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
Fazlur Rahman, amir of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh

Praise be to Allah, who revealed the Book, controls the clouds, defeats factionalism, and says in His Book: "But when the sacred months have past, then kill the Mushrikûn (idolators, polytheists, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah, pagans) wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)"([009.005]); 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 Allah is worshipped ([BUKHARI 001.008.037], [MUSLIM 001.0033]), Allah who put my livelihood under the shadow of my spear and who inflicts humiliation and scorn on those who disobey my orders ([BUKHARI 004.052.163]).

The Arabian Peninsula has never -- since Allah 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.

Interrupting for a moment, this allegation is purely religious and has nothing to do with American policy. First and foremost, our presence on the Arabian Peninsula goes no further than the Prince Sultan Air Base, approximately 40 miles south of Riyadh. There are no more than 4,500 American troops stationed there, and we are there at the invitation of King Fahd. Our troops have gone nowhere near the two Holy Mosques (in Mecca and Medina), nor are we plundering its riches. It has been used as a spearhead to fight Iraq, but the fact that Iraq was attacked in Desert Storm is not Bin Laden's problem. Bin Laden's problem is he wanted to muster his mujahideen to drive the Iraqi army away from Arabia, yet the royal family relied on the infidel American-led coalition to do the job. Bin Laden's principle gripe here is with the Sauds, who preferred the protection of Jews and Christians ([005.051]) over the mujahideen, not the Americans. We are merely guilty by association. Continuing:

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.

As the links show, there was a vehicle to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people caused by the UN sanctions--the Oil for Food program--and it was Saddam and the UN who robbed and looted the money that should have went to feed and provide medical care for them. Bin Laden and al Qaeda have issued no apology for this baseless accusation. Continued:

On that basis, and in compliance with Allah'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 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 Allah, "and fight against the Mushrikûn (polytheists, pagans, idolaters, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) collectively, as they fight against you collectively," ([009.036]) and "fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and polytheism: i.e. worshipping others besides Allah) and the religion (worship) will all be for Allah Alone [in the whole of the world]". ([008.034])

This is in addition to the words of Almighty Allah: "And what is wrong with you that you fight not in the Cause of Allah, and for those weak, ill­treated and oppressed among men, women, and children, whose cry is: 'Our Lord! Rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from You one who will protect, and raise for us from You one who will help.'" ([004.075])

We -- with Allah's help -- call on every Muslim who believes in Allah and wishes to be rewarded to comply with Allah's order [003.152] to kill the Americans and plunder their money [008.069] 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 [008.057].

Almighty Allah said: "O you who believe! Answer Allah and His Messenger, when He calls you to that which will give you life. And know that Allah comes in between a person and his heart, and verily to Him you shall all be gathered." [008.024]

Almighty Allah also says: "O you who believe! What is the matter with you, that when you are asked to march forth in the cause of Allah (Jihad) you cling heavily to the earth? Are you pleased with the life of this world rather than the Hereafter? But little is the enjoyment of the life of this world compared to the Hereafter. If you march not forth, He will punish you with a painful torment and will replace you by another people, and you cannot harm Him at all, and Allah is Able to do all things." [009.038-039]

Almighty Allah also says: "So do not become weak, nor be sad, and you will be superior (in victory) if you are indeed (true) believers." [003.139]

In this first statement you see a pattern which will recur again and again and again: wild, contradicting, and baseless accusations against the West, particularly America, littered with religious validation to fight and kill us. Global Islamic domination is the goal, as ordered by Allah and His apostle, not freedom from American oppression, unless of course you view "oppression" from the Islamic point of view, which is the mere fact that others besides Allah are worshipped in His Creation; that Mankind lives by other laws beside the Shari'a.