Clearing Islam of Crimes Committed in the Levant

In the name of Allah, prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. 1. The most important thing for us is to absolve the Sharia from distorted practices and crimes committed in the name of Islam, accompanied by cries of (Allahu Akbar). Islam is innocent of them! 2. Let the people of the Levant, Muslims, and the world hear: We are innocent before Allah of the random killings we see in the Levant. This is not part of the Sharia at all. Do not say to us tomorrow when we call for the Sharia and the Caliphate (we have already tried it). What is this Sharia that we call for, nor the Caliphate nor the Islamic state that we advocate for! 3. Islam is innocent of killing Muslim prisoners simply for pledging allegiance to a group among the groups. Executing a Muslim prisoner on the charge of belonging to a group and pledging allegiance to it is a crime, whoever the killer is and whoever the group of the victim is. If the Muslim prisoner has committed something that warrants retaliation according to Sharia, then the victim's guardian has the right to retaliate, otherwise, mere belonging to a group does not justify killing him, no matter how misguided the practices of some of its members are. 4. And Islam is innocent of labeling a group as apostates without evidence. Even if this group or tribe betrays the soldiers of another group, or even the soldiers of a state assuming its legitimacy, this does not mean the apostasy of this group. Rather, betrayal is a sin that is dealt with as we mentioned above by allowing the guardians of the killed to retaliate or forgive. 5. And labeling a group as infidels is a sin that backfires on the labeler if the labeled is not truly an infidel as our Prophet (peace be upon him) explained. And whoever labels Muslims as apostates when they are not, he bears the sin of killing them in the horrific ways we see: beheading, crucifixion, and mass execution. 6. Any group that issues a statement labeling a sect as apostates without evidence and orders their killing does not rule with what Allah has revealed. 7. And Islam is innocent of the barbaric retaliation we see, where a group retaliates (harshly and deterrently) exceeding the limit in killing, taking the innocent for the sinner's crime, and not giving the guardian of the killed a choice between retaliation and forgiveness. This is what was done in the pre-Islamic era and is not part of Sharia at all. While in Islam: ((And whoever is killed wrongfully, We have given his guardian authority, so he should not exceed in killing. He was indeed victorious)). 8. And Islam is innocent of labeling groups with terms like Khawarij and Sahawat without distinction on entire groups and ordering their killing. 9. And Islam is innocent of using verses revealed about disbelievers against Muslims, such as Allah's saying: ((So if you overpower them in war, then scatter them by them from behind them)), and innocent of trying to triumph over Muslims through terror and excessive killing! 10. Whoever's Islam is confirmed with certainty, the name of Islam does not depart from him except with certainty. It is ignorance and misguidance to believe some fanatics when they accuse Muslims of apostasy, especially since these accusers did not bring evidence, and they have previously ruled that trustworthy Mujahideen are apostates without evidence, such as Abu Saad Al-Hadhrami, may Allah have mercy on him, when they said about him: (And the case of Abu Saad Al-Hadhrami is not far from you; for the Islamic State three months ago did not hesitate at all in issuing a ruling for Allah the Almighty against him after his apostasy was proven by his confession and the testimony of his Sharia committee on his action that it was apostasy and disbelief). Thus, in ambiguities without evidence for any of them! And we know that Allah the Almighty said: ((Had you not believed in it when you heard it, the believing men and women would have thought well of themselves and said, 'This is an obvious lie')). This is a directive from Allah to disbelieve those who accuse a believer without evidence. So how if the ruling of apostasy comes from people whose condition regarding knowledge, trust, and justice is unknown?! It is not enough for knowledge and justice that a person is a fierce fighter who fights the disbelievers and they fight him, for how many misguided sects have fought in the history of Islam and ruled! 11. The Muslim does not enjoy killing, nor does he excel in killing the disbeliever. Our Prophet (peace be upon him) said: ((So when you kill, do well in killing)). And when the men of the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza, who betrayed the Muslims, were killed, they were taken out in groups away from the eyes of their companions so they would not see them, and it was not intended that the Muslims mock them during their killing or kick one of their heads. This was despite them being treacherous Jews. And the scholars differed on whether the disbeliever who betrayed the Muslims should be treated in kind? Whoever finds himself enjoying killing, beheading, and filming it should know that he has been afflicted with a regression in nature and a psychological deformity! How much more if he does something of this to Muslims?! 12. Being lenient with some of the youth of these groups when addressing them is to attract them to the truth and guidance, for they are not all the same. And I know that some of them have been affected by Allah's grace and left this group. And my leniency in speech is not out of ignorance of the crimes committed by some individuals of the groups, nor out of ignorance of the deviation and corruption of their leaders and security personnel, and I have explained that in my article (Al-Mahraqa). So let no one think that I am lenient with those among them who slaughter Muslims and extremists of Takfir! Rather, these are criminals, and I absolve myself to Allah of their actions and crimes against Jihad. 13. There is much deceit in the arena of the Levant, for in addition to extremism, there is the meeting with the open agents in "leadership councils". Extremism is not the only problem, but the interference of Arab and international systems in the revolution of the Levant and the response of some factions to it, and the cowardice in fighting the disbelieving enemy while focusing the problem on extremism, fighting him to please the eyes of tyrants, all this is threatening the revolution of the Levant with loss. And it is not permissible for a Muslim to fight under such banners. And this does not mean that there are no pure banners in the arena of the Levant. 14. We did not mention the names of the factions here, even though they are known, so that it is known that we only side with and absolve ourselves of their actions that we mentioned, not their names. 15. Let the people of the Levant, Muslims, and the world hear: What was mentioned of ruling with apostasy without evidence and killing based on it and beheading are crimes that must not be belittled, let alone justified. Rather, Islam is innocent of them. And those who commit them are not brothers in methodology! Rather, they are misguided, and we absolve ourselves to Allah of their misguidance. And the common Muslims are more beloved to us than these beyond comparison. And yet, in many of these groups, there is a mixture of righteous and wicked, and they have good deeds and bad deeds. And while we see the prohibition of fighting with any of them in which the types of deceit mentioned have increased, we do not have from our position here except to absolve ourselves of their falsehood, absolve the Sharia from it, and warn their members of injustice, aggression, and their fanatics from defending and acknowledging it. 16. We ask Allah to rectify the affairs of the Muslims.