Noman Benotman is former Afghan mujahid and a member of Libyan Islamic Fighting Group Syura Council. He is currently Director of Research, Libya Human and Political Development Forum.
For more information about him, please visit http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?issue_id=3271
Below is his letter to Ayman Az-Zawahiri (translated into English).
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Advice to Dr Ayman Zawahiri
We tell what you need to know, rather than what you like to hear
In recent statements you announced that the Libya Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) has joined the Qaeda. You raised a number questions seeking answers.
In these exceptional circumstances, I feel it is my duty to counsel you and give you the support you need, rather than you wish for, by advising you with my opinion and giving you my consultation.
Let us continue from where we let off.
My dear Dr Ayman,
Let me remind you of the most important issue I raised in our Kundahar meeting in the summer of 2000. This was attended by a number of the most prominent leaders of the Jihadi Islamic groups, lead by Sheikh Usama bin Laden. I was then speaking on behalf of the (LIFG).
I made it very clear that the experience of the Jihdi Groups had failed in all Arab countries with [out] exception, which surprised all present, including my colleagues in the LIFG.
The overall message of the Jihadi media machine and public message is divisive rather that inclusive; it is aggressive and sentimental and intimidating. It does speak to the Muslim people, the Ummah, it speaks to and of itself.
I, and my colleagues in the LIFG delegation, emphasise that to continue intimidating the USA will inevitably lead to the destruction of the state of Talban in Afghanistan. Any non-conventional attack of America will lead to the occupation of the whole area, and not Afghanistan alone.
It is crucial to remember here the effort made by al-Qaeda to acquire Weapon of Mass-Destruction, as emphasised by Sheikh Usama Bin Laden in one of his TV addresses as an Islamic (Sharia) duty.
I refer to my brief discussion with Abu Hafs al-Commandan, may Allah rest his soul, who was adamant on acquiring these weapons and using them as a deterrent against the USA. And since I know that al-Qaeda has no strategy of a nuclear deterrent, nor does it intend to have one, those weapons shall be used as weapons of war and not for deterrence. This shall bring more destruction, havoc and humiliation upon the Muslim and Arab worlds.
May I remind you that the minutes of that meeting were taken by Sheikh Mafoudh Bin Alwalid, a religious official in al-Qaeda, and the records may be referred to.
Seven years on, I would say that I still hold those views and insist on them. I believe that they were right then, and we leave to history to verify that.
Conflict of Interest
The aims of Islamic Sharia, as we came to know them, are summarised in the protection of man’s religion, life, mind, off-spring, and wealth. This is the general overall frame in which Islam can be understood and viewed in real life. The Sharia of Islam has come in order to achieve these aims and enhance them.
Jihad, armed struggle, is one of the religious duties to serve those comprehensive aims, and not the contrary. When the authoritive learned people, the ulema, of the mainstream ummah (ahl assuna wal jamaa), and other intellectual and political opinion, agree that certain military operations, or some situations of rebellion, did violate Islamic principles, or were counter-productive to what Islam intended, then, and only then, does the question arise whether to prosecute Jihad. Would it be logical, otherwise, to say that Jihad was prescribed to violate the integrity of Muslims, legitimise the shedding of their blood and facilitate the occupation of their land, bringing their enemy right at their feet, deliberately and knowingly, in order to weaken and humiliate them. The over-riding consideration in this context being the exercise of Jihad.
Where the danger lies
· Failure to understand the historic and geo-strategic fact that the Arabs are the primary core-substance of Islam. They are the standard bearer of Islam. Arab land is the heart of Islam and its protected citadel. Islam and Arabism, ever since the dawn of Islam, have been the basic matter of our civilisation and our identity. There is no difference between Arab and non-Arab except through piety and devotion of Allah.
· Failure to understand the real strategic danger of fragmenting and internally draining the Arab lands. That is the real purpose that will secure the control of the state of Israel over the future of the region for hundred year to come.
· Security is a basic and essential need that cannot be forfeited in the current circumstances. All Muslim societies have come to appreciate that and believe in it. The modern Arab nation-states, their faults and flaws notwithstanding, remain the main source of national security for all societies in the region. They also guarantee internal security in its passive form. Any Islamic project must recognise the consequences of tampering with this equation at such a crucial turning point in history.
· Failure to appreciate the role of the rabble-rousing and the people at the fringes of Islamic society and Islamic movement. At every stage of history there are demagogic factions who follow the first call they hear, whether in good faith or otherwise. These have existed since the time of third Khalifa of Prophet Muhammed, Othman bin Affan, and continue to be resurrected in every era and recreate their model. They are the real enemy, so beware.
· The failure to distort the image of Jihad as an Islamic military fighting obligation based on a system of human and moral principals that reflect Islam’s philosophy of war, to a mere terrorist and violent tactics reflecting a state of anger, frustration, impotency, hyperbole and self-expression.
What you need
You are in urgent of the following:
· Rethink your position with those who differed with you. The Al-Qaeda enjoys a very poor reputation in this regard, which is, as you know, one of the criteria of maturity and righteousness within Islamic groups or trends.
· Review the al-Qaeda principals intellectually and practically, as it has been distorted with several issues pertaining to problems with excesses and takfeer.
· You should go back to Islam’s well-protected mainstream, based on the heritage of the Prophet Mohammed and the ulema, who were the legitimate heirs of the prophets. We all know the prophets left neither gold not silver; their heritage is knowledge.
· Re-model the ethos and the substance of the media message currently adopted by al-Qaeda in communicating with the Muslim world and the West.
· Do not make promises you are not capable to keep.
· You have put yourself up to a great mission. You desperately need to build open channels of information. You need open channels of information that are not censored nor massaged. They have to be accurate, continuous and trusted to enable you to take the right decision.
Recommendations
· Declare a cessation of military operations, unilaterally, in all of the Arab country, to remove every pretext used against you, and to provide peace and security to Muslim and Arab societies.
· Declare a cessation of military activities in the West, in order to withdraw the terrorist card used by some extremist and malicious Western countries against Islam and Muslims. This will neutralise public opinion in those countries whose people believe, whether we like it or not, in freedom, democracy and the respect of human rights.
· Prevent the enemy from implementing his imperialist agenda through the activities and plans of al-Qaeda itself.
· Stop provoking and antagonising the fighting and resisting Palestinian movements and organisation represented by the whole Palestinian people. You ought to declare to support them every time they come to al-Qaeda for help, without trying to impose any special conditions on the Palestinian struggle.
· Dismantle what is known as the “Islamic State of Iraq” to be re-organised on similar basis to the “al-Qaeda in the land of the Rafidain”, and show solidarity and positive engagement with other Iraqi resistance organisations.
· Afghanistan is the Achilles’ heel of the sides involved in the struggle. To the fighters, the Mujahedeen, defeat it not an option although for the occupiers it will be a real seismic upheaval that might change the course of history. The fighters need to concentrate on the battle in Afghanistan. They need to mobilise all the support and backing they can for it, and not allow any failed advocate to assume the defence of such a just and legitimate cause.
Dear Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri,
You, and the brothers around you, know very well that many parts of Afghanistan, which are the home of Jihad and resistance today, had not been fought over and defended by us against the infidel Soviet enemy, they would not have put a foot on them, nor could they prosecute their fight from their mountains, plains and valleys. It is an irony of history that some of those who stand on that land today, were yesterday mocking and ridiculing our fighting to liberate it. They accused us of fighting side-by-side with the non-believers and betraying Allah almighty.
I rest my case. If I am right, it is by the grace of Allah, if I am mistaken then it is all due to my own shortcoming.
Noman Benotman
6 November 2007
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