Saturday, November 19, 2005
This week, Time Magazine is running a profile on a 'moderate' American Muslim leader named Mohamed Magid:
It's not a bad idea to read it in full. The article focuses on Imam Magid's efforts -- typical amongst religious shepherds -- to handle the balancing act of respecting tradition while dealing with his co-religionists' need to move and exist in a modern society. The other thing highlighted here is Magid's open door policy with respect to American law enforcement -- particularly the FBI.
Magid apparently had sufficient concern after the appearance of the article to issue a statement on his web site that attempts to clarify a few things. Among other matters, he notes:
The article also stated that I " kept the newcomer in his office until agents showed up to question him" Referring to a certain incident we had few months ago at ADAMS Center. In this case, I would like to make clear that the brother involved had been reported to the law enforcement by another person. When the matter came to my attention I informed him that he had been reported to the authorities. The brother asked if he could wait in my office, with an interpreter, so that he could clear his name with the law enforcement. I waited with him in my office, and the matter was settled by a respectful and understanding agent...
In case, however, one may have missed the point, the following Fatwa appeared posted on the email list of a group of folks currently very interested in assuring the world that they have nothing whatsoever to do with extremism (the mailing list is now hosted by the local Muslim American Society -- possibly as a result of some previous embarrassing postings), and directly in response to the Time article listed above. It is the Fatwa issued by Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad in March of 2004 and was posted, BTW, by an individual who apparently teaches martial arts to young Muslim men.
Who is Omar Bakri Muhammad?
The Fatwa is entitled "Allying with the Disbelievers" and the posting states in part:
And for those who go to fight, remember that the Prophet (saw) forbade Muslims from pointing even a small knife at another Muslim, even as a joke, when he (saw) said: “Whoever points a small knife or piece of metal jokingly towards his Muslim brother, the angels will curse him and he will never smell paradise.” If this is the case for a person who only points a weapon towards a Muslim, what about if he was involved in carrying machine guns, driving tanks, arresting and imprisoning Muslims or fighting and killing them? The Messenger Muhammad (saw) said: “A Muslim is the one from whose hand and tongue his Muslim brother is secure.”
So fear Allah Oh Muslims, bring an end to working as spies, police, soldiers, ministers and politicians for the Taaghout and re-take your shahaadah...
Do all of the subscribers to the list subscribe also to the message of this ominous Fatwa? Undoubtedly, no! Has anyone posted to distance themselves from or sanction the person who did post this? Not that I've seen (and it is dated for Thursday evening).
(The text of the entire posting as it appeared on the mailing list is in the extended entry.)
[Update: Related, and also in the extended entry. Freedom House's survey, "Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American Mosques," found that Imam Magid's Mosque was one of those where such publications were found. Hat Tip to Andrew Bostom for the pointer.]
Begin quote of posting:
After the invasion of Iraq the hidden agenda of the American government and its alliance has become clear for all, whether they are near or far from the region. This agenda is the destruction of Islam and re-drawing the map of the region. This is manifest in the speech of many American senators who could not keep it secret and ambiguous.
It is natural to hear that the Kuffaar (non-Muslims) are fighting the believers, because the animosity of the Kuffaar towards Muslims is an almighty tradition which will always remain, as Allah (swt) says in the Qur'aan: “…And they will never cease fighting you until they turn you back from your Deen (Islam) if they can…” [EMQ al-Baqarah, 2: 217]
The divine wisdom of Allah (swt) necessitates that the believers will be tested by the disbelievers, and the disbelievers will be tested by the believers, in order for those who will obey him and fight for His sake, to prevail. The one who declines and allies with the disbelievers, following their path, will be doomed in Hellfire, for Allah (swt) says: “If Allah wished, you would be victorious over them, but (he lets you fight) in order to test some of you with others. But those who are killed in the way of Allah, He will never let their deeds be lost.” [EMQ Muhammad, 47: 4]
Therefore we must not be surprised that the disbelievers are planning to destroy Islam and Muslims, because that is one of their main tasks, even though it is impossible for them to achieve, as their plot will always be exposed until the Day of Judgement. Allah (swt) says: “We will test you in order to see who the Mujaahid (warrior) among you is and who are firm…” [EMQ Muhammad, 47: 31]
Nobody can argue about the animosity of the disbelievers towards the believers, and their plot against them, except the ignorant i.e. those whose opinions are meaningless. However, what is surprising is to see Muslims going astray having been misled by those who are impressed with the disbelievers and their plots, and surely nobody is impressed by the disbelievers but the ignorant.
Part of the ignorance and apostasy we see is that Muslims ally with the disbelievers and join their forces, and then call themselves "British Muslim" as members of the British army. They travel long distances, not to liberate places like Jerusalem, but rather in order to stand with the disbelievers and harm Muslims in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in Palestine etc.
Dear Muslims, it has come to our attention that some Muslims have been misled by other defeated, deviant Muslims who request, on behalf of the British government, for Muslims to join the British army in their onslaught and crusade against Islam and Muslims. And a similar example can be found for some Muslims in America, who have also started to join the US army. Allah (swt) forbids this explicitly in the Qur'aan: “O Believers, do not take the Jews and Christians as an alliance, they are only allies to each other, and whosoever allies with them, he is one of them, and Allah does not guide the oppressors.” [EMQ al-Maa-idah, 5: 51-52]
And: “You will never find any people who believe in Allah and the Last Day, making friendship with those who oppose Allah and His Messenger (i.e. the Kuffaar and apostates), even though they were their fathers, or their sons, or their brothers, or their kindred (people).” (EMQ al-Mujaadalah, 58: 22)
This alliance with the Kuffaar (disbelievers) can be one of two; either they will be sinful if they stand with the Kuffaar or they will become apostates (kaafir murtad) if they engage in fighting against Muslims. Some Muslims in the British and US armies have started to participate with them in fighting against their Muslim brothers in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is clear naked aggression against all Muslims, and Muslims are obliged to reject it, resist it and fight them as a matter of obligation, Eemaan, al-Walaa’ wal-Baraa’ and Tawheed.
As for those British Muslims that join the army, they will thereby be sinful, and if any one of them goes to Muslim countries to fight side-by-side with the British and US forces against Muslims will become apostates, being at war with Islam and Muslims, and their life and wealth will have no sanctity. They will be treated like the disbelievers as clear enemies to Islam and Muslims and consequently, become legitimate targets for the Mujaahideen. Moreover if they die they will die outside of the fold of Islam, and they will never be dignified in their death nor buried with the Muslims.
This can be seen in the present example of Pakistan, where the kaafir murtad harbi Musharraf is explicitly and eagerly supporting the kuffaar by killing and arresting Muslims. Anybody who is on his side, supporting him to kill Muslims and obeying his commands, he/she is outside the fold of Islam.
Indeed the ruler or president is the representative of his people, hence those who participate in elections, appointing a ruler that has a policy of supporting the disbelievers and killing Muslims, they have joint liability with the ruler (the citizens and its ruler are one entity).
Therefore we warn the Muslims wherever they are, particularly those Muslims in Iraq and Pakistan, not to offer any moral, financial, military or physical support in the onslaught against Islam and Muslims in the region, though the enemies may attempt to take Muslims onto their side. Allah (swt) designated people in this Ummah that will direct others that go astray, May Allah protect us all.
As for those who are allied with the Kuffaar and work for them as spies, whether through the MI5, Metropolitan Police or as soldiers in their army; we ask them to give up their apostasy immediately, for Allah (swt) says: “And from mankind there are some who say: 'We believe in Allah and the Last day' while in fact they do not believe. They think to deceive Allah and those who believe, while they only deceive themselves, but they perceive not.” [EMQ al-Baqarah, 2: 8-9]
One of their deceptions is that they claim to be believers, yet they spy on Muslims or they go abroad to fight them, or they report them to the Kuffaar. If they claim to do so as no more than a job, we remind them of the saying of the Messenger Muhammad (saw), who said: “Whoever earns a bite of food by reporting or spying on Muslims, Allah will feed him the equivalent in the Hellfire, and whoever wears clothes earned from spying against Muslims, Allah will clothe him with Hellfire.” [Narrated in Saheeh al-Bukhaari, in Kitaab ul-Adab]
And for those who go to fight, remember that the Prophet (saw) forbade Muslims from pointing even a small knife at another Muslim, even as a joke, when he (saw) said: “Whoever points a small knife or piece of metal jokingly towards his Muslim brother, the angels will curse him and he will never smell paradise.” If this is the case for a person who only points a weapon towards a Muslim, what about if he was involved in carrying machine guns, driving tanks, arresting and imprisoning Muslims or fighting and killing them? The Messenger Muhammad (saw) said: “A Muslim is the one from whose hand and tongue his Muslim brother is secure.”
So fear Allah Oh Muslims, bring an end to working as spies, police, soldiers, ministers and politicians for the Taaghout and re-take your shahaadah.
Oh Allah, be the witness that we have conveyed the message
in response to the following
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1129587,00.html
Copyright 2005 Time Inc. All rights reserved.
=End Quote=
Related additional information:
AEI Transcript: Saudi Government Propaganda in the United States: Avowed Ally or Secret Enemy?
QUESTION: My name is Mohamed Magid. I'm imam and executive director of ADAMS Center, All Dulles Area Muslim Society. I've also been mentioned in the study. But I really represent my community this time before here today and to tell you the problem of the report. It's not what you find in the Saudi literature, but how our community around us, Christian and Jews--we've been working with them for years--have looked onto this and said this does not represent ADAMS, how that happened. The piece of pamphlet you say you found at ADAMS Center said that Muslims should not become a citizen of the country. ADAMS Center has held three workshops in the center with the Catholic Charities for people to become citizens. We have Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts in our center. We invited people, politicians always to speak at ADAMS. We have registered people, work registration, to vote. We have politicians visiting ADAMS all the time.
I would like to extend an invitation to the panel to visit ADAMS Center, and have letters here for invitations, so you can see us. The problem the report--
MS. PLETKA: You had a question, please?
QUESTION: My question is how are you going to respond to my community, which is you get an impression in the report that ADAMS Center believes in such ideology. We don't believe in that ideology.
MS. PLETKA: Okay. Okay.
QUESTION: But the problem is that the hatred can come toward ADAMS Center and the Muslim community.
MS. PLETKA: Okay. Thank you.
MS. SHEA: Well, I thank you for coming in person and expressing your grievance. I know you sent us an e-mail as well. The only thing that we said about the Dulles community center there, the ADAMS, is that we found a pamphlet, some of the Saudi pamphlets there. We didn't make any judgment about your community whatsoever. But we found the documents there, our researchers did...
Hmmm, although this fatwa specifically talks about British soldiers, it raises the issue of divided loyalty among Muslim members of the US armed services too, does it not?
Since it appears to have been aimed at a guy who was cooperating with American law enforcement, that would appear to be a pretty logical conclusion one would think.