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DOCUMENT
Martyrs:
The Building Blocks of Nations
by Sheikh
Abdullah Azzam 1
Praise be to Allah, Lord
of the Universe and Peace and Blessings be upon the Leader of the
Prophets and the Commander of the Mujahideen: Muhammad (SAWS) and
upon His Family, His Companions and whoever pursues their method,
follows their way and wages Jihad until the Day of Judgement.
Indeed nations are only
brought to life by their beliefs and their concepts and they die
only with their desires and their lusts. The extent to which righteous
convictions and correct beliefs spread within a nation, is the extent
to which it plants its roots in the depths of the Earth and sends
forth orchards of trunks with their flourishing leaves so that Man
can take shade by it from the troubles of life, its financial fever
and from the flame of hatred, envy and competition for cheap thrills
and temporary enjoyment. As for the Muslim Ummah, it does continue
to exist in the course of history of humankind, except by a divine
idology and the blood which flows as a result of spreading this
divine ideology and implanting it into the real World.
The life of the Muslim
Ummah is solely dependent on the ink of its scholars and the blood
of its martyrs. What is more beautiful than the writing of the Ummah's
history with both the ink of a scholar and his blood, such that
the map of Islamic history becomes coloured with two lines: one
of them black, and that is what the scholar wrote with the ink of
his pen; and the other one red, and that is what the martyr wrote
with his blood. And something more beautiful than this is when the
blood is one and the pen is one, so that the hand of the scholar
which expends the ink and moves the pen, is the same as the hand
which expends its blood and moves the Ummah. The extent to which
the number of martyred scholars increases is the extent to which
nations are delivered from their slumber, rescued from their decline
and awoken from their sleep.
History does not write
its lines except with blood. Glory does not build its loft edifice
except with skulls, Honour and respect cannot be established except
on a foundation of cripples and corpses. Empires, distinguished
peoples, states and societies cannot be established except with
examples. Indeed those who think that they can change reality, or
change societies, without blood, sacrifices and invalids, without
pure, innocent souls, then they do not understand the essence of
this Deen 2 and they do not know the method of the best
of the Messengers (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).
As for those who build
nations, they are few in number. Sometimes the Ummah can be built
by a single individual who makes a stand by means of which Allah
rescues this Deen, just like Abu Bakr (RA) made a stand of the Day
of Apostasy 3; and the day when Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal 4
made a stand when the entire World was speechless at the innovation
that the Quran had been created, so Allah saved the Ummah with him.
A small group: they are
the ones who carry convictions and ambitions. And an even smaller
group from this small group, are the ones who flee from the worldly
life in order to spread and act upon these ambitions. And an even
smaller group from this elite group, are the ones who sacrifice
their souls and their blood in order to bring victory to these ambitions
and principles. So, they are the cream of the cream of the cream.
It is not possible to reach glory except by traversing this Path.
It is not possible for the structures of this Deen to be established,
nor for its banner to be raised, nor for its vessel to be launched,
except by traversing this Path. This Path is one. In fact, there
is no Paradise without this Path:
"Do you really
think that you will enter Paradise, before Allah has decided from
amongst you, those who fight in His Way and those who are patient?"
[Quran 3:142]
Thus the founders of
nations and the architects of glories are few. As for the one who
wants to architecture glory, then he must be prepared to ascend
to the price of glory upon seas of his blood and his sweat, and
the blood of those around him and upon the disabilities of those
under his authority, until he reaches the price of glory. And glory
cannot be architectured except by traversing this Path: the Path
of the Blessed Jihad.
The Jihad on the land
of Afghanistan set its foundations with a small group: 14 youths
from the youths of the Taqwa Islamic Movement inside Kabul 5 University. The decisive, conclusive, solidification
of its foundations was the necessity of using Jihad to combat the
leader of the tyrants, Daud 6, who had resolved to wipe out the sons of
the Islamic Movement. Until finally, they arrived in Peshawar 7,
about 30 youths, who decided to enter Afghanistan and start the
Jihad there.
The Jihad initially began
as a few drops, until Allah decided to ignite the sparks within
this blessed people and explode the Jihad, blessing with it the
land of Afghanistan and the rest of the Muslims until its good encompassed
the whole World. Some thought that the Earth had become devastated
and that this Ummah had been drained of the thirst for martyrdom.
Therefore, Allah exploded the Jihad on the land of Afghanistan and
groups of youths from the Islamic World marched forth to Afghanistan
in search of Jihad and martyrdom.
Indeed this small band
of Arabs, whose number did not exceed a few hundred individuals,
changed the tide of the battle, from an Islamic battle of one country,
to an Islamic World Jihad movement, in which all races participated
and all colours, languages and cultures met; yet they were one,
their direction was one, their ranks were one and the goal was one:
that the Word of Allah is raised the highest and that this Deen
is made victorious on the Earth.
Indeed the involvement
of the Muslims in the battle, from a variety of races, woke up those
that were asleep and enlightened those who were absent-minded. Furthermore,
it shook the oppressors, for indeed the enemies of Islam were watching
the arena and counting the lives. The involvement of non-Afghans
in the battle was a great source of alarm and dismay to them, because
this stimulation of numerous nations and the revival of the people
had reached the brink of desperation, until these desperations set
root in the depths of their souls, such that they realised that
they themselves were on the verge of their own destruction.
Furthermore, the enemies
were also aware of the volatile risks associated with the burial
of a foreign volunteer fighter in the soils of Afghanistan, as if
to announce to the World: that this Deen requires millions of such
sacrifices in order to change its situation, and that these sacrifices
must meet with this fighter, here in his resting place, so that
the bullet alone is considered to be the honour of this Deen, the
resistance of the Muslims and the pride of the believers.
And some deceived modernist
intellectuals thought that these sacrifices which had fallen on
this Path had gone to waste and been rendered futile. However, it
should be known that the blood of gutless martyrs is weighty in
the Scale of the Most Gracious. It is sufficient for us to remember
one hadith (and the ahadith are many), narrated by Imam Ahmad and
Tirmidhi with an authentic chain of narration that the Messenger
of Allah (SAWS) said:
"Indeed the martyr
has seven special favours from Allah: all his sins are forgiven
at the first spurt of his blood, he sees his place in Paradise as
his blood is shed (before his soul leaves the body), he tastes the
sweetness of Iman, he is married to 72 of the Beautiful Maidens
of Paradise, he is protected from the Punishment of the Grave, he
is saved from the Great Terror (on The Day of Judgement), there
is placed upon his head a crown of honour a jewel of which is better
than the whole world and everything in it and he is granted permission
to intercede for 70 members of his household (to bring them into
Paradise and save them from the Hell Fire)."
Indeed, the manuscripts
of history are not scribed except with the blood of these martyrs,
except with the stories of these martyrs, except with the examples
of these martyrs. By the likes of these martyrs, nations are established,
convictions are brought to life and ideologies are made victorious.
For this reason, we have compiled a section about the lives of martyrs:
Arab martyrs who fell on the land of Afghanistan, and present this
very collection which is infront of you.
And it might seem to
the short-sighted eye and narrow mind, and to the individual besieged
within the bounds of era and location, that it is a story that happened
and finished. The mouth of death opened its mouth, swallowed these
martyrs and passed them with its wheel that saves neither old nor
young.
However, the clear-sighted
eye and the enlightened heart knows that these sacrifices are the
provisions of future generations for distant civilizations to come.
These stories, these sacrifices and these examples will remain as
supercilious signposts upon the entire journey of this Deen, for
he who wishes to make this journey from those wayfarers, or follow
in the footsteps of this righteous elite.
"All these
are the ones whom Allah has guided, so follow their guidance"
[Quran 6:90]
Indeed these exemplary
individuals from the martyrs broke free from the shackles and fetters
of this matter to reach opulence and bliss, and they came to the
land of Afghanistan, living in the mountains of Afghanistan, until
Allah (SWT) honoured them with martyrdom.
We ask Allah (SWT) to
join us with them in the Highest Part of Paradise, with the Prophets,
the Truthful, the Martyrs and the Righteous, and that he blesses
us with martyrdom in His Way, and that he seals us with the Seal
of Happiness, O Noble One.
So, O' people of ambitions
and O' carriers of dawah, do not be miserly with your blood as regards
this Deen. If you really are serious and sincere, then place your
blood and souls before the Lord of the Worlds who granted them to
you in the first place and then purchased them from you:
"Indeed Allah
has purchased from the believers their lives and their possessions
in return for Paradise. They fight in the Way of Allah, they kill
and are killed" [Quran 9:111]
O' youths! O' sons of
Islam! What will cleanse our sins? What will purify our mistakes?
And what will clean our dirt? It will not be washed except with
the blood of martyrdom, and know that there is no path except this
Path. If not, then the Accountability 8
will be difficult, the Scale 9
awaits, the Bridge 10 is
ready and your time is running out, so consider it.
And Peace and Blessings
be upon our master, Muhammad, and upon his family and Companions
altogether.
1
Sheikh Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, assassinated in Peshawar, 1989. Time
Magazine wrote about him: "He was responsible for reviving
Jihad in the 20th Century." back
2 Islam. back
3 When a group of Arabs apostatised after the death
of the Prophet (SAWS) and refused to pay their Zakah to Abu Bakr
(RA), so Abu Bakr resolved to fight them even though the other Sahabah
were initially opposed to this idea. back
4 Died 241AH (851CE), the founder of the Hanbali
school of thought. back
5 The capital of Afghanistan. back
6 Prince Muhammad Daud Khan, President of Afghanistan
from July 1973 to April 1978. back
7 A city in Pakistan, the capital of the NWFP (North
West Frontier Province). back
8 Questioning on the Day of Judgement.
back
9 Meezan: the Scale or Balance upon which the good
and bad deeds of the people will be weighed on the Day of Judgement.
back
10 The Bridge over the Hell Fire as mentioned in
the Quran 19:71-72. back
Extracts
from the lectures of Sheikh Abdullah Azzam titled: 'Will of the
Shaheed' and 'A Message from the Shaheed Sheikh to the Scholars'.
This
document was donwloaded in December 2001
from the website www.azzam.com.
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