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Realities of the Conflict

Between Islam and Unbelief

Shaykh Ayman al-Zawahiri

As-Sahab Media

Dhu Qa’dah 1427 AH / December 2006 CE

In the Name of Allah, and all praise is due to Allah, and may peace and prayers be on the Messenger of Allah and on his family, companions and allies.

Muslim brothers everywhere: peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

A number of critical events in our Islamic world are passing us these days, and I deem it important for us to emphasize a number of their fundamental characteristics, in view of the importance of educating the Ummah in the facts of the conflict between Islam and infidelity, from both a legal as well as factual point of view.

The first thing that I wish to talk about is the passing of 89 years since the Balfour Declaration, in which someone who didn’t own the Holy Land of Palestine gave it to someone who didn’t deserve it…

That historical event which we must not allow to pass from memory, and which we must transmit from generation to generation, in order that we be aware of the extent of the animosity of Britain and the Crusader West in general to the Muslim Ummah…

The animosity of Britain to Islam which stretches over centuries: isn’t it the one who used to occupy most Islamic lands? Isn’t it the one who moved Abd al-Aziz Al Sa’ud and al-Husayn ibn Ali to stab the Ottoman state in its back? And isn’t it the one who handed over to the Jews one of the holiest places of Islam?

And today in Palestine, conspiracies to abort the Jihad and surround the Mujahideen are being hatched by the same forces which created Israel and with the cooperation of their agents among our people.

I repeat to you, my brothers, that we must be conscious of the legal and factual realities of this conflict, lest the treacherous leadership deceive us and we get lost in the market of political bargaining.

And the first of these facts which we must be conscious of and focus on and repeatedly emphasize, is that the fighting must be for elevating the Word of Allah, and that the elevation of Allah’s Word on His earth means the elevation of His Law (Shari’ah), and that the Muslim cannot possibly be a believer without litigating to Divine Law alone to the exclusion of all other laws. The Truth (Exalted is He) says, “But no, by your Lord (O Muhammad), they are not believers until they make you judge in all disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance to your decisions, but accept them with the fullest conviction.” (4:65) Thus, it is unimaginable that the Muslims could create a government in Palestine or elsewhere based on the rule of other than the Shari’ah, and whose authority doesn’t come from the Shari’ah.

And the second of these facts is that the recovery of every land which was once a land of Islam is the personal duty of every Muslim. Therefore, as Muslims, we cannot possibly concede to Israel so much as a hand-span of Palestine, and there is no difference as far as we are concerned between Palestine 1948 and Palestine 1967: all of it is Palestine and all of it belongs to the Muslims, and all the international resolutions which bit off chunks of it and allowed the presence of Israel on it – from the partition resolution to Resolution 1701 – are null and void, non-binding resolutions, which aren’t worth so much as a mosquito’s wing on the scales of Islam.

It is our duty to reject and cast off these resolutions and wage war on them, instead of taking indecisive stances towards them, and saying that we shall respect them and acknowledge them as a fact of life, and other such terms which lead to the forfeiture of the Muslims’ rights.

Recognizing these resolutions implies recognizing the Hebrew state in the land of Palestine, criminalizing Jihad against it, and isolating the Mujahideen outside it from the Mujahideen inside it.

And the secularists who have approved these resolutions are criminals in the eyes of Islam who have agreed to the establishment of Israel in one of the holiest places in Islam.

These secularist traitors – who have renounced Islamic Law, agreed to the presence of Israel and traded Palestine for crumbs – cannot possibly have any legitimacy, and we cannot possibly recognize them as legitimate rulers, much less consider them our brothers. They are enemies of Islam and Muslims who have turned their backs on the Shari’ah of Islam and surrendered the Muslims’ lands to the Jews.

The third fact is that every way other than Jihad will only lead us to loss and failure, and those who attempt to liberate the lands of Islam through elections which are held on the basis of the secular constitutions or the resolutions surrendering Palestine to the Jews will never liberate one sand-grain of Palestine: instead, their actions will lead to the smothering of the Jihad and blockading of the Mujahideen.

Backtracking in front of the West will not make them happy with us, regardless of how much expertise we acquire in maneuvering, equivocating and talking. The Truth (Exalted is He) says, “The Jews or the Christians will never be satisfied with you unless you follow their religion.” (2:120)

The fourth fact is that recognition of Israel takes many forms. Among the forms of recognition of Israel is membership in the United Nations, because Israel is a member like the rest of the members, and it is the obligation of all members – according to the text of the UN charter – to respect its sovereignty and the integrity of its territories.

And one of the regrettable events in this sphere concerns the conference of “emerging democracies” which was held under UN auspices in Qatar this past October and which the Israeli foreign minister refused to attend because a delegation from the Palestinian government which included members of the HAMAS movement was attending the conference! i.e., they complain about attending the same conference as us, while we eagerly compete for that! Is this the political action which protects the honor and rights of the Muslims?!

Another lamentable example in this context is the recent draft Security Council resolution put forward by Qatar on behalf of the Arab grouping and vetoed by the United States, which condemned the latest Israel aggression against Gaza in addition to condemning the launching of rockets against Israel. The ambassador of Palestine at the United Nations supported this draft and regretted America’s objection to it: i.e., the Palestinian government adopted and supported a draft resolution criminalizing Jihad against Israel!

And here we must make clear the true nature of the United Nations. The United Nations is an organization hostile to Islam. Its charter is based on the rule of other than the Shari’ah and obligates all UN members, including the governments of the Islamic countries, to recognize Israel, because it – like them – is a member of the UN. And it also obligates them to recognize Russia’s occupation of Chechnya and the Muslim Caucasus, China’s occupation of East Turkistan, Spain’s occupation of Ceuta and Melilla and the occupation of other Muslim lands by non-Muslim governments which are part of the UN.

And furthermore, the UN is the one who established the Jewish presence in Palestine, the Crusader presence in Afghanistan, and the Crusader occupation of Iraq, and it is the international false witness which runs the rigged elections in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it is the one who today is attempting to enable the Crusaders to invade Darfur under cover of the UN. The United Nations is the one whose international forces are today deployed on the borders of Lebanon, to prevent the meeting up of the Mujahideen from outside Palestine with those within it, in order to complete the blockade against the Mujahideen in Palestine. The United Nations is a tool in the hands of the United States and its Crusader partners for taking over the world through intimidation, enticement and extortion, and it has a leadership comprised of the Big Five and a backyard called the General Assembly in which the weak states shout at one another.

And among the forms which the recognition of Israel takes is the acceptance of the legitimacy of the Palestinian National Authority which came in being on the basis of the Oslo accords.

And among the forms which the recognition of Israel takes is the acceptance of the legitimacy of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the PNA and America’s man in Palestine.

And authorizing the Palestinian Liberation Organization – which recognizes Israel – to negotiate with Israel is an abyss which leads in the end to the crushing of Jihad and recognition of Israel.

Disregarding the legal and factual realities of the conflict between unbelief and Islam has led to some of the brothers in Palestine being led from a lull in the fighting to elections on the basis of a secular constitution, then from elections on the basis of a secular constitution to respecting the international resolutions, then from respecting international resolutions to approving the “prisoners’ document”, then from approving the “prisoners’ document” to a government of national unity, and then from a government of national unity to their expulsion from the cabinet…and the story continues.

How is it that they didn’t demand that Palestine have an Islamic constitution before entering any elections? Aren’t they an Islamic movement? Don’t they strive for Allah’s Word to be the highest?

We hear talk of an agreement to restructure the PLO. But what we know and what the entire world knows is that the PLO is a secular organization which calls for the establishment of a secular state in Palestine, and that the PLO is the one who recognized Israel and abandoned more than 80% of Palestine and agreed to the accords of disgrace and surrender So on what basis are they calling for the restructuring of the PLO? We had hoped that the brothers would demand an Islamic charter for the PLO before talking about restructuring it.

And furthermore, what would their stance be were the PLO to be restructured through elections – as we hear – and the majority chose abandonment of Palestine and agreeing to recognize Israel?

And this opens the door to the biggest question: what is the authority which rules? Is it the majority of votes? Or Divine Shari’ah?

I hope that no one replies to me by saying that Palestine has its individuality and the people of Palestine know it better than anyone else.

First of all, Palestine is the cause of every Muslim, just as all the Muslims’ causes are the causes of every Muslim in Palestine. Secondly, I’m not talking about details and secrets about which the people of Palestine know best: rather, I’m talking about the fundamentals of Islam and Shari’ah and the right of Shari’ah to rule, and I’m talking about refusing to compromise on one sand-grain of Islamic land.

That’s why I say to our brothers in Palestine: brothers in Islam; brothers in Jihad; brothers in Ribat, sacrifice and martyrdom-seeking: hold onto your Qurans, hold on to your rifles.

My Muslim brothers in Palestine: all Muslims stand with you, and wish to offer their lives in exchange for the liberation of al-Aqsa, so stand with your Muslim brothers in Islam in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Iraq, and let the world hear your support of them.

I also encourage the Muslim Ummah to support the people of Palestine with all the support they can, in order that the flame of Jihad is not extinguished in the environs of Jerusalem.

And I call on all Muslims to back the Mujahideen in Palestine with their persons, wealth, materiel, opinion and expertise, in spite of the international resolutions and in spite of the Sykes-Picot borders.

The second thing I wish to talk about is the passing of five years since the entrance of the Crusaders to Kabul, surrounded by their agents who sold their religion for a paltry worldly price and some of whom used to claim to belong to Jihad and the Islamic movement, but Allah revealed what was in their hearts, and so they entered Kabul on the backs of the Crusader tanks and under their cross.

The American government thought that it had scored an easy victory, but Bush didn’t have a clue about what awaited him in Afghanistan. And the truth about the Americans and their allies began to come to light in Tora Bora and Shah-i-Kot. And the Jihadi resistance began to increase, with the Bush administration claiming that it was the remnants of al-Qaida and Taliban in order to cover up its losses, and Bush claiming that he keeps on his desk pictures of the leaders of al-Qaida and crosses out the pictures of those of them who are killed or captured. And in vain, the Western media and with it the international false witness, the UN, sought to cover up the catastrophe. And so began the campaign of lies and deception: first the Loya Jirga, then the interim government, then the presidential and parliamentary elections…those elections which took place under the threat of aerial bombing to destroy any village suspected of harboring resistance to the Crusader. And I can authenticate specific incidents in which the Crusader-helping traitors threatened those who cooperate with the Mujahideen not merely with death, but with the destruction of their entire village, and then carried out their threat.

I mentioned previously the presidential and parliamentary elections in Afghanistan. In regard to the presidential polls, the vote-counting in it took 15 days, during which the ballot boxes were passed from bandits to warlords to American military and intelligence. And as for the parliamentary elections, the counting of its votes took one month. And it is for the intelligent people of the world to imagine what can happen in Afghanistan in one month.

And despite all this deception, the scandals came to the surface: Qala-i-Jangi, the massacre in the container trucks, the atrocities at Shiberghan prison and the mass graves at Dasht-i-Laili, as the resistance increased, and then the Crusader retaliation and the killing of tens of thousands of Afghans and the destruction of hundreds of villages, while the Taliban’s Jihadi resistance under the command of the Commander of the Believers Mulla Muhammad Umar – the symbol of Islamic honor in this era – grew, prospered and spread…

The Afghan nation declared with blood and sacrifice just who was the legitimate leadership around which it rallied, and exposed the rigging of the UN’s elections, which the hypocritical international community applauded, despite everyone’s knowledge of the extent of the manipulation…

The Pushtun tribes on both sides of the border declared their allegiance to the Taliban, joined the Jihad against the Crusade and stood firm in the face of the combined bombing of the Americans and Crusaders…

And the Mujahideen in Afghanistan and Pakistan wrote an honorable chapter in the history of Islam.

And in this regard, I hail our Muslim brothers in Pakistan on their demonstrations against the traitorous Musharraf government after the treacherous aggression against the religious school in Bajaur, and I hail the Mujahideen of Pakistan on their heroic, martyrdom-seeking confrontation of the Crusaders’ agents in Pakistan. And I remind them that the way to deliverance is in supporting the forces of the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan with their persons and wealth, and not through parliamentary ruses or elections polluted with bribery, cheating and manipulation…

And finally the American administration was forced to admit the irrefutable facts and the failure of its Crusade in Afghanistan…

And the Taliban proved once more that if the Muslim masses embrace the cause of Jihad and find the steadfast Mujahid leadership, not even the strongest power on earth can quell them.

And the Taliban reveal, with their historic, heroic stance, the dirty role played by the religion-dealing traitors in Iraq and the scholars of beggary in Cairo, Riyadh, Amman and our other capitals.

And America will be defeated in Afghanistan and pull out soon, with Allah’s permission, and it is now seeking to organize the agents who will succeed it in Afghanistan, and this is the same deteriorating situation which the Soviets faced before their withdrawal, and the American efforts shall – Allah willing – lead to the same failure which the Soviets suffered.

And the Islamic Emirate shall return to Kabul soon – Allah willing – following the Crusader pullout, and its popularity has not merely increased in Afghanistan, but also in neighboring countries. And these are facts known to all.

The Afghan people, in a quarter of a century, have defeated – by the grace of Allah – the two superpowers in this world, so may Allah grant long life to this poor, steadfast, Mujahid people. It is the duty of the Muslim Ummah to back them, and this is the least it can do to fulfill the duty it owes to them.

The religious, military and political history of mankind shall bear witness that the strongest power in history was defeated by a power much stronger, greater and purer than it: the power of Mujahid Islam. So bear witness, O history, and bear witness, O mankind, “And sufficient is Allah as a witness.”

I repeat what I mentioned previously: the backing of the Jihad in Afghanistan and Iraq today is to back the most important battlefields in which the Crusade against Islam and Muslims is in progress. And the defeat of the Crusaders there – soon, Allah permitting – will have a far-reaching effect on the future of the Muslim Ummah, Allah willing.

The third thing I wish to talk about is a message to the Democrats in America.

I tell them: you must realize two facts.

The first is that you aren’t the ones who won the midterm elections, nor are the Republicans the ones who lost: rather, the Mujahideen – the Muslim Ummah’s vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq – are the ones who won, and the American forces and their Crusader allies are the ones who lost.

The second fact is that the Mujahideen are still – by the grace of Allah – in the field, their weapons with which they fell the Democrats are still ready and aimed, and the Mujahideen won’t stop inflicting losses on you until you leave our lands, stop plundering our treasures, and stop backing the corrupt rulers in our countries.

And if you don’t refrain from the foolish American policy of backing Israel, occupying the lands of Islam, and stealing the treasures of the Muslims, then await the same fate.

You must realize that a new period of world history has begun. The period of the offspring of Abd al-Aziz Al-Sa’ud, the grandsons of the Sharif Husayn and Sadat, Mubarak and Arafat has passed, and the period of Khalid Islambouli, Abdullah Azzam, Abu Hafs the Commander, Khattab, Muhammad Atta, Muhammad Siddique Khan, and Shehzad Tanwir (Allah have mercy on them) has begun. And if you are unable to comprehend this transformation, then blame no one but yourselves.

Depart from our lands and stop supporting the corrupt rulers, and don’t prevent the Muslim Ummah from establishing its legitimate Shura state accountable to it.

And I tell both the Republicans and Democrats: you are attempting in panic to find a way out of the disasters which surround you in Iraq and Afghanistan, but you are still thinking with the same idiotic mentality. Thus you try to negotiate with certain parties to secure your departure, although these parties don’t have a way out for you, and your attempts will only succeed in further frustrating you, Allah willing, because you aren’t negotiating with the real powers in the Islamic world. And it appears that you shall embark on a painful journey of failed negotiations, after which you shall come back – Allah permitting – with no other choice but to negotiate with the real powers.

And I tell them: Bush reflects the level of thought of the American nation, despite all the research centers, specialists, thinkers and historians it has. A nation which chooses Bush as its president is a nation of negligible morals, ideology and intellect. And it suffices to take a look at his recent meeting with the beggar al-Maliki in Amman, and the differences and disputes which permeated it and blew up in public despite their strong need to project it as a successful meeting.

The fourth thing I wish to talk about is a message to the American people. I say to them: you only realized the failure of the administration and toppled the Republicans’ candidates after the Mujahideen slaughtered you, and you didn’t listen to the voice of morality, justice, principles and intellect. And the Mujahideen’s weapons continue to be raised and aimed, by the grace of Allah.

The formula for your safety is “You shall never dream of security until we truly experience it in Palestine and all lands of Islam,” and not the fallacious formula with which Bush deceives you when he says, “We strike the terrorists in their countries so that they don’t strike us in ours.” On the contrary: if we are struck in our countries, we shall never stop striking you in your countries, with Allah’s power and permission.

And as our commander, Shaykh Usama bin Ladin (may Allah preserve him) told you, “As you bomb, you will be bombed, and as you kill, you will be killed.”

And the fifth thing which I want to talk about is a message to the Muslim Ummah. I say to it:

O my Muslim Ummah, you must choose between two choices: the first is to live on the margins of the New World Order and international law and under the control of the arrogant enemies of Islam, dishonored, humiliated, plundered and occupied, with them meddling in your beliefs and true religion, sticking their noses in all your foreign and domestic affairs, and you living the life of a vassal, lowly, disgraced and defiled.

And the second choice is that you rely on your Lord, renew your Tawheed (worship of the one God), rise up with your true faith, follow the revealed religion of Allah, and stand with it in the face of the arrogant criminals, as your truthful and trustworthy Prophet (peace be upon him), his righteous companions, and his purified family (Allah was pleased with them all) stood in the face of the world, inviting, giving the good news, warning and performing Jihad in order that Allah’s Word be made the highest and the word of the infidels the lowest. And there is no third choice.

The Crusaders and Jews will only be pleased with the Muslim Ummah if it is satisfied with vassalage, humiliation and repression. If, however, the Ummah sets about repelling the aggression which has been committed against it for centuries, it gets nothing but bombing, destruction, torture, occupation, abuse and infringement, because in that case it is not eligible for human rights, due to it being a species of animal which has attacked its Western masters.

This is the logic of the materialistic Western Crusader civilization, and this is their culture, and this is the mentality which motivates them, however much they try to hide it or claim that they don’t discriminate on the basis of religion, or that they have rid themselves of Crusader spirit, or that they only want to spread freedom, justice and equality.

Do we still have any doubt about the extent of the despicability and maliciousness of the Crusade which is being waged against us? The Crusades against us have never stopped, but have only differed in their form, magnitude and appearance, while continuing through the ages.

My intention today isn’t to talk about Western Crusader corruption and perversion, but rather, I wish to discuss the role of the Muslim Ummah and its duty towards this continuing aggression against our religion, sacred things, lands and children.

The first thing I want to bring to attention of myself and my Muslim brothers is the necessity of being aware of the fundamentals of the Shari’ah and facts on the ground.

Among the pillars of this awareness is that the Ummah define who its real leaders are, those who sacrifice in the path of helping Islam, and who the clamaints to leadership are, those who search for their gains by selling out the religion and running after personal ambitions, or retreat from the real confrontation and run circles with the Ummah in endless mazes, because every single time, they recoil from rising to the challenge, give precedence to safety, and slide step by step towards the abyss of secularism.

Is it possible for the leaders of the Ummah to be the religion-sellers in Iraq and Afghanistan who colluded with the Crusaders before, during and after their invasion, and entered Kabul and Baghdad on the backs of American tanks?! How is it possible for the Jihad against the Jews in Lebanon to be Halaal while the Jihad against the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan is Haraam?! How is it possible for cooperation with the Zionist enemy in Lebanon to be treason, while cooperation with the Crusader enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan is security and progress?! How is it possible that we rush to participate in the two governments set up by the occupier in Afghanistan and Iraq, recognize and support them, and defend them and confront those who perform Jihad against them, while cooperation with the Crusader occupier in Lebanon and Palestine is betrayal?!

And moreover, how is it possible that Islam is exploited in the marketing of this inconsistency and fraud?

With which Quran or which Sunnah does someone dare to sell the Muslims in the name of the religion, the Prophet (peace be upon him), his righteous companions, and his purified family (Allah was pleased with them), and that he make legal their homes, persons, and sacred things for the Crusaders and Jews?

Has Islam, the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet, and the legacy of his purified family and righteous companions become a commodity in the market of politics for coming to power and extending influence?

What religion is this? What morality is this? What honor is this? Rather, what collapse is this?

History has recorded, and continues to record, that when the Crusaders waged their assaults on Afghanistan and Iraq, the people of faith and Jihad held their own, while the religion-traders sold the countries for power and position. The masks have fallen, the facts have come out, and the secrets have been revealed, and woe unto the traitors on the judgment of history, and woe unto them on the Day of Accounting. “Nay, the Hour [of judgment] is the time promised them [for their full recompense], and the Hour will be most grievous and most bitter.” (54:46)

“The day in which neither wealth nor sons will avail, but only he [will prosper] who comes to Allah with a sound heart.” (26:88-89)

The treads of the American Crusader tanks will have no mercy on those who applauded their entrance to Afghanistan and Iraq, and the favor will be returned to them in the worst way.

I call on every independent, honorable and intelligent follower of the religion-sellers who support and beg for the Crusader presence in Iraq and Afghanistan and forbid Jihad against it to examine himself and to remember that he will meet his Lord alone: “And each of them will come to Him singly on the Day of Resurrection.” (19:95), and to remember that following the leaders and elders in their misguidance is of no avail after evidence has been shown. The Truth (Exalted is He) says, “If you could see when the wrongdoers will stand before their Lord, throwing the words [of blame] to one another! Those who were deemed weak will say to the arrogant ones, ‘Had it not been for you, we should certainly have been believers!’ The arrogant ones will say to those who had been deemed weak, ‘Was it we who kept you back from guidance after it reached you? Nay, rather, it was you who transgressed.’” (34:31-32)

And I call on every independent, honorable and intelligent one to ask himself a courageous and brave question: were Imam Ali (may Allah honor him) or our chief Hasan or our chief Husayn (Allah was pleased with them) today present in Iraq or Afghanistan, would they have colluded with the Crusaders in the invasion of the lands of Islam, and then cooperate with them and fight the Mujahideen in defense of them? Would they have participated in the governments put in place by the Crusaders and blessed by the United Nations, and would they have obeyed the orders of Bremer, Tommy Franks and Lakhdar Brahimi? Or would they have declared Jihad against them and those who help them?

And I call on every independent, honorable and intelligent one to ask himself: is this the Islam for which Imam Ali and Husayn (Allah was pleased with them) sought martyrdom?

And I ask him to ask himself: why should Jihad be Halaal in Lebanon but Haraam in Iraq and Afghanistan? And why should America be the Great Satan in Lebanon but the Great Ally in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Those who pretend not to see the existence of the current Crusade, and try to portray the conflicts with the Crusader West as being separate, restricted conflicts, or those who differentiate between the Crusade against Iraq and Afghanistan and the Zionist-Crusader war against Lebanon, or those who call for Jihad against America and Israel in Lebanon while at the same time calling for cooperation with America and peace with Israel in Iraq and Afghanistan, or those who don’t believe in the unity of the Muslim Ummah in its defensive war against the Crusade in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon, or those who entered Kabul and Baghdad on the backs of American tanks, or those who participated in the puppet regimes created by the Crusader occupier in Afghanistan and Iraq: these cannot possibly lead the Ummah in its defense against the Crusade, because he who is missing something cannot give it.

And by the same token, the scholars of beggary cannot lead the Ummah in its Jihad against the fiercest Crusade it has ever faced.

How can the Ummah’s Jihad be led by those who permit Al Saud to send for the Americans to occupy the Arabian Peninsula and then claim that the massive armies, giant fleets and roaring squadrons of bombers are under the “protection” of Al Saud, who defend and protect them with their emaciated, soft army which can’t even protect itself?!

Or by those who tell the youth that it is not permitted to travel for Jihad to Iraq and Afghanistan? Or by those who claim legitimacy for Al Saud and that their obedience is obligatory and claim the necessity of the pledge of allegiance to them, for which they invented a law which restricts it to the sons and grandsons of Abd al-Aziz, including the insane, comatose, atheists, unrighteous and apostates among them, and excludes the just, reliable and distinguished in the nation and its leaders and thinkers, because they are slaves of Al Saud who have nothing to do with the rule which the sons of Abd al-Aziz inherited from their father who won it with the blade of the sword and the gold of the English, and which his sons consolidated with the invading American hordes? Don’t Al Saud’s scholars of beggary remember the statement of the Commander of the Faithful Umar bin al-Khattab, with whom Allah was pleased, “When did you enslave the people after their mothers delivered them as freemen?”

Haven’t Al Saud’s scholars approved their government’s decision to build a 900-mile-long wall on the Saudi-Iraq border at a cost of 12 billion dollars to protect the security of the American forces and to prevent the Mujahideen on the Peninsula from joining their brothers in Iraq? Were this money to be spent on a real army, it would have sufficed the people of the Peninsula from begging the Crusaders to defend their flabby show army.

And how is it possible for the Ummah’s Jihad to be led by those who permit the rulers of Egypt to kill the Mujahideen and make peace with Israel? Or those who permit the Muslims to fight in the American army against their brothers in Afghanistan? Or those who obligate the Muslim women in France to remove their Hijabs in obedience to its Islam-combating secular government? Or those who obligate the Muslims in Britain to obey Elizabeth, the head of the Church of England? All these and their likes cannot possibly rise to the level of leadership, because they have fall into the depths of beggary.

The courageous, resolute, martyrdom-seeking women of Bayt Hanun are a thousand times braver and more honorable than the religion-selling traitors in Iraq and Afghanistan and the scholars of beggary in Cairo, Riyadh, Amman and Sana’a.

It also isn’t right that the Jihad of the Ummah be led by those who will lead it into the mazes of daubing oneself with secularism, backing down on the fundamentals of the faith and running after the mirage of elections.

Entering the elections under the umbrella of secular constitutions to bring the Islamic movement to power, in addition to its violating the Shari’ah, is also a futile method of achieving Islamic change and mobilizing the Ummah for Jihad against it enemy. It failed in Algeria, failed in Yemen, failed in Jordan, failed in Egypt, and it is today failing in Palestine.

The lamentable, distressing thing is that the movements which recoil from confrontation have bestowed legitimacy upon traitors like Mubarak, Al Saud, Ibn Hussein, and Ali Abdullah Salih, and abandoned the fundamentals of the religion and became part of the system’s tricks to absorb the resentment of the Muslim Ummah and drain it in the labyrinth without enacting any real change; on the contrary, the American Zionist plan continues while the leaderships of these movements wear out their support bases on the merry-go-round of rigged elections. With shouting and hoarse throats, they combat the ruling wolves who rig the elections every time, renew the emergency laws every year, and bequeath power from every predecessor to his successor.

The Muslim Ummah must arm itself with an awareness guided by the light of the Shari’ah, in order for it to determine: who are its helpers? Who are its enemies? Who are the sincere ones who sacrifice their lives for the glory of Islam and Muslims? And who are the traitors who forfeit the Ummah’s rights, lands and sacred things for power, position, plunder and paychecks?

If the Ummah doesn’t arm itself with this awareness, it will never move on to victory, either because its sacrifices will be stolen from it every time, or because it will obey leaderships unable to rise to the level of the battle who spin their followers on the merry-go-round of political mazes.

There is no solution without Jihad. All other solutions are not only futile, but moreover, will exacerbate the state of collapse and humiliation in which we live. They are like treating cancer with aspirin. And even worse than that is that these fruitless, impotent solutions give the Crusader-Zionist enemy plenty of time to strengthen its presence and plenty of time for the collective consciousness of the Ummah to become accustomed to the Crusader-Zionist occupation in our countries and for the groups of hypocrisy and profiteering to start repeating that there is no point in resisting, that the occupation is a fact of life with which we must deal, and that we can’t overstep international law, and so on, to the last of the dissonant notes in the recital of submissiveness and surrender.

The fact which our enemies realize before our friends is that the thing which trimmed America’s claws, broke its back, and aborted its plans was neither the elections, nor trading in religion, nor beggary, but rather, was the Mujahideen’s love of martyrdom and their sacrifices in Iraq and Afghanistan, in a Jihadi resistance which the people of whims and prejudice have for so long criticized.

And I tell the Muslim Ummah: if we don’t resist, we shall be finished. Resistance is a must, and this resistance can be nothing but a popular one at the hands of the Muslim Ummah, because the governments are treasonous and many of the organizations have fallen into the swamp of impotence and going after scraps of the booty.

It is incumbent that the Muslim Ummah stand shoulder to shoulder – Mujahideen, men, women, children, elderly, scholars, thinkers, leaders and general public – to expel the Crusader and Jewish invaders from the land of Islam and establish the Islamic state which rules by Shari’ah and defends the rights of the Muslims, because the battle is not the battle of a group or organization, but is the battle of the entire Ummah. Therefore, it is imperative that we break the chains of partisanship to the groups, parties and organizations which stand between the sincere ones and their effective participation in the fighting against the trespasser enemies of Islam, and that we rush, before the opportunity passes us by, to stand in the column of Jihad against the Zionist-Crusader aggression.

So we extend our hand and invite every independent and honorable one striving to establish Allah’s Law on His earth and earnestly working to expel the Crusader and Jewish invaders from the land of Islam to cooperate with us and with every sincere one to achieve this goal.

We must bear arms. And if we are unable to bear them, then we must support those who carry them. This support comes in many forms and guises, so we must exploit all Da’wah, student and union activities to back the Jihadi resistance.

There is a critical and important role to be played by the inviters, students and unionists in backing and supporting the Jihad. They must make it easy for the Ummah’s members to join the ranks of the Mujahideen and raise funds for the Jihad. They must spread awareness in the ranks of the Ummah. They must stake out targets and observe the activities and most prominent aspects of the American-Zionist presence, and gather data and pass it on to the Mujahideen. They must support the families of the prisoners, and disseminate the Mujahideen’s public relations and rebut the fallacies of the governments and their publicists. And they must strive to declare general strikes in protest at the Zionist-Crusader aggression and the governments’ feebleness and their crushing of the demonstrations.

The popular forces must take part in rejecting the Crusader-Zionist aggression against the Muslim Ummah, and not just through demonstrations, many of whose times, places and programs are prearranged with the security forces. Rather, the popular rejection must build to applying pressure toward the expulsion of Crusader forces from the Gulf States, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt and the cancellation of the surrender accords with Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and Mauritania.

The Muslim Ummah must exploit all methods of popular protest, like demonstrations, sit-ins, strikes, refusing to pay taxes, preventing cooperation with the security forces, refusing to provide the Crusaders with fuel, hitting traders who supply the Crusader forces, boycotting Crusader and Jewish products, and other ways of popular protest.

And here I remind my Muslim brothers that rights are taken and not given, and that patience and diligence is a must in their extraction. The ruling wolves – agents of the Crusaders and Jews – shall seek to suppress the popular actions in every way possible, and perhaps the clampdown on the student demonstrations in Cairo (in protest at the students of the Islamic movement being prevented from entering the student elections) at the beginning of November is a clear example of that. However, the students will not gain their freedom, nor will anyone in Egypt or the Islamic world gain their freedom, as long as we do not intimidate, because lambs have no place in the middle of a world of wolves.

The students must take their anger to the streets, and they must make the mosques, universities, colleges and high schools centers of support for Jihad and resistance.

And in this context, I hail our Muslim brothers in