Between Muath and the Khawarij (the Modern-Day Extremist Groups): Doubts and Refutations
The entire world witnessed the crime of burning the Jordanian hero pilot, Muath al-Kasasbeh—a crime added to a series of crimes committed by the Khawarij of our time in the name of the religion of Islam. It is truly shameful and provoking anger that this deviant faction attributes itself to the religion of Allah and His magnanimous Sharia, and that it seeks to legitimize its heinous and horrific actions with baseless doubts, twisting texts, taking scholars' statements out of context, and distorting words from their places. This is in order to deceive people about their religion and to justify for themselves the commission of more massacres, or to extricate themselves from the global condemnation that has befallen them—all under the cover of religion, and with justifications for which Allah has sent down no authority.
You said that Muath is the one who came to you in Raqqah, and that you did not bring him from the city of al-Karak, Jordan. You stated that he came to kill your children, women, and destroy your homes. We ask!! Do you have homes in Raqqah? Do you have women and children in Raqqah? You came as outcasts, thieves and highway robbers from various parts of the earth, and you seized the homes of Raqqah after expelling their people from them, making them refugees in camps of misery and distress. You raped their women under various designations, and you killed everyone who opposed you, even on suspicion or a word. Satan has made your evil deeds seem fair to you, so you made killing, beheading, and burning a profession. You disfigured Islam in the name of Jihad. You displaced secure, tranquil villages after seizing them, took them as a homeland, and made yourselves rulers over them by amputating, whipping, and killing, spreading therein widespread corruption on earth. You forgot that you came to Amman and bombed its hotels, killing secure people who were celebrating their weddings, turning joys into sorrows, killing the joy in the eyes of fathers and mothers as they celebrated their children's weddings, killing more than fifty-seven martyrs, besides the wounded and disabled you left behind, and then you celebrated your alleged Jihad.
Yes... For all of that, Muath went to Raqqah to free the land and its people from your evils, and to free the people of Raqqah and restore the human dignity that you squandered and violated—after Islam came to establish in the earth the meanings of human dignity by virtue of humanity itself, regardless of color, religion, or ethnicity. Indeed, Jihad was legislated to protect this dignity and preserve it. Allah the Exalted says {what means}: "And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference." [Al-Isra'/70]. This is the reality and philosophy of Jihad in Islam. Therefore, Muath is the Mujahid who went to restore the bright image of Islam after you disfigured it. Muath went to prevent you from shedding blood. He went to free humanity from your evils. So who is the Mujahid: you or Muath?! Muath did not go to expel the people of Raqqah from their homes. He did not go to steal oil fields... He did not go to displace secure people... He did not go to rape women under Sharia designations that your misguidance made fair-seeming to you... Rather, he went to free the Islamic religion from you... and to free the land and human dignity... Once again, who is the Mujahid: Muath or you?! And the consensus of the overwhelming majority of scholars is on the permissibility of fighting the Khawarij.
Despite the convictions of contemporary scholars regarding your descriptions and misguidance, many of them refrained from describing you (as such). They meant to preserve their image before the common Muslims whom you deceived, and whom you mocked in the name of religion and by using terms that appeal to their emotions, such as the term Jihad, Caliphate, Sovereignty (al-Hakimiyyah), Allegiance and Disavowal (al-Wala' wal-Bara'), and Islamic provinces, among other deceptions and misguidances. Add to that the fact that many contemporary scholars erred when they refrained from warning people of your evils. This is so that they would not be considered, in the view of some, to be on the side of the rulers, or even so you would not label them "scholars of the sultan"—a label that has become a scarecrow that frightened scholars and a ready-made accusation for anyone who disagreed with you, even on a jurisprudential issue.
You burned Muath and killed him while distorting the rulings of Islamic Sharia and using them as evidence. So you said: (Why did we burn Muath), and you said: (Saving the drowning person justifies burning) and you issued fatwas endorsing it. Moreover, we do not know, first, who are your scholars and writers who issued these fatwas? Where did they study? From which universities did they graduate? What are their research works and publications? Who are their teachers? When answering these questions, we find only ignoramuses who know nothing of the religion and the Quran. They recite the Quran, but it does not go beyond their throats, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) informed about them, meaning: it does not ascend to their minds so they understand it. So how then can they understand the statements of scholars and their evidence? One of them does not know the rulings of ablution, let alone issuing a fatwa on the most critical matters, which are matters of human lives.
You said that you burned Muath because he was an apostate, and because he participated in the war against you with the disbelievers, according to your claim. You cited the statements of scholars on the permissibility of killing the apostate. This included the saying of Ibn Abd al-Barr: "Whoever apostatizes from his religion, his blood becomes permissible and his neck is to be struck, and the Ummah is unanimous on that," and the saying of Ibn Qudamah: "The people of knowledge have agreed on the obligation of killing the apostate."
I do not know who gave you the right to judge Muslims as apostates to make their blood permissible?!
First, Muath did not go to fight you with the participation of the Crusader disbelievers, according to your claim. Rather, Muath and all Jordanians and Muslims in all corners of the earth are fighting you because you aggressed against them, so you declared them disbelievers—and your media is witness to that—and you bombed the hotels of Amman, killed many, and made permissible the blood, wealth, and honor of Muslims in Muslim lands. Moreover, it is the duty of Muslims and the entire Ummah to liberate the land from your criminality.
Why did you cite the statements of scholars about killing the apostate and avoided citing the ruling of Islam on the apostate if he repents?! Why did you not mention the opinions of scholars regarding the repentance of the apostate?! Is this not distorting words from their places, and distorting texts to make shedding blood permissible and to justify your killing and criminality? You burned Muath while he was saying "La ilaha illa Allah" and reciting the Quran. Is this not repentance—which you are the ones who filmed and broadcasted it to the world? And Ibn Abd al-Barr, whose opinion you cited, said: "And I do not know of any disagreement among the Companions regarding offering repentance to the apostate." (Al-Tamhid, Vol.5/P.306).
Furthermore, Ibn Qudamah said: "So if the apostate repents, his repentance is accepted, and he is set free." (Al-Kafi, Vol.4/P.61).
You did not quote from Ibn Qudamah also on the same page: "If he returns (to Islam), otherwise he is killed." (Al-Mughni, Vol.9/P.3).
Rather, scholars have explicitly stated that if the apostate embraces Islam, it must be accepted from him, based on the saying of Allah {which means}: "And do not say to one who gives you [a greeting of] peace "You are not a believer"." [An-Nisa'/94].
Likewise, you omitted the saying of Ibn Qudamah: "And he is killed with the sword because it is the instrument of killing, and he is not burned with fire." (Al-Mughni, Vol.9/P.3).
In addition, Al-Shafi'i said in Al-Umm: "So some of our companions from the people of Madinah, Makkah, the East, and others from the people of knowledge agreed with us that whoever shows repentance is not killed." (Al-Umm, Vol.6/P.178).
Moreover, the repentance of the apostate is, by the consensus of scholars, by pronouncing the two testimonies of faith. Al-Mawardi said: "As for the repentance of the apostate: it entails what makes him a Muslim from being a disbeliever: because apostasy has lifted from him the ruling of Islam, so he testifies that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." (Al-Hawi al-Kabir, Vol.13/P.178).
Al-Sarkhasi said in Al-Mabsut: "But his repentance is that he comes with the word of testimony (Shahadah), and disassociates himself from all religions besides Islam... Then if he apostatizes a second and third time, the same is done to him each time. If he embraces Islam, he is set free, based on the saying of Allah {which means}: "But if they repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, then let them go on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." [At-Tawbah/5]." (Al-Mabsut, Vol.10/P.99).
What say you about these Sharia texts?!
You said that you killed him as Qisas (Lawful retribution) because he killed Muslims—according to your claim and falsehood—with his plane, and you cited evidence indicating the obligation of Qisas. However, you forgot that you killed everyone who disagreed with you in opinion, even with a word, just as you forgot that Jordan hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees, preserving their lives secure and tranquil, sharing the land, bread, and water with the Jordanian people. They fled from the woes of death and wars that you ignited to a secure land that protects the dignity and life of its sons and those who seek refuge in it.
Can you present names and say that these are definitely those whom Muath killed and we killed him for them? And assuming you did that, the establishment of Qisas and Hudud is the right of the legitimate authority (Wali al-Amr), and he may not carry out Qisas except after presenting the perpetrator to the guardians of the victims and giving them the choice between pardon, pardon in exchange for blood money, or insisting on Qisas. Did you do this to implement the ruling of Allah the Almighty?! The answer: No, for you do not know the rulings of Allah, and what you did was not Qisas with its Sharia conditions. Rather, you committed this crime out of hatred, malice, and darkness in your hearts—which are as black as your clothes—without any restraint from Sharia or religion. You also named this act of yours "healing the chests." And Allah the Exalted has said {what means} "And do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness." [Al-Ma'idah/8].
Add to this that Qisas does not apply in the context of battles, nor does it apply in dealing with a prisoner of war. Whoever thinks that Qisas applies to a prisoner of war is ignorant of the basics of Islamic jurisprudence. Then you presented the issue under the chapter of "Mutilation (al-Muthlah)," and this is also ignorance, for the mutilation discussed by some jurists is that which occurs on the corpse after death. The jurisprudence, which you have no knowledge of, establishes that a prisoner after being subdued is not treated with the treatment of Qisas, nor does the discussion of "mutilation" arise regarding him; rather, he has his own specific rulings.
Moreover, you said that Muath is a prisoner of war, yet you did not take the saying of the scholars on the impermissibility of burning prisoners with fire—an issue agreed upon among scholars.
In addition, you said, "Ibn Taymiyyah said," but you did not say, "The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: (No one should punish with fire except the Lord of the Fire.)" [Narrated by Abu Dawud], and he (peace be upon him) said: (Do not torture with the torture of Allah.) [Narrated by Al-Bukhari].
Therefore, your falsehood has become clear, and your lying and distance from the truth and from the straight law of Allah have become apparent. Rather, Muath is the one who went to exact retribution from you due to your crimes, which you filmed for the entire world to see, represented by killing hundreds openly and publicly, and you committed many massacres on mere suspicion, and you did what the enemies of Muslims did not do over long centuries. Moreover, you stoned women in a criminal manner under the name of implementing Hudud, and you killed everyone who disagreed with you in opinion, and your ignorant ones issue fatwas for you permitting that. So who is more deserving of Qisas: you or Muath? Who occupied lands and displaced entire populations?! What did you do with prisoners, and what did we do with them?!
We have previously warned against you, your ideology, and the fatwas issued endorsing your "Jihad," because we know the consequences and outcomes of your actions, and the fatwa must consider the results, consequences, and what follows from them.
Your crimes will remain as witnesses against you throughout history, and the blood of Muath will continue to haunt you. So may the hands that burned him be cut off, the pens that wrote (justifying it) be broken, and the tongues that disfigured Islam be paralyzed. So woe to you, and woe to everyone who promoted for you with a fatwa or an article, and to everyone who did not denounce your actions that are outside of Islam.
