http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD185908
Special Dispatch - Jihad & Terrorism Studies Project
March 4, 2008
No. 1859
Release of New Book by Ayman Al-Zawahiri, in Response to Sayyed Imam:
A Treatise Exonerating the Nation of the Pen and the Sword from the
Blemish of the Accusation of Weakness and Fatigue
On March 2, 2008, jihadist websites posted a new 188-page book by
Al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri. The book, titled A Treatise
Exonerating the Nation of the Pen and the Sword from the Blemish of
the Accusation of Weakness and Fatigue, is a polemical defense of
Al-Qaeda against its most prominent Islamist critic, the imprisoned
jihadist Sheikh Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif.
(For previous MEMRI reports on Sayyed Imam, see:
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP178507,
December 14, 2007, and
http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP182608,
January 25, 2008.)
Sayyed Imam is one of Al-Zawahiri's oldest associates in the jihad
movement and is considered one of jihadism's most influential
scholars. He is the author of a shari'a guide to jihad that was used
in training camps in Afghanistan. The central argument of his recently
published Document of Right Guidance for Jihad Activity in Egypt and
the World is that jihad should only be undertaken when there is
ability to do so, and that Islamist groups today cannot be considered
to be in a state of ability. It is to this argument that the title of
Al-Zawahiri's book refers.
The Treatise Exonerating the Nation is of great importance for two
reasons. First, it is, in effect, an official statement of Al-Qaeda's
positions and of the Islamic legal justifications it provides for its
activities.
Second, Al-Qaeda's decision to publish such a work is strong evidence
that it is deeply worried that radical Islamists could be influenced
by Sayyed Imam and abandon the jihad.(1) Al-Zawahiri's Treatise is
actually a sharp about-face for Al-Qaeda; up until this point, it had
studiously ignored the substantive arguments put forward by Sayyed
Imam, and had simply asserted that the Egyptian security services had
tortured Imam into writing the book, and that it thus did not merit
serious discussion.(2) Hence, the Treatise is a tacit admission that
Al-Qaeda is facing an unprecedented ideological challenge.
Following is a full translation of the table of contents of Ayman
Al-Zawahiri's new book. (Al-Zawahiri's Treatise Exonerating the Nation
is abridged in the table of contents to Treatise, and Sayyed Imam's
Document of Right Guidance is abridged to Document; "the author"
always refers to the author of the Document of Right Guidance.)
Further coverage is forthcoming.
Introduction
1. The Motive for Writing the Treatise
2. Three Questions Regarding the Document
a. Why Did the Document Appear at this Point in Time?
b. For Whose Sake was the Document Published and Distributed?
c. In What Manner Was the Document Written?
3. The Influence of the Document on the Mujahideen
4. The Crushed Majority in the Prisons
5. Reaffirmation of My Appreciation for the Imprisoned Brothers
Part One: General Remarks on the Document's Methodology
Part Two: Criticism of the Topics [Covered] in the Document
Chapter 1: Critique of the "Notices" Contained in the First Part [of
the Document]
Chapter 2: Critique of the [Explanation for the] Motives for Writing
the Document Contained in the First Section [of the Document]
1. Critique of the Situation of the Islamic World through 35 Questions
Put To the Author or Authors of the Document
2. Unprecedented Accusations
Chapter 3: Critique of [the Topics] Contained in the Second Section
[of the Document]: Qualification [for Jurisprudents] and Loyalty to a
Prisoner
1. Response to [the Document's Claim] that the Righteous Forefathers'
Writings Were Written for a Time Other than Our Own
2. [Names and Biographies of] the Scholars to whom the Mujahideen Have
Turned for Help, or Who Have Supported the Mujahideen, and Scholars
and Students Who Have Fought Jihad
3. That the Author's [of the Document]'s Contention that One May Not
Apply [Laws] from Religious Books to Reality Applies to Him [As Well]
4. The Inconsistency in the Author's Warning against Things Published
on the Internet
5. Who Is It that Employs "The Jurisprudence of Justification?"
6. The Deceit in the Author's Statement on [the Issue of] Loyalty to a
Prisoner
Chapter 4: Critique of Section Three [of the Document]: Jihad and [the
Commandment of] Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong
1. Critique of what the Author Wrote on Ability as a Condition for Jihad
2. Critique of the Author's Definition of Enablement (tamkin)
3. Critique of the Condition of There Being an Abode of Emigration and
Support for Jihad
4. The Heart of the Document and the Fruit that the Americans, the
Jews, and their Agents Want [the Document to Bring]: Preventing the
Commanding of Good and the Forbidding of Wrong and Preventing Jihad
against the Apostate Governments
5. Critique of what the Author Wrote Concerning the Condition of the
Expenses Necessary for Jihad that Is an Individual Obligation
6. Critique of what the Author Wrote Concerning Illicit Methods of
Procuring What is Needed for Jihad
7. Summary
Chapter 5: Critique of Section Four [of the Document]: Permission from
Parents and Creditors [to Leave for Jihad]
1. This Section Is the Nadir of the Author's Deterioration in
Religious Knowledge
2. The Author's Former Support for Sheikh 'Abdallah 'Azzam's Treatise,
The Defense of Muslim Lands Is the Most Important of Individual
Obligations
3. Summary of the Concurrence, Without Exception, of the Scholars of
the Four Schools of Jurisprudence on [the Fact that the Condition of]
the Permission of Parents and Creditors Falls when the Jihad is an
Individual Obligation
Chapter 6: Critique of What Is Written in the Fifth Section [of the
Document] on Fighting Against the Ruler
1. What the Author Wrote on the Position of the Righteous 'Ulama of
the Past Concerning Profligate Rulers
2. The Author's Erratic Wandering in His Placing Conditions on Jihad
3. Critique of the Author's Fourth Prohibition [i.e. Prohibitions
Violated in Fighting Jihad when Conditions Do Not Allow It]: Inability
to Guarantee the Safety of the Muslims' Families
4. Critique of the Author's Fifth Prohibition: Acting as an Agent and
a Mercenary
5. Critique of the Author's Sixth Prohibition: Political Asylum
6. Critique of the Author's Employment of the Division of People into
Civilians and Military
7. Deferment of [My] Discussion of Jihad Operations to the End of this
Part [of the Treatise]
8. Critique of the Author's Notice "On the Shari'a Reasons and the
Practical Reasons that Call for Not Clashing with the Egyptian
Authorities"(3)
Chapter 7: Visas and Guarantees of Security
1. Preface
2. Is a Visa a Guarantee of Security?
3. Supposing that a Visa is a Guarantee of Security, Does an Infidel's
Guarantee of Security to a Muslim Entail the Muslim Guaranteeing the
Security of the Infidel?
4. Supposing that an Infidel's Guarantee of Security Entails the
Muslim's Guarantee of Security to the Infidel, Does this Apply to
Conditions of War and Aggression against the Muslims?
5. Critique of the Author's Proofs that a Visa Is a Guarantee of
Security and that the Events of New York and Washington Were Treacherous
6. Summary
7. Postscript [to This Chapter]
Chapter 8: The Law of Firing On Infidels when Muslims or Those One Is
Not Allowed to Kill Are Intermixed with Them
1. Survey of the Views of the 'Ulama on the Question
2. Summary
Chapter Nine: Night Raids and Fighting Whose Injury is General [i.e.
Indiscriminate]
1. The Legitimacy of Night Raids
2. Fighting Whose Injury Is General
3. Summary
Chapter 10: Repayment in Kind (al-mu'amala bi'l-mithl)
1. The Legitimacy of the Principle of Repayment in Kind in the
Exaction of Rights and in Dealing with Enemies
2. All the More So Is It Permitted to Repay in Kind through [Means]
that the Shari'a Has Permitted without There Being an Exact Equivalent
Chapter 11: Remarks on What Is Written in the Sixth Section [of the
Document] Concerning Tourists
1. Preliminary Remarks before Dealing with the Six Impediments [to
Attacking Foreigners in Muslim Countries Enumerated in the Document]
2. Critique of the Six Impediments
Chapter 12: Remarks on What is Written in the Seventh Section [of the
Document] Concerning Jihad Operations from Within the Abode of War
(dar al-harb)
1. Critique of the Author's View that the Jihad Waged by the Prophet
and His Companions Was a Jihad Waged from Abroad, Without Their
Engaging in Jihad Operations from Within Enemy Land Prior to Its Being
Conquered
2. Critique of the Dubious Legal Argument [Based on] The Muslims'
[Presence] Having Spread to the Majority of the Countries in the World
3. Critique of the Dubious Legal Argument that There Is No Necessity
for Operations from Within Enemy Land [that Would Permit Such Operations]
4. Critique of the Author's View that the 'Ulama Only Permitted Firing
at the [Human] Shield in Defensive Jihad, in Case of Necessity, and
When There is a Fear that the Muslims in Their Entirety Could Be
Annihilated
5. Critique of [the View that] a Visa Constitutes a Guarantee of
Security and [Critique of] the Reliance on the Principle that
"Accepted Practice Is Like a Binding Condition" as a Proof
6. Why Did the Mujahideen Attack the West on Their Home Ground?
Chapter 13: Remarks on the Eighth Section [of the Document]
1. Critique of the Dubious Legal Argument that It Is a Breach of
Honorable Conduct for a Muslim Living in the West to Attack Those Who
Have Shown Him Hospitality
2. Critique of What the Author Wrote Concerning the Killing of Shi'ites
Chapter 14: Remarks on the Tenth Section [of the Document]
1. Critique of the Author's View that the Shari'a Does Not Allow
Individuals to Apply Koranic Punishments
2. A Word on Christians
3. Admonition to the Author Due to His Insinuations about the Global
Islamic Front for Fighting the Jews and the Crusaders
Chapter 15: Remarks on the Eleventh Section [of the Document]
1. Refutation of the Author's Denunciation of Osama Bin Laden
a. America's Efforts to Strike at Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, from
Before the Existence of the [Global] Islamic Front up to September 10,
2001
b. Statements by Mullah Dadallah, as an Example of the Taliban's
Stance on Al-Qaeda
c. The Commander of the Faithful [Mullah Omar] Has No Need for the
Author's Advice on How to Deal with His Soldiers [i.e. Bin Laden]
d. What Is the Author's Position on the Call from the Commander of the
Faithful [Mullah Omar] to the Muslims to Take Up Arms [in Defense of
Afghanistan]?
Chapter 16: Remarks on the Author's Claim in Section 12 [of the
Document] that a Prisoner is Obligated to Keep His Promise to the
Authorities Not to Clash with Them [after He Is Released]
Chapter 17: Remarks on the Author's Repeated Attacks on Sheikh
'Abdallah 'Azzam in Section Thirteen [of the Document]
Chapter 18: The Operations of the Jihad Group in Egypt
1. The Author Presents the Jihad Group's Operations in a Manner that
Does Not Express the Reality
2. Egypt's Condition Prior to the Beginning of the Jihad Group's
Operations
3. Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong and Jihad Are the Shari'a
Solution for Confronting the Corruption and the Worsening Perversion
4. The Beginning of the Preparations for Change [through] Jihad
5. The Advent of Two Important Developments in the Early 1990s
6. Entering into Confrontation
7. The Tottering of the Regime after the First Rounds [of Attacks]
8. The Mujahideen's Understanding of the Pharaonic Regime's Structure
9. The Egyptian Regime's Appeal for Help to the New Caesars in Washington
10. The Beginning of the International Campaign to Hunt Down the
[Egyptian] Mujahideen
11. The Breaking of the Dawn of the Muslim Nation's Jihad against the
Crusaders and the Jews
12. Has the Egyptian Regime Subdued the Jihad Movement?
13. Those Who Boast of the Subduing of the Jihad Movement Are Averting
Their Eyes from the Exorbitant Price that Egypt Has Paid
14. The Important Lesson [to Be Learned] From This Period
15. Was the Price [the Muslims Paid] Exorbitant?
16. Critique of What the Author Wrote Concerning the Jihad [Group]'s
Operations in Egypt
Chapter 19: Remarks on Sections 14 and 15 [of the Document]
1. What Is the Meaning of the Author's Relating the Story of Sayyidna
'Abdallah Bin Hadhafa Al-Sahmi?
2. Critique of What the Author Wrote about the Jihad in Palestine and Iraq
3. Critique of What the Author Wrote about the Signatures of Hundreds
[of Jihadist Prisoners who Signed the Document of Right Guidance Being
Registered] with the Competent Authorities
Conclusion
First Message: To All the Muslims
Second Message: To the Intelligence Officers Who Came Out with the
Document
Third Message: To Our Steadfast Brothers in the Prisons
Fourth Message: To Our Brothers Who Wrote, Agreed to, and Supported
this Propaganda [i.e. the Document of Right Guidance]
Endnotes:
(1) It should be noted that jihad in this context refers to terror
attacks in the West and fighting against the regimes in Muslim
countries; Sayyed Imam is not opposed to fighting in Afghanistan,
Iraq, and Palestine.
(2) Some such discussion was however undertaken by Al-Qaeda
supporters, such as the London-based Islamist Hani Al-Siba'i.
(3) For a translation of Sayyed Imam's "On the Shari'a Reasons and the
Practical Reasons that Call for Not Clashing with the Egyptian
Authorities" see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 1826, "Major Jihadi Cleric
and Author of Al-Qaeda's Shari'a Guide to Jihad Sayyed Imam vs.
Al-Qaeda (2)…" January 25, 2008,
http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP182608.
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