NOTE: The below message is a translated copy of ‘Alī Abū Muḥammad al-Dagestanī’s statement on behalf of the Caucasus Emirate. The below translation is from the Kavkaz-Jihād blog and was originally published in Russian on the Guraba website. This message is in response to the leadership disputes in the Caucasus Emirate, which I wrote about here.
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In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, peace and blessing be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, companions and all those who follow him until the Judgement Day, and then …
As-Salam ‘Aleykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.
As we all know, our Amir, Dokku Abu Uthman, appointed me as the Qadi of Caucasus Emirate after the martyrdom of our brother Sayfullah, although I do not deserve this charge, because our Faqih (scholars expert in Fiqh) have placed condition and established the qualities that the Sharia Qadi should own.
One of these conditions is that he must be a Mujtahid scholar (which is able to preform Ijtihad – the interpetation of the Qur’an and Sunnah). I am not one of them. Due to the lack of such people, not only in the CE, but also outside its limits, I was forced to accept this heavy burden, may Allah forgive me. In this regard, I want to make the following appeal:
Dear brothers and sisters, our Lord requires of us that we resolve all our differences through His Shariah, otherwise, we are not Muslims.
Allah says in the Qur’an: «O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best [way] and best in result.» (Surat An-Nisā’ : 59).
In this verse, Allah clearly indicates the responsibility of solving our problems through the book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger, peace and blessing be upon him. And those who do not want to ask for the decision to Allah and His Messenger, these people just say they believe, although they are not. Allah the Almighty said in His Book:
«Have you not seen those who claim to have believed in what was revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what was revealed before you? They wish to refer legislation to Taghut, while they were commanded to reject it; and Satan wishes to lead them far astray.» (Surat An-Nisā’ : 60).
And after that, Allah describes such people as hypocrites:
«And when it is said to them, «Come to what Allah has revealed and to the Messenger,” you see the hypocrites turning away from you in aversion.» (Surat An-Nisā’ : 61).
And then Allah amplifies and swears by Its own lordship that they are not believers.
The Most High says:
«But no, by your Lord, they will not [truly] believe until they make you, [O Muhammad], judge concerning that over which they dispute among themselves and then find within themselves no discomfort from what you have judged and submit in [full, willing] submission.» (Surat An-Nisā’ : 65).
In this verse, Allah indicates not only the obligation to apply for a court referring to Him and His Messenger, but also the need for a full agreement with the decision accepted [by the court], without any constraints in the heart and with a complete submission to this decision.
This is a legislation issue (al-Hakimiya), and it directly enters in the Tawheed-ar-Rububiya wal-Uluhiya, i.e. the Tawheed of Lordship and Worship. With the help of Allah, we will examine in detail the issues of Tawheed and of al-Hakimiya in our upcoming messages.
In this appeal, I want to talk about the disagreements that arose between our brothers from the Wilayah Nokhchicho and the leadership of the Caucasus Emirate. On this occasion I want to say: the Sharia does not give anyone the right to voice their assumptions and speculation, while a decision on a Sahria issue has not yet been rendered by the competent persons, and this is in order to avoid Fitnah. Because some assumptions are sinful.
On this regard, Allah says: «O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah ; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance and Merciful.»(Surat Al-Ĥujurāt : 12).
And Allah calls us to reconcile our brothers. Allah says: «The believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers. And fear Allah that you may receive mercy.» (Surat Al-Ĥujurāt : 10).
So, here, I want to say that at the moment, our only legitimate leader, as recognized by all the Mujahideen in the Caucasus, is the Amir Dokku Abu Uthman and we are all obliged to obey and submit to him as he leads us by the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessing be upon him), even if it is hateful to our souls*.
And this is indicated by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a hadith transmitted from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him: «One who dislikes a thing done by his Amir should be patient over it, for anyone from the people who withdraws (his obedience) from the government, even to the extent of a handspan and died in that conditions, would die the death of one belonging to the days of jahilliyya (paganism, ignorance).» (Sahih Muslim, 4560).
Although this hadith refers to the ruler of all Muslims (the Caliph), it does not preclude our position.
Likewise, in a hadith which is transmitted from Ubada ibn as-Samit : «The Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) called us and we took the oath of allegiance to him. Among the injunctions he made binding upon us was: Listening and obedience (to the Amir) in our pleasure and displeasure, in our adversity and prosperity, even when somebody is given preference over us, and without disputing the delegation of powers to a man duly invested with them except when you have clear signs of his disbelief in (or disobedience to) God-signs that could be used as a conscientious justification (for non-compliance with his orders).» (Sahih Muslim, 4541).
I once again, urge all brothers and sisters : do not speak on this subject and do not spread your assumptions, which may alienate you from Allah. And if someone hears differents others accusatory statements, then let him know that whoever does this, consciously or not, only contributes to the further propagation of the fitnah and does not contributes to reconciliation of Muslims. So, I call all the brothers immediately ‘driven crazy’ (or disturbed) by this Fitnah, to take no actions and to refrain from any statements on this subject while the matter is reviewed according to the Sharia and until a Sharia decision is not issued.
Our last prayer is: praise be to Allah, the Lord of the world.
The Qadi of the Caucasus Emirate, Ali Abu Muhammad al-Dagestani
*Meaning : even if, for some reasons, it becomes hateful to our souls to obey him.
