A praiseworthy exalted greeting to our fruitful ummah, here are your rightfully guided sons on the clear path, the flags of victory have begun to appear so they continued on this path, awaiting the tremendous reward so they offered the highest sacrifice; among them are those who fulfilled their covenant, and others are still waiting. Indeed Allah has purchased the wealth and lives of the believers so that Paradise may be their abode, they do Qital for the sake of Allah, so they kill (their enemies) and are killed themselves, a true promise from Him as mentioned in the Torah and the Injeel and the Quran, and who is more fulfilling of his promise then Allah, so have glad tidings concerning the transaction that you have done, and that is the great victory [9:111]. 1 shaykh usamah, may allah protect him, said, The greatest of all Mankind and most honored of prophets and messengers: he wishes for this status, this rank, so listen and comprehend what is this ranking he sought to attain so ardently: Indeed, he wished to be a martyr. I wish I could go out in battle for Allah s sake, then be killed, then go out again, then be killed, then go out, then be killed. So this long expansive life is summarized by the one whom revelation is sent down to from the Lord of the Heavens and Earth, Glorified be He. This noble prophet, may Allah s peace and blessings be upon him, summarized this life in these words, seeking this position. So the truly happy individual is that individual whom Allah accepts as a martyr. shaykh abdullah yusuf azzam, may allah grant him mercy and accept his martyrdom, said: Indeed, our words will remain dead, like the wax of an unlit candle; and until we die for these words, they are 1 the following series is a translation of as-sahab media s release, wind of paradise 3 with minor editing for ease of reading. it has been translated by abu ishaaq. 14
given life and start to live among us. Shaykh Abu Layth Al-Libi, may Allah have mercy upon him said, Masjid Al-Aqsa is not an issue that is just a mere side conversation in our gatherings and universities; No! Indeed, it is a significant matter that concerns our life everyday! And we live among the Mujahideen, renewing the hope everyday of being sent there to Jerusalem and to make it easier for us to reach that piece of land (Palestine). And we know with full certainty that all the training we conduct and all the killing we carry out for the sake of Allah from the East of this Earth to the West, indeed all this is indeed setting the ground in preparation and training for the slaughtering of the Jews in Masjid Al-Aqsa. This present Crusader War has taught us that killing the enemy and destroying his foundations became an attainable possibility, indeed, it has now become a true reality! And it is the strategies improvised by the Mujahideen with the blessing of Allah that allowed them to inflict the heavy losses and casualties upon the enemy. And here is the result of these strategies. It has started to appear on the horizon, all thanks due to Allah. And the enemy comes out of one calamity only to fall into another calamity. And they are not exposed to a defeat except that they must be exposed to a defeat that is more dangerous and encompassing than the previous. But the path to this success requires the blood and sweat of this Ummah s finest soldiers and leaders. They are those who sacrificed themselves and their worldly possessions to proclaim the message of Tawheed. These sacrifices that did not come in one or two years, but for some of these people, it constituted their whole life. And we will try to document the sacrifices given by one of these heroes, Abu Layth Al-Libi, may Allah have mercy on him. Shaykh Abu Yahya Al-Libi, may Allah preserve him, said: The true leaders in this Ummah in our present time are many. And the Ummah accepts them due to their sincerity, their situation, their devotion, and their sacrifices. Due to these reasons, the Ummah has placed their trust in them, and surrendered the leadership positions to them. And if I actually took the effort to repeat the names of the leaders who have appeared in this era and brought the Crusaders down to their faces we would be sitting here for quite some time. However, we want to take a special pause, for it 15
is diffcult to summarize the life of a Mujahid leader who spent more than half of his life waging Jihad. It is diffcult to summarize his life story in one or two hours, not even in one day or two. So these leaders are the ones who record our Islamic history and they flip its pages. Not with the sermons, and not with the individual words, and not with ink! Indeed, they wrote these pages with their stances, their blood, and their sacrifices. So we want to stop to discuss the life of one of these distinguished leaders, a hero from one of these heroes, and he is the Shaykh, Abu Layth Al-Qasimi, may Allah have mercy on his soul. Indeed, the Afghan Jihad was one of the important grounds in the recent history of this Ummah s Islamic history, so after some time of disgrace and humiliation, the Afghan Jihad revived the spirit of the Ummah in the hearts of its participants and in the Ummah in general. It brought great fruits in a time of much defeat. It brought forth the meaning of glory and honor, and the concepts of victory and sacrifice, as a result of the true Jihad for the Sake of Allah to make His Deen dominant and protect Islam and the Muslims. And among the young men who have taken part in this noble effort was the Mujahid Shaykh Abu Layth, may Allah grant mercy upon his soul. Like many other young men of his caliber, he was influenced by the informative lectures given by the Mujahid Shaykh, Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, may Allah have mercy upon him. Shaykh Azzam once said: The brothers have asked me to come to you today, so I came to you, in respect of you, although my soul feels much pain in leaving the land of battle; it is very heavy on me, to move from a land in which weapons are abundant and in use, to a land in which there are no weapons. It is very hard on my heart... to leave a people that are recording history with their blood, those people! To leave them is grief and sorrow, and the life among them is the true life! I live with them and I renew my life from the beginning; (If) I stay away from them, I feel that I am dying, and therefore, just like the fish is with water, I am with Jihad, and all praises and thanks belong to Allah. Just like the fish cannot survive outside of the water for long, my self and soul does not feel content unless I am participating in the battles. But I come 16
Azzam, may Allah accept this from him, all the knowledge he disseminated and the lessons he gave, we ask Allah to accept him and his sons as Shuhada in the path of Allah. And the reason for this great success is told by Shaykh Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, may Allah have mercy upon him: to you today, so perhaps, I can drag some of you with me to this land. I am like the hunter. I desire to bring you a true picture of this type of life The words of this great true scholar have influenced many, and continue to influence others to the present day; these words that the blessed Shaykh Abdullah Azzam used, played a great role in reviving the love of Jihad and Martyrdom for the Sake of Allah in the youth of this Ummah. So these young men answered the call for Jihad, in a time which many of the senior men of this Ummah have completely abandoned it. Shaykh Usamah bin Ladin, may Allah protect him, said: So this great opportunity came, but unfortunately, the senior members did not move to fulfill the obligation. Instead, the youth moved; students of high school. They moved to give victory to the words La Illaha Illa Allah. And none of the seniors moved except the Shaykh Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, may Allah grant him mercy. So the Muslims are returning to Jihad thanks to the noble efforts of the Afghan People. And the Arabs are returning to the field of Jihad thanks to the noble efforts of the Shaykh Abdullah And we see that fear is the biggest impediment in the life of people who call to the path of Allah. And the fear of losing wealth and future prosperity are the contributing factors. If you would like to make a potential successful Daa iyah (caller to the path of Allah) very sick, just tell him that a government informant is living in the apartment across from his street. I have seen a notice for my arrest; it was signed by the president, by his secretary, by the prime minister. But this does not concern me as long the King of kings is happy with me. And to Him everything will return. And in the midst of this great atmosphere of fear and injustice, on the hands of the dictators of Muslim lands, the Shaykh Abu Layth was one of the individuals who became attached to the path of Truth, and became dedicated to the Deen of Allah. The Shaykh, Abdullah Sa eed, may Allah protect him, one of the trainers of the Mujahideen, tells us some words concerning Shaykh Abu Layth in this period of his life. Shaykh Abdullah Sa eed said: Indeed these are my words concerning a dedicated knight, a lofty mountain, a lion from the lions of Islam, and a leader from the leaders of this Ummah, an example of which is the Shaykh Abu Layth, may Allah have mercy upon him. I feel melancholy inside of me, and I am contemplating many wonderful memories. Allah has blessed me and honored 17
me to have been given the opportunity to live with him for 17 years. I spent these years with him side by side, in the land of hijrah, Jihad, and Ribaat. He was born in the year 1392 Hijri calendar. He is originally from a region known as Muntaqihaat from Libya. He was born in the town Taghablus, where he grew up, was nourished, and matured into adulthood. And when Allah blessed him with the Guidance, and following the path of Truth, he persisted in acquiring Islamic Knowledge and becoming proficient in it, trying the best he could despite the conditions of his environment. All this was done in spite of the situation that was and is still persisting in Libya, from a horrible war on Islam and the Muslims, and closing all doors to acquiring true knowledge of this Deen, such as shutting down the Islamic Universities, and religiously based institutions, even simple gathering for memorization of the holy Qur an were not protected from these sweeping measures! This war being carried out by this enemy of Islam and Muslims is not just restricted to shutting down the universities and private based religious institutions, No. Indeed it has been a continuous chain of calamities that have persisted until our present day, until it affected every facet of life in Libya. And this treacherous dictator (Gaddafi) came up with what he refers to as the The Third- World Viewpoint. This conceptual framework of ideas is explained in his book The Green Book the Three Principles. And this dictator maintains that this book is the solution to all the current problems facing mankind today. And so he propagated this book among the people, instead of the Shari ah of the All- Merciful; as if Allah s religion needs such ridiculous additions to its text! And so to oppose this united alliance of Apostate Rulers, Hijrah and preparation became a necessary tool to combat this oppression and carry out the obligation of killing. So the land of Afghanistan became the necessary land for carrying out this form of worship. Shaykh Abu Layth did hijrah there to join the Jihad curriculum with his fellow Mujahideen. Shaykh Abdullah Sa eed said: So he reached the place that he had yearned to be, until he joined the ranks of the Mujahideen, and this was achieved in the year 1410 Hijri. So we trained Abu Layth. And he excelled in his initial preparations 18