The Azzam Fatwa
If you're an American citizen or one of its allies did you know that you
have been sentenced to death? "The ruling to
kill the Americans and their allies-civilians and military is an individual
duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible
to do it,"... If you have the stomach for it, here's the full
text of the Defence of the Muslim
Lands
.
Copyright 1999, 2001 by Yossef Bodansky, published by Random House
2001, page 223
February 20, 1998 saw the beginning of a new theological process: the legitimization
and authorization of an all-out terrorist jihad against the West, and not
just as a reaction to the ongoing crisis in Iraq. In London the Azzam Organization,
the mother organization of "Afghan" and "Bosnian" mujahideen as well as
Islamist terrorists within the émigré communities in
the West, issued the text of a dua (a prayer-sermon instructing the believer
how to answer the call of Islam) to be read in mosques worldwide during the
key Friday prayer. This dua codified the role of the anti-American jihad
over Iraq in the context of the escalating worldwide jihad. The Azzam Organization
reminded the listeners and readers that Prophet Muhammad decreed that "indeed
Dua is the weapon of the Believer."
Azzam's dua stressed the gravity of the current situation. "At this time,
whilst the Muslim Ummah [nation] is engulfed in another wave of oppression,
many Muslims are crying, shouting and issuing empty declarations."
According to the Sharia, Muslims could do three things-participate in the
jihad, contribute in support of the jihad, or identify with and pray for
the success of the jihad. All three deeds were important, for their implementation
would bring the entire community together, unified in the pursuit of a sacred
cause. "Allah knows best in what category Dua comes, but that is something
that every Muslim can and should do. In short, we ask all the Muslims everywhere
in the world, all the Mujahideen, all the righteous scholars in the prisons,
all the oppressed Muslims, all weak and poor Muslims, to join us and make
Dua to Allah against the invading forces."
The first part of the Azzam dua was a lengthy, detailed list of calamities
that could befall the U.S.-led aerial forces in the Persian Gulf, such as
air crews missing their targets on bombing runs, technical malfunctions,
and special forces becoming subject to fright. Well versed in high-tech and
modern warfare, the authors of this dua made sure that the believer repeated
a long, precise, detailed list of the calamities to befall the Western forces
arrayed against Iraq.
Then came a long list of missions and tasks to be performed by mujahideen
in the context of the current crisis. This important decree tied up all
the challenges and theaters of jihad into a single global struggle against
a common enemy:
O ALLAH! Inspire Muslims in important, strategic and influential
positions around the world to use their skills, whether it be computer knowledge
or financial ability, to RETALIATE against the enemy in every part of the
World!
O ALLAH! KUFR IS ONE NATION, so even though the MUJAHIDEEN may not be able
to retaliate in Iraq, allow your MUJAHIDEEN fighters in the other parts
of the World to retaliate against the KAFIR NATION!
O ALLAH! Cause this retaliation to come in the form of attacks by HAMAS
on Israel!
O ALLAH! Cause this retaliation to come in the form of attacks by Ibnal-Khattab
and the Foreign Mujahideen in CHECHNYA against the Russians!
O ALLAH! Cause this retaliation to come in the form of attacks by Osama
bin Laden and other brave fighters from the Arabian Gulf on the FOREIGN FORCES
in the GULF COUNTRIES!
O ALLAH! Cause this retaliation to come in the form of intensified attacks
on the Hindu forces in KASHMIR!
O ALLAH! Cause this retaliation to come in the form of intensified attacks
on ISRAEL from Mujahideen across the borders of Jordan and Lebanon!
O ALLAH! Cause the RIGHTEOUS SCHOLARS IN THE ARABIAN GULF to rebel against
the foreign policies of their Governments and speak out for the TRUTH!
O ALLAH! Cause the authorities of Muslim countries to turn a BLIND EYE
on retaliatory attacks by Mujahideen on Foreign Forces on their soils!
O ALLAH! CAUSE SO MUCH DAMAGE AND DESTRUCTION AND CONFUSION TO THE INVADING
FORCES THAT THEY LEARN A LESSON WHICH WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY AND CAUSE
THEM LOSSES WHICH WILL MAKE THEIR GULF WAR LOSSES LOOK LIKE NOTHING!
Given the control and influence exercised by the Azzam Organization over
the myriad of mujahideen in the West, in particular "Afghans" and "Bosnians,"
their call for a comprehensive jihad constituted a major development.
A series of fatwas followed, by the leaders of the key groups and organizations
that would actually implement this call to arms and uncompromising jihad.
These fatwas outlined the objectives and analysis of militant Islamism in
conjunction and accordance with the centers of Islamist leadership in Khartoum,
Tehran, Islamabad, and London. The key fatwa was primarily the work of Osama
bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Rifai Ahmad Taha (Abu-Yassir) and so was
a major achievement in furthering Islamist militant unity despite the ideological
differences and doctrinal disagreements between Zawahiri and Taha. The call
for violence followed the dua's announcement that a single world of Kufr
threatened the entire Muslim world and Islamist revivalism as a whole. Now
viable, legitimate targets for the Islamists' jihad could be found anywhere
on earth.
The first Islamist fatwa in this series was also issued on February 20
and set the tone and direction for the call to jihad. Professor Bernard
Lewis, a leading scholar on Islam, called this fatwa "a magnificent piece
of eloquent, at times even poetic, Arabic prose." In essence the fatwa announced
the establishment of a "world front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders"-now
known as the World Islamic Front-and declared its commitment to "kill the
Americans, civilians and military" in retaliation for any U.S. attack on
Iraq or any other demonstration of hostility anywhere else in the Muslim
world. The term Crusaders was used to stress the continuity of threats
posed by foreign forces pest !n the Middle East, such as the U.S. forces
in Saudi Arabia, and as a reminder of the ultimate victory of the Muslim
forces over the original Crusaders. The fatwa decreed that the U.S. threat
was profound and all-encompassing because "U.S. aggression is affecting Muslim
civilians, not just the military." The key signers were Sheikh Osama bin
Muhammad bin Laden; Ayman al-Zawahiri; Rifai Ahmad Taha (Abu-Yassir); Sheikh
Mir Hamzah, secretary of the jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan; Fazlul Rahman Khalil,
leader of the Ansar Movement in Pakistan; and Sheikh Abdul Salam Muhammad,
emir of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh.
The establishment of the World Islamic Front was a major achievement for
the Islamist terrorist groups sponsored by Iran, Sudan, and Pakistan. In
jointly signing the fatwa, high-level Islamist sources stressed, these leaders
"put their differences aside and agreed to unify the aim for which they are
working" and were "in the process of drawing up mechanisms for implementing
what was stated in the statement." The prominence given to Pakistani and
Bangladeshi Islamist leaders was "aimed at expanding the area containing
U.S. targets against which operations can be carried out and at splitting
the efforts of security services in more than one state." This distinction
was intended to reinforce the declaration of a comprehensive worldwide jihad
in the dua of the Azzam Organization.
According to the authors of this fatwa, the world situation in early 1998
was uniquely grave because it brought to the fore a three-element U.S.led
conspiracy against both Muslims and Islam. The three elements were (1) the
U.S. occupation of the Arabian Peninsula, its economic exploitation, and
its use as a springboard for aggression against sisterly Iraq; (2) the continued
slaughter of the Muslims of Iraq by the "the Crusader-Zionist alliance";
and (3) the furthering of the interests of "the Jews' petty state" in conspiring
"to destroy Iraq, the strongest neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor
to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt,
and Sudan into paper statelets and through their disunion and weakness to
guarantee Israel's survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation
of the [Arabian] Peninsula."
The authors decreed: "All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans
are a clear declaration of war on Allah, his Messenger, and Muslims. And
ulema have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the Jihad is
an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries .... On that
basis, and in compliance with God's order, we issue the following Fatwa to
all Muslims":
The ruling to kill the Americans
and their allies-civilians and military is an individual duty for every Muslim
who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to
liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque [in Jerusalem] and the Holy Mosque [in Mecca]
from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands
of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim ... We -- with
God's help call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded
to comply with God's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money
wherever and whenever they find it. We also call on Muslim ulema, leaders,
youths, and soldiers to launch the raid on Satan's U.S. troops and the devil's
supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them so
that they may learn a lesson.
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