Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his companions.
And thereafter:
In light of the dangerous escalation and great tension the region is witnessing, which has reached the point of bombing the capitals of the region’s countries, and in fulfillment of the covenant that Allah took from the scholars to declare the truth.
We—scholars, preachers, and workers for Islam from among its sons—declare the following:
Firstly: The reality of this war and its objectives:
America and its Zionist allies have no motive for this war except injustice; for Iran has not wronged them nor attacked them, but rather their action is injustice and aggression for which they will be held accountable, and they have previously practiced it when they invaded Afghanistan, Iraq, and others, which constitutes oppression and tyranny prohibited by all divine laws.
This war is distinctly a Crusader-Zionist war, targeting in its outcomes Islam at the heart of its home, and its Ummah in the depths of its depths, where the Islamic sanctities, the Ummah’s potentials, its wealth, its demographic weight, historical, and civilizational weight lie.
And this war is not merely a limited conflict due to a transient political disagreement between Iran on one side, and America and the occupation state on the other.
Rather, it is a link in a chain of wars, and a part of a history of conflict, not an isolated event, nor a detached matter.
Secondly: The Divine Wisdom in Such Events:
Regardless of any interpretation of what is happening, or analysis of what is occurring, or reading of what is taking place, the believer affirms the Divine Wisdom behind every event, and the unseen dimension behind every matter.
And perhaps Allah Almighty is preparing through these events for great matters, and praiseworthy outcomes if the Muslims deal with them well, and fulfill the duty toward them, {and perhaps you dislike a thing and it is good for you}.
But the believer’s invocation of the aspect of Divine Decree, the unseen dimension, and the Divine Wisdom behind every matter does not conflict with fulfilling the Sharia duty, and what it requires in terms of the necessity of understanding the events, awareness of the facts, and acting upon the duty toward all of that.
Thirdly: Condemnation and Rejection of the Aggression:
What America and its ally, the Zionist entity state, have carried out in terms of bombing cities, sites, military and civilian targets that began in Iran—and we do not know where it will end—is the clearest and most evident form of aggression and tyranny that characterizes their policy toward Islam and the Muslims.
And it is a policy that casts behind its back all heavenly laws, earthly values, human ethics, international laws, and human conventions that they boast of adhering to and speaking about!!
And the least of the duty in this regard is to condemn this aggression and reject this criminality.
And while we recognize the reality of the Iranian regime’s project and what it has committed in the lands of Sunni Muslims, at the same time we see that targeting Iran by the Crusader-Zionist alliance is an external targeting of a country from the lands of the Muslims that has its sanctity and importance, regardless of the regime that governs it.
And just as we reject and condemn the Crusader-Zionist aggression on Iran, we strongly reject the targeting of the Arab Gulf states by Iran, even if Iran focused its targeting on the depths of the occupied entity, it would be a fulfillment of repelling the aggression and a healing for the believers’ hearts.
America deliberately places military bases in the Gulf countries to provoke Iran into striking these bases, so that those countries retaliate against Iran, igniting war between the region’s countries in a way that serves the enemies’ interests.
And this is one of the dangers of the presence of these foreign forces in the region.
And scholars and preachers of the Ummah warned against this when those forces first came to the lands of the Muslims.
Fourthly: The Sanctity of Participating in This War:
Any support or assistance for this unjust war in any form whatsoever, and at any level of levels, is considered participation in it, and in achieving its criminal objectives against Islam and its people.
It is ironic that the Western military bases present in the region, which were established under the pretext of securing them, are the ones whose presence today causes the bombing to which the capitals of the region’s countries are subjected!
Fifthly: The Duty of the Time:
It is regrettable that these devastating wars whose sparks fly in the lands of the Muslims are a struggle for control over the region by those with different projects, in the complete absence of any true Islamic project.
And this miserable situation requires from the people of knowledge and action, those zealous for the religion, bearers of the call, and those with opinion to work on:
A. Returning the Ummah to its religion, establishing the religion, ruling by the Sharia, and taking the means of strength,
And the path to that necessarily requires achieving unity and solidarity, and renouncing the causes of division and conflict.
And the matter is even more obligatory upon the elite and leaders of the Ummah.
B. The necessity of resorting to Allah; where the need and necessity is affirmed to resort to Allah Almighty through repentance and seeking forgiveness, remembrance and supplication to relieve distresses, avert harms, dispel worries, uncover griefs, and clinging to the Book and the Sunnah, patience upon the truth, and steadfastness upon the religion.
O Allah, decree for this Ummah a matter of right guidance and preserve the lands of the Muslims, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and all his companions.
The Signatories:
1- Mufti General of Libya – Sheikh Sadiq al-Ghariyani
2- Sheikh Muhammad al-Hassan al-Dido – President of the Center for Training Scholars of Mauritania
3- Sheikh Hassan al-Kattani – President of the League of Scholars of the Arab Maghreb
4- Sheikh Mahfouz Ould al-Walid – President of the Islamic Forum
5- Sheikh Muhammad al-Saghir – President of the Ansar Authority
6- Dr. Jamal Abdul Sattar – President of the League of Scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah
7- Sheikh Sami al-Sa’idi – Secretary General of the Libyan Fatwa House
8- Sheikh Abdul Hay Yusuf – Dean of the Academy of Ansar al-Nabi ﷺ
9- Sheikh Jamal al-Ahmar – University Professor, Algeria
10- Sheikh Muhammad Sayyidiya bin Ajdad – Deputy President of the League of Muslim Scholars
11- Sheikh Burhan Saeed – President of the League of Scholars of Eritrea
12- Sheikh Belkhir al-Idrissi – Professor at the University of Oran, Algeria
13- Sheikh Bashir Issam al-Marrakshi – University Professor in Morocco
14- Sheikh Abdullah bin Amin – Secretary General of the Mauritanian Islamic Forum
15- Sheikh Ahmed al-Shanqiti – Deputy Secretary General of the League of Scholars of the Arab Maghreb
16- Sheikh Sulayman al-Ahmar – University Professor in Algeria
17- Sheikh Faraj Kundi – Libyan Islamic Preacher
18- Sheikh Hussein Abdul Aal – President of the One Ummah Authority
19- Dr. Hatem Abdul Azim – Professor of Islamic Jurisprudence and its Principles
20- Dr. Omar Bamba – Executive Director of the Union of African Scholars
21- Dr. al-Sharif Hamza al-Kattani – Moroccan Scholar
22- Sheikh Saad Raziqa – Imam, preacher, lecturer, and family consultant in the American community
23- Dr. Mahmoud Saeed al-Shajrawi – President of the Faz Foundation for Educational Work and Psychological Support
24- Sheikh Wajih Saad Hassan – Member of the World Union of Muslim Scholars – Italy
25- Dr. Fahmi Salem – Member of the Union of Muslim Scholars – Indonesia
26- Sheikh Ahmed al-Hassan – Sultanate of Oman
27- Dr. Marwan Abu Ras – President of the Jerusalem and Palestine Committee in the International Union of Muslim Scholars
28- Dr. Nawaf Takruri – President of the Association of Palestinian Scholars
29- Sheikh Imad al-Mubayyid – General Supervisor of the Preachers’ Union Foundation in Britain
30- Dr. Osama Abu Bakr – Member of the Jordan Scholars Association
31- Dr. Muhammad Zidan – USA
