Replies to post #47957 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[F6]

A Ramadan Letter to Osama bin Laden

Sheikh Salman al-Oadah

Sheikh Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah, the general supervisor of IslamToday.net [ http://www.islamtoday.net/ (Arabic; English at http://www.islamtoday.com/ )], delivered the following address to Osama bin Laden live on NBC television on 14 September, 2007, which corresponds to the second say of Ramadan in Saudi Arabia:

Brother Osama:

How much blood has been spilled? How many innocent children, women, and old people have been killed, maimed, and expelled from their homes in the name of “al-Qaeda”?

Are you happy to meet Allah with this heavy burden on your shoulders? It is a weighty burden indeed – at least hundreds of thousands of innocent people, if not millions.

How could you wish for that? – after knowing that Allah’s Messenger said: “Whoever as much as kills a sparrow in vain will find it crying before Allah on the Day of Judgment: ‘My Lord! That person killed me in vain. He did not kill me for needful sustenance.”

This religion of ours comes to defense of the life of a sparrow. It can never accept the murder of innocent people, regardless of what supposed justification is given for it.

Didn’t you read where the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “One of the prophets once sat under a tree and was bitten by an ant. Because of this, he burnt the ant’s nest. Thereupon, Allah inspired to him: ‘Why not only the one ant?’ ” [Sahîh Muslim]

Allah revealed to that prophet: “What? Just because one ant had bitten you, you have set fire to an entire nation that extols Allah’s glory!” [Sahîh Muslim (2241)]

If this is the case for a nest of ants, consider how much worse it must be to visit harm upon human beings.

Who is responsible for all of those young Muslim, who are still in the bloom of their youth, with all the zeal of their age, who have strayed down a path they have no idea where it is headed?

The image of Islam today is tarnished. People around the world are saying how Islam teaches that those who do not accept it must be killed. They are also saying that the adherents of Salafi teachings kill Muslims who do not share their views.

However, the reality of Islam is that our Prophet (peace be upon him) did not kill the treacherous hypocrites in his midst, even though Allah had revealed to him who they were and informed him that they were destined for the deepest depths of Hell. Why did he stay his hand? He gave the following reason: “I will not have people saying that Muhammad kills his companions.”

Brother Osama, what happened on September 11 – crimes that we have condemned vociferously since that very day – was the murder of a few thousand people, possible a little less than three thousand. This is the number that dies in the airplanes as well as in the towers. By contrast, Muslim preachers – who remain unknown and unsung – have succeeded in guiding hundreds of thousands of people to Islam, people who have ever since been guided by the light of faith and whose hearts are filled with the love of Allah. Isn’t the difference between one who kills and one who guides obvious?

Our Lord tells us: “Whosoever kills a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the Earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the lives of all mankind.” [Sûrah al-Mâ’idah: 32]

Guiding one soul to knowledge and faith is a momentous achievement. It is what will earn us great blessings.

Brother Osama, what is to be gained from the destruction of entire nations – which is what we are witnessing in Afghanistan and Iraq – seeing them torn them with plague and famine? What is to be gained from undermining their stability and every hope of a normal life? Three million refugees are packing into Syria and Jordan alone, not to mention those who are fleeing to the East and the West.

The nightmare of civil war which now reigns supreme in Afghanistan and Iraq brings no joy to the Muslims. When the Prophet (peace be upon him) heard about a man named Harb (meaning “war” in Arabic), he promptly changed his name to something else, because the Prophet hated war.

Allah says: “Fighting is prescribed for you, though you detest it.” [Sûrah al-Baqarah: 216]

War is something hateful that must only be resorted to under the most dire and compelling of circumstances when no other way is found.

Who stands to benefit from turning a country like Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, or Saudi Arabia – or any other country for that matter – into a battlefield where no one feels safe? Is the goal to obstruct the government? Is that, then, the solution for anything?

Is this the plan – even if it is achieved by marching over the corpses of hundreds of thousands of people – police, soldiers, and civilians, even the common Muslims? Are their deaths to be shrugged off, saying: “They will be resurrected in the Hereafter based on the state of their hearts.”

Indeed, all of those who are slain will be resurrected based on the state of their hearts. The question we must ask ourselves, however, is in what state are we going to be resurrected? How are we going to find ourselves when we meet our Lord? How will it be for someone who has all those countless deaths weighing down upon him, whether he wants to own up to them or not?

The concern for conveying Islam’s message to humanity is one that can influence others and convince them. This is a far greater and far weightier concern than that of using brute force and violence to bend others to one’s will. “Allah sent His Messenger (peace be upon him) as a guide for humanity, not as a tax collector.” as `Umar b. `Abd al-`Azîz used to say.

Who is responsible – brother Osama – for promoting the culture of excommunication which has torn families asunder and has led to sons calling their fathers infidels? Who is responsible for fostering a culture of violence and murder that has led to people to shed the blood of their relatives in cold blood, rather than nurturing the spirit of love and tranquility that a Muslim family is supposed to have?

Who is responsible for the young men who leave their mothers crying; who abandon their wives; whose small children wake up every day asking when daddy is coming home? What answer can be given, when that father may very well be dead, or missing with no one knowing of his fate?

Who is responsible for Western governments pursuing every charitable project in the world, so that the orphans, the poor, and the needy throughout the globe are deprived of food, education, and other essential needs? Who is responsible – brother Osama – for filling the prisons of the Muslim world with our youth, a situation which will only breed more extremism, violence, and murder in our societies?

Muhammad (peace be upon him) – my source of guidance as well as yours – is what he came with not enough for you? He was sent as a mercy for all humanity. Allah says: “And We sent you merely as a mercy for all humanity.” [Sûrah al-Anbiyâ’: 107]

The word “mercy” is not to be found in the lexicon of war. Where is the mercy in murdering people? Where is the mercy in bombing places? Where is the mercy in making people and places into targets? Where is the mercy in turning many Muslim countries into battlefields?

The Prophet (peace be upon him) brought all of Arabia under his sway without a single slaughter, despite all of the battles that were waged against him. The number of people who were killed during the twenty-three years of his mission were less than two hundred people. The Muslims who were killed during that time by their enemies were many times in excess of that number.

What do a hundred people in Algeria, or double that number in Lebanon, or likewise in Saudi Arabia hope to achieve by carrying out acts of violence – or as they say, suicide attacks? These acts are futile.

Let us say – purely hypothetically – that these people manage to take power somewhere in the world. What then? What can people who have no life experience hope to achieve in the sphere of good governance? People who have no knowledge of Islamic law to support them and no understanding of domestic and foreign relations?

Is Islam only about guns and ammunition? Have your means become the ends themselves?

That ideology that so many young people have embraced in many parts of the world, is it revelation from Allah that cannot be questioned or reconsidered? Or is it merely a product of human effort that is subject to error and to being corrected?

Many of your brethren in Egypt, Algeria and elsewhere have come to see the end of the road for that ideology. They realize how destructive and dangerous it is. They have also found the courage to proclaim in their writings and on the air that they were mistaken and that the path they had been on was the path of error. They admit that it cannot lead to anything good. They have sought Allah’s forgiveness for what has passed and have expressed their sincere regrets for what they had done.

Those with brave hearts need just as much to have courageous minds.

Do you not hear the voices of the pious scholars, those who worship Allah day and night and are truly heedful of Allah – don’t you hear them crying out with the very same words that the Prophet (peace be upon him) used when Khâlid b. al-Walîd, the commander-in-chief of his army, acted in error: “O Allah! I plead my innocence to You from what Khâlid has done.”

These same words still echo after 1400 years in the cries of the scholars of Islam: “O Allah! I plead my innocence to You from what Osama is doing, and from those who affiliate themselves to his name or work under his banner.”

Life, Osama, should not be a single lesson. We must face numerous lessons throughout our lives, and these lessons are of a great variety.

I am no different than that of a lot of other people who are concerned with Muslim affairs. My heart pains me when I think of the number of young people who had so much potential – who would have made such great and original contributions to society, who had so much to offer that was constructive and positive – who have been turned into living bombs.

Here is the vital question that you need to ask yourself and that others have the right to demand and answer for: What have all these long years of suffering, tragedy, tears, and sacrifice actually achieved?

I ask Allah to bring everyone together upon the truth and right guidance. I pray that he guides us all to what pleases Him.

– Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah

To contact the Press Office of Sheikh Salman al-Oadah, dial:
([phone]
Or e-mail the website: [e-mail]

© 2007 www.Islamtoday.com

http://www.islamtoday.com/showme2.cfm?cat_id=29&sub_cat_id=1521


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Feedback on 'A Ramadan Letter to Osama bin Laden'

A visitor:

18 September 2007

“A Ramadan Letter to Osama bin Laden” – This letter is very appreciated.

Each day, the light of Islam is shadowing because of these kinds of terrorist activities. So this letter should be the one that tips things against terrorism.

– Arshad Ahamed

***

And from another visitor:

18 September 2007

Thanks, Salman b. Fahd al-Oadah.

Thanks for your courage and your efforts to search and find what is true in front to Allah, in front to our common unique God.

I am European, but first of all I am Christian, and for this last reason I consider you Brothers! It's different to be Christian and to be only Western...

It is different to be Muslims and to be only Orientals!

We must join our true Christian and true Islamic souls in the search of Friendship, Twinning, Peace! This is the way to join all the world under the same Light! We love you as brothers!

Thank you! Peace to you.

***

And from another visitor:

19 September 2007

As-salaamu 'alaykum wa-Rahmatullaahe wa-Barakaatuhu.

Why did it take Salman al-Oadah years to criticize Bin Laden? When Great Scholars like Bin Baaz Called him Kharjee in his life time, and Shaykh Uthaymin said: "...these people are not shahid (martyr)..." and many scholars like Shaykh Fawzaan, Shaykh Albani, Shaykh Luhaydaan, Shaykh Obaykaan, Shaykh Al-Abbaad and many other dozens of scholars criticized this so called Jihadist when it all started...I was thinking why just now Salman al-Oadah felt that they are wrong? After flaming the Air All these years...

As-Saff (61:8): "Yureedoona liyutfi-oo Noora Allaahi bi-afwahihim waAllaahu Mutimmu Noorihi Walaw kariha alkafiroona"

[They intend to put out the Light of Allaah with their mouths. But Allaah will complete His Light even though the disbelievers hate (it)]

Baarak-Allaahu Feekum - wa sal-Allâhu wa-sallam 'alaa Nabiyyinaa Muhammad, was-Salaam 'alaykum wa-Rahmatullaahe wa-Barakaatuhu.

Wa' Jazâkum Allâhu Khairan
Wa Billâhi-t-Tawfîq
Akhûkum Fillâh

– Ubaydullah Anwar

***

And a response from another visitor:

19 September 2007

Brother Ubaydullah. What are you talking about?

Sheikh Salman was one of the very first scholars to condemn the September 11 attacks, right after they took place. He did so on this very website. He has written many other articles condemning terrorism, kidnapping, and bombings.

When most of the scholars – including some of those you refer to – were encouraging young men to go to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets, Sheikh Salman stood alone in telling people not to go. He warned that sending people to fight abroad would backfire in the Muslims’ faces and lead to unmanageable problems later on.

Sheikh Salman has proven to be right.

– Fatima

***

And from another visitor:

19 September 2007

as salamu alaykum.

Ramadan Mubarak.

Ya Sheikh, your letter to brother Osama is very good. But i find just like how it 'seems' as if brother's Osama's cause is singular, your point of view also seems singular. What i mean is he's all for struggle & you're all for peace. And yes we all love peace, anybody says different needs to check their mental capacity, but is like you say in your letter, Allah sometimes prescribes something we don't like.

I mean it seems as if all sides are overstepping their bounds, & nobody wants to offer & olive branch. As for the youth, whom you say are being wasted on these efforts, this effect as they say is a 'blowback', were we not being wasted are we not being wasted, with the current globalization & over indulgence in materialistic matters, we're for the most part wasting away, rotting in this 'dunya', we're also not carrying anything of value to meet our Lord Allah. So we lead empty lives, we're basically as poets would say 'empty vessels', & as Allah says, 'with struggle there comes relief', so maybe this so called misguide brothers, have been feeling so empty for so long, they're are just looking for purpose.

So who has failed them, have we failed them by not providing them with a different outlet, like organised 'Dawah', or Islamic studies, or have the goverments who seem to only worry about their stay in power. Or maybe they have failed themselves by allowing themselves to be led a path of destruction & Allah knows best.

Ya Sheikh, I’m only saying that I think these matters are very complex, & one point of view is not the solution, this situation needs study from different angles by a few people not just one, & all the parties involved may need to be involved for a solution to surface. But are the people capable of such debate willing? There might be more than meets the eye, we need not be naive there's a lot at stake here, good & bad.

In closing, Sheikh, keep up the good work & may Allah bless you & the Muslim ummah with good. Ameen.

wasalam alaykum

– Ali Gordon

***

And from another visitor:

20 September 2007

I am really encouraged by your message to our brother Osama. During this time of fasting we should preach peace with our fellow Christians and not kill innocent people in the name of martyrdom.

If someone wrongs you, Allah is very capable of repaying for you.

Peace.

– Salim Mohammed

***

And from another visitor:

21 September 2007

Assalam aleikum

A very interesting letter, and some extremely relevant points raised. However, these days are days of huge fitna for Muslims and the events of the last 6 years have been very disturbing and confusing for the average Muslim. What are we to think? The governments of the West have a long history of oppression of Muslims, this is nothing new! They colonized Muslim land spreading havoc and destruction, they divided our Ummah and land. Since when is Kuwait separate from Iraq and separated by whom? We have a long history with them!

If it wasn't the events regarding The World Trade Center, they would have found another excuse. Have they ever left Muslims alone in peace for long?

Blaming a few individuals seems very simplistic to me. Does the killing of 3,ooo.oo people, not matter how wicked justify killing and torturing hundreds of thousands? This issue goes a lot deeper than a so called group named "Al Qaeda". I live in the west and I suffer on daily basis as I am a woman with niqab (and a convert) even so, I am told to go back to where I came from and we are subjected to hatred on a daily basis. It is Islam they hate not a few individuals. This is a war against Islam.

And the Prophet sws said: Soon the world will be taken over by the wicked, and the sons of the wicked.... [Silsilat Al Hadeeth as Saheehah hadith no 1505]

May Allah Tala Grant us Peace and Security. And ease the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Iraq and Afghanistan and prisons all around the world. Ameen

Your views are greatly appreciated and respected Sheikh.

JazakAllahKhair

– Visitor

***

And from another visitor:

21 September 21 2007

Salman al-Oadah, in his letter, has finally verbalized an initiative that the world has been expecting since 2001. Why such a delay to 2007?

To me, the silence of Islamic theologians has been damning for Islam. It is no wonder that the world has come down on a faith that, by silence, condones 9/11, suicide bombing, and other unnatural and unethical behavior.

Even now however, as a non-Muslim, this letter gives me hope again. Please continue your reform of Islam.

– Robert Bosch

***

And from another visitor:

22 September 2007

Sheik, what a courageous and right-minded letter. Inspired words and fulfilling arguments that tell us Osama is not conducting his followers to the peace of Allah, he is conducting them to damnation of blazing hell.

As a Christian, I wake up everyday thinking when my judgment day will come and what I am going to say to my Maker when he asks me why did I lie to my father or why did I stole that loaf of bread.

What is Allah going to ask Osama? And most important, what is Osama going to answer? That he carried the Messenger’s word? Or that he distorted it so much that he could not distinguish anyit more?

I hope to find peace in our world some day. But I also know that as long as people like Osama and Bush exist, such peace will never occur.

And God be merciful with us, and mostly, with them.

Salam Aleikum.

– Osimar Medeiros

***

And from another visitor:

22 September 2007

My dear Sheikh Salman al- Oadah:

It is with great humility I write you this day. I read your “Ramadan Letter to Osama bin Laden” and am pleased to learn even more from you as a Blessed scholar.

I am a professional mediator, and resolving disputes is more than a profession for me, it is a way of life. I find very few people that are willing to lay aside perceptions and prejudices when dealing with such important matters such as family honor, religious beliefs, and ideologies.

I look forward to reading much more from you.

With great respect,

– Anthony Harper

© 2007 www.Islamtoday.com

http://www.islamtoday.com/showme2.cfm?cat_id=34&sub_cat_id=1526


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some further from http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/9/18/73455/5334 :

As a Muslim, I can tell you that a letter like this can affect the militant and terrorist tendencies of some extreme elements among Muslims a million times more than anything that a military response or any other campaign to "win hearts and minds" in the Muslim countries.

Al-Oadah has almost a rock-star appeal in the Saudi and Arab masses. He is respected by foes and allies alike. While many Osama cronies have dismissed MOST of Saudi clerics as government agents, this reputation has mostly alluded [sic - eluded] Al-Oadah who in the past has made some fiery statements of his own.

In essence, when Al-Oadah says something, people listen, especially the youth. I think it is easy to understand why something like this would have a greater affect on extremists than other avenues. Let's consider the example of a right-wing extremist Christian who believes that abortion-clinic bombing is good, just for analogy purposes. There is a much better chance that someone like Pat Robertson would have an affect on changing this person's view than for instance Ayotallah Sistani.

Another important benefit of this statement is that it disputes the account of clerics promoting extremism in the Muslim world. Every great mufti with few exceptions in Saudi, for example, strongly condemned 9/11 (see here [ http://islamiclawetc.wordpress.com/2007/09/11/never-forget-denouncing-terror-the-911-attacks/ ]). Recently, MuslimMatters.org posted a response to the OBL video, including a response video from Dr. Ali Shehata (see here [ http://muslimmatters.org/2007/09/11/response-to-bin-laden-911-video-and-other-reflections/ ]).


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and in addition to (items linked in) the post to which this post is a reply and preceding, see also (items linked in):
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=23015078 ; and
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=22911751 and preceding and following

[StephanieVanbryce]

Thank YOU ..

[StephanieVanbryce]

Full Interview With Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Video And Transcript Of Scott Pelley's Interview With The Iranian President

Sept. 23, 2007

.. I was aghast at the way Pelly spoke to him - to me , it was a set up .. we have never ever witnessed any American reporter question our own politicians in this manner ..to their shame..it seemed like a Guantanamo interrogation .. He asked questions that are based on not proven statements .. & gwbs propaganda & rhetoric .. I couldn't be more disgusted ..

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/23/60minutes/main3289342.shtml

[fuagf]

Is some more here ..
http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/search/web/Al-Oadah/1/-/1/-/-/-/1/-/-/-/1/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/....

When i couldn't see an Australian link i attached "australia media" and got this ..

Counterterrorism Blog: 9/11 and the Inconvenient Truths about Jihad and Islamism .. August 13, 2007 - Australian ABC News: Indonesian group rallies for world ... turns on bin Laden - Salman al-Oadah publicly reproached bin Laden for murder ...http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/search/web/Al-Oadah%252Baustralian%252Bmedia/1/-/1/-/-/-/1/-/-/-/1....

at number 12 .. or 13, the 2nd time I checked .. on a quick glance
couldn't see a mention so i searched "al-Oadah" in their search ..

and presto ..
http://counterterrorismblog.org/fastsearch?query=al-Oadah

which maybe says something about that blog ..

Agree, it should have been shouted from the rooftops.

[StephanieVanbryce]

oh.......This is rich ... ""He should be arrested when he comes to Columbia University, not invited to speak for God's sake," said state Assemblyman Dov Hikind.

City Councilman David Weprin said Ahmadinejad "has American blood on his hands as he has aided the insurgency in Iraq by sending weapons and manpower for the sole purpose to kill Americans."

"Here we take a tyrant like this and say, 'Sure, come. We understand that you continue your nuclear proliferation. We understand that you've denied the Holocaust. We understand that you want to obliterate Israel. But come. Let us give you an invitation to free speech,'" said demonstrator Claire Meadow, a Columbia Law School graduate."

.. it always amazes me .. how people can be so blinded by the speck in their own eye ... do they even think of what other countries think of gwb et al. .. the same ... the exact same thing .. "he has blood on his hands" .. gwb has blood on his hands .. don't they ever think of that before opening their stupid mouths ...??? .. there are other ways of saying things .. and the same thing can be accomplished ... but , with diplomacy .. not ignorance .. I get fearful the days of diplomacy may have gone ... I hope not for good ...

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/259626

.. I think this happened the last time ... I'm too tired to google it .. but I seem to remember he was invited to speak somewhere & the hypocrisy won and it was cancelled ..