Bin Baz – Between Reality and Illusion

By Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri

I have listened to the fatawa of Bin Baz, like many other millions of Muslims, which was broadcasted all over (the world). He was calling the Muslims to pray in Masjid al-Aqsa and permitted trade with Israel.

Then I heard the response of the Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, saluting and welcoming the “honourable” mufti. [Allah (SWT) says in the Qur’an: “And never will the Jews and Christians be pleased with you until you follow their millah ([religion, way of life etc.].” (Al-Baqarah, 2:120)]

Unlike many people, I wasn’t very surprised with what that man (Bin Baz) said, because I have a very firm opinion about him, despite the great elevation that many people have given him. In my simple understanding, it is not possible for a man to be an imam, mufti, person of fatwa, example of education and simultaneously have one of the highest religious positions in the regime of Aal-Sa’oud (the Saudi government) – America’s greatest agent.

So how does Aal-Sa’oud pay that man (Bin Baz) all these salaries and give him all these positions whilst they are the strongest followers (allies) of America, except if the presence of that man in those positions was a major benefit for Aal-Sa’oud? Aal-Sa’oud are the ones who are ruling the Muslims by dictatorship, without any mercy or compromise.

And if it occurred to them (the Saudi regime) once, that this sheikh will ever oppose them or be of any kind of threat to their authority, they would have taken so many measures to silence him through isolation or even by killing him. And the history of Aal-Sa’oud of killing their oppositions goes without say.

All of the above is not the main purpose of this speech (article), but the purpose is as follows:

 

Verily, many people have taken Bin Baz and those with him as an example in the Deen and as a reference for their fatawa. They refer to their (Bin Baz and his followers) fatawa and publications in the vital issues of the Deen, i.e. in ‘Aqeedah and Tawheed and in the most dangerous issues related to the Muslims (such as): the apostate rulers who are ruling the Muslim lands.

And those followers, despite what they choke on in regards to their independence (disassociation) from taqleed (blind following) and madhahib (schools of thought), are the greatest people of taqleed towards him (Bin Baz) and his people. And this da’wah has spread amongst thousands of Muslim youth until it has become the norm. 

Until we saw someone like Safar al-Hawali coming out with the idea that democracy might be a necessity to rescue the country from chaos (citing Algeria as an example), referring all of this (i.e. the idea of democracy) to Bin Baz, in his tape no. 4661 Tasjeelaat al-Hidaayah al-Islaamiyyah in Dammam, lecture dated 23/06/1412. All of this is in spite of al-Hawali’s knowledge in ‘Ilm ut-Tawheed and all his books about secularism. If this was the case with Safar al-Hawali, what about anybody else?

Thousands of youth have been living as prisoners to these dazzling names, Bin Baz, Ibn ‘Uthaymeen and Abu Bakr al-Jaza’iri, who they follow and will not even dare to oppose, even though their mistakes are so great, and their deviation is so outrageous.

And I used to wonder how do those people imitate in their Deen a man (Bin Baz) who never sacrificed anything for the sake of Allah and was never tested? On the contrary, he doesn’t get his salary except by defending the interests of the tawagheet (false gods, or those who do not rule by Islam). So how do these people ask him about the solution for the tawagheet and about the sanctity of their blood and to wipe out their authority?

It is about time for the Muslim youth to free themselves from these empty ringing names who have overstated their nifaq (hypocrisy) with the tawagheet until they have become a laughing-stock in front of friends and enemies.

And it is about time for these youth to gather around the ‘ulama al-’amileen (sincere active scholars) who are suffering and being tested for the sake of their Deen, the ones whom Allah (SWT) has described as, “And we made from among them [Children of Israel], leaders, giving guidance under Our Command, when they were patient and used to believe with certainty in Our Ayaat [proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, divine rules etc.].” (As-Sajdah, 32:24)

It is also about time for these youths to wake up from their unconsciousness in which they are living, and understand that the battle of Islam and kufr, haq and batil, is a crucial battle and there is no escaping it. And whoever is not going to prepare himself for it and get ready, he is going to be the first victim of it.

It would have been possible for us to stay silent about those people (Bin Baz and his cronies), if only they agreed to keep their mouths shut and just speak about what is not going to make the rulers angry: the personal ritual affairs of the Deen, even though that would have been impossible since all these tawagheet are so evil and corrupt. But those ‘ulama have turned into the destroyers and demolishers of the ‘Aqeedah for the youth, making excuses for the kufr (apostasy) of the taaghout, go against commanding good and forbidding evil, permit the settlement of the invading forces of the American crusaders in the Arabian peninsula, and bless the policies of normalizing relations with Israel and the Jewish control of the Muslim land.

Now this is what nobody with an atom’s weight of shame in his heart can accept, let alone to have an atom of iman in his heart.

And I know my words are going to be too much for many of the good people who are still living in the illusion or for the people who agree with me but have no bravery or courage to come out with it, fearing that others might start accusing them of belittling the ‘ulama, or because they cannot go against what they have been repeating (regurgitating) for many years.

However, the haq is ablaj (clear), and the baatil is shaken; indeed Bin Baz and his ta’ifah (entity, group, followers, etc.) are the government scholars who are selling us (the believers) to our enemies in return for some salary (money) and position. Let whoever wants to be angry be angry, and whoever wants to be pleased, let them be pleased.

Indeed the camp of iman can confront the camp of kufr; we have to get rid of the munafiqeen and the fraudsters:

“And thus do we explain the Ayaat [proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.] in detail, that the way of the mujrimoon [criminals, polytheists, sinners], may become manifest.” (Al-An’am, 6:55)