Martyrs: The building blocks of nations
By Shaykh Abdullah Azzam Shaheed (RA)
Praise
be to Allah, Lord of the Universe and Peace and Blessings be upon the
Leader of the Prophets and the Commander of the Mujahideen: Muhammad
(SAWS) and upon His Family, His Companions and whoever pursues their
method, follows their way and wages Jihad until the Day of
Judgement.
Indeed nations are only brought to life by their
beliefs and their concepts and they die only with their desires and
their lusts. The extent to which righteous convictions and correct
beliefs spread within a nation, is the extent to which it plants its
roots in the depths of the Earth and sends forth orchards of trunks
with their flourishing leaves so that Man can take shade by it from
the troubles of life, its financial fever and from the flame of
hatred, envy and competition for cheap thrills and temporary
enjoyment.
As for the Muslim Ummah, it does continue to exist
in the course of history of humankind, except by a divine idology and
the blood which flows as a result of spreading this divine ideology
and implanting it into the real World.
The life of the Muslim
Ummah is solely dependent on the ink of its scholars and the blood of
its martyrs. What is more beautiful than the writing of the Ummah's
history with both the ink of a scholar and his blood, such that the
map of Islamic history becomes coloured with two lines: one of them
black, and that is what the scholar wrote with the ink of his pen;
and the other one red, and that is what the martyr wrote with his
blood. And something more beautiful than this is when the blood is
one and the pen is one, so that the hand of the scholar which expends
the ink and moves the pen, is the same as the hand which expends its
blood and moves the Ummah. The extent to which the number of martyred
scholars increases is the extent to which nations are delivered from
their slumber, rescued from their decline and awoken from their
sleep.
History does not write its lines except with blood.
Glory does not build its loft edifice except with skulls, Honour and
respect cannot be established except on a foundation of cripples and
corpses. Empires, distinguished peoples, states and societies cannot
be established except with examples. Indeed those who think that they
can change reality, or change societies, without blood, sacrifices
and invalids, without pure, innocent souls, then they do not
understand the essence of this Deen2 and they do not know the method
of the best of the Messengers (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace).
As for those who build nations, they are few in
number. Sometimes the Ummah can be built by a single individual who
makes a stand by means of which Allah rescues this Deen, just like
Abu Bakr (RA) made a stand of the Day of Apostasy3; and the day when
Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal4 made a stand when the entire World was
speechless at the innovation that the Quran had been created, so
Allah saved the Ummah with him.
A small group: they are the
ones who carry convictions and ambitions. And an even smaller group
from this small group, are the ones who flee from the worldly life in
order to spread and act upon these ambitions. And an even smaller
group from this elite group, are the ones who sacrifice their souls
and their blood in order to bring victory to these ambitions and
principles. So, they are the cream of the cream of the cream. It is
not possible to reach glory except by traversing this Path. It is not
possible for the structures of this Deen to be established, nor for
its banner to be raised, nor for its vessel to be launched, except by
traversing this Path. This Path is one. In fact, there is no Paradise
without this Path:
"Do you really think that you will
enter Paradise, before Allah has decided from amongst you, those who
fight in His Way and those who are patient?" [Quran 3:142]
Thus
the founders of nations and the architects of glories are few. As for
the one who wants to architecture glory, then he must be prepared to
ascend to the price of glory upon seas of his blood and his sweat,
and the blood of those around him and upon the disabilities of those
under his authority, until he reaches the price of glory. And glory
cannot be architectured except by traversing this Path: the Path of
the Blessed Jihad.
The Jihad on the land of Afghanistan set
its foundations with a small group: 14 youths from the youths of the
Taqwa Islamic Movement inside Kabul5 University. The decisive,
conclusive, solidification of its foundations was the necessity of
using Jihad to combat the leader of the tyrants, Daud, who had
resolved to wipe out the sons of the Islamic Movement. Until finally,
they arrived in Peshawar, about 30 youths, who decided to enter
Afghanistan and start the Jihad there.
The Jihad initially began
as a few drops, until Allah decided to ignite the sparks within this
blessed people and explode the Jihad, blessing with it the land of
Afghanistan and the rest of the Muslims until its good encompassed
the whole World. Some thought that the Earth had become devastated
and that this Ummah had been drained of the thirst for martyrdom.
Therefore, Allah exploded the Jihad on the land of Afghanistan and
groups of youths from the Islamic World marched forth to Afghanistan
in search of Jihad and martyrdom.
Indeed this small band of
Arabs, whose number did not exceed a few hundred individuals, changed
the tide of the battle, from an Islamic battle of one country, to an
Islamic World Jihad movement, in which all races participated and all
colours, languages and cultures met; yet they were one, their
direction was one, their ranks were one and the goal was one: that
the Word of Allah is raised the highest and that this Deen is made
victorious on the Earth.
Indeed the involvement of the Muslims
in the battle, from a variety of races, woke up those that were
asleep and enlightened those who were absent-minded. Furthermore, it
shook the oppressors, for indeed the enemies of Islam were watching
the arena and counting the lives. The involvement of non-Afghans in
the battle was a great source of alarm and dismay to them, because
this stimulation of numerous nations and the revival of the people
had reached the brink of desperation, until these desperations set
root in the depths of their souls, such that they realised that they
themselves were on the verge of their own destruction.
Furthermore,
the enemies were also aware of the volatile risks associated with the
burial of a foreign volunteer fighter in the soils of Afghanistan, as
if to announce to the World: that this Deen requires millions of such
sacrifices in order to change its situation, and that these
sacrifices must meet with this fighter, here in his resting place, so
that the bullet alone is considered to be the honour of this Deen,
the resistance of the Muslims and the pride of the believers.
And
some deceived modernist intellectuals thought that these sacrifices
which had fallen on this Path had gone to waste and been rendered
futile. However, it should be known that the blood of gutless martyrs
is weighty in the Scale of the Most Gracious. It is sufficient for us
to remember one hadith (and the ahadith are many), narrated by Imam
Ahmad and Tirmidhi with an authentic chain of narration that the
Messenger of Allah (SAWS) said: "Indeed the martyr has seven
special favours from Allah: all his sins are forgiven at the first
spurt of his blood, he sees his place in Paradise as his blood is
shed (before his soul leaves the body), he tastes the sweetness of
Iman, he is married to 72 of the Beautiful Maidens of Paradise, he is
protected from the Punishment of the Grave, he is saved from the
Great Terror (on The Day of Judgement), there is placed upon his head
a crown of honour a jewel of which is better than the whole world and
everything in it and he is granted permission to intercede for 70
members of his household (to bring them into Paradise and save them
from the Hell Fire)."
Indeed, the manuscripts of history
are not scribed except with the blood of these martyrs, except with
the stories of these martyrs, except with the examples of these
martyrs. By the likes of these martyrs, nations are established,
convictions are brought to life and ideologies are made victorious.
For this reason, we have compiled a section about the lives of
martyrs: Arab martyrs who fell on the land of Afghanistan, and
present this very collection which is infront of you.
And it
might seem to the short-sighted eye and narrow mind, and to the
individual besieged within the bounds of era and location, that it is
a story that happened and finished. The mouth of death opened its
mouth, swallowed these martyrs and passed them with its wheel that
saves neither old nor young.
However, the clear-sighted eye
and the enlightened heart knows that these sacrifices are the
provisions of future generations for distant civilizations to come.
These stories, these sacrifices and these examples will remain as
supercilious signposts upon the entire journey of this Deen, for he
who wishes to make this journey from those wayfarers, or follow in
the footsteps of this righteous elite.
"All these are the
ones whom Allah has guided, so follow their guidance…"
[Quran 6:90]
Indeed these exemplary individuals from the
martyrs broke free from the shackles and fetters of this matter to
reach opulence and bliss, and they came to the land of Afghanistan,
living in the mountains of Afghanistan, until Allah (SWT) honoured
them with martyrdom.
We ask Allah (SWT) to join us with them
in the Highest Part of Paradise, with the Prophets, the Truthful, the
Martyrs and the Righteous, and that he blesses us with martyrdom in
His Way, and that he seals us with the Seal of Happiness, O Noble
One.
So, O' people of ambitions and O' carriers of dawah, do
not be miserly with your blood as regards this Deen. If you really
are serious and sincere, then place your blood and souls before the
Lord of the Worlds who granted them to you in the first place and
then purchased them from you: "Indeed Allah has purchased from
the believers their lives and their possessions in return for
Paradise. They fight in the Way of Allah, they kill and are killed…"
[Quran 9:111]
O' youths! O' sons of Islam! What will cleanse
our sins? What will purify our mistakes? And what will clean our
dirt? It will not be washed except with the blood of martyrdom, and
know that there is no path except this Path. If not, then the
Accountability8 will be difficult, the Scale9 awaits, the Bridge10 is
ready and your time is running out, so consider it…
And
Peace and Blessings be upon our master, Muhammad, and upon his family
and Companions altogether.
Extracts from the lectures of
Sheikh Abdullah Azzam titled: 'Will of the Shaheed' and 'A Message
from the Shaheed Sheikh to the Scholars'.
1 Sheikh Abdullah Yusuf
Azzam, assassinated in Peshawar, 1989. Time Magazine wrote about him:
"He was responsible for reviving Jihad in the 20th Century."
2
Islam
3 When a group of Arabs apostatised after the death of the
Prophet (SAWS) and refused to pay their Zakah to Abu Bakr (RA), so
Abu Bakr resolved to fight them even though the other Sahabah were
initially opposed to this idea.
4 Died 241AH (851CE), the founder
of the Hanbali school of thought
5 The capital of Afghanistan
6
Prince Muhammad Daud Khan, President of Afghanistan from July 1973 to
April 1978.
7 A city in Pakistan, the capital of the NWFP (North
West Frontier Province)
8 Questioning on the Day of Judgement
9
Meezan: the Scale or Balance upon which the good and bad deeds of the
people will be weighed on the Day of Judgement
10 The Bridge over
the Hell Fire as mentioned in the Quran 19:71-72
Source:
Taliban Online
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