World Islamic Front Statement-their justification

[Guest guest]

For those who are wondering what this is all about..the following is a

statement agreed upon by the organizations listed below. Enlightening

and frightening.

Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders

World Islamic Front Statement

23 February 1998

Shaykh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin

Ayman al-Zawahiri, amir of the Jihad Group in Egypt

Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, Egyptian Islamic Group

Shaykh Mir Hamzah, secretary of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan

Fazlul Rahman, amir of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh

Praise be to God, who revealed the Book, controls the clouds,

defeats factionalism, and says in His Book: " But

when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the

pagans wherever ye find them, seize them, beleaguer

them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war) " ; and

peace be upon our Prophet, Muhammad

Bin-'Abdallah, who said: I have been sent with the sword between

my hands to ensure that no one but God is

worshipped, God who put my livelihood under the shadow of my

spear and who inflicts humiliation and scorn on

those who disobey my orders.

The Arabian Peninsula has never -- since God made it flat,

created its desert, and encircled it with seas -- been

stormed by any forces like the crusader armies spreading in it

like locusts, eating its riches and wiping out its

plantations. All this is happening at a time in which nations are

attacking Muslims like people fighting over a plate of

food. In the light of the grave situation and the lack of

support, we and you are obliged to discuss current events,

and we should all agree on how to settle the matter.

No one argues today about three facts that are known to everyone;

we will list them, in order to remind everyone:

First, for over seven years the United States has been

occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of

places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches,

dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people,

terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the

Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight

the neighboring Muslim peoples.

If some people have in the past argued about the fact of the

occupation, all the people of the

Peninsula have now acknowledged it. The best proof of this

is the Americans' continuing aggression

against the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging

post, even though all its rulers are against

their territories being used to that end, but they are

helpless.

Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi

people by the crusader-Zionist alliance,

and despite the huge number of those killed, which has

exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the

Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific

massacres, as though they are not content

with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war

or the fragmentation and devastation.

So here they come to annihilate what is left of this people

and to humiliate their Muslim neighbors.

Third, if the Americans' aims behind these wars are

religious and economic, the aim is also to serve

the Jews' petty state and divert attention from its

occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims

there. The best proof of this is their eagerness 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

Peninsula.

All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans are a clear

declaration of war on God, 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. This was revealed by Imam

Bin-Qadamah in " Al- Mughni, " Imam al-Kisa'i

in " Al-Bada'i, " al-Qurtubi in his interpretation, and the shaykh

of al-Islam in his books, where he said: " As for the

fighting to repulse [an enemy], it is aimed at defending sanctity

and religion, and it is a duty as agreed [by the

ulema]. Nothing is more sacred than belief except repulsing an

enemy who is attacking religion and life. "

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 [EMPHASIS ADDED], in order to

liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [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. This is in accordance with the words of

Almighty God, " and fight the pagans all together as they fight

you all together, " and " fight them until there is no

more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in

God. "

This is in addition to the words of Almighty God: " And why should

ye not fight in the cause of God and of those

who, being weak, are ill-treated (and oppressed)? -- women and

children, whose cry is: 'Our Lord, rescue us

from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us

from thee one who will help!' "

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.

Almighty God said: " O ye who believe, give your response to God

and His Apostle, when He calleth you to that

which will give you life. And know that God cometh between a man

and his heart, and that it is He to whom ye

shall all be gathered. "

Almighty God also says: " O ye who believe, what is the matter

with you, that when ye are asked to go forth in the

cause of God, ye cling so heavily to the earth! Do ye prefer the

life of this world to the hereafter? But little is the

comfort of this life, as compared with the hereafter. Unless ye

go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty,

and put others in your place; but Him ye would not harm in the

least. For God hath power over all things. "

Almighty God also says: " So lose no heart, nor fall into despair.

For ye must gain mastery if ye are true in faith. "