POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
OSAMA BIN LADEN'S FIRST ORDER--LADENESE EPISTLE:
DECLARATION OF WAR, PART I
By
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST THE AMERICANS OCCUPYING THE LAND OF THE TWO HOLY PLACES
(EXPEL THE INFIDELS FROM THE ARAB PENINSULA)
A MESSAGE FROM OSAMA BIN MUHAMMAD BIN IN LADEN TO HIS MUSLIM BRETHREN ALL OVER THE WORLD GENERALLY AND IN THE ARAB PENINSULA SPECIFICALLY
{O you who believe, be careful to do your duty to Allah with the proper care which is due to Him, and do not die unless you are Muslim.} (Imraan; 3:102), {O people be careful to do your duty to your Lord, Who created you from a single being and creating that beins's mate of the same kind and spreading from these two beings many men and women; and be careful to do your duty to Allah , by whom you demand one of another of your rights, and (be careful) to cherish and honor the ties of kinship; surely Allah ever watches over you} (An-Nisa; 4:1), {O you who believe, be careful to do your duty to Allah and speak the right word; He will put your deeds into a right state for you, and forgive you your faults; and who ever obeys Allah and his Apostle, he indeed will achieve a mighty suc- cess} (Al-Ahzab; 33:70-71).
Praise be to Allah, reporting the saying of the prophet Shu'aib: {I desire nothing but reform so far as I am able, and with none but Allah is the direction of my affairs to the right and successful path; on him do I rely and to him do I turn} (Hud; 11:88).
Praise be to Allah, saying: {You are the best of the nations raised up for the benefit of men; you enjoin what is right and forbid the wrong and believe in Allah} (Aal-Imraan; 3:110). Allah's blessing and salutations on His slave and messenger who said: (The people are close to an all encompassing punishment from Allah if they see the oppressor and fail to restrain him.)
It should not be hidden from you that the people of Islam have suffered from aggression, iniquity, and injustice imposed on them by the Zionist-Crusaders alliance and their col- laborators--to the extent that the Muslims' blood became the cheapest and their wealth became loot in the hands of the enemies. Their blood was spilled in Palestine and Iraq. The horrifying pictures of the massacre of Qana, in Lebanon, are still fresh in our memory. Massacres in Tadzhikistan, Burma, Kashmir, Assam, the Philippines, Fatani, Ogadenia, Somalia, Erithrea, Chechnya, and Bosnia-Herzegovina took place, massacres that send shivers in the body and shake the conscience. All of this, and the world watched and heard, and not only didn't respond to these atrocities, but also, with a clear conspiracy between the USA and its allies and under the cover of the iniquitous United Nations, the dispossessed people were even prevented from obtaining arms to defend themselves.
The people of Islam awakened and realized that they are the main target for the aggres- sion of the Zionist-Crusaders alliance. All false claims and propaganda about "Human Rights" were hammered down and exposed by the massacres that took place against the Muslims in every part of the world.
The latest and the greatest of all these aggressions, incurred by the Muslims since the death of the Prophet (ALLAH'S BLESSING AND SALUTATIONS ON HIM), is the occupation of the land of the two Holy Places--the foundation of the house of Islam, the place of the revelation, the source of the message and the place of the noble Ka'ba, the Qiblah of all Muslims--by the armies of the American Crusaders and their allies. (We bemoan this and can only say: "No power and power acquiring except through Allah").
Under present circumstances, and under the banner of the blessed awakening which is sweeping the world in general and the Islamic world in particular, I meet with you today. And after a long absence, imposed on the scholars (Ulama) and callers (Da'ees) of Islam by the iniquitous crusaders movement under the leadership of the USA, who fears that they, the scholars and callers of Islam, will instigate the Ummah of Islam against its enemies as their ancestor scholars--may Allah be pleased with them--like Ibn Taymiyyah and Al'iz Ibn Abdes-Salaam did. And therefore, the Zionist-Crusader alliance resorted to killing and arresting the truthful Ulama and the working Da'ees (We are not praising or sanctifying them; Allah sanctifies whom He pleases). They killed the Mujahid Sheikh Abdullah Azzaam, and they arrested the Mujahid Sheikh Ahmad Yaseen and the Muja- hid Sheikh Omar Abdur Rahman (in America).
By orders from the U.S.A., they also arrested a large number of scholars, Da'ees and young people in the land of the two Holy Places, among them the prominent Sheikh Salman Al-Oud'a and Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali and their brothers; (We bemoan this and can only say: "No power and power acquiring except through Allah"). We, myself and my group, have suffered some of this injustice ourselves; we have been prevented from addressing the Muslims. We have been pursued in Pakistan, Sudan and Afghanistan, hence this long absence on my part. But by the Grace of Allah, a safe base is now available in the high Hindukush mountains in Khurasan, where--by the Grace of Allah-- the largest infidel military force of the world was destroyed. And the myth of the super- power was withered in front of the Mujahideen cries of Allahu Akbar (God is greater). Today, we work from the same mountains to lift the iniquity that had been imposed on the Ummah by the Zionist-Crusader alliance, particularly after they have occupied the blessed land around Jerusalem, route of the journey of the Prophet (ALLAH'S BLESSING AND SALUTATIONS ON HIM) and the land of the two Holy Places. We ask Allah to bestow us with victory. He is our Patron and He is the Most Capable.
From here, today we begin the work talking and discussing the ways of correcting what had happened to the Islamic world in general, and the Land of the two Holy Places in particular. We wish to study the means that we could follow to return the situation to its normal path, and to return to the people their own rights, particularly after the large damages and the great aggression on the life and the religion of the people. This is an injustice that has affected every section and group of the people; the civilians, military and security men, government officials and merchants, the young and the old people as well as schools and university students. Hundred of thousands of the unemployed grad- uates, who became the widest section of the society, were also affected.
Injustice has affected the people of industry and agriculture. It has affected the people of the rural and urban areas. And almost everybody complains about something. The situa- tion in the land of the two Holy Places has become like a huge volcano on the verge of an eruption that will destroy the Kufr and the corruption and its sources. The explosion at Riyadh and Al-Khobar is a warning of this volcanic eruption emerging as a result of the sever oppression, suffering, excessive iniquity, humiliation and poverty.
People are fully concerned about their everyday lives. Everybody talks about the dete- rioration of the economy, inflation, ever increasing debts and jails full of prisoners. Gov- ernment employees with limited incomes talk about debts of ten thousands and hundred thousands of Saudi Riyals . They complain that the value of the Riyal is greatly and continuously deteriorating among most of the main currencies. Great merchants and contractors speak about hundreds and thousands of million Riyals owed to them by the government. More than three hundred forty billions of Riyal owed by the government to the people in addition to the daily accumulated interest, let alone the foreign debt. People wonder whether we are the largest oil exporting country! They even believe that this situation is a curse put on them by Allah for not objecting to the oppressive and illegit- imate behavior and measures of the ruling [Saudi] regime--ignoring the divine Shari'ah law, depriving people of their legitimate rights; allowing the Americans to occupy the land of the two Holy Places, and imprisonment, unjustly, of the sincere scholars. The honourable Ulamah and scholars as well as merchants, economists and eminent people of the country have all been alerted to this disastrous situation.
Quick efforts have been made by each group to contain and correct the situation. All agree that the country is heading toward a great catastrophe, the depth of which is not known except by Allah. One big merchant commented : '' the King [of Saudi Arabia] is leading the state into 'sixty-six' folded disaster'', (We bemoan this and can only say: "No power and power acquiring except through Allah"). Numerous princes share with the people their feelings, privately expressing their concerns and objecting to the corruption, repression. and intimidation taking place in the country. But the competition between influential princes for personal gains and interest has destroyed the country. Through its course of actions the [Saudi] regime has torn off its legitimacy. These actions include:
Quick efforts have been made by individuals and by different groups of the society to contain the situation and to prevent the danger. They have advised the government both privately and openly. They have sent letters and poems, reports after reports, reminders after reminders. They have explored every avenue and enlisted every influential man in their movement for reform and correction. They have written with style of passion, diplomacy and wisdom asking for corrective measures and repentance from the "great wrong doings and corruption " that had engulfed even the basic principles of the religion and the legitimate rights of the people.
But, to our deepest regret, the [Saudi] regime refused to listen to the people, accusing them of being ridiculous and imbecilic. The matter got worse, as previous wrong doings were followed by mischiefs of greater magnitudes. All of this taking place in the land of the two Holy Places! It is no longer possible to be quiet. It is not acceptable to give a blind eye to this matter.
As the extent of these infringements reached the highest of levels and turned into demolishing forces threatening the very existence of the Islamic principles, a group of scholars who could take no more, supported by hundreds of retired officials, merchants, and prominent and educated people wrote to the King asking for implementation of corrective measures. In 1411 A.H. (May, 1991), at the time of the Gulf War, a letter, the famous letter of Shawwaal, with over four hundred signatures, was sent to the King demanding the lifting of oppression and the implementation of corrective actions. The King humiliated those people and chose to ignore the content of their letter. The very bad situation in the country became even worse.
People, however, tried again and sent more letters and petitions. One particular report, the glorious Memorandum of Advice, handed over to the King on Muharram, 1413 A.H (July. 1992), tackled the problem, pointed out the illness, and prescribed the medicine in an original, righteous and scientific style. It described the gaps and shortcomings in the philosophy of the [Saudi] regime and suggested the required course of action and remedy. The report gave a description of:
As stated by the people of knowledge [of Allah and His Word], it is not a secret that, to use man made law instead of the Shari'a and to support the infidels against the Muslims. is one of the ten "voiders" that would strip a person from his Islamic status (turn a Muslim into a Mushrik, or one of non-believer status). The All Mighty said: {and whoever did not judge by what Allah revealed, those are the unbelievers} (Al-Ma'ida; 5:44), and {but no! by your Lord! they do not believe (in reality) until they make you a judge of that which has become a matter of disagreement among them, and then do not find the slightest misgiving in their hearts as to what you have decided and submit with entire submission} (An-Nissa; 4:65).
In spite of the fact that the report was written with soft words and very diplomatic style, reminding of Allah, giving truthful sincere advice, and despite of the importance of advice in Islam, being absolutely essential for those in charge of the people, and the large number who signed this document as well as the large number of their supporters, all of that was not an intercession for the Memorandum. Its content was rejected, and those who signed it and their sympathisers were ridiculed, prevented from travel, punished, and even jailed.
Therefore, it is very clear that the advocates of correction and reform movement were very keen on using peaceful means in order to protect the unity of the country and to prevent blood shed. Then why is it that the regime closed all peaceful routes and pushed the people toward armed actions? This is the only choice left for the people to implement righteousness and justice. To whose benefit does Prince Sultan and Prince Nayeff push the country into a civil war that will destroy everything? And why consult those who ignite internal feuds, playing the people against each other? Why instigate the police- men, the sons of the nation, to abort the reform movement, while leaving in peace and security such traitors as those who implement the policy of the enemy in order to bleed the financial and the human resources of the Ummah, and while leaving the main enemy in the area--the American Zionist alliance--to enjoy peace and security?
The advisor (Zaki Badr, the Egyptian ex-Minister of the Interior) to Prince Nayeff-- Saudi Minister of Interior--was not acceptable even to his own country. He was sacked from his position there due to the filthy attitude and the aggression he exercised on his own people. Yet, he was warmly welcomed by Prince Nayeff to assist in [his] sins and aggressions. He unjustly filled the prisons with the best sons of this Ummah and caused miseries to their mothers. Does the[Saudi] regime want to play the civilians against their military personnel and vice versa, like what had happened in some of the neighbouring countries? No doubt, this is the policy of the American-Israeli alliance, as they are the first to benefit from this situation.
But with the grace of Allah, the majority of the nation, [consisting of] both [a majority of] civilians and [a majority of] military individuals, is aware of the wicked plan. They refused to be played against each other and used by the regime as a tool to carry out the policy of the American-Israeli alliance through their agent in our country--the Saudi regime.
Therefore, everyone agrees that the situation cannot be rectified (the shadow cannot be straighten when its source, the rod, is not straight either) unless the root of the problem is tackled. Hence, it is essential to hit the main enemy who divided the Ummah into small and little countries and pushed it, for the last few decades, into a state of confusion. The Zionist-Crusader alliance moves quickly to contain and abort any "corrective move- ment" appearing in the Islamic countries. Different means and methods are used to achieve their target. On occasion, the "movement" is dragged into an armed struggle at a predetermined unfavourable time and place. Sometimes, officials from the Ministry of Interior, who are also graduates of the colleges of the Shari'ah, are leashed out to mislead and confuse the nation and the Ummah (by wrong Fatwas) and to circulate false information about the movement. On other occasions, some righteous people are tricked into a war of words against the Ulama and the leaders of the movement, wasting the energy of the nation in discussing minor issues and ignoring the main one, that is, the unification of the people under the divine law of Allah.
In the shadow of these discussions and arguments, truthfulness is covered by the false- hood, and personal feuds and partisanship are created among the people, increasing the division and the weakness of the Ummah. Priorities of Islamic work are lost, while blas- phemy and polytheism continue their grip and control over the Ummah. We should be alert to these atrocious plans carried out by the Ministry of Interior. The right answer {to the problem and threat] is to follow what has been decided by the people of knowl- edge [of Allah and His Word], as was said by Ibn Taymiyyah (Allah's mercy upon him): "people of Islam should join forces and support each other to get rid of the main "Kufr" who is controlling the countries of the Islamic world, even to bear the lesser damage to get rid of the major one, that is the great Kufr."
If there is more than one duty to be carried out, then the most important one should receive priority. Clearly after Belief (Imaan), there is no more important duty than pushing the American enemy out of the holy land. No other priority, except Belief, could be considered before it. For the people of knowledge, Ibn Taymiyyah stated: "to fight in defense of religion and Belief is a collective duty; there is no other duty after Belief [more important] than fighting the enemy who is corrupting the life and the religion. There are no preconditions for this duty, and the enemy should be fought with one's best abilities. (ref: supplement of Fatawa). If it is not possible to push back the enemy, except by the collective movement of the Muslim people, then there is a duty [binding] on the Muslims to ignore the minor differences among themselves. The ill effect of ignoring these differences, at a given period of time, is much less than the ill effect of the occupa- tion of the Muslims' land by the main Kufr. Ibn Taymiyyah had explained this issue and emphasised the importance of dealing with the major threat at the expense of [dealing with] the minor one. He described the situation of the Muslims and the Mujahideen and stated that even the military personnel who are not practising Islam are not exempted from the duty of Jihad against the enemy.
Ibn Taymiyyah , after mentioning the Moguls (Tatars) and their behaviour in changing the law of Allah, stated that: the ultimate aim of pleasing Allah, raising His Word, insti- tuting His religion and obeying His messenger (ALLAH'S BLESSING AND SALUTA- TIONS ON HIM) is to fight the enemy, in every aspect and in a complete manner. If the danger to the religion from not fighting is greater than that of fighting, then it is a duty to fight the enemy, even if the intentions of some of the fighters are not pure, i.e., their fighting for the sake of leadership (personal gain), or if they do not observe some of the rules and commandments of Islam. To repel the greatest of the two dangers at the expense of the lesser one, is an Islamic principle which should be observed. It was the tradition of the people of the Sunnah (Ahlul-Sunnah) to join and invade--to fight--[along with] with righteous and non righteous men. Allah may support this religion by using righteous and non righteous people, as told by the prophet (ALLAH'S BLESSING AND SALUTATIONS ON HIM). If it is not possible to fight except with the help of non righteous military personnel and commanders, then there are two possibilities--either fighting will be ignored and the others, who are the great danger to this life and religion, will take control; or fighting with the help of non righteous rulers and thereby repelling the greatest of the two dangers and implementing most, though not all, of the Islamic laws. The latter option is the right duty to be carried out in these circumstances and in many other similar situations. In fact, many of the fights and conquests that took place after the time of Rashidoon, the guided Imams, were of this type. (majmoo' al Fatawa, 26/506).
No one, not even a blind or a deaf person, can deny the presence of the widely spread mischief or the prevalence of the great sins that hve reached the grievous iniquity of polytheism and, at the same time, share with Allah in His sole right of sovereignty and making of the law. The All Mighty stated: {And when Luqman said to his son while he admonised him: O my son! do not associate ought with Allah; most surely polytheism is a grievous iniquity} (Luqman; 31:13). Man-fabricated laws were put forward permitting what has been forbidden by Allah, such as usury (Riba) and other matters. Banks dealing in usury are competing for lands with the two Holy Places and declaring war against Allah by disobeying His order {Allah has allowed trading and forbidden usury} (Baqarah; 2:275). All this taking place in the vicinity of the Holy Mosque in the Holy Land! Allah (SWT) stated in His Holy Book a unique promise (that had not been promised to any other sinner) to the Muslims who deals in usury: {O you who believe! Be careful of your duty to obey Allah and relinquish what remains (due) from usury, if you are believers * But if you do (it) not, then be appraised of WAR from Allah and His Apostle} (Baqarah; 2:278-279). This is for the "Muslim" who deals in usury (believing that it is a sin). What is it then to the person who make himself a partner and equal to Allah, legalizing (usury and other sins) what has been forbidden by Allah. Despite all of the above, we see that the [Saudi] government misled and dragged some of the righteous Ulamah and Da'ees away from the issue of objecting to the greatest of sins and the Kufr. (We bemoan this and can only say: "No power and power acquiring except through Allah").
Osama bin Muhammad bin Laden
9-4-1417 A.H. (23-8-1976)
Hindukush Mountains, Khurasan, Afghanistan