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An Appeal from Shaikh Safar al-hawali

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An Appeal from Shaikh Safar al-hawali
Bintul-Khattaab
04/17/02 at 19:16:12
Assalaamu aliakum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu

AN APPEAL TO HELP OUR PALESTINIAN BROTHERS
By Shaikh Safar b. ‘Abdur-Rahman al-Hawali
Translated from Islamtoday.net


26/1/1423, 9/4/2002

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. Blessings and Peace be upon the Seal of the Messengers. To proceed:

To discharge responsibility, and to fulfil an obligatory duty regarding the situation of our Muslim people resisting in Occupied Palestine, I would like to remind us all of the following:

The jihad of our brothers in Occupied Palestine is a great jihad in the path of Allah, to defend the sacred rights of the Muslims, to lift the oppression from themselves and to liberate their land and the land of the Muslims. They hope for the reward for what they experience of pain, worry and exhaustion. I do not know of any jihad in the path of Allah today that is better than jihad with them, for whoever has capability over that with wealth, self, words or du’a.

Therefore, assisting them is an obligatory duty and helping them is a necessarily compulsory matter upon all Muslims by the dictates of the unambiguous texts of the Book and the Sunnah. Allah said, "The believers are only a single brotherhood." He also said, "The believers, men and women, are friends and protectors of each other." He also said, "What is the matter with you, that you do not fight for the sake of Allah and the oppressed men, women and children?" The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim. He does not oppress him, he does not humiliate him, he does not betray him."

I remind myself and all my brothers of the general ayat and ahadith about the virtues of jihad, ribat and martyrdom in the way of Allah. These are well-known, and all Praise belongs to Allah. Part of that is jihad with wealth, for this is one of the greatest sacrifices and one of the best types of jihad at any time, so what about the case when there are barriers preventing the Muslims from waging jihad with their selves in Palestine? Due to the magnificent status of jihad with wealth, Allah mentioned it before jihad with the self in most places in the Noble Qur’an, such as His sayings, "Go forth, whether lightly- or heavily-equipped, and strive with your wealth and your selves in the path of Allah." (Tawbah: 41) "Those who have iman, migrate and strive in the way of Allah with their wealth and their selves, have the greatest rank before Allah. They are the truly successful." (Tawbah: 20) "O you who have iman! Shall I not point you towards a transaction that will save you from a painful punishment? You have iman in Allah and His Messenger, and you strive in the way of Allah with your wealth and your selves. That is better for you, if only you knew!" (Saff: 10-11) "The believers are only those who had iman in Allah and His Messenger, then they had no doubts, and strove with their wealth and their selves in the path of Allah. They are the truly sincere!" (Hujurat: 15)

Truly, to humiliate them or to belittle assisting them and lifting oppression and sanctions upon them is a great sin, the waste of a huge opportunity to smash the hopes of the Zionists, and is to expose all Muslims and Arabs to a critical danger. If the Muslims do not take advantage of this opportunity today, they will regret missing it until a time that only Allah knows. To distance the Ummah from this and to divert it with entertainment and sport reaches the level of criminality with regard to the rights of the Ummah and its problems.

Co-operation in assisting them with every possible type of help, apart from being a duty on the Muslims and jihad in the way of Allah as stated above, also falls in a primary sense under the saying of the Exalted, "Co-operate in goodness and piety, and do not co-operate in sin and enmity, and fear Allah, for Allah is Severe in Retribution." (Ma’idah: 2) Therefore, to encourage the Muslims to donate generously for their brothers is a righteous action, and "whoever indicates towards goodness has a reward similar to that of its doer." This would also be following the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, who used to encourage his companions to spend in the way of Allah and equip armies, as occurred in the expedition of Tabuk with the famous "army of hardship," whose story is in the two Sahihs and other collections of Hadith, and in the books of Sirah.

To convey financial and material assistance, such as weapons etc. to them falls (insha’Allah) under the statement of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, "He who equips a fighter in the way of Allah has fought, and he who provides well for his family has fought." (Bukhari & Muslim) Thus, to provide for and look after the families of the mujahideen has this great virtue. In fact, such assistance helps to save Muslim lives, so Muslims must exert themselves in this and compete in it. Further, it is extremely important to care for our Palestinian brothers resident in camps in neighbouring countries. Thus, it is a duty upon the callers to Allah, whilst we are on the threshold of the summer, to give this matter its due concern.

In spending in the way of Allah, it is fitting that the most important matters be given priority, as the Sunnah has explained. This includes giving priority to spending for the obligatory jihad in the way of Allah in this land over spending upon voluntary Hajj or other voluntary matters such as building mosques and digging wells, for the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, when asked as to which action was best, "In in Allah and His Messenger." He was asked, "Then?" He replied, "Jihad in the way of Allah." He was asked, "Then?" He replied, "Hajj mabrura." (Bukhari & Muslim)

I give glad tidings to my Muslim brothers in Palestine and elsewhere that with hardship comes ease and that victory comes with patience and perseverance, and that the position of the Zionist enemy today is worse than ever before. This is because all the options before it have narrowed down to one option, i.e. to continue in violence and destruction. If it withdraws from this, it will be an admission of defeat and the beginning of its break-up. If it continues in its action, it will fall into a bottomless pit by the permission of Allah. Therefore, it is not permissible to rescue its situation by halting the Intifadah, no matter how great the sacrifices.

Developing the methods and means of Jihad – such as targetting settlements, surprise attacks on military bases, manufacturing and improving weapons, and similarly careful and wise choice and deep penetration in martyrdom operations will only enhance this situation.

Following daily events should not distance us from observing the reality of the Zionist society from inside. It is a society covered in terror, full of mutual hatred. With every martyrdom operation, the loss of confidence in the future increases. Its economy declines continuously. The situation has reached the extent that some of the army has protested against the mass-murderer Sharon and his government, and this is regarded as a critical precedent. External sympathy decreases with every act of occupation. Any observer can see that it experiences an international isolation that it has never witnessed before, except for the Zionists in the tyrannical, oppressive government of America. From this, it is obligatory to have confidence in the help of Allah and prohibited to try to bring it out of its isolation and rescue it from its crisis.

The latest events have exposed the fact that those who have panted after a mirage of peace with this enemy since Camp David have reaped nothing but disgrace and loss. We and they see what the Palestinian authority’s security force has achieved, those who were infiltrating and monitoring the mujahideen, pointing them out to the Israeli army, and even killing them or handing them over to the enemy – so will they reflect and repent, and will others gain admonishment from their condition?

Here, we record our appreciation and thanks to the Al-Aqsa Brigades and to the leaders of the PLO who chose the option of resistance and participated with the Islamists in the noble fight. We hope that this will be a prelude to the unity of the Palestinian people with all its diversity under the banner of Islam, Jihad and the establishment of Islamic rule over its blessed land.

Normalisation of relations with an enemy whose nature is evasiveness, procrastination, betrayal and treachery – as witnessed by the Book of Allah and by its own established historical record – is to try to catch the wind or to combine contradictory matters. Beyond that, normalisation is a great danger to the Islamic creed, sanctities, values, morals, economy and culture. Since this is so clear and opposed to obvious and elementary facts, the nations who have been afflicted with normalisation ever since their governments accepted it, have rejected it and now they reject it even more strongly, so it is futile for other nations to start down that road. Thus, there is no practical way out for the Ummah except for that found in the Shari’ah: Jihad, and support of the bravery of our Muslim people and the continuation of its Intifadah. If there are societies that can express their feelings through vociferous demonstrations, there are other societies that can express theirs through generous donations and continuous spending.

What we have just established does not close the door to beneficial politics and wise diplomacy in order to attain public benefit for the ummah, support of the Jihad or preparation for it and surveillance of the enemy. In this way, the purified Shari’ah has allowed concluding truces and other maneouvres with the enemy by way of beneficial politics and to achieve legal public benefit for the Muslims. These include exposing the enemy’s stubbornness, harming its position and unveiling its reality. However, this must not entail allying with it or abandoning enmity towards it or affirming for it any established right that the Muslims, even all together, do not have the authority to hand over. This is because Allah is the one who revealed these rights and obligated them, just as He revealed and obligated enmity towards the unbelievers and striving against the transgressors. These rights include all the land of Palestine being an Islamic waqf: non-Muslims cannot own any of it except under the contract of dhimmah. The refugees’ ownership of their land is a right under the Shari’ah that passes by inheritance to their descendants until the Day of Judgment, and it is not permissible for anyone else – whoever they may be – to interfere in it all, or to waive this right.

To conclude: with every determination in appealing, and every hope in response, we urge our Muslim brothers to rush to help our brave people in the Holy Land. We remind those who strove with their wealth at the beginning of the blessed Intifadah that the need now is more severe, and that the situation now is more critical. We remind those who did not participate earlier to make up now and compete in this profitable trade. Allah will, by His permission, replace what you spend with peace in your conscience, blessings in your livelihood and light in your heart, for what is with Allah is better, and more lasting; "and whatever you send forth of goodness, you will find it with Allah, better and greater in reward." One way that will help the Muslim to help regularly and multiply his reward by the permission of Allah is to donate a constant portion of his wage, monthly salary, etc. and to encourage his relatives and friends to do that also.

We ask Allah, Most Noble, Lord of the Magnificent Throne, to Whom belongs the Creation and the Command, in Whose Hand is the Kingdom, and to Whom all matters return, to help the oppressed Muslims everywhere and to bring coolness to our eyes through the dignity of His Deen, the elevation of His Word and the disgrace of His enemies from amongst the people of the Scripture, hypocrites and mischief-makers in the earth, for He is Powerful over all things.

Ameen.

Wassalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu


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