October 19, 2000

London-Based Islamic Group Issues Fatwa against Israel

Yael Shahar and Ely Karmon

ICT

As violence flared between Yasser Arafat's Fatah activists and Israeli troops, the London based al-Muhajiroun group issued a fatwa (religious edict) calling for Jihad against Israel. The Fatwa was published on the group's website and sent out by email.

The fatwa calls on Muslims all over the world to attack Israeli interests. "this Fatwa is a call to fight against Israeli forces, their government, Israeli Embassies, military airports and jets etc...as they are legitimate targets for Muslims wherever they may be," reads the fatwa, adding "The Israeli cancer in Palestine must be uprooted. Islam obliges us to liberate all Muslim land from occupiers whoever they may be whether American, Jewish Israeli or other forces."

"We must act now and rise against the presence of Israelis in Muslim countries and close down their illegitimate embassies and companies." The document concludes, "The Jihad against the Jews occupying Palestine will continue until they withdraw completely from the whole of Palestine."

The following is the text of a fatwa (religious edict) published and disseminated by e-mail by the AL-MUHAJIROUN, a radical Islamist organization based in Great Britain.

JIHAD FATWA AGAINST ISRAEL
CASE NO. ISRAEL/M/F50
DATE: 2ND OCTOBER 2000

O' Muslims, the naked aggression and atrocities committed against the people of Palestine, such as killing them, desecrating the Mosque of Al-Aqsa and throwing them out of their land and homes is a violation of the sanctity of Human Beings and their honour which requires an immediate and comprehensive solution including putting the perpetrators of these crimes on trial. The Islamic Decree regarding the occupation of Palestine by the Jews is Jihad for the sake of Allah (swt) and the divine evidence for this from the Qur'an is that Allah (swt) says: "If anyone commits aggression against you retaliate against them in equal manner" [EMQ 2:194].

And this is compulsory upon the nearest Muslims to them and a burden upon Muslims worldwide to support and help.

O' Muslims, this Fatwa is a call to fight against Israeli forces, their government, Israeli Embassies, military airports and jets etc...as they are legitimate targets for Muslims wherever they may be. The divine evidence for this from the Qur'an is that Allah (swt) says: "And kill them wherever you meet them and turn them out from where they have turned you out" [EMQ 2: 191].

However, it is prohibited to target any non-military or innocent Jews because this would be considered to be murder and therefore aggression against the sanctity of Human life. The divine evidence for this from the Qur'an is that Allah (swt) says: "Fight for the sake of God those who fight you and do not do transgression for Allah loves not the transgressors" [EMQ 2:190]

The Muslims in Palestine have appealed for help therefore it is an obligation upon Muslims worldwide to respond and help verbally, physically, financially or militarily. The divine evidence for this from the Qur'an is that Allah (swt) says: "If they seek your support you must support them " [EMQ 8:72]. And for Allah (swt) saying: "And spend for the cause of Allah (i.e. Jihad) and do not contribute to your destruction by your miserliness" [EMQ 2:195]

And "Why must you not fight for the sake of Allah and of those who, being weak, are ill treated and oppressed, men, women and children whose cry is: our Lord rescue us from those people who are oppressors and raise for us from thee one who will protect, and raise for us from thee one who will help" [EMQ 4:75]

There is no prohibition to be kind to those who do not fight against you rather it is prohibited to be kind to those who fight you. The divine evidence for this from the Qur'an is that Allah (swt) says: "God only forbids you with regard to those who fight you for your faith and drive you out of your homes and support others in driving you out from turning to them for friendship and protection or to be kind to them and whoever does so indeed they are the oppressors (i.e. Sinners)" [EMQ 60:9]

The above divine evidences are a clear and a decisive verdict for the atrocities, which have been taking place in Palestine over the last fifty-three years. Therefore Muslims are obliged to fight against their enemies and to help each other. In addition the Islamic verdict regarding Prime Minister Barak and his commanders is for them to be put on trial in any independent Islamic court for their crimes and for capital punishment to be applied. Allah (SWT) says: "This is a declaration to the people so that they may be warned"

All praise is for Allah (swt) who alone we obey, worship, follow and to whom we submit, ask forgiveness and depend upon. And Allah (swt) says: "Indeed Allah has traded with the believers their lives and wealth in return for paradise if they fight for the cause of Allah whether they are martyred or victorious and this is a promise from Allah which he has made a duty upon himself clearly recorded in the Torah, the Bible and the Qur'an. And who is more faithful in his promise than Allah; so enjoy this good news for your allegiance and loyalty to your Lord for this is the greatest achievement." [EMQ 9:111]

Conclusion:

The Jihad against the Jews occupying Palestine will continue until they withdraw completely from the whole of Palestine including the Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip because any aggression against any Muslim property or land by any Kuffar or non-Muslim forces whether American, British or the Jews of Israeli makes Jihad (i.e. fighting) against them an obligation upon all Muslims.

To ally or to seek assistance of non-Muslim states is prohibited, a sin and a grave crime not to mention a betrayal of Allah (swt), His Messenger and all the believers. Hence whosoever among you allows his country to become a base for American, Jewish or other kufr forces or conspires and makes Muslim land a passage for any non-Muslim forces whether it be via sea, land or air, assisting directly or indirectly, an attack against Muslims in any part of the world will be at war with Allah (swt) and His Messenger. He will be humiliating himself before Allah (swt) and before the whole Ummah who will never forgive this ugly crime even if the perpetrator erects barriers to hide behind.

Any agreements and summits between the enemies of Islam whether G7, G8, the UN or with so-called Muslim representatives such as the PLO or Arabs of the Middle East in order to give away even a hand-span of Muslim land or to oppress and fight the Islamic movements or to arrest their members or to hand them over to the enemy in response to the Jews of Israel is considered to be war against Allah and his Messenger Muhammad (saw).

The Israeli cancer in Palestine must be uprooted. Islam obliges us to liberate all Muslim land from occupiers whoever they may be whether American, Jewish Israeli or other forces.

The Fatwa is therefore JIHAD against the Jewish occupiers, their government, army, interests, airports and institutions and it has been given by the most prominent scholars of Islam today because of the occupation of Muslim land and aggression against the Muslims of Palestine. The only Islamic Fatwa against this explicit aggression is Jihad.

Therefore the message for the Jews occupying Palestine is to leave and return to where they came from or face a full scale war of Jihad which will be the responsibly and the duty of every Muslim around the world to participate in.

O Mujahideen, O Muslim Armies and Activists wherever you are. Hold firm to the book of Allah and depend on none but him, fight the enemy of Islam and Muslims for the sake of none but Him and aim your weapons at the occupiers forces.

Let us salute Muslims in Palestine for their brave and generous stand. May Allah support you with patience, victory, dignity and the power to liberate the WHOLE of Palestine and to establish the Khilafah.

O Muslim Armies, We Muslims must not be attached to life nor run from death. Life's pleasures will come to us inevitably because God has granted us all the treasures of the world; we have oil, gold, water, resources, land, people, history and more importantly we have the Qur'an and we are the grand-children of an Ummah (Islamic Nation) which was the superpower for over a thousand years.

We must return back to our roots, support Muslims wherever they are, verbally, financially and militarily before the enemy enslave us and humiliate us more. This matter a very dangerous one for it requires us to sacrifice life, wealth and blood for its sake. Remember that the dignity of a Nation cannot be measured with land or wealth because the dignity of a Nation is not goods to trade with, therefore we must stand and engage in Jihad and support the Mujahideen, for death is better than humiliation before the disbelievers.

O Muslims, the opportunity is here and we must not pass it by. The battle is tense and our Muslim brothers are firm in their Jihad so we must not lose time aimlessly. We must act now and rise against the presence of Israelis in Muslim countries and close down their illegitimate embassies and companies. Verily, the Ummah is our Ummah, their war is our war, their enemy is our enemy, the Mujahideen are our brothers, their victory or defeat is our victory or defeat and the Khilafah is our Khilafah.

O Muslim Armies, Mujahideen, Scholars and activists, the Book of our Lord calls us, The Ummah cries for us and Paradise awaits us, Let us fight the Jewish occupiers, for a new dawn is near at hand.

Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad - Amir of Al-Muhajiroun & Judge of The Shari'ah Court of The UK
The Shari'ah Court of The UK

Tel: 0208 880 4628 Fax: 0208 803 4541 Mobile: 07956 92 0006 or 07956 600 569

Internet: www.almuhajiroun.com - www.obm.clara.net - www.shariah.com
E-mail: shariah@england.com

IN CO-OPERATION WITH THE SOCIETY OF MUSLIM LAWYERS AND THE LONDON SCHOOL OF SHARI'AH

A week after this fatwa was published a document entitled "Advice & Warning to all Jews & Muslims in the UK" was sent out by email from Al-Muhajiroun's offices in London. The text of this document is reproduced here:

Press Release Dated 17th October 2000

ADVICE -&- WARNING TO ALL JEWS -&- MUSLIMS IN THE UK

Following the stabbing of a Jew in Stamford Hill we issue this press release as a warning to all Jews and Muslims in the UK and elsewhere so that they can be aware of the consequences of the conflict taking place in Palestine under the occupation of Israeli Jews and of the consequences of the hostilities and aggression for Israeli interests and aggressors world-wide.

We would like to make it abundantly clear that it is an Islamic obligation upon Muslims everywhere to support the Jihad against those who fight Muslims anywhere in the world or who occupy Muslim land and that this support must be financial, physical, military or verbal. However Muslims must be disciplined and ensure that they do not target any civilians or any person who are not a legitimate target according to the Shari'ah. Hence we hereby publicly condemn the stabbing of the Jew in North London as a violation of the Shari'ah and call upon all Jews to distance themselves completely from the atrocities being committed by the fascist Israeli regime against Muslims in Palestine. We urge Jews in the UK and elsewhere not to show any support for the Israeli regime whether verbal, financial or physical or they may allow themselves to become targets for Muslims everywhere.

The Qur'an is explicit in making Israeli aggressors and occupiers legitimate targets for Muslims wherever they may be. The divine evidence for this from the Qur'an is that Allah (swt) says: "And kill them wherever you meet them and turn them out from where they have turned you out" [EMQ 2: 191] and " If anyone commits aggression against you retaliate against them in equal manner" [EMQ 2:194] and "Fight for the sake of God those who fight you and do not do transgression for Allah loves not the transgressors" [EMQ 2:190]

Muslims in the UK must also be vigilant in ensuring that they do not fall into the trap of supporting Yassar Arafat and the nationalistic call for an independent Palestine of 13% of what was occupied in 1967 since this is an affront to Islam, rather we must struggle for the liberation of all Muslim land occupied since 1948! Arafat is an oppressor no better than Mubarak and Fahad as one who has violated the Shari'ah, who does not call for the Islamic solution, who does not therefore stand for the interests of Muslims and who has alliances with those at war with Islam and Muslims which is prohibited in Islam. In addition Muslims in the UK must distance themselves from those who go with their begging bowls to Blair to ask for his help when it is the British themselves who are killing us in Iraq, it is the British who support Israel, it is they who gave Palestine away in the first place under the Balfour Declaration and it is they who spearheaded the destruction of the Islamic state!!!

In response to the killing of a Jew in North London Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, the Principal Judge of The Shari'ah Court of The UK said: `I warn and advise the Jewish community in the UK to distance themselves from the state of Israel. Muslims are not after the Jewish nations and communities around the world although Muslims are obliged to target those who are aggressors or occupiers regardless of their religion or colour, whether they be Russian forces in Chechnya, Hindu forces in kashmir or Jewish forces in Palestine or indeed in any part of the world.

Therefore if you support Israel financially, verbally or physically you will become part of the conflict.'

Sheikh Omar added in a talk delivered in Derby yesterday: `I call upon Muslim around the world to march towards their government buildings, parliament and presidential palaces, to occupy them and to depose their leaders as a step forward and to take charge and send the Muslim armies to fight the aggressors and occupiers and to establish the Khilafah (i.e. the Islamic State)'

In addition he said `I call the Muslims world-wide to resist all man made law wherever they are and to introduce Islamic law'

He added `It is wrong to burn the US, UK and Israeli flags alone, rather these must be burnt together with the flags of the Arab regimes including that of Palestine because the issue of Palestine is not a Palestinian or Arab issue rather it is an Islamic issue concerning Muslims world-wide.'

Moreover the Sheikh said: `I pray to almighty god to unite Muslims world-wide against the secular man-made regimes and to implement Islam the way God has united the Muslims world-wide against the occupiers'

NB. PLEASE SUPPORT THE DEMONSTRATION THIS FRIDAY 20TH OCTOBER 00 FROM REGENTS PARK MOSQUE TO THE EGYPTIAN EMBASSY AFTER JUMMA PRAYER

Issued by Mr. Anjem Choudary
UK Leader of Al-Muhajiroun
-&- Chairman of The Society of Muslim Lawyers

THE KHILAFAH MOVEMENT
-&- Al-Maddad (Recruiting and raising Funds and awareness for
Jihad)

Tel: 0208 880 4628 Mobile: 0956 92 0006 or 0956 600 569

Al-Muhajiroun: background

Al-Muhajiroun seeks to establish a "world Islamic state." The group's leader, Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, is a judge of the Shari'ah Court of the UK. He was the founding leader of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the Islamic Liberation Party in Britain before splitting from the Party over differences with it's Middle Eastern-based leadership.

Muhammad, who sought asylum in Britain after leaving his native Syria advocates setting up an Islamic state in the U.K. "One day the black flag of Islam will be flying over Downing Street," says another al-Muhajiroun organizer, Anjem Choudray.

In 1998 al-Muhajiroun led protests in London against the British role in compelling Iraq to allow inspection of weapons sites. It has called on Muslims to use "all means" to oppose the Britain and its American allies. In December, 1999 the group issued a fatwa bearing the authority of the Shari'ah Court of the UK, following a ruling by the Beirut-based International Islamic Front, calling for the assassination of Russian President Yeltsin. The group said the Russian embassy in London and similar establishments were also "legitimate targets."

Links to Osama bin Ladin
But al-Muhajiroun is best known as the only Western-based Islamic group that came out in open support of the bombings of the American Embassies in East Africa in August 1998. Muhammad claims to act as a spokesman of Osama bin Laden. Throughout 1998 the al-Muhajiroun website carried bin Laden's communiqués.

After the attacks against the American Embassies, the group published an endorsement of the bombings, saying "Al-Muhajiroun salutes the message that has been sent - American interests are not safe anywhere in the world."

ICT's Ely Karmon Comments:
This fatwa is in fact a call to all Muslims to perpetrate acts of terrorism, not only in Palestine against Israelis, or against Israeli military forces, but also all over the world against “Israeli embassies and companies…interests, airports and institutions.” This call to arms in fact contradicts the prohibition not “to target any non-military or innocent Jews because this would be considered to be murder.”

It should be remembered that al-Muhajiroun was one of the few Islamist groups that openly and publicly supported Osama bin-Laden’s terrorist attacks against the American embassies in Nairobi, Kenia and Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania, in August 1998.

This support to the most extremist element in the international Islamist network is a proof of the larger goals of these movements. There goals include the “liberation” of the Muslim lands form atheist or corrupt Muslim regimes, the fight against the influence and presence of the Western “imperialist” countries on Muslim soil and the eradication of the “Zionist entity” from Palestine. However they also seek to bring about the establishment of the Islamic empire (Al-Khilafah) and the domination of Islam all over the world, so candidly expressed by the al-Muhajiroun in its London demonstrations.

See www.almuhajiroun.com/press/290900.htm