More on world Jihad.

A NEW BIN LADEN SPEECH

"...Since the fall of the Islamic Caliphate state, regimes that do not rule according to the Koran have arisen. If truth be told, these regimes are fighting against the law of Allah. Despite the proliferation of universities, schools, books, preachers, imams, mosques, and [people who recite the] Koran, Islam is in retreat, unfortunately, because the people are not walking in the path of Muhammad..."

"In order to establish the Islamic state and spread the religion, there must be [five conditions], a group, hearing, obedience, a Hijra, (Detachment from the world of heresy to establish and strengthen a community of believers outside it, in the path of the Prophet Muhammad and a Jihad.)

“Those who wish to elevate Islam without Hijra and without Jihad sacrifices for the sake of Allah have not understood the path of Muhammad..."

"We are in a situation of no longer having a country to which to make Hijra. There was an opportunity [to create such a country] - a rare opportunity. Since the fall of the Caliphate, the Crusaders made sure not to enable the true Islam to establish a state. Allah decreed that there be events in Afghanistan, and the U.S.S.R. attacked [Afghanistan]. The Crusaders relinquished their resolve [to prevent the establishment of an Islamic state] because of their fear of the U.S.S.R. [They] had no choice but to repel the U.S.S.R. by any and all means, even by means of the Mujahideen, the fundamentalists, and the young Jihad warriors of Islam."

"Thus the gate opened. But unfortunately, a decade later, the [Islamic] nation - particularly the clerics, preachers, and sermonizers, and Islamic universities - did not meet the obligation. Those who came to the land of Jihad in order to support the Muslims and the Mujahideen were a small handful of the youth of the [Islamic] nation, in addition to the funds donated by some merchants; these were not sufficient to establish a strong country detached from geographical and tribal loyalties. Our Afghan brothers found themselves in a unique situation; an Islamic state could easily have been established according to Islamic, not national or geographic, standards. But unfortunately... this opportunity was lost, and the people did not take advantage of it. I mention this in order to tell you that it is not an easy thing, and that now conditions have become [even] harder."

"Then, Allah made it possible to establish the Taliban state. The Taliban established [the state] and removed the conflict among the Afghans. They remained [in power] for six years, more or less. But the people remained captive to their fixed ideas and captive to the world media, which launched a mad attack on the Taliban and harmed their reputation..."

"Afghanistan is [but] a few hours away from the Arabian Peninsula, or from any of the countries of the Islamic world... but the Taliban state disappeared, and they did not lift a finger. I say that I am convinced that thanks to Allah, this nation has sufficient forces to establish the Islamic state and the Islamic Caliphate, but we must tell these forces that this is their obligation. Similarly, we need to tell the other forces, those who [are] restricting these forces, that they are sinning by restricting these forces..."

"There are people who say, and it is no secret, that the Jihad does not require the [participation] of the entire nation; these words are true, but their intent is not. It is true that Jihad cannot include the entire nation today, and that repelling the aggressive enemy is done by means of a very small part of this nation; but Jihad continues to be a commandment incumbent personally upon every Muslim. But they [i.e. the clerics identified with the regimes] disagree with us [on] this ruling and say: 'If we sent you a few thousand, you would not manage to take them in. It is not logical that we abandon all the breaches [on other fronts] and go, all of us, to wage Jihad...'"

"If Jihad becomes a commandment incumbent personally upon every Muslim, it [Jihad] rises to the top of the priorities, and there is no doubt of this, as Sheikh Al-Islam [Ibn Taymiya] said: 'Nothing is a greater obligation than repelling the aggressive enemy who corrupts the religion and this world - except faith itself.'"

"There is no place to claim that if everyone went to Jihad it could not take them all in. This [claim] is the product of an abnormal flaw in Islamic religious law, and of the abnormal submission to the [concepts of] this world. When the number of [Mujahideen] will be sufficient to repel the aggressive enemy, Jihad will automatically be transformed from a commandment incumbent personally upon every Muslim to a commandment incumbent upon all Muslims as a collective... He who claims that Jihad is a tremendous ritual but that there are other [important] rituals does not understand the path of Muhammad..."

"Most unfortunately, the young people who have the ability to sacrifice [themselves] for the religion are suffering by listening to and obeying Islamic clerics who refrain [from fulfilling the commandment of Jihad], even though such people must not be listened to or obeyed. Therefore, these forces [who obey these clerics] remain paralyzed; they [the clerics] incite them away from carrying out the commandment that is incumbent upon them personally and towards commandments incumbent upon the collective, such as study. [Even] if everyone became a cleric, there would be no religious revival that does not include [the five conditions of] a group, hearing, obedience, a Hijra and a Jihad..."

"Great evil is spreading throughout the Islamic world: the imams calling people to hell are those who appear more than others at the side of rulers in the region, the rulers of the Arab and Islamic world. Through the media and their own apparatuses, through their ruin of the country by their adoption of destructive ideas, and laws created by man... from morning to evening, they call the people to the gates of hell..."

"The heresy against Allah and His Prophet is being carried out before the eyes and ears of all in newspapers, television, radio, and symposiums, and none oppose it... In this situation, only one thing takes precedence over all other commandments, apart from faith itself... This immense obligation [i.e. Jihad]... has no place among the clerics today who do not speak of it. They all, except for those upon whom Allah had mercy, are busy handing out praise and words of glory to the despotic imams [i.e. Arab rulers] who disbelieved Allah and His Prophet. They send telegrams praising those rulers who disbelieve Allah and His Prophet. Their newspapers and media spread heresy against Allah and His Prophet. Other telegrams are sent from the rulers to these clerics, praising them for deceiving the nation."

"The nation has never been as damaged by a catastrophe like the one that damages them today. In the past, there was imperfection, but it was partial. Today, however, the imperfection touches the entire public because of the communications revolution and because the media enter every home. No home, in [the] city or in [the] desert, was spared this Fitna [internal strife]. None will be spared..."

"The clerics are the prisoners and hostages of the tyrants. Some of them told me: 'We cannot speak the truth [because we are civil servants]...' Young people must understand the nature of the connection today between civil servants and the ruler. A civil servant is a civil servant... It is amazing that some object to our linking them with this tyrannical ruler when that is what they are..."

"The true role of some civil servants is to bear false witness. The role of the information minister, for example, is to bear false witness. He and his apparatus deceive the public every day and portray the country as the best country and the ruler as an unparalleled genius. Likewise, the defense minister deceives the people and bears false witness, saying that our situation is good and our armed forces are good, while we have been under occupation for over a decade. The whole world knows we are under occupation and that the American planes take off whenever they want, with no prior notification, night or day, and then the defense minister comes to us and says: 'We are independent, and no one uses our land without our approval.' This is bearing false witness. God be praised, the people know that they are civil servants. Yet the danger does not come from the interior minister and his subordinates, because no matter what they do, they are unable to mislead anyone... because the people know they are lying to them and deceiving them."

"The true danger is when the falsehood comes from the imams of the religion who bear false witness every morning and evening and lead the nation astray. This is all the more so when the false witness comes from the house of Al-Haram [the mosque in Mecca] and from the Ka'ba [the holy black stone in Mecca]..."

"Bearing false witness is one of the biggest sins on any piece of soil, all the more so when you bear false witness in the house of Al-Haram every Friday and at every opportunity in order to lead an entire nation astray for a handful of coins... How great is the sin of he who does this. They are civil servants to whom no reasonable person can turn [to] on religious matters. The least you can say about them, as Sheikh Muhammad bin Abd Al-Wahhab said, the least you can say about the clerics who defend the tyrants, is that they are corrupt. The people must boycott and banish them..."

"[They are mistaken], those who want to tell people that the religion exists even though the imam [i.e. ruler] disbelieved Allah and His Prophet a hundred years ago, ever since he rose through English strength, English support, English weapons, and English gold [i.e. the family of Hussein bin Ali, who in World War I conspired against the Ottoman Caliphate with the British]... It is inconceivable that there be faith, and that the religion will continue to rule, if the imam is an infidel. This must be clear: If the imam is an infidel... Islam ceases to exist and there must be an act that will elevate a [believing] imam..."

"The region's rulers deceive us and support infidels and then claim they still cling to Islam. What increases this deceit is the establishment of bodies to lead the people astray. People may wonder how it is that bodies engaging in [studying] Islamic law and jurisprudence play this role, whether wittingly or unwittingly. The aim of the regime in putting some [unfaithful] clerics on satellite television and radio stations to issue Fatwas for the people is not [to spread knowledge of Islamic law] - were this the case, the regime would put the faithful clerics on satellite television and radio; the goal of these authorities [in putting the unfaithful clerics on television and radio] is to [use them] when necessary."

"For example, when the regime decided to bring the American Crusader forces into the land of the two holy places [i.e. Saudi Arabia], and the youth raged, these bodies [the unfaithful clerics]... issued Fatwas and praised the behavior of the ruler, whom they called Wali Amr [men of authority, in accordance with the Koran requirement that believers obey those of authority amongst them], while in truth he was not really Wali Amr over the Muslims. We must pay attention to this."

"People may wonder and ask how it is possible that Sheikh 'So-and-So,' or 'Anonymous,' who is a respected elder sheikh with great knowledge of religion, could sell out his religion for a meager sum from this world. I say that no man is protected from error. If we examine the history of the Islamic world over the past centuries, we will find that these instances recur... Many clerics have misled [people] because of threats of beating, imprisonment, or perhaps even death [by the regimes]; only a few stood fast, and one of these, as you know, is Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal..."

"The regime appropriates a huge budget for these bodies [i.e. the unfaithful clerics] whose role is to grant legitimacy to the regime... Imagine! The offices of the Clerics Authority [in Saudi Arabia] are adjacent to the royal palace, and the building of the Fatwa Authority of Al-Azhar is adjacent to Hosni Mubarak's Palace of the Republic... In such a situation [when even the offices are linked], is it reasonable to ask a civil servant, who receives his salary from the king? What is the ruling regarding the king, and should the king be regarded as supporting infidels?..."

"Civil servants don a robe and take for themselves grand titles, but they are in fact civil servants... We learned from their books, where it says that one of the 10 acts that contradict Islam is supporting infidels. In closed forums, they speak to us candidly, but [in public] they are afraid, and give [other interpretations]."

"The spirit of martyrdom is our strength and our weapon for the sake of the survival of our religion, and for resistance to any domestic or foreign attempt to distort our religion."

"Jihad is the way to attain truth and abolish falsehood. Therefore, the youth ... who love the religion and sacrifice [themselves] for Allah must pay no attention to these civil servants and to those who refrain [from waging Jihad]... As a result of the communications revolution and the enormous advances in communication ... the young people hear from a young age that Sheikh 'So-and-So' sent a telegram to the king, and the king sent him a telegram in return, and he appears at the king's right hand every Monday, and so on... The public is misled and says: 'If that king were no good, Sheikh 'So-and-So' would not visit him.' They disregard the fact that anyone who goes to see the king is a civil servant in the Royal Office or the Interior Ministry [and not an independent, faithful cleric]...."

"There is nothing of Muhammad's religious law in the religious law of the government clerics and sultans, and they do not understand the nature of the path of Allah. We must be aware that clinging to the religion requires us to show hostility to the people of falsehood..."

"The faithful clerics possess characteristics described in the book of Allah... The most prominent characteristics are faith and Jihad for the sake of Allah... Those who do Hijra, and those who support Allah and His Prophet and wage Jihad for the sake of Allah, are the faithful ones... In contrast, the other clerics [are those who] see [and remain silent when] the rulers support infidels and [do not] rule in accordance with what was sent down by Allah, who praise the tyrants and ignore the bank towers next to the Al-Haram Mosque, that charge interest [which is forbidden in Islam]... No faithful cleric can claim that interest is not a great sin..."

"A fundamental and realistic fact is that the land [of the holy places, i.e. Saudi Arabia] is occupied - and if it is occupied [by the U.S. military], the greatest commandment after faith itself is to repel the aggressive enemy. Their [the rulers of Saudi Arabia] statements attest to their situation. In an interview with some world press agencies, [Saudi] Prince Talal bin Abd Al-Aziz said: 'Were we to tell the American forces to leave, they wouldn't.' That is candor. Also, the Qatari foreign minister said: 'If we tell the American government and the American forces to leave Qatar, we'll be wiped off the map.'"

"The land is occupied in the full sense of the word. Yet despite this, people are busy with all sorts of [other] rituals. We must focus on making the starting point Jihad for the sake of Allah, guarding against those who refrain [from Jihad], and Hijra and Jihad for Allah. All these are obligatory in the present situation in order to establish the truth and abolish falsehood."

Part I: http://www.jahra.org/free/131313/Hamza3.wma;

Part II: http://www.jahra.org/free/131313/Hamza5.wma;

Part III: http://www.jahra.org/free/131313/Hamza6.wma

"The war waged by the U.S. and Israel against the Muslims is a cruel war aimed at annihilating the [Islamic] nation."

"In any event, we have become accustomed to the fact that these (Arab) summits produce nothing, neither cockroach nor mouse. The Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, Taj Al-Din Hamed Abdallah Al-Hilali Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), February 14, 2004.

"We are in dire need of real men these days in light of the situation in Jerusalem and Palestine... Your leaders are looking for a venue and no one dares address an invitation for the leaders of this stricken nation ... because we lack strong leadership. In the past, in Arab and Islamic history, we were governed by real men, but nowadays we are governed by semi-men." The Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, Taj Al-Din Hamed Abdallah Al-Hilali The Daily Star (Lebanon), February 14, 2004

"I blessed Hizbullah for liberating the prisoners and the bones of the Shahids and I praised it and its sacrifice. Hizbullah has become a model for all the Mujahideen in the world... Most of the Australian people do not support the policy of the Australian government, which has placed Hizbullah on the terror list out of submission to the U.S., and the Australian prime minister will pay the price for this in the next elections..." The Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, Taj Al-Din Hamed Abdallah Al-Hilali Al-Safir Following a meeting with Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, (Lebanon), February 14, 2004.

"Bush Jr (is) the most ignorant president to lead the White House." The Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, Taj Al-Din Hamed Abdallah Al-Hilali Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), March 22, 2003.

“President Bush, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are the "axis of evil." The Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, Taj Al-Din Hamed Abdallah Al-Hilali The Irish Times, April 4, 2003.

"The media all over the world are controlled by Zionist fingers, particularly the Western media, and that includes Australia, in which the media are under Zionist hegemony. But in Australia, which unlike the West and the U.S. is multicultural, the media are less racist in their enmity to Muslims and Islam. This is evidenced by the fact that we won the last media battle in Australia and succeeded in forcing the Australian people to treat us with respect. We have not suffered from persecution or disrespect to the same extent that Islamic communities in Western countries and in America have suffered." The Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, Taj Al-Din Hamed Abdallah Al-Hilali Al-Bayan (UAE), February 16, 2004.

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"The Zionist Western attack on Islam" has become the best means of its propagation: "The Muslims are like a cotton [cushion] that the upholsterer's stick only makes bigger. When the cotton is worn out and can no longer be sat upon, the upholsterer comes along and attacks it ferociously with his stick. These blows clean the cotton, cause it to swell, expand, and grow.

"Thus are the Muslims. The stick of the Western media prompted the spread of Islam, and stimulated the Westerners to hasten to acquaint themselves with it...

"The Western media attacks Islam day and night. But they are unable to hide the sun at midday. The events of September 11th in the U.S. caused a revolutionary change in the military and defensive balance of power in the world, and all the world must reexamine their considerations in light of these developments..." The Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, Taj Al-Din Hamed Abdallah Al-Hilali Al-Bayan (UAE), February 16, 2004.

"There is no doubt that the U.S. is dealing with wholesale marketing of terrorism. The U.S. is the biggest agent for terrorism in the world, and Israel perpetrates terrorism, with funding and military and diplomatic support from the U.S.

"We are proud of the Islamic resistance in Palestine, Lebanon, Kashmir, and everywhere in the world that seeks to achieve its legitimate rights in accordance with the international resolutions, the human rights conventions, and the U.N. resolutions...

"We are also proud of the Islamic resistance that liberated southern Lebanon, led by Hizbullah, the legitimate Lebanese national movement, that forced the Israeli occupation army to withdraw from southern Lebanon, dragging trails of disappointment and shame behind it.

"We are also proud of what Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are both doing in the occupied territories. We support the resistance and support, with all our might, the martyrdom operations carried out by the Palestinian liberation movements, operations that are a legitimate act against the cruel occupation, according to all international norms and conventions.

"Also, whoever carries out a martyrdom [operation] is a pure Shahid and one of the men of Paradise. Moreover, he stands at the head of the Shahids." The Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, Taj Al-Din Hamed Abdallah Al-Hilali Al-Bayan (UAE), February 16, 2004.

"The dangers threatening the Muslim community emanate from the law that prohibits the family's guardianship over its sons from the moment they reach the age of 16. The father has no authority over his son or his daughter, and if you try to intervene in your son's private life, he brings in the police. The moment your son reaches 16, he takes his freedom and becomes independent.

"More dangerous yet are the sex education classes in the schools. In the West, the society is divided, generally speaking, into different parts in accordance with how interesting they are. First comes caring for dogs and cats. In second place is the woman, and in third place is the child, and in fourth place is the male. Australia is one of the Western societies, and it has recently enacted laws enacted allowing men to marry men and women to marry women. The church officially registers them... These are the dangers of freedom and permissiveness.

"Many Muslim families feel that their families are being threatened, and very quickly they set out on a journey back to their countries of origin." The Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, Taj Al-Din Hamed Abdallah Al-Hilali

http://www.islamweb.net/php/php_arabic/readArt.php?id=10227

The Moslems discovered Australia!

http://www.islamicpaths.org/Home/English/History/Countries/America/Muslims_Before_Columbus.htm

"Australia is an old-new continent. The Europeans issued a false birth certificate for it when the British seafarer Captain James Cook reached it. However, Australia already had the most ancient race of men on the face of the earth - the Aborigine people... They continue to live their primitive lives to this very day.

"But when you become acquainted with their traditions among their tribes, you find that they have customs such as circumcision, marriage ceremonies, respect for tribal elders, and burial of the dead - all customs that show that they were connected to ancient Islamic culture before the Europeans set foot in Australia.

"That is, Islam had roots deep in the Australian soil and read the Qur'an and called to prayer before the bells of the churches rang in Australia. The best evidence of this is the hundreds of mosques in the center of Australia built by the Afghans. Some of them were destroyed, and others were turned into Australian archeological museums, and still others remained unharmed, and they bear a history that proves that Islam has roots and ancient connections to Australia.

"But because they did not have the proper conditions to continue to exist, such as schools, propagation of the religion, and connection to the Islamic world, the first generation of our Afghan ancestors dissolved...

"I visited the town of Alice Springs in central Australia, and found there a map [of Alice Springs] under the name Mecca. Alice Springs is surrounded by high black mountains, similar to the mountains of Mecca. Summer there lasts 10 months, and winter only two months. The temperature is above 50 degrees Celsius.

"There are several kinds of dates and palm trees there. We did not believe that dates could grow there. Now that we know the reason, we no longer wonder. We found that our ancestors the Afghans were among the first Muslims, and they settled this area and called it Mecca.

"The strange thing was that when our muezzin [who accompanied Sheikh Al-Hilali on his visit to Alice Springs] stood up to call for prayer, the old people of the town came out, and so did men and youths, and they looked different than the black Aborigines. They were a mixture of Afghan and Aborigine, as a result of marriages of Afghan men and Aborigine women. When the muezzin called 'Allahu Akbar,' they said, 'We have heard this song from our ancestors...' When they asked us 'What is this song you are singing?' we told them that this was an announcement of prayer time. When we asked them their names, they answered John, or Steve, but their names ended with Saraj Al-Din, Abdallah, or Muhammad..."

http://www.islamweb.net/php/php_arabic/readArt.php?id=10227 .

http://uktop100.reuters.com/latest/Aldi/top10/20030106-australia-muslims.ASP http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD66404

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 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 Allah is worshipped, Allah 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 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.

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 Allah, 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 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 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 Allah."

This is in addition to the words of Almighty Allah: "And why should ye not fight in the cause of Allah 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 Allah's help -- call on every Muslim who believes in Allah and wishes to be rewarded to comply with Allah'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 Allah said: "O ye who believe, give your response to Allah and His Apostle, when He calleth you to that which will give you life. And know that Allah cometh between a man and his heart, and that it is He to whom ye shall all be gathered."

Almighty Allah also says: "O ye who believe, what is the matter with you, that when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, 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 Allah hath power over all things."

Almighty Allah also says: "So lose no heart, nor fall into despair. For ye must gain mastery if ye are true in faith."

Islam's Goal: World Domination by David C. Benford Jr.

Islam's goal is more concerned with the territorial expansion of Allah's kingdom than the religious conversion of people.

Islam came into being in the early seventh century in west-central Arabia. Although a good part of the Koran records Mohammed's preaching in Mecca in the first two decades of that century, the definitive outlines of Islam as a system of belief and as a political organization took shape in Medina after the emigration (Hegira) to Medina and a band of his followers in 622 (H.A.R. Gibbs, Studies in the Civilization of Islam, London, 1962, p. 142). Between the years of 622 and 632, the new religion established itself throughout most of the Arabic Peninsula as a corpus of religious beliefs and as a political community with its own laws and embryonic governmental and social institutions. The significance and uniqueness of this twin foundation structure is recognized in the well-known dictum, "Islam is a religion and a state," which is interpreted, however, by Muslims in a unitary meaning rather than implying any dualism.

The ultimate aim of Islam is to make one "Umma" of the people of the world, an Islamic people in submission to Allah. According to Elisha Davidson in Islam, Israel, and the Last Days, Islam sees the world as being divided into two parts. That which is in submission is called Dar-al-Salaam (House of Peace). That which is not yet in submission is called Dar-al-Harb (House of War) (Eugene, Oregon, 1991, p.13). To put it another way, those in the Western countries who have not yet been brought into submission are subject to jihad. This term does not simply mean the subjection of unbelievers to some kind of violent confrontation; jihad implies everything that furthers the cause of Islam and Allah.

This idea is seen in the fact that Muslim leaders believe and preach the concept of a jihad, or holy war, in which those who die become martyrs and go immediately to heaven (Davidson, p. 19). This belief alone accounts for much of the bloodshed seen in the world today. World conquest by Islam is at the very heart of Islamic theology.

When Mohammed first began to share his teaching, only a few members of his family in Medina accepted his message. The inhabitants of Mecca, which included an affluent class of Jews, resisted him for political and commercial reasons. It was not long before Mohammed began to resort to raiding trading caravans. The caravaners were given two choices: either pay heavy taxes or convert to Islam. Although conducted on a small scale, this policy led to some great gains for Mohammed, and these were seen as divine affirmation of his mission. History relates that Mohammed determined to propagate his religion by force if no other means were effective (J. Budd, Studies on Islam, Rusne, Northants, 1967, p. 13).

The spread of Islam was phenomenal. In the whole world, no previous ideology has increased so rapidly. Within a single century, Islam conquered Saudi Arabia, the entire Middle East, Central Asia and large parts of India. It raged as a storm though Egypt, which at that time was an important center of Christianity, and the Christian communities were subjected to Islamic rule. Islam spread though North Africa, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and within a few years conquered almost three-quarters of Spain and Portugal. Islam had, by the seventh century, within its grasp the possibility of subduing the whole of France. It was suddenly halted in its tracks at the battle of Poitiers, barely 125 miles from Paris (Budd, p. 15).

a second powerful attempt to subjugate all of Europe was made during the seventh century by the Turks of the advancing Ottoman Empire. First, Greece was conquered, then Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Part of Romania and most of Hungary followed. By 1683, the Ottoman army had reached the gates of Vienna; but Vienna was saved, and the Muslims were defeated. Without this defeat, the entire heartland of Europe would have been open to domination by the Ottoman Empire. Finally, in the 17th century, the military adventure of Islam came to an end.

Up to the time of Mohammed's death, Islam was one united theory in principle, political thought and religious goals. It had one aim -- a new world order with all political and religious powers in the hands of the prophet.

After Mohammed's death, his once united followers split into two different, opposing forces within Islam. The two main divisions are known as Shiites and Sunnis. It is important to point out that Muslims do not have a unified and monolithic perception of their faith any more than the followers of other religions. It is true that in Islamic countries religious and political attitudes have been incorporated and represent one force. Because Mohammed's principal achievement was to lay the foundations of a state based on Islamic teachings, the Muslims have a duty to follow his example in this respect as well (Davidson, p. 35). By this token, a Muslim who lives under a regime devoted or even favorable to Islam should actively work for its survival. Conversely, one who lives under a regime hostile to Islam should struggle for the overthrow of that regime whenever the opportunity presents itself (Davidson, p. 81).

the difference between the Shiites and Sunnis is their attitude toward the religious leader. The Shiites, the smaller of the two groups, believe and maintain that only those individuals who were closely associated with or related to the prophet could have the right of succession. Therefore, the imams, or leaders, would be absolute in religious and political matters. The Sunnis, the majority of Muslims, take the view that there can be no absolute imam but that the leaders should be chosen by the whole Muslim community. This difference must be explained in order to understand the governments under consideration and the grand design of the Islamic faith for the world.

Largely in the 20th century, with the discovery of oil under the desert sands and all the new opportunities this created, do we see a revival of the Muslim world. The impetus for much of this revival came from spiritual leaders like the Ayatollah Khomeini, who said "that it was Allah who had now given Muslim a new chance of winning the world for Islam" (Paul Thomas Welty, The Asians: Their Heritage and Their Destiny, New York, 1993, p. 127).

Oil and the enormous wealth it created gave Islam the power to influence the whole of the the Western world. Khomeini greatly strengthened the position of Islam in the Middle East and in Africa. He believed he was chosen by God to restore Islamic governments to the Middle East and the entire world. With fanatical efforts and perseverance, Khomeini hardened his grip on the Islamic nations. In these countries that considered themselves Muslim but secular, such as Turkey and Egypt, he called for revolution and the readoption of the sharia (seventh-century Islamic law) as the constitution for all Islamic countries.

In the Western world, we are familiar with the concept of separation of church and state. We are also witnesses of the dangers involved when the church attempts to take over the function of the state or when the state tries to become the church. Although legislation in the West is still to some extent based upon certain Christian principles, there is no Western nation where the state interferes simply because someone disobeys one of the biblical commandments. (This can happen only if a particular commandment has been written into secular legislation.) In Islam there can be no distinction between religion and the state. Religion is the state, and together they form a single entity.

According to one Islamic scholar, "Islam not only means a religion for man's head, soul, and heart; it is all-encompassing culture, a theocentric society in which every area of life, education, economy, family, and politics relate to Allah. There is no question of separation between the throne and pulpit or between politics and religion. The Mosque is often the starting place for demonstration and political revolution, and the Friday sermon is not only a religious practice but it often fervently calls upon the faithful to take political action in the name of Allah" (Abd-Al-Masib, Werist Allah im Islam?, Willoch, p. 32).

For Islam, the idea of mission is not to seek to bring about the mere intellectual and religious conversion of people; instead, it is much more concerned with the territorial expansion of Allah's kingdom. The supreme way of bringing this about is the jihad. A parallel is sometimes drawn between the Christian crusades and the jihad. It is not correct to compare the excesses of one religion with the formal teaching of another. Cruelties perpetrated by the crusaders cannot be justified by even a single scripture.

Regarding infidels, the Koran says, "And fight them on / Until there is no more / Tumult or oppression, / And there prevail / Justice and faith in Allah; / But if they cease, / Let there be no hostility / Except to those / Who practice oppression" (2:193).

In Islam, the call to fight the holy war comes as a direct commandment from Allah. The possibility of such a war, in non-Islamic countries, is very real today.

in recent years many Muslims have immigrated to Western countries. In Europe and the United States where Muslims are a minority, they consider themselves a third domain, an area of agreement or political compromise. While they remain a minority in this domain, they are advised by their leaders and the Koran that they gently confront people with the teaching of Islam by speaking kindly with unbelievers. They speak of peace and love, until Islam can be introduced into the culture and political life of its adopted county. The Bible reminds us of those who talk about peace when there is no peace (Jeremiah 6:14; cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4). It is when people persist in resisting God's truth that God will "send them a strong delusion, that they should believe the lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:11).

The Islamic aim for the United States is to gain political power and by so doing to be able to change laws in favor of their faith. Let us remember that in a democracy every voice must be heard, even the voice of the minority. And the citizens are responsible for being informed and alert to the political actions around them as noted in Romans 13. As Christians, we must offer them our friendship and hospitality while we remain true to the Holy Scripture and the New Testament order of faith. We cannot remain indifferent to the facts and aim of Islam for the world. *

David C Benford Jr., minister of Lake Como Church of Christ, may be contacted at Lake Como Church of Christ, 5601 Fletcher Ave., Fort Worth, TX 76107. He is also a professor of political science at Tarrant County Junior College, Northeast, Hurst, Texas.

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