New article from al-Maqālāt: "Preordained Unity: The Rise of a New Ṭālibān in al-Shām"

The enemies of the Ummah are fighting against the fundamentals of Islam. The hundreds of thousands of people killed in Syria are general Muslims, they do not belong to one particular school of thought or movement or methodology. The children, women and elders, all the civilians killed in Syria, they do not belong to any particular Islamic current. So this war is against the basic core principals of Islam. Why is this important to know? Because it sets the criterion for unification. When the core foundations of Islam are attacked then everyone who adheres to these grounding foundations must unite to defend them. No matter which school of thought and no matter what movement or methodology; they have become secondary to the foundations we want to protect; the foundations we all share. The enemies have gathered against us even though they do not share any foundations: the Alawites, the Russians and the Shia Rawafid, with all their different sects, have united and gathered against us. The Shia Rawafid even make Takfir on the Alawites, but despite that they have joined their ranks to fight against Ahl Sunnah.
The Sufi who is fighting in Afghanistan and the Caucasus to defend Islam from annihilation is better than the Salafi who allies himself with the apostate tyrants and corrupt puppet regimes in the Middle-East who seek to annihilate Islam. We are not looking at theological methodologies in theory, this is not a conflict of theoretical debates between schools of thoughts or currents. This is a war of existence or annihilation between Islam and Kufr, between Islam in its essence and Kufr in its essence. So the deviant innovator who is defending the essence of Islam is better than the one who betrayed Islam; even if his beliefs are correct in theory. This is the criterion which separate us is the line between the defenders of the religion and those who betray it; not the different schools of thought or methodologies. Everyone who is defending Islam should share the same rank, no matter which school of thought or methodology. This has become the most obligatory duty in Shaam in order to repel the transgressing enemies.
The one who does not look at the conflict in Shaam with this perspective of priority will only delay our victory and liberation. He will busy himself with secondary issues which divide- instead of unite us. In the mistakes of ISIS which led to the delay of victory, the division, and eventually their own downfall lies an important example from which we must learn and take heed. Even the Prophets were victorious against the enemies of Islam only after the general masses entered Islam to support them and the Religions they revealed from Allah, we have to unite the masses in the same way. The Prophets were not victorious with small groups or limited movements, they were victorious with the general people who entered Islam and supported the Religion. History witnesses the rise and fall of Caliphates, empires, kingdoms, states and movements, but one thing remained; the Ummah and the Religion remained. Those who cling to their factions must realize this. The names of leaders and states were only banners, passing down from one to another. Even the Prophets were only carriers of banners, passing down from one to another. Jihaad however continued because it was linked to the Religion and the Ummah.
The biggest mistakes of the factions in Shaam are actually not theological or methodological, rather their biggest mistake is that they are not willing to learn from history. They should learn from the experiences of the Mujahideen who fought before them. They should learn from the experiences of the Mujahideen who fought in Afghanistan for example. Why repeat the exact same mistakes other groups have made before you? Why trouble and exhaust the Ummah with these repeated failures? Most of the mistakes made in the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan are repeated again today in Shaam; the groups and factions who each fight for their own project and exclusive authority, the extremism, the treachery of the local regimes. All of it is repeated in Shaam because we are not willing to learn from recent history let alone the distant history filling our libraries. The factions in Shaam however must realize that Allah replaced the groups in Afghanistan as He gave rise to the Taliban when the groups and factions refused to unite. The infighting and division in Afghanistan made way for the Taliban who united the Muslims in Afghanistan, bringing back Islamic justice, safety and stability.
The unity of the Ummah will be reached, with or without the factions. Sharia will be implemented, with or without the factions. If the factions in Shaam refuse to unite Allah will replace them with servants who will unite the Muslims, like He replaced the factions in Afghanistan with the Taliban who united the Muslims. If the factions refuse to bring back Islamic justice, safety and stability Allah will replace them with servants who will. The factions must learn from Rabbani, Sayyaf and Hekmatyar. Their political twists and wriggles with the local regimes at the expense of the Afghan people did not achieve them anything. The treachery of local regimes who tried to spoil the Jihaad in Afghanistan did likewise not succeed. Afghanistan stayed a cradle for Jihaad giving birth to the Taliban and Al-Qaedah who are until this very day still rubbing the noses of tyrants in the dirt.
Muslims will not despair over the future fate of Shaam, the Ummah will not despair over the Muslim people of Shaam. Allah protects His Religion more than us, and Allah has more love for His servants than we have. However it pains us to see Muslims who stubbornly keep repeating the same mistakes. How similar was the treacherous position of Pakistan in the Afghan-Soviet war to that of Turkey today in Shaam. How similar is the dubious position of the US towards the political Islamist parties in Afghanistan to their position today towards the Islamist parties in Shaam. How similar are the mistakes of the inexperienced Islamist parties in Afghanistan to the stubborn mistakes of the Islamist parties in Shaam. Scholars and Mujahid leaders have stayed quite over many mistakes because of the possible harms it could cause, but they can not stay quite for much longer. The succes of the Taliban is due to the fact that they stayed independent, while sticking to the Islamic scholars and the Sharia in combination with the Islamic jurisprudence of reality and priority, and the fact that they placed the interest of the Afghan people first. The factions in Shaam must not only learn from the mistakes made by the different groups in Afghanistan but they should also learn from the success of the Taliban.
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