14

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.

15

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…”