One can think of dissent in the Islamic State as being divided into two types: ideological critique and critique of strategy and administration. The work under consideration in this post features both types of critique. The work was published in July 2017 by an Islamic State member who was then residing in the town of al-Mayadeen in the eastern Syrian province of Deir az-Zor. Once considered an important stronghold of the Islamic State as a 'fallback' option in the event of the loss of Mosul and Raqqa, al-Mayadeen is presently controlled by the Syrian government.

Although the term 'advice' might suggest at first sight criticism expressed in a friendly and conciliatory manner, what is in fact remarkable throughout the text is how scathing the language and tone are. Though the author (Abu Muhammad al-Husseini al-Hashimi) says that he gave allegiance to the Islamic State on 21 Ramadan 1427 AH (i.e. 14 October 2006 CE- when the Islamic State of Iraq was announced), he consistently refers to the concepts of the Caliphate and the Caliph in quotation marks when he speaks of the Islamic State and its leader. In addition, one should note the full title of the work: he does not speak of providing advice to the 'Caliph of the Muslims' but rather just the 'amir of the Islamic State.' Thus, it is apparent that the author is disillusioned and does not actually accept the idea that the Islamic State is the Caliphate, let alone a 'Caliphate on the Prophetic Methodology' (a title heading used frequently in Islamic State documents).

Ideologically, the author falls into the camp of 'dissidents' who were highly critical of the statement issued by the Islamic State's Delegated Committee in May 2017 that notably declared takfir of the idolaters to be among the open principles of the religion. Those 'dissidents' saw the statement as a deviation in the direction of 'extremism'. It would not be until September 2017 that the 'dissidents' were vindicated in their criticisms as the May 2017 statement was retracted.

Given Hashimi's ideological leanings, it is unsurprising that he speaks highly of 'Abu Hamam' (i.e. Turki Binali), who was also critical of the May 2017 statement and died in an airstrike without being eulogized in the Islamic State's official media at the time. The lack of eulogizing was of course due to Binali's criticisms of the statement, and Hashimi criticizes the Islamic State for not giving him a eulogy in its media. The author is also critical of the 'Manhaj Oversight Committee' that sought to examine the creeds of various figures inside the Islamic State. He likens this phenomenon to the Mu'tazilite-instigated Inquisition of the 9th century CE.

The author's critiques of strategy and administration are as follows:

- Poor military strategy and squandering of fighting resources. Though there is always much talk about how the Islamic State will live on as an insurgent force and is not 'truly defeated', the group's foremost claim to fame was its extensive control of territory and state project at the height of its power (2014-2015). Hashimi criticizes the loss of so much territory in the form of 'withdrawals'. He also accuses a certain 'Abd al-Nasir' of squandering an elite unit called Liwa al-Sadiq.

- Disregard and ostracization of the Hisba apparatus (primarily responsible for enforcement of Islamic morality in public).

- Corruption of the judiciary and disregard of its proper place. In addition, people with lack of proper training and experience have been installed as judges.

- The marginalization of the fatwa-issuing and research department, which eventually became the 'Research and Studies Office' (Maktab al-Buhuth wa al-Dirasat).

In the context of his criticisms, Hashimi singles out some individuals for harsh words, most notably:

- Abu Hafs al-Jazrawi, a Saudi member of the Islamic State responsible for ordering the imprisonment of Abu Abd al-Birr al-Salihi al-Kuwaiti, regarded by Hashimi as one of the just scholars of the organization. Hashimi derides Jazrawi as being of slave status and stock (note that slavery was only officially abolished in Saudi Arabia in 1962). Jazrawi apparently served in the Saudi military before migrating to Syria and eventually joining the Islamic State. He appears to be the same person as 'Abu Hafs al-Wad'ani' who is mentioned by the 'extremist' account al-Nadhir al-Uryan, who says:

"Also among the matters that they always repeat is that Sheikh Abu Hafs al-Wad'ani was a military guy before he mobilized. I do not know what the problem is in that. Is this to be considered a fault against him? For most of the brothers who mobilized to al-Sham were military personnel among the Tawagheet and indeed some of them were officers and had high ranks and it is reckoned as something in their favour and not against them. Exalted is the One who brought them out of kufr to Islam and forgave them in repentance.

Sheikh Abu Hafs was studying in one of the Shari'i universities and at the same time received a mosque and taught in it and he was working as a military guy, but from God's grace upon him, he was guided by God to Islam so he knew that his work was kufr. So he abandoned it and mobilized to al-Sham and made his Islam sound and praise be to God.

And from God's kindness to him when he entered al-Sham, he did not join any disbelieving battalion or even one claiming Islam so he did not join the Free Army, Ahrar alSham or Jaysh al-Islam as most of those coming from the Peninsula joined. But rather God blessed him with affiliation to Katibat al-Muhajireen wa al-Ansar led by Omar al-Shishani and he became an amir in it until it pledged allegiance to the Dawla. So I ask God to guide you as He guided him, oh you who pronounce falsehoods against him without knowledge."

- Abu Zayd al-Iraqi, a veteran of the Iraqi jihad who is currently held prisoner by the Iraqi government. According to Hashimi, Abu Zayd led the 'Manhaj Oversight Committee'. Hashimi also alleges that Abu Zayd once gave a fatwa authorizing prisoners of the Iraqi government to participate in construction work for prisons. Here too al-Nadhir al-Uryan weighs in, saying:

"As for what is attributed to Sheikh Abu Zayd al-Iraqi that he gave a fatwa for building the prisons of the Rafidites, the story and its content is that after he was captured he was transferred to one of the prisons, and on his first day the brothers knew that he was a Shari'i official so they gathered around him and began seeking a fatwas from him and among the various questions put forward to him: that they are compelling us to go to build prisons so what are we to do? So he asked them what do they do if you do not respond to them? They said: they begin blaspheming our Mother A'isha and Omar and Abu Bakr and harassing us. He said to them: in so far as you are more aware of yourselves: are you able to bear this as the limits of compulsion are well-known? You are prisoners here for some time and this is my first day in the prison, so I do not know your circumstances to give you a fatwa.

And on the second day he was transferred to another prison. This is by the testimony of the brothers who are still in the prison until now and they themselves are the ones who bore witness against Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Zarqawi that he does not declare takfir on the Taliban, al-Qa'ida or Zawahiri, despite the fact that the Dawla declares takfir on them. And the borhters in the prison declared takfir on him and refused to speak with him, so when he got out and found Sheikh Abu Zayd as an amir, this was heavy upon him and he began to spread rumours about him.

And this is per the testimony of the imprisoned brothers who declared takfir on Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Zarqawi when he was in prison because he refused to declare takfir on the Taliban and al-Qa'ida and Zawahiri, and when he left from his prison and joined as a Shari'i official in one of the battalions the soldiers refused to fight with him and presented a complaint against him for his innovation in the religion and lack of takfir against the Taliban and al-Qa'ida. And many meetings were held with him in order to retract his assertions. So he retracted some of them and refused to retract others. And the session that was leaked of him with some of the members of the Manhaj Committee is the last session that was preceded by many sessions and he spoke in them of matters that brought the brothers out of their seats and he was in all the sessions furious, discussing with fanaticism, except the leaked session in which he appeared to be very calm because he was recording it to leak it, while Abu Maram lost his nerves in it and dealt with him with excessive fanaticism because of the obstinacy he found in him in prior sessions and it is held against Abu Maram, because he was not able to hold his nerves despite the fact it was a session of education so he was obliged to be furnished with the etiquette and manners of a student of knowledge."

Unsurprisingly, it turns out that Hashimi eventually fled the Islamic State, as revealed in leaked audio recordings that detail various accusations made against the Jordanian Abu Ya'qub al-Maqdisi, who once served as amir of the Maktab al-Buhuth wa al-Dirasat and is mentioned favourably in this work by Hashimi. According to the 'dissident' outlet Mu'assasat al-Turath al-Ilmi, Maqdisi was executed and was accused, among other things, of being in contact with Hashimi and providing cover for him.

Overall, Baghdadi himself is portrayed as negligent of the problems occurring within the Islamic State, unwilling to listen to sound advice.

Below is the text translated in full. Note all the footnotes are those of the author, whereas any insertions in square brackets are my own.

Hashimi Advice to the Amir of the Islamic State

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Praise be to God who has imposed advice on His servants, and prayers and peace be upon the one sent with the true path, and brought the clear, brilliant Shari'a, and on his pure family who are free of every deficiency and ugliness, and on his companions by whom God opened up the wide earth, and on whoso has followed them with ihsan on the authentic path and clear Sunna. As for what follows:

From Abu Muhammad al-Husseini al-Hashimi (may God deal with him in His kindness)

To the one whom God appointed as trustee over our matter and to whom we contracted allegiance

To the servant of God Abu Bakr Ibrahim bin Awad al-Badri al-Baghdadi

As-salam alaykum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuhu

Peace be upon the pious who seek to amend, and not on the wrongdoers.

The pen is at a loss as to where it should begin to describe the problem and in what tongue it should write the statement of the problem, even more so as it bears witness to the Dawla [Islamic State] that was established with skulls and corpses on Tawheed and the noble Sunna, and is eaten up one region after another, and the beads of its bond are dissolved as fast as lightning, and its sons fall one group after another, for the one whom fate has missed, the fighter of pernicious innovation has struck him- except the one on whom God has had mercy (and few they are). And it is as though it is not my state that I pledged allegiance to- before my migration- since 21 Ramadan 1427 AH, the day it was announced by al-Maharib al-Juburi and was led by al-Zawi Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the day that the captains of its helm were al-Shami and al-Ghareeb and their likes- may God accept them all, the day that it clung to the Sunna and cast aside innovation, the day that it glorified the eople and its people and lowered kufr and its people.

Indeed I remembered and the remembrance is documented, in our hands we have let time-old glory go by.

How unfortunate that you have lost deep-rooted glory in oversight of it, and on a firm foundation you were the pickaxe of its destruction.

Yes, for the matter is important, the misfortune great and the affliction terrible. It is speaking falsely against God and claiming what power and force you do not have through Him so long as you have not fulfilled His trust and observed for Him the right of His oversight.

And indeed by God may I refrain from concealing advice or hiding the truth or deceiving the Imams and the Ummah. For Ubada bin al-Samit (may God be pleased with him) said: "We pledged allegiance to the Messenger of God (SAWS) on the basis of hearing and obeying in enthusiasm and compulsion, and we should not dispute the matter with its people, and we should act or assert the truth wherever we are, and not fear in God the blame of the blamer ." So prepare yourself to read what you dislike, for you will find in my article harshness that you have not heard and intensity you have not witnessed, but if the affliction is intense, the medicine is harsh, and if the good doctors despair for the revival of the patient they resort to the electrical jolt for it is the last resort, and I do not see myself except as the mere warner who screams out to his people seeking to help them. And I recall the words of the Imam of the people of Yemen Mu'ammar bin Rashid (may God have mercy on him): "He would say: the most sincere of people for you is the one who fears God for you."

And had it been possible for me to keep silent I would not have undergone the hardship of writing and the danger of advising, but it is the covenant taken upon the one who bears the trust of knowledge, and I am not- by God- of its people, but rather I am begging at their door, and living as a parasite at their table. I have sought it for some ten years to implement it and convey it, not to contravene it and conceal it. And indeed weakness is firmly fixed, shortcoming open, and enablement unmarried, but upon God do we rely in the circumstances of pressure and difficulty.

And al-Nawawi (may God have mercy on him) said: "They have said the extent of the religion is based on four ahadith. And I said rather its extent is over the hadith: 'religion is advice.'"

And al-Bukhari narrated in the great history on a strong chain of transmission on the authority of al-Nu'man bin Bashir (may God be pleased with him): that Omar (may God be pleased with him) said one day in a council while the muhajireen and Ansar (may God be pleased with them): "Have you considered what you would be doing if I were to compromise in some of the matter?" So they were silent, so he repeated twice, or three times, so Bashir bin Sa'ad said: "Were you to do that, we would evaluate you with rebuke." Omar said: "Thus you are."

And indeed if I dupe you today in this world to please you, what then for me one day where no one will benefit from my duping my Lord to please Him as He is the One who "knows the secret and unseen"? So I will not keep silent, and I will speak with the inner mixings of the soul and inner parts of the heart, and God is behind the intention and He is my reliance and He suffices as a trustee.

The Caliphate was announced, and the people appointed you as Caliph and gave allegiance to you and we gave allegiance to you with them. Then we began waging jihad in the east and west, and so the land yielded to us- despite our few numbers- and the hearts of men trembled before our terror- despite our weakness. And we knocked on the doors of Damascus and we approached the outskirts of Baghdad and we shook the peripheries of Arbil and we penetrated the fortresses of Beirut, London and Paris. So what is the matter that the state of affairs has changed, and the sign has reversed, and the one who feared us has become the one attack us, and the one who was fleeing from us, our soldiers now flee from him?! So where is the damage and where is the fault?!

Why has the banner deviated and the manhaj changed and the last of this group begun cursing its first? How is the state of the group today compare with the state of the first group who followed consecutively to bear this banner? The latter are the great men who have names that have their weight in the earth, and their place in the ears, and their affection in the hearts, beginning with the amir of the martyrdom operatives Sheikh Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi and his companion Abu Anas al-Iraqi, then Sheikh Maysara al-Ghareeb, Sheikh Abu al-Hassan al-Falastini, Sheikh Izz al-Din al-Risafi, Sheikh Muharib al-Juburi, Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, Sheikh Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, Sheikh Othman Al Nazih al-Ghamidi, Sheikh Abu Malek al-Tamimi, and last but not least there joined them Abu Hamam al-Athari and Abu Abd al-Birr al-Salihi- may God accept them all.

But behold the great trust as it is lost, and behold the wide claims as they contravene the situation and are dissolved.

Indeed those of claims and calls, their outcome will be built on two things.

1. The size and volume of these claims.

2. Their truthfulness in this claim.

For a clearer statement, God the Exalted and Almighty is prouder than to leave a man to claim Prophet and receiving revelation and speak falsely against Him, without exposing him and showing his lies and infamies and making him a laughing stock for people.

The Sheikh of Islam Ibn Taymiyya (may God have mercy on him) said: "It has been known from His Sunna and custom: that the Exalted and Almighty does not support the liar in any way as He has supported the truth-teller, but rather it is inevitable that He exposes him and does not support him, indeed it is inevitable that He destroys him. And if He supports an oppressive king who has been put in power, he has claimed prophethood nor has he lied against Him, but rather he is an oppressor He has put in power over a wrongdoer" (al-Nabawat 2/687).

And he (may God have mercy on him): "And thus it has come in the preceding cases of Prophethood that the liar's affair does not last for more than a short period of time, whether thirty years or less, for there is no false claimant to Prophethood who was not inevitably exposed and his matter appeared, whereas the true Prophets' honesty still remains apparent. Indeed those who show knowledge in some arts, expertise in some crafts, and justice and religion and asceticism, it is inevitable that such a person is distinguished from this person and revealed, for the affair of the truth-tellers remains, while the affair of the liars is cut off. This is a matter through which the custom and Sunna of God for which you will find no replacement has occurred " (Sharh al-Aqeeda al-Asfahaniya p. 203).

The Almighty has said: "And if he had pronounced some falsehoods against Us, We would have taken him by the right hand, and cut from him the aorta, and no one you could prevent Us from him, and indeed this is a reminder for the pious." So this most noble Prophet Muhammad (SAWS), had he made false pronouncements against the Lord of might- and God keep him free of defect, for in sacrifice to him is my soul and everything precious- He would have taken his right hand and cut from him the aorta, for there is no lineage between God and His servants.

So the man may be gravely immoral, a wrongdoer, or a tyrant, so he fights an enemy from his kind or more just or more corrupt than he is, so he is victorious over him, so whenever he asserts that this victory of his is from God and by support from Him because he undertakes His affair, the Mighty Vanquisher brings him down to the lowest of the low, and it becomes a sign for those who examine carefully.

And therefore the broad claims have been matters of ignominy for those who make them if they are not suited to them, for the claimants of Prophethood, the claimants of knowledge, the claimants of wilaya, and the claimants of the Imamate, the claimants of the Caliphate: if they do not undertake the right of these great Shari'i positions as they deserve, God destroys them and makes them a sign and lesson.

And God has given us two contemporary examples that we must contemplate and consider.

1. The state of the Al Salul, which they established with their claim to be on the basis of the Book and Sunna and Tawheed, and attributed to the religion. For the Taghut Abd al-Aziz fought through the monotheist Ikhwan the tribes in Najd and al-Sharif in the Hejaz, God enabled him in a limited number of years to rule the two holy sites and most of the Arabian Peninsula. Then he killed the monotheists in the famous battle of al-Sabla and he killed the two imams Sultan bin Bijad al-Otaibi and after him Faysal bin Sultan al-Duwaish al-Matairi. And when their deviation and lies and exploitation of this claim for the sake of kingship and authority became apparent, God afflicted them with the greatest tribulation and the worst destructive shortcoming, namely: disbelief in God the Exalted and Almighty, for they became renegades from the religion and apostasised, and that sufficed as punishment and tribulation.

2. The Ikhwan group who lied against God and then the Ummah and deceived them and claimed that they want to establish Islamic rule through Taghuti parliaments and idolatrous elections. And when they reached power in Egypt they were not truthful in their claims, God afflicted them with a tribulation worse than that with which the Al Salul has been afflicted, for after they disbelieved in God, they were afflicted by God granting authority to the Pharaoh of Egypt- al-Sisi- over them. So he destroyed them, annihilated them by slaughtering their men and sons and not allowing their women to live, and there has come down in Egypt from tribulation and affliction and hardship that which men did not dream of, a torment from God: "An appropriate recompense." And God spoke the truth: "Indeed in that is a lesson for the one who fears. Indeed in that is a reminder for the one who has a heart, or lends an ear and is witness."

And I assert that the catastrophes and disasters befalling us are of this type, for we have claimed the Caliphate and have not undertaken its right and not truly observed it, and the Caliphate is indeed the legacy of Prophethood and the Caliphate of the Message for the politics of the Ummah through the law and overseeing them. Then the claim became wide and far-reaching and extended into lying against God and speaking falsely against Him without knowledge. For we said that it is a Caliphate on the Prophetic Methodology!!

God was not going to allow us- and He is protective of His taboos and hudud that they should not be violated- to claim the legacy of Prophethood and then we should lose it and thus He would not make us a sign and lesson, and at least for ourselves that we might desist or go back or be deterred.

For an entity in which rights are eaten, and in which oppression spreads, and in which the spoils are barred, and the booty is usurped, and the sons of the Prophet (SAWS) and the family of His household go hungry and do not attain their appropriate share, and the people of the frontlines and jihad become entitled to zakat and sadaqat payments on account of their poverty and indigence, and the sons of the muhajireen beg on the pathways, and right and grace are not recognized for the sons of the Ansar, and the widows of the martyrs barter for their properties out of poverty- where is the Prophetic Methodology from all this?!

An entity in which innovations and extremism spread, for the predecessors are cursed in it, and the 'ulama are cursed in it, and the just are cursed, and those of the precedence and da'wa to Tawheed are charged with kufr in it, and scarcely does the fire of one innovation die out without the fire og another innovation being lit that is worse and uglier: where is the Prophetic Methodology from all this?

An entity in which the traitor is given a position of trust, while the trustee is betrayed, and the honest one is imprisoned and deemed a liar, while the liar is given wilaya and deemed truthful, and the evil oppressor judges, and the innocent one is flogged, and the accused is imprisoned for long months without evidence, and the oppressed is killed without evidence and proof, and knowledge and its people are fought, and its students are warned against, and lowlifes from the 'Muslims of the revolutions' who have not known ethics or piety and have not mastered knowledge or understanding hound them, and not one of them has smelt the scent of Tawheed except after Albouzizi burnt himself!! And if the student of knowledge is described, for the least that is said about him is that he is a danger to the Dawla!! Where is the Prophetic Methodology from all this?!

And I do not know what to say about this sect that has followed impure opinions, and corrupt whims, and spurious and ungrammatical ideas and concepts, and derivatives for which no principles were established, and principles that were not legislated on the direction of the Messenger. Of course, the hole has broadened on the patching, and the matter has seemed doubtful to the one who seeks insight, and the goods have broken from the knowledge, and the crafts have perished in bearing it, and the matter has returned to jesting after earnestness, and falsehood embroidered with spuriousness, and fear of God has gone, and piety has fallen, and cautiousness has been abandoned, and the answer in every issue thin or great, clear or ambiguous has become easier for one of them than drinking a trickle of water, even if said issue had come down upon Omar bin al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him), he would gathered the jurists for it. So God is our reliance and He suffices as trustee.

So do not be surprised then, oh 'Caliph', that your authority has been lost after it spread, and your affair has fallen after it was great, and that a state is vanishing from under your hand while you look on, having no power to do anything, while you do not lift a finger and you keep silent.

Oh heartbreak over the blood of hundreds of thousands of the martyrs that has flown for the sake of this edifice, and oh loss of thousands of prisoners and families who have migrated seeking to realize the dream that they so often spoke about like legends, then you were appointed over its affair and you lost it and you did not rightly fulfill it. So tell me by your Lord what has afflicted you or befallen you?!

Whoso conveys from me to the Imam who has undertaken a clear, obvious matter,

I warn you of an ordeal by which the one of harsh kinship has arisen,

And we and what we criticize in our people are like the bull when it has been presented to the slaughterer,

Or like the one whose family reckon her as first-born maiden and she is in the ninth year,

We were flattering her even as she had been torn, and the tear had widened on the patch.

The internal reasons for the annihilation of the states are many that can be counted by the one who contemplates history and looks at the sunnas of the vanquishing, wise, skilled king among men and nations, and there have come together from the causes of annihilation in this state of ours that which would have destroyed and annihilated an entity greater than this if it had come together in part upon it. For where is the place of refuge and stability?! ("No, there is no refuge").

For from the deviation of the manhaj, overturning of principles, relapse over the consequence, annulling the yarn after force so it has become like inflated wool, and inclinations and leanings towards extremism, and rushing and launch towards charging the predecessors with innovation and declaring takfir on the scions, your reliance for you to know that the helm has deviated is the words of Hudhaifa (may God be pleased with him): "So whoso of you would like to know whether fitna has struck him or not, let him consider, for if he sees as haram that which he used to consider to be halal or sees as halal that which he used to consider to be haram, he has been struck by it" (Musannaf Ibn Abi Shiba 7/474). And this destructive cause is the greatest tribulation and most harmful of diseases, and it is by God incurable with no cure for it- if it is strong- except cauterization, and there is no medicine for it- if it becomes aggravated- except amputation.

For indeed the fitna is dangerous even as it sleeps, so what then when it is awakened, climbs, gains authority and is aroused?! God curse the one who awakens and enables it to gain authority. And indeed we belong to God and to Him do we return.

Then there has followed on from this fitna the appointing of the people of innovations and ignorance and lack of religion and piety and knowledge to the most dangerous positions and Shari'i wilayas, over which it is not allowed to appoint them by consensus of the Ummah. And it has been narrated in the chain of transmission: "Whoso assumes charge over something from the affair of the Muslims and then appoints over them someone out of favoritism, God's curse is upon him. God will not accept from him spending or fairness until He enters him into Hell."

And do not be surprised, for some of your amirs upon us, the soldiers prostrated in thanks to God on the day the news of their killing spread, and some of them, who are still alive, the ones who arise are submissive to them, and those prostrating pray against them that they should meet the same fate as their predecessors. And you are not oh Ibrahim- by God- safe or far from the arrows of these just people!

Oh woe to the dead person for whom no one has wept! Indeed, no one has missed him.

But rather they have claimed that his family prostrated out of joy when his obituary notice came to them![i]

The issue is not mere one of erroneous statements issued from here or deviant statements for distribution that come out from there. Neither they nor their writers have smelt the odour of the trace, nor have they or their writers known the brilliance of evidence or the soundness of consideration, having split the group into sects and not two, and having divided the Ummah into parties and not merely two. For the amirs and soldiers have declared takfir on and cursed each other, and the brotherhood has been shattered for the intellectuals have bitten the fingertips out of sadness and anger.

And it has been like the ball of fire that Iblis- at the hands of his allies- has thrown at the gathering of unaware innocent people, glad and safe, for it has rendered their gathering dispersed and their safety shattered.[ii]

But the issue is greater and the catastrophe worse and bitter, for the manhaj of this group has not been exposed to a violent shake and overturn like the one that has passed through it these days, and if- in what has gone by- the victory of God has been its ally and God's granting of success its companion, I recall the speech of its official spokesman- may God accept him- when he said: "Oh God, if this state is a state of Khawarij, break its back and kill its leaders and bring down its banner and guide its soldiers to truth." So I see the truth of this prayer being realized among us by virtue of the extent of the penetration of this innovation. Indeed how millions of Muslims said after hearing his prayer: 'Ameen...Ameen.' And to God is the complaint to be taken.

Then the group was not content with this manhaj until it collapsed into a worse, terrible error, destructive, annihilating and striking: namely, war against the students of knowledge, disregarding them and marginalizing them, decreasing their power and tracking their faults and slips and being keen to bring them down. Indeed the matter has got to the point of assaulting their homes, driving them like sheep and imprisoning them in cellblocks, then threatening to kill them. Indeed perhaps it has killed some of them and said: "Aircraft of the Crusaders"!!

For the heads of the group were not content merely to bring down the honest monotheist 'ulama of the Ummah who are allied with us and outside the Dawla, such as banning the books of the studier of Hadith the Imam Sheikh Nasir bin Hamad al-Fahd, who gave allegiance to you by the writing of his hand from the depths of his prison cell, and the books of the scholar Sheikh Ali al-Khudhair and others besides them- may God release them and hasten their hijra.

But rather they have turned to the sheikhs and students of knowledge and virtuous ones in the interior, for they have pursued them and cursed them. For the one who once composed for this group- "Stretch hands to pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi"- and composed in defense of you- "The Caliph between the genealogist and the vituperator" has become falsely and wrongly charged with idolatry and apostasy, and he is cursed in the mosques and institutes, even as he is the pure one, innocent of all this- thus I reckon him and God is his reckoner- so what rejection of right is there after this rejection, and what denial of what is good after this denial?!

And your predecessor Abu Omar was more fulfilling for his companions than you as he eulogized his companion Maysara al-Ghareeb when he was killed- may God accept them both- and indeed I reckon that the virtue of Abu Hamam- may God accept him- is upon you and this Dawla many times more than the virtue of Maysara al-Ghareeb- despite the greatness of his ability and greatness of his affair- and yet you have not commissioned yourself, your official spokesman- even as he put out a speech after his killing- or the media of your Dawla to eulogize him with half a speech, and we have seen the entire world media speak about his killing, and the media of his Dawla that he supported even in his testament after his killing did not care for him.[iii] Then the stupid ones, idiots and fools- and in particular some of the scum of the media- began applying their filthy and rotten minds and garbage of their rotten mouths against the first 'ulama of the Ummah retroactively like excrement, so it was stipulated that we could not ask for mercy upon Ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi, while Ibn Taymiyya excuses in ignorance so beware of his words, and al-Nawawi has Ash'ari partisanship so we must warn against him. May God have mercy on them all and exempt them from this fruitless stupidity.

They have brought down the living and dead, and reckoned that there has not remained anything for Islam except that they are the ones to revive what was destroyed from its features, and bring back to life what has died from its symbols, and they by God are the ones who have destroyed them and made them die. May God uglify them and hasten their destruction.

And it has been mentioned in the trace: "The best amirs are those who love the 'ulama." And the vice-versa is true, and Ibn al-Mubarak (may God have mercy on him) said: "Whoso despises the 'ulama, his Hereafter vanishes." This despising has become the habit of the leaders and amirs whom you have appointed over our necks, and their contemptible talk and their opened disk has been "The Shari'i officials are a danger to the Dawla"[iv] and "the student of knowledge is the most dangerous thing for the Dawla"[v] and "the problem of the brothers is that they are dragged behind the students of knowledge"!![vi] So this is committee that you appointed over us and these are their expressions and words, so may God uglify them and curse them with a curse that enters with them into their graves then brings them into the fire and misery of the decision!!

If Madir insults al-Ta'i by miserliness, and Baqil reproaches Qass with impotence,

And al-Suha has said to the sun: you are invisible.

And the gloom has said to the morning: your colour is a partition,

So oh death, come and visit. Life is reprehensible.

And oh soul, revive. Your fate is humorous.

If the Lord of might says: "God has borne witness that there is no deity but He- and the angels and knowledgeable that He establishes justice." And He says: "So ask the people of knowledge if you do not know"; and He says: "And clear signs in the hearts of those who have been endowed with knowledge"; and He says: "God raises up those who have believed from among you and those who have been endowed with knowledge by degrees." Then we find that your amirs and especially your inner circle are waging war on the students of knowledge and despising them, do you hope after that for victory or granting of success?![vii]

And the latest of the dark catastrophes and humiliating disasters that are heralding the destruction of the Ummah, which were followed by the breaking of the bond of the group, and the collapse of its entity resounded such that it was possible for the deaf to hear it: the killing of the knowledgeable distinguished sheikh and the noble muhajir, the studier of hadith, al-Hafiz, the judge Abu Abd al-Birr al-Salihi al-Kuwaiti- may God accept him- in the prisons of your thugs in the Diwan al-Amn, for the enemy of God and His Book[viii]- Abu Hafs al-Jazrawi (may God damn him and his companions in the bottommost depths)- affirmed that he is the one who ordered to imprison him,[ix] and his imprisonment came after he wrote advice on the false and erroneous statement:

The recent statement for distribution, by which the Ummah was misled, lies committed against God and His religion and then against the amirs of this group since its foundation- and after that he (may God accept him) gave a sermon in eulogy of Sheikh Abu Hamam (may God accept him), of whose kufr and apostasy the amirs and members of the Accursed Committee that you have appointed over us speak.

So the house in which the sheikh was a visitor was assaulted at the hour of iftar in the noble month of Ramadan that is glorified in the last ten days by a twenty thugs from the thugs of al-Amn then he was bound as a prisoner with broken ribs, and he was confined in a narrow old cell[x] notorious and well-known to the enemies, and its photo appeared on their channels that it is one of the prisons of the Dawla, and with him more than 60 mujahideen, most of them from the best of the mujahideen well-known for justice and precedent and effort and initiative.[xi]

Then the aircraft of the Cross killed them and the cinders of its missiles devoured them up for grabs after your thugs enabled them to track them one by one for they gathered them in one sack.

So let history- oh Ibrahim- record that the 'ulama and the students of knowledge are being killed in the prisons of the 'Caliph' who once claimed that he was summoning the people to mobilize and "specified the students of knowledge among them," encouraging them to migrate to his Dawla- in order that, as Abu Abd al-Birr (may God accept him) used to joke, the prisons might be filled with them if they advised or condemned!!

And rejoice after this calamity- if you do not repent from it, take steps to prevent it and hold to account the one who has caused it- in the disappearance of your rule and vanishing of your Dawla, and after that the painful torment and the dreadful consequence: "And God is predominant over His affair but most of the people do not know."

al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir (may God have mercy on him) said: "And his words (that is, the believer of Pharaoh's people): 'Oh people, sovereignty arises for you today, dominant in the land'- he warns them that they are to be stripped of this mighty sovereignty, for states have not been opposed to the religion unless they have been stripped of their sovereignty and lowered after their might ,[xii] and thus befell Pharaoh's people. They remained in doubt and suspicion, contravening and opposing what Moses brought, until God brought them out of the sovereignty they enjoyed as well as the possessions, houses and palaces and the bounties and joy. Then they were moved to the sea as menial servants, and their lives were brought down after supremacy and exaltedness to the lowest of the lows "- (al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya 2/86).

And I do not see the state of the Accursed Committee that you have appointed over us and the state of the just sheikh Abu Abd al-Birr (may God accept him) except as al-Jassas al-Hanafi (may God have mercy on him) said: 'And there was not among the Arabs or Marwan's family anyone more oppressive, disbelieving or immoral than Abd al-Malik and there was not among his workers anyone more disbelieving, oppressive or immoral than al-Hujjaj and Abd al-Malik was the first to cut off the tongues of the people in commanding what is right and forbidding what is wrong. He ascended the pulpit and said: 'By God I am not the weak Caliph- meaning Othman- nor the cajoling Caliph- meaning Mu'awiya. And indeed you command us to do things you forget in yourselves, and by God no one will command me after this place of mine to fear God without my striking his neck'- (Ahkam al-Qur'an 1/78). So when he commanded them to fear God and he advised them, they imprisoned him and killed him.

If the 'adviser' is of little fortune, what are his good traits but sins?

And may God have mercy on the judge Abd al-Wahab al-Baghdadi al-Maliki as he says:

"When the thirsty arrives at the watering place, as the seas draw water from the wells,

And the one who diverts the lowly from a desire, and the elders have sat in the zawaya.

And indeed the lowly deeming themselves one day to be above the proud from one of the calamities,

If the bottom and the top are equal, the intimate companionship of the fate of death has become good."

This black slave has driven the Dawla to stupidity and foolishness into which no group, state, party or sect had fallen in the history of the Ummah- I swear by God, except its predecessors from the Haruriya Khawarij sects- and it is that the group bears witness against itself in error, deviation and leaving the manhaj of the Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama'a!!

And indeed the one who said thus spoke the truth:

And if the crow is the guide of a people, it leads them to the cadavers of dogs.

For two days ago he issued a statement as dark as his face[xiii] in which he barred the circulation of five set books from the books of the Shari'i institutes in the Dawla as he claimed they contravene the manhaj of the Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama'a!!

And these books, composed a number of years ago, are still taught to the people- in general and in particular- and contingents of the mujahideen who have departed to their Lord as happy martyrs by God's permission have graduated on the basis of their contents, so this slave comes today along with his companions from the chickens of the Azrqiya, Baihasia and Akhnasia- the extremist Khawarij- in order to bear witness against them that they have perished on the basis of innovation and contravention of the Sunna. The Almighty has said: "So who is more oppressive than the one who has lied against God falsely in order to mislead the people without knowledge? God does not guide the oppressor people."

So either the Dawla has become guided after error, and was previously in error, lying against God and the Ummah when it claimed that it was on the Prophetic Methodology, or it has erred after guidance and deviated after being established and has become blinded after insight: "As for Thamud, We guided them, but they preferred blindness over guidance, so the lightning bolt of humiliating torment took them for what they earned." And indeed in the preceding words of Hudhaifa (may God be pleased with him)- "So whoso of you would like to know whether fitna has struck him or not.."- is a response to the confused,[xiv] and perhaps the matter is as Imam Sahnun bin Sa'id said when his companions complained to him about the spread of the innovation of the Mu'tazilites in Africa: "Have you not known that God, when He wants to cut off innovation, exposes it?" (Tartib al-Madarik 4/72).

And the tongue of the state of this slave- and perhaps his article- "If you reproach me on the basis that I was a thuggish apostate among the Al Salul, I will certainly take you all out from the path, and prove your apostasy, so we become the same!" And God Almighty says: "Are We to make the Muslims like the criminals? What is the matter with you how you should judge?"[xv]

And I do not know in what face you will encounter God- oh cousin- as you see these calamities and these destructive shrewd fellows who arise in your authority but you do not change them, but rather you establish them and support them, as though the words of God Almighty have come down upon you: "Those people on whose hearts, hearing and sight God has placed a seal: they are the negligent. Of course they are in the losers in the Hereafter." And indeed the truth-telling jurist Abdullah bin Mas'oud (may God be pleased with him): "The person who will face the worst torment on the Day of Judgement is a despotic Imam who misleads the people without knowledge" (narrated by Sufyan al-Thawri in a part of his hadith on an authentic chain of transmission p. 70. And it has been narrated marfu' and the mawquf is more correct).

And whenever someone advising writes to you in making clear the state of this committee and its deviation and infamies, you refer his letter to them so they can bring down woe, destruction and misfortunes of matters upon him, as happened to Orwa bin al-Mughira bin Shu'ba (may God be pleased with him) when he wrote to Abd al-Malik bin Marwan on the matter of al-Hujjaj and his despotism and oppression, so he sent his letter to al-Hujjaj so he killed him!!

The fault has reached such a point, and the decay into the lowest levels of error, that the understanding of Tawheed al-Hakimiya and following have become confused among many of the soldiers, to the point that we have even been afflicted by the one who says: "Were the amir to order me to prostrate to so-and-so, I would prostrate to him, and were the amir to order me to kill so-and-so, I would kill him, even if he were innocent, and even if and even if and even if..."!!

So some of them in their ignorance have reached the mud of obedience of idolatry and they have taken their amirs as lords besides God!! And the people no longer distinguish between the obligation of following the Book and Sunna and exclusive devotion in that to those two things, and hearing and obeying in what is right. And the competency of the ruler and amir has become a confused matter among the people, as well as the fact that there is no obedience to him in making halal what is haram or making haram what is halal, and we have begun hearing the one who is elevated in the ranks of the soldiers asserting that such-and-such issue is an issue of 'the Imam' and all must adopt it!!

And it is not allowed to contravene it!! Since when are we Imamites!! We believe what 'The Imam' believes and we worship God through what 'the Imam' worships and we get to know our religion through 'the Imam'?!!

We have found our Sovereign Almighty Lord saying: "There is no compulsion in religion." So if compulsion is forbidden in the principle of the path and the religion, what then of opinions and whims of men that God did not bring down as authority and were not asserted by the al-Adnan Prophet (SAWS) or his companions or followers or any of the 'ulama of the Ummah who have knowledge!!

So know, oh 'Imam', that you have a limit set for you by your Lord so do not cross it, for we- the group of the people of Islam- are commanded to follow the Book and Sunna only, and nothing besides them, and we do not have any legislative authority besides them, and if the words of God Almighty came down upon the Messenger of God (SAWS)- "You have nothing from the matter"- so it applies all the more so to you that you do not have anything from this matter, and you do not have anything in this matter except to implement the Shari'a of divine revelation, then we must hear and obey in that so long as you are established upon those two and you embrace them and have borne your soldiers and subjects upon them, and when you abandon them, there is no hearing or obeying to you upon us.

And the 'ulama of the Ummah have agreed that whoso changes his doctrine- in any of the issues of the religion- that he has built upon the revelation and proof of God for the sake of the doctrine of his amir, he has committed kufr and apostasised in that from the religion of God Almighty, and whoso calls the people to this it is as though he has called them to apostasy and disbelief in God,[xvi] so beware most strongly, and whenever you walk towards this matter, you have walked towards your death and the perdition of yourself and its rights in a great torment from God.

And the sole reason we have been dragged into these calamities is because the members of the Accursed Committee, the amirs of the Diwans and the Committees and the walis do not have one man- except Abu Hamam (may God accept him)- known for seeking knowledge or well-known for attaining it, so the people have taken ignoramuses as heads, so they have been misled and have misled, and have perished and have destroyed. So what do you think of an ignoramus if he gains authority, and a stupid person who gains command so he prattles and causes confusion, and a dreadful person who climbs up after he cajoles and flatters?

And the Abbasid Sultan Abu Ja'afar put a query to Imam Ibn Abi Dhi'ib al-Qurashi- the imam of the people of Medina (may God have mercy on him). He said: "I have implored you by God: what do you know from me? Am I not one who implements right? Do you not consider me to be just?" Ibn Abi Dhi'ib said: "As you have implored me by God, I say: By God, no. I do not consider you just, and indeed you are a despot, and indeed you make use of wrongdoers and neglect the people of good and virtue."

And if we are martyred so by God let us say what Ibn Abi Dhi'ib said: "Oh God, we do not consider him just, and indeed he is a tyrant, and indeed he makes use of wrongdoers and neglects the people of good and virtue."

As a result of the preceding, the walis and amirs have been indulgent in bloodshed, and among the greatest forms of this indulgence is tafrit in the soldiers, exposing them to danger, and lack of proficiency in raids and battles, and lack of fear of God in that so they bring them into dangers, so if there is anything of victory they attribute it to themselves, except those of them on who God has mercy. And if there is anything of defeat, the ones at fault are the soldiers- for the most part- because they "do not hear and do not obey." So they have claimed and lied!!

And the jurisprudence of withdrawals has become the adopted principle with that evil person Abd al-Nasir- God's curse be upon him- for he has not left for us a village, town or wilaya from which he did not order for the soldiers to withdraw- whether in whole or in party. Not hidden from sight are the joke of the Tabqa dam and the departure from Raqqa, for he fled and ordered the people to flee and in that he offered a service to the Crusaders that they had never dreamt of, for he went out from there not caring about anything, then he was commanding the lions of Islam in Raqqa and forbidding them, even as there are the tongue of their state of affairs and their saying: "If you are my Imam, be in front of me." And previously he ordered the withdrawal from Aleppo and Bi'ir al-Qasab and al-Batra' and other places, and I do not know to what point he will flee and forsake, and was there ever a day when he was of the people of wars and battles or managing nations and dangers, such that he should assume responsibility for the likes of these great decisions and lose the Dawla by the stupidity of his opinion, lack of intellect, and inversion of his whims?!![xvii]

In addition, let's not forget his intensive efforts to break the striking sword of the Dawla and its strong fighting shield 'Liwa al-Sadiq' after it was a force that could hardly be beaten in the battles and wars, and all this, according to the testimony of witnesses, is out of envy on his own part because al-Adnani- may God accept him- was given the blessing of establishing it and preparing it, so he wanted to destroy its edifice, not to mention his cursing of the best of the mujahideen and his accusing all who got up and went forward of treacherous collaboration with the enemy and threatening all who disagreed with him with death, in his well-known expression: "By God I will kill him"...!!

A group of the best of the military personnel gathered around him and they tried to advise him dozens of times on many cases but as it was said: "An ear of clay and an ear of dough." And better than that to describe his state is the words of God Almighty: "I do not show you except what I see and I do not guide you except on the path of righteousness."

Then have you not been aware what is happening in the halls of the prisons and the halls of oppression from flogging, beating, hanging, ghosting, degradation, cursing, abuse, harassment and killing. Yes, harassment, and the story of the two sisters Umm Yusuf al-Amrikiya and Ribita al-Faransiya are not far from our ears. The people circulates news about them and what the interrogators of the Diwan of Fear and Oppression did to them. As for killing, it is done without the regard of truth under pretext and great bald falsehood- "killing in reprimand"- for it has been taken up without right and imposed on those who do not deserve it. And it rather deserves to be called: "Killing in deception and terror and fright and oppression and tyranny." And God is our reliance and He suffices as trustee.

Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman and Ali (may God be pleased with them) are more aware of God than you, and more pious and fearing and keen for God's religion, and we did not see them kill a Muslim bearing witness that 'there is no deity but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God' without a decisive Shari'i obligation, so to God do we belong and to Him do we return.

And there have been in what Abu al-Arab al-Tamimi narrated in his book al-Mihan (p. 226) a lesson and admonition, for the tyrant of the Bani Umayya al-Hujjaj bin Yusuf (God's curse be upon him) summoned Abdullah bin Omar (may God be pleased with them both) and his son Salim, so Ibn Omar came and with him his son Salim, so al-Hujjaj said to him: Sit oh sheikh. So he sat. Then al-Hujjaj said: Bring me a man from prison, so they brought him to him, then he said: bring the sword. So they brought him it. Then he said; oh Salim bin Abdullah bin Omar, take this sword and strike the neck of this man. So Salim took the sword and shook it and then proceeded to the prisoner man and said to him: stretch out your neck. So the man stretched it out. Then Salim said to him: oh man, have you committed fornication after chastity? He man said: No. I did not do so. He said to him: have you turned back on Islam? The man said: No, I did not do so. Salim said to him: Did you kill a life not in retaliation for a life? The man said: No, I did not do so.

Salim said: Oh Hujjaj, I heard my father and hears what I say that the Messenger of God (SAWS): "It is not allowed for a believing man to be killed except after three vices: he commits fornication after chastity, or he apostasises from Islam or he kills a believing life not in retaliation for a life." So there is nothing in this man from that, so why kill him? Al-Hujjaj said: Strike his neck as I tell you. So Salim said to the man: stretch out your neck. So the man stretched out his neck. Salim said to him: oh brother, have you already prayed the two rak'as of the dawn prayer? The man said: yes, I have prayed. Salim said: oh Hujjaj, I heard my father and he hears what I say: that he heard the Messenger of God (SAWS) saying: "Whoso prays the two rak'as of dawn is in God's pact and the pact of His Messenger so as to be covered with the veil of protection." Oh Hujjaj, how can you kill a man in God's pact? Al-Hujjaj said: oh Salim, put aside the sword from your hand. So he called one of the wretched men of this Ummah . He said to him: strike the neck of this man. So he struck his neck and killed him. Al-Hujjaj said to Salim: drag him so as to get him out of here. So Salim took the slain man by the foot dragging him and saying: Oh brother, dragging you is more ghastly for me than killing you, and I bear witness for you tomorrow on the Day of Judgement that you have been wronged." End quote.

And since the oppressors, ignoramuses and innovators assumed authority, oversight over them has disappeared, for they have been proceeding freely, been cheerful, been oppressing and been despotic. And there is no overseer or person to hold them accountable.

You see one of them being despotic and oppressive, and charging with innovation and declaring takfir as though he is convinced that he will not stand before his Lord and he will not be resurrected from his grave, or as though intercession has preceded for him along with the promise of salvation!

And among the clearest signs of the preceding is the corruption of the judiciary apparatus in the Islamic State. Indeed on verification, the lack of it or near lack of it, for it is not allowed for the judge to judge against the wali even as this is among the competencies of the Diwan al-Qada wa al-Madhalim.[xviii] As for judgement against members of the Committee, let alone the amir of the Dawla, I do not know till the Day of People the answer to this: it is whose competency?!![xix]

So right among us has been taken from the weak and poor and in it there is no opposition to the powerful and the amir, so we have deserved what the Banu Israel deserved before us and God is our reliance and suffices He as trustee.

And this is the natural result of the lack of respect of judgement among the amirs and soldiers and likewise the lack of respect for the judges or giving them their proper place, as well as the fact that the walis and the Accursed Committee wield authority over them and humiliate them and play with them right and left without the slightest regard or respect.[xx] So there is no interest in the summoning of the judiciary or its rulings, and no head is raised by them and no eyelashes blink for them, whereas if the summoning or ruling were from the thugs of the security personnel, the shoulders of the one summoned or ruled against would tremble to heed the orders, so live in fear as you see a surprise!!

Add to that the calamity of the ignorance of many of the judges of the law, as well as the ignorance of the one who chooses them and appoints them. This is after most of the veteran muhajireen judges from the firmly grounded students of knowledge are excluded as they do not conform to whims and do not flatter with falsehood. It is such that their spokesman that you appointed to choose them said to me after I condemned him for choosing ignoramuses and youngsters on one occasion: "The judge does not have to be knowledgeable. Rather judgement is skill and dealing."[xxi] As a result of his ignorance and lack of intellect, and even the ignorance of some of them of the law, the situation has led to rulings by that besides which God has brought down in some of the issues,[xxii] or some of the amirs demand some of the judges to change their rulings in accordance with their whims without Shari'i requirement, and this by God is the doom!!

Moreover, the Dawla has not adopted an earnest and practical project of knowledge to prepare judges and make the suitable, for whereas study in the judiciary institutes in some of the lands continues for seven years from seeking Shari'i sciences, in the land of the 'Caliphate' eight months has sufficed to appoint the graduates of the al-Raqqa institute- despite the frequency with which the institute and the Sheikh Qahtani foundation have been fought- from the young youth of little skill in order to be appointed to the judiciary in the blood of the Muslims, their openings and their wealth. And it has been three years since the 'Caliphate' was announced: if at the time a university had been opened, established on a firmly grounded and strong edifice of knowledge, the situation today would be different. So after this tribulation is another tribulation?!

And I will not dally too long in talking about the failure of the Hisba and its loss and weakening and the ruthless war against it at all levels and from all sides, for here we see the Hisba officials flogged and humiliated before the doors of the homes of immoral disobedient ones, even the disbelievers from blasphemers against the divine essence- Almighty is God and sanctified be his name- and sellers of cigarettes.[xxiii]

And they are imprisoned and expelled and ostracized to the most distant wilayas and the most intense fronts without any humility on the part of the one who orders for them to be reprimanded to listen to them. And he threatens to kill in reprimand the one who does not comply with the reprimand!!

And indeed the news of the story of the ostracizing of the Hisba of al-Raqqa to Iraq is not old,[xxiv] and the ostracizing of the Hisba of al-Mayadeen to Raqqa is a story not far removed from you, but also it was rumoured that you are the one who ordered that, and it has been proven to me by reliable and fair transmission that you said: The Hisba of Raqqa have been wronged"!! So have you been fair to them and restored to them their rights?!! But God is the appointment.

And many letters and messages were written to you on the issue of the Hisba to reform it but nothing changed, but rather the state of affairs has declined and the evil consequences have become aggravated, such that you have appointed over it now someone who was a judging against the prisoners of the soldiers of the Islamic State held among the apostates of Ahrar al-Sham some few years ago, so God the Almighty Sovereign is our reliance.

Then the calamities and catastrophes have been sealed with the crushing of the back and obliterator of little states and annihilator of nations and destroyer of groups: a new Du'adi fitna, a costly Mu'tazilite ordeal, in tearing out of a dilapidated Salafism, and a wretched Kha'uni and not 'Ma'muni' catastrophe: namely, the innovation of the 'Manhaj Oversight Committee' that tests the people in their creeds, and contrives innovations that it makes to be among the principles of the religion and holds to account the people on the basis of contravening them. So it declares takfir on Zayd and charges Omar with innovation and examines this person and tests that person. And the Imams of the Sunna have agreed on reporting the innovative nature of this inquisition. For Imam al-Sha'abi (may God have mercy on him) said: "Inquisition is an innovation." Even worse, appointed as an authority over that is the builder of the prisons of the Rafidites- Abu Zayd al-Iraqi (may God increase the painful torment upon him)[xxv]- and gathered around him are failing foxes and treacherous hyenas, peoples of ignorance who have not known knowledge or been endowed with intelligence.

Nor have those people smelt the scent or understood the method of consideration. Nor have the fields of fighting borne witness to them, nor the battles of the clash, as they flee from the battles and sly away from ribat. It is not known on the basis of whom they have taken knowledge or from whom they have received it. So how are they to discern the road of guidance after they have led it astray? The lot of the best of them- and there is no good among them- from knowledge is like the bird's beak or the ember, for they have distorted the creed of the group and replaced it, and altered the principles and corrupted them. And al-Tabi'i al-Jalil Abu Hazim Salama bin Dinar (may God have mercy on him) said: "The religion will remain firm so long as these whims do not occur in the authorities, for they are the ones who drive away the people. So if they occur among them, who is the one who will drive them away?"

And the people's reliance on the Book of God the Exalted and Almighty and the books of the Sunna and the traces has been replaced with their reliance on an innovation: 'the manhaj of the Dawla.' But the manhaj of the Dawla is only the opinions of men with executive authority from the men of the Dawla and the Dawla is only a legal personality of the mind, so whenever someone utters a considered word it is said to him: this contravenes the manhaj of the Dawla!! So who has preceded us from the Islamic states and the rightly-guided caliphs to contrive the 'manhaj of the Dawla'?! Is not our manhaj but the Book of God and the Sunna of His Messenger (SAWS) and what the Ummah has agreed upon?! There is no force or power except in God the Vanquishing Sovereign.[xxvi]

So tell me by your Lord after this, oh 'Caliph': where is the 'Prophetic Methodology' in the balance of the preceding?! If it is a Caliphate, what is certain is that it is not the Caliphate of the Message of Muhammad, and it is furthest from being the methodology of the Prophethood of the Sunna, so enough of this lying against God and deceiving men.

Indeed I warn you of the fire, and I terrify you with the Mighty Sovereign, and by God we will not forgive you or let you off. And advisors have written to you and honest people have sat with you, and yet you still leave the reins of leadership to people of little knowledge and piety, for they have neither inherited the manliness of Jahiliya nor have they embraced the piety of Islam. And God the Almighty Sovereign is our reliance.

And if a woman says: God is between us and Omar. Omar says: i.e. God have mercy on you, and do we not inform Omar of you? She said: Omar is responsible for our affairs, then he neglects us!! Indeed the best of this group from the students of knowledge and the pious in it say it day and night: "God is between us and you." And many of them pray against you and your walis, and align their feet on the last third not in prayer except complaint before the Near One Who Responds. And whoso makes the Mighty Vanquishing Lord his trustee in opposition to you, you will not succeed by God if you dispute with him, even if you vanquish him in this world and kill him, and you then- by the Lord of the House- are the one fought, disputed and vanquished. And your soldiers have begun hating you and cursing you and praying against you as you have deprived them of their rights and barred them from what God has permitted for them: "And the worst of your Imams are those whom you hate while they hate you, and whom you curse while they curse you."

So beware of losing God's bounty upon you whenever this shut door is opened on you and this collapsed edifice comes upon you. Then there will be- after this grace- the breaking of the door upon you and the destruction of the edifice, for you are the first to whom allegiance on the basis of the Caliphate after a long absence and loss, but you have become the one losing it and lax in it and regret will be of no use to you as the time of regret has passed. Do you not see, do you not realize?!

You were put in charge of their affair and you were their amir,

But you lost them and the war was blazing,

And you crushed their skins with the flog,

In oppression and enmity and you were not stopped.

And you thought you would not be held to account for them,

And God becomes the one in front of the one who sets out at nightfall.

Do not inform the peoples of your whole affair,

And if you are asked about the wounded, stutter.

Then do not claim that you do not know, for you are a bad amir if you neglect your subjects and it is an excuse uglier than a sin.

Indeed perhaps you do not want to know, so that the picture of that fanciful imagination whose shade you seek and in whose imaginary bounty you swagger should remain safe from every abrasion or trouble, and I swear by God- not perjury- that you know and you have known most of what has preceded if not all of it or more, and the advisors have advised you and the sympathetic have met with you, and they have been gentle and kind, and they have tried to make things easy and have been relaxed, and they have used the easiest of expressions and most beautiful words, but what then?! Nothing changed, but rather the matter has continued to deteriorate and has become worse and worse, indeed by God, in God and by God: I have not known of a man who wrote to you on a problem and I was resolved or a dispute and it was rectified. Indeed to God do we belong and to Him do we return.

And the words of God Almighty spoke the truth about you and your inside: "But you do not like the advisors." For haughtiness in the hearts has taken root and boastfulness has prevailed over the souls. And in you has been realized the words of the truth-teller to be believed (SAWS): "Haughtiness is the disdain of the truth, and the despising of the people." For you have deemed yourselves above accepting advice and you have disdained it, and you have disregarded those who say it for you have thought that your minds are greater and your understandings broader, such that it is as though one of you is supported by revelation from Heaven so he cannot err or make a misake. And you have regarded the mujahideen with the arrogant haughtiness of corn and ants, and it is narrated in the reports: "The haughty will be gathered on the Day of Judgement like corn in the forms of people, over whom everything from the lowly will be supreme, that they may enter a prison in Hell called Bulas, for the fire of fires will be over them, as they are made to drink from the excretion of skins, the juice of the people of Hellfire."

And the narrations have come consecutively from the just that God will do away with you and replace you with one besides you if you remain as you are and do not rectify the corruption of the present situation. And this is the past Sunna of God in His creation, with no-one exempted whoever he may be: "And if you turn away, He will replace you with a people besides you, then they will not be the likes of you"; "The Sunna of God for those who came before, and you will not find a replacement for the Sunna of God." So may your state of affairs subsequently not be as the first said:

"He assumed responsibility for the affairs and had no enemy, but he left them and had no friend."

And do not think that your authority is everlasting and will not vanish, for all on it is perishable, and only the face of God the Sovereign Judge. And remember the words of al-Mo'tamid Ibn Abbad- addressing himself- after his time of rule and splendor had come to an end:

"The one who becomes sovereign after you takes delight in it, for indeed he has become deluded in dreams."

And better than this is the words of God the Almighty: "So do they wait except for the likes of the days of those who passed away before them. Say: wait. I am with you among those who wait.'

So return to your integrity, and review yourself, and fear your Lord, for indeed following advice is more praiseworthy and commendable, and returning to truth is better and happier.

For what will you do if a mighty and powerful king comes to you and removes you from your authority, and expels you from the breadth of your material world to the narrowness of your grave, then only your work will save you, and then you will be gathered in shackles and only your justice will free you.

And do not sit having eaten it as firewood, as you seek refuge from its evil one day and supplicate.

So remember your standing before your Lord bare and alone and weak and broken, so He will ask you about your subjects as you have cheated them, lost them and not observed for them the right of their oversight, and Ma'qil bin Yasar (may God be pleased with him) said to the tyrant of Iraq Obeidallah bin Ziyad: I tell you a hadith I heard from the Messenger of God (SAWS): I heard the Prophet (SAWS) saying: "It is not for a man appointed by God to oversee subjects that he should not take on board advice, unless he has not found the scent of Paradise." And in a narration: "It is not for a wali who assumes responsibility over subjects of the Muslims, that he should die while deceiving them, unless God has forbidden Paradise to him." And in another narration: "It is not for an amir who assumes command over the affairs of the Muslims, that he should make no endeavour for them and not mean well for them, unless he does not enter with them into Paradise." So we bear witness in God, who has borne witness to those of knowledge over the greatest testimony, that you have deceived the Ummah and have not taken on board advice for you but rather you have distanced the advisors and brought near the deceivers, and God is the appointment."

And consider what was narrated on the authority of Ibn Abbas (may God be pleased with him) when he said: "I prayed for God to show me Omar (may God be pleased with him) in sleep, so I saw him a year later as he was wiping sweat off his face and saying: 'Now I have come out from the Sun.'"

Or were there not for you in all these destructions and calamities that are coming down on the Islamic State a reminder and a lesson? The Almighty has said: "And We have sent to the nations before you so We took them with hardship and affliction that they might humble themselves. But why then, when Our might came upon them, they did not humble themselves?

But their hearts became heartened and Satan embellished for them what they were doing. So when they forgot what they were reminded of, We opened upon them the doors of everything such that, if they rejoiced in what they were given, We seized them suddenly, and they were in despair. So the people who did wrong were destroyed. And praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds."

And the Exalted and Almighty has said: "And there has come to them from the news that in which there is deterrence: extensive wisdom. But the warning has been of no avail." So if you answer these deterring, warning news and signs, in them is blessing as well. If not, our state of affairs with you: "So leave them, the day the Caller calls to something forbidding. Their eyes humbled, they will come out from the graves as though they are locusts spreading."

So consider within you the evil entourage that makes good for you falsehood and makes alluring for you that which is spurious, so keep it away, replace it, overturn it and then repress it. For in the authentic collection on the authority of SAWS: "A Caliph has not been appointed successor unless he has two entourages: one that commands him to do good and encourages him to do so, and an entourage that commands him to do evil and encourages him to do. The protected one is the one God protects." And indeed the amir is a market so what sells well in it is carried to him: if good, good; if evil, evil. And indeed the hypocrisy of the people of hypocrisy in your market is a sign of the corruption of its state!!

And beneath you are the just people from the students of knowledge and memorizers of the Qur'an, people of precedence, virtue, expeditions and ribat, so bring them near and close and consult with them and seek their advice and make use of them, for they after God's mercy in you, are the rope of your salvation and ladder of your success, and every path of reform must- after God's granting of success- pass through them. Otherwise, it is sowing corruption. And every attempt of correction must involve- after seeking help in God- seeking help in them. Otherwise, it is from jest and abandoning integrity.

So follow them and bring them together after you have marginalized them and treated them harshly. And conciliate with them after you have lost them. And support them for you have hastened them, afflicted them, imprisoned them and killed them. And indeed I mean the students of knowledge from the Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Rusukh in the manhaj of Tawheed and jihad since some time ago and they are numerous thanks be to God- and not those filed with falsehood from the followers of the statements and statements for distribution of the people of condemned innovations, flattery, disrepute, rejected alterations and corrupt doctrines.

May God have mercy on the Imam of the Ahl al-Sunna Abu Abdullah Ahmad bin Hanbal when he said: "The authority is a disease and the scholar is a doctor." So how can a patient be saved from the disease when he is hostile to he doctor and marginalizes him, treats him harshly and loathes him?

And I have been long in my letter and harsh in my address, because I have seen many have been condensed in their words and it has been of no use or benefit, and they have been gentle so it has not alerted a negligent one nor has it awakened the one who has slept, and indeed in general what I have written is the thoughts of every person seeking reform in this group, whether few or numerous. And were you to show this letter of mine to them and give them security you would find confirmation of my words, and verification of my claims.[xxvii]

And this was the case with Moses (peace be upon him) when he returned to his people and found them worshipping the calf. He became enraged with Aaron (peace be upon him): "And he took his brother's head, dragging him to it." For his rage was on the head of the matter in whose hand was the judgement of incidents and resolving them, and the resolution of the dispute of the nation and the gathering of their power.

And as al-Adnani (may God accept him) said: "If we could be silent we would be silent, and if we could be civil and polite we would be so, and if we could be lenient we would be so..."

And may God have mercy on Habib bin Aws al-Ta'i Abu Tamam when he said:

"His manners to you were honeysweet, so you left them as they were bitter salt.

So he was harsh in order for you to be rebuked. And whoso is resolute, let him be harsh sometimes on the one on whom he has mercy."

And indeed I know that as I write this letter of mine I may purchase after it my embalming and knit my shrouds and hurry so that my family may weep for me and my friends may mourn me, but the matter is a matter of religion as its edifice has been demolished and its pillars shaken. And my reliance is the words of my Lord: "Do you wish that you should kill me as you killed a life yesterday? Indeed you wish only to be a tyrant in the land and you do not want to be among the reformers. So judge as you judge. Indeed you judge this worldly life only." And how excellent was the advice of that Bedouin to the Imam of the Ahl al-Sunna when he was tested and afflicted with tribulation, for Ahmad said:

"I have not heard a word since I fell into the matter into which I fell that is stronger than the words of a Bedouin who spoke them to me. For he said to me: oh Ahmad, if truth kills you, you die a martyr. And if you live, you live as a praised person." And as my forefather Abu al-Hassan Ali bin Abi Talib (may God be pleased with him) said:

"I want his life and he wants to kill me: the one who excuses you of 'your relative' from 'Quraysh'"

And I had seven of the best of the mujahideen from the excellent students of knowledge of the muhajireen and the Ansar review this message of mine, and I showed most of its content to them, and I gave some of them a copy of it, so that they might know if I have been afflicted secretly because of my affliction. And I ask God for sufficiency in this world and the Hereafter, and He is my reliance and He suffices as trustee.

And the follower Abu Hazim Salama bin Dinar (may God have mercy on him) strongly admonished Suleiman bin Abd al-Malek for a man from his companions said: you have done wrong to the Amir al-Mu'mineen! So Abu Hazim said to him: Be quiet! For indeed God Almighty has taken the covenant of the 'ulama: "That you should make it clear to the people and not keep silent about it." And our reliance from God is this covenant.

For we did not make hijra from our homes and abandon our fathers, mothers and families in order to flatter a minister or deceive an amir, and indeed we have not been content with flattery when we are prisoners in the prisons of the Tawagheet and their chains bound our hands and feet. So are we to be content with it after God ennobled us with hijra and jihad?!

And indeed I would be committing a sin in deceiving you in advice or conceal from you the statement after giving you on one of the days the clasp of my hand as I saw you as an Imam whom I must advise, and I have found you as a cousin and you have the right of kinship even if you cut off the kinship, although it was possible for me to keep silent, cajole, flatter or be polite. And the pen will not make it impossible for me to embellish expressions and ornament articles, but we have meant well for you so mean well for this Ummah.

And here before I finish my message to you, I come into a confusion in my affairs and I do not know whither I am going or heading!! And news has come to me from a well-meaning man from the Delegated Committee as he says to me:

""Indeed the eminent ones are conspiring against you" to imprison you, "so get out, indeed I am among the sincere advisors to you." Indeed the bats of darkness and flies of the gardens are rummaging through your production of knowledge in written and audio form before the hijra and after it in order to hunt for errors and mistakes."[xxviii] So I say as the companions of Muhammad (SAWS): "Those to whom the people have said: the people have gathered against you, so fear them; their faith has grown and they have said: God is our reliance and He suffices as trustee." And so I have nothing to fear or beware of- praise be to God- except the oppression of the oppressors and that the arrogant should hold the reins of power. And before the just sheikh the judge Abu Abd al-Barr al-Kuwaiti and he was killed and his blood went in vain, and after him the sheikh judge Abu Ya'qub al-Maqdisi was imprisoned and his fate is unknown. And before both of them was imprisoned the sheikh judge Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Zarqawi despite his precedence and his preeminence in knowledge, virtue and effort, and he was tested in his religion until he should bear witness against himself that he had committee innovation and error and to put a signature to that, but he refused- may God reward him best. And before them was imprisoned the sheikh Abu al-Bara' al-Anzi- the judge of the Diwan al-Jund- and he was only brought out by the advance of the Rafidites against Mosul (may God relieve its oppression).

And the Dawla has harassed me in what it has received, for do you see how the entire world has pursued us through its intelligence services and eyes and armies and soldiers only for us- that is, we who are the group of the students of knowledge- to become pursued in the abode of Islam?!

Indeed we belong to God and to Him do we return, and here tears have deserved to be shed, and livers to be broken apart, and lives to perish.

For were my lord some other man, he would relieve my worry or he would grant me respite for my tomorrow.

And the oppression of kinsfolk is greater agony for man than falling on the sharp sword.

So I do not know- I swear to God- whither I should turn my face and direct my riding animals. For after the Prophet (SAWS) said: "The Imam is a shield behind which one can fight and in whom one can have trust": does fleeing to the deserts or mountains or abode of the Taghut become a shield for us from his injury, and does the Imam become the one who is feared and not trusted?! "And would you perhaps, if you turn away, sow corruption in the land and cut off your kinsfolk?"

And my reliance is the Sunna of the first predecessors from the 'ulama and the just imams, who were afflicted with tribulation in the path of God (may God have mercy on them), such as Ibn Shahab al-Zuhri when he was determined to flee to the land of the Romans in flight from the oppression of al-Waleed bin Yazid bin Abd al-Malek, and Ibrahim al-Nakh'i and Sa'id bin Jubair when the two fled in fear from the oppression of al-Hujjaj, and Sufyan al-Thawri when he fled in fear from the oppression of the Abbasids al-Mahdi and Abu Ja'afar. And Imam al-Bukhari (may God be pleased with him) said in the book of faith from his authentic collection: "Section: it is from the religion to flee from fitnas." Then he narrated the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may God be pleased with him) that is marfu' and in it: "He flees with his religion from the fitnas." And it was narrated in the trace: "Indeed a time will come upon the people in which a person of religion will not be safe in his religion: except the one who flees with his religion from a village to another village, and from a lofty abode to another lofty abode and from a hole to another hole." And it was also narrated: "Whoso flees with his religion an inch, Paradise has been mandated for him." So do you not see after hijra and mobilizing how I stand on the peripheries of the Islamic State and I invoke the words of Abu Bakr al-Zubaidi al-Andalusi?

If our gathering disperses soon after it came together,

Every gathering is destined to disperse, and every mountain path will crumble.

God has not created a torment stronger than the posture of farewell.

So I only say to you and those you have appointed over us what Moses the Kalim of the Merciful (peace be upon him) said- "So I have fled from you for what I have feared of you"- until God should judge a matter that was done, or until the life should return to its Creator, and return to its Refuge and Creator. Then breathed into life: "For a great day: the day when the people rises to the Lord of the Worlds." And know then that we have before the Wise Mighty Vanquishing Sovereign a long stance and distinguished account, and the tongue of my state and my assertion:

"And be patient until God judges and He is the best of those who judge"; and He "is the best of judges" and "He judges, and there is no adjuster of His judgment, and He is quick in account."

And I conclude my letter and call with what Nasr bin Sayyar said when he was a wali for the Umayyads over Khorasan, warning them of the rise of the Abbasids and terrifying them and warning them of the disappearance of their state. For he said:

"I see the disturbance of the ashes and the spark of embers, almost on the point of burning,

For indeed the fire is kindled by two sticks. And indeed the first of war is talk.

You have ignored a land in which the wicked of the people have become mighty and noble treated unjustly.

So I have said out of surprise: if only I knew whether he Ummayads are awake or asleep?!

For if they are sleeping at the time, say: arise, for the sleep has been for too long."

And Abu Muslim bin Bahr said on the rise of the state of the Daylam state and disappearance of the Abbasids state:

"I see a fire kindling in every valley, which has rays in every place,

And the Abbasids slept in ignorance of it, so even in security they have begun to be frightened.

Just as the Umayyads slept and then arose to try to ward off a fire that could not be warded off."

And praise be to God the Lord of the Worlds,

Editing concluded in a hurry in fear and anticipation, seeking refuge in the strong pillar of God,

Clinging to the Pleasant Glorious Sovereign,

The One Needing The Mercy of al-Ghanni al-Hameed,

Abu Muhammad al-Husseini al-Hashimi,

In the city of al-Mayadeen of Wilayat al-Khayr,

The afternoon of 11 Shawwal 1438 AH

[i] Indeed by God I heard one of the just, tested and oppressed muhajireen students of knowledge praying against Abu Muhammad al-Furqan- as he had oppressed him and degradated him- after he was killed with a prayer that tears out hearts: 'Oh God, do not forgive him, oh God do not have mercy on him, oh God do not accept him among the martyrs.'!! Al-Izz bin Abd al-Salam (may God have mercy on him) said: "If the enemy of man were killed in matters of wrongdoing and transgression so he rejoices and delights in his killing, is that joy in an act of disobedience against God or not? I say: if he rejoices in the fact that God has been disobeyed in it, the joy makes his joy wretched and objectionable. But if he rejoices in being rid of his evil, and that the people are rid of his wrongdoing and evil, and he does not rejoice in an act of disobedience to God through his killing, there is no objection in that. This is because the two causes of joy differ"- (al-Qawa'id 2/397).

[ii] There were written to you on the issue of these statements and statements for distribution- and they deserve to be called errors and blindings- many messages and responses that sufficiently and decisively establish the proof, remove the doubt, remove the problem and undo the innovations from which they emanate using evidence and proof. Among these messages are the letters of the eminent sheikhs and exemplary figures Abu Hamam, Abu Abd al-Birr, Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sultan, Abu Ya'qub al-Maqdisi, Aws al-Najdi, Abu Muhammad al-Azadi, Abu Othman al-Najdi and others besides them. Then Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Qahtani met with you and then advised you and made clear to you, and Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Zarqawi asked to meet you and you refused to meet him. May God accept the martyrs and protect the living- and in what they (may God reward them best) did is sufficiency by the permission of God. And I will not abbreviate the discussion and the problem in standing with the farces of these statements. But the issue is greater and wider. And these statements are only the shade of a bent rib, and the torn inner-bark of a tree in which the woodworm of innovation has eaten away.

[iii] God ennobled me for I gave a eulogy to Sheikh Abu Hamam- in a sermon that does not fulfill for him the right of his brotherhood and companionship- on 28 Ramadan this year, so when I descended from the pulpit one of the remaining just brothers working in the security ('and few they are') encountered me so I asked him about the reason for the arrest of Sheikh Abu Abd al-Birr so he responded: "Because he did what you did today"!! And he had eulogized him days before his imprisonment. And it goes without saying that you should know that the soldiers speak among themselves that the killing of Abu Hamam was organized by fight by those who wrote or supported the statement for distribution of error that Abu Hamam responded to. And that is because it has been rumoured that his killing was one day before the date of his meeting with you so that he should advise you on the matter of this state for distribution. And God knows best what the truth is. Indeed "God does not guide the scheme of traitors." And we were afflicted with tribulation in the days of imprisonment in the prisons of the Tawagheet by some of the lowlifes of the extremists from those who practice as religion informing the Tawagheet about is, as they were declaring takfir on us, so I do not rule out the existence of the likes of them among us today as they practice as religion throwing a slice or defining a place and sending it to the Crusaders.

[iv] Said by the absinthe of evil Abd al-Nasir to Sheikh Abu Abd al-Birr al-Salihi al-Kuwaiti (may God accept him) and he told me about it. And Abd al-Nasir at the time was amir of the Delegated Committee, so, oh God, we delegated You in disputing them so delegate the angels of Your torment in their affair.

[v] Said by Abu Ishaq al-Iraqi to a group of the judges in Wilayat al-Khayr and they told me about it. This is the one you appointed from the members of the Delegated Committee over the Qada and Madhalim, and as for the judiciary, he has corrupted it and replaced it and changed it. As for the Madhalim, he was, in reality and truth, the one responsible for them.

[vi] Said by Abu Hafs 'al-Jazrawi' to one of the walis and he told me about it, and he is the slave of kings and the explanation of the words against him will come. May God ease the way to Hell for him and spread a retinue upon it.

[vii] I worked in the Maktab al-Buhuth wa al-Dirasat- 'the Diwan al-Iftaa"- for a period of time and I saw- what others did not see- from pressure against knowledge and its spread and students that for which the heart exudes pain and distress. And were I to begin discussing in detail this matter I would a letter equal to this entire message of mine in length. For after it was a 'Diwan' it became a 'commission' and then an 'office' such that Sheikh Abu Abd al-Birr (may God accept him) joked to us saying: "I fear that it will become a desk drawer in days." And it has become not an open desk drawer (if only it had been so) but rather closed and locked!! And it suffices for you to know that the al-Himma Library has been prohibited from printing most of the books of the Maktab al-Buhuth wa al-Dirasat and producting them- whose collection exceeds 7 volumes- on the pretext of financial incapability!! And indeed much of what has been printed from the office's production was through donations of the doers-of-good from the brothers! And there was much harassment on Abu Hamam (may God accept him) in transferring researchers and students of knowledge to the office, and were the office something of matter and importance with the decision-makers, they would support it with the best cadres and most noble students of knowledge as is the case in the manufacturing commission or the Rikaz commission! And Abu Hamam was a lively man of little complaint, enduring harm. And as for harassment against the bearers of knowledge, it suffices for you to ask about what harm was faced by the just right worshipping and knowledgeable sheikh as he went to Raqqa after the people fled from it: Abu al-Mundhar al-Madani (al-Harbi)- may God protect him, I reckon him as such and God is his reckoner and I do not vouch for anyone over God- as well as the insolence and monstrosity he heard. Thus you will know an aspect of that. This is a small amount of an abundance and what was hidden was greater. And in the heart are agonies and agonies. So by God it has been deserved for the bearers of knowledge in the 'Islamic State' to be represented in the house of Abu al-Ala' as he says: "If the knowledge of the people is of no benefit and use, the loss is for the 'ulama. God has judged us by what is present, so it has been done. And the wisdom of the wise has been lost."

[viii] And there is no objection in applying this terminology, for it has been established on the authority of Omar who said it to Abu Huraira (may God be pleased with him) for something less than this. For on the authority of Abu Sirin: that Omar bin al-Khattab instated Abu Huraira over Bahrain, so he arrived with 10,000, so Omar said to him: Have you embezzled this money oh enemy of God, enemy of His Book? Abu Huraira said: I am not ane enemy of God, and not an enemy of His Book, but I am an enemy of whoso is hostile to them. He said: So where did you get this from? He said: Horses produced it for me, and the produce of slaves for me, and gifts that came consecutively upon me. So they reviewed it and found it as he said (Jami' Mu'ammar bin Rahid 20659). So if Omar said it about the one he suspected had made the money of the Muslims go to loss and had stolen from it, what then of the one who has made their religion go to loss and has stolen their creed and manhaj?! As for the curse, the cursing of the oppressors has been repeatedly mentioned in the Book of God (Exalted and Almighty is He) and the Sunna of His Prophet (SAWS). And Ibn Mas'ud (may God be pleased with him) said, as in al-Bukhari: 'I am to curse the one the Prophet (SAWS) has cursed.'

[ix] This slave who was but a few years ago an apostate working as a thug serving in the military of the Tawagheet of Al Salul, and he did not smell the odour of Islam except after he came to al-Sham, even as we did not know for sure that he was asked to repent or had repented. And as for knowledge, by God, he did not smell its odour before or after for he is more ignorant than the donkey of his people, and had God wanted good in him He would have made him understand the religion as in the hadith of Mu'awiya (may God be pleased with him) in all-Bukhari. Then after he came to al-Sham he dissuaded Sheikh Omar al-Shishani- may God accept him- from pledging allegiance to the Dawla, and he said: "Even if all people pledged allegiance to the Dawla, I would not pledge allegiance to it." And the witnesses to that are still alive. And today he has power over the necks of the veterans of the mujahideen and the mashayakh of the monotheists, so he charges Abu Hamam al-Athari with apostasy and he throws Abu Abd al-Birr into prison, and when these distinguished imams were tested with tribulation for the sake of tawheed and jihad and preached it, this man was a lout drowning in the mud of apostasy and kufr, so how wondrous! And it was narrated that Amro bin al-Aas (may God be pleased with him) was insolent enough to enter into the Shura after the killing of Omar (may God be pleased with him) for Omar said to him: "I will not put in place anyone who bore arms against the Prophet of God."

The Sheikh of Islam Ibn Taymiyya (may God have mercy on him) said: "And Omar was among the greatest of people in chivalry, and the most acquainted of them with men...and Omar, and indeed Abu Bakr, never appointed a hypocrite over the Muslims...indeed when the two fought the people of apostasy and returned them to Islam, they prevented them from riding horses and bearing arms...and Omar would say to Sa'ad bin Abi Waqqas when he was the amir of Iraq: do not appointed anyone of them, and do not consult with them in war...for these people, as Abu Bakr and Omar feared a type of hypocrisy from them, they did not appoint them over the Muslims" (al-Fatawa al-Kubra 3/450).

In addition, he was owned as a possession: his servitude and enslavement are established by witnesses testimonies and that he had not yet tasted the taste of emancipation and freedom, except what the Taghut of the Peninsula Faysal bin Abd al-Aziz granted him and his forefathers, as he compelled the tribes to emancipate by force, and he claims affiliation with the Dowasir tribe, which is a tribe whose number of slaves exceeded the number of its free men. Then he claims affiliation among the Doawasir to the al-Wada'in and some of the muhajireen from the Dowasir have testified that he is a slave who has not yet been emancipated. So who do you think will buy him, and before that we ask who will sell him?!

For is it allowed to put him in authority from the outset, then after doing so put him in the Delegated Committee! Imam al-Mawurdi (may God have mercy on him) said: "Freedom is considered in the ministry of delegation" (al-Ahkam al-Sultaniya p. 59). And if the 'ulama have decided that in the wilayas the just is to be preferred over the more just if the more just is loathsome to the people, detested in their eyes, so what then if there is between this loathsome hated ignorant ignoramus and the just deserts in which the backs of animal are broken!! (The authority of the 'ulama and the seller of the Mameluke kings al-Izz bin Abd al-Salam established this in his principles 1/105). And his state is as the Imam Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab (may God have mercy on him) said: "There is no tolerant face and no girl of men" (al-Dorar 2/46). And how close was the description of Abu al-Tayyib Ahmad bin al-Hussein al-Matnini to our state of affairs when he said:

"So whenever a slave of evil assassinates his master or betrays him, he has in 'al-Sham' a paving of the way?

The eunuch has become an imam of the fugitives in it, so the free is enslaved and the slave worshipped."

[x] The date of this prison goes back to the time when Jabhat al-Nusra controlled al-Mayadeen, before its apostasy!! So consider.

[xi] And the body of Sheikh Abu Abd al-Birr remains till this day of ours underneath the ruins, according to the claim of the Diwan al-Amn, and more than 10 days have passed since the event and it has not been dragged out, which strengthens the suspicions that he was killed before the bombing, and I came across bodies- around 30 of them- so I saw faces on which were smiles and hands pointing in Tawheed and shahada, and the reliable source told me that the smell of musk had emanated from some of them, for this is a sample of the leaders of your prisons!! And the reliable source on the authority of the ge