Author:
Publication: MEMRI
Date: September 4, 2002
URL: http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP41802
In an article in the sixteenth issue
of the online magazine Al-Ansar, which is affiliated with Al-Qa'ida,[1]
a columnist identified as Seif Al-Din Al-Ansari discussed the Koranic verse
"Allah Will Torture Them [the Infidels] At Your Hands":
The Annihilation of the Infidels
is a Divine Decree
"Regardless of the norms of 'humanist'
belief, which sees destroying the infidel countries as a tragedy requiring
us to show some conscientious empathy and. an atmosphere of sadness for
the loss that is to be caused to human civilization - an approach that
does not distinguish between believer and infidel. - I would like to stress
that annihilating the infidels is an inarguable fact, as this is the [divine]
decree of fate."
"When the Koran places these tortures
[to be inflicted on the infidels] in the solid framework of reward and
punishment. it seeks to root this predestined fact in the consciousness
of the Muslim group, asserting that the infidels will be annihilated, so
as to open a window of hope to the Muslim group."
"Nevertheless, [this divine decree]
has become, for some, a tranquilizing pill. When the enemy launches operations
of colonialism and destruction, we find that a few [of the Muslims] refrain
from entering the battlefield claiming that the elements of the collapse
of Western civilization are proliferating [in any event]."
"Their conclusion is indeed true,
but the way in which it is presented is misleading, and it is aimed at
removing responsibility [to fight the infidels] from the Muslim, with the
claim that Allah has already promised to take care of the infidels' annihilation."
Muslims Must Not Wait Passively
for the Divine Decree to Just Happen ".I would like to point out the danger
of this analysis, because it. [may] make the Muslims passive and turn [them]
into one who does not act to carry out [the commandments] of the religion
or to dispel falsehood, but lives always in an atmosphere of passive waiting,
that is cloaked - always - by a call to trust in the ability of Allah!!"
"When Allah told us of the certainty
of the annihilation of the infidels, He did not do so using ambiguous concepts.
He clarified that this would be achieved in one of two ways: by means of
a direct act of Allah. or by means of the Muslim group, which would, in
accordance with the Islamic commandment, serve as an implement for carrying
out [the divine decree], as it is said: '.Allah will torture them [the
infidels] Himself or at our hands (Koran 9:52).'"
"Yes, perhaps it is predetermined
that the infidel country will be annihilated. But [if the believers do
not act] this kind of annihilation will never be in favor of the Islamic
state. The infidel country will be annihilated in favor of an infidel country
like it or even worse than it."
"Therefore, the belief in 'annihilating
the country of heresy' [only] opens up for us a window of hope, and sets
for us a goal that is in the realm of the possible - but it does not annihilate
the infidel country for us, nor does it even affect it!!"
"This is merely a belief, which,
if unaccompanied by the words 'at your hands' that appear in the Koranic
verse [9:14, 'Fight them and Allah will torture them at your hands'] -
it will remain in the wonderful realm of ideas that float in the theoretical
universe, and is like beautiful dreams that arouse conscientious emotions
- yet, when we awake, we find that the infidel country still exists, falsehood
is not destroyed [by itself] in favor of the truth, [except when] the truth
goes into action."
"The importance of the human effort
to annihilate the infidels. is what Allah sought to teach the Muslims at
the Battle of Uhud [625]. Then, there were [Muslims] who thought that because
they were right they would most certainly defeat the enemy. The [Muslims]
paid a high price for this."
"By Means of Jihad - Allah Tortures
[the Infidels] with Killing" "The question now on the agenda is, how is
the torture Allah wants done at our hands to be carried out?. This torture
will not, in any way, be carried out by means of preaching [Da'wa], because
preaching is activity of exposure, aimed at clarifying the truth in a way
that makes it more easily acceptable. Preaching has nothing to do with
torture; Jihad is the way of torturing [the infidels] at our hands."
"By means of Jihad, Allah tortures
them with killing; by means of Jihad, Allah tortures them with injury;
by means of Jihad, Allah tortures them with loss of property; by means
of Jihad, Allah tortures them with loss of ruling. Allah tortures them
by means of Jihad - that is, with heated war that draws its fire from the
military front."
"The Tortures Will Bring the Infidels
to the Path of Righteousness" "Material power is [to be] confronted with
material power, and ideological power is [to be] confronted with ideological
power. It would be idiocy to rely on the power of the truth in the face
of F-16s. Allah is capable of destroying His enemy without anyone's mediation
and without anyone's help, as His capability is absolute and unsurpassed.
In spite of all the characteristics of power at their command, these infidel
states are no more than a handful of creatures on the speck of dust called
Planet Earth. [But] Jihad serves as a trial by suffering for the Muslims
by means of the infidels, and for the infidels by means of the Muslims."
"The Muslims' trial by suffering
is manifested in Jihad's being the instrument by which it is possible to
differentiate between the believers and the hypocrites. The infidels' trial
by suffering is manifested in Jihad being an exemplary lesson in values,
delivered by a group of the pioneers of the Islamic nation, in a practical
presentation"
"Many of the infidels will be shocked;
their emotional entity will be shaken; and perhaps some of them will repent
and learn their lesson. In addition, Jihad is a means of defeating them,
and perhaps by means of this victory. the tortures will bring them back
to the path of righteousness."
