Allah, The Exalted, has stated in the Qur'an:
"And the Believers, men and women, are supporters one of another; they enjoin the right and forbid the wrong (munkar), and they establish worship, and pay the poor-due, and they obey Allah and His messenger. As for these, Allah will have mercy on them. Lo! Allah is Mighty, Wise." [Quran 9:71]
The Prophet (peace be upon him) is reported to have said:
"Anybody amongst you who notices a 'munkar' ( a violation of Allah's command), should correct it with his own hands, and if he is unable to do so, he should prohibit the same with his tongue; if he is unable even to do this, he should at least consider it as bad in his heart; this is the lowest degree of faith." [Muslim].
It follows from the hadith that correcting a violation of Allah's Command by hand is the best way. Now let us ask ourselves: What is the greatest violation of Allah's Command? The answer is simple according to the Qur'an: Disbelief in Allah and/or Associating others with Allah. And what is the best method of putting a check on this violation by hand? The answer, again, is clear: Jihad fi sabeelillah (fighting in the path of Allah). Numerous verses of the Qur'an and many traditions from the Prophet (peace be upon him) make this point clear beyond any doubt.
Thus, it follows that women and men are supporters of one another in the important obligation of Jihad in accordance with the spirit of the Qur'an and Prophetic traditions.
And when Jihad is Fard 'Ayn (an individual obligation like praying and fasting - where one person's engaging in it does not lift the responsibility from all others), as it is at the present time due to the domination of the enemy on several Muslim lands, the obligation to participate in Jihad is upon both Muslim men and women. Nowhere have scholars stated that only men are required to engage in Jihad and that women are not required to participate.
In fact, books of fiqh have clearly included women and have also mentioned the regulations, for instance, that when Jihad is Fard 'Ayn, a woman does not need her husband's, father's, or waliy's (guardian's) permission to engage in the works of Jihad, just like she does not need her husband's or father's permission to offer her daily prayers or fast in Ramadan or pay Zakah (Note that travelling to a distant location for Jihad may have additional regulations found in books of fiqh).
The question here is not whether women's participation in Jihad these days is an obligation or not, but rather, how can Muslim women participate in this noble cause and prevent themselves from falling into the sin of abandoning Jihad.
There are many ways a Muslim woman can participate in Jihad, both by accompanying the Mujahideen to the battlefield, and by staying behind:
Sisters' Role On the Battlefield
Sisters' Role Off the Battlefield
On the Battlefield
1. Participation in the Actual Fighting
While Jihad (or Qital) is generally waged by men, there is clear evidence of women's participation in Jihad - both during the times of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and throughout Islamic history, up until this day. While all the examples are too numerous to include in this short section, a few examples are briefly mentioned below:
Nusayba bint Ka'b, also known as Umm 'Ammarah, mother of Shuhadaa, and wife of a brave Sahabi, she participated in physical fighting more than once in her lifetime, got severely injured in one instance (Uhud), and lost an arm in another (battle against Musaylama Kaddhab). The most famous of her participation is that of the battle of Uhud, where, in the midst of the confusion among the Muslim army, she was amongst those very few who were close to the Prophet (peace be upon him), and who were shielding the Prophet (peace be upon him) with their own bodies. The Prophet (peace be upon him) remarked after this battle: "When I looked to my right I saw Umm Ammarah, and when I looked to my left, I saw Umm Ammarah". After the battle, the Prophet (peace be upon him) inquired about her injuries and asked her what she desired. She replied that she wanted the company of the Prophet (peace be upon him) in Paradise - and her request was accepted by the Prophet (peace be upon him). What more can anyone desire? She attained the greatest of blessings through her participation in Qital (fighting in the path of Allah).
And then we have the wife of the great Muslim hero Mahmud Qutus, who was a trained Mujahidah (female of 'Mujahid' - fighter for the sake of Allah), and was martyred while fighting against the barbaric Mongol army. Allah , The Most High, bestowed a magnificent victory to the Muslims against the Tatars (Mongols) in that battle through the sacrifices of such great women among many others.
And coming to this very day and age, we have our beloved sister, Shaheedah Hawaa' Barayev, who was martyred recently in Chechnya during a solo Martyrdom Operation in which 27 Russians were killed and numerous others injured.
It should be noted that physical fighting has been a role assigned primarily to men, both by the Prophet (peace be upon him) and those after him. However, when the need arose, our brave sisters never held back from fighting, and neither should they now!
A note for sisters wanting to participate in fighting these days:
By the Grace of Allah, The Most High, the situation in the Ummah is not that desperate yet, that sisters are called to fight. Those sisters who voluntarily want to join the fighting for reward from Allah, are advised to not go unless the leader of Jihad in that place calls sisters to fight. As for other help, they can go if the Mujahideen are able to accommodate and protect them. However, sisters should definitely be prepared!
2. Supporting the Fighters in the Battlefield
There are several ways in which Muslim sisters can support the Mujahideen on the battlefield directly. These would vary in accordance with the nature of the fighting. In general, these include, among others:
Medical Support - Tending to the wounded mujahideen was a role assigned to the Sahabiyyat (female companions of the Prophet) during the times of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Among the women who participated as such were Aaishah, the Prophet's wife, and Fatima, his daughter among others.
In Chechnya itself, while Muslim women cannot travel with the Mujahideen, we see sisters working as nurses managing the meagre health resources available for the Mujahideen. May Allah , The Most High, reward their participation.
Providing Food and Water to the Mujahideen - This was another duty assigned to the Sahabiyyat, who carried caskets of water along with their first-aid kits and quenched the thirst of the Mujahideen during the heat of the battle. These days, this can be considered somewhat analogous to providing food and drink to the Mujahideen and tending to their other needs while they are engaged in fighting. Such a role was assigned to sisters in at least some cases in the Afghanistan Jihad in the 1980's.
Providing Weapons and Ammunition - This is another area where sisters can help. One sister in her 50s from the UK carried weapons and ammunition for the Bosnian Muslims over mountains as she knew the enemy would not suspect her.
Encouraging the Mujahideen to Remain Steadfast - Most notable in this aspect was the Prophet (peace be upon him)'s aunt, the sister of Sayyid-ush-Shuhadaa' (The Master of the Martyrs) Hamza, the mother of Zubair bin 'Awwam (another great sahabi) - Safiyyah bint Abdul Muttalib. When she got ready to participate in the battle of Uhud, she carried a spear (or dagger) with her. The companions informed the Prophet (peace be upon him) of this, and he asked her what she would do with it. She said she will remain at the back of the army and use it to strike those Muslims who dared to escape from the battle --and this role she played very well. Hind bint 'Utbah, after she embraced Islam, was also known to accompany the Mujahideen to battles and encourage them to fight and remain steadfast for Allah , The Most High.
3. Guard Duty and Protection
Safiyyah bint Abdul Muttalib was among the women who had conducted such duty during the battle of the Trench (Ahzab or Khandaq), when the Muslim army had to be protected from the rear. The danger there was from the Jewish tribes who were known for their enmity and treachery against Muslims. She was stationed in a tent with other women and one ill sahabi (Hassan bin Thabit). She noticed an enemy spy approaching, and asked Hassan to kill him. Hassan expressed his inability to do so on account of his sickness. She then tracked the enemy, came behind him, and struck and killed him with a pole of the tent.
Another brave sister, a companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him), Asma bint Yazeed, is similarly reported to have killed nine enemy soldiers from a group who had decided to attack a tent of women and children. The rest of the soldiers fled, fearing for their lives.
Allahu Akbar! Such bravery on account of these women puts to shame most "men" of today.
Sisters' Role Off the Battlefield:
1. Raising Mujahid Children
This is perhaps the most important role women can play in Jihad - raise their children to be brave and loving, courageous and sensitive, and fearing none other than Allah. Raise them as such not only in spirit, but also in terms of physical ability and training. And raise not only sons as such, but daughters as well. The key is to start instilling these values in them while they are babies. Don't wait until they are seven to start, for it may be too late by then! Some practical tips that most sisters can implement without difficulty are as follows:
1. Tell children bedtime stories of Shuhadaa and Mujahideen. You will find many such stories from the life of the Prophet (peace be upon him), the Sahabah, and throughout Islamic history, including contemporary times.
2. Emphasize, while disciplining young children, that they are not to hit a Muslim, but rather forgive, and are only to get their anger out on the enemies of Allah who fight against Muslims. Teach them the meaning of "Ashiddaa'u 'alal kuffari ruhamaa'u baynahum" (Strong against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves). Make a makeshift enemy (could be a punching bag for instance) if you have to, and encourage children (especially boys) to use it and build their strength as well as learn to control and direct their anger.
3. Eliminate your television completely if you can (it mostly teaches shamelessness, anarchy, and random violence) and keep a check on the company your child is in. In addition to the largely damaging content of TV in
general, another of its negatives is the laziness and passiveness that it breeds, and the mental and physical loss that it contributes to. Compare this to the healthy aspects of engaging children in play and sports that benefit
them in terms of discipline and physical strength.
4. If you cannot eliminate the television completely, then at least use it only to show children videos that will instill in them the love of Allah, the love of Islam, the love of the Mujahideen, and the love of Jihad fi sabeelillah. Many Islamic videos as well as military training videos are available from various sources.
5. Only if you have acted upon items 3 and 4 above, it is a good idea to start your children young in terms of introducing them (through safe toys) to target-shooting. Make it very clear who their target should be and who their target should NOT be. This can be done through toy guns and toy military sets, as well as by engaging in sports that develop good hand-eye coordination, such as darts and archery. If you can spare the time to spend
with your children and play military games with them in a fun way, and get them interested in these (as opposed to other largely useless, but very popular games and sports), then that will insha'Allah be counted as Jihad in itself (as preparation for Jihad is a part of Jihad). You can practice in front of them in your own home using their toys. Children learn by imitating what adults do. Insha'Allah you will find them interested and imitating your actions and they will become disciplined experts before you know it. Of course, if you own a real weapon, then please keep it totally out of young children's reach and don't use it in front of them either.
6. Some sports and activities that will be an asset in Jihad training for your children (and yourselves), in addition to being enjoyable, healthy, and fun:
- Martial arts training
- Swimming
- Archery
- Target-shooting (with different kinds of toy weapons)
- Darts
- Horse-back riding
- Orienteering (learning to navigate your way in the woods)
- Exercise (running, jogging, push-ups, etc.) to build stamina
- Skiing
- Driving (a range of different vehicles)
- Camping / Survival Training (an excellent and enjoyable method of training!)
7. Get your young children interested in Jihad by getting military books (preferrably with pictures) and other similar books, CDs, videos, and by visiting web sites such as the www.qoqaz.net along with your children, and utilizing other internet resources. Show them the pictures of Mujahideen and encourage them to become like these people at the least. These activities can be done with children even as young as a couple years or even younger. Don't underestimate the lasting effect of what those little ears and eyes take in during the first few years of life! No child is ever too young to be started off on Jihad training in one form or another, the minimum being simple encouraging words and verses from the Qur'an that the young child will never forget Insha-Allah.
8. Video games and computer games are not to be preferred over actual physical training and practical experience for the same reason that television is recommended against. However, if one's child has to have video games for whatever reason, then military video games and war strategy games that are not violent and graphic (if any exist!) would be preferred over other largely useless but popular video games. Start working on your children while they are very young, and set their priorities straight. Then Insha-Allah you and they will not be faced with internal battles once they start getting older and more involved in the 'dunya'. Perhaps they will not even want to have video games and the likes thereof, which is the best case. And Allah knows best.
9. A mother knows very well the aptitude of her children. In accordance with this, she can encourage her children in the relevant aspects of Jihad. Note that participation in Jihad can be in various ways. For instance, a nuclear
physicist can help strengthen the national defense system of Muslims, an expert of communications can assist in his role, a computer expert can dedicate his or her skills to the service of the Mujahideen, a news-reporter can help further the cause of Jihad by bringing authentic news to the world, and a doctor or nurse can help the Mujahideen in the medical aspect. Children need to be made clear what their goal is, as well as what it is not, by taking on any given profession - that their goal is to serve Allah in the highest way possible (through Jihad) and not to accumulate wealth and physical comforts for their own sake. It should be emphasized here that, no matter what profession is chosen, even if it be with the intention of Jihad, still, basic military training is a must. In fact, military training is a right of the children upon their parents.
2. Physical Training
There are two main reasons why sisters themselves also need to get military training:
1. So that they can Participate Themselves :
Especially helpful aspects of military training for women are:
Firearms - Learning to shoot a weapon, and keeping one where possible is another asset whose value cannot be overstated. Imagine if every woman possessed this in a Muslim society! Imagine how many sisters would be prevented from being raped and killed at the hands of the barbarians. Imagine how may barbarians could at least be wounded before they could take our sisters. At least our sisters could contribute to Jihad before getting killed
themselves, as opposed to being totally helpless and easy victims. The Russian barbarians and rapists in Chechnya would think twice before they would try to arrest and torture women if they feared this sort of retaliation.
Self Defense and Hand-to-Hand Combat - Physical self-defense, and especially RAD (Rape Aggression Defense) are other valuable skills that ALL sisters, whether they live in a potential war zone or not, need to learn. This training is generally easily available and makes use of techniques that give even weak and frail women an advantage over burly men. The advantages of such training are obvious and need mainly an eager mind and heart.
Build Stamina - Any kind of military participation requires a fair amount of stamina. Sisters need to build their stamina, both physical and emotional. Engage in a proper exercise program for the former, and try to imagine and picture what jihad would be like and envision one's own role, visit Jihad websites such as www.qoqaz.net regularly, and try to remove the fear of blood and injury for the latter. An example of a strong woman is that of Safiyyah bint Abdul Muttalib mentioned above. In the battle of Uhud, her brother Hamza's body was mutilated by the kuffar. Safiyya (may Allah be pleased with them both) insisted on seeing him, so she could reinforce her desire to fight against the kuffar and encourage others. Initially she was refused, but upon her insistence, she was allowed. She was patient at the site of what would make most women lose their minds. She did not hit her head, and wave her fists and yell out aloud, but was an example of extreme emotional strength and patience.
2. So that they can Train their Sons and Daughters:
All other fields of military training in addition to the above are helpful here. If young children can learn the names of all the Pokemon characters, surely they can learn some basic terminology related to Jihad. If they can learn nursery rhymes and whatever have-you on television, they can also learn the duas that help the Mujahideen in Jihad. The key is to present this information to children in a manner that does not turn them off, but rather,
gets them interested and engaged in a positive 'fun' manner (Note that 'fun' here does not mean music and dancing, as is portrayed by Western children's TV programs).
If a mother or caretaker possesses knowledge and training of Jihad herself, she can impart that easily to her children and those in her care, not the mention the important role of men - fathers, uncles, brothers - in this
aspect.
3. Encourage Loved Ones to go for Jihad
This, again, can be done in various ways:
Naseehah - by patiently and untiringly encouraging the men of their families, reminding them of their duty to Allah and other Muslims, reminding them of the blessings of Paradise and the torments of this world and the next - all
in a way that encourages them and does not make them feel pressured or causes them to turn away. Remember that we cannot force anyone to go, as firstly, that is contrary to the role Allah has assigned women, and secondly, if the men go unwillingly and under pressure, they may not be useful to the Mujahideen and may even become an unwanted burden.
Dua - Ask Allah , The Most Powerful, to change the hearts of unwilling men, make them and their families steadfast, and guide all Muslims! It is only Allah , The Most High, Who can change hearts around and give the ability to do what needs to be done.
Patience - Know that when one's caretaker goes out for Jihad, it is a time for much patience for his family, especially his mother, wife, and sisters. Encourage your men by being strong, confident, and patient, so they can focus on their mission and not worry about the anxiety of their women.
Skills - While Islam does not require women to learn any technical skills or get an education in order to get a job, however, if a woman will do so with the intention of supporting the family if her father or husband or brothers
go for Jihad, then, Insha-Allah that can be counted as her participation. Ideally, sponsors should take care of the families of the Mujahideen and Shuhadaa', as according to the Prophet (peace be upon him), taking care of the family of a Mujahid and equipping a Mujahid are also Jihad. However, given the present unfortunate times where women are expected to fend for themselves in need, it is not a bad idea for a Muslim woman to acquire some skill provided the intention is correct.
Tawakkul - Tawakkal 'alallah! Rely on Allah, for He Alone is enough for His servants. Refresh belief in Qada wal Qadr (Islamic concept of Destiny and Pre-Ordination)- that whatever Allah has decreed to happen will happen and none can avert it. If a woman's loved one is to get injured or die, that will happen at the time and place appointed. Not going to Jihad will not avert that. If one has to face financial difficulty, that will happen even if the husband or father is around - so don't stop them out of such fears - remind yourselves, make some sacrifices for Allah (Paradise is not all that cheap), and do what needs to be done!
A Special Section for Special Sisters:
True stories of some heroic contemporary women whose husbands are either engaged in fighting or have attained the ultimate success of martyrdom:
This section is added to give a real-life flavour of the lives of some of those women who participate in Jihad in the background, by taking care of their husbands' children and property in his absence, by encouraging their men, and by patiently bearing all the consequences thereof. The information has been extracted almost ditto from the diary of a certain sister who has personally known or met these sisters. Some information has been changed/omitted in an effort to hide the true identity of the sisters mentioned below:
Umm Saburah - Wife of a Shaheed
"I finally got the opportunity to meet with her! She was visiting my city for some time when I had this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She had never met me before, but knew who I was through another friend. So Alhamdulillah, she was frank in telling me about her life and some glimpses of her Shaheed husband's. Below is my sketchy recollection of our conversation (I took no notes):
Q. Ma Sha Allah, you are one of the most honoured women to be the wife of a Shaheed! I don't know what I would give to have that honour! Tell me, sister, how did you manage your (several) young children all through the years he was in Jihad, and how are you managing now?
Umm Saburah: I used to teach children and live with whatever I got out of that. Now, with the persecution of my government (they arrested and harassed her) I don't even know where I am going to go. People tell me all sorts of things. What can I do? I am just visiting family and friends moving from place to place at the moment. My dream would be to go to Chechnya and work with the refugee women there. I would want my children to be exposed to that life. I think the hardship will be good for them. There is too much luxury, too much ease over here.
A. SubhanAllah sister, you encouraged your husband all along for Jihad even though it was so difficult for you. I know of some sisters who just only think of themselves and their rights and stop their husbands from Jihad, and then there are others whose husbands simply don't want to go even though the sisters encourage them.
Umm Saburah: Well, in my case, it was my husband who taught me and encouraged me. Sometimes I felt like that (referring to the women who discouraged their husbands), but I never tried to stop him or discourage him, as it is haraam to do so. Jihad is a fard from Allah. How could I stop him from that?!
A. I have heard a lot about your husband, tell me more about him, how was he martyred? Of course, Allah only knows who is a martyr, but we like to think of him as such.
Umm Saburah: O I know he was martyred (and her eyes filled with tears and she paused). He had all the signs of a Shaheed. They wouldn't send his body home after they killed him. They kept it for several days in cold-storage. Finally, when they sent it home (a very short distance from the cold-storage facility), his body was so warm and he looked like he was still alive! He had all the signs of a Shaheed. He always wanted Martyrdom. Once in a previous war he was badly injured and doctors had said he would not be able to survive, but he did and became well. He was saddened by his recovery and often used to cry, thinking that perhaps he was not good enough to be accepted by Allah as a Martyr. He was a very good husband and a very good man.
Q. So what do you want your sons to be when they grow up?
Umm Saburah: (Firmly) They will be Mujahideen insha'Allah. That was their father's wish and there is no choice about it.
Q. How will you ensure that they do take that route?
Umm Saburah: They do have other brothers (in Islam) who were my husband's friends and they have already instilled in them these values. They look up to their father and what he did with admiration and respect, and they look up to his friends now. My daughter feels angry at the whole situation though and I am working on trying to give as much love as I can to all my children. It's hard, but Alhamdulillah.
[The above conversation was at a time of great trials and difficulty for Umm Saburah. Please realize that the Allah Who tests His slaves also helps them. Alhamdulillah, she is in a much better and happier situation now insha'Allah.
May Allah bless and protect her and her children and continue to keep them steadfast in the deen!]
Umm Siham - Wife of a Mujahid
"I have known Umm Siham for a while. From the first time I met her until now, I have admired her strength, simplicity, sincerity, and straight-forwardness. She was always so humble and sincere and straight - no pretense whatsoever - and this is what I love about her. I have seen her sit so quiet and still with so much respect in Qur'anic lessons, that I almost imagined a shining light about her once. I loved her dearly from the first time I met her until this day and pray to Allah for her protection and that of her family. Below is what she described of her experience when her husband first went out fi sabeelillah:
"It was hard, but also Allah made it easy in some ways. My youngest child was only some days old when my husband left. My older child was two, and I couldn't get myself to go out and earn money and leave the two young ones. My mother bought me some fabric, so I used to sew and make crafts and sell these at whatever occasion I could. There was a time when my living room was strewn with fabric, but at least I could stay home and be with my children. The money I made was very little - but SubhanAllah, it went a long way (Barakah from Allah). It was enough for all our needs. Now, the times when my husband is home and is earning, and the children are getting bigger, I see that our children just consume so much more money and the expenses are so much more! (perhaps this is a sign from Allah to return to Jihad?!)"
Umm Sahl - Wife of a Shaheed
"I knew her husband from before, and could never even dream that one day he would go for Jihad and that Allah - The Most Glorious, would choose him as a special martyr. It was reported that the smell of a very pleasant fragrance, like musk, emanated from his body after he was martyred! Perhaps a sign from Allah for sinful people like myself who underestimated and even doubted him at times - may Allah accept him as a Martyr in the highest levels of Paradise and forgive me (aameen).
"I made the firm intention to meet with Umm Sahl as soon as I heard the news of her husband's martyrdom. In my single meeting with her, I saw in her a person who seemed to have placed Allah, the Most High, and the aakhirah over everything else of this world. I will summarize her experience below:
"Umm Sahl had been married for about a year to her Shaheed husband when he left for Jihad. She had one child from her Shaheed husband. Her baby was merely a couple months when his father left - insha'Allah to meet with them again in Jannah! I told her that she has all the good anyone can wish for - a shaheed in the family who will insha'Allah intercede at the day of judgment. What more could anyone want?! She smiled and said that we could not just rely on that and had to strive ourselves, as only Allah knows for sure. From her way of talking, I felt that she had a very deep love for her shaheed husband. Her dedication to Islam was evident from every single thing she did and said. May Allah protect her and her family and continue to guide them all along the straight path (aameen). She has a small business of her own, but the emotional pressures after her husband's martyrdom left her unable to manage it for some months, which forced her to take a loan - the paying back of which was difficult for her. (This information she only revealed hesitantly upon my insistence). When I asked if she would accept any financial help from some institution (as I was unable to assist significantly myself), she said she would only accept it anonymously - so no one finds out who she is, as she could never bear to ask for money! SubhanAllah! She never filled out the application that was mailed to her - out of her personal dignity and honour! May Allah bless her and fulfill all her needs in the best way possible (aameen).
"I pray Allah makes the means to support the many sisters, who, with Allah, may be better than the rest of us, yet are forced to go out of their homes and work, and raise their children all alone, and live in hardship - yet they refuse to beg, refuse even to demand their God-given right from other Muslims. Truly they have sold the dunya for the aakhirah - so they have nothing to lose. They are filled with patience and a love for Allah and Jihad. It seems that the following Qur'anic verses were revealed specifically for such families of the Shuhadaa':
"O You who believe! Seek help in steadfastness and prayer. Indeed, Allah is with the steadfast. And call not those who are slain in the path of Allah "dead." Nay, they are living, only you perceive not. And surely We shall try you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives and crops; but give glad tidings to the steadfast, who say when a misfortune befalls them: Indeed, to Allah we belong and, indeed, to Him we are returning. Such are they on whom are blessings from their Lord, and mercy. Such are the rightly guided." [Quran 2:153-157]
"But what is one to say of the rest of the Muslims who don't support the families of the Shuhadaa' and the Mujahideen?! This is despite clear ahadith which put the supporting of the families of the Mujahideen as Jihad itself. What can one expect of such Muslims who themselves have neglected their duty of Qitaal even when Muslim women are raped in the thousands - and have adopted non-Muslim ideas to the point where they expect even these great, humble, modest sisters who cover from head to toe, to take off their face-veils and go work - facing a hostile world all alone - because no one else will support them! These great mothers of Mujahids and wives of Shuhadaa! May Allah, The Most Appreciative and Generous, accept their sacrifices for His sake and may He, The Most Glorious, guide all the Muslims to realize their duties to Him (aameen)!"
4. Training in Combat Medicine and First-aid
The glorious women of this Ummah, the female companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him), were experienced in this aspect of Jihad, and in-fact, this was a job assigned mostly to them. It goes without saying that one needs to be trained beforehand in order to be of benefit when the time comes. Such training is generally easily available. At a minimum, sisters should know how to stop bleeding from a wound, how to dress wounds in different parts of the body using a bandage and what to do if a bandage is not available, lifting and turning a person who cannot walk without bearing all the weight, how and where to apply basic antiseptics, how to deal with potential broken bones, dealing with head-and-neck injuries, and other such first-aid techniques. Another very helpful skill is the knowledge of using natural resources for medicines and first-aid. This knowledge is valuable to reduce dependence on synthetic medicines, which may not be easily available in a combat zone.
5. On an Academic Level
Sisters can participate in Jihad on an academic level in the following four ways:
Answer Objections Raised Against Jihad - Read books such as those of Shaikh Abdullah Azzam and others, that deal with the aqidah (doctrine) and fiqh (practical application) of Jihad. Know how to answer objections and propaganda of those who seek to eliminate Jihad (or Qital) from Islam, or at least change it's nature by coming up with watered-down and new interpretations of the word 'Jihad'. If the misinformation being spread by these people is not checked, it will contribute to further Muslim massacres, such as that of Bosnia, where the population had largely left Jihad. Thus, sisters need to educate themselves in matters of Jihad, as well as help others learn the truth.
Encourage Others to go for Jihad - Allah , The Most Exalted, has commanded the Prophet (peace be upon him):
'And strongly encourage the Believers to go for Qital (fighting in the path of Allah).' [Quran 8:65]
It has to be said that men tend to listen more if they are told to be 'men' by women. So sisters, use whatever means Allah has given you within Islamic bounds, encourage all the Muslims you can to realize their duty to Allah and His deen. And very importantly, encourage other sisters as well, as it is they, with Allah's help, who mold the thought-process of their young sons - the future mujahideen of the Ummah.
Obtain Knowledge of Jihad and Teach/Train Other Women (and men if needed) -
Don't hold back on whatever knowledge and wisdom Allah grants you. If Allah has shown you the way that leads to Him, then show that to others without holding back. Let Allah protect you and other Muslims and let no other fear overcome you.
Read and Narrate for Motivation - Read about Jihad to motivate yourselves, your children, and others you know. Humans love stories, so be generous with telling uplifting stories of Jihad.
6. Fund-raising
Allah, The Most High, has commanded Muslims to engage in Jihad with their selves as well as their wealth. Sisters can help arrange for fund-raising events; call, email, and visit their friends, neighbours, and relatives for the same; and donate for Jihad from whatever Allah has blessed them with of jewellery, money, and assets. If sisters want to donate their jewellery, a suggestion (especially applicable in the U.S.) is to be the first to donate it at a fund-raising event, and arrange (preferrably beforehand) to have it auctioned off at the event. You can also request to not give it unless it's cost is met. Experience has shown that usually the jewellery that is auctioned first generates high donations, sometimes several times more than it's monetary worth. What actually matters is the intention of the donor, as that is what causes even a small donation to multiply with Allah - The Most Generous!
7. Dua
One of the most important, if not the most important contribution of sisters in the on-going Jihad in Chechnya and other locations worldwide is their sincere dua, as is requested by the Mujahideen themselves
If sisters (and brothers for that matter) don't know the Qunut nazilah, a dua from the Sunnah, then it is imperative that they learn it as soon as possible and recite it in their witr prayers at a minimum. Another dua for the Mujahideen is contained in. Allah, The Most High, understands all languages and accepts sincere supplication from all His servants! May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala grant a complete and permanent victory to the Mujahideen fi
sabeelih, and may He, The Most High, give us the ability to do our part in Jihad to the fullest, and may He accept it from all of us (aameen).
May Peace and Blessings be upon the Noblest of all Prophets and Messengers. And the end of our call is: 'Praise be to Allah, Lord of all Worlds'
Courtesy of Sister AI
May Allah reward her with the best of rewards
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| Are You As Committed As Sohaila |
| Abdur-Rahman Hijazi |
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Article ID: 710 | 46 Reads
http://www.islamicawakening.com/viewarticle.php?articleID=710& |
|
Courtesy of MinhajAlMuslim.com
Part 1
In one day of the days of Bani Ummayah, rahimahumullah, after the Khulafaa' ar-Raashideen, when Islaam used to be the dominant power in the whole Earth, when the Muslim country was the biggest country amongst all the others, and specifically in the city of the Prophet Sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam, in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, there was a gathering, a Muslim gathering, of some sahaba and some tabi`een, attending a wedding of two young but yet righteous Muslims. These two were Sohaila and Farrookh. Sohaila was the wife and Farrookh was the husband. In spite of the fact that they were both young, they were so righteous in such a way that they became very well known among the leaders of the muttaqeen later on. During these days, brothers and sisters, jihaad was one of the good deeds that every Muslim was targeting...every Muslim was dreaming of doing jihaad. And the Muslim army was everywhere in the earth, going towards north, towards south, towards east, towards west...everywhere they were going and doing the battles to spread the message of Allaah subhana wa ta`ala and that dream was also with that young, new husband, which was Farrookh. And he was watching the companions, the sahaba, and the tabi`een, as they were coming back and forth from the battlefield and listening to their news and how they are sacrificing their lives for the sake of Allaah subhana wa ta`ala. and how Allaah subhana wa ta`ala is granting them victories and Allaah subhana wa ta`ala is blessing them with everything.
So, it has not been 3 months after his marriage when that young man came back home at night, he saw his wife, and told her about his intention to go for jihaad, to go for fighting against the non-believers, and to spread the message of Allaah subhana wa ta`ala. Even though it was almost 3 months after marriage but that hope of having the mercy of Allaah subhana wa ta`ala by one of the greatest good deeds, which is jihaad, was more attractive to him than by being happy with his wife at home. And as it was a very difficult decision by Farrookh to decide go for jihaad even after three months for marriage, it was even almost unbelievable or impossible for the wife to hear about this. How can she accept this and they have been married for three only months? Who is going to take care of her? What is she going to with the home? With the money? Who is going to feed her? She is still young and her husband took her from her family and he is no more with her, and her family is also no more with her. However that decision was made up by that young man, Farrookh, and he was not willing to even argue about it. "And what about our life together, what about the house?", Sohaila said to him. Too many questions from her, but only one answer from him which was: "Allaah subhana wa ta`ala will take care of you". And as the Mujahid made up his mind to go for jihaad, he had no time to waste. And he started immediately to get himself prepared for the long trip to go for jihaad. He spent his nights getting himself prepared and trying to convince his beloved wife that this is a choice that he is not going to hesitate in having it, and he is doing it for the sake of Allaah subhana wa ta`ala and we have to sacrifice.
Farrookh left with Sohaila some money that she might spend for couple of months later on and as they were hoping that the whole journey would not take more than couple of months, and he also left with her whatever he saved during his life, the whole wealth that he was trying to save before the marriage and he left thirty thousand dinars with her as a trust and he asked her not to touch that, and not to even use it until he comes back to her. And in front of the door, when Sohaila was glancing her last at her husband, to her beloved husband Farrookh, she was crying, she was deeply crying and saying "O Farrookh, do not leave me alone, O Farrookh, do not leave me alone, nobody is gonna take care of me". But Farrookh did not add to his words anything but to say "istawji`kAllaah al-ladhi laa tudi`u wa daa`iuh" (?).
And Farrookh left (to) the masjid of Prophet Sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam to pray salatul fajr and immediately after that he joined the Muslim army and they went altogether to the battle field. And they went towards the East. Sohaila, his wife, was left alone crying and crying. What could she do as she was still young? How could she survive without a husband? Her friends used to come her house to try to make it easy for her to try to make her forget about her disaster but they were always failing. And it was not more than three months later on when Sohaila discovered that she was expecting a baby. She was pregnant after her marriage with that young man, Farrookh. You can think of the situation she would be in after her husband left her alone and she feltthat she is going to have a baby and that baby is going to live as a orphan. Sohaila did not find any way to get out of her problem except by (praying) to Allaah subhana wa ta`ala and begging Him for His mercy to help her and give her way out. Days after days passed, and Sohaila delivered a baby boy. She was so very happy for that baby but yet, she didn't know how this orphan would grow up without a father.
The time period of Farrookh's absence was gone and Sohaila became restless. She used to ask the Muslims coming back from the battlefields about her husband but nobody was able to give her a specific answer. The money that Farrookh left with his wife was almost gone however she did not plan to spend anything, not even a single dinar, from the trust that he left with her. The only money that she was spending from was the money that he left for her to survive. That money was almost over and Farrookh did not come back yet. And Sohaila was very patient and she never took any money from that trust. She waited until she heard about some mujahideen coming from battlefields and so she went to them, hoping that they might know about her husband. And then when she came to them and asked them about her husband, Farrookh, one of them told her that, "I saw him with my two eyes dying in one of the battles". This news was not easy for her, for Sohaila to hear. But the Imaan, the faith that was in her heart, stopped her and protected her from doing any wrongful actions, except saying, "inna lillaah wa inna illaayhi ra ji`aooun".
Sohaila went back to her home, with that news being as a fire in her heart but she found nothing but (to ask) Allaah subhana wa ta`ala to give her a way out. And after that news, Sohaila decided to start using the trust that Farrookh left with her and to spend the entire trust in teaching her son the Islamic knowledge and getting him prepared to be one of the righteous leaders. Sohaila started to take her son in his early age to attend thillatul-dhikr where the scholars give their lectures and where the Muslims gather to do their dhikr. She also used to bring some teachers to the house to teach her son the Qur'aan and the Sunnah and she used to pay them fromthe trust that her husband left with her. The scholars that used to teach that little boy, loved him very much and they all noticed his genius and his intelligence. But it wasn't only because he was clever, it wasn't only due to his abilities, it was much more: It was his mother's hard efforts, it was his mother's prayer to Allaah subhana wa ta`ala to bless him and protect him. It was the pure and blessed sperm drop coming from the two righteous parents and it was on top of all of that the blessings and the mercy of Allaah subhana wa ta`ala on that little baby.
And as the years were passing, Sohaila was still thinking of her husband, Farrookh. She was still hoping to see him one day. She used to describe him to her son with all good characteristics and manners. She used to make his identity as a model for him, for her son to follow. She used to make his picture as bright as she could before her son. And you can always compare that to our situation now. Inna lillaahi wa inna ilayhi raaji`aoon...
At night, after thirty years, and at the borders of China, very far away from Madina Al-Munawwarah, a group of mujahideen were sleeping after Allaah subhana wa ta`ala had granted them victory. They were all thankful and they were happy for that and they slept for the whole entire night, except for an old man in his fifties of his age. That old man was thinking of his wife when he left her three months after marriage. While everyone was sleeping, that old man was saying, "What happened to Sohaila? How is she doing? What happened to the trust?" Yes, that was Farrookh, Sohaila's husband. He did not pass away as Sohaila was wrongly informed. Now, after the thirty years since Farrookh left his wife, these thirty years were enough to make him think of returning back to his wife, to the city of Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam. But it would be very risky now for him to go back. What if he doesn't find his wife? What if he returns to find his wife but that wife of his is married to another person? What if he doesn't find his trust? What and what and what? Lots of questions occupied his mind. But finally he made his decision to go back to Madina Al-Munawwarah and to see his wife, at least once before Allaah subhana wa ta`ala would take either of their souls. He got permission from the mujahideen leader and he left the battle going towards Madinah Al-Munawwarah. You know how long it would take them in these days to go from like the borders of China to Madinah Al-Munawwarah and the only means of transportation they used to have were camels and horses. So it was a very long journey. However, the extent and the intensity of the yearning he had for his beloved wife was an immense encouragement for him to travel as fast as possible. And as he was getting closer and closer to Madina Al-Munawwarah, his worries were increasing more and more. What type of situation he would find his wife in?
Finally after (months) of that long trip, he reached to the borders of Al Madina Al-Munawwarah, where he had left his wife more than thirty years ago. Although these minutes were like a matter of life or death for him, he did not forget the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam, and you know that one of the sunnah, is that when you return to your home after a journey, back to your city, that you start with the masjid first. You go to the masjid, pray two raka`s and then you go back to your home. That was one of the sunnahs of the Prophet Sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam and the hadith was reported in al-Bukhari. So he did not forget that sunnah even though he was so excited to know about his wife and what had happened to her. So he went immediately to the mosque of Prophet Sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam - masjid Nabi sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, where he prayed two raka`s and then he waited for Salaatul-`Asr to start. And then after he prayed Salaatul-`Asr, Farrookh wasn't able to wait any more. He was very eager to know about his wife and what happened to her. However, by the time the Salaat was over, he saw hundreds and thousands of people making circles out of circles and all surrounding one person, one great scholar that he did not know about. That scholar didn't look that old. Farrookh was very surprised at such a sight, because he had not witnessed such a spectacle before, when he was last in Madinah. He was trying his best to know or to guess who was that person, who was giving that lecture in front of thousands of people in the masjid of Prophet Sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam. He failed to recognise that person but he was amazed by his knowledge and by his efficacy, by his manner and the way he deals with his students.
Do you know brothers and sisters, that among the students of that scholar was Imam Malik ibn Anas, one of the leaders of the four schools of thought. Not only Imam Malik, beside Imam Malik was Imam Sufyan At-Thawri and Imam Layth ibn Sa`ad and many more great scholars. After the lecture was over, Farrookh asked his neighbour, the one who was sitting just behind him, "Who is this? Who is this lecturer? Who is this scholar? Who is this Shaykh?" His neighbour started to laugh at him, "Come on! Don't you know that Shaykh? You don't know this great scholar?" He said, "No, I am a foreigner and I have just come to Madinah Al-Munawwarah." So the neighbor started to describe and to tell him about this Shaykh and that this Shaykh is the highest reference in Madina Al-Munawwarah and he is from one (of) the top seven scholars in Madina Al-Munawwarah, as you know they are called, "al `ulema al-Madina saba`". Farrookh asked, "What is his name?" The neighbour said, "His name is Rabi`ah ibn 'Abdur-Rahmaan". Farrookh didn't know him. And he wasn't even able to get a good look at him as he was very far from him and as the place was overcrowded with people.
So as soon as he had done with this, he went away. He went out of the mosque to his old house. Before getting to the door, Farrookh saw a very well dressed and a nice looking Shaykh trying to get into his house, into Farrookh's house. Farrookh was unable to control himself. How can he see a man coming or entering his house without his permission? And to the best of Farrookh's knowledge, his wife, Sohaila was still there in the home. So how can this man enter his home and he looks like a Shaykh? So Farrookh did not control himself and he jumped on that person, trying to beat him and even trying to kill him, saying, "Who are you? What are you doing at my house? And who allowed you to enter my house?" But the Shaykh was strong enough to defend himself and he was asking Farrookh the same questions. And as they were fighting against each other, people started to gather. And among the people, Imam Malik ibn Anas came and when he saw the situation, he didn't know who Farrookh was, so he asked Farrookh to leave the area, saying "You have no place here, because this house belongs to that person - it doesn't belong to you."
When Farrookh saw that all the people were saying that this home is belonging to that shaykh and not to you, meaning Farrookh, he shouted in his loudest voice, "I am Farrookh! I am the owner of that house!" It wasn't even a minute when a lady. an old lady came out of the house and said to all the people, "Yes, this is Farrookh, this is my husband". And then she looked at Farrookh and said, "This is your son, O Farrookh, leave him alone". So the people did not control themselves and they all started crying and they left them alone respectfully. So Farrookh and his wife entered the house and their son left them alone and went away.
Do you know the first statement that Sohaila said to her husband? After the long separation, she said, "O Farrookh, I am very sorry, I am not nice any more, I am not beautiful anymore, I am not the way you used to see me thirty years ago, I am very sorry. That's what happened because of the years. My hair turned white and my skin is no longer nice the way you used to see me". But Farrookh said, "O my wife, I don't care about these things. Your beauty is in your heart. Your beauty is in your honesty. Your beauty is in your character and your manners. I don't mind about this." Then he said to her that: "I swear you are the most beautiful lady for me." These two couples began discussion after discussion for hours and hours. And they did not stop until he asked her about the trust he left with her. She said, "O Farrookh, didn't you go to the masjid? To the masjid of Prophet Muhammad Sallallaahu `alahi wa sallam?" Farrookh said, "Yes I did". She said, "So what did u see there?" So he said, "I saw an amazing scholar whose his name is Rabi`ah ibn 'Abdur-Rahmaan I believe. I would never forget that scholar in my life." So Sohaila asked him, "Would you like to be like Rabi`ah ibn 'Abdur-Rahmaan in spite of losing all your wealth?" Farrookh said, "Yes I would, I do like to be like that person even if that would lead to losing all the wealth that I used to have." So Sohaila said, "Would you like to spend your entire wealth to have your son like Rabi`ah ibn 'Abdur-Rahmaan?" And then he said, "Yes, that would be even better." So Sohaila said to him, "Rabi`ah ibn 'Abdur-Rahmaan, that scholar, is your son, is the one whom you were fighting with, whom you were fighting against in front of the door." So when Farrookh knew about this, he went alone, crazy, looking for his son, looking where he went and saying, " Rabi`ah ibn 'Abdur-Rahmaan is my son, I cannot believe it! I cannot believe it!"
Part 2
Brothers and sisters, think about this story. That story was reported in more that one history book. It is a real story that happened during the days of Bani Umayyah. When you think about this person, Farrookh, who left his wife during their best days, during the first three months of their marriage, going for jihaad and he knows for a fact that jihaad means that he might be killed. That person, when you evaluate his Imaan, that he was wiling to get rid of every worthy thing, every nice thing that he might think about and go, sacrificing his neck for the sake of Allaah subhana wa ta`ala, where does that put us? Where does that put us? When you think about that lady, Sohaila radhiallaahu `anha, when you think about Sohaila, that lady, she was young when her husband left her alone. And he left with thirty thousand dinar, and thirty thousand dinar is a great amount of moneye. It means something that you might consider equivalent now to millions and millions of dollars, because in those days, thirty thousand dinars, nobody dreamt of having so much. And that lady, she was in her twenties, yet she did not make use of that money for her pleasure, for her to be nice looking in front of her friends. For her to at least be happy in her life or take what was necessary from that money to be happy in life. No, she just spent that money for the sake of her son and she was working her best to get other money to spend for her basic provisions, her food and drink. Now Rasool sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam said in the hadith, the best among the wives are those whom when the husband looks at, he feels very happy. And when he orders them, they would obey with no hesitation. And when the husband leaves them then they would protect his wealth and they would save their bodies from any other people and they would not disobey him by any means. Think about that hadith and compare Sohaila to it, and see where you want to put Sohaila in relation to it. And then think about yourself and where would you put yourself in relation to it. Sohaila spent more than thirty thousand dinar just to get her son educated and that was the whole wealth of her husband and when her husband came back and he saw his son, he said, "Yes, I am very willing to pay the whole of what I left with you just to get my son to be like that Rabi`ah ibn 'Abdur-Rahmaan", before he knew it was him.
So where does that put us, brothers and sisters? How much are we really willing to pay in order to get our children Islamically educated? How much are we really willing to even educate ourselves about Islaam? These people, brothers and sisters used to travel, used to leave their jobs, used to spend their whole wealth just to come closer and closer to Allaah subhana wa ta`ala.
And another thing that you might think of, brothers and sisters, is that this lady, Sohaila was caring about her son that much and compare the circumstances she used to live in with our present circumstances today. In those times, most of the Muslims were practising Islaam, if not all. In their time, the government used to practice the religion and used to rule by Islaam. And today we have no such a country and we have no such environment. We live in a very bad area. We live in Daar ul Kufr. We live in an area where we are surrounded by Shayaateen so how would we compare the duties towards our children compared to the duties that these people in those days used to have towards their children? And Sohaila spent that much money and she was devoted to her son day and night. She was spending whole days and nights praying to Allaah subhana wa ta`ala, trying to educate her son, trying to think about ways that will lead her son to be one of the righteous leaders in the future. Now how great, do you think, an effort would be needed in the present day? How much compared to that effort and we have these bad circumstances. And I would always like to give examples from our life nowadays. Because I feel that when we read about history, when were read about the Sahaba and Taabi`een and these Salaf as-Saalih, we think that these people were like dreams, that they are fictional, that we cannot have the same stories and find similar examples in our time. But let me tell you about two stories that happened not too long ago.
One of them was in Chechnya. Maybe some of you heard about it. It was a Saudi brother, who was fighting, making jihaad in Chechnya. He left his son in Saudi Arabia and that son was 2 years old. Alhamdulillaah Allaah subhana wa ta`ala has blessed him with a very righteous wife, such that she was, towards her son, like Sohaila was towards Rabi`ah ibn 'Abdur-Rahmaan. After five years of absence, that Saudi brother went to Chechnya, and did not return for five years. His wife sent him a letter just to let him know that they are all feeling well and not to worry about us, just continue in your jihaad. And one of the statements, that was in the letters was about his and her son, Muhammad. Muhammad was seven years old at that time. And SubhanAllaah, that lady used to give Muhammad one riyal everyday so that when he goes to the school, he would buy a sandwiches or something. That little boy, because he heard from his mother about his father, he heard how good, how great his father is, and he was educated that way. He came one day to his mother and he asked her to look at a box that he used to have. And he said to her, "Look at this, my Mum". What was that? It was more than a hundred riyal. She said, "O my son, where did you get that from?" He said: "I got that from the Riyal you used to give me every day." The mother was very surprised, "Weren't you using that to pay for your sandwich, for your candies and stuff?" He said: "No, I was saving this in order to buy a ticket and go with my father to do jihaad." That was the little boy and that was a couple years ago.
Another story happened in Syria, Brothers and Sisters. You know in Syria, in one week 40 000 people were killed in Hama, that was in 1982 almost, or the early '80's. Lots of people were arrested, as happened to a family that I know personally. The name of the family is Az -Za`tar, and they are from a village very close to Damascus. Now that son, he was like a very righteous Muslim alhamdulilaah. He was one of the brothers who used to memorize the Qur'aan and used to go to the masjid very often and used not to miss any lecture and any good deed that you know others can do. And one day, the Intelligence came to the city or to the village and they arrested lots of these brothers and he was amongst them. But that brother, from Az-Za`tar, he was in the masjid at that time he was arrested. He was in the masjid reading the Qur'aan. Allaah subhana wa ta`ala has blessed him with a wife, a very righteous wife, just like the other wife, just like Sohaila. When he was arrested, it was only six months after he had got his first baby boy. He called him, `Abdullah. Now when that brother got arrested, nobody knew about him. So people started to say that maybe he died or Allaahu`alam what happened to him. But then, after twelve years, they released him, and they put him in a place in Syria, in Damascus called, Sahatal Marjah. They dropped him in that place, and his eyes were so bloody that he couldn't even see his surroundings. They left him like a dog or even worse. So what happened, SubhanAllaah, one taxi driver was passing by and he saw that man and he felt a lot of mercy and sympathy for him and he said, "Let me give you a ride, where do you live?" He said, "I want to go to such a village, it's called At-Til". So he took him to At-Til and he refused to get any money. Even if he were to ask for any money, he didn't have anything. And now that brother, wallaah you will be amazed brothers, he remembered the same sunnah that Farrookh remembered when he came back from the battlefield. He did not go immediately to his home, he started by going to the masjid of that city or of that village. He went to the masjid where he was arrested and he prayed two raka`. And after he prayed two raka`s, he was just looking around him when he saw a couple of children reading the Qur'aan as they were having halaqah. He was just watching them and seeing how nice they were. And after the halaqa was over, he saw one of them that (he) really liked in particular. He saw that he looks very bright and very intelligent and so on. So he (said), "O boy come here, what is your name?" He said,"My name is Abdullah Az-Za`tar." He didn't' believe him. He said,"Who is your father?" He said: "I don't know my father. My mum told me that my father went away in struggle and that he is coming back. But he never appeared after that."
Brothers and sisters, this really took place, a few years ago and he found him in the same mosque he was arrested at and he found him doing the same thing he was doing when he was arrested - reading the Qur'aan, trying to memorize the Qur'aan. What was the reason for that? It was the mother. It was the mother who brought the children up and educated them in the right way. |
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Transcript of Azzam tape on Jihad includes stories of foreign fighters
http://forums.gawaher.com/index.php?act=Print&client=printer&f=65&t=4195&
Innal-Hamdulillaah was-Salaatu was-Salaam 'alaa Rasoolillaah
As-Salaamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu
"In The Hearts of Green Birds…"
The following is a transcript of the renowned audio tape, "In the Hearts of Green Birds", stories of the Shuhaadaa' of the Bosnian Jihaad, produced by Azzam Publications. If you have not heard these tapes then here is a taster – still it is strongly recommended that you order the tapes if you don't have them, even after reading this (the two are hardly comparable) – you can do so from maktabah.net I think insha'Allaah. Please note that this transcript is only of the first tape, not of its sequel, "Under the Shade of Swords" which can also be purchased from the aforementioned site.
For those who know these heart-softening, inspiring and indeed life-changing accounts well, then a reminder certainly does not hurt, indeed it benefits the believers
{NB: Please note the ages of many of the brothers at the time of their Shahaadah – perhaps peers of many of those reading this – how do we compare? what have we been doing with our youth?}
This tape was transliterated by an unknown brother, on Muharram 2nd, 1420. The majority of the narration of the shaheed brothers goes in the format of:
[Name], [ Place or Battle of Shahadat ], [ Date ], [ Age (sometimes) ]
[ The actual narrative itself ]
[ Anasheed ]
Spread throughout the rest of the tape are real recordings of Mujahideen joking or giving a Khutbah.
In the Hearts of Green Birds [Side A]
----------------BEGINNING OF CASSETTE TRANSCRIPT------------------
---Real battlefield radio transmission in Arabic during Operation Miracle, Bosnia, July 1995.---
---Gunfire---
---Radio transmission continues...---
[Narrator]
AllhamdulillahilRabbilAlameen, waSalatu waSalam ‘ala Rasulillah wa‘ala alehi wasahbihi ajma'een. Azzam recordings in London (UK) presents to you, the first cassette, in a series of cassettes on real life experiences in Jihad and an inspiring account of the Shuhadaa: those brothers killed in the way of Allah. Cassette One: "In the Hearts of Green Birds." The Shuhadaa of Bosnia.
Qawaaaa' fil usShuhadaa....
--real gunfire in the background--
--really beautiful recitation of surah Al-Imran, verses 169-171---
--sound of soldiers on horseback--
--(translation)—Do not think of those who are killed in the way of Allah as dead; Nay, they are alive, finding their sustenance in the Presence of their Lord. (---background; anasheed playing---) They rejoice in what Allah has bestowed upon them of his Bounty. And with regard to those who have not yet joined them but are left behind, that on them no fear shall come, nor shall they grieve. They rejoice in the Grace and the Bounty from Allah, and that Allah will not waste the reward of the Believers.
---Anasheed ---
Sheikh Abdullah Azzam rehmatullah'alaih said that Islamic history is not written, except with the blood of the Shuhada' and except with the stories of the Shuhada'.
---Anasheed—
The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: the Shaheed is given seven special favors from Allah:
1- All his sins are forgiven at the first drop of his blood.
2- He sees his place in Paradise as soon as he is killed.
3- He is saved from the punishment of the Grave.
4- He is saved from the great Terror on the Day of Judgement.
5- There is placed on his head a crown of honor, a jewel of which is better than this whole world and all that it contains.
6- He is given intercession for 70 members of his household.
7- He is married to 72 women of the most beautiful women of Paradise.
Related by Ahmad and Tirmidhi
Abu Zubair al-Madani, Sarajevo, 1992, age: 24.
(---Anasheed—)
Born and brought up in Madinah, the love of Islam occupied his youth, and he spent many years learning and spreading the Deen of Allah. A very popular brother in Madinah, he went to Afghanistan to join his brothers in Jihad at the very young age of 17. Six years he spent in Afghanistan, fighting with his brothers in the way of Allah. He was present in the great victories of Jaji, Jalallabad, Khost [?] and Kabul. After the conquest of Kabul, he returned to Madinah and stayed there for a few months. He was blessed with a beautiful voice, and he took this opportunity to make the famous audio cassette about his brothers killed in Afghanistan. The name of this cassette was "Qawaa fil-usShuhadaa"…the Caravan of the Martyrs. He did not used to think about anything except one thing, and he did not speak about anything except one thing, that is Jihad and martyrdom. Once he was asked:
"Why do you hurry for martyrdom, where as you have not done much for Islam?"
And he replied:
"What did my brothers give, who were killed in the way of Allah? Our souls are the most precious things that we can give."
In the summer of 1992 he heard about the oppression of his brothers and sisters in the Balkans, and he ravelin with his brother from Madinah, Abul'Abbas alMadani, to Bosnia. Two months they stayed there, until they fought in the defense of Sarajevo Airport. The fighting was severe, and all the parties fled the fighting except AbuZubair and AbulAbbas, who stayed there and who fought in the defense of Sarajevo Airport against the Egyptian United Nations, until they fell down shaheed. We ask Allah subhanahuwaTa'Ala to accept them from amongst the Shuhada.
---Anasheed, ravel spoken and Qur'an, and gunfire---
---More Anasheed---
Imran atTurki, Illyash, 1992.
(---more Anasheed mixed in---)
A Turkish brother with an American nationality, he was the Ameer of all the Turkish brothers in the front line base camp, where, there were two houses for the Arab Mujahideen and one house for the Turkish Mujahideen. He used to go and listen to the Dars in the house of the Arabs and return to the house of the Turks and give them the same Dars in Turkish. He was very humble and pious. He used to look around the streets for Bosnian orphans so that he could take care of them, and give them money, because at that time there were Christian Aid organizations sneaking the orphans to Europe and sending them there to make them into Unbelievers. And then he heard from his Arab brothers about an operation in a Serbian held territory in a village known as Illyash. He joined his brothers in this operation and he was shot in the stomach while shouting AllahuAkbar, AllahuAkbar. Many brothers they testified to the smile that was found on his face.
---more Anasheed---
Abu Maryam al-Afghani, Illyash, 1992 (---more Anasheed---)
A mujahid from Afghanistan, he came to Bosnia in 1992. All the Arabs and Bosnians who saw Abu Maryam, they said that,
"…this is a shaheed…".
One day he was sitting with his brothers Abu Qutayfah al-Afghani, Abul Harith al-Bahraini, Abu Muassa alKassoori, and Abu Maidh al-Muhajir.
And then Abu Maidh asked Abu Maryam:
"Who will take care of your daughter Maryam after you get killed?"
He replied in a strong voice:
"Allah will take care of her." And then he raised his finger to the sky, and said,
"Allah, Allah.",
and then he started to weep. All the other brothers there started to weep with him.
---more Anasheed---
He used to rely a lot on Allahu subhanahuwaTa'Ala. He was well mannered, he used to fast a lot, and he never talked a lot. And he was killed in Operation Illyash in 1992. His wife UmmeMaryam was originally German, and she was happy when she heard this news that she was a mujahid woman, and she was patient at the news. Abu Maryam's brother wanted to marry her. She said:
"Whoever marries me has to fulfil one condition; that he will stay with me for 15 days and then he will go for Jihad."
Abu Maryam's brother refused. Her sister, who used to be a non-Muslim, accepted Islam when she saw the patience of her sister. Now alhamdulillah, she is married and her husband is in the Jihad.
---more Anasheed---
AbuSahr al-Ha'illi, Travnik, 1993.
Abu Sahr was from the city of Ha'illi in the north of the Arabian peninsula. A very brave and patient brother, he was raveling through Travnik, when they were captured by the Croats. Abu Sahr told his brothers to fight and not to give up. His brothers suggested that they should give up now, as maybe they will be released later. While they were being held, the Croats, they saw that the Kalashnikov of Abu Sahr was on and ready to fire. They shot him with five bullets while he was shouting
"Laillaha illallah, Muhammad arRasulallah, Laillaha illallah, Muhammad arRasulallah."
We ask Allahu subhanahuwata'Ala to accept him from the Shuhada.
---more Anasheed---
Abu Ali' alKuwaiti, Travnik, 1993
A first lieutenant in the Kuwaiti Air Force, he was a very well mannered brother and one who used to call to Allah. He was loved a lot by his brothers; the Arabs and the Bosnians. His speciality was the 120 Middle Eastern...(??) He was also captured with his brother Abu Sahr al-Ha'illi in Travnik and under torture he used to be patient. One of his brothers who was captured with him, told him that if he tried to cry or show pain, they would stop the torture. Abu Ali' replied:
"No Inshallah I will never cry."
While he was captured, the Kuwaiti Air Force fired him from his job. When Abu Ali' heard the news, he said:
"AlHamdulillah".
A few months later, he was released in the prisoner exchange and then after that he joined another operation against the Croats. He was in a mine field, and his whole leg was blown off from a mine while he was shouting:
"AllahuAkbar, AllahuAkbar!"
---more Anasheed---
Abu Muadh' al-Qatari, Sarajevo, 1993...Abu Salih al-Qatari, Abu Abdullah al-Qatari, Abdullah Effendi al-Bosnawi.
Abu Muadh al-Qatari was 21 years old and a Hafiz of the Qur'an. He had a lot of Islamic knowledge. A commander in Afghanistan and a son of a very rich businessman in Qatar. He used to fast one day and not fast the next. He would pray all night and walk through the villages giving da'wah all day with his brother Abu Salih al-Qatari. He was a very loved brother by both the Arabs and Bosnians. Abu Muadh was also captured by the Croats when he went the wrong way in Srebnic, but he was released in the prisoner exchange. Once he was making his way to Sarajevo with his brothers Abu Salih al-Qatari and Abu Abdullah al-Qatari when they met one Bosnian brother, Abdullah Effendi. And he said to them
"I will come to Sarajevo with you."
And he went back and told his wife that he saw the three of them in a dream last night and that all of them were shaheed. While they were on their way to Sarajevo, they were met by one or two vehicles from the Soviet United Nations, who had heavy weapons on them. They started shooting at the brothers and after 15 minutes, none of these brothers shot back. And then after 15 minutes of firing, Abu Muadh opened the car door. He was wounded very badly, and he started shooting at the Soviets, killing five of them and injuring four. The Communists were very surprised and they did not move at all. When his magazine finished, he was not able to change his magazine because he was so badly wounded. The Russians came to him and they caught him and they shot him and he was killed on Friday morning at 11:00. And the smell of musk was emanating from his body. The wife of Abdullah Effendi said:
"That two days these brothers spent in our house, and they were very respectful and well-mannered people."
And so she buried her husband with them.
---more Anasheed---
Abul Harith Bahraini., Illyash, 1992, age: 23 (---more Anasheed---)
He was in Afghanistan. (He had also taken part in the Afghani Jihad.) He used to laugh a lot and make all his brothers laugh. A brother loved a lot by both the Arabs and the Bosnians. He used to say jokingly to his brothers:
"My beloved brother."
Always happy and jolly in the daytime, having a good time with his brothers in the daytime. However, in the night, his brothers used to hear him crying all the time while he was praying. He used to put Kohl in his eyes, and in the battle of Illyash against the Serbs, he put Kohl in his eyes and requested all his brothers to do the same. He was the second one killed in the battlefield. They couldn't bury him due to the severity of the fighting and due to the presence of a large amount of snow. So they put his body inside the trunk of a tree.
---more Anasheed--- ;_( [and the tears do not stop]
Dawood al-Birttani / David Sinclair, 1993, age: 29
---more Anasheed---
He started his job in a ...---... computer company, and one day he walked in, wearing an Islamic dress. Upon being asked, "Why are you wearing this dress?", he replied to that colleague:
"I have become a Muslim."
One week later he was fired from his job and he went to Bosnia. As soon as he arrived in Bosnia he gave away one of his passports to a brother in need. A few months later, he gave away the other one, too. After four months his brothers were returning to Britain for a few months and they asked him to come with them. He refused, saying:
"What is there for me to do, in the land of the Kuffar?"
A very calm and quiet brother, funny at the same time. He loved finding his brothers in the mountains, in the snow and cold weather. A very fast learner of Islam and the Arabic language, he loved to keep all the sunnahs of the Rasulallah (saws), and he used to sleep on his right hand side, in a crouched position. He used to pray all night and fast during most of the days. Commander Abul-Harith (ra) said about him:
"That all of us knew that brother Dawood would be the next Shaheed amongst us, as he was getting higher, and higher, and higher."
The night before the operation, he saw a dream in which he saw himself running in a place with Palaces on either side. He asked (in the dream) :
"Who do these houses belong to?"
and it was said to him that:
"These are the houses of the Shuhada."
He asked: "Where is the house of Abu-Ibrahim, the Turkish brother from Britain who was killed by the French United Nations in Sarajevo Airport?"
A voice said to him: "His house is over there."
And in the dream he saw himself began to run towards the house of Abu-Ibrahim, and then he fell down, and woke up from his dream. In the morning, there was a large operation against the Croats. During this operation, he was running and he was killed by a single shot to the heart. He fell down, and his body fell down into a Croat bunker. After three months his body was returned to the Mujahideen. It was as new, it was bleeding, it was smelling of musk, and his body was found crouched on his right hand side.
---more Anasheed---
Abu Muslim at-Turki, summer of 1993, age: 51
A Turkish brother who lived all his life in Britain, but, who lived a life of a Kafir. He was married to an English woman, and he did not used to pray and did not used to practice anything of Islam. And then Allah guided him to the Straight Path, and when he heard of Bosnia, he said to himself that:
"I must go to Bosnia and I must repent and I must fight against the Kuffar as maybe Allah will forgive me for what I have done in the past."
In one operation against the Croats, the Ameer did not pick him due to his age; and he began to cry...not weep, but wail like a baby until he forced the Ameer to let him take part in the operation. He was shot by a machine gun bullet in his arm which broke the bone and metal had to be placed in his arm for a period of six months. Abu-Muslim, he used to exercise his arm a lot, and after 45 days, the doctor said that they could remove the metal. Everyone was surprised, at how
"...the metal could be removed after 45 days.."
He had a dream before one of the large operations in which he saw the Rasulallah (saws) and so Abu-Muslim began to kiss his feet. Rasulallah(saws) said to him:
"Do not kiss my feet."
Then he began to kiss his hands and Rasulallah said:
"Do not kiss my hands."
And Rasulallah (saws) asked him:
"What do you want?"
Abu-Muslim said:
"Ya Rasulallah (saws). Make dua' that tomorrow in the operation I am killed Shaheed."
---more Anasheed---
Before the operation, the Ameer, Abul-Harith (ra), was picking the people to take part in this operation. He refused Abu-Muslim to take part and said to him:
"You are still injured."
A brother who was present there, said that Abu-Muslim cried and cried like a baby and said to the Ameer:
"Fear Allah."
The brothers there said to him:
"Do not shout and cry so loud, as maybe the Serbs, they will hear you."
Abu-Muslim replied:
"By Allah, if you do not put me in this operation, I will cry so loudly that the whole country will hear me." ,
he said to the Ameer:
"Put me in this operation, even at the back as the last one."
The Ameer said to him
"Are you sure? I will put you at the back.."
He (Abu-Muslim) said:
"Put me anywhere in this operation,...right at the back...but include me in this operation."
And so he went and he took part in this operation; and even though he was at the end, the course of the fighting changed, so that the back became the front, and he was killed,...the second one in this operation by a bullet in his heart. The body was returned by the Croats after three months. It was smelling of musk, and no change had come on his body. And all the brothers there, said that his body had become more beautiful and white since the last time they saw him.
---more Anasheed--- ;_(
---recording of Mujahideen joking...muffled..---
---more Anasheed---
Jamaluddin Yemeni, 1993, age: 19 (---more Anasheed---)
He was in an operation against the Serbs, Jamaluddin's Kalashnikov jammed, and with his pistol, he killed two Serbs. During the shelling that followed, in the victory of the Muslims, a shell landed next to him and killed him. After the operation, the Mujahideen went to collect the bodies of the four or five brothers that had been killed during the operation. They found all the bodies except the body of Jamaluddin. Three days went by and there was anxiety in the whole camp of the Mujahideen; as maybe the Serbs might have found the body and have mutilated it. Three days later, before salatulFajr, the Ameer of the Mujahideen at that time, Wahiuddin Misri (ra) had a dream in which he saw himself speaking to Jamaluddin.
He asked him: "Jamaluddin, Jamaluddin! Where is your body? We have been looking for it for three days."
Jamaluddin replied: "Allah has taken care of my body."
Wahiuddin asked him: "Where have you been?"
Jamaluddin replied:" I have been talking to Allah subhanahuwaTa'Ala."
"What did he say to you?" Wahiuddin asked him.
Jamaluddin replied:" Allahu subhanahu wa'Ta'Ala asked me: Jamaluddin, why did you come to Bosnia? And I said to him: Ya Allah, I came here only to please you. And Allah (swt) said to me: This day I forgive all of your sins, and you may fly in Jannah as you please."
---more Anasheed---
Abu Saif at-Taifi', 1993, age: 20 (---more Anasheed---)
A member of the Army of Saudi Arabia. When his mother, sitting in Saudi Arabia, saw the television about the news of the oppression of the Muslims in Bosnia, she said:
"My son. Get up...and go! Look what they are doing. They are raping your sisters, they are killing your brothers. My son get up and go, and I don't want to see you again."
Abu Saif travelled to Bosnia, the first country he had been to outside the Arabian peninsula. In one operation, he was given the PK machine gun, and during this operation he was shot in the heart; and he continued to walk for a distance of 20 meters still holding his machine gun. And then he said to the brothers that were around him:
"Look in the sky! Look what I can see...!" (Meaning he could see Paradise just before he was Shaheed, as has happened with countless Shuhadaa throughout history.)
And the brothers replied that:
" We cannot see anything."
And then a second shot hit him in the head and half his brains fell out onto the ground, and he went into a position of Sujood or, prostration, and he was saying:
"Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar."
The brothers, they tried to take the machine gun from him, but he was still holding it tightly and he did not release his grip on the gun until he was killed.
---more Anasheed---
Abu Khalid al-Qatari, 1993. (---more Anasheed---)
A member of the Qatar national handball team, he came to Bosnia at the end of 1992. He used to love doing double guard duty shifts, four hour shifts, in the cold weather. He was very humble and a very pious brother. He was of black descent, but brothers described his face like a glowing lamp because of the shine and noor on his face. He had two large dark marks on his forehead due to prolonged prostrations as he used to pray all night long. Once he was asked:
"When will you return back to your own country?"
And he replied: "I want to be Shaheed here."
Before one operation against the Croats, as soon as he was picked by the Ameer to be in this operation, he said to the brothers next to him: "InshaAllah, this time Allah will take me as Shaheed."
As he was going with five other brothers, of them, Wahiuddin Misri the Ameer of the Mujahideen (ra), when they took a wrong turn and went seven kilometers into Croat territory. The Croats shot at the car with anti-aircraft weapons. The car flew 20 feet into the air. All of the five brothers got out and fought until they were killed. After a few days, when their bodies were returned to the Mujahideen, the brothers were able to identify four of them, but they could not identify the body of Abu Harith. When the Bosnian Army said to them, that: "This is your last man." ,
they looked and they saw, this body was that of a white person as the face was white. They replied:
"This is not our man."
And upon looking carefully, they pulled down his shirt below the neck and the found that (his skin) was black. They pulled up the sleeves and above the elbows, it was black and below the elbows it was white. And they pulled up his trousers and they found that the shin was black. One of the brothers there, commented saying:
"That, as per the hadith of the Rasulallah (saws), the sign of a Believer, the marks of Wudu' were shining white on the body of this brother."
May Allah accept him amongst the Shuhada.
---more Anasheed---
Wahiuddin Misri, 1993, age: 21 (---more Anasheed---)
He was in Afghanistan and he came to Bosnia in the summer of 1992. He was the second Ameer of the Mujahideen in Bosnia. A very professional soldier and military-minded, although he was very pious and very humble even though he was the Ameer. He was captured by the Croats while he was in Srebnic and released in the prisoner exchange. After the exchange, when the UN arbitrator asked to shake his hand, he refused, saying:
"I do not shake hands with Disbelievers."
A very brave brother, he was in the same car as Abu Harith al-Qatari when they were ambushed by the Croats and he got out and fought until he was killed. May Allah accept him amongst the Shuhada.
---more Anasheed---
Abu Abdullah asSharqi, Vlasic, Friday morning after LailatulQadr, 25th of Ramadan, 1995.
He had a brother that was killed in Afghanistan, and he came to Bosnia in 1994. He took part in the operation to take the highest mountain in Bosnia, in Vlasic in the last 10 days of Ramadan. Nine hours he walked with his brothers in deep snow while he was fasting. Brothers offered him food, and he took it and put it in his pocket as he did not want anyone to know that he was fasting. Otherwise, the Ameer might tell him to break his fast. Many brothers who were present that night, testified that night as being Lailatul Qadr for that year. He a dream the night before in which he saw that he was shot in the throat by a single bullet after killing two Serbs. The Mujahideen were victorious in this battle and when they thought that they had cleared all the bunkers, they saw one last Serb bunker that was shooting at them. When they went running towards this bunker they found two Serbs lying on the floor and next to them they found Abu-Abdullah asSharqi who had been shot by a single bullet in his throat. As he was wearing a turban which he had wrapped around his neck, the bullet had entered the scarf, and it took the scarf with it through his neck, and he was not bleeding at all. He was the only brother that was killed in this operation.
---more Anasheed---
The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: "By Him in whose hands my soul is, there is no one who is wounded in the Path of Allah, and Allah knows best those who are wounded in His path, except that he will come on the Day of Judgement with his wound; blood will be pouring out of it and the color of this blood will be red and its smell would be like that of musk."
--Narrated by Sahih Muslim
---more Anasheed---
Carrying about the Shaheed, the Shuhada....they all differed. Some of them fast, the extra fasts, some of them pray in the night, some of them memorize the whole Qur'an. But something that they all had in common and that's that they had sincerity to Allah and they did not have any grudge against any Muslims, anywhere. This is something you see in every single brother that is Shaheed. You'll see them; they have sincerity and, no grudge against Muslims. And this one brother,..he'd wake up in the middle of the night, and not just to make Tahajjud like some other brothers, MashaAllah a lot of the brothers made Tahajjud. But he wakes up in the middle of the night to clean the toilets and to fix and clean the masjid, so that no one can see him doing these things, so that he can be sure that his Deen is for Allah only, that no one can see him. And people say, you know, .."you're going to Bosnia...what can you do? What can you do? You're one person and they're the third biggest army in Europe, [referring to the Serbians] what are you going to do?"
But from our experience, from the English brothers who got together and we talked about the other brothers who went to Bosnia, each one of them was instrumental to, not just the jihad in Bosnia, but the world-wide jihad, for what they managed to achieve. And you think this is an exaggeration,but by the hands of the brothers they did many things that you wouldn't believe. Books were translated and produced, in the front-lines, because you had the English brothers that could speak english and the Arab brothers that could speak arabic and a bit of english, and they go together and translated books about Jihad. Now, these books are guiding other brothers back to the Jihad again. They've computerized whole computer networks because of their computer knowledge. Brothers say to them:
"Why do you have to go? You're a computer expert,...stay back, you can't do anything."
But alhamdulillah,....masha'Allah, the brothers helped a whole lot. And you have people telling them:
"Why do you have to go? What can you do?"
So you see, if you have the sincerity, Allah will put the barakah in your work and, even though your work is being done in some mountain somewhere, it will reach the people and it's benefits will be widespread. Look at Ibn Taymiyyah. He was in prison and they took away his pen and papers, but he was writing on the walls with rocks and now even today every single book of his that he wrote we have, but thats because of his sincerity. And the same for the other people in the jihad.
For example: Abdullah Azzam. He was giving his lessons in the jihad camps in Afghanistan, far away from any printing sources or anything but the brothers were recording it on tape
>=============== End of Side A =====================
In the Hearts of Green Birds [Side B]
Abu Abdullah an-Libyi, the Black Lion, commander of operation Black Lion, May 1995.
(---recording of Imam Sudais, reciting verses 169-173 from Surah al-Imran---)
The commander of Black lion was Abu-Abdullah Libyi. This brother, he came to Libya in the very beginning of the war. He was a tank driver in the Army of Libya. He came to Bosnia, spent many years, ..he spent three years in the front lines. This brother, when you look at him, he is SO shy, when you sit with him, he would not even look you in the face, but against the Kuffar he is so tough, in the attack, he would be the first to reach the bunkers; an extremely fit brother and also very brave, and he would be the first to reach the bunker.
When you sit with him if you had food placed before you, he wouldn't eat any of his food, even if he was very hungry, he wouldn't eat any of the food at all until someone else took some food first, that was his manners. He was the capitulation[?] (personification) of the Ayah of the Qur'an where Allah talks about the Believers, that He says that they are merciful to each other and tough and strong and hard against the Kuffar. He wasn't a loud brother but a quiet brother always doing his work. Because of this, he commanded respect from the other brothers, the other brothers respected him even though he didn't speak much, but his actions spoke louder than his words. It reminds me of the Hadith-e-Qudsi:
When Allah loves somebody, Allah says to the angels / to the Angel Jibrael: -Love him.- And Angel Jibrael calls out to the people of the Earth: They say; -Love him.- This is why this brother, all the other brothers they loved him. This brother, he led a reconnaissance mission, which took seven months across a three-kilometer range of mountains. These mountains were extremely, extremely strategical, but of extremely strategical value to the Serbs. This brother, he spent seven months making reconnaissance among these mountains, going in the night, going in the day in all times of weather going by himself, switching off his radio, sometimes even so close to the Serb bunkers that they would throw rubbish on him without even knowing that he was there. So this brother, he knew those three kilometers like the back of his hand. So after seven months of reconnaissance on these mountains, the missions took place and alhamdulillah, Allah gave us those three mountains within a time span of six minutes. Many Serbs were killed and many weapons were captured. And in this mission, after the operation finished and after the victory had taken place, Abdullah Libyi, he was killed by a sniper bullet, by a Serb.
---more Anasheed---
Abu Zayd, alQatari, Operation Black Lion, May 1995, age: 17. (---more Anasheed---)
This brother was so young but so innocent, and this brother, he even saw the Hoor-al'Ayn not in his sleep, but in his guard duty, from his position in the mountain. Every night as he used to look in the sky, he used to see, a woman come to him, a beautiful figure of a woman. But he never told anybody about this except one brother and this brother told us afterwards. And this brother, he killed four Serbs before he was Shaheed himself. There are many instances in the time of the Salaf, and even during the time of the Rasulallah (saws) himself, where the Hoor al'Ayn would come and manifest themselves to the Muslims as a glad tiding to them to make them steadfast in His path.
---more Anasheed---
Muhammed Badawi from Egypt, Operation Black Lion, May 1995.
(---more Anasheed---)
This brother was such a beautiful brother. He used to love his brothers and he used to work so hard. This brother once he held me and kissed me in such a way, Subhanallah, it made me feel so good. And this brother, before the operation he must've known he was going to be Shaheed, for before the operation, he started to give everything away. He started to divide his money amongst the brothers, gave all his posessions away and on the day of the operation, in the battle itself, as the brothers were making the attack, he fell down, he was hit in the chest and he fell down. He said to the brothers next to him,
"If it had only been here", he said, pointing to his forehead and within the next few seconds, a bullet came and hit him exactly where he had been pointing, exactly as the Hadith of the Prophet (saws),
When a bedouin came to the Prophet and they gave him a share of the Ghanimah, he came to the Prophet and he said, "What's this? I came not to join you to gain this, but I came to join you to be shot here (and he pointed to his throat) by an arrow" And the next day, this bedoiun, he was killed by an arrow in the same place where he had pointed.
---more Anasheed---
Abu Bakr, from Libya, 1995 (---more Anasheed---)
This brother,...again, of impeccable character. Loving his brothers amd being sincere in his work and not having any grudge. This brother was on guard duty, and, qadarullah, a rocket landed right next to him, the shrapnel went straight inside his neck, and he died shortly afterwards, 10 to 15 minutes afterwards; this brother was gone. The brothers, they buried him, but not knowing which direction the Qiblah was, they buried him in the wrong direction, because the body has to be buried facing the Qiblah. So after one month, our sheikh said:
"We have to dig him up. Bury him in the right direction."
So after a month, we dug up the grave, and the land in Bosnia is the same type of land that we have in England; actually, it's more water-logged, and as we dug him up, we saw that his body was still intact, not even rotten or smelling or anything, and blood was still coming from his wound which he had in his neck. This is amazing because, I've seen Serbs, dead Serbs, which after one hour, have started to smell, you cannot even approach these bodies, and after a day they've become black as charcoal. A white person becoming black. After a week there's a stench. Now I'm telling you this for bodies that are on top of the ground, this brother was buried under the ground for one month and he was completely intact.
---more Anasheed---
Abdullah Shaybaani, Operation Black Lion, May 1995, age: 19.
This brother he was very young, 19 years of age, and he was a very joyful brother with good manners. And in the attack, as they were making the attack, he and another brother, Abu Muslim from Yemen, as they were running almost side by side, a few meters between them, they both fell down injured, both had been shot. Abu Muslim, he was in pain, not screaming but he was moaning, and Abdullah Shaybani looked across at him and he also had been shot, and he said to him:
"Hope for your reward from Allah. Forget the pain."
The brothers took them to the hospital, and alhamdulillah Allah gave Abu-Muslim a quick and speedy recovery. But the brother Abdullah Shaybani his injuries were of severe nature and Allah took him as Shaheed in the hospital after a few days. And, as he died in the hospital, the aroma of the perfume filled the whole hospital room, the people that were there witnessed this. This is a sure sign of his Shahada, and this is a sign for the other brothers as well, that this is the rght path that they are on.
---more Anasheed---
AbuMuadh al-Kuwaiti, commander of Foreign Volunteers, Operation Miracle, 21st of July, 1995.
The son of a governor from Kuwait, and also an Olympic athlete from Kuwait. He went to Afghanistan to join his brothers and stayed there for six years. He came to Bosnia in 1994, and became the commander of the Ansar / Foreign Volunteers. A very humble and pious brother, in Operation Miracle, July 1995, he was not placed in the attack group and so he was very sad at that. After the operation was successful, Abu Muadh went to the top of the mountain and began organizing the groups. He was then killed by a shot to the upper leg and fell down Shaheed, InshaAllah. Four days later, one brother from Madinah in Bosnia saw him in a dream, where AbuMuadh came back to the masjid of the Mujahideen. The brother said:
"I saw Abu Muadh meeting all the brothers, and everyone was happy at seeing him. He had a bandage on his upper leg, in the same place where he was shot. And I was very angry, at how Abu Muadh is here, when he is meant to be Shaheed. So I went up to him, shook his hand, and I asked him:
"Abu Muadh! Why are you here? Are you Shaheed or not?!"
He turned away and did not want to say anything. And then when no one was looking he began to make his way to the exit of the masjid. I knew that he was going to go, so I waited for him at the door of the Masjid. He left the masjid and went outside, and I saw a plate come under him, which started to lift him up into the sky. I then ran up to him and I grabbed him on his leg. I said:
"Abu Muadh. Please tell me what is happening. Why are you here? Are you Shaheed or not?"
And he said:
"Yes, I am Shaheed."
I said:
"What is it like?"
He said
"On the day of the operation, a window opened in the sky from Paradise and all of the Muslims that would be killed, all of the Mujahideen that would be killed that day, they pass through this window, straight into Jannah."
I said:
"What is the actual mark and what does it feel like?"
He said:
"You don't feel a thing. As soon as you are killed, you see two beautiful blonde girls, they come and sit beside you, and they go up to jannah with you.
I asked him:
"What is Jannah like?"
And Abu Muadh replied:
"It is not Jannah, it is Jannaat" [i.e not one Paradise, but many]
I said:
"What about enjoying and pleasure?"
He said:
"Every day, and every place."
Then Abu Muadh said:
"Now let me go."
I then said to Abu Muadh:
"One last thing. Can you tell me when I am going to be Shaheed?"
Abu Muadh said:
"I cannot tell you that."
So I asked him:
"Can you at least tell me by coming to me in a dream a few days before I am going to be killed?"
And Abu'Muadh said:
"I will try. Now let me go."
---more Anasheed---
He came from a very rich family in Kuwait, but he still knew the obligation he had. He spent six years in Afghanistan. After that he came to Bosnia. This brother, he used to speak very fast, but when he used to speak, he used to give us lessons and Islamic lessons and news of what was going on in Bosnia. When he speaks you feel so good, that even if he was giving you the worst news, you'd be happy to hear it from him. Because of his manners and organizational skills, the brothers they had chosen him to be the ameer of the Ansar. A gift that Allah had given him is that he could give tafseer of dreams; so the brothers would go to him and tell him their dreams, and he would tell them what it means, and very optimum, they would be with pinpoint accuracy. This brother, he would work night and day in the service of the rest of his brothers. And in the second operation, Allah took him as Shaheed InshaAllah.
---more Anasheed---
---recording of a Mujahid giving a khutba---
---more Anasheed---
Battar al-Yemeni, Operation Miracle, July 1995.
This brother, he was in the communist Army of Yemen, and they sent him to Cuba because he was a tank expert ; so they sent him to Cuba to train him in tanks and he learned the ins and outs of tanks, he knew everything about tanks. After becoming a good practicing Muslim, he went to Afghanistan and he spent many years there, fighting in Afghanistan.. After that he returned to Yemen and when the war in Bosnia started, he, came back at the first opportunity, came here. His wish was that he would take a tank in actual fighting, take a tank as ghanimah and use it. In the second operation, the brothers, they captured a tank, and they called him down and he went to the front and took this tank from right underneath the noses of the Serbs as they were trying to destroy this tank, because the Serbs, they knew they had lost it, but they didn't want the Mujahideen to take it. So he took the tank from right underneath their noses and drove it out of there, took it back to the back lines where it would be safe. He got injured in the process but he didn't rest. He went back to the front lines and Allah took him as Shaheed, as a mortar exploded close to him and he was Shaheed (Insha'Allah)
---more Anasheed---
One brother described, when he was with Battar, and even though he was injured in his hand, he still took a tank from the Serbs and drove it all the way back down and nothing happened to him. The brother who was with him, said to Battar:
"Ya Battar, we are not good enough to be Shaheed."
As both of them were injured, one brother decided to go back and have his injury attended to as the fighting and operation were know over. But Battar said no and said I want to go back. And he went back up, and they went back to get, one of their injured brothers and a shell landed right inside the bunker, and four hours after the operation had ended, battar was taken Shaheed inshaAllah.
---recording of some Mujahideen brothers joking and chilling, in Arabiy.---
---more anasheed---
Abu Muslim al-‘Emarati, Operation Miracle, July 1995 (---more anasheed---)
...But one summer, he just changed. He became extremely fierce in his fighting and his braveness. He would go out on reconnaisance missions by himself and bring back plastic bags full of mines that he had pulled out after having searched for, and brought them back. And this brother was a family man, he left his country and his wife was pregnant and he left his country and still came for Jihad. And then he had a son, which he had never seen before, and the son had grown up and become a few months old, and he (Abu-Muslim) still hadn't seen his son. So he said to himself that after this second operation, he would go back and see his family. So anyways in this operation, this brother alhamdulillah, his group managed to capture a tank from the Serbs, and after capturing a tank they went forward, and Allah took him as Shaheed. So he had never seen his family before. InshaAllah Allah will re-unite them in the next world.
---more anasheed---
---recording of Mujahideen talking---
---more anasheed---
Ibn Waleed, Misri. Operation Miracle, July 1995. (---more anasheed---)
A very young, active and fit brother, he used to love to train himself so that he could inflict as much damage upon the enemy as possible. When the attack started, he ran so fast, that he went straight through Serb lines, and he went deep into their territory. As he was fighting inside their territory, he managed to kill four of the Serbs before Allahu subhanahuwaTa'Ala took him as Shaheed.
---more anasheed---
---recording of Mujahideen joking---
---more anasheed---
Abu Musa at-Turki, "Camera-man of the Mujahideen." Operation Miracle, July 1995
Born of Turkish parents in Germany, his parents did not have enough money to bring him up and so they sold him to a German family. He was brought up as a non-Muslim by a German family. He was a model student and a very well behaved child, and no one could see the difference, as he was very fair in skin color. All of a sudden when he reached the age of 15, things began to go wrong for him. He began to mess around in school, annd he became confused. He knew there was something different about him. He knew he was different than these people and that he was not German. Once he had an argument with his German mother, and she told him:
"You are not my son!"
And he went back and said that:
"...That statement reverberated in my mind, and I went back and asked my mom what does this mean? She refused to tell me. After much battery, she told me the whole story, and that she was still in touch with my Turkish parents. My real parents, I went to see them and I began to live with them...."
So he began to live with them and after a number of years, at the age of 21, he traveled to Bosnia.
---more anasheed---
And this brother, he had some experience in how to make video-films and mix videotapes. So in Bosnia, they made him the cameraman in the Operation. So, along with a Kalashnikov and his weapons, he'd carry a camera. And this brother; I witnessed this brother, he would be in the front of the attacks, with his camera, fighting and even reaching the Serb bunkers before the rest of the brothers, and he'd be standing on top of the bunkers. The Serbs would still be shooting from out of the window of the bunker and he'd be filming on top. And he said to me; he reached the bunkers and he said to me:
"I felt: should I throw a grenade inside or should I put a camera inside?"
And then he said he'd put the camera inside so he could get the best possible pictures, so he could mix the best film, so that he could send it back to the other brothers that don't know anything about Jihad so that they could see the Jihad in their TV's so that they could find out and learn about Jihad. That was his intention, he wanted to make the best possible tapes, that's why he was always in the front with his camera. In the second operation, Allah took him as Shaheed inshaAllah.
---more anasheed---
...many people who knew Abu Musa, described him like a walking cartoon character. And you'd look at this man and you'd think that he is dumb or that he's mental, but he is, and was, very clever.
---more anasheed---
---Some Mujahideen bros chilling, in English.---
---more anasheed---
Abul-Mundhar al-Yemeni, Operation Miracle, July 1995. (---more anasheed---)
This brother was in one of the attack groups, and he was killed by a shot to the head. A day after he was killed, a brother saw him in a dream and asked him:
"What happened to you?"
And Abul Mundhar replied:
"We were in a forest, and there was a lot of fire coming at us from all directions and our heads were down. I put my head up to see where the fire was coming from, to see where the bunker was, and as I was looking around; the next minute I saw my self looking around in Paradise."
---more anasheed---
Abu-Umar al-Harbi, from Madinatul Munawwara, Operation Miracle, July 1995.
This brother he came and he spent two years in the front lines, and never once wanted to go back to the city camp, where you had the Dunya; the shops, and all the good things of the Dunya, he never ever wanted to go back there, and spent all his time in the camp. And even when he wanted something from there, he would tell his brothers to get this, or get that, from his bags, which he had in a storeroom there, and this brother, he never went back. And this brother, he always used to make the brothers laugh so much, because he liked to make the brothers laugh and enjoy themselves, in a good halal way obviously. You look at him, he looks like a joker, but in fighting he's like a lion. In the second operation, the brothers made an attack that was an extremely dangerous place, an extremely open place full of mines, and the Serbs can see you coming from a a very clear and open place; and the brothers made an attack on this place. He was the commander of the group which was making the attack. And the brothers, they were asking him as they were running across this open place:
"Are there any mines??"
And he just yelled back:
"Allahu Akbar!!."
And they ran right through the minefield towards the Serb bunkers. As he was coming towards the bunkers, he was shot in the forehead by a Serb and he fell Shaheed, inshAllah. And this brother, apparently some brothers saw him in a dream. His face was extremely white, and they asked him:
"What happened to you?!"
And he told them:
"The night before, we was in the bunkers just waiting for the attack, and he felt asleep and he felt he had Janabah. So he went and there was no way for him to bathe in the mountains and this is a situation where you just go; you make Tayyamum and you pray and you go, because the Jihad is more important, than to return from the mountains and to have a bath. He was the Ameer of the whole group; to delay the operation, no way. So he went in a state of Janabah and he was Shaheed. And he said that: as he was shot, he didn't feel anything; he felt something just touch him on the template, on the forehead, and he felt two "beings" hold him on either side and take him straight up into the sky, without tilting him on either side, very fast, they took him, like straight into the sky. He said that the angels they gave him his Ghusl, just like in the Hadith of the Prophet salalllahuAlaihiWasallam, the angels they gave him Ghusl.
---more anasheed---
---Mujahideen talking about their commander AbuUmar al-Harbi
---more anasheed---
Salman Al-Farsi, Operation Miracle, July 1995 (---more anasheed---)
This brother, mashaAllah, he loved his training. He loved to train feSabilillah, so that he could be as strong, as tough, as best in the fighting as he could be, so that he could do as much damage to the Kuffar as possible. This brother always used to exert himself in training, with this intention; of damaging the Kuffar. The brother mashaAllah was a very big brother, he was a formidable sight! Because, on his back he had strapped on his chest rig, on his back he had strapped a massive sword, at least the length of his arm, and as you looked at him you could see the handle of it sticking out from behind his head, in between his head and shoulder. He used to wear a black scarf around his head;...he was just a formidable sight when you looked at him. And this brother, when you talked to him, all he ever talks about is Shahadat, just martyrdom and Paradise,...martyrdom and Paradise all the time this is what he used to talk about, nothing else would ever interest him apart from Shahadah, and Paradise. And in the 2nd operation, I saw his chest rig, his chest rig was very distinctive; it was the only one with a sword at the back. And he'd been killed. They had taken his body, ...I didn't see his body but I saw his chest rig. Me and four other brothers, we picked it up and smelled it, and the perfume,...strong perfume was coming from his blood and all of us looked at each other in amazement. Its like, we've heard stories of such perfume, heard of our brothers' blood smelling like perfume, never doubted it, but we never experienced it firsthand. And we were smelling it now, in front of us. And two Bosnian Army soldiers they smelled it as well;...no mistaking it,,..strong perfume, you cannot compare it to any of the perfumes of this world, but as you smell this perfume, it relaxes you and you feel relaxed. InshaAllah, this was a good sign, that this brother was Shaheed and its a sign for these brothers that smelled this perfume, that this is the right path and have Sabr on this path.
---more anasheed---
Abu Thabith-alMuhajir, Ameer of the FrontLine, Operation Badr of Bosnia, 10th of September, 1995.
This brother spent six years in Afghanistan. For that he was a very experienced soldier in the Egyptian army, and went to Afghanistan, spent six years there training the brothers and fighting in Afghanistan. Very experienced fighter came to Bosnia, and he was the Ameer. This brother he was so tough, so brave, that when he fought, he wouldn't even duck from the bullets that's how fearless he was. This brother, he was a Commander and he had such a strong character, that you couldn't help loving him and he made you feel like you was his favorite friend, and he used to make everybody feel that he was their favorite friend, and his character was such that when you look at him,...you'd think you were looking at a Sahabah. And this brother in the attack; the operation, he was injured and he didn't even shout out in pain but he carried on the attack, carried on fighting, and a second shot took him as Shaheed.
---more anasheed---
----[ The Messenger of Allah, (saws) said on the authority of Anas (RA) : No person who has entered Paradise would like to return to this world, even if he may be given all that the world contains, except a martyr. He yearns that he may return to the world and be slain ten times for the sake of Allah on account of the honor he experienced by the virtue of his martyrdom. ]----
---more anasheed---
Azzam Recordings brings you to the end of this first audio cassette "In the Hearts of Green Birds", tape #one, The Shuhada of Bosnia. Tape two, [Under the Shades of Swords] which follows this cassette, inshaAllah will include accounts of :
AbuMujahid al-Brittani the electrical engineer from the University of North London killed in the operation of Badr of Bosnia, September of 1995.
Sheikh Anwar Shaban (rehmatulllahAlaih) the Sheikh of the Mujahideen.
Al'Mutaz'bIllah the military commander of the Mujahideen in Bosnia.
Dr. AbulHarith alLibyi rehmatullahAlaih, Ameer of the Mujahideen for 1 and 1/2 years.
Abu Ziad alNajdi, commander of the Ansar after Abu-Muadh-alKuwaiti.
Abu-Hamman alNajdi, commander of the FrontLine base camp
Sayyad al-Phalistini, 18 year old A-level student from Kingston, southwest London.
Sheikh Abdullah Azzam (rehmatullahAlaih) said: "Death is one, so let it be for the sake of Allah."
---more anasheed---
---arabic recording of Sheikh Abdullah Azzam of the above quote.
---more anasheed---
----------------------------END OF CASSETTE TRANSCRIPT
-----------------------
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3587854&thesection=news&thesubsection=world
'Black Widows' suspected in Russian plane disasters
30.08.2004
MOSCOW - One of the prime suspects in the probable suicide bombing of two Russian airliners, a 27-year-old Chechen woman, had a compelling motive for her alleged actions: revenge.
Amanta (also known as Aminat) Nagaeva experienced the sharp end of the brutal decade-long conflict between Russia and the separatist region first-hand, say her neighbours in Chechnya.
Three or four years ago, one of her three brothers was suspected of terrorism and was abducted, apparently by Russian forces. Like many others who have suffered the same fate he has never been seen again and is presumed dead.
The Russian daily Izvestia said her profile fitted that of the archetypal Chechen female suicide bomber - Black Widows, as they are often known.
"As experience shows, practically all the female suicide bombers who have blown themselves up in Moscow or the Caucasus were the wives of [rebel] fighters killed in battles with federal forces or had lost close relatives involved in the hostilities," the paper wrote.
"Nagaeva had an obvious motive to become a suicide bomber; by blowing herself and the plane up she was avenging her brother."
Nagaeva was on a TU-134 bound for Volgograd which broke up in mid-air south of Moscow, while the other prime suspect, a Chechen woman known only as S. Dzhebirkhanova, was on a TU-154 heading for the Black Sea resort of Sochi which dropped out of the air within minutes of the other plane. Eighty-nine people died in the two explosions.
Investigators' suspicions were aroused when nobody came to identify the two women's bodies, and their fears that the catastrophe was man-made were confirmed when the FSB security service uncovered traces of a high explosive, hexagon, traditionally favoured by Chechen rebels in the wreckage of both planes.
The two women's behaviour was also suspiciously similar. Both checked in at the very last minute, provided minimal passport data to check-in and security staff and sat towards the rear of the planes near the toilets and the engines. Both also appear to have been at the very epicentre of the explosions.
In the case of Nagaeva, what remained of her body was spread over a wide area. Such a gruesome and wide distribution of body parts is familiar to Russian investigators. The body of the Chechen suicide bomber who blew herself up last December near the Kremlin was similarly dismembered.
Investigators believe the bombs were detonated in the toilets so as to immediately pulverise the planes' twin engines.
- INDEPENDENT
