n37 27 The Major Sins Series - Fleeing from Battle - Abu Usama 1217

The Major Sins Series - Fleeing from Battle

Speaker: Abu Usama

Opening

The next chapter is the Kabiratul Thaniya Ashra, or Kabiratul Hadiya Ashra, Al Firar Minal Zahra. The next Kabira, major sin, is the major sin of running away from the battlefield. Running away when the Muslims engage the Kufar in the Jihad of Al-Islam.

Introduction to the Sin

It is a sign of weakness, and it is a sign of being a coward. He told us, (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam):

The two worst characteristics that can be in a man the two ones that Allah doesn't love, that are against this religion - is for a man to be extremely stingy. Not only is he stingy, but he's worried about what other people have.

He himself is stingy and greedy, and he wants to keep his money, but he also worries about who else has. Does he have more than him, and so forth and so on. He's racing people.

That's a terrible characteristic. And the second one جُبْنٌ خَالِعٌ is for a man to be a coward. To the point where it is as if his heart is out of his body. He doesn't have a heart. He doesn't stand up for his deen, doesn't stand up for his principles, doesn't stand up for his women. He is a man who is extremely cowardly in his behavior.

Two characteristics that Allah Azawajal doesn't love. So from the major crimes and sins in Al-Islam, is for the Muslim to run away from the battlefield. Al-Imam Al-Dhahabi brought an ayah and a hadith.

Evidence from Quran

Only one ayah and one hadith. The ayah from Surah Al-Anfal. Allah Ta'ala said:

And whoever gives the kuffar his back and he starts to run away. Except the one who was running away in order to do a strategy of war. He wants to make the kuffar think that he's scared so he's gonna go this way to entrap them and we're going to catch them the other way. That's permissible, that's not running away.

Or the one who runs away in order to connect with another group of Muslims. He's fighting and they're losing the war. We're going to lose the war as it happened with Umar (رضي الله عنه - radi allahu anhu)

And the Muslims were fighting in Persia and they were losing the war and they didn't run away. When Umar (رضي الله عنه - radi allahu anhu) heard about it that they got killed on the battlefield, he said, only if they would have come back I would have been the فئة إلى متحيز. I would have been the one who they were coming to.

So if the Muslims are losing and they run to get with the Muslims to support them or to get strength from them, that's okay. What is not permissible is for the Muslims to drop their weapons and just to get into the wind and to give their backs to the kuffar. And Imam Zahabi brought that ayah.

Additional Evidence from Quran

There's an ayah that precedes it. I don't know why Imam Zahabi didn't bring it, but Allah (جل و عز - jalla wa 'azza) said:

Surah Al-Anfal 8:15

O you who believe, if you meet the disbelievers in the battle, then do not turn your backs to them.

And whoever turns their back and gives their back to them that day, except the one who is doing it for a strategy of war or he's doing it in order to connect with another group of Muslims, then these are the people who will be in the hellfire and what a terrible end.

The Condition of the Ummah

Ikhwani, I want to take this time out again to remind myself and to remind every single Muslim here. Whether you have white in your beard, or whether you're a young person, especially the young ones from amongst us. We are ummah of du'afa now.

The Strong Believer

The believer who is strong physically, not in his iman, it's not talking about the iman. He is physically strong. He is more beloved to Allah and better than the believer who is weak, out of shape.

He's not athletic, can't move. Because the one who is strong has the ability to get out and work, to help the ummah, to support the masjid, to help the du'afa and the fuqara. The one who is strong has the ability to raise the flag of jihad and participate in the jihad.

Weak people, they say, Oh, it's too hot. Oh, it's too far. Oh, it's too dangerous.

The Balanced Understanding of Jihad

There are those people today who have gone to the extremes as it relates to the jihad. One extreme is, everything is jihad and jihad is about only spilling blood, there's no fiqh to it and no justice. And then the other extreme is, the apologists who say, there's no jihad in Al-Islam unless the Muslims are attacked and that's a lie.

It's a lie, similar to the lie, if a man wants to get married to a second wife, he has to get permission from the first wife. The first wife can't have babies. There has to be a problem with her.

All of those crazy ideas come as a result of weaknesses in the Muslims. Physically and the way we think. Allah Ta'ala mentioned in the Quran about the middle course of al-jihad.

And it is from our deen.

Fight them so that there will be no fitna and the religion will be for Allah. Fight them so that there won't be any fitna. Shirk won't run rampant in the earth. Show responsibility to stop that. And also the fitna of oppression, one people oppressing another group of people.

The Oppressed Calling for Help

Allah Ta'ala mentioned in the Quran:

And what is wrong with you that you do not fight in the cause of Allah, when the weak men and women and the children, those who say, Oh our Lord, help us and get us out of this city whose people are oppressive. This country, this land, the people are oppressive.

We're being oppressed. And make for us, send for us a helper from yourself. Send for us a wali and a person who's going to help from us, from yourself.

That's our brothers in Kashmir. That's our brothers across the globe. How in the world can a Muslim sit back and say, there's no jihad at all.

To mention the word jihad makes people afraid. And that's the dua of the Muslims. And the Muslim is a brother to another Muslim.

And none of you believes until he wants for his brother what he wants for himself. And those of us who have relatives from Kashmir, and we have relatives from other hot spots in the Muslim world, who have been oppressed and killed, you're tasting that fitna is not like the one who was sitting here and he's fat, and his life is easy. There's no jihad in Islam.

The Virtues of Jihad

It's our responsibility, brothers, to protect the Muslims. He told us in the authentic hadith, (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam):

The doors of paradise are under the shade of the swords.

So the swords of jihad are above the jannah, the abwab of the jannah. So is it permissible for any speaker, any khateeb, any alim, any Muslim to come today and to say, there's no jihad. When the swords of the jihad are above the abwab of the jannah, no one says that except someone who doesn't know the religion, or someone who is being paid by the kuffar.

The Peak of the Matter

He told us, (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), from the authentic sunnah, brothers, Shall I not tell you people what is the head of the affair, and what is the pillar of the affair, and what is the highest peak of the matter? Ya Rasulallah, tell us what it is. What is it? He said, the head of the affair is al-Islam. The five pillars of al-Islam, and the pillar, the umud of the affair is the salah.

The best actions that you can possibly do in the dunya. The wajib prayer is better than the jihad. But the jihad is better than any naafil action.

And shall I not tell you the peak of the matter? The peak of the matter is al-jihad, in the cause of Allah (جل و عز - jalla wa 'azza).

Our Current State

So how is it, Ikhwani, that as Muslims, as Muslim men, Wallahi, I hate to say it, but it's the truth. We cannot feel secure, that we will support each other if there was a real jihad. Because we're out of shape, and we love the dunya. And we can't even make jihad over our own women, not to watch Bollywood films. Wallahi, that's our condition.

So I find it utterly amazing, that people will come and tell us, assassinate this one, assassinate that one, do this, do that. And Wallahi, our ummah are du'afa. And I'm the weakest from amongst them.

And this one who's telling me this, is on the public assistance. And the kuffar bring that out. That every single mujahid in this daulah, who's talking this nonsense, the first thing the kuffar do is say, we supported him so far,

400,000 pounds.

Him and his kids. Isn't that haram? Isn't that kuffar? Why don't you place on yourself kuffar?

The Status of the Shaheed

They ask Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) about the shaheed, Ikhwani. Not to mention about the many, Abdullah, of the importance of al-jihad.

Surah At-Tawbah 9:111

Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth, and that is because they fight in the cause of Allah, so they'll get the jannah.

This is the right of Allah. This is the truth that He wrote in the Torah. So why are we apologizing? Why are we afraid? Uh-oh, this is a hot topic, let me get out of here.

I don't want my name on the list, as the people who participate in the class about jihad. No, we don't apologize about that. And we don't apologize about plural wives.

And we don't apologize about slavery. But we say this is the deen of the truth, and it has knowledge behind it, and wisdom behind it. Not the way the sufaha and the juhal are doing it around us.

That's what we say to the kuffar. That is not the way some of our brothers are showing it to be. But we also say to our Muslim brothers, we have to embrace this concept that, we have to make some preparations of al-jihad.

Teaching Our Children

One of our little kids, our little kids told me in the class, Abu Usama, you know, I can eat four chapatis with my lunch. Four, I said, four chapatis? He said, yes, my dad can eat eight. So instead of teaching the kid about being a man, and being rough, and being tough at the proper time, he's bragging about how many chapatis his stomach can hold.

So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has purchased from all of us, our lives and our monies. And jihad is from this deen, and the reward is the paradise. So the ad-dillah of jihad are too many from the Quran and the sunnah.

Put all of those ad-dillah aside, and just deal with the shuhada. The shuhada in the religion of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, they have the highest place in jannah. The highest place.

The Fitna of the Grave

Not only that, the man came to ask, Ya Rasulullah, the one who's a shaheed, does he have to deal with the fitna

of the qabr? Is his thigh going to be smashed into the other? Does he have to deal with all of the torment that's going to take place in the qabr and the fitna? He says, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam:

It was enough. The glimmer of the sword that was over his head, that's enough fitna for him. The fact that the man put himself out there with the ultimate sacrifice, left his kids, his family, put himself in harm's way for his deen.

That's enough fitna. He will not get the adab of the qabr and the fitna of the qabr. That's for the mujahid. No one else. No one else.

Intercession of the Shaheed

الشَّهِيدُ يَشْفَعُ فِي سَبْعِينَ مِنْ أَهْلِ بَيْتِهِ

The shaheed will be able to intercede for 70 people from his family members.

Do you think his mother is not going to be the first one? So why would the mother say, I don't want my child to learn about jihad. I don't want the father to teach him martial arts. I don't want the father to teach him how to box.

I don't want that. I don't want you teaching and putting these foreign concepts in his head. Because if he goes to jihad, he'll die.

If he dies, the very first person in the line for the benefit of his shahada and his shifa is his mother, his teacher, his uncle. That's the virtues of that, ikhwani.

The Story of Ummu Haritha

There's a companion by the kunya of Ummu Haritha. She lost her son in the jihad. She was distraught. She came to the Prophet and said, Ya Rasulullah, you know the position of Haritha to me.

You know how I love that boy. Now that he's been killed, if he's in jannah, I'll be patient and I'll seek my reward with Allah if he's in jannah. But if he's not in jannah, then you tell me what to do.

I want you to advise me. A dalil, that the companions were upon the aqeedah that was correct. Nobody knows where the next person is going to end up except Allah.

Just because her son was a companion and just because he was killed in the jihad, doesn't guarantee him jannah. Ya Rasulullah, you let me know. If he's not in jannah, you tell me what you want me to do.

Rasulullah said to her, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, as if he was angry with her:

Woe to you! Who told you that? But there are many jannats, many. And your son has reached the jannat al- firdaws, the highest part.

The lady started crying. That's the iman of those people who understood.

The Levels of Jannah for the Mujahid

Allah has prepared for the mujahid, whether he got shahada or not, 100 degrees, 100 paradises.

And what did he say each paradise was?

Each paradise is like the distance between the heavens and the earth.

Bringing Balance to Our Understanding

So, Ikhwani, I say here today, as we say of all of our issues in this deen, we have to be balanced. We have to bring back the concept and the fikr of al-jihad in our homes.

I'm gonna take my son to the masjid this morning. The wife says, no, no, not today. It's the weekend, he's tired.

No, we have to give him the tarbiyah. We have to give him the tarbiyah. We have to give him training for jihad. That's a word we have to start using.

But how? We have to use it with knowledge. We have to use it with the haq. The sources of jihad are over the jannah.

Do you think with it being that high, the concept of al-jihad, that it's going to be low and in the gutter, the way it's being practiced by many of our brothers, mujahidun, za'amun.

Warning Against the Two Extremes

Another thing, ikhwani, about the two extremes, is that, don't be surprised. Don't be surprised. That those people will take the life of a person who says, this jihad of Osama bin Laden, we are free of it. It's not from our religion. Don't be surprised, if they take the life of a person who says that, and call that jihad.

That's the sickness of the understanding of the Muslims today. That a person will kill you because you said, that jihad of indiscriminately killing people who are innocent, is not jihad. They will kill you.

And that's been their way all the time. The khawarij, who the Prophet said about them, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam:

They leave the people who worship idols, and they turn their aggression, and they kill the people of Al-Islam.

We can't come and discuss an issue based with delil, based upon delil. No. You're from the CIA. You're from the MI5. You're from the MI6. You're from the FBI. You're this, you're that.

Where's the delil? Where's the education in what we're saying and claiming?

So we want to stay away from the two extremes. The extreme of, everything is jihad, and it's not. Jihad is the most important thing, and it's not.

And the other extreme of, and this is the majority. The other extreme is, there's no jihad. The only jihad is, when the Muslims are being threatened, and we go out to save ourselves.

That's an extreme as well.

Call to Preparation

Everyone in this place, in this masjid, to some degree and some level, we have to make an effort, to prepare ourselves for the jihad of Al-Islam. The real jihad of Al-Islam.

So therefore, what we're going to do, InshaAllah, next week, on Tuesday, we're going to deal with Al-Jihad, and the levels of Al-Jihad, according to one of the greatest scholars of Al-Islam, Al-Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim. In his book, Zad Al-Ma'ad, for those who have the book, in volume number three, he deals with the levels of jihad. And wallahi, it's as if he was writing for today.

And no one can come and claim, Ibn Al-Qayyim is mumayyah. He's a person who washes things down. He was a mujahid.

He was a mujahid against the tatars. He was a mujahid in that he used to get in prison, with his shaykh. He was a mujahid in that he used to write books about jihad.

He has a book called Al-Furusiyah. Al-Furusiyah means being a warrior. Being a warrior.

Recent Events and Understanding

So when we look at the Muslims, we do not accept what took place recently when the Quran was disrespected by the kuffar. The Quran has been consistently disrespected in their war against terrorism. So what did the Muslims do? They took to the streets in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Muslims lost their lives.

We say, no. No one should lose their life for something like that. Your life is more valuable to Allah Azza wa Jal than that.

But, going out into the streets and feeling that kind of thing, understand where that's from. Black hawk down, understand where that's from. Muslims used to be warriors.

But today, that word, warrior, furusiyah, it makes people afraid. What's going to happen? Wallahi, if a person were to get arrested today, and they lied on you and put you in Guantanamo Bay, that's very difficult because it's something I didn't do. It's something I don't believe.

I don't believe in blowing people up. But if they arrest you for saying, I'm not bending the rules for the religion. There is jihad in Islam, but it has a certain way.

Getting arrested for that is a little more easier. Because that's our deen.

Conclusion and Practical Steps

So when we come to the chapter, Kitab al-Kabair, we have to jump over the chapter of jihad. Out of fear. No, this is our religion, and prepare yourselves, because the time is going to come, the time is going to come, when you're going to have to put up. So prepare yourselves.

As it stands right now, we're not ready. So we're going to stop here, and we're going to encourage all of you brothers, to join a gym, watch what you eat, start exercising, stop watching TV, and those shows that only are designed to make people stupid. Who, what intelligent man would sit and watch Big Brother? I ask you by Allah, what intelligent man would sit and watch that nonsense? What, what intelligent man? I'm not encouraging anyone to watch it, because it's haram.

It's all haram, it's a waste of time. But for those who have seen it, and you see what it's about, who in his right mind will watch that? And unfortunately, the Muslims follow them in everything, in everything that they do. There's an Arab version of Big Brother.

There's an Asian version of, who wants to be a millionaire? This is the way we are. If the kuffar have it, white people have it, Caucasians, Europeans have it, it must be good. We have nothing against white people and Caucasians.

Except that, they do not determine for us, what's success, what's happiness, what's intelligent. So join a gym, my brothers, you older men from amongst us, you elders, we have to start to become more conscious about what we're eating, how we're resting, and we want to prepare ourselves for the real jihad. The jihad of the Quran and the sunnah, when the time comes.

Final Guidance

As it relates to jihad, no one in the United Kingdom has the authority to claim this is jihad or that's jihad. Jihad is determined by the scholars of Al-Islam, and when they determine it and they claim it, then we don't care what these kuffar have to say about that. We don't care what they have to say about it.

One in Guantanamo Bay doesn't deserve to be in Guantanamo Bay, and we make dua for our brothers in Guantanamo Bay. Some people put themselves there, others are there with dhul. But whatever is the case, all of

them are being oppressed.

So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to protect the real mujahideen of this ummah, for verily they are the best of the people, and to make us those people who are following them, but on the siratul mustaqeem with what is balanced.

Closing

Everything that was said here today is my personal understanding. Me. Me. No one else.

وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَى وَأَعْلَمُ