As-Sahab Interview with al-Libi

by Abu Laith al-Libi

Speaker	Message
as-Sahab:	All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and prayers be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family, companions and allies. It is our greatest pleasure to meet with the virtuous Shaykh Abu Layth al-Libi. Welcome, honorable Shaykh, to our interview.
as-Sahab:	Five years have passed since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan and the war called the "war on terror." So could you tell us how conditions are for the Jihad and Mujahideen in Afghanistan and on the rest of the fronts, even if only briefly?
al-Libi	All praise is due to Allah as He commanded, and prayers and peace be upon the best among humans. O Allah, nothing is easy except what You have made easy, and You, if You so desire, make sorrow easy, O Lord. O Allah, make our affairs easy for us, and make them sincerely for Your Noble Face, for us to meet You, O Lord, with them on the Day of the Transaction. Amen, amen, amen. The Jihad is a story which carries in its twists and turns the just cause of the Ummah, which seeks in overall terms to establish the religion on earth - the entire earth - and also seeks several immediate and differing results, including rescuing the Muslims and extracting them from the accumulated tyrant which has spread among them because of their own compatriots or the Jews and Crusaders who oppress them. It isn't necessary to explain or demonstrate what the Ummah is experiencing in this regard, so I will start by talking about what you mentioned in the question: five years. They are on the surface five years of days and months, but in their symbolism for the Ummah and in their real meaning, they represent a massive revolution experienced by those who lived it, touched it, and tasted its bitterness and its sweetness. It is experienced by whoever wanted, through his activities theses past five years, to do something great for the Ummah of Islam. Five years: it is true that it is a short time in the raising of nations, changing of history and building of glory from rubble, but the mercy of the Lord of the worlds was manifest, and His blessings enveloped this simple work which was begun, according to the dating of all the people, with the blessed expedition, the raids on New York and Washington, after which events came quickly one after the other, so for Allah is all praise, Allah blessed these actions, and made them the turning point for subsequent events and history. In regards to Afghanistan, which I experience personally on a daily basis: immediately after the collapse, gloomy events hindered the people and prevented the movement of the Mujahideen. Everyone felt shocked and overwhelmed as they waited to see what the approaching West would do wit hits military machine. But the perseverance of the men and steadfastness of the Mujahideen and their refusal to incline to weakness and inability is what has made these glories which wa are experiencing, straw by straw and stone by stone. By the grace of Allah, Exalted is He, we are today experiencing mountains of realistic, palpable hopes, while our enemy is experiencing mountains of weakness, fear and apprehension. As soon as the Mujahideen appear, he flees form them, and no longer does he possess the massive military machine and forces which he used to come about and take pride in, and with which he bragged he would crush every enemy. Only crumbs of it remain. And if Allah the Generous so wills, and with His grace and favor, the consecutive battles we are living and experiencing each day in Afghanistan will, Allah permitting, finish off the remnants of the enemy's force and completely crush him. This, in brief, is what we have experienced during five years of battle with our American enemy and his ill-fated coalition.
as-Sahab:	There are some who try to limit the Jihad to the fighters on the battlegrounds, in an attempt to separate the Mujahideen from their Ummah. How do we respond to this argument and how can we make the Jihad the focal point of all sections of the Ummah?
al-Libi	This misconception is refuted by the facts on the ground and refuted by one glance at the Mujahideen and their conditions and what they offer and do in the battlefields of Jihad. Who are the Mujahideen? Who are these individuals who have arisen to defend their Ummah? They are the essence of the Ummah. These youth and men of the Ummah whom we see represented in the Mujahideen are from all over our Islamic Ummah. These are the assembled masses of the Mujahideen. So can anyone say that they are isolated form their Ummah or that they are a faction which has deviated from their Ummah? What is this faction which is gathered from the Muslim masses? It is, without a doubt, the future expression of the Ummah. It is the heartbeat which wants deliverance from its condition and wants Islam, which is led by Jihad in the Path of Allah. So these are words which should never be spoken by a Muslim or anyone seeking to liberate their Ummah from its situation.
as-Sahab:	If we may, let us focus on the Afghan front. What is behind this major transformation witnessed on the battlefront, which the enemy testifies to before the friend?
al-Libi	Those unfamiliar with Afghanistan and its defiant Mujahid people, and unfamiliar with the state of the Mujahideen, as well as those lacking the military picture of the forms taken by fighting and - in particular - Jihad, will without a doubt be surprised - and distressed, if he is one of the enemies - at this surge or transformation which they are calling a "surprise". In fact, it is a transformation which isn't a surprise to the Mujahideen. Why? Because all throughout this period, they have been sacrificing the most precious thing they possess: their lives. And from their lives, they have sacrificed their best and most gallant brothers, offering them up as martyrs in Allah's path with who they motivate the Ummah. They have poured out their blood and made it cascade into the valleys of Jihad in Allah's path all through these past years. So the one who saw from the inside the patience, resolution, sacrifice and bravery shown by the Mujahideen [knows] they never stopped, even in the toughest conditions. You would find them in the fronts at the severest of times, carrying out training, mixing with the Ummah, motivating the fearful and feeble, and meeting and clinging to the scholars to rouse them and push them into their real fields. So Allah, the Exalted honored them with this patience and resolution, which the whole Ummah sees as a sublime, splendid thing which brings it pride.
as-Sahab:	May Allah reward you for this interview. We ask Allah, the Most High and Exalted, to benefit with it Islam and Muslims.