Abu-Yahya al-Libi's 'Refuting the Falsehoods of the Rationalization Document' Posted January 15, 2009 [Please note: Images may have been removed from this document. Page numbers have been added.] Terrorism: Abu-Yahya al-Libi's 'Refuting the Falsehoods of the Rationalization Document' Posted On 13 December, a forum member posted to a jihadist website links to download a new book from Afghanistan-based Al-Qa'ida figure Abu-Yahya al-Libi entitled 'Refuting the Falsehoods of the Rationalization Document: The First Part' in which Al-Libi takes aim at statements made by Egyptian cleric Sayyid Imam in November 2007. The book, which is 85 pages long, was produced by the Al-Sahab Institute for Media Production, the media arm of the Al-Qa'ida Organization, and disseminated by the Al-Fajr Media Center. A translation of the book follows: (Title Page) "Dispelling "the Untruths of the Guidance Document "- Part One - "Shaykh Abu-Yahya al-Libi (God Preserve Him) "Hasan Qa'id "As-Sahab Media (p 2) "Dispelling "the Untruths of the Guidance Document "- Part One - "Shaykh Abu-Yahya al-Libi (God Preserve Him) "Hasan Qa'id (p 3) "To God be ascribed much fragrant and blessed praise, such as He loves and accepts. Blessing and peace be upon His Prophet, His elect and chosen Beloved; upon the Prophet's family and companions, lights of guidance and full moons of the darkness; and upon whoever guides himself by their guidance and follows their footsteps. "To proceed: "People everywhere are talking about the Guidance Document that emerged from the gloom of the Egyptian security apparatus's prisons. The document, entitled 'Guiding Jihad Activity in Egypt and the World,' was attributed to Shaykh Abd-al-Qadir bin Abd-al-Aziz Sayyid Imam, and its publication was accompanied by an unusually broad media campaign of analyses, studies, and continuous interviews. The campaign raised suspicions about the motives behind the document's exhibition, publication, and publicity and put it into a circle of suspicion, however many of its publishers or purported authors tried to deny any reason to doubt it or hesitate to accept it-- and this when one merely observes the space dedicated to the document in the media. When one looks at the meaning and content and at the deceptions, deceits, falsehoods, playing with precepts, and turning them into cards, some of which are to be shown and many of which are to be hidden, one cannot entertain the slightest doubt that this document is the final installment in the struggle that the enemies of Islam are launching against our religion generally and against the duty of jihad specifically, regardless of whether those who wrote it did so with complete volition and full choice and then it was exploited by its 'production supervisors' and those in charge of its publication, or whether it was formulated under compulsion, pressure, threat, and intimidation, so that its 'bits of advice' were offered to the mujahidin in the form in which they emerged. It does not matter much whether the former or the latter was the case, since the meaning and implications are the same. Stated very briefly, it is 'to suspend jihad completely and effectively accept irreligious tyrants and their friends.' Thus the document is one of enslavement, not guidance. However, since no one accepts blatant falsehood and ignominious 1 error, and souls disdain shameless games, it was necessary to mix them with a bit of truth, just as the Jews did, of whom God says: 'And do not confound the truth with vanity, and do not conceal the truth wittingly'(Koranic verse; Al-Baqarah 2:42). God also says: 'People of the Book! Why do you confound the truth with vanity, and conceal the truth and that wittingly?'(Koranic verse; Al-Imran 3:71) As the Shaykh al-Islam (Ibn Taymiyyah) said: ‘People are never in doubt about pure falsehood; it must be mixed with a bit of truth' (Majmu' al-Fatawa 2:188). (p 4) "Nevertheless, to clarify the truth and refute falsehood, people of learning and religion, whether belonging to the mujahidin or not, have a duty to close ranks and form a solid edifice to stop this farce that has turned God's religion into an open pasture with nothing sacred, so that the triflers' pens can damage its clear, evident, and agreed precepts, seduced intellects can distort its texts, and the ideas of the self-interested can play fast and loose. "With humble effort, to participate in this duty, to defend God's religion, and to make known His law, we are penning some comments on what was said in the 'Enslavement and Curtailment' document that was brought out for us as well meaning, concerned advice by the Egyptian security apparatus, and that the press, the radio, and the television published, as if commanding virtue and forbidding vice, as if making the truth prevail, and as if guiding the jihad! Media that have become accustomed us to demolishing the doctrines of Islam, disseminating moral depravity, and broadcasting films of licentiousness, pornography, and deriding religion have suddenly woken up and made a leap to 'guide the mujahidin'! "If only someone other than one who wears a bracelet had slapped me! "If I had been afflicted by a Hashimite "whose maternal uncles were the Banu Abd-al-Madan, "What I undergo would be a small thing for me: "But come and see with whom he has afflicted me! "Before we start discussing some of the things in the ‘Enslavement and Curtailment' document, we wish to present some preliminary points that we think need to be mentioned. "Preliminary point one: When we discuss what was said in the aforementioned document, regardless of whether it can rightly be attributed to Shaykh Abd-al-Qadir bin Abd-al-Aziz or not and regardless of whether he wrote it of his own will or was forced to do so, our discussion is not intended to disparage him, belittle him, forget his earlier work, or slight his efforts. In our opinion, he is a scholar who is sometimes right and sometimes wrong; he can respond and be responded to; one can agree with him or disagree with him; he can criticize and be criticized. Whenever the tone of our reply in the discussion coarsens or our words roughen at any point so that the reader might understand disparagement of Shaykh Abd-al-Qadir or something of the sort, what we have said unambiguously in this preliminary point is the rule to which one should adhere and to which one should refer. (p 5) "Preliminary point two: The attribution of the document to Shaykh Abd-al-Qadir is undoubtedly a possibility in the sense that he might really be its author and that everything in it might be what he believes and holds before God; on the other hand, he might have been forced and compelled tope it; or it might be a mixture and blend of the two. Given these things, when we ascribe something from the document to him and say, for example, 'Shaykh Abd-al-Qadir says,' 2 'This can be attributed to him,' or 'He contradicts what he said in his previous book when he says..." we in no way intend to judge the correctness of the attribution of the document and the positions it contains to him. We say these things based only on what is the common opinion among people. Even if there is a possibility, given the cunning, trickery, and maliciousness of the security agencies, it is not easy to decide for certain whether the words and arguments can be attributed to him. God alone knows. "Preliminary point three: Anyone who reads the Guidance Document will find in it ugly charges and base attributes falsely and dishonestly attached to the mujahidin. The document's authors have made every effort to anchor these charges in the reader's mind and to convince him of them by every means and trick. Therefore, let the noble reader not be alarmed by the harsh tone and coarse style that he may sometimes find in these lines at places where they described the jihad and mujahidin in various ugly terms. As we see it, the matter no longer relates to individuals or even to particular groups, so that one might bypass it and not take offense. Rather, it involves uprooting this noble and exalted religious duty from the hearts of men and drawing them to a life of stagnation and stillness, so that ages and eras will pass with them subject to humiliation by irreligious tyrants and enslavement to their laws and with their submitting to every imposter. Since the injury to jihad and the mujahidin has reached this extent, the friend of truth must speak. "Preliminary point four: We wish to dispel the disturbing assertion by certain interested parties that the mujahidin magnify and honor Shaykh Abd-al-Qadir; use his books, articles, and fatwas as a guide; and revere his arguments and inferences; however, when he surprises them with a Guidance Document and speaks to them in it in plain terms, they turn their shields against him, oppose him, refute his proof, disown their affiliation to him, and so forth. We say -- to God be thanks! -- that we have never defined the truth by men, however high their fortunes ascended or their importance rose. We follow the evidence wherever it leads. Therefore, the mujahidin, as far as we know, are of all groups the most self-critical and the most likely to correct their course and confess their errors. In this they do not rely on the directives and instructions of the security agencies or the Rand Corporation and those like it, but they seek the truth, go back to it, and love it, whatever consequences and difficulties this may cause for them.