DOCUMENT
DEFENCE
OF THE MUSLIM LANDS
The
First Obligation After Iman
Biography
of Sheikh Abdullah Azzam (Shaheed)
Abdullah
Yusuf Azzam was born in a village in the North of Palestine
named Selat AI Harithia in Genine District in the year 1941.
His father's name was Mustafa Azzam who died a year after his
son was assassinated. His mother was Zakia Saleh who died one
year before the Sheikh was killed. She was buried in Pabi camp.
The
Azzam family is a well-known family, one of its members being
Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, distinguished as a child, who started
making Da'wah at an early age. He was already showing signs
of excellence and was recognised by his teachers while he was
in elementary school. His peers knew him as a pious child. Since
he was a small boy he was known for his determination and serious
dispositions. Before he had even come of age, he joined the
Muslim Brotherhood.
Sheikh
Abdullah Azzam received his early elementary and secondary school
education in his village, and continued his education at the
agricultural Khadorri College where he obtained a Diploma. Although
he was the youngest amongst his colleagues, he was the brigbtest
and most astute. After he graduated from Khadorri College, he
worked as a teacher in a village named Adder in the South of
Jordan. Later he joined Shariah College in Damascus University
where he obtained a B.A. Degree in Shariah in 1966. After the
Jews captured the West Bank in 1967, Sheikh Abdullah Azzam decided
to migrate to Jordan, because he could not live under the Jewish
occupation of Palestine. The sacrilege of the Israeli tanks
rolling into the West Bank without any resistance made him more
determined to migrate, to learn the skills necessary to fight.
In
the late 1960's he joined the Jihad against the Israeli occupation
of Palestine from Jordan. During that time he received a Masters
Degree in Shariah from the University of AI Azhar. In 1970 when
the Jihad came to a halt, and the PLO was forced out of Jordan,
he assumed a teaching position in the Jordanian University in
Amman. In 1971 he was awarded a scholarship to the AI Azhar
University in Cairo at which he obtained a Ph.D. Degree in Ussul
al Fiqh in 1973. During his stay in Egypt he came to know the
family of Saeed Qutb.
In
1979, when he was expelled from the University, he moved to
Pakistan to be close to the Afghan Jihad. There, he became acquainted
with the Leaders of the Jihad in Afghanistan. During the early
period of his stay in Pakistan, he worked as a teacher in the
International Islamic University in Islamabad. Eventually, it
was necessary for him to resign his position in order to devote
his full time and energy to the Jihad in Afghanistan.
Abdullah
Azzam was greatly influenced by the Jihad in Afghanistan and
the Jihad was greatly influenced by him. To it he concentrated
his full effort, that he ultimately became the most prominent
figure in the Afghani Jihad, aside from the Afghan leaders.
He spared no effort to promote the Afghan cause to the whole
world, especially throughout the Muslim Ummah... He changed
the minds ofMuslims about Jihad in Afghanistan and presented
the Jihad as it was; an Islamic cause which concerns all Muslims
around the world. Due to his efforts, the Afghani Jihad became
well known, in which Muslims from every part of the world came
to fight.
Jihad
in Afghanistan had made Abdullah Azzam the main pillar of the
Jihad movement in modern times. His practical efforts in this
Jihad and by his personal achievement in its promotion he had
managed to alienate the misconceptions which had been planted
in the path of Jihad and as such became an example to follow
for the next generation that responded to the call of Jihad.
Once
he remarked, "I feel that I am nine years old, seven and
a half years in the Afghan Jihad, one and a half years in Jihad
in Palestine and the rest of the years have no value."
On Friday the 24th of November 1989 in Peshawar, Pakistan, he
was assassinated along with his two sons Mohammed and Ibrahim,
by 20kg of TNT activated by remote control while he was driving
to Friday (Jumma) prayer. His car was blown apart into fragments
in the middle of a busy street. The blast was so intensive that
fragments from the bodies of his sons were found upto a hundred
meters from the carnage. One of his son's legs was also found
suspended from an overhead telephone line. Nevertheless, Allah
be glorified, the Sheikh was found perfectly intact, except
for an internal haemorrhage, which caused his death. Many a
people present will confirm to the smell of musk that emanated
from his body.
Sheikh
Abdullah Azzam and his sons were buried in Pabi Graveyard of
the Shuhada, where he joined thousands of other Shuhada (martyrs).
"...But those who are killed in the Way of Allah, He
will never let their deeds be lost. " (Surah Mohammed:Verse
4).
SHEIKH
ABDULLAH AZZAM (SHAHEED)
English translation work done by Brothers in Ribatt.
INTRODUCTION
All
praise is for Allah. We praise Allah and seek His assistance.
We ask for His forgiveness and take refuge in Him from the evil
within ourselves and from the evil of our deeds. He whom Allah
guides will never be diverted yet whomever Allah sends astray
will never find his way, and I bear witness that there is no
Diety but Allah, alone, He has no partners, and I bear witness
that Mohammed (saw) is His servant and messenger. O Allah, nothing
is easy except for what You make easy. And You lighten distress
if You wish.
I
wrote this Fatwa and it was originally larger than its present
size. I showed it to our great respected Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin
Bazz. I read it to him, he improved upon it and he said "it
is good" and agreed with it. But, he suggested to me to
shorten it and to write an introduction for it with which it
should be published. But the Sheikh was busy, it being Hajj
season, so he had no time to review it again .
Then
the Sheikh (may Allah protect him) declared in the mosque of
Ibn Ladna in Jeddah in the large mosque of Riyadh that Jihad
with your person today is Fard Ayn (global obligation). Then
I showed this Fatwa, without the six questions at the end, to
Sheikh Abdullah al Waan, Saeed Hawa, Mohammed Najeeb al Mu'ti,
Dr. Hassin Hamid Hissan and Umar Sayaf. I read it to them, they
agreed with it and most of them signed it. Likewise, I read
it to Sheikh Mohammed Bin Salah Bin Uthaimin and he too signed
it. I also read it to Sheikh Abdur Razaq Affifi, Hasan Ayub
and Dr. Ahmad al Assal.
Then
I spoke on the topic in a lecture in Mina in the General Guidance
Centre during the Hajj season where there were gathered more
than one hundred scholars from the entire Islamic world. I said
to them: " Agreed are the Sa]af , the Pious Predecessors,
all people of understanding, and the Muhaditheen that in all
ages of Islam: 'That if apiece of Muslim land the size of a
hand span is infringed upon, then Jihad becomes Fard Ayn (global
obligation) on every Muslim male and female, where the child
shall march forward without the permission of its parents and
the wife without the permission of the husband". I decided
in the presence of the Amir of the Mujahideen (Sayyaf) and by
my time of three years spent in the Afghani jihad that, the
jihad in Afghanistan needs men. So whosoever has an objection
from you, O Ulama, then let him raise it". And there was
not one objection. On the contrary, Dr. Sheikh Idriss said "
Oh my brother! there is no difference of opinion in this matter".
So finally, I published this Fatwa. Maybe Allah will cause it
to be useful in this world and the next, for all Muslims.
Go
to:
Table
of contents
Biography
of Abdullah Azzam and Introduction
--- this page
Chapter
1
Defence of the Muslims Lands
Chapter
2
The Ruling of Fighting in Palestine and Afghanistan
Chapter
3
Fard Ayn and Fard Kifaya
Chapter
4
Important questions
Final
Word
Letters
of Acknowledgement and Translators Note
[top]
