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A praiseworthy exalted greeting to our fruitful ummah, here are your rightfully
guided sons on the clear path, the flags of victory have begun to appear so they continued on this
path, awaiting the tremendous reward so they offered the highest sacrifice; among them are those
who fulfilled their covenant, and others are still waiting. ﴾Indeed Allah has purchased the wealth and lives of the believers so that Paradise may be their abode, they do Qital for the sake of Allah, so they kill (their enemies) and are killed themselves, a true promise from Him as mentioned in the Torah and the Injeel and the Quran, and who is more fulfilling of his promise then Allah, so have glad tidings concerning the transaction that you have done, and that is the great victory﴿ [9:111].1
shaykh usamah, may allah protect him, said, “The greatest of all Mankind and most honored of
prophets and messengers: he wishes for this status, this rank, so listen and comprehend what is
this ranking he sought to attain so ardently: Indeed, he wished to be a martyr. ‘I wish I could go out
in battle for Allah’s sake, then be killed, then go out again, then be killed, then go out, then be killed.’ So
this long expansive life is summarized by the one whom revelation is sent down to from the Lord of
the Heavens and Earth, Glorified be He. This noble prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon
him, summarized this life in these words, seeking this position. So the truly happy individual is that
individual whom Allah accepts as a martyr.”
shaykh ‘abdullah yusuf ‘azzam, may allah grant him mercy and accept his martyrdom, said: “Indeed, our
words will remain dead, like the wax of an unlit candle; and until we die for these words, they are
1 the following series is a translation of as-sahab media’s release, “wind of paradise 3” with minor editing for ease of reading. it has
been translated by abu ishaaq.
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given life and start to live among us.”
Shaykh Abu Layth Al-Libi, may Allah have mercy
upon him said,
“Masjid Al-Aqsa is not an issue that is just a
mere side conversation in our gatherings and
universities; No! Indeed, it is a significant matter
that concerns our life everyday!
And we live among the Mujahideen, renewing
the hope everyday of being sent there to
Jerusalem and to make it easier for us to reach
that piece of land (Palestine). And we know with
full certainty that all the training we conduct
and all the killing we carry out for the sake of
Allah from the East of this Earth to the West,
indeed all this is indeed setting the ground in
preparation and training for the slaughtering of
the Jews in Masjid Al-Aqsa.”
This present Crusader War has taught us that killing
the enemy and destroying his foundations became
an attainable possibility, indeed, it has now
become a true reality!
And it is the strategies improvised by the
Mujahideen with the blessing of Allah that allowed
them to inflict the heavy losses and casualties
upon the enemy. And here is the result of these
strategies. It has started to appear on the horizon,
all thanks due to Allah. And the enemy comes out
of one calamity only to fall into another calamity.
And they are not exposed to a defeat except that
they must be exposed to a defeat that is more
dangerous and encompassing than the previous.
But the path to this success requires the blood and
sweat of this Ummah’s finest soldiers and leaders.
They are those who sacrificed themselves and
their worldly possessions to proclaim the message
of Tawheed. These sacrifices that did not come in
one or two years, but for some of these people,
it constituted their whole life. And we will try to
document the sacrifices given by one of these
heroes, Abu Layth Al-Libi, may Allah have mercy on
him.
Shaykh Abu Yahya Al-Libi, may Allah preserve him,
said:
“The true leaders in this Ummah in our present
time are many. And the Ummah accepts them
due to their sincerity, their situation, their
devotion, and their sacrifices. Due to these
reasons, the Ummah has placed their trust in
them, and surrendered the leadership positions
to them. And if I actually took the effort to repeat
the names of the leaders who have appeared in
this era and brought the Crusaders down to their
faces we would be sitting here for quite some
time.
However, we want to take a special pause, for it
16
is difficult to summarize the life of a Mujahid
leader who spent more than half of his life
waging Jihad. It is difficult to summarize his
life story in one or two hours, not even in one
day or two. So these leaders are the ones who
record our Islamic history and they flip its
pages. Not with the sermons, and not with the
individual words, and not with ink! Indeed,
they wrote these pages with their stances, their
blood, and their sacrifices. So we want to stop
to discuss the life of one of these distinguished
leaders, a hero from one of these heroes, and
he is the Shaykh, Abu Layth Al-Qasimi, may
Allah have mercy on his soul.”
Indeed, the Afghan Jihad was one of the important
grounds in the recent history of this Ummah’s
Islamic history, so after some time of disgrace and
humiliation, the Afghan Jihad revived the spirit of
the Ummah in the hearts of its participants and
in the Ummah in general. It brought great fruits
in a time of much defeat. It brought forth the
meaning of glory and honor, and the concepts of
victory and sacrifice, as a result of the true Jihad
for the Sake of Allah to make His Deen dominant
and protect Islam and the Muslims. And among
the young men who have taken part in this noble
effort was the Mujahid Shaykh Abu Layth , may
Allah grant mercy upon his soul. Like many other
young men of his caliber, he was influenced by the
informative lectures given by the Mujahid Shaykh,
‘Abdullah Yusuf ‘Azzam, may Allah have mercy
upon him. Shaykh ‘Azzam once said:
“The brothers have asked me to come to you
today, so I came to you, in respect of you,
although my soul feels much pain in leaving
the land of battle; it is very heavy on me,
to move from a land in which weapons are
abundant and in use, to a land in which there
are no weapons. It is very hard on my heart... to
leave a people that are recording history with
their blood, those people! To leave them is grief
and sorrow, and the life among them is the true
life! I live with them and I renew my life from
the beginning; (If) I stay away from them, I feel
that I am dying, and therefore, just like the fish
is with water, I am with Jihad, and all praises
and thanks belong to Allah. Just like the fish
cannot survive outside of the water for long,
my self and soul does not feel content unless
I am participating in the battles. But I come
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to you today, so perhaps, I can drag some of
you with me to this land. I am like the hunter. I
desire to bring you a true picture of this type of
life…”
The words of this great true scholar have
influenced many, and continue to influence others
to the present day; these words that the blessed
Shaykh ‘Abdullah ‘Azzam used, played a great role
in reviving the love of Jihad and Martyrdom for
the Sake of Allah in the youth of this Ummah. So
these young men answered the call for Jihad, in a
time which many of the senior men of this Ummah
have completely abandoned it.
Shaykh Usamah bin Ladin, may Allah protect him,
said:
“So this great opportunity came, but
unfortunately, the senior members did not
move to fulfill the obligation. Instead, the
youth moved; students of high school. They
moved to give victory to the words “La Illaha
Illa Allah”. And none of the seniors moved
except the Shaykh ‘Abdullah Yusuf ‘Azzam,
may Allah grant him mercy. So the Muslims
are returning to Jihad thanks to the noble
efforts of the Afghan People. And the Arabs
are returning to the field of Jihad thanks to
the noble efforts of the Shaykh ‘Abdullah
‘Azzam, may Allah accept this from him, all the
knowledge he disseminated and the lessons he
gave, we ask Allah to accept him and his sons
as Shuhada in the path of Allah. “
And the reason for this great success is told by
Shaykh ‘Abdullah Yusuf ‘Azzam, may Allah have
mercy upon him:
“And we see that fear is the biggest
impediment in the life of people who call to the
path of Allah. And the fear of losing wealth and
future prosperity are the contributing factors.
If you would like to make a potential successful
Daa’iyah (caller to the path of Allah) very sick,
just tell him that a government informant is
living in the apartment across from his street. I
have seen a notice for my arrest; it was signed
by the president, by his secretary, by the prime
minister. But this does not concern me as long
the King of kings is happy with me. And to Him
everything will return.“
And in the midst of this great atmosphere of fear
and injustice, on the hands of the dictators of
Muslim lands, the Shaykh Abu Layth was one of
the individuals who became attached to the path
of Truth, and became dedicated to the Deen of
Allah.
The Shaykh, ‘Abdullah Sa’eed, may Allah protect
him, one of the trainers of the Mujahideen, tells us
some words concerning Shaykh Abu Layth in this
period of his life. Shaykh ‘Abdullah Sa’eed said:
“Indeed these are my words concerning a
dedicated knight, a lofty mountain, a lion
from the lions of Islam, and a leader from the
leaders of this Ummah, an example of which
is the Shaykh Abu Layth, may Allah have
mercy upon him. I feel melancholy inside of
me, and I am contemplating many wonderful
memories. Allah has blessed me and honored
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me to have been given the opportunity to live
with him for 17 years. I spent these years with
him side by side, in the land of hijrah, Jihad,
and Ribaat. He was born in the year 1392 Hijri
calendar. He is originally from a region known
as Muntaqihaat from Libya. He was born in
the town Taghablus, where he grew up, was
nourished, and matured into adulthood. And
when Allah blessed him with the Guidance,
and following the path of Truth, he persisted
in acquiring Islamic Knowledge and becoming
proficient in it, trying the best he could despite
the conditions of his environment. All this
was done in spite of the situation that was
and is still persisting in Libya, from a horrible
war on Islam and the Muslims, and closing
all doors to acquiring true knowledge of
this Deen, such as shutting down the Islamic
Universities, and religiously based institutions,
even simple gathering for memorization of
the holy Qur’an were not protected from these
sweeping measures! This war being carried out
by this enemy of Islam and Muslims is not just
restricted to shutting down the universities
and private based religious institutions, No.
Indeed it has been a continuous chain of
calamities that have persisted until our present
day, until it affected every facet of life in Libya.
And this treacherous dictator (Gaddafi) came
up with what he refers to as the “The Third-
World Viewpoint.” This conceptual framework
of ideas is explained in his book “The Green
Book – the Three Principles.” And this dictator
maintains that this book is the solution to all
the current problems facing mankind today.
And so he propagated this book among the
people, instead of the Shari’ah of the All-
Merciful; as if Allah’s religion needs such
ridiculous additions to its text!”
And so to oppose this united alliance of Apostate
Rulers, Hijrah and preparation became a necessary
tool to combat this oppression and carry out the
obligation of killing. So the land of Afghanistan
became the necessary land for carrying out this
form of worship. Shaykh Abu Layth did hijrah
there to join the Jihad curriculum with his fellow
Mujahideen. Shaykh ‘Abdullah Sa’eed said:
“So he reached the place that he had yearned to
be, until he joined the ranks of the Mujahideen,
and this was achieved in the year 1410 Hijri. So
we trained Abu Layth. And he excelled in his
initial preparations…”