Text of Fatwah Urging Jihad Against Americans

Published in Al-Quds al-'Arabi on Febuary 23, 1998

Statement signed by Sheikh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin; Ayman al-Zawahiri,
leader of the Jihad Group in Egypt; Abu- Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, a leader
of the Islamic Group; Sheikh Mir Hamzah, secretary of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan;
and Fazlul Rahman, leader of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh

Praise be to God, who revealed the Book, controls the clouds, defeats
factionalism, and says in His Book "But when the forbidden months are past,
then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, seize them, beleaguer
them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)"; and peace
be upon our Prophet, Muhammad Bin-'Abdallah, who said "I have been sent
with the sword between my hands to ensure that no one but God is worshipped,
God who put my livelihood under the shadow of my spear and who inflicts
humiliation and scorn on those who disobey my orders." The Arabian Peninsula
has never--since God made it flat, created its desert, and encircled it
with seas--been stormed by any forces like the crusader armies now spreading
in it like locusts, consuming its riches and destroying its plantations. All
this is happening at a time when nations are attacking Muslims like
people fighting over a plate of food. In the light of the grave situation
and the lack of support, we and you are obliged to discuss current events,
and we should all agree on how to settle the matter.

No one argues today about three facts that are known to everyone; we
will list them, in order to remind everyone:

First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the
lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering
its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing
its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead
through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.

If some people have formerly debated the fact of the occupation,
all the people of the Peninsula have now acknowledged it.

The best proof of this is the Americans' continuing aggression against
the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post, even though all
its rulers are against their territories being used to that end, still they
are helpless. Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi
people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of
those killed, in excess of 1 million... despite all this, the Americans
are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they
are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious
war or the fragmentation and devastation.

So now they come to annihilate what is left of this people and to humiliate
their Muslim neighbors.

Third, if the Americans' aims behind these wars are religious and economic,
the aim is also to serve the Jews' petty state and divert attention from
its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there.

The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest
neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states of
the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper statelets
and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel's survival
and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the Peninsula.

All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans are a clear declaration
of war on God, his messenger, and Muslims. And ulema have throughout Islamic
history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the
enemy destroys the Muslim countries. This was revealed by Imam Bin-Qadamah
in "Al- Mughni," Imam al-Kisa'i in "Al- Bada'i," al-Qurtubi in his interpretation,
and the shaykh of al-Islam in his books, where he said "As for the militant
struggle, it is aimed at defending sanctity and religion, and it is a duty
as agreed. Nothing is more sacred than belief except repulsing an enemy
who is attacking religion and life."

On that basis, and in compliance with God's order, we issue
the following fatwa to all Muslims

The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies--civilians and military--is
an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which
it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the
holy mosque from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out
of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim.
This is in accordance with the words of Almighty God, "and fight the pagans
all together as they fight you all together," and "fight them until there
is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in
God."

This is in addition to the words of Almighty God "And why should ye
not fight in the cause of God and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated
and oppressed--women and children, whose cry is 'Our Lord, rescue us
from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from thee
one who will help!'"

We -- with God's help -- call on every Muslim who believes in God and
wishes to be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill the Americans
and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it. We also call
on Muslim ulema, leaders, youths, and soldiers to launch the raid on Satan's
U.S. troops and the devil's supporters allying with them, and to displace
those who are behind them so that they may learn a lesson.

Almighty God said "O ye who believe, give your response to God and His
Apostle, when He calleth you to that which will give you life. And know
that God cometh between a man and his heart, and that it is He to whom
ye shall all be gathered."

Almighty God also says "O ye who believe, what is the matter with you,
that when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of God, ye cling so heavily
to the earth! Do ye prefer the life of this world to the hereafter? But
little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the hereafter. Unless
ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others
in your place; but Him ye would not harm in the least. For God hath power
over all things."

Almighty God also says "So lose no heart, nor fall into despair.
For ye must gain mastery if ye are true in faith."