Ansar al-Mujahideen English Forum

Presents

"A Call to Jihad"

By Imam Anwar al-Awlaki (may Allah protect him)

All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad, his family and his Companions.

Peace be upon those who follow the Guidance.

To the American people I say:

Do you remember the good old days, when Americans were enjoying the blessings of security and peace? When the word 'terrorism' was rarely invoked? And when you were oblivious to any threats?

I remember a time when you could purchase a airline ticket from the classified section of your local or college newspaper, and use it, even though it was issued to a different name, because no one would bother asking you for an ID before boarding a plane. No long lines, no elaborate searches, no body scans, no sniffing dogs, no taking off your shoes and emptying your pockets.

You were a nation at ease.

But America thought that it could threaten the lives of others, kill and invade, occupy and plunder, and conspire, without bearing the consequences of its actions. 911 was the answer of the millions of people who suffer from American aggression. And since then, America has not been safe.

And nine years after 9-11, nine years of spending, and nine years of beefing up security, you are still unsafe, even in the holiest and most sacred of days to you: Christmas Day. So do you expect to transgress against others and yet be spared retribution?

Your decision-makers, the politicians, the lobbyists and the major corporations are the ones gaining from your foreign policy, and you are the ones paying the price for it.

Following 9-11, the American people gave George W. Bush unanimous backing to fight against the Mujahideen, and gave him a blank cheque to spend as much as needed to fulfil that objective. The result: he failed. And he failed miserably.

So if America failed to defeat the Mujahideen when it gave its President unlimited support, how can it win with Obama, who's on a short leash? If America failed to win when it was at its pinnacle of economic strength, how can it win today, with a recession at hand?

The simple is: America cannot, and will not, win. The tables have turned and there's no rolling back of the world-wide Jihad movement. On the eve of 9-11 it was Afghanistan alone. Today it is Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the list is growing.

How many more body-bags are American families willing to receive?

How much more can the US Treasury handle?

9-11, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and then operations such as that of our brother Omar al-Faruq, which could have not cost more than a few thousand dollars, end up draining the US Treasury billions of dollars, in order to give Americans a false sense of security.

For how long can the US survive this war of attrition?

What benefit is it to the American people to suffer for the sake of supporting Israel, and what benefit is it to the American people to suffer for the sake of the al-Saud family, and the Gulf monarchs?

Our brother Omar Faruq has succeeded in breaking through the security systems that have cost the US government alone over $40 billion since 9-11.

Obama has promised that his administration will be one of transparency, but he has not fulfilled his promise. His administration tried to portray the operation of brother Nidal Hassan as an individual act of violence from an estranged individual. The administration practised the control on the leak of information concerning the operation in order to cushion the reaction of the American public. Until this moment, the administration is refusing to release the emails exchanged between myself and Nidal.

And after the operation of our brother Omar Faruq, the initial comments coming from the administration were looking the same: another attempt at covering up the truth. But al- Qaida cut off Obama from deceiving the world again; by issuing their statement claiming responsibility for the operation.

However, we are transparent and open in proclaiming our message to the world: our objective is to bring back Islam to life, we seek to remove the tyrannical and parasitical rulers of the Muslim world, and replace them with men of God, who know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil.

We seek to apply the rule of Qur'an, and make the Word of Allah supreme over all other, and God willing, we will strive to achieve these goals with all what we possess, and we fight to the last man against whoever stands in our way.

We the Muslims do not have an inherent animosity towards any racial group or ethnicity.

We are not against Americans for just being American, we are against evil. And America as a whole has turned into a nation of evil. What we see from America is the invasion of two Muslim countries, we see Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Guantanamo Bay, we see cruise missiles and cluster bombs, and we have just seen in Yemen the death of twenty-three children and seventeen women.

We cannot stand idly in the face of such aggression, and we will fight back and incite others to do the same.

I for one, was born in the US, I lived in the US for twenty-one years. America was my home. I was a preacher for Islam, involved in non-violent Islamic activism. However, with the American invasion of Iraq, and continued US aggression against Muslims, I could not reconcile between living in the US and being a Muslim, and I eventually came to the conclusion that Jihad against America is binding upon myself, just as it is binding on every other able Muslim.

Nidal Hassan was not recruited by al-Qaida. Nidal Hassan was recruited by American crimes, and this is what America refuses to admit. America refuses to admit that its foreign policies are the reason behind a man like Nidal Hassan, born and raised in the US, turning his guns against American soldiers. And the more crimes that America commits, the more Mujahideen will be recruited to fight against it.

The operation of our brother Omar Faruq was in retaliation to American cruise missiles and cluster bombs that killed women and children in Yemen.

It is true that we are facing the arsenal of the greatest army on earth with our simple, modest means, but victory is on our side. Victory is on our side because there is a difference between us and you: we are fighting for a noble cause.

We are fighting for God, and you are fighting for worldly gain.

We are fighting for justice, because we are defending ourselves and our families, and you are fighting for imperialistic goals.

We are fighting for truth and justice and you are fighting for oppression.

You have your B-52's, your Apaches, your Abrams and your cruise missiles, and we have small arms and simple improvised explosive devices. But we have men, who are dedicated and sincere, with hearts of lions, and blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the world.

Americans need to stop looking at themselves from their own lens, but look at themselves from the lens of the world. They will then see the ugly face of America. America is not despised only by Muslims, but by many millions of people around the world, and in America itself.

America may be obstinate in believing that the animosity of a few million Muslims wouldn't really harm them. They would say "we have the most powerful army in the world, and we have the strongest economy in the world".

But don't you think that such a belief is a bit outdated?

Don't you think that such a belief was more suitable to the days of patriotism that swept over America following 9-11 than it is now, with the American army admitting its inability, and the American economy going through intensive care?

But imperial hubris is leading America to its fate: a war of attrition, a continuous haemorrhage that would end with the fall and splintering of the United States of America.

If George W. Bush is remembered as being the President who got America stuck in Afghanistan and Iraq, it's looking like Obama wants to be remembered as the President who got America stuck in Yemen. Obama has already started his war on Yemen, by the aerial bombings of Abyan and Shabwah, by doing that he has waged a publicity campaign for the Mujahideen in Yemen, and within days accomplished for them the work of years.

As the popularity of the Mujahideen in Yemen sky-rocketed the popularity of Obama in America is plummeting. The corrupt Yemeni government officials and some of the tribal chiefs, who claim to be your allies, are having a ball these days.

The word being passed around among them is that this is the time to extort the gullible Americans. Your politicians, military and intelligence officers are being milked for millions.

The Yemeni government officials are giving you big promises, and handing you big bills: welcome to the world of Yemeni politicians!

I would like to close my message to you with an invitation to Islam. We were all created by God on this earth to worship Him, and then after death it is either Paradise or Hell-fire for eternity. So the matter is not one to take lightly. It is your future. I invite you to read the Book of Allah, the Qur'an, you do not have to take anyone's word for it, decide for yourself whether it is the Truth or not.

To the Muslims in America I have this to say: how can your conscience allow you to live in peaceful co-existence with the nation that is responsible for the tyranny and crimes committed against your own brothers and sisters? How can you have your loyalty to a government that is leading the war against Islam and Muslims?

The Muslim community in America has been witnessing a gradual erosion and decline in core Islamic principles, so today many of your scholars and Islamic organisations are openly approving of Muslims serving in the US Army, to kill Muslims, joining the FBI, to spy against Muslims, and are standing between you and your duty of Jihad.

Slowly but surely your situation is becoming similar to that of the embattled Muslim community of Spain after the fall of Granada. Muslims of the West, take heed and learn from the lessons of history: there are ominous clouds gathering in your horizon. Yesterday America was a land of slavery, segregation, lynching and Ku Klux Klan and tomorrow it will be a land of religious discrimination and concentration camps.

Don't be deceived by the promises of preserving your rights from a government that is right now killing your own brothers and sisters. Today, with the war between Muslims and the West escalating, you cannot count on the message of solidarity you may get from a civic group or a political party, or the word of support you hear from a kind neighbour, or a nice co-worker. The West will eventually turn against its Muslim citizens!

In closing, I pray that Allah guides us to the Truth, and grants us steadfastness on the Straight Path, and may peace and blessings be upon His Messenger, his family, and Companions.

Peace be upon those who follow the Guidance.