Difference between revisions of "Manual for a Raid"
(→Background) |
(No difference)
|
Latest revision as of 22:27, 3 July 2012
Background
Soon after the attacks, a handwritten letter was found in Mohamed Atta's luggage that appeared to be instructions for the hijackers. It included advice on how to prepare for such a suicide mission, the invocations that should be recited and how to behave on the plane. A copy was found in a car associated with Nawaf al-Hazmi left at Dulles Airport, and "essentially the same document" was found at the Flight 93 crash scene. Quotes like "you must make your knife sharp and must not discomfort your animal during the slaughter" were taken from a translation, and used in the press to chilling effect.
Some questioned parts of the letter, though. A Bob Woodward piece mentioned "two scholars said they found "incongruous" the opening line that refers to praying "in the name of God, of myself and my family . . ." because Muslims do not pray in their name or their families' names." Robert Fisk asked "What Muslim Would Write: 'The Time of Fun and Waste is Gone'?", and these objections are still raised occasionally to question the legitimacy of the document. Here's what History Commons have to say on the issue, for instance:
The first page of a letter attributed to Mohamed Atta. [Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation]The text of a handwritten, five-page document found in Mohamed Atta’s luggage is made public. [Federal Bureau of Investigation, 9/28/2001; Washington Post, 9/28/2001; Observer, 9/30/2001]
The next day, the London Independent will strongly question if the note is genuine. It points out that the “note suggests an almost Christian view of what the hijackers might have felt,” and is filled with “weird” comments that Muslims would never say, such as “the time of fun and waste is gone.” If the note “is genuine, then the [hijackers] believed in a very exclusive version of Islam—or were surprisingly unfamiliar with their religion.” [Independent, 9/29/2001]
Another copy of the document was discovered in a vehicle parked by a Flight 77 hijacker at Washington’s Dulles airport. A third copy of essentially the same document was found in the wreckage of Flight 93. Therefore, the letter neatly ties most of the hijackers together. [CBS News, 9/28/2001]
The Guardian comments, “The finds are certainly very fortunate, though some might think them a little too fortunate.” [Guardian, 10/1/2001]
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a092801handwritten#a092801handwrittenAccounts like this are good at covering apparent anomalies, but not quite so forthcoming when it comes to possible explanations.
The Washington Post story from which Fisk took his quotes, for instance, relied on an initial summarised translation of the document, and Fisk himself wondered if errors here might be responsible for the problems:
And sure enough, when the FBI released images of four pages and they were translated independently, significant differences from the original English version began to appear.
Here is the quote about "the time of fun and waste" that Fisk found so implausible, for instance:
Manual_for_a_Raid#Bob_Woodward
But here is that section of the document, from a later translation in the New York Review of Books:
8. Keep a positive attitude. There are between you and your departure but a few moments to start the happy God-pleasing life with the prophets, saints, and martyrs, who are the best of companions. We ask God for his grace. Be optimistic. The Prophet was optimistic in all of his endeavors.
Manual_for_a_Raid#Hassan_Mneimneh
It seems the original version isn't just a translation of the document, but also a summary, condensing sentences into a few words to provide a quick overview. It may be unwise, then, to rely on that summary as an indication of whether the document is real, or a forgery.
It's also worth remembering how much these translations can vary. The original line that "you must make your knife sharp and must not discomfort your animal during the slaughter", for example, appears in the New York Review of Books version as "sharpen your blade and relieve your sacrifice." And in quotes, too, so presumably it's sourced from somewhere else. While this remains disturbing, it underlines the point that understanding the document is no easy task.
Still, some have made the effort, and notably they don't back up the forgery suggestions. The New York Review of Books article doesn't appear to doubt that the letter was written by one of the hijackers. Two German academics, Hans G. Kippenberg (Professor in History and Theory of Religions at the Max-Weber-Kolleg, University of Erfurt) and Tilman Seidensticker (Professor in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Friedrich Schiller Univeristy of Jena) worked together on a book about the document, titled "The 9/11 Handbook", where they describe forgery of the document by the FBI as "possible, though highly improbable". And they express none of Fisk's concerns about the document in their own analysis.
Further support for the legitimacy of the document comes from al Jazeera reporter Yosri Fouda. He reports discussing it with Ramzi Binalshibh when they met in 2002, when he was told that the letter was written by Abdulaziz al-Omari (see his book Masterminds of Terror).
One small fragment of hope remains for those claiming "forgery". Originally it's claimed there were five pages in the letter, but only four were released, and one of the lines quoted from the "missing" page - "In the name of God, of myself and of my family" - was recognised as of questionable authenticity immediately (including by scholars like the 9/11 Handbook authors).
Of course we also know that the initial translations were of questionable accuracy, and so cannot be relied upon. And scholars seem content that the four released pages are likely to be genuine. However, until the question of the fifth page is cleared up, some small doubts about the authenticity of this document will remain.
FBI Press Release
Photos of four pages from the letter were made available in an FBI press release on September 28, 2001.
We've also cached the complete release as a PDF file here.
Analyses
Several notable analyses of the "Manual for a Raid" letter have appeared. We've included two of those that contain quotes commonly used to express doubts over its authenticity, as well as a later New York Review of Books analysis that doesn't appear to have the same issues.
Bob Woodward
This analysis of the letter appeared on the same day that the FBI released images of four of its pages. This means it is reliant on early translations, which later analyses have shown to be less than reliable.
Prayer and Death
By Bob Woodward Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 28, 2001; Page A01
Mohamed Atta, one of the key organizers among the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks, left behind a five-page handwritten document in Arabic that includes Islamic prayers, instructions for a last night of life and practical reminders to bring "knives, your will, IDs, your passport" and, finally, "to make sure that nobody is following you."
FBI investigators, who found the writings in Atta's luggage, which did not make it onto his flight, are not sure of the author's identity -- whether it was Atta, another hijacker or someone else.
The document is a cross between a chilling spiritual exhortation aimed at the hijackers and an operational mission checklist. With the hijackers all dead, the pages may turn out to provide the most vivid and penetrating glimpse into their mental states and final hours before they embarked on the deadliest act of terrorism in U.S. history.
The haunting writings urge the hijackers to crave death and "be optimistic." At the same time, the document starkly addresses fear on the eve of their suicide mission.
"Everybody hates death, fears death," according to a translation of highlights of the document obtained by The Washington Post. "But only those, the believers who know the life after death and the reward after death, would be the ones who will be seeking death."
This appears in a section of the document beneath the words, "The last night."
That section begins, "Remind yourself that in this night you will face many challenges. But you have to face them and understand it 100 percent. . . . Obey God, his messenger, and don't fight among yourself where you become weak, and stand fast, God will stand with those who stood fast."
The translated version of the document instructs the hijackers to steel their will with prayer before embarking on their mission.
"You should pray, you should fast. You should ask God for guidance, you should ask God for help. . . . Continue to pray throughout this night. Continue to recite the Koran."
It continues: "Purify your heart and clean it from all earthly matters. The time of fun and waste has gone. The time of judgment has arrived. Hence we need to utilize those few hours to ask God for forgiveness. You have to be convinced that those few hours that are left you in your life are very few. From there you will begin to live the happy life, the infinite paradise. Be optimistic. The prophet was always optimistic."
The document offers eerie practical advice for the hijackers:
"Check all of your items -- your bag, your clothes, knives, your will, your IDs, your passport, all your papers. Check your safety before you leave. . . . Make sure that nobody is following you."
Interwoven throughout is spiritual guidance on purifying one's mental and physical state. The document says, "Make sure that you are clean, your clothes are clean, including your shoes."
A recurring theme is the promise of eternal life.
"Keep a very open mind, keep a very open heart of what you are to face," the document says. "You will be entering paradise. You will be entering the happiest life, everlasting life."
Atta, 33, and Abdulaziz Alomari spent the night of Sept. 10 in Room 232 of the South Portland Comfort Inn in Portland, Maine. Early Sept. 11, they boarded a flight from Portland to Boston's Logan Airport, where they connected to American Airlines Flight 11, the plane that was commandeered and flown into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
Atta's luggage did not make it onto Flight 11. The FBI found another copy of essentially the same document in the wreckage of United Flight 93, a government source said. Flight 93 was also hijacked and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The multiple copies suggest the document was shared among at least some of the hijackers.
After the attacks, several published reports stated that Atta had left a "suicide note," which is what the FBI initially called it in a document sent to police investigators in Europe. Other reports called it a will written by Atta, an Egyptian who joined radical Islamic circles while studying urban planning in Germany.
Yesterday, the Dallas Morning News quoted federal officials as saying that a copy of an Arabic-language prayer guide had been found in the wreckage of Flight 93.
The first four pages of the document obtained by The Post are handwritten on large paper and recite some basic Islamic history about the prophet fighting infidels with 100 men against 1,000. They also include prayers such as, "I pray to you God to forgive me from all my sins, to allow me to glorify you in every possible way."
The fifth and last page is on standard stenographer paper that apparently had been ripped from a pad and is headed, "When you enter the plane":
It includes a series of prayers or exhortations. "Oh, God, open all doors for me. Oh God who answers prayers and answers those who ask you, I am asking you for your help. I am asking you for forgiveness. I am asking you to lighten my way. I am asking you to lift the burden I feel.
"Oh God, you who open all doors, please open all doors for me, open all venues for me, open all avenues for me."
The author doodled on the paper, drawing a small, arrowhead-like sword. Two circles entwine the shaft, which also has serpentine swirls drawn onto it. The doodle also resembles a key.
The word "ROOM" is written vertically in large double-block letters at the end.
The document continues: "God, I trust in you. God, I lay myself in your hands."
It closes, "There is no God but God, I being a sinner. We are of God, and to God we return."
The document, several scholars of Islam said, draws on traditional Islamic prayers and alludes to Koranic verses. It begins with the universal Islamic benediction recalling God's mercy and compassion. And the last two paragraphs repeat the basic Muslim belief that "there is no God but God."
However, some noted that words like "100 percent" and "optimistic" are modern vocabulary not found in ancient prayers.
"Except for the section that talks about going into a plane and the knives, virtually everything else you could find in some medieval devotional manuals," said John Voll of Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
It seems to have been written, Voll added, "by a person who lives in a devotional environment that involves a significant amount of memorized material. . . . It is embedded in a broad Islamic devotional discourse."
Other scholars noted the document's use of Islamic language to clothe a practical call to action.
"The jargon is authentic Islamic jargon," said Imad ad Dean Ahmad, president of the Bethesda-based Minaret of Freedom Institute. "It's obviously phrased to make it sound like it's part of a message to people going on a mission from which they will not return."
Richard C. Martin, professor of Islamic studies at Emory University, said the document appears to refer to "the purification that martyrdom represents" before it gets to "the quotidian matters of entering the airplane and gives final instructions."
Martin added, "This is a kind of spiritual preparation as I read it, or so it sounds."
However, two scholars said they found "incongruous" the opening line that refers to praying "in the name of God, of myself and my family . . ." because Muslims do not pray in their name or their families' names.
Jonathan Brockopp, assistant professor of Islamic studies at Bard College, noted another incongruity in the statement about seeking death.
In mainstream Muslim tradition, he said, "there is an important distinction between suicide and martyrdom in that martyrs don't seek death. A martyr seeks to glorify God and be God's instrument . . . and is not necessarily seeking death."
The idea "of not seeking death," Brockopp added, "is tremendously important in Muslim tradition."
He noted, however, that Islamic extremists have recently arrived at their own interpretations of these early Muslim teachings, and the document's author appears to follow the extremist view.
Finally, Brockopp said he found certain phrases like "lighten my way . . . lift the burden" typical of self-exhortations made by "a person who joins a charismatic community or cult" and then tries "to do something beyond impossibility."
Staff writer Caryle Murphy and staff researcher Jeff Himmelman contributed to this report.
Excerpts from a five-page handwritten document that the FBI found in Mohamed Atta's luggage. Translated from Arabic:
• "In the name of God, the most merciful, the most compassionate. . . . In the name of God, of myself and of my family . . . I pray to you God to forgive me from all my sins, to allow me to glorify you in every possible way."
• "Remember the battle of the prophet . . . against the infidels, as he went on building the Islamic state."
• In upper right hand corner of Page 3: "The last night."
• "Remind yourself that in this night you will face many challenges. But you have to face them and understand it 100 percent."
• "Obey God, his messenger, and don't fight among yourself where you become weak, and stand fast, God will stand with those who stood fast."
• "You should engage in such things, you should pray, you should fast. You should ask God for guidance, you should ask God for help. . . . Continue to pray throughout this night. Continue to recite the Koran."
• "Purify your heart and clean it from all earthly matters. The time of fun and waste has gone. The time of judgment has arrived. Hence we need to utilize those few hours to ask God for forgiveness. You have to be convinced that those few hours that are left you in your life are very few. From there you will begin to live the happy life, the infinite paradise. Be optimistic. The prophet was always optimistic."
• "Always remember the verses that you would wish for death before you meet it if you only know what the reward after death will be."
• "Everybody hates death, fears death. But only those, the believers who know the life after death and the reward after death, would be the ones who will be seeking death."
• "Remember the verse that if God supports you, no one will be able to defeat you."
• "Keep a very open mind, keep a very open heart of what you are to face. You will be entering paradise. You will be entering the happiest life, everlasting life. Keep in your mind that if you are plagued with a problem and how to get out of it. A believer is always plagued with problems. . . . You will never enter paradise if you have not had a major problem. But only those who stood fast through it are the ones who will overcome it."
• "Check all of your items – your bag, your clothes, knives, your will, your IDs, your passport, all your papers. Check your safety before you leave. . . . Make sure that nobody is following you. . . . Make sure that you are clean, your clothes are clean, including your shoes."
• "In the morning, try to pray the morning prayer with an open heart. Don't leave but when you have washed for the prayer. Continue to pray."
• "When you enter the plane:
"Oh God, open all doors for me. Oh God who answers prayers and answers those who ask you, I am asking you for your help. I am asking you for forgiveness. I am asking you to lighten my way. I am asking you to lift the burden I feel."
• "God, I trust in you. God, I lay myself in your hands. I ask with the light of your faith that has lit the whole world and lightened all darkness on this earth, to guide me until you approve of me. And once you do, that's my ultimate goal."
• "There is no God but God. There is no God who is the God of the highest throne, there is no God but God, the God of all earth and skies. There is no God but God, I being a sinner. We are of God, and to God we return."http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2002/national-reporting/works/092801.html
Robert Fisk
Fisk's piece was published the day after the Washington Post article, and appears to rely on the same flawed translations.
What Muslim Would Write: 'The Time of Fun and Waste is Gone'? by Robert Fisk
Fearful, chilling, grotesque– but also very, very odd. If the handwritten, five-page document which the FBI says it found in the baggage of Mohamed Atta, the suicide bomber from Egypt, is genuine, then the men who murdered more than 7,000 innocent people believed in a very exclusive version of Islam – or were surprisingly unfamiliar with their religion. "The time of Fun and waste is gone, Atta, or one of his associates, is reported to have written in the note. "Be optimistic ... Check all your items – your bag, your clothes, your knives, your will, your IDs, your passport ... In the morning, try to pray the morning prayer with an open heart.
Part theological, part mission statement, the document – extracts from which were published in The Washington Post yesterday – raises more questions than it answers.
Under the heading of "Last Night – presumably the night of 10 September – the writer tells his fellow hijackers to "remind yourself that in this night you will face many challenges. But you have to face them and understand it 100 per cent ... Obey God, his messenger, and don't fight among yourself [sic] where [sic] you become weak ... Everybody hates death, fears death ..."
The document begins with the words: "In the name of God, the most merciful, the most compassionate ... In the name of God, of myself, and of my family.
The problem is that no Muslim – however ill-taught – would include his family in such a prayer. Indeed, he would mention the Prophet Mohamed immediately after he mentioned God in the first line. Lebanese and Palestinian suicide bombers have never been known to refer to "the time of fun and waste – because a true Muslim would not have "wasted his time and would regard pleasure as a reward of the after-life.
And what Muslim would urge his fellow believers to recite the morning prayer – and then go on to quote from it? A devout Muslim would not need to be reminded of his duty to say the first of the five prayers of the day – and would certainly not need to be reminded of the text. It is as if a Christian, urging his followers to recite the Lord's Prayer, felt it necessary to read the whole prayer in case they didn't remember it.
American scholars have already raised questions about the use of "100 per cent – hardly a theological term to be found in a religious exhortation – and the use of the word "optimistic with reference to the Prophet is a decidedly modern word.
However, the full and original Arabic text has not been released by the FBI. The translation, as it stands, suggests an almost Christian view of what the hijackers might have felt – asking to be forgiven their sins, explaining that fear of death is natural, that "a believer is always plagued with problems.
A Muslim is encouraged not to fear death – it is, after all, the moment when he or she believes they will start a new life – and a believer in the Islamic world is one who is certain of his path, not "plagued with problems.
There are no references to any of Osama bin Laden's demands – for an American withdrawal from the Gulf, an end to Israeli occupation, the overthrow of pro-American Arab regimes – nor any narrative context for the atrocities about to be committed. If the men had an aspiration – and if the document is above suspicion – then they were sending their message direct to their God.
The prayer/instructions may have been distributed to other hijackers before the massacres occurred – The Washington Post says the FBI found another copy of "essentially the same document in the wreckage of the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania. No text of this document has been released.
In the past, CIA translators have turned out to be Lebanese Maronite Christians whose understanding of Islam and its prayers may have led to serious textual errors. Could this be to blame for the weird references in the note found in Atta's baggage? Or is there something more mysterious about the background of those who committed a crime against humanity in New York and Washington, just over two weeks ago?
From the start, the hole in the story has been the reported behavior of the hijackers. Atta was said to have been a near-alcoholic, while Ziad Jarrahi, the alleged Lebanese hijacker of the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania, had a Turkish girlfriend in Hamburg and enjoyed nightclubs and drinking. Is this why the published text refers to the "forgiveness of sin?
The final instruction, "to make sure that you are clean, your clothes are clean, including your shoes, may have been intended as a call to purify a "martyr" before death. Equally, it may reflect the thoughts of a truly eccentric – and wicked – mind.
The document found in Atta's baggage ends with a heading: "When you enter the plane". It then urges the hijackers to recite: "Oh God, open all doors for me ... I am asking for your help. I am asking you for forgiveness. I am asking you to lighten my way. I am asking you to lift the burden I feel ...
Was this an attempt to smother latent feelings of compassion towards the passengers on the hijacked planes – who included children among them – or towards the thousands who would die when the aircraft crashed? Did the 19 suicide bombers say these words to themselves in their last moments?
Or didn't they need to.
© 2001 Independent Digital (UK) Ltdhttp://www.commondreams.org/views01/0929-07.htm
Hassan Mneimneh, Kanan Makiya
This analysis of the letter appeared in the New York Review of Books on January 17th, 2002. It was based around a translation performed by one of the authors, Hassan Mneimneh, and not the summarised chunks used by early articles.
By Hassan Mneimneh, Kanan Makiya
1.
Three handwritten copies of a five-page Arabic document were found by the FBI after the September 11 attack: one in a car used by the hijackers and left outside Dulles International Airport, one in a piece of Mohammad Atta's luggage that, by accident, did not get on the plane from Logan Airport, one in the wreckage of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. Only a part of this document—pages two through five—is publicly available; it was posted on the FBI Web site on September 28, 2001.[1] In view of the number of copies found, it is reasonable to assume that there were other copies in the luggage of the other hijackers. If so, it is unlikely that many of the hijackers did not know the suicidal nature of their mission, as some commentators have argued. Since one of the three copies was found in Mohammad Atta's luggage, it also seems unlikely that the hijackers were trying, by leaving copies of the documents behind, to mislead the investigators who would retrace their steps after the event.[2]
We don't know who wrote this document. From everything in it, the author seems to have been an organizer of the attacks. But the text contains a valuable record of the ideas that the hijackers would have been expected to accept. One of its underlying assumptions is that all its intended readers were going to die. It seems clearly intended for the eyes of the hijackers and no one else, and reads as if it were written to stiffen their resolve. One would expect each person to have studied his copy very carefully beforehand, reading it over many times before the mission.
The document is in effect an exacting guide for achieving the unity of body and spirit necessary for success. It is not a training manual of procedures, applicable to different situations; most of the sentences seem tailored to the particulars of the September 11 operation. There are no technical instructions or operational instructions in the four pages, only a fairly obvious list of practical precautions:
[Check] the suitcase, the clothes, the knife, your tools, your ticket, ...your passport, all your papers. Inspect your weapon before you leave.... Tighten your clothes well as you wear them. This is the way of the righteous predecessors, may God's blessings be upon them. They tightened their clothes as they wore them prior to battle. And tighten your shoes well, and wear socks that hold in the shoes and do not come out of them.
In fact, it seems that an effort has been made to eliminate clues about the intended target should the document happen to fall into the wrong hands before the raid was carried out. No mention of the target is made throughout the document, and letters substitute for names or places. For example, "M" is used for matar, or airport, and "T" is used for ta'irah, or plane.
Page two begins abruptly, without the traditional basmallah, or invocation of God's name, and without any of the formulaic phrases which one would expect in a text permeated with references to the Koran and the Prophet. The Washington Post published a translation—evidently leaked by US officials—of two extracts from page one of the copy found in the luggage of Mohammad Atta, who is thought to have been the ringleader of the terrorist group. This page contains the basmallah and the sentence,
Remember the battle of the Prophet...against the infidels, as he went on building the Islamic state.
The fragment of Islam's history that is implicitly glorified in the document is the ten-year "state-building" period between 622, the year of the Prophet's flight from Mecca, and 632, the year of his death. Before 622 the Prophet had followers and a calling that was at odds with the existing order of pagan worship in Mecca; after 622, he was the leader of an emerging political community that was at first limited to the township of Medina and struggled to extend its scope throughout the peninsula. This period, stripped of all historical context, becomes the mythical environment in which the hijackers view their actions.
To consolidate his position the Prophet engaged in "raids," the Arabic for which is ghazwah. Raiding for loot, not territory or retaliation, occurred frequently among the impoverished nomads of pre-Islamic Arabia. During the short period of his reign as the head of the emerging Muslim state, the Prophet, in his actions and instructions, sought to redefine the character and purpose of the raids and to make the object the benefit of the community, not individual gain. Over the centuries the frequency of raids in the name of Islam rose and fell. They came to an end in the early twentieth century with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of a strong central authority under the House of Saud. The reconstituted ghazwah directed at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and other targets is intended to overturn that history and bring men back to the example of the Prophet. According to the text,
Consider that this is a raid on a path. As the Prophet said: "A raid... on the path of God is better than this World and what is in it."
2.
The object of the document is apparent: to have the hijackers act as a firmly committed group. To this end, the unknown author outlines a series of rituals that are to be performed beginning with "the last night." This section contains fifteen items; the first item directs the readers to make a "mutual pledge to die and [a] renewal of intent" to carry out the mission. If there was a ceremony accompanying the rituals, we have no full account of it. The text specifies that a ritual washing should take place; that excess hair should be shaved from the body, and perfume applied to it. The night is to be spent in prayer, going over the details of the plan, reciting selected chapters of the Koran. The reader is urged to maintain a positive attitude and purify his heart:
Forget and force yourself to forget that thing which is called World; the time for amusement is gone and the time of truth is upon us. We have wasted so much time in our life. Should we not use these hours to offer actions that make us closer [to God]?
The "second phase" starts the following morning with the journey to the airport. The document urges the reader to repeatedly remind himself of God. This takes the form of a series of conventional invocations calling for God's blessing. At each point in the journey a different invocation is to be made. The text of the invocation is taken for granted and is not specified in the document. A typical such invocation for boarding a vehicle—a taxi in this case—would be "Oh God, may you make my entry to this car a safe entry, and my exit from it a safe exit. May you make my journey an easy one, and may you grant me support and success in all my endeavors." The hijackers are reminded of other invocations they should keep on reciting silently in order to fortify their resolve at each stage of their journey. Once each invocation has been made, the hijacker is told to
Smile and feel secure, God is with the believers, and the angels are guarding you without you feeling them.
The hijacker is assured that "all their [the enemy's] equipment, and all their gates, and all their technology do not do benefit or harm, except with the permission of God." He is told not to fear such things. Those who do are "the followers of Satan." They are "the admirers of Western civilization," who have become besotted in their love of it. Their forebears are the ones who feared Satan over God to begin with, and became his followers:
Fear is indeed a great act of worship offered by the followers of God and by the believers only to the One God who rules over all things....
This idea evokes the spirit of some of the most powerful passages of the Koran relating to the Day of Judgment —often expressed in short, forceful sentences and in the present tense. Dreadful punishments were inflicted by God upon sinful cities that refused to listen to the warnings of their prophets in the past. These were signs of what was coming, and coming soon. There was no time to waste. "The Hour has drawn nigh," the Koran warns, "the moon is split."[3] Men should live, think, and act on the premise that further horrible catastrophes lay just ahead. True Believers are those who tremble when they call upon God; their very skin creeps at the reciting of the Koran.
Taqwa, the fear of God, remains at the core of the Islamic relation between the human and the Divine. The anticipation of impending doom it fosters is balanced, however, by the worldly emphasis of the subsequent phases of the Prophet's experience as the ruler of Medina. Later developments in Muslim civilization relegate the most extreme forms of "fear as worship" to ecstatic and mystical experience, an emphasis found particularly within the Sufi tradition. By contrast, for the author of this manual an overpowering fear of God must rule in the mind of the True Believer, a fear that so focuses the mind as to rid it of all mundane considerations arising from experience and observation, thus enabling the Believer to remain utterly concentrated on his mission. In support of this the manual cites the Koranic verse, "Fear them not, but fear Me, if you are Believers."[4]
3.
The "third phase" cited by the text begins when the hijackers set foot on the plane. Again, the author reminds his accomplices of the importance of performing in their hearts the necessary ritualistic invocations and supplications upon boarding the plane and being seated:
Keep busy with the repeated invocation of God.... When the [airplane] starts moving and heads toward [takeoff], recite the supplication of travel, because you are traveling to God, May you be blessed in this travel.
More invocations and supplications follow the takeoff, which is identified in the document as the beginning of "the hour of the encounter between the two camps":
Clench your teeth, as did [your] predecessors, God rest their souls, before engaging in battle. Upon the confrontation, hit as would hit heroes who desire not to return to the World, and loudly proclaim the name of God,
that is because the proclamation of the name of God instills terror in the heart of the nonbelievers.
This passage is typical of several others that shed light on how the hijackers see themselves. Outwardly they are boarding a Boeing 757 departing from Logan Airport, or from Newark or Dulles; but according to the text they are living on a battleground, participants in a great dramatic performance that conjures up the seventh-century heroic deeds of the Companions of the Prophet. It is as if men like Ali ibn Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, are going to be on the plane with Mohammad Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Ziad Jarrah, and the others. (The text cites approvingly a story about Ali ibn Talib never acting on the battlefield "out of a desire for vengeance.") The killings that the hijackers are about to undertake are no longer real but part of a sacred drama. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the following chilling instructions about what to do should the hijackers encounter unexpected resistance, as we know happened on United Airlines Flight 93:
If God grants any one of you a slaughter, you should perform it as an offering on behalf of your father and mother, for they are owed by you. Do not disagree amongst yourselves, but listen and obey.
Here we find an explanation of what it means to kill a passenger who is attempting to resist. The Arabic word used for "grant" is manna, as in the biblical manna; it connotes the idea of a bounty or an act of grace conferred by God upon a person who has not asked for it. The Arabic for "slaughter" is dhabaha. The author has pointedly chosen it over the more common qatala, which means, simply, to kill. The classical dictionaries tell us the primary meaning of dhabaha is to cleave, slit, or rip something open. This is the word used for slitting the two external jugular veins in the throat of an animal. It is quick, direct, and always physically intimate; one does not slaughter with a gun, or a bomb, from afar.
The intimacy associated with dhabaha explains the vulgar usages of the word in street or colloquial Arabic, which are designed to shock the listener, to impress upon him or her how strongly the speaker feels toward the object of dhabh (more often than not a personal enemy, a tyrant, or a criminal). But it seems clear that this vulgar usage is not why dhabaha was preferred over qatala by the author of the document. Dhabaha is also what Abraham was prepared to do to his son on God's instructions—until Isaac in Jewish and early Muslim tradition, or Isma'il, Ishmael, in later Muslim tradition was replaced with a sheep at the last minute.[5] Because of the context of the word as used in the Koran, the son is called the dhabih, or the one-to-be-sacrificed. When a Muslim sacrifices a sheep on pilgrimage today, he does so as an act of remembrance of this test of faith imposed by God. Dhabaha in the context of the hijackers' document is such a ritual act, one that is normally performed to make an offering to God. Dhabh in this sense is an act prescribed in great detail by Muslim religious law.
The thought expressed by the author of the document is that a civilian passenger attempting to resist his hijackers is a gift bestowed by God upon the man chosen to kill him. Moreover, the killer is obligated to be selfless about the bounty that has descended upon him unasked. He is expected to turn it into an offering on behalf of his parents, "for they are owed by you." Between God's generosity in providing an occasion for slaughter and the obligation of filial devotion (greatly stressed in the Koran) is the act of slitting a passenger's throat with a box-cutter. This extraordinary interpretation of the explicit and implicit intent of the Koran continues:
If you slaughter, you should plunder those you slaughter, for that is one of the sanctioned customs of the Prophet, on the condition that you do not get occupied with the plunder so that you would leave what is more
important, such as paying attention to the enemy, his treachery, and attacks. That is because such action is very harmful [to the mission].
The author here is exhorting his fellow hijackers to "plunder" any passenger they may have slaughtered, an instruction that needs interpretation since the hijackers would obviously have no use for physical plunder. (The one item of plunder that would have been immediately useful to them was the cell phones they failed to demand from passengers, thereby making it possible for the passengers on one of the flights to learn about the other hijacked planes, and attack their captors.) The so-called "sanctioned custom of the Prophet" being referred to is from the hadith, the accounts of what the Prophet said and did, or of things said and done in his presence (and to which he might have given tacit approval, depending on which classical scholarly opinion one was relying upon). Among the hadith are accounts of the Prophet arbitrating disputes among warriors over the personal booty of those who had fallen in battle. The pre-Islamic custom was that a dead warrior's weapons, for instance, belonged to the man who had killed him. The Prophet is reported to have accepted this practice. The author of the document chooses to understand the hadith stories not as indicating rules for following existing practice, but as prescribing a task that had been sanctioned by the Prophet and has become a general obligation. But then the writer qualifies himself; he reminds his comrades that although it is an obligation, it is not one that should be allowed to get in the way of what is "more important."
The scene that is being evoked and used to instruct the hijackers here recalls something that often happened in seventh-century Arabia: an attack, for instance, on the tribe of Quraysh (prior to their conversion to Islam) was not followed up by the Prophet's followers because everyone was too busy plundering the warriors who had fallen. The writer of the manual is telling his comrades that although the Prophet had sanctioned such pre-Islamic nomadic practices as "plundering," this approval has to be tempered by the prerequisite of unity in action and faith in a higher purpose. True selflessness, in other words, requires an acknowledgment of the flesh- and-blood self, in order to become estranged from it.
Slaughter and plunder are thus ritualistic motions, not purposeful actions. Indeed, these motions might even interfere with the proper execution of the plan. But their importance as major components of the unfolding of the sacred drama outweighs any possible negative consequence. In the introverted world of the hijackers, a world that has effectively collapsed to the inside of the plane, practical considerations that surely would have been part of the planning stage (such as maximizing the number of casualties by targeting heavily populated buildings) are by now secondary to the need to sustain the intense psychological state crucial for completing the mission:
Afterward, implement the sanctioned custom of prisoners of war. Capture them and kill them as God said: "It does not fit a Prophet to have prisoners of war until he subdues the land. You seek the goods of this World, while God looks for the Hereafter. God is almighty, all-wise."
In the eyes of the hijackers, the passengers in the plane are to be seen as combatants; and therefore they become prisoners of war the moment control of the plane passes into the hijackers' hands. It is worth recalling here that all Americans were declared combatants by bin Laden in his fatwa of February 1998:
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 Americans and plunder their money whenever and wherever they find it. We also call on Muslims...to launch the raid on Satan's US troops and the devil's supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them.
Of all the Islamist movements "of global reach," including several that call for jihad, only bin Laden's World Islamic Front has attempted to legitimize in Islamic terms the equation between citizens and combatants.
4.
We can ask how the command to "capture and kill" the passengers, all prisoners of war, is justified in the document. The Koranic verse cited by way of justification in the hijackers' text is al-Anfal 67. It occurs in a seventy-five-verse chapter of the Koran which concerns the rules of war, in particular those governing the division of the spoils of war among Muslims, many of whom had had their property in Mecca confiscated for joining the new religion. According to the three greatest classical commentators on the Koran (al-Qurtubi, al-Tabari, and ibn Kathir), the verse in question was written after the battle of Badr, an important engagement for early Islam in which a small Muslim force defeated a large army from Quraysh, the town of Muhammad's own tribe, which had forced him into exile in Medina. Badr was a swift and stunning victory that yielded Muhammad and his followers considerable power and booty, as well as many prisoners.
In its aftermath, Muhammad's two main lieutenants, the future caliphs Abu Bakr and 'Umar, disagreed about the fate of the prisoners. While Abu Bakr favored their release in return for payment of tribute, 'Umar called for their execution, arguing that otherwise the attention of fighters in future battles would be diverted to capturing prisoners for the sake of personal gain, instead of remaining concentrated on combat for the sake of God. While Muhammad is reported to have endorsed Abu Bakr's position, a later Koranic revelation vindicates 'Umar by echoing his concerns. Al-Anfal 67 is understood in the tradition as a gentle but divine reprimand directed specifically to the Prophet stressing that the purpose of battle is to defeat the enemy, not to capture prisoners for potential tribute.
Other more generally applicable verses of the Koran, however, are not mentioned in the hijackers' manual. Muhammad 4, for instance, clearly provides for the release of prisoners of war, with or without tribute, and urges forgiveness. In all cases, the action of Muslim warriors is explicitly bound by the clear injunction of al-Baqarah 190: "Fight for the sake of God those who seek to kill you, and do not commit aggression. God does not favor those who aggress." Over the centuries, commentators, basing themselves on the Koran and the traditions of the Prophet, have defined "aggression" as it is referred to in al-Baqarah 190.
The result is an Islamic theory of warfare which, while it varied according to the historical circumstances of Islamic states, has nonetheless been carried on within the bounds of a consensus about the treatment of people in war. The statement issued on November 4, 2001, by the Islamic Research Council at al-Azhar in Cairo, the highest moral authority in Sunni Islam, restated this consensus, which is rejected by the hijackers' text. The Cairo statement said: "Islam provides clear rules and ethical norms that forbid the killing of noncombatants, as well as women, children, and the elderly, and also forbids the pursuit of the enemy in defeat, the execution of those who surrender, the infliction of harm on prisoners of war, and the destruction of property that is not being used in the hostilities."[6]
5.
You will be soon, with God's permission, with your heavenly brides in Heaven. Smile in the face of death oh young man. You are heading to the Paradise of Eternity.... Know that the Heavens have raised their most beautiful decoration for you, and that your heavenly brides are calling you, "Come oh follower of God," while wearing their most beautiful jewelry.
The four pages of the document contain many references such as these to the physical pleasure and beauty of the afterlife. Human existence here is seen as a mere link between a glorious past and an even more glorious future. Self-sacrificing extremists since time immemorial have resorted to one variation or another of this vision, and there is nothing particularly Islamic about it. But concrete descriptions of the next life frequently occur in the Koran; and the hijackers' document makes abundant use of images describing different stages of being in the next world. First mentioned is al-na'im al-muqim, a realm which tradition holds is the residence of martyrs. Next comes the more common jannah, or Paradise, which is distinctly personal and more intimate in character. Finally, at the end of the manual, and with reference to the climactic end of the mission, a third abode is mentioned, al-firdaws al-a'la, the "Highest Paradise." This is the ultimate extra-reality within which God himself resides:
When the moment of truth comes near, and zero hour is upon you, open your chest welcoming death on the path of God. Always remember to conclude with the prayer, if possible, starting it seconds before the target, or let your last words be: "There is none worthy of worship but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God." After that, God willing, the meeting is in the Highest Paradise, in the company of God.
What could be more glorious than to be "in the company of God"? The quality that makes this document so startling and dangerous, however, does not lie here. It lies in the novel notion of martyrdom that the hijackers are attempting to inject into the Muslim tradition.
The sense throughout is that the would-be martyr is engaged in his action solely to please God. There is no mention of any communal purpose behind his behavior. In all of the four pages available to us there is not a word or an implication about any wrongs that are being redressed through martyrdom, whether in Palestine or Iraq or in "the land of Muhammad," the phrase bin Laden used in the al-Jazeera video that was shown after September 11. All the traditional Islamic distinctions between death, suicide, and martyrdom—which Muslim hinkers have wrestled with over the centuries and continue to do so in Lebanon and Palestine today—apparently do not exist for the author. Martyrdom here is not something bestowed by God as a favor on the warrior for his selflessness and devotion to the community's defense. It is a status to be achieved by the individual warrior, and performed as though it were his own private act of worship.
But in the tradition that is being turned on its head with this idea, the status of martyrdom has always been subject to assessments of the communal benefit at stake. Even in the case of those who defend a Muslim community or Islamic state against aggression, Islamic jurisprudence holds that violence must be proportional and that, in repelling an aggressor, only the necessary amount of force should be used. (An influential discussion of the question of proportion is to be found in the works of the medieval scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, a major reference for the Islamist movements themselves.)
Throughout Islamic history there has been a balance between, on the one hand, the sanctity of human life and, on the other, martyrdom. Only rarely in Islamic history have religious authorities endorsed actions in the community's defense that would mean certain death for believers. Beyond this, to justify calling someone who kills civilians and noncombatants a "martyr" is an entirely modern innovation—a change driven by invasion, occupation, and political and social breakdown in Palestine, Lebanon, and Algeria. The idea that martyrdom is a pure act of worship, pleasing to God, irrespective of God's specific command, is a terrifying new kind of nihilism.
The uses and distortions of Muslim sources in the hijackers' document deserve careful consideration. If arbitrary constructions of seventh-century texts and events have inflamed the imagination of such men, we should ask whether the ideas in the document will become part of the tradition that they misrepresent. To take the shell of a traditional religious conception and strip it of all its content, and then refill it with radically new content which finds its legitimation in the word of God or the example of his prophets, is a deeply subversive form of political and ideological militancy.[7] To contend with such an ideology effectively it is not enough to go back to the original core of the tradition as we have tried to do here. Well before the September 11 attacks, many Muslim intellectuals realized that bold and imaginative thinking must come from within the Muslim tradition in order to present social and political ideas that Muslims will find workable and persuasive. The tragic events of the past months have shown all the more clearly how urgently such ideas are needed.
Notes
[1] See www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel01/ letter.htm. No translation is now available on the FBI Web site. Our own translation will appear in Striking Terror: America's New War, a collection of articles which will be published by New York Review Books in March and which will include the present article.
[2] Powerful evidence that bin Laden was behind the September 11 attack, and is therefore the inspiration behind the document, was provided by the videotape released by the Department of Defense on December 13. The tape and its transcript do not bear out earlier reports in the press that the hijackers "did not know they were on a suicide mission" (The New York Times, December 11). The crucial passage occurs in a conversation between bin Laden and a former fighter from Saudi Arabia, in which bin Laden says: "The brothers, who conducted the operation, all they knew was that they have a martyrdom operation and we asked each of them to go to America but they didn't know anything about the operation, not even one letter. But they were trained and we did not reveal the operation to them until they are there and just before they boarded the planes."
The handwritten document that we discuss in this article, which never mentions targets, supports bin Laden's claim that the hijackers did not know the intended targets of their mission. It also makes it clear that the intended readers of the document (that is, the members of the team of hijackers not identified in the document by name or number) knew that they were carrying out a "martyrdom operation," to quote bin Laden. In view of the culture of martyrdom promoted by al-Qaeda, it is most unlikely that people who were not united in their desire to die for bin Laden's cause would have been chosen for such a critical undertaking.
[3] Koran, 54:2.
[4] Koran, 3:175.
[5]Koran, 37:102.
[6]Al-Hayat, November 5, 2001.
[7] On how this was done by BJP Hindu ideologues to denounce Islam following the destruction of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, see the excellent essay by Neeladri Bhattacharya, "Myths, History and the Politics of Ramjanmabhumi,"
in Anatomy of a Confrontation: Ayodhya and the Rise of Communal Politics in India, edited by S. Gopal (Zed Books, 1993).Striking Terror: America's New War
Edited by Robert B. Silvers and Barbara Epstein
Reproduced from the New York Review of Books, January 2002
Translations
Capital Communications Group/ Imad Musa
This translation, based on the documents released by the FBI, was carried out for the New York Times.
1) Making an oath to die and renew your intentions.
Shave excess hair from the body and wear cologne.
Shower
2) Make sure you know all aspects of the plan well, and expect the response, or a reaction, from the enemy.
3) Read al-Tawba and Anfal [traditional war chapters from the Qur'an] and reflect on their meanings and remember all of the things God has promised for the martyrs.
4) Remind your soul to listen and obey [all divine orders] and remember that you will face decisive situations that might prevent you from 100 per cent obedience, so tame your soul, purify it, convince it, make it understand, and incite it. God said: 'Obey God and His Messenger, and do not fight amongst yourselves or else you will fail. And be patient, for God is with the patient.'
5) Pray during the night and be persistent in asking God to give you victory, control and conquest, and that He may make your task easier and not expose us.
6) Remember God frequently, and the best way to do it is to read the Holy Qur'an, according to all scholars, as far as I know. It is enough for us that it [the Qur'an] are the words of the Creator of the Earth and the plants, the One that you will meet [on the Day of Judgment].
7) Purify your soul from all unclean things. Completely forget something called 'this world' [or 'this life']. The time for play is over and the serious time is upon us. How much time have we wasted in our lives? Shouldn't we take advantage of these last hours to offer good deeds and obedience?
8) You should feel complete tranquility, because the time between you and your marriage [in heaven] is very short. Afterwards begins the happy life, where God is satisfied with you, and eternal bliss 'in the company of the prophets, the companions, the martyrs and the good people, who are all good company'. Ask God for his mercy and be optimistic, because [the Prophet], peace be upon him, used to prefer optimism in all his affairs.
9) Keep in mind that, if you fall into hardship, how will you act and how will you remain steadfast and remember that you will return to God and remember that anything that happens to you could never be avoided, and what did not happen to you could never have happened to you. This test from Almighty God is to raise your level [levels of heaven] and erase your sins. And be sure that it is a matter of moments, which will then pass, God willing, so blessed are those who win the great reward of God. Almighty God said: 'Did you think you could go to heaven before God knows whom amongst you have fought for Him and are patient?'
10) Remember the words of Almighty God: 'You were looking to the battle before you engaged in it, and now you see it with your own two eyes.' Remember: 'How many small groups beat big groups by the will of God.' And His words: 'If God gives you victory, no one can beat you. And if He betrays you, who can give you victory without Him? So the faithful put their trust in God.'
11) Remind yourself of the supplications and of your brethren and ponder their meanings. (The morning and evening supplications, and the supplications of [entering] a town, and the [unclear] supplications, and the supplications said before meeting the enemy.
12) Bless your body with some verses of the Qur'an [done by reading verses into one's hands and then rubbing the hands over whatever is to be blessed], the luggage, clothes, the knife, your personal effects, your ID, passport, and all your papers.
13) Check your weapon before you leave and long before you leave. (You must make your knife sharp and must not discomfort your animal during the slaughter).
14) Tighten your clothes [a reference to making sure his clothes will cover his private parts at all times], since this is the way of the pious generations after the Prophet. They would tighten their clothes before battle. Tighten your shoes well, wear socks so that your feet will be solidly in your shoes. All of these are worldly things [that humans can do to control their fate, although God decrees what will work and what won't] and the rest is left to God, the best One to depend on.
15) Pray the morning prayer in a group and ponder the great rewards of that prayer. Make supplications afterwards, and do not leave your apartment unless you have performed ablution before leaving, because the angels will ask for your forgiveness as long as you are in a state of ablution, and will pray for you. This saying of the Prophet was mentioned by An-Nawawi in his book, The Best of Supplications. Read the words of God: 'Did you think that We created you for no reason...' from the Al-Mu'minun Chapter.
THE SECOND STEP
When the taxi takes you to (M) [this initial could stand for matar, airport in Arabic] remember God constantly while in the car. (Remember the supplication for entering a car, for entering a town, the supplication of place and other supplications).
When you have reached (M) and have left the taxi, say a supplication of place ['Oh Lord, I ask you for the best of this place, and ask you to protect me from its evils'], and everywhere you go say that prayer and smile and be calm, for God is with the believers. And the angels protect you without you feeling anything. Say this supplication: 'God is more dear than all of His creation.' And say: 'Oh Lord, protect me from them as You wish.' And say: 'Oh Lord, take your anger out on [the enemy] and we ask You to protect us from their evils.' And say: 'Oh Lord, block their vision from in front of them, so that they may not see.' And say: 'God is all we need, He is the best to rely upon.' Remember God's words: 'Those to whom the people said, "The people have gathered to get you, so fear them," but that only increased their faith and they said, God is all we need, He is the best to rely upon.' After you say that, you will find [unclear] as God promised this to his servants who say this supplication:
1) They will come back [from battle] with God's blessings
2) They were not harmed
3) And God was satisfied with them.
God says: 'They came back with God's blessings, were not harmed, and God was satisfied with them, and God is ever-blessing.'
All of their equipment and gates and technology will not prevent, nor harm, except by God's will. The believers do not fear such things. The only ones that fear it are the allies of Satan, who are the brothers of the devil. They have become their allies, God save us, for fear is a great form of worship, and the only one worthy of it is God. He is the only one who deserves it. He said in the verses: 'This is only the Devil scaring his allies' who are fascinated with Western civilisation, and have drank the love [of the West] like they drink water [unclear] and have become afraid of their weak equipment, 'so fear them not, and fear Me, if you are believers.'
Fear is a great worship. The allies of God do not offer such worship except for the one God, who controls everything. [unclear] with total certainty that God will weaken the schemes of non-believers. God said: 'God will weaken the schemes of the non-believers.'
You must remember your brothers with all respect. No one should notice that you are making the supplication, 'There is no God but God,' because if you say it 1,000 times no one will be able to tell whether you are quiet or remember God. And among its miracles is what the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: 'Whoever says, "There is no God but God," with all his heart, goes to heaven.' The prophet, peace be upon him, said: 'If you put all the worlds and universes on one side of the balance, and "No God but God" on the other, "No God but God" will weigh more heavily.' You can repeat these words confidently, and this is just one of the strengths of these words. Whoever thinks deeply about these words will find that they have no dots [in the Arabic letter] and this is just one of its greatnesses, for words that have dots in them carry less weight than those that do not. And it is enough that these are the words of monotheism, which will make you steadfast in battle [unclear] as the prophet, peace be upon him, and his companions, and those who came after them, God willing, until the Day of Judgment.
Do not seem confused or show signs of nervous tension. Be happy, optimistic, calm because you are heading for a deed that God loves and will accept. It will be the day, God willing, you spend with the women of paradise.
[poetry] Smile in the face of hardship young man/For you are heading toward eternal paradise
You must remember to make supplications wherever you go, and anytime you do anything, and God is with his faithful servants, He will protect them and make their tasks easier, and give them success and control, and victory, and everything...
THE THIRD PHASE
When you ride the (T) [probably for tayyara, aeroplane in Arabic], before your foot steps in it, and before you enter it, you make a prayer and supplications. Remember that this is a battle for the sake of God. As the prophet, peace be upon him, said, 'An action for the sake of God is better than all of what is in this world.' When you step inside the (T), and sit in your seat, begin with the known supplications that we have mentioned before. Be busy with the constant remembrance of God. God said: 'Oh ye faithful, when you find the enemy be steadfast, and remember God constantly so that you may be successful.' When the (T) moves, even slightly, toward (Q) [unknown reference], say the supplication of travel. Because you are traveling to Almighty God, so be attentive on this trip.
Then [unclear] it takes off. This is the moment that both groups come together. So remember God, as He said in His book: 'Oh Lord, pour your patience upon us and make our feet steadfast and give us victory over the infidels.' And His words: 'And the only thing they said Lord, forgive our sins and excesses and make our feet steadfast and give us victory over the infidels.' And His prophet said: 'Oh Lord, You have revealed the book, You move the clouds, You gave us victory over the enemy, conquer them and give us victory over them.' Give us victory and make the ground shake under their feet. Pray for yourself and all your brothers that they may be victorious and hit their targets and ask God to grant you martyrdom facing the enemy, not running away from it, and for Him to grant you patience and the feeling that anything that happens to you is for Him.
Then every one of you should prepare to carry out his role in a way that would satisfy God. You should clench your teeth, as the pious early generations did.
When the confrontation begins, strike like champions who do not want to go back to this world. Shout, 'Allahu Akbar,' because this strikes fear in the hearts of the non-believers. God said: 'Strike above the neck, and strike at all of their extremities.' Know that the gardens of paradise are waiting for you in all their beauty, and the women of paradise are waiting, calling out, 'Come hither, friend of God.' They have dressed in their most beautiful clothing.
If God decrees that any of you are to slaughter, dedicate the slaughter to your fathers and [unclear], because you have obligations toward them. Do not disagree, and obey. If you slaughter, do not cause the discomfort of those you are killing, because this is one of the practices of the prophet, peace be upon him. On one condition: that you do not become distracted by [unclear] and neglect what is greater, paying attention to the enemy. That would be treason, and would do more damage than good. If this happens, the deed at hand is more important than doing that, because the deed is an obligation, and [the other thing] is optional. And an obligation has priority over an option.
Do not seek revenge for yourself. Strike for God's sake. One time Ali bin Abi Talib [a companion and close relative of the prophet Muhammad], fought with a non-believer. The non-believer spit on Ali, may God bless him. Ali [unclear] his sword, but did not strike him. When the battle was over, the companions of the prophet asked him why he had not smitten the non-believer. He said, 'After he spat at me, I was afraid I would be striking at him in revenge for myself, so I lifted my sword.' After he renewed his intentions, he went back and killed the man. This means that before you do anything, make sure your soul is prepared to do everything for God only.
Then implement the way of the prophet in taking prisoners. Take prisoners and kill them. As Almighty God said: 'No prophet should have prisoners until he has soaked the land with blood. You want the bounties of this world [in exchange for prisoners] and God wants the other world [for you], and God is all-powerful, all-wise.'
If everything goes well, every one of you should pat the other on the shoulder in confidence that (M) and (T) number (K). Remind your brothers that this act is for Almighty God. Do not confuse your brothers or distract them. He should give them glad tidings and make them calm, and remind them [of God] and encourage them. How beautiful it is for one to read God's words, such as: 'And those who prefer the afterlife over this world should fight for the sake of God.' And His words: 'Do not suppose that those who are killed for the sake of God are dead; they are alive... ' And others. Or they should sing songs to boost their morale, as the pious first generations did in the throes of battle, to bring calm, tranquillity and joy to the hearts of his brothers.
Do not forget to take a bounty, even if it is a glass of water to quench your thirst or that of your brothers, if possible. When the hour of reality approaches, the zero hour, [unclear] and wholeheartedly welcome death for the sake of God. Always be remembering God. Either end your life while praying, seconds before the target, or make your last words: 'There is no God but God, Muhammad is His messenger'.
Afterwards, we will all meet in the highest heaven, God willing.
If you see the enemy as strong, remember the groups [that had formed a coalition to fight the prophet Muhammad]. They were 10,000. Remember how God gave victory to his faithful servants. He said: 'When the faithful saw the groups, they said, this is what God and the prophet promised, they said the truth. It only increased their faith.'
And may the peace of God be upon the prophet.http://www.guardian.co.uk/september11/story/0,11209,601752,00.html
Hatem Bazian
by Hatem Bazian, lecturer who teaches Islamic Studies at UC Berkeley
PAGE ONE
One of the companions said "the prophet has commanded us to recite it before engaging in a raid. So we recited it so we became victorious and we were saved.
The Last Night
1. To give allegiance or agree on going forth to death and the renewal of the intention.
2. Knowing the plan very well. All the directions and expectation of the outcome of the action or the resistance from the enemy. To shave the excess hair from the body and to put perfume.
3. The recitation of chapter of Altawba (repentence) and Alnfal. To reflect upon their meanings and that which God had prepared to the believers from the everlasting bounty that are designated for the martyrs.
4. Reminding the self of listening and obeying particularly during that night because you are going to face a serious situation where it is very necessary for listening and obeying 100 percent. Train yourself and make it understand and be content and encourage it on that.(listening and obeying)
5. Praying during the late night and insisting in supplication and asking for victory and gaining control and a clear conquest and making all things easy for us and conceal our activities.
6. Much remembrance and know that the best of remembrance is the recitation of the nobel Koran and this is in accordance with the consensus of the people of knowledge from that which I know and this is sufficient for us that it is the speech of the creator of the heavens and earth the one which you are going to meet him.
7. Clear your heart and purify it from the impurities and make yourself forget a thing named world. For the time of play has passed. And the time of truth has come. And how much of our lives we have wasted so shouldn't we invest these hours to offer offerings of closeness and obedience.
8. Let your breast be at ease between you and your marriage except a few light moments. In it you will start your happy content life with the everlasting bounty with the prophets and the confirmers of prophets the martyrs and the righteous and those are the best of companions.
We seek forgiveness from his bounty. And be optimistic for peace be upon him ("meaning the prophet used to like optimism in all the matters.)
9. Then let it be in front of your eyes that if a tribulation had befallen you how .'.'. you stand firm and you recall and you know "that which inflicted you would not have missed you. And that which had missed you would not have inflicted you or hit you.
Verily this tribulation upon you is from God the exalted in order to raise your station and to expiate your sins. Then know that it is few moments then things will become clear by the permission of Allah.
10. (Lengthy Koran scripture).
11. (Lengthy Koran scripture).
12. To prepare yourself, your luggage, your clothing, your knife, your tools, your identity cards, your passport.
13. Prepare or examine your weapon before traveling and before travel (which means before death). Let each one sharpen his razor .'.'. his slaughter.
14. Tighten your clothes on you very well and this is the path or the example of the early righteous community. May Allah be pleased with all of them for they used to tighten their clothing on themselves very well before the battle. Then tighten your shoes very well and wear a sock that is firmly holding onto the shoe and do not come out from it.
And all of these are causes we are commanded to take by it and Allah is sufficient for us and he is the best whom to depend upon.
15. Pray the morning prayer in a group. Reflect upon its reward. Come with the regular supplications after it and do not leave your apartment except with ablution.
PAGE TWO The Second Stage
If the taxi transports you to the airport .'.'. remember to do much remembrance, the remembrance of the place .'.'.
Once you arrive to the airport and you can see it and get out of taxi do another supplication of the place.
Smile and be calm and content. Another supplication.
The benefits of these supplications are:
1. They are transformed with bounty of Allah and his generosity
2. No harm will be falling them
3. They are following the contentment of Allah. "To authenticate his analysis - a quote from Koran.
Lots of Koranic verses and statements of the Prophet follows.
Do not fear the enemy. Do not fear them rather fear me verily if you are believers. Fear is a grave statement and those who are friends of Allah and believers do not fear except Allah the one, the only, who in his hand is all things.
Do not make apparent on you the appearance of confusion and tightness of nerves and be happy smiling with your chest expanding and content because you are doing an act that Allah loves and is content with. Because there will be a day by the permission of Allah that you will spend it with pure women in paradise.
Smile in the face of adversity all young men for you are going forth to the everlasting paradise.
Any place that you go to or any action that you undertake maintain supplication and turning to Allah and verily god is with his servants the believers providing them protection and ease and success and victory and all things.
PAGE THREE Third Stage - When you Ride the Plane
When you put your foot in it that you begin with supplication and bring awareness to yourself that this is a raid in the path of Allah. As the prophets of Allah going forth to a battle or coming forth from it in the path of Allah is better than the world and all what it contains.
When you put your foot in the plane and you sit in your chair, then bring forth the supplications that we mentioned and the ones that are known which we have already stated earlier. Then keep busy with the remembrance of God and do much of what Allah the exalted said. "Oh you who believe if you come upon a group then stand firm and remember Allah much that you may be successful.
Then if the plane moves slightly in the direction to take off then recite the supplication for the traveler for verily you are traveling to God the exalted. (and be joyful with this travel)
Then you will see the plane after it stops then it will take off. This is the hour of the meeting of the characteristics. Then do remembrance of Allah as Allah had mentioned in his book "Oh Allah, pour upon us patience and make firm our feats and make us victorious upon the people of unbelief.
"Oh Our Lord forgive to us our sins and our wastefulness in all our matters and make firm our feet and make us victorious upon the people of unbelief.
Do supplication for yourself and to all your brothers that they will be able to conquer and be victorious and in hitting the targets .'.'. do not be fearful.
Ask of Allah to reward you with martyrdom coming forth and not turning away patient and aware of the accounting that you'll face with God.
Then let each one of you get prepared to undertake or to perform his role in a way that Allah is content with. Let him tighten his teeth as the early community used to do, may Allah be merciful upon them before engaging in the battle.
When the engagement begins then the hitting of heroes the ones that do not want to go back to this world and say God is Great!, for saying this makes fear enter the hearts of the unbelievers.
Know that the paradises have been ornamented for you with the most beautiful of its ornaments and the women of paradise are calling upon you to come forth oh you friend of Allah and she has worn the best of it's ornaments.
Don't differ from one another.
PAGE FOUR Put the benefit of the group above the self. Do not seek revenge for yourself, rather make everything for your group and everything is to Allah the exalted.
.'.'. writer narrates a story of one of the Prophets battles where he was about to kill an enemy he had just beaten up, with a sword and the person spit in his face. When he spit, he left, and responded, "First I was fighting you in path of Allah and when you spit my self got angry and I feared I would be fighting you to seek retribution for myself and that's why I stopped.
When the hour of zero comes, breathe deeply and open your chest welcoming death in the way of Allah. Always remember that you end your life with prayer and that you begin with it before the target and let the last part of your speech be, "There is No God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger.
And after it, if God is willing, the meeting in the high paradise.
.'.'. writer reminds them the battle of the confederates had 10,000 soldiers and God gave victory to his servants the believers.
"When the believers saw the confederates they said this is what God promised us. Allah and his messenger are truthful. This has increased their belief and surrendering to Allah.http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/Photos-Hijackers-DOJ27sep01.htm
Hassan Mneimneh
The last night:
1. Mutual pledge to die and renewal of intent.
- Shaving of excess hair from the body and the application of perfume.
- Ritual washing.
2. Thorough knowledge of the plan in all its facets, and the expectation of reaction or resistance from the enemy.
3. Recitation of Surat al-Tawbah and al-Anfal with attention to their meanings, and what God has prepared for the believers, a high paradise for martyrs.
4. Reminding the self to listen and obey that night. You will face decisive situations which require listening and obeying 100%. You should therefore tame your self, make it understand, convince it, and incite it to action. God had said: "Obey God and his Messenger, and fall into no disputes, lest you lose heart and your power depart, and be patient, God is with those who persevere."
5. Staying awake through the night and pleading in prayer for victory, enablement, clear triumph, ease of matters, and discretion upon us.
6. Multiplication of invocation. You should know that the best invocation is the recitation of the Holy Koran, by the concensus of scholars, as far as I know. It suffices for us that it is the word of the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, toward whom you are heading.
7. Purify your heart and cleanse it of imperfections. Forget and force yourself to forget that thing which is called World; the time for amusement is gone and the time of truth is upon us. We have wasted so much time in our life. Should we not use these hours to offer actions that make us closer [to God] and actions of obedience?
8. Keep a positive attitude. There are between you and your departure but a few moments to start the happy God-pleasing life with the prophets, saints, and martyrs, who are the best of companions. We ask God for his grace. Be optimistic. The Prophet was optimistic in all of his endeavors.
9. Be prepared if you face adversity: how to behave and how to be steadfast, and to regroup, knowing that what has hit you could not have missed you and what has missed you could not have hit you, this being an afflication from God to raise your status and atone for your misdeeds, and know it is but moments before the adversity dissipates, with God's permission. Blessed is he who has won the great reward from God. God has said: "Did you think that you would enter Heaven without God knowing of those of you who fought hard in His cause and those who persevered?"
10. Remember God's words: "You did indeed wish for death before meeting it, and now you are seeing it while you face it," and remember how often, by God's will, has a small faction vanquished a large faction. And remember His words: "If God helps you, none can defeat you, and if He forsakes you, who is to help you without Him? In God should the trust of the believers be."
11. Remind your self and your brothers of the supplications, and consider what their mornings are (the morning and evening invocations, the invocation for the locality, the invocations for [illegible], the invocations for the confrontation of the enemy.)
12. [illegible] (with the self, the suitcase, the clothes, the knife, your tools, your ticket, [illegible], your passport, all your papers.)
13. Inspect your weapon before you leave, and well before you leave. "Sharpen your blade and relieve your sacrifice."
14. Tighten your clothes well as you wear them. This is the way of the righteous predecessors, may God's blessings be upon them. They tightened their clothes as they wore them prior to battle. And tighten your shoes well, and wear socks that hold in the shoes and do not come out of them. These are all prescriptions that we are commanded to follow. For God suffices us and is the best disposer of affairs.
15. Perform the morning prayer in group, and consider its rewards. Afterward, [perform] the invocations, and do not leave your apartment except in a state of ritual cleanliness. [...] God's words: "Have you thought that we created you with no purpose?" (Surat al-Muminun)
After that, the second phase:
While the taxicab is taking you to the [airport], recite repeatedly the invocations to God (the boarding invocations, the invocation of the town, the invocation of the place, the other invocations).
When you arrive and see [the airport], and get out of the taxicab, recite the invocation of the place. Wherever you go, recite the invocation of the place.
Smile and feel secure, God is with the believers, and the angels are guarding you without you feeling them.
Then recite the supplication: "God is stronger than all his creation" and say: "God, to you is their end and in you we seek refuge from their evil," and say: "God, place a bar in front of them and a bar behind them, and blind them so they cannot see." And say: "God suffices us and he is the best disposer of affairs," recalling God's words: "Those who were told an army is gathering against you, fear them, but it only increased their faith and they said, 'God suffices us and is the best disposer of affairs.'"
After reciting, you will find events unfolding beyond your power, for God has promised those who recite this supplication:
1. To return with the grace of God.
2. Not to suffer any harm.
3. To follow God-pleasing deeds.
God said: "So they returned with the blessings of God and his grace, and did not suffer any harm. And they followed God-pleasing deeds. For God is of great grace."
For all their equipment, and all their gates, and all their technology do not benefit or harm, except with the permission of God.
The believers do not fear them. Those who fear them are the followers of Satan, those who had feared Satan to begin with, and became his followers [illegible]. Fear is a great act of worship that can be offered only to God, and He is most worthy of it. God said, following the aforementioned verses, it is Satan who causes fear in his followers. These ar ethe admirers of Western civilization, who have drunk their love for it and their hallowing of it with the cool water, and were afraid for their weak feeble stomachs. "Fear them not, but fear Me, if you are believers." Fear is indeed a great act of worship offered by the followers of God and by the believers only to the One God who rules over all things, with the utmost certitude that God will annul the treachery of the nonbelievers. For God has said: "Verily God will weaken the treachery of the nonbelievers."
You also have to perform in your heart one of the highest invocations. It should not be noticeable that you are repeating: "None is worthy of worship but God." If you say it a thousand times, no one should be able to distinguish whether you were silent or you were invoking God. An indication of the greatness of this invocation is the Prophet's saying: "He who said, 'None is worthy of worship but God,' with belief in his heart will enter Heaven." Or as the Prophet said in the same meaning: "If the seven Heavens and the seven Worlds are placed on the pan of a scale, and 'None is worthy of worship but God' is placed on the other, the latter would outbalance the former." You can smile while reciting it, for it is a great invocation.
When meditating on it, one notices that none of its letters are dotted. This is another sign of its greatness, since dotted letters and words are inferior to others.
It is sufficient that it is the invocation of God's oneness that you have come to raise and to fight under its banner, as did the Prophet, and his companions, and as do the righteous followers until the day of judgment.
Also, do not show signs of confusion or tension. Be happy and cheerful, be relaxed and secure because you are engaged in an action that God loves and is satisfied by it. You will be soon, with God's permission, with your heavenly brides in Heaven.
Smile in the face of death oh young man You are heading to the Paradise of Eternity
Wherever you go and whatever you do, you have to persist in invocation and supplication. For God is with his believing servants, protecting them, facilitating their tasks, granting them success, enabling them, providing them with victory, and everything.
The third phase:
When you board the [airplane], the moment you step foot in it, before entering it, proceed with the invocations, and consider that this is a raid on a path.
As the Prophet said: "A raid or an attack on the path of God is better than this world and what is in it." The Prophet might have said it differently.
When you step into the [airplane], and take your seat, recite the invocations and known supplications that we have previously mentioned and keep busy with the repeated invocation of God. God said: "Oh believers, if you encounter an [enemy] faction, be steadfast and invoke God repeatedly, so you may be successful." When the [airplane] starts moving and heads towards [takeoff], recite the supplication of travel, because you are traveling to God, May you be blessed in this travel.
Then, you will find that the [airplane] will stop, then will take off. This is the hour of the encounter between the two camps. Recite supplications to God as He states in his Book: "God, provide us with patience, strengthen us, and make us victorious against the nonbelievers." God also said: "All that they said was: 'Lord, forgive us our misdeeds and transgressions, establish our feet firmly, and help us against the nonbelievers.'"
The Prophet said: "Oh God, You who are the source of Revelation, who cause the clouds to pass, who have defeated the factions, defeat [our enemies] and make us victorious. Defeat them and cause them to tremble." Recite supplications that you and all your brothers be granted victory, triumph, and the hitting of the target. Do not be afraid.
Ask God to grant you martyrdom while you are on the attack, not in retreat, with perseverance and awareness.
Each on of you should be prepared to fulfill his role in a God-pleasing manner. Clench your teeth, as did the predecessors, God rest their souls, before engaging in battle.
Upon the confrontation, hit as would hit heroes who desire not to return to the World, and loudly proclaim the name of God, that is because the proclamation of the name of God instills terror in the heart of the nonbelievers. God has said: "Smite them above the necks, and smite off all their fingertips."
Know that the Heavens have raised their most beautiful decoration for you, and that your heavenly brides are calling you, "Come oh follower of God," while wearing their most beautiful jewelry.
If God grants any one of you a slaughter, you should perform it as an offering on behalf of your father and mother, for they are owed by you. Do not disagree amongst yourselves, but listen and obey.
If you slaughter, you should plunder those you slaughter, for that is one of the sanctioned customs of the Prophet, on the condition that you do not get occupied with the plunder so you would leave what is more important, such as paying attention to the enemy, his treachery, and attacks. That is because such action is very harmful. If the situation arises, the interest of the action and the group should be placed ahead of [the plunder], that is because this action is an obligation to be fulfilled [by each member of the group], while the plunder is a sanctioned custom, and the obligation precedes the sanctioned custom.
Do not act out of a desire for vengeance for yourself. Let your action instead be for the sake of God. Ali ibn Abi Talib, may God be pleased with him, had a duel with one of the nonbelievers. The nonbeliever spit on him. Ali paused his sword, and did not strike him. Then he struck him.
At the end of the battle, the Companions asked him about his deed, and about why he had paused before striking the nonbeliever. He said: "When he spit on me, I feared that if I were to strike him, it would be out of vengeance. So I held my sword." He might have said it differently.
When he became sure of his intention, he struck and killed him. This indicates that the human being can secure himself in a short while that all of his action is for the sake of God.
Afterward, implement the sanctioned custom of prisoners of war. Capture and kill them as God said: "It does not fit a Prophet to have prisoners of war until he subdues the land. You seek the goods of this World, while God looks for the Hereafter. God is almighty, all-wise."
If everything goes as planned, each of you is to hold the shoulder of his brother from the apartment, in the [airport], the [plane], and the [cabin], reminding him that this action is for the sake of God. Do not confuse or confound your brothers, but announce the good news to them, make them feel secure, remind them [of the purpose], and encourage them. How delightful it would be for one to recite Koranic verses, such as God's saying:
"Let those who forsake this World for the Hereafter fight on the path of God...," and his saying: "Do not reckon dead those who fight on the path of God...," or other verses. You may also chant as the Predecessors used to chant in the midst of battle to comfort your brothers and instill tranquility abd happiness in their hearts.
Do not forget to take some of the spoils, even if only a cup of water, to drink from it and offer it to your brothers to drink, if possible. When the moment of truth comes near, and zero hour is upon you, open your chest welcoming death on the path of God. Always remember to conclude with the prayer, if possible, starting it seconds before the target, or let your last words be: "There is none worthy of worship but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God."
After that, God willing, the meeting is in the Highest Paradise, in the company of God.
- When you see the crowds of nonbelievers, remember the factions [gathered against the Prophet]: they numbered about 10,000 thousand fighters, and remember how God made his believing servants victorious.
God said: "When the believers saw the factions, they said this is what God and his Messenger have promised us. God and his Messenger are truthful. It only increased their faith and submission."
May God bless Muhammad.Striking Terror: America's New War
Edited by Robert B. Silvers & Barbara Epstein