UPDATE: Here is the English translation of the below fatwā in Arabic and Russian:
To our Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, may Allah strengthen him:
I read news from the Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus that emirs Aslambek, Muhannad and Hussein said they had withdrawn the oath of allegiance to Abu Usman, may Allah preserve him.
What do you know about this situation and what is the Sharia decision on those who broke the oath of allegiance without Sharia reasons, except for one: that Abu Usman cancelled his resignation from the Emirate, as they said. May Allah reward you.
Answer:
Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
And then:
The Jihad of the Emirate is verily a great deed, it has a great value and what is related to it has an important benefit, the ranks will unite there, and the Jihad will strengthen there, and Mujahideen will gather around the Emirate, and the conflict will be solved, and the discord will be prevented, for the sake of these great benefits, etc.
Many famous hadiths, ordering and indicating the unity of the congregation and obedience to the Emir and warnings to those who withdrew from obedience, and divide the word (consensus) of Muslims, have been cited. And these hadiths are known, and there are practically no people who would not know them, because there is a large number of these hadiths.
Among them is a hadith from Osama bin Shurayk, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
“The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: Allah’s hand is over the Jamaat, or group”.
(Narrated by Ahmad and others.)
And from Umar ibn al Khattab, who said:
“The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: only those who seek the pleasure of Paradise will follow the community, for the devil can pursue one person, but he stands far away from two”.
(Narrated by Imam Ahmad, At-Tirmidhi and others)
And from Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him:
“The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: he who separated himself from the Jamaat and died, he died in the state of ignorance”.
(Narrated by Muslim).
And Nu’man ibn Bashir said:
“The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: the Jamaat is mercy, and the separation is punishment”.
(Narrated by Ahmad).
And Zayd ibn Thabit said:
“The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: “Three qualities will not allow anger to get into the heart of a Muslim: sincerity in committing deeds before Allah, nasiha, or advice, to the ruler, and staying with the jamaat, and then their call will be even behind them”.
(Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, ibn Majah, an-Nasa’i and Abu Dawud).
Narrated by Anas bin Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
“Obey (your ruler) even if they put above you an Ethiopian slave whose head looks like a raisin”.
Narrated Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
“Whoever obeys me, obeys Allah, and whoever disobeys me, disobeys Allah. Whoever obeys the ruler, obeys me, and whoever disobeys the ruler, disobeys me”.
Narrated by Ibn Umar that the Prophet (pbuh) said:
“It is obligatory for a Muslim to listen (to the ruler) and obey whether he likes it or not, except for when he is ordered to do a sinful thing; in such case, there is no obligation to listen or to obey”.
Ubada bin al-Samit, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
“(At his time) the Prophet (pbuh) summoned us to him, and we gave him the oath of allegiance, and among other things he demanded from us to swear to him that we shall obey (him) when we are active and do not manifest negligence, when it is hard and when it is easy for us, as well as in such cases when we are deprived of what to which we are entitled by the right.
(And we swore that) we shall not try to deprive of authority a legitimate ruler, unless we see (that he fell into an) overt disbelief, for which we shall have evidences from Allah”.
And therefore it is obligatory that Mujahideen obey emirs, or rulers, and do not argue with them, they must help them and show patience to them and advise (direct) them secretly.
Ubaidullah bin Adi bin Al-Khiyar said:
“I came to Usama bin Zaid and said to him: don’t you advise Usman that he makes hadd (punishment) to al-Walid? Usama said: Do you think that I advise him only before you?
I swear by Allah that I advised him between ourselves, I do not open the door to evil, and I am not the first who opens it”.
(Bukhari, Muslim).
– Beware of a man who is a door of evil for the Mujahideen, through which fitna, wickedness, conflict and discord, disunity and dissociation penetrate to them, all that he will bear on him on Day of Resurrection, and they will follow a bad sunna (example) through the deeds of that person, and he will answer on Judgment Day for what he did – and for those who followed him, but man should be a key to goodness that forbids evil and protects the borders, entrusted to him, and to his oath, which pledged his hand and his heart.
And what we know about Emir Abu Usman Doku Umarov, it’s only good. And so far, all Sharia judges in the Emirate praise his return to scholars and his requests for their advice and opinion. The Caucasus Emirate was proclaimed, and all the manifestations of ignorance were abolished. And our brothers in the Caucasus chose him, and they were united by him, and the path of Jihad continued under his leadership.
And as reliably conveyed to us by our brothers who know the situation in the Caucasus, there were no violations by Emir Abu Usman, which allow a dispute about him and his overthrow.
Therefore, anyone who strongly wants that the path of the Jihad is clean and useful must listen to Emir and help him, so that the row is solid and continuous, to recognize his position and to forbid to oppose to him, or to demand his replacements without Sharia reasons that are confirmed by the people of advice.
A demand by a single or a few Mujahideen to replace the Emir and to dispute with him from time to time without Sharia reasons is a loss of honor for the Emirate. And this leads to a division amongst the ranks of the Mujahideen, and to disputes between them, and the spread of misfortunes and a weakening in their ranks.
And so, the brothers must not disseminate such news that splits the ranks, that make monotheists grieve and polytheists rejoice. And it should be appealed to emirs who have influence, to scientists and skilled people, as Allah said:
“And when a news comes to them about [public] security or fear, they spread it around. But if they had referred it back to the Messenger or to those of authority among them, then the ones who [can] draw correct conclusions from it would have known about it. And if it were not for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, you would have followed Satan, except for a few”.
(The Holy Quran, Surah 4. “The Women”, verse 83)
Therefore, our brothers in the Caucasus do not need such quarrels, but they really need financial, moral and Sharia support.
They are surrounded from all sides. Money and Mujahideen from abroad do not reach to them, and their enemy has much experience in deceit in many aspects. As for the aspect of the money, there were Arab and non-Arab taghuts who helped each other to reduce this support to our brothers, and it was actually the case, so every rich, God-fearing Muslim has a responsibility to make a financial Jihad that Allah makes beneficial for them before death reaches them and they say:
“My Lord, if only You would delay me for a brief term so I would give charity and be among the righteous”.
(The Holy Quran, Surah 63. “The Hypocrites”, verse 10)
– As for the aspect of knowledge and scholars, they retreated, abandoning our brothers in the Caucasus to their fate, and it is unlikely that they (the brothers in the Caucasus) may hear a word from an Alim, or scholar, except for those for whom Allah had mercy and urged him to support and help them, pledging to support them with money, (property) and men (Mujahideen).
The history of the apostate Kadyrov, whose post is designated by Russia, is as black as the history of his father in support of Russia, from the times of Dzhokhar Dudayev and those who came before them.
Earlier, this ugly Kadyrov distributed Sufi a madhhab, or religious jurisprudence, but after he found out that a jamia madhhab is more beneficial to him in order to retain his throne, to increase and fill his belly, he began to distribute this jamia madhhab more and more, approaching to this jamia madhhab closer and closer, as Sufism has not brought him benefits, as before, because nobody listened to and followed that Sufism, except for the elderly in remote villages.
But, the jamia madhhab present themselves as if they were scholars, and they found themselves in the Al-Jazeera (Arabian Peninsula) those who provide them with means and books.
Thus, the Caucasus Emirate is in need of knowledge, and in enrollment of worthy minds, and, therefore, the Mujahideen have repeatedly invited people with knowledge who seek for knowledge, (study), in order to help them by telling them: “Fear Allah! Don’t you see in what position we are? … ” And as we know, no one responded then when the request had been received, except for Sheikh Sayeed of Buryatia, may Allah
Category: Shaykh Abū Basīr al-Ṭarṭūsī
Fatwā from Shaykh Abū Basīr al-Ṭarṭūsī on the Jihād in the Caucasus
NOTE: Below is a fatwā published by Shaykh Abū Basīr al-Ṭarṭūsī via the Islamumma.com website, which asked al-Ṭarṭūsī for a ruling regarding his thoughts on the Caucasus Emirate and their Emir Dokku Umarov. al-Ṭarṭūsī is a Syrian Islamist who lives in London. al-Ṭarṭūsī is considered one of the most influential jihādī theorists. For instance, as highlighted by Vahid Brown on Jihadica, al-Ṭarṭūsī has 200 works in the jihādī text collection “A Mujāhid’s Bookbag.” Also, in the past al-Ṭarṭūsī has condemned Dr. Fadl for his revisions and Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī for a variety of what al-Ṭarṭūsī views as problematic rulings.
UPDATE: The following is an English translation of al-Ṭarṭūsī’s fatwā:
Q: What is needed and what is recommended for leadership of Mujahideen during this period, which the Jihad in the Caucasusrun into?
Answer: Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Mujahideen under leadership of Dokku Umarov are, according to Sharia, legitimate rulers of their countries and their people, and people have an obligation to get into their submission and to ally with them. And as for Emirs, or rulers, of Jihad, then they in turn should look at the use of slaves of Allah and care about their people, and try to be the most merciful and close to the people, and be very careful about what is good for them, and that they should be ahead in all of their enemy and its employees (from local hypocrites).
And every time the people gets closer to the Mujahedeen, it will aggravate the situation and the actions of the enemies.
And if people move away from the Mujahideen, then people will help the enemies, surrender to the enemy and expose the Mujahideen, behind their backs. And thus it will be a relief for the enemy to destroy the Mujahideen, with their modern weapons, in which they have now succeeded.
There are different types of battle, of which it is a clear (muhkam), about which there is agreement by all, and vague (mutashabih). And whenever a battle closes to a clear action, then it will be a great blessing and acceptance (approval), both on the earth and in the heaven.
Any action in the jihad is caused by two criteria before they perform.
The first of them: Its relevance to Sharia.
Second: Evaluation from the benefits that it would lead – whether it is more than harm, or vice versa? And then, basing on it, to decide.
And in general we have a book on this occasion entitled “Jihad and Sharia Politics”, and we suggest you to go back to it, and given the fact that it contains a number of directives on this subject, there is not necessary now to go back to this topic, and here is a link to this book in arabic “Jihad and Sharia Politics”.
Abu Baseer at-Tartousi 2010.
—
Arabic:
ما يجب و ما يستحب لقيادة المجاهدين في هذه الفترة التي يمر بها الجهاد في القوقاز؟
جـ: الحمد لله رب العالمين. المجاهدون بقيادة الأمير ” دكو أماروف “، هم الولاة الشرعيون للبلاد والعباد، فعلى الناس أن يدخلوا في طاعتهم وموالاتهم، وعلى أمراء الجهاد بالمقابل أن ينظروا في مصالح العباد ويُحسنوا رعايتها .. وأن يكونوا أقرب إلى الناس وأرحم بهم، وأغير على مصالحهم من العدو، وعملائه
كلما كانت الشعوب أقرب إلى المجاهدين .. كلما صعبت المهمة على العدو .. وكلما كان الشعوب بعيدة عن المجاهدين، كاشفة لظهورهم .. كلما سهلت مهمة قتالهم واستئصالهم من قبل العدو الذي يتمتع بآلة عسكرية متطورة
ساحات القتال منها المتشابه ومنها المحكم؛ فكلما كان القتال أقرب إلى الساحات المحكمة المتفق عليها كلما كان أكثر بركة وقبولاً في السماء والأرض.
أيما عمل جهادي يجب أن يخضع لمعيارين قبل القيام به: أولاً موافقته للشرع، ثم النظر في المصلحة المترتبة عليه؛ هل ترجح المصالح على المفاسد أم العكس .. وعليه يتم التقرير
وعلى العموم لنا كتاب بعنوان ” الجهاد والسياسة الشرعية ” ننصح بمراجعته، ففيه جملة من التوجيهات ما يغني عن إعادتها هنا، وهذا هو رابطه الجهاد والسياسة الشرعية
Russian:
Вопрос: Что нужно и что рекомендуется для руководства муджахидов в этот период, в котором столкнулся Джихад на Кавказе?
Ответ: Хвала Аллаху, Господу Миров. Муджахиды под руководством Докку Умарова, являются законными по Шариату правителями своих стран и своего народа, и на людях лежит обязанность войти в их подчинение и союз с ними. Что же касается Амиров Джихада, то им в свою очередь следует смотреть на пользы рабов Аллаха и заботится о своем народе, и стараться быть самыми милосердными и близкими к людям, и быть самыми заботливыми о том, в чём будет для них польза, и чтобы они опережали во всем этом своего врага и его работников (из числа местных мунафиков).
И всякий раз как народ будет становится ближе к муджахидам, это будет усугублять положение и действия врагов.
А если же народ будет отдаляться от муджахидов, то люди будут содействовать с врагами, сдавать врагам и раскрывать муджахидов, за их спинами. И этим самым это будет облегчение для врага в уничтожении муджахидов, своим современным оружием , в котором они сейчас преуспели .
Есть различные виды сражения, из них это – ясные (мухкам), касательно которых есть согласие всех, и неясные (муташабих). И всякий раз, когда сражение будет ближе к ясным действиям, то будет оно больше благом и принятием (одобрением) и на земле, и на небесах.
Любые действия в джихаде обуславливается двумя критериями, перед тем как их выполнять.
Первое из них: Соответствие его Шариату.
Второе: Оценка со стороны пользы, которое оно повлечет – будет ли она больше чем вред, или наоборот? А затем, опираясь на это, принимать решение.
И вообще по этому поводу у нас есть книга под названием «Джихад и Шариатская Политика» , и мы рекомендуем вернуться к ней, и с учетом того что в ней содержится ряд указаний на эту тему, то нет сейчас необходимости возвращаться к этой теме, и вот ссылка на эту книгу «Джихад и Шариатская Политика» الجهاد والسياسة الشرعية
Шейх Абу Басыр Ат-Тартуси 2010 год.