the hell-fire and take us to the blessed Jannah. And so, learn my dear brothers and sisters, the meaning of Kufr bil Taghut (rejecting false gods). Learn the meaning of Tawheed. Learn the meaning of Walaa and Baraa (Allegiance and Disassociation). Learn the difference between the kuffr of Democracy and the Purification of the Sharia and Shura system. Learn the meaning of the Khawarij and their origins. Learn about the status of the non-muslim as ‘dhimmie.’ Learn who the Muslim is, and who the Kafir is… Learn about these things before you speak and judge, so that you do not throw terminologies around aimlessly and foolishly thinking that you are upon some sort of Truth spreading that which is deviance and ignorance. Learn about these things wanting to please Allah and getting to the truth and don’t learn something only to find a way to make Islam pleasing in the eyes of the Kuffar. For you will not find Islam this way, but rather a religion of falsehood that is labeled ‘Islam’ that satisfies the enemies. As for the second question of “How can I know if the group is upon the correct Aqeedah?”… Firstly, one must have knowledge of the correct Aqeedah in order to recognize the people of truth… always remember the following rule… “Know The Religion and You Will Know it’s People”. Secondly we must give a fair chance for people to present themselves. I would say, that again, this is very simple indeed. This can be done by viewing, reading or listening to the official releases at hand. We do not live in a time where it is difficult to find both sides of the story – and see which side is in line with the Quran and Sunnah according to the clear-cut evidences and not our desires (as was discussed above). This does not, and I repeat, DOES NOT, require someone to be in the specific land or area that the events are taking place in. For knowing the Aqeedah of the group of people is one thing and knowing what individual acts performed by some members is another. The Aqeedah of a group is known through what they release and NOT the acts of the individuals. Thus, mistakes performed on the ground by individuals that contradict the official principles (manhaj) of the group does not represent the Aqeedah of the group. THE ACTS OF INDIVIDUALS CAN ONLY BE CONSIDERED AS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE AQEEDAH OF THE GROUP IF SUCH ACTS ARE ACCEPTED BY ITS LEADERS AND PRINCIPLES THAT THEY PRESENT. Ask yourself, how many non-Muslims have converted to Islam on their own reading without ever stepping foot in a Muslim community. Why? Because they judged the principles of the religion and not the people. For every group, even the greatest, i.e the Prophet PBUH’s army was not short of mistakes and hypocrites. Was it not the Prophet (PBUH) that declared his (PBUH) innocence from the act of Khalid Ibn Waleed (RAA) when he killed a group of Muslims mistakenly thinking they are Kuffar. Was it not in the time of the Prophet (PBUH) that the grandfather of the extremist khawarij sect said arrogantly “Be Fair oh Muhammad for you have not been fair.” This will suffice for now InshAllah regarding knowing the Aqeedah of a certain group and we will now move onto the second step of judging the group according to its ground work. Note: You may be surprised to know that the ‘Islamic State’ headed by Shaykh Al-Baghdadi (May Allah SWT preserve him), actually has an official media wing and an official spokesman. You may be surprised to know that the ‘Islamic state’ has a Sharia council, which releases and explains their Aqeedah and refutes the misconceptions that are against them.The Islamic official Media wing is named Al-Furqan Media and the official spokesman is Shaykh Abu Muhammad Al-Adnaani (May Allah SWT preserve him) – you can search for his speeches very easily online. Therefore my dear brothers and sisters, before we decide to make Takfeer on Shaykh Al-Baghdadi because of a ‘WikiLeaks’ article saying that he is a secret agent for the Zionists and the CIA (turns out that this article doesnt even exist). Let’s actually listen and read their official statements and give them a fair chance. Let’s compare what they say to the Quran and Sunnah and not to our desires to see if what they are saying is truth or falsehood. The ground work of the group This is basically the practical acts done by the people that are in the group. This includes what they do from good works, such as fighting the oppressor, forming clinics and charity. It also includes what they do from bad works such as killing innocents, stealing and other criminal works. The work done on the ground is always a secondary matter to the Aqeedah of the group. It is very important that we understand this, cement it in our hearts and not get it the wrong way round. So that when we come to judge a group, we do not look primarily at the services they provide from food and hospitals whilst overlooking their spreading of filth from kuffr that will ultimately lead to destruction and oppression. And so, we say that if the group at hand is found to be that of spreading kuffr and Shirk, then the work they do on the ground does not matter for us. We will never ally with them until they worship Allah alone. While if the group at hand is upon Islam and aims to establish the sharia upon the correct Islamic methodology then we will ally with them and attempt to help them with their ground work by enjoining the good and forbidding the evil when they are wrong. The work done and any other practical events are related by those that witness them first handedly on the ground from the Journalists, group members and ordinary citizens. The question is however, does this mean that anyone who is there on the ground, a reliable witness? The answer is no. This is because there will be people that are working for specific agendas who will relate stories that did not happen, either to sell good media, spoil the reputation of a specific group or for any other reason. Regardless, we as Muslims have specific principles of how to reject or accept a piece of news. From these principles is rejecting the news related to us by the fasiq. يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنْ جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَإٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَنْ تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ O you 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. (EMQ 49:6) Another important question that we must ask, ‘is the opinion of the one who is witnessing first handedly on the ground more correct then the opinion of the one that is not there on the ground?’ I would answer this by saying that this is NOT necessarily true in every case - The reasons are… Firstly, the opinion of someone can never be correct if it contradicts the Quran and Sunnah. Even if this person is living on the ground in which the events are taking place. So for example, if your talking to someone that lives or has lived Syria or Iraq and such a person relates that in his opinion ‘Life under Bashar was perfect for the Syrian people until it was destroyed by those that tried to remove him.’ Does this mean that his opinion is accepted must accept? Definitely no, In fact, It must reject it as it is contradictory to the Quran which has declared every rule other than the Sharia as oppressive to society… وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ Whoever did not judge by what Allah revealed, those are they that are the oppressors (unjust) (EMQ 5:45) Therefore, it does not matter if this person is from Syria or Iraq. It does not matter what his uncle, brother, cousin, grandfather, wife, mother, son, cat or goldfish all think. They can repeat it one million times and say “We live there, so we understand the situation”… but the fact of the matter is they are the ones who are wrong as their opinion is in contradiction to the Quran and hence carries no weight or benefit to anyone that believes in Allah and the Last day. Secondly, the opinion of the one who is on the ground may be based on a lack of Islamic knowledge which invalidates it. So for example, you can have someone living on the ground saying the following statements… “They are slaughtering innocent Muslims” “They are treating the Christians badly” “They are Khawarij and Takfeeri” “They are giving Islam a bad name” Such statements are based on the assumption, that this person on the ground has the Islamic knowledge of how to distinguish between a Kafir and a Muslim. So how can such an opinion be considered valid if such a person on the ground considers Ali’wees, Yazidees and secularists such as the PKK and FSA, that are in deeper kuffr than the idol worshippers, as ‘Muslims’? Likewise, how can the one that is ignorant of the rulings of “Dhimmies” be the judge if the ‘Christians’ are being treated badly? How can the person that is ignorant of Islam judge that ‘they are giving Islam a bad name?’ How can it be that the one that will tell us that a certain people are ‘khawarij’, which if you asked him to define the meaning of khawarij, he may answer you with “Khawarij comes from the word Kharij (Arabic word from outside), so they are the people who came from outside… right?” Consequently, we do not accept the opinion of someone simply because that someone is present on the ground. Henceforth we should not be deluded when hear such childish statements such as ‘Excuse me, my friend is Syrian/ Iraqi and her family live there’ or ‘actually, my friend is Syrian so they know the reality’. To conclude this point, I say that, one can definitely gain benefits from what is related from those on the ground. However this should never effect Aqeedah matters. For choosing between supporting a group that promotes Kuffr and a group that calls for Sharia is a matter of Aqeedah that are NOT affected by stories that are related from the ground. For if there are crimes committed by those that call for the Sharia, then we are still with them even if we are innocent of certain acts committed. Now that we have gone through some of the principles that will help us in our judgment on who we should give our support to, we can now apply the above format and steps to the specific groups involved in the fighting in Iraq and Sham. Thus in the next section (If Allah SWT grants us time to write it) we will go through each of the following groups asking primarily, what is their Aqeedah? Secondarily what are they doing on the ground? And thirdly, conclude on whether or not we should support them. The Islamic State headed by Shaykh Al-Baghdadi The Government of Bashar Al-Asaad The Free Syrain Army The Iraqi Government Coalition forces headed by the USA The Kurdish Forces Yazidees Jabhat Islami – The Islamic Front Jabhat An-Nusra Note: Although the term group was used throughout the article, this was done for the sake of simplicity. In reality The Islamic State is an actual state and not a group in that sense. If there is any questions, please feel free to ask. If I have said anything good in this article then it is from Allah (SWT) alone and if I have said anything bad then it is from me and the shaytan. And All praises are due to Allah and may the Blessings be upon His final messenger Your brother in Islam, Dr. Abu Layla Ash-Shami From the Lands of Khilafa P.s Please share if you have found useful
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 18:40:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015