The Muslims are at present experiencing the severest of trials and the worst of ordeals. The effective remedy for them lies in the perception of whether their issues are vital or not, and in the undertaking of a life and death measure towards every vital issue. This is particularly necessary if the issue in question encompasses all the vital issues put together. As long as this perception is not achieved in a manner that dominates over the souls of people and the atmospheres around them, the Muslims will continue to be in a constant state of decline and degeneration, and they will never rise among the nations. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the Muslims to discern their vital issues and to have their perception of these issues find its way to the hearts, the souls and the general atmospheres around them so that it becomes a perception that drives them towards undertaking what the vital issues necessitate in terms of life and death measures; and this with an unshakable resolve and unrelenting zeal. This is the point at issue, and this is the basis of all that which the Muslims are attempting to undertake in order to deal with the reality they are currently facing.

The reality of the Muslims today is sensed by every Muslim; it does not require any explanation nor does it necessitate any elaboration. Their lands are ruled by Kufr systems, thus they are conclusively Kufr homelands. They are divided into more than four types of entities, including States, Emirates, Sultanates and Sheikhdoms. They are too weak to stand up to the Kuffar.

Hence the primary issue of concern for every country in the Islamic world is to become Islamic homelands and then unite with the rest of the Islamic countries. This issue is a vital issue; it is moreover the whole of the vital issues put together; thus it is imperative to undertake the necessary measures as a matter of life and death.

However, this vital issue, which is the issue of transforming the lands into the Islamic homeland and uniting them with the rest of the Islamic lands is an objective which the Muslims aim to achieve, and the method which ought to be undertaken to achieve this objective is that of re-establishing Khilafah. Hence the issue facing the Muslims today is the establishment of the Khilafah as a ruling system through which the transformation of the lands into an Islamic household is achieved and consequently to unite them with the rest of the lands of Islam.

However, it should be made absolutely clear that what is facing the Muslims today is not merely the appointment of a Khaleefah by saying that this is a duty of sufficiency upon the Muslims, according to what ibn Omar reported that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “And he who dies without an Imam for the group ruling over him, his death is a death of Jahilyyah”, thus making it a non-vital issue. What is rather facing the Muslims today is establishing the Khilafah, which requires generating the Khilafah system as a ruling system, and the reality of this task is greater than the appointment of a Khaleefah, although the establishment of the Khilafah necessitates the appointment of a Khaleefah.

Establishing the Khilafah is conclusively a vital issue, because in addition to being a method to transform our lands from a Kufr homeland into an Islamic homeland, its establishment is also aimed at destroying the Kufr systems; i.e. aimed at removing the flagrant Kufr that is implemented - which is a vital issue, for the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “Unless you witness a flagrant Kufr.” And also because it is mentioned in the Hadith : “ … They said: “ O Messenger of Allah, should we not resist them with the sword? He (saw) said : No, as long as they continue to establish the Salah among you.” Therefore, the method to achieve the Muslims’ issue is a vital issue, because it is the method of a vital issue, and because the Shari’ah evidence from the Sunnah indicates that it is a vital issue. Thus, it is imperative to undertake towards it the measure of life and death.

However, since the Kufr has been sitting on the Muslims’ chests and since their affairs fell in to the hands of the Kuffar, the hypocrites and the apostates, they have not ceased to attempt to break free from the noose of the Kufr authority and the hegemony of its masters and agents. They failed to realise that the issue for which they were struggling was vital, and that it had no other measure but the measure of life and death. Hence, it was the lack of perception among the group of Muslims, that stripped them in their quality as a group or an Ummah from their readiness to endure harm, imprisonment and torture, in addition to enduring poverty, devastation and death, something which can never be detached from the struggle over the vital issues. Hence, these attempts had been destined to inevitable failure and they failed to move one single step towards achieving the issue they were fighting for.

The Muslims were not in need of a great deal of thought and contemplation to perceive that their issue was a vital one. For it was evident from the first moment, just as it is evident today to any sighted person that it is rationally impossible for the Kuffar to enable Islam to return to the political scene (to the rule), as long as they had one iota of oppression against those who work towards this. The rank of the apostates and the hypocrites is not lower in terms of crime and oppression. They will throw everything they have in terms of power in the battlefield to fight those believers who aim at taking the power from them in order to establish the rules of Allah and to protect the sanctities of Allah through establishing the “Hudud” (penal codes) of Allah.

Therefore, it would be impossible for any attempt undertaken by the Muslims in this issue to bear fruit unless they considered it to be a vital issue, whose achievement depends on the measure of life and death. Due to the fact that the Muslims failed to perceive the nature of the battle and the sound rule of Allah (swt) pertaining to this battle, they set about attempting to liberate themselves in a method unworthy of the vital issues.

Hence, their efforts towards this were below the measures of life and death. Indeed, the fact is that in regard to vital issues, such as the removal of the Kufr system and the establishment of the system of Islam, regardless of whether or not they were perceived as vital, one could not succeed in achieving them, no matter how great were one’s force and no matter how tremendous the efforts exhausted were, unless they were considered as being vital and unless measures of life and death were undertaken towards them. Hence, the Muslims should be frankly told, be it individuals or groups, that they have no other choice but to carry out the struggle against Kufr on the basis of the life and death measures, because the nature of the issue at hand necessitates such measures and because the Shari’ah has in the Book and the Sunnah decreed such measures.

Besides, the Messenger of Allah (saw) has taught us how to determine our issues and ordered us to undertake the measures of life and death towards every vital issue. When Allah (swt) sent him with the Message of Islam, and when he started conveying the Da’awah through the intellectual struggle, he (saw) determined his issue as being the triumph of Islam and he undertook towards it the measure of life and death. It is reported that when he (saw) was told by his uncle Abu Talib what Quraysh had wanted from him, i.e. to make Muhammad refrain from attacking them and when he said to him: “Spare me and yourself, and do not put on me a burden greater than I can bear.” The Messenger of Allah (saw) said to him: O uncle, by Allah, if they were to put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left on condition that I relinquished this matter, until Allah has made it triumphant or I perish therein I would not relinquish it.” When he (saw) established the State and performed Jihad by the sword, he also determined his issue as being the triumph of Islam and he undertook towards this issue the measure of life and death. It has been reported that when he (saw) was in Usfan, two junctions away from Makkah on his way to perform Umrah, he met a man from Bani Ka’ab and asked him whether he had any news about Quraysh. His answer was: “There are Quraysh who have heard of your coming and have come out wearing leopards’ skins and have encamped at Dhu Tuwa vowing that you shall never enter Makkah in defiance of them. This man Khalid ibn ul-Walid is with their cavalry which they have sent in advance to Kura Al-Ghamim.” Upon this the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “Woe unto Quraysh! War has devoured them. What harm would they have suffered if they have left me and the rest of the Arabs to go our own ways? If they should kill me, that is what they desired, and if Allah should give me victory over them they would enter Islam in flocks. If they do not do that they will fight while they have the strength; so what are Quraysh thinking of ? By Allah, I shall not cease to fight for the mission with which Allah has entrusted me until He makes it triumphant or this Salifah gets severed.” The Salifah is the surface of the neck, and its severance is tantamount to death. Then the Messenger of Allah (saw) continued his March until he reached Al-Hudaybiya.

In these two cases: the case of carrying the Da’awah through intellectual struggle, and the case of carrying it through Jihad, the Messenger of Allah (saw) determined his issue as being the triumph of Islam, and he (saw)

made it a vital issue. Thus, undertaking towards it the required and inevitable measure in both cases, that is the measure of life and death. Therefore, the Messenger of Allah (saw) said in the first instance: “O uncle, by Allah, if they were to put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left on condition that I relinquished this matter, until Allah has made it triumphant or I perish therein I would not relinquish it.” , and he (saw) said in the second instance: “By Allah, I shall not cease to fight for the mission with which Allah has entrusted me until He makes it triumphant or this Salifah gets severed.” Had the Messenger of Allah (saw) not made this issue a vital one and had he not undertaken the measure of life and death towards it, Islam would not have triumphed, neither by conveying the Da’awah through intellectual struggle, nor by conveying it through Jihad with the sword. This is similar to the Muslims’ reality today, that is the dominance of the Kufr systems over them and the hegemony of the Kuffar and the hypocrites over them; if they do not treat their issue as a vital issue, and if they do not undertake the measure of life and death towards it, their endeavour would not yield anything and they would not be able to move one single step forward.

Therefore, we call upon every single Muslim, amidst this Kufr dominating the Islamic lands, to work towards establishing the Khilafah as a method to transform his own country into an Islamic household and unite it with the rest of the Islamic lands and to carry the Da’awah to the world in order to make Islam triumphant, while reiterating with truthful belief, enlightenment and awareness the saying of the Messenger of Allah (saw)

: “By Allah, if they were to put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left on condition that I relinquished this matter, until Allah has made it triumphant or I perish therein I would not relinquish it”, and his saying : “By Allah, I shall not cease to fight for the mission with which Allah has entrusted me until He makes it triumphant or this Salifah gets severed.” Rajab 1382 AH December 1962 CE