Letter From Usamah Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin to the American People
Permission to fight (against disbelievers) is given to those
believers) who are fought against, because they have been
wronged, and surely, Allah is Able to give them (believers)
victory [Quran 22:39]
Those who believe fight in the Cause of Allah, and those who
disbelieve fight in the cause of Taguut (anything worshipped
other than Allah e.g. Satan). So fight you against the friends
of Satan; ever feeble is indeed the plot of Satan. [Quran 4:76]
Some American writers have published articles attempting to
explain the motivation behind our fight against the United
States of America and others who have the blood of Muslims on
their hands. These articles have generated a number of replies
from a spectrum of people, with a variety of sources from which
they quote. Some explanations have been made based on Islamic
Law, yet some quite clearly have not. Here we outline our reply
to two questions addressing the Americans:
Q1) Why are we waging Jihad against you?
Q2) What advice do we have for you and what do we want from you?
The answer to the first question is very simple: Because you
attacked us and continue to attack us.
You attacked us in Palestine:
Palestine is a place that has been suffering from military
occupation for more than 80 years. The British handed over
Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who
have occupied it for more than 50 years. The Jews attacked the
Palestinians viciously, sparing no method, including killings,
crimes, punishments and destruction. The creation, nurturing,
and protection of Israel is a great crime and you are the
leaders of this crime.
And of course there is no need to explain and prove the degree
of American support for Israel. The creation of Israel is a
crime and it has to be erased. Each and everyone who has
polluted him or herself with this crime has to pay for it, and
pay for it heavily.
The absurdity of your claims brings us to tears, as we see that
you have still not become bored of your fabricated lies saying
that the Jews have a historical right to live in Palestine as it
was promised to them in the Torah. Anyone who tries to challenge
you on this argument is given your historical Sam reference.
This fabricated lie is one of the most faulty ones. The Arabs of
Palestine are pure Arabs and are the real Sams (from the Prophet
Sam). Muslims are the followers of Musa (peace be upon him) and
it is the Muslims who have inherited the real Torah that has not
been changed.
Muslims believe that all the Messengers and Prophets are from
Allah, including Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Isa (Jesus)
and Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all. So
when those who say that the Torah mentions that the followers of
Musa should live in Palestine, do they not also see that the
Muslims are the best suited for this position?
The blood pouring out of Palestine must be treated - with
revenge of equal quantity. And you have to know that the
Palestinians are not crying alone. You must be aware that the
women are not becoming widows alone. You must be aware that
their sons are not becoming orphans alone.
You attacked us is Somalia. You have been silent towards, and at
times even encouraged Russian atrocities against us in Chechnya.
You have clearly supported Indian butchery against us in
Kashmir, and the world has been witness to your relentless
assistance to several Jewish attacks, including killing us in
Lebanon.
Under your supervision and instructions, your agent countries
continue to attack us and hunt us on a daily basis, hence:
The policies employed in these countries stop our nation from
establishing the Islamic Shariah, thereby causing great harm to
this Ummah.
The policies employed in these countries makes all of us taste
this insult and places us inside the prison of fear.
The policies employed in these countries steel our Ummah s
wealth and fortunes and sells them to you for a cheap price, so
that a few of the elite may indulge themselves whilst the
general population starves to death.
The policies that are employed in these countries happily
surrender to the Jews, and have been handing over to them most
of Palestine, even allowing the existence of Jewish settlements.
So the removal of these policies is an individual obligation
upon us so as to make the Shariah the supreme law and to regain
Palestine. Our fight against theses policies is the same as
fighting against you.
So it is clear that it is essential that we remove these
policies to make the Shariah (Law of Allah) the supreme law, and
that we heal the wounds of Palestine. As you are the Chief
designers and sponsors for these policies that are causing
immeasurable harm to this Ummah (nation), our fight against
these policies is the same fight against you.
You ransack our lands, stealing our treasures and oil, simply
because of the pressure you exert via your international
influence and military threats. This theft is indeed the biggest
theft ever witnessed in the history of the world.
Your forces occupy our lands spreading your ideology and thereby
polluting the hearts of our people. You have laid siege on our
holy places, mocking the sanctity of our mosques. You have done
all of this to protect the Jews and safeguard your pillage of
our treasures.
You have starved the Muslims of Iraq where each passing hour
sees a new grave dug for yet another Iraqi child killed by you.
It is deplorable that 1.5 million children have been killed by
you and your siege, without anyone saying anything. Yet when
3000 of your people died, the entire world woke up and stood to
fight, and to date have not stopped their fight against us. You
have agreed with the Jews that Jerusalem is the capital of
Israel and have set up your embassy there. And it is with your
help and support the Israelis are planning to destroy the Al-
Aqsa mosque. You even aided Sharon with guards so that he was
able to enter the Al-Aqsa mosque preparing to capture and
destroy it.
The examples here are only a few amongst an ocean of oppression,
injustice, slaughter and plunder carried out by you on our
Islamic Ummah. It is therefore commanded by our religion that we
must fight back. After all, how can you expect that after you
have attacked us for more than half a century, that we will then
let you live in peace?!! What you wish for is irrelevant, what
you must be made aware of is that you should expect nothing less
from us than Jihad and resistance.
You may then ask why we are attacking and killing civilians
because you have defined them as innocent:
Well this argument contradicts your claim that America is the
land of freedom and democracy, where every American irrespective
of gender, color, age or intellectual ability has a vote. It is
a fundamental principle of any democracy that the people choose
their leaders, and as such, approve and are party to the actions
of their elected leaders. So In the land of freedom each
American is free to select their leader because they have the
right to do so, and as such they give consent to the policies
their elected Government adopts. This includes the support of
Israel manifesting itself in many ways including billions of
dollars in military aid. By electing these leaders, the American
people have given their consent to the incarceration of the
Palestinian people, the demolition of Palestinian homes and the
slaughter of the children of Iraq. The American people have the
ability and choice to refuse the policies of their Government
and even to change their Government, yet time and time again,
polls show that the American people support the policies of the
elected Government.
The tax paid by the American people is spent against us,
building planes to bomb our homes in Afghanistan, building tanks
to strike and destroy our homes in Palestine, to finance the
armies that occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf and the fleets
surrounding Iraq. These tax dollars are given to Israel so that
it will be better equipped to attack us and penetrate our lands.
So the American people are Israel's financial source, and
through the elected American leaders, this money is spent on
little else but killing our families in our lands.
Further, the American army is part of the American people. It
is these very same people who are shamelessly helping the Jews
fight against us.
This is why the American people are not innocent. The American
people are active members in all these crimes.
In our religion, Allah, The Lord of the Worlds, gave us the
permission and the option to take revenge and return to you what
you gave us. Anyone who tries to destroy our villages and
cities, then we are going to destroy their villages and cities.
Anyone who steals our fortunes, then we must destroy their
economy. And anyone who kills our civilians, then we are going
to kill their civilians. The American Government and press still
cannot answer why we hit them in New York and Washington. If
according to your President, Sharon is a man of peace, then we
are also men of peace!!! Since its inception, America has
illustrated that that it does not understand the language of
love and manners. So we are using the language they understand.
Now let's answer the second question: What advice do we have for
you and what do we want from you?
The first thing that we are inviting you to is Islam, the
religion of Tawheed and no association with Allah. This is an
invitation to the love of Allah, complete submission to His
orders, and the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories
and religions which contradict with Allah s orders. This is the
religion that Allah has chosen to be the Prophet s (peace be
upon him) religion. Islam is the religion of all the prophets
without any difference.
We call you to Islam; the last religion that has replaced all
the previous religions; the religion of good manners, sincerity,
mercy, fear of Allah, kindness to others, justice between
people, giving the rights to people who deserve them, protection
of people from oppressors and unjust acts; the religion which
calls upon its followers to amr bil maroof (enjoin the good) and
nahi an al-munkar (forbid the evil) with hand, tongue and heart.
This is the religion of Jihad in the way of Allah so that
Allah s Word and religion are made Supreme. This is the religion
of obligation to Allah, demanding its followers to act with
justice and equality between people without differentiating
between their language, sex or color.
This is the religion that has the Qur'an, the book that has not
been changed like the other books. The Qur'an is the living
miracle until the Day of Judgment. Allah has challenged anyone
to bring a book like the Quran or even ten versus like it. To
date this challenged has not been met, will not and can not be
met, as the Quran is the uncreated Speech of Allah.
We ask you next to stop your unfair acts, lies, immorality and
debauchery.
We regret to tell you that you are the worst civilization in the
history of mankind:
You are the nation who, rather than ruling by the Law of Allah,
choose to implement your own inferior rules and regulations,
thus following your own vain whims and desires. You run a
society contrary to the nature of mankind by separating religion
from your policies. So much so that people believe that even if
they commit adultery, theft, and other wicked acts, as long as
they go and confess, everything will be okay.
You are the nation who allows riba (interest on money), even
though all the religions, including Christianity, have forbidden
partaking in riba (interest on money). Yet you build your
economy and investments on riba (interest on money). As a result
of this, the Jews controlled your economy and then your media
and now control all aspects of your life, making you their
servants and achieving their aims at your expense, which is
what Binyameen (Benjamin) Franklin warned you against.
Your nation encourages drinking alcohol in all its shapes and
forms i.e. production, trading and usage. On the one hand, you
have made selling and using some drugs illegal, yet you so often
turn a blind eye to this vice. Is it any surprise that your
country has the largest drug addiction problem?
Your nation allows immoral acts and you assume that these are
part of personal freedom, all whilst you continue to move
towards this hell without any concern. Even your policies and
rules show no concern for these things. Who can forget your
previous President s immoral acts committed in the Oval office?
After that you did not even bother putting him on trial and
instead allowed him to wriggle himself out of the situation
without reprimanding him in any way. History will remember you
for all of this.
Your nation endorses gambling in its all forms. Your companies
practice this as well, resulting in the investments becoming
active and the criminals becoming rich.
Your nation exploits women like consumer products or
advertising tools, calling upon customers to purchase them. You
use women to serve passengers, visitors and strangers to
increase your profit margins. You plaster your naked daughters
across billboards in order to sell a product without any shame.
You have brainwashed your daughters into believing they are
liberated by wearing revealing clothes, yet in reality all they
have liberated is your sexual desire. After all this you say
that you are the nation that supports women's freedom.
You promote immoral acts in all their forms directly and
indirectly. With the help of this, you open the door for your
tourists, encouraging them to join you in these immoral acts
spreading filth upon whoever comes into contact with you.
And because of all this, you have been described as the nation
of all kinds of different diseases -- diseases that had never
existed in the past. So you have to be proud of yourself,
because your evil acts have spread AIDS all around the world,
especially to the poorest countries in the world, killing many
millions.
You are the biggest nation that destroys our natural
surroundings and pollutes it with industrial waste. You then
refuse to sign the KITO agreement, so that you can continue to
profit from these industries, whilst leaving a world barely
inhabitable for our children.
Your law is the law of the rich and wealthy people. Behind
you, there are the Jews who are controlling your policies, media
and economy.
The most unique thing about you, is your use of weapons and
power everywhere -- not for defensive purposes, but for
destructive ones. It is you who dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan,
even though Japan was ready to negotiate an end to the war. So
what is left on the list of the most heinous, evil and unjust
acts that you have not done? And you call yourself the nation of
freedom and justice.
Let us not forget one of your major characteristics, which is
your duality in both manners and law. Your manners and policies
have two categories: one for you and one for the others.
(a) You claim freedom and democracy for yourselves, but for
others you impose your monstrous policies and governments,
calling the latter your American friends . Of the American
friends, which of them applies the democracy and freedom that
you so cherish? When the Islamic party in Algeria wanted to
practice democracy and when they won the election, you
instructed your friends, the Algerian army, to crush them,
teaching them a lesson from the American book of democracy !!!
(b) Your policy on prohibiting and forcibly removing weapons of
mass destruction only applies to those countries which you do
not want possessing these weapons. However, for Israel, they can
keep and use them for their self defense . Anyone else who you
suspect might be manufacturing or keeping these kinds of
weapons, you call them criminals and you have to take military
action against them.
(c) You are the last ones to respect the resolutions and
policies of the UN, yet you claim to want to selectively punish
anyone else who does the same. Israel has, for more than 50
years, been pushing UN resolutions and rules against the wall
with the full support of America.
(d) You search for and imprison war criminals, yet when it comes
to your own war criminals you demand that they are granted
immunity. However, history will not forget your killings in
Japan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Lebanon and Iraq. This is a
disgrace which will be attached to you forever. It would be
enough to mention some of your recent war crimes against the
Muslims in Afghanistan in which densely populated innocent
civilian villages were destroyed, bombs were dropped on mosques
causing the roof of the mosque to come crashing down on the
heads of the Muslims praying inside. You are the ones who broke
the agreement with the Mujahideen when they left Qunduz, bombing
them in the Qila Janghi fortress killing more than 1,000 people
because of suffocation and thirst. Allah knows best how many
people have died
under your torture, and torture by the hands of your agents.
Your planes are still looking for anyone remotely suspicious to
them, bombing their homes and killing their women and children.
(e) You have claimed to be the vanguards of Human Rights.
Previously, your Ministry of Foreign affairs used to issue
annual statistics of those countries violating Human Rights.
However, all these things vanished when the Mujahideen hit you,
and after that you became of the chiefs of the Human Rights
violators, even though previously you had publicly cursed such
policies. So in your country, you started capturing the Muslims
and Arabs, placing them into custody without any reason, any
court trial, or even checking their name. Some of the victims of
your Human Right violations are in Guantanomo Bay, which is a
real historical embarrassment to America screaming at your
faces:
You hypocrite! what is the value of your signature on Human
Rights
agreement?!
Our third piece of advice is that you should be honest with
yourself. Even as I say this, I doubt whether you will, for if
you did honestly look at yourself, you would discover that you
are a nation without principles or manners. However, you are
also a people who impose certain values and manners on other
people, but believe you are above all of that.
4- We also advise you to stop supporting Israel, end your
support of the Indians in Kashmir, the Russians against the
Chechens and to also cease supporting the Manila Government
against the Muslims in Southern Philippine.
5- We also advise you to pack your luggage and get out of our
lands. We want you to have a successful and happy life, so don t
force us to send you back in coffins in cargo planes.
6- Bring to an end to supporting your agents in our countries.
Don t interfere in our life, education and politics. Leave as
alone or else you will find us in New York and Washington.
7- It is better for you to deal with us and interact with us on
the basis of mutual interests and benefits. You have been warned
not to continue your policy of stealing our treasures and
supporting the Jews because this will result in more disasters
for you.
If you fail to respond to all these conditions, then prepare for
fight.
We are the nation of Islamic Monotheism ( Tawheed ), and we
trust and depend ( Tawakkul ) on Allah and we do not fear anyone
except Allah.
The Quran calls to us:
Do you fear them? Allah has more right that you should fear Him
if you are believers. Fight against them so that Allah will
punish them by your hands and disgrace them and give you victory
over them and heal the breasts of a believing people. And
remove the anger of their (believers ) hearts. Allah accepts
the repentance of whom He wills. Allah is All-Knowing, All-
Wise.
[Quran 9:13-1])
We are the nation of honour and respect:
But honour, power and glory belong to Allah, and to His
Messenger (Muhammad- peace be upon him) and to the believers.
[Quran 63:8]
So do not become weak (against your enemy), nor be sad, and you
will be superior ( in victory )if you are indeed (true)
believers [Quran 3:139]
We are the nation eager for Martyrdom ( Shahaada ). The nation
that looks forward to death rather then living on this world:
Think not of those who are killed in the way of Allah as dead.
Nay, they are alive with their Lord, and they are being provided
for. They rejoice in what Allah has bestowed upon them from His
bounty and rejoice for the sake of those who have not yet joined
them, but are left behind (not yet martyred) that on them no
fear shall come, nor shall they grieve. They rejoice in a grace
and a bounty from Allah, and that Allah will not waste the
reward of the believers. [Quran 3:169-171]
We are the nation of victory and success that Allah has
promised us
It is He Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad peace be upon
him) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam), to make it
victorious over all other religions even though the Polytheists
(Mushrikeen) hate it. [Quran
61:9]
Allah has decreed that Verily it is I and My Messengers who
shall be the victorious. Verily Allah is All-Powerful, All-
Mighty. [Quran 58:21]
We are the nation of Islam. The nation that was able to
dismiss and destroy the previous evil Empires like yourself.
The nation that rejects your attacks on her, wishes to remove
your evils and fight against you. You are well aware that from
the very core of our soul we despise you.
If you refuse to listen to our advice, then be aware that you
will lose this Crusade Bush began, just like the other previous
Crusades in which you were humiliated by the hands of the
Mujahideen, fleeing to your home in great disgrace. Your end
will be like the Soviets who fled from Afghanistan after
suffering a colossal military and economic defeat.
