Usama bin Ladin Fight On, Champions of Somalia

Fight On, Champions of Somalia

Shaykh Usama bin Ladin

Rabi’ al-Awwal 1430

March 2009

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him and seek His aid and forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil in ourselves and from our bad deeds. He whom Allah guides cannot be led astray, and he who is led astray cannot be guided. I bear witness that there is no God other than Allah alone, without partners, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

As for what comes after:

To my patient, persevering Muslim brothers in Mujahid Somalia: peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

The war which has been taking place on your soil these past years is a war between Islam and the international Crusade. The NATO alliance deputized Ethiopia to carry out this mission, and after they and those who appointed them were exhausted by your blessed Jihad, they resorted to subterfuge and deception, as is their custom in the Islamic world, and appointed over you a man who, although from your kinsfolk, follows their religion: the former president, Abdullahi Yousef. But since you weren’t taken in by the old trick of “Karzais” which they have been using in the region, they replaced him and brought in a new, revised version, similar to Sayyaf, Rabbani and Ahmed Shah Massoud, who were leaders of the Afghan Mujahideen before they turned back on their heels [as apostates] and helped their ally – America – to bring down the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan. Such is the case with Shaykh Shareef. He was the president of the Islamic Courts and with the Mujahideen, but as a result of inducements and offers from the American envoy in Kenya, he changed and turned back on his heels [as an apostate], and agreed to partner infidel positive law with Islamic Shari’ah to set up a government of national unity, and this partnering is greater polytheism which expels one from Islam. How can intelligent people believe that yesterday’s enemies on the basis of religion can become today’s friends? This can only happen if one of the two parties abandons his religion.

So look and see which one of them is the one who has abandoned it: Shaykh Shareef or America? And reflect on the statement of Allah, the Most High, “Surely, those who turn their backs [as apostates] after guidance has become manifest to them, Satan has seduced them and held out false hopes to them. That is because they said to those who hate what Allah has revealed, ‘We will obey you in some matters,’ and Allah knows their secrets. But how will they fare when the angels cause them to die, smiting their faces and their backs? That is because they followed that which displeased Allah, and disliked the seeking of His pleasure. So He rendered their works vain.” (47:25-28)

And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “Two hungry wolves let loose among sheep aren’t more ruinous to them than a man’s desire for wealth and eminence is to his religion.” Narrated by Ahmad and al-Tirmizi.

Oh, how desire for wealth, eminence and status has ruined our leaderships!

These sorts of presidents are the surrogates of our enemies and their authority is null and void in the first place, and as Shaykh Shareef is one of them, he must be dethroned and fought. The scholars of Islam have agreed that authority is not to be given to an infidel, and if a ruler becomes an infidel during his reign, his authority collapses, and he must be removed with armed force. Qadi ‘Ayyad (may Allah have mercy on him) said, “The ‘Ulama have agreed that the Imamate is not to be given to an infidel, and that if [the Imam] becomes an infidel, he must be removed.”


My Muslim brothers in Somalia: you must beware of the initiatives which wear the dress of Islam and the religious institutions even as they contradict the rules of Islamic Shari’ah, like the initiative attributed to some of the ‘Ulama of Somalia which gives Shaykh Shareef six months to implement Islamic Shari’ah. They are asking him for something he was installed to demolish, so how can he possibly erect it? These people either don’t understand the facts or take us to be fools. This initiative of theirs is a blatant betrayal of trust. All intelligent people are aware of America’s combating of Islam, and its past rejection of its establishment in Somalia, as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan; and here they are protesting its establishment in the Swat region of Pakistan.

There is another initiative from abroad, one which asks the honest Mujahideen among you to stop fighting in order to negotiate with Shaykh Shareef, pretending to be unaware of America’s control of this new surrogate. These people have clearly gone astray. The obligation is to fight the apostate government, not stop fighting it. This stance of theirs is in line with the earlier initiatives of the Arab regimes in the region which are controlled by America, like the initiative of the governor of Riyadh, when he gave his blessings to the government of the former president Abdullahi Yousef, but by the grace of Allah, that conspiracy fell apart on the rock of the Mujahideen. So beware of every initiative which contradicts the rules of the religion, and don’t be deceived by it. Its bearing the name of a religious institution is of no help to it, because many of these institutions have been infiltrated by the regimes, especially the Riyadh and Cairo regimes, and the examples are too numerous to be mentioned here.

I address my brothers the Mujahideen, the honest sons of Somalia, and call on them to continue their steps on the path of Jihad. Global Infidelity is facing predicaments and crises the likes of which it has not seen for many decades, so persevere and be resolute, for you are one of the important armies in the Mujahid Islamic battalion, and are the first line of defense for the Islamic world in its southwestern part; and your patience and resolve supports your brothers in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Islamic Maghreb, Pakistan and the rest of the fields of Jihad; and their patience and resolve in the face of the same enemy – America and its allies – supports and strengthens your patience and resolve as well.

So let each of us protect his garrison, and heal his chest by killing the trespassers.

I also encourage the sons of the Muslim Somali people to rally around and help their brothers the honest Mujahideen; and I send my appeal to the Muslim Ummah everywhere, and ask them extend a helping hand to our family in Somalia, to meet the needs of those afflicted by famine, and to also expend their energies and wealth to back the Jihad [in it] until it is liberated from the invaders and hypocrites and the state of Islam is set up in it, Allah permitting.

Achieving victory there will be easy, Allah willing, if every party does his duty; and a good omen of that is that your brothers the Somalis are people of endurance and patience and defiant spirits. For them, death is preferable to bowing their heads to the Crusader government of the Abyssinians, and they distinguished themselves in battle against the previous Crusader invaders led by America, and defeated it by the Grace of Allah, and rubbed its nose in the mud, until it left dragging its tail in defeat and humiliation. So meet their monetary needs, O Muslims, for the purchase of arms and facilitation of the affairs of Jihad, and don’t allow them to be hurt from your flank.

My Muslim Ummah: the victory of the Mujahideen in Somalia is a matter of extreme importance, and not backing them nor taking their hand is extremely dangerous, because if the limbs are eaten, it is easy for the enemy to devour the heart of the Islamic world, and in that is a move from occupation by proxy to direct occupation by the Zionist/Crusader coalition. You are facing a universal Crusade against all of you. This is Somalia on the southwestern wing, and the Crusaders have invaded it from the land, air and sea. From the direction of the west, there is another Crusader march, this one against the Sudan and advancing from Darfur, and only about 300 kilometers separate the coast of Sudan from the Inviolable Mosque in Makkah the Venerable: i.e., within striking range of Scud missiles. In the north, in the blessed Aqsa Mosque, there are Zionist armies for over 60 years, and Crusader ships facing Gaza, and other Crusader armies in the south of Lebanon. And in the east, there is a Crusader invasion led by America against Afghanistan, and another against Iraq, in addition to the military bases spread throughout our countries. So until when will you continue to fear America and its agents?! I remind you of the statement of Allah, the Most High, “Will you not fight a people who have broken their oaths, and who plotted to drive out the Messenger, and who were the first to commence hostilities against you? Do you fear them? Nay, Allah is most worthy that you should fear Him, if you are believers.” (9:13)

So exonerate yourselves from loyalty to the idol-kings, the enemies of Allah, and discharge your trusts, and hasten to carry out your duties, because you are threatened in everything you possess – in your persons and wealth – and are even threatened in the greatest thing you have: your religion.

I protect my religion with my wealth, I don’t waste it

May Allah not bless wealth without religion

O Allah, send prayers and blessings upon our Master Muhammad and upon his family and all his companions; and our final prayer is that all praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds.