Dr. Sami al-Oraidi, a Jordanian leader in Syria's al-Qa'ida-loyalist group Hurras al-Din, has given a new speech to mark the occasion of Eid al-Fitr this year. This speech was released by Hurras al-Din's media outlet Sham al-Ribat media. I thought this speech was worth translating in full because it illustrates succinctly the basic jihadist worldview of a hostile dichotomy between the in-group (the Muslims) and out-group (the disbelievers). I thank Haroro Ingram, Alastair Reed and JM Berger for first introducing me to this way of thinking about the discourse.
This dichotomy, as Oraidi explains, is a reflection of what has been an eternal conflict between truth (embodied in God and His supporters) and falsehood (embodied in Satan and his supporters). As Reed, Ingram and Berger would suggest, by framing the dichotomy in the context of eternal conflict that spans all time, the crisis confronting the in-group is magnified in intensity, far more than simply framing the conflict as something going back to the Crusades.
However, this dichotomy does not always entail conventional warfare by the people of falsehood on the people of truth: it can also entail, for example, attempts by the people of authority to mislead the bearers of the da'wa, so that they can induce compromises that distort and ultimately destroy the nature of the da'wa. This claim is supported by narratives about Prophet Muhammad's life.
The Muslim needs to understand the true nature of this conflict in order not to be misled and waste time and energy on efforts based on erroneous understandings of the conflict, in particular framing the crises in nationalist terms. Rather, it is to be understood that the conflict is one between truth and falsehood, God and Satan, the believers and the disbelievers, and this conflict does not change.
Below is the speech translated in full.
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In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The Truth of the Conflict
Dr. Sami bin Mahmoud al-Oraidi (may God protect him)
Shawwal 1442 AH
Sham al-Ribat Media
Praise be to God the Lord of the Worlds and prayers and peace be upon His Servant and Messenger Muhammad and the Prophets and Messengers entirely. Oh God open for me my chest and facilitate for me my affair and remove impediment from my tongue so they may understand my words. As for what follows:
We congratulate the Muslims in general and the people of 'Ilm and the mujahideen in particular regarding the blessed Eid al-Fitr that has begun for our Muslim Ummah even as there has been an increase in the intensity of the war and scheming of the people of kufr, heresy and atheism against it in the various fields.
And there has appeared with all clarity to all the true of the ongoing conflict today between the Muslims and the paths and states of kufr and atheism in that it is a religious conflict, and it is one of the episodes of the conflict between truth and falsehood that extends over the ages.
For here are some of the statements and deeds of the enemies of Islam today, showing to us the truth of this conflict and what their chests conceal is greater,
For what the states of kufr undertake from distorting and attacking the mighty Islam and its Noble Messenger and war on the Muslims in general and the 'ulama, preachers, reformers and mujahideen in particular, along with their support and protection of their agents from the Taghuti systems and their conspiring upon the resources of the Muslim peoples: these things confirm to us their proceeding on the path of their predecessors who say: 'Destroy Islam and annihilate its people.'
And if some time ago they were trying to conceal the truth of the conflict through lying and misleading with the notion that their war was on terrorism and the terrorist groups and the al-Qa'ida organisation, the Sunna of God nonetheless has required that the conflict between truth and falsehood should proceed in multiple stages until it reaches the state of openness and clarity that is followed by the separation and judgement between truth and falsehood.
For the truth of the conflict today is no longer hidden except to the one whose sight God has obliterated and whose heart God has blinded. We ask God for sufficiency and soundness.
And this truth our Blessed and Almighty Lord has clarified to us in the most complete way and He has repeated it in many places of His Noble Book and the Sunna of His Prophet (SAWS). For God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'And the Jews and Christians will not be satisfied with you until you follow their path'- [al-Baqara 120].
And the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'And fight them until there is no more fitna and religion belongs wholly to God, so if they desist, indeed God is aware of what they do'- [al-Anfal 39].
And God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'If they should catch you, they will be enemies to you and stretch their hands and tongues to you with evil and they should like you to disbelieve'- [al-Mumtahina 2].
And the Messenger of God (SAWS) said: 'I have been ordered to fight the people until they testify that there is no deity but God, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, and they establish prayer, and give zakat, so if they do that, they become sacrosanct to me in their blood and wealth, except in the right of Islam, and their reckoning is upon God.'
The Prophet (SAWS): 'I was sent with the sword before the hour, until God alone should be worshipped with no partner for Him.'
So these texts make clear to us the truth of the conflict between the Muslims and the people of kufr and atheism, so it is an episode of the eternal conflict between truth and falsehood, not invalidated or stopped by the deception of the deceivers or the lying of the criminals or the servility of those who have disgraced themselves, or the replacing of the replacers. For our Noble Lord has said: 'And they will continue fighting you until they turn you away from your religion if they can'- [al-Baqara 217].
For the people of kufr and atheism over the ages have been scheming against the people of Islam and waging war on them in the various means and means, and they wage war on them with word, wealth and weapons, and they do not leave alone a Muslim, and especially if he has a place or influence in the life of the Muslims, without desiring to turn him away from his religion. So they schemed against the master of those sent (SAWS) as they thought they could tempt him from the truth that had come to him but God made him steadfast and repelled their scheming just as our Noble Lord has made clear to us ('And if they scheme to tempt you from what We have revealed to you so you would fabricated against us one besides it, and so they would have taken you as an intimate friend. And had We not made you steadfast, you would almost have inclined to them even a little'- (al-Isra' 73-74).
And Sheikh Sayyid Qutb (may God have mercy on him) made clear that these attempts that God made His Messenger (SAWS) immune to are the attempts of the people of authority with the people of da'wa calls always, to tempt them so that they should deviate- even a little- from the straight path of the da'wa and its solidness,a nd accept the middle solutions by which they tempt them in exchange for great gains.
And among the bearers of the da'was- regrettably- are those tempted by this away from their da'wa, because they see the matter as easy, so the people of authority do not ask them to abandon their da'wa entirely, but rather they ask for light modifications so that the two sides should meet in the middle of the path. And Satan may enter on the bearer of the da'wa from this gap, so he thinks that the best da'wa is gaining the people of authority to it, even if by compromising on an aspect of it!
But the light deviation in the first of the path ends with the complete deviation in the end of the path, and the person bearing the da'wa is the one who accepts conceding in part of it even if simply, and neglecting a part of it, even if small. And he is not able to stop at what he has conceded for the first time, nor what he has compromised on first time, because his readiness to concede and compromise increases whenever he takes a step back.
And the issue is an issue of faith in the da'wa entirely, so the one who compromises on a part of it, even if a little and the one who is silent about a part of it, even if small, cannot be a true believer in his da'wa.
And the people of authority lure away the people of the da'was, so when they concede in the part, they lose their respect and lose their strength, and the Tawagheet know that the continuation of bartering and the rising of the price lead to compromise and to conceding of the deal in the entirely.
And conceding in one aspect, even if small, among the aspects of the da'wa to win over the people of authority to its side, is a spiritual defeat for the reliance on the people of authority in supporting the da'wa, and God alone is the One upon whom the believers must rely in their da'wa.
And when the defeat spreads in the depths of the conscience, the defeat will not be reversed as a victory. We ask God for sufficiency and soundness.
So the required thing then from every Muslim is that he should not be misled by the deception and lies of the enemies of the Muslims and those who have disgraced themselves on the path as they cause confusion of the truth with falsehood and distort the truth of the conflict. And he must take up the role that he at which he is good and skilled in this conflict. So the knowledgeable one in his field and the mujahid in his jihad and the media guy in his field and likewise the engineer, doctor and technical guy in their fields, Islam is not undermined by them.
And may God have mercy on the reviver Sheikh Osama bin Laden who said:
'One must not under any circumstances consider these battles as being partial battles, but rather they are part of an episode of a great series, which is the intense, fierce, barbaric Crusader war. So every Muslim must stand under the banner of there is no deity but God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.'
So the Muslim's understanding of this fact on its true face, puts him in a place of security by the permission of God safe from the scheme of his enemies, and he is not deceived by their promises or their giving, and he does not fall into the snares of their allurement.
Also the understanding of the circle of the conflict as some of the people of 'Ilm have made clear helps us to overcome many stages that we as Muslims do not need to engage in because every stage has its costs. So for how many years will we remain alternating our place under the name of the 'Arab Cause,' or the 'Palestinian' or 'Syrian' one.
And how much blood, and how much wealth, and how much time will be lost, and how many generations of this Ummah will be misled under the slogan of 'Palestinian, Syrian or Egyptian blood' and other slogans that divert the ones who hold them from the truth of the conflict.
Also the Muslim's understanding of the truth of the conflict makes him know that god has made the justice of the land depend on one path and not a second to it, namely defending the truth against the falsehood in the land. God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'And were it not for God's repelling some of the people with others, the land would have been corrupted, but God is the owner of grace over the worlds'- [al-Baqara 251].
And indeed spoke the truth the one who said:
'There is no justice unless the forces are even, and terrorism is confronted with terrorism.'
And the Muslim's understanding of the truth of the conflict enables him to undertake his required role from him in supporting the truth and its people and repelling falsehood and its people, even if he offers in the path of that his life and wealth, so he sacrifices his life, effort and wealth in the path of God, in order to be among the overcoming soldiers and party of God just as God the Blessed and Almighty has said: 'And those who have believed fight in the path of God, and those who have disbelieved fight in the path of the Taghut, so fight the allies of Satan. Indeed the scheme of Satan is weak'- [al-Nisa' 76].
So they are two camps with no third one: either you are of the soldiers of al-Rahman, or you are of the soldiers of Satan.
So this is the truth of the conflict and this is something of its trace we wanted to remind ourselves and the Muslims of in the vastness of this fierce Zio-Crusader war against Islam and its people.
This is so that each of us can take up his role he is good at, and so that we should not be deceived by the scheme of the schemers nor by the misleading of the misleaders nor the replacing of the replacers and those who have disgraced themselves on the path.
Oh God, make us among Your soldiers and supporters and revive us to Your religion, and provide us with the provision of martyrdom in Your path, and God's blessings and peace and provision of blessing be upon our Prophet Muhammad and all the prophets and messengers.