By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on April 5, 2015

The spokesman of the Islamic State, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, gave a speech on 12 March 2015 entitled, “They Kill and Are Killed” (فيَقتلون ويُقتلون), a phrase drawn from the Qur’an [9:111]. A translation of the speech is given below.

Summary

This is Adnani’s fourth speech of the “caliphate” era: he announced the “restoration” of the caliphate in June 2014, made his most infamous speech in September 2014 calling for worldwide terrorism, and in January 2015 officially accepted the IS branch in Afghanistan into the fold.

Adnani began the speech by celebrating the pledge of allegiance to IS from “Boko Haram” at the beginning of March, and encouraged those who want to volunteer as foreign fighters for the caliphate to consider going to wage jihad in Africa, especially if they are inhibited—by the governments in their countries or logistics—from getting to the ‘Syraq’ zone.

Adnani sketched out the apparent utopia of IS’s caliphate, and among the features he highlighted was that it had done away with racism. There was an echo of the myth-image the Soviet Union used to disseminate about what Communism had done in Russia, with the official faith having eroded all distinctions and created unity and equality between people.

Giving a glimpse of IS’s strategic understanding, Adnani contended that the war was won for the group the moment it was able to impose its rule—creating zones areas where “idols” (relics and artifacts) were destroyed, adulterers were stoned, etc. While it is easy to dismiss this as ideological fabulism, Adnani’s broader claim that the U.S.-led Coalition’s war against the caliphate is wrong in its fundamentals by being so entranced with the metric of territory is much more reality-based, and would be even if the Coalition’s war was going better than in fact it is. Adnani mocks the Coalition for taking some smaller towns—after bombing them to rubble—and celebrating this as “victory”. IS does not expect to win every battle and often withdraws when a superior force gathers against it in an urban area, as Adnani notes, but IS retains its doctrine intact and is spreading it.

Where Adnani is crucially and alarmingly correct is about the damage being done by the way the Coalition is waging this war, namely in alliance with Iran, particularly on the Iraqi side of the border. Back to the days of the American regency in Iraq, IS claimed the U.S. project was to massacre and enslave Sunnis in league with the viciously sectarian militias that answer to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Now, this propaganda about a “Crusader-Safavid alliance” appears vindicated as the U.S. operates almost openly in alliance with the IRGC, specifically its expeditionary Quds Force led by Qassem Sulaymani (who is name-checked by Adnani). In these circumstances, IS’s positioning of itself as the only defence Sunnis have against the depredations of the Iranian theocracy, and the only check on Iran’s expansionism in Arab lands, is resonating—in the region, and directly with people trapped under IS rule who are being offered a “liberation” that means living under IRGC militias known for abducting Sunnis and murdering them by drilling holes in their skulls.

The overt takeover of the Iraqi state by Iran since last summer also allows Adnani to take up one of IS’s favourite themes: the uselessness and treachery of Iraqi Sunni leaders who work within such government, shouting loudly about their opposition to IS from behind IRGC militias that are rampaging through Sunni Arab areas. (Interestingly, the named Sunni politicians that Adnani lambastes are not associated with the Iraqi Islamic Party, i.e., the Muslim Brotherhood, the Sunni enemy IS hates above all others, and the Brotherhood is not mentioned.)

In Syria, the only force the U.S. has so far supported against IS is the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), flagged in the country as the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Marxist terrorist organisation. Adnani seizes on this to appeal not only to Arabs, who loathe the PKK for its separatism as much as its militant secularism, but to the majority of Kurds who want no part of the PKK project—with, inter alia, its conscription of their sons and most abrasively their daughters—to “come to kill the disbelievers and atheists of your people”.

The speech, naturally, includes much triumphalism about IS remaining (baqiya), ‘offers’ the Jews and “Crusaders” (the West) ‘peace’ if they either convert to Islam or agree to pay the tribute that acknowledges subordination (jizya) after a total withdrawal from the region, and says the alternative is IS’s victory in a war that will destroy the West’s people and wealth. Adnani boasts that ultimately IS will recapture all the areas that were once under Muslim rule, including Spain, and will then go further, succeeding where Muslim armies of the past failed in conquering the whole of Europe. Curiously, while the speech does have a line about the ‘new’ conquests including Rome, a persistent theme in IS propaganda since the caliphate declaration, Adnani says that IS’s priority is Paris, above Rome and even Iberia. [UPDATE: in the wake of IS’s carnage in Paris on 13 November 2015, Adnani’s reference looks a lot less strange.]

Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, “They Kill and Are Killed”, 12 March 2015

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Beneficent

All praise is due to Allah, the Mighty, the Strong. May blessings and peace be upon the one who was sent with the sword as a mercy to the creation. As for what follows:

Allah the Blessed and Exalted said, “Do not falter or grieve, for you will gain superiority if you are true believers” [3: 139].

O Allah, our Lord, You are our God, alone and without partner. We have believed in You, and disbelieved in that which is worshipped besides You. O Allah, our Lord, we have no strength except by You. It is You alone we worship and You alone we seek help from. It is You we call upon for aid and You that we rely upon. There is no god but You alone, without partner. You are the Strong, You are the Almighty, You are the Powerful, You are the Subjugator, the King. So, by Your Honor and Majesty, we will not become weak and we will not become fainthearted. We will not be humiliated and we will not be dismayed. And by Your Honor and Majesty, You will surely support us, You will surely support us. As long as we fear Your position and fear Your punishment, You will surely support us and every obstinate taghut [ruler using man-made law in place of the shari’a] will surely be disappointed.

O people, are you amazed at the Islamic State’s victories? Are you amazed at its perseverance, despite its weakness and scarce resources? Are you amazed at the nations wildly scrambling against it, and at its great number of enemies? As for us, then we are not amazed. We are not amazed because we have full conviction that it is upon the truth. We are fully convinced that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, is with us. There is no god but Him, the Glorified. He is sufficient for us, and is the best Disposer of affairs. Glory be to Him. There is none who can prevent His favour, and none who can alter His decision; the subjugator over His slaves, the Wise, the All-Aware. He is our protector and helper, “and what an excellent protector; what an excellent helper” [22: 78].

The Islamic State remains upon its path with insight, with firm steps, alone in its trench, whereas the nations of the world have entrenched themselves altogether against it, with every false path and deen [lifeway, creed], in a condition that says: “These are but a small band, who have really enraged us, but we are a ready multitude” [26: 54-56].

Everyone is watching, wondering in confusion and astonishment. They say, “Does this make sense?! Is the Caliphate rising in the midst of our armies? Is Allah’s law being implemented despite our legions, arsenals, planes, tanks, missiles, aircraft carriers, and weapons of mass destruction? Is the Islamic State remaining despite our satellite channels, our sorcerers, our scholars, our shaykhs, and our fatwas? This is impossible. It’s all just some gloominess that will clear up, a nightmare that will end, and a trial that will pass.”

No, never, O enemies of Allah! The Caliphate will remain, by Allah’s permission, until the Day of Judgment, for we are the followers of Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him), and his followers will never be defeated.

And the umma [community] of Muhammad still gives birth, for by Allah, we will surely bring back Badr and Uhud. We will surely bring back Mu’tah and Hunayn. We will surely bring back Qadisiyya and Yarmuk. We will surely bring back Yamamah. We will bring back Hittin and Ayn Jalut. We will bring back Jalawla, Zallaqa, the second battle of Zallaqa, and Balat al-Shuhada. We will bring back the first and second battles of Fallujah, and I swear, I swear Nahavand [in Iran] will return. So grope your necks, O Safavid Rafida [derog. Iranian Shi’is]. And if yesterday our forefathers fought the Romans, the Persians, and the apostates altogether, on various separate fronts, then we take pride in fighting them today on one front and gathered under one leadership.

So rejoice, O Muslims everywhere, for indeed the Caliphal State is persevering, by Allah’s virtue and grace. It’s tower continues to rise high and grow stronger and firmer day after day, and to Allah belong all praise and favour. It continues to be victorious, and the victories that the Crusaders and the Rafida talk about and exaggerate on their satellite channels are nothing more than phony, delusional victories that don’t amount to anything more than taking back some areas and villages in the midst of a war of attacking and repositioning.

We bring you the good news today of the Caliphate’s expansion to West Africa, for the Caliph (may Allah preserve him) has accepted the bay’a [pledge of allegiance] made by our brothers in Jamaat Ahlis-Sunnah li-Da’wa wal-Jihad [“Boko Haram”]. We congratulate the Muslims and our mujahid brothers in West Africa on their bay’a, and we congratulate them on reaching the caravan of the Caliphate. So rejoice, O Muslims, for this is a new door that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has opened so that you may make hijra [emigrate] to the land of Islam and so that you may wage jihad. So whoever is stopped by the disbelieving rulers, and prevented from emigrating to Iraq, Syria [Al-Sham], Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula, or Khorasan [Afghanistan], will not be prevented—by Allah’s permission—from emigrating to Africa.

So come, O Muslims, to your State, for we call on you to mobilise for jihad and incite you and invite you to emigrate to your brothers in West Africa. And we specifically call upon the students of Islamic knowledge and the callers [or proselytisers] to Islam. Come forth, O Muslims, to the land of the Caliphate. For you to be a shepherd over a flock of sheep in the land of Islam is better for you than to be an obeyed leader in the land of disbelief. Here, tawhid [monotheism] is actualised. Here, al-wala wal-bara [(the principles of) allegiance (to Muslims) and disavowal (of unbelievers)] are embodied. Here, there is jihad for the cause of Allah. There is no shirk [lit. “association”, worshipping things equivalent to God; idolatry; polytheism] here nor any idols, no ethnic partisanship nor nationalism, no idolatrous democracy nor infidel secularism. There is no difference here between Arab and non-Arab, nor between black and white. Here, the American is the brother of the Arab, the African is the brother of the European, and the Easterner is the brother of the Westerner. There is the commanding of good and forbidding of evil [al-amr bil-maʿruf wal-nahy an al-munkar]. Here, Allah’s shari’a is implemented. Here, by Allah’s grace, the deen is entirely for Allah. Here, there is open declaration of tawhid. Here is the land of Islam. Here is the land of the Caliphate.

O Jews! O Crusaders! You’ve arrived too late and so you won’t catch what you’ve missed. We’ve taken you by surprise and caught you unaware, for behold, the Islamic State has risen, and behold, the Caliphate has returned in spite of you, and to Allah belongs all praise and favour. Indeed, your conceit and arrogance have deceived you, and you thought that with your might and tyranny you could prevent the return of the Caliphate forever. And when we announced the Caliphate, you ridiculed. Likewise, your allies, your agents [lit. “tails”, al-adhnab], your followers, your slaves, and your dogs from amongst the Rafida, the apostates, the Sahwa [“Awakening”; anti-IS Sunnis (Iraqi tribes, Syrian rebels)], and the evil scholars supporting the disbelieving rulers, all ridiculed, just as you and they had ridiculed before when we announced the establishment of the Islamic State. And just as it had risen, in spite of you, and lasted and persevered by Allah’s grace, so too will it continue, remain, and expand in spite of you, by Allah’s permission. And you will not be able to stand in its way, by Allah’s permission.

And because Islam is the deen of mercy, we will guide you towards good and call you to it, so listen to our advice and accept our call. Otherwise, your arrogance and conceit will lead you to regret when it’s too late for regret.

O Jews! O Crusaders! If you want to protect your blood, increase your wealth, and live in safety from our swords, then there are only two choices before you with no third option. Either you submit yourselves to Allah alone, without partner, and believe in Him as your Lord and God, thereby gaining safety in the worldly life and success in the Hereafter, and are thus granted a double-reward—and this is what we call you to and advise you with. Or you pay us the jizya with willing submission and feel yourselves subdued. This is after you’ve left the Peninsula of Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him), and after your armies have left Jerusalem and all the lands of the Muslims. And indeed, what you would pay to us of jizya does not amount to a thousandth of what you pay to finance your failed war. So save your wealth and remove our swords from your necks.

If, however, you choose the third option and insist on being arrogant, conceited, and stubborn, then you will soon, by Allah’s permission, bite your fingers in regret. For you will not be able to stop the Caliphate’s advance, by Allah’s permission, no matter what you mobilise, no matter what you plot, and no matter what you do, for the umma of Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him) is always giving birth, and nothing can stand in its way so long as it holds onto its Book and the Tradition of its Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him), and so long as it establishes its market of jihad, and so long as its sons sacrifice their souls and their blood for Allah’s cause. And remember O Jews, and remember O Crusaders, that our umma lives by its blood. The more our blood flows, the stronger and more powerful we become, for by Allah, you do not kill one person from amongst us except that dozens more come to life in his place.

O Jews, O Crusaders, O Rafida, O atheists, indeed you are weak cowards, all of you, all of you, all of you. And neither the weak nor the coward will be victorious. You are cowards because you don’t dare make public the reality of your war and the fact that it is a Crusade, that it is against Islam, and that it is against Sunnis. You don’t declare this because you are weak. If you were to reveal your face and openly declare the reality of your war, the rest of the Muslims would awaken from their slumber and intoxication. And when that happens, their generation will not pass, by Allah’s permission, until they sell your children and your women at the slave market. If only my people knew.

O Jews! O Crusaders! You are before a difficult equation and a dark and long tunnel, because you think the solution is to kill the leaders and soldiers of the Caliphate, whereas the Muslims live through the blood of those you kill and the fire of jihad is fuelled by it only to further intensify the fire. Have you not learned that we do not fear death? Have you not learned that we strive for death and hope for it for the cause of Allah? Have you not heard the statement of Haram Ibn Milhan (may Allah be pleased with him)? Muslim [ibn al-Hajjaj] reported in his Sahih that a man came to Haram, the uncle of Anas, from behind him and stabbed him with a spear until it pierced him. Haram then said, “By the Lord of the Ka’ba, I have won!” Allah’s Messenger (may blessings and peace be upon him) said to his companions, “Your brothers have been killed. They said, ‘O Allah, convey to our Prophet our condition and that we have met you, and so we were pleased with You and You were pleased with us’.”

Has not the supplication and wish of Abdullah Ibn Jahsh (may Allah be pleased with him) reached you when he said, “O Allah, grant me a tough man whom I fight for Your cause and who fights me and then takes hold of me and mutilates my nose and ear, so when I meet You tomorrow, You say to me, ‘O Abdullah, who mutilated your nose and ear?’ I say, ‘It happened for Your cause and in defence of Your Messenger.’ Then you say, ‘You spoke the truth’.” Sa’d said, “I saw him at the end of the day and his nose and ear were dangling.”

Have you not heard the story of Umayr [ibn Sa’d al-Ansari] (may Allah be pleased with him) when he had dates in his hand from which he was eating. Then he heard Allah’s Messenger (may blessings and peace be upon him) incite them to fight and perform jihad and made them long for Paradise. So Umayr said, “What a great thing! What a great thing! There is nothing between me and entering Paradise except that these people kill me!” He then threw the dates aside and fought until he was killed.

Have you not heard the statement of our Messenger (blessings and peace be upon him), “By He in whose hand is Muhammad’s soul, I wish to battle for Allah’s cause and then be killed, then battle for Allah’s cause and then be killed, then battle for Allah’s cause and then be killed.”

Have you not heard the statement of our Lord (the Mighty and Majestic): “Whoever fights in the cause of Allah, whether he is killed or victorious, on him We will bestow a great reward” [4: 74]. “Allah has bought from the believers their lives and wealth in exchange for [access to] Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah, so they kill and are killed. Such is the promise He has bound Himself to in Al-Tawrat [the Torah] and Al-Injil [‘the Gospel’, New Testament] and the Qur’an. And who is more faithful to His covenant than Allah? So, rejoice in the bargain you have contracted with Him, for that is the supreme achievement” [9: 111].

Have you not learned that we have hundreds of thousands from the descendants of Haram, Abdullah, and Umayr? Do you not see the caravans of martyrdom operation [suicide bombers] soldiers every day? Do you not see how they advance towards death while laughing and rejoicing and while death flees and fears them, so they pursue it until they reach it and rush into its hardships. They race towards it and record history anew and say with their blood, “Here is the fragrance of Paradise. Here is the market of jihad. Here is the land of Islam. Here is the land of the Caliphate. Here is wala and bara. Here is might and honour. There is no might nor honour for the Muslims except here.”

Can these people be defeated? No, by the Lord of Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him). The umma of jihad and martyrdom can never be defeated. These people did not die but rather life was granted to them. We have achieved victory, O Crusaders, and revived the Caliphate by the grace of Allah alone. So rush to save yourselves before it is too late. Rush to Islam or the jizyah, for the opportunity is still there for you.

We have achieved victory by Allah’s grace alone and defeated you, O Crusaders. You will be completely defeated, we swear by the Lord of mightiness. You will be completely defeated. We achieved victory the day we declared wala and bara, crushed the idols, proclaimed tawhid in every mosque, street, and place, stoned the adulterer, killed the sorcerer, amputated the hand of the thief, flogged the drunkard, and returned virtue back to the Muslims’ women through the hijab. We achieved victory the day we broke the ballot boxes and appointed a caliph through ammunition boxes and by striking necks. We achieved victory the day we established prayer, gave Zakah, ordered the good, and forbade the evil. We achieved victory the day the Pentagon considered the recapture of Kobani or Zumar a victory after the mujahideen withdrew from it in a war of attacking and repositioning. They left it in ruins after four months, used up more than seventy percent of the strength of your planes, battleships, and forces. So congratulations to you, O Pentagon, on this “victory”. Congratulations to the Crusaders on piles of rocks in Kobani and Zumar.

We achieved victory the day you assembled tens of thousands of your mules to enter Albu Ajil, al-Alam, al-Dawr, or some settlements of mud houses in the dispersed towns of the desert, and when you captured some of these, you considered it a victory. We achieved victory the day America and Europe dreamed of recapturing settlements of mud houses in Tal Hamis, Tal Barrak, al-Udaym, or al-Jallam.

O Crusaders, if you are betting on Salahuddin, hoping for Mosul, dreaming of Sinjar, al-Hawl, Tikrit, or al-Hawija, or dreaming of Mayadeen, Jarabulus, al-Karmah, Tal Abyad, al-Qa’im, or Derna, or dreaming of capturing a forest in the jungles of Nigeria or capturing nests of wild plants in the desert of Sinai, then know that we want Paris—by Allah’s permission—before Rome and before Spain, after we blacken your lives and destroy the White House, Big Ben, and the Eifel Tower, by Allah’s permission, just as we destroyed the palace of [the Persian King] Khosrow before. We want Kabul, Karachi, the Caucasus, Qom, Riyadh, and Tehran. We want Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, Sanaa, Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Amman. The Muslims will return to being masters in every place [that was once under Islamic rule]. Here is Dabiq, Ghouta, and Jerusalem. There is Rome. We will enter it and this is not a lie. It is the promise of the truthful and trustworthy (blessings and peace be upon him).

Here we are and the days are between us. The bloodiest battles before Judgment Day are before us.

O Sunnis of Iraq, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and Yemen! We have warned you for a long time against the filthy Rafida. What we warned you against has come to pass and we continue to warn you. If they lied to you and showed you the soft skin of the snake before, then today they have revealed their fangs and sprayed their venom. They have blatantly and brazenly announced their Safavid Empire and its capital, Baghdad. Today they have unveiled their faces of rancour, which you have seen in Baghdad, Damascus, and Sanaa; which you have seen in al-Houla, Douma, and Baniyas; which you have seen in Kuwait, Bahrain, and al-Ahsa [Saudi Arabia], and in al-Hawija, as-Sa’diyyah, al-Miqdadiyyah, and Khanaqin; and which you see in Tikrit, al-Alam, al-Dawr, and Albu Ajil.

The Safavid Rafida today have entered a new stage in their war against the Sunnis. They have begun to believe that it is within their power to take areas of the Sunnis and control them completely. They no longer want a single Muslim from the Sunnis living in the Empire they desire. They do not want anyone who does not curse our mother Aishah and the other Mothers of the Believers (may Allah be pleased with them) and who does not slander the honour of our Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him). They do not want anyone who is pleased with Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and the rest of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). Anyone who refuses, they kill, take his home and wealth, and enslave his women and children.

O Sunnis! The Crusader-Safavid alliance is clear today. Here is Iran with its Great Satan America dividing the regions and roles amongst each other in the war against Islam and the Sunnis. The Crusaders and Jews did not suffice with the Rafida seizing Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, and Sanaa. They want them to take Mecca and Medina. They want them to take Pakistan and Afghanistan. They want them to take Indonesia. Yes, Indonesia, if only you knew. The Jews want to hand over all the Muslims’ lands to the filthy Rafida, for they have not found anyone with more disbelief and corruption on Earth and who wages war against tawhid and spreads lewdness and shirk than the Rafida. The strange thing about this war is the leaders of treachery, shamefulness, and lowness, including the likes of [Iraqi Sunni politicians Usama] al-Nujayfi, [Ahmad] al-Jiburi, and [Khaled] al-Ubaydi, who promise to return to Mosul, Salahuddin, and al-Anbar. They threaten to eradicate the mujahideen while roaring and foaming, yet the leader of the battle [against IS] is the filthy Safavid Rafidi Sulaymani. He is their master and the holder of their strings. They continue to traverse behind the Rafida like abandoned and lost dogs. They continue to bark and claim they are the defenders of the Sunnis and that the Islamic State is an Iranian agent and product! Subhanallah!

O Sunnis in Iraq, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and Yemen, and we especially address those in Iraq! The filthy Safavid Rafida did not come from Iran, Basra, Najaf, Karbala, and other places, advancing towards their death, having their necks struck, their bodies dismembered, themselves slaughtered and killed like cattle to defend you. The filthy Rafida’s claim of defending the Sunnis and securing their areas is only like the spiteful Crusaders’ claim of defending Islam, protecting it from corruption, and aiding the weak and oppressed. The Rafida came, O Sunnis, to take your homes, lands, and wealth. They came to kill your men and enslave your women. The Iranians came to take revenge on the Iraqis for the [war in the] eighties. They came to take revenge on the Sunnis for [Imam] Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him), whom they killed and over whom they have wept and beaten themselves for hundreds of years.

O Sunnis in Iraq, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and Yemen! O Sunnis in Egypt, Morocco, and Africa! O Sunnis in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India! O Sunnis in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Turkey, and the Caucasus! O Muslims in America, Europe, Canada, and Australia! O umma of Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him)! We warned you before and continue to warn you that the war is a Crusader-Safavid war against Islam, a war against tawhid, a war against the Sunnis. O Sunnis, if the Islamic State is broken—may Allah not decree such—then there will be no Mecca for you thereafter, nor Medina. The Rafida will exhume the graves of the Companions of your Messenger (blessings and peace be upon him), the first of which will be the graves of the Rashidun Caliphs (may Allah be pleased with them). You will live like slaves beneath the Rafida. So rush to your war, O Muslims, for we call upon you wherever you are on Earth to migrate to your State and defend it, raise its tower, and accompany its march. We especially call our Kurdish Muslim brothers, particularly those in Turkey, northern Iraq, and Iran. Come to kill the disbelievers and atheists of your people [i.e., the PKK] so as to prove that our war is a religious war of faith versus disbelief, not patriotism nor nationalism.

O soldiers of the Caliphate, be firm for you are upon the truth. Be firm for Allah is with you. Be firm for Allah is your helper. Be firm, for, by the Lord of the heavens and Earth, the shirk of the Rafida will never defeat your tawhid. Allah is above such! By Allah, your sins and misdeeds will never surpass the disbelief of the atheist Kurds. By Allah’s permission, the Sahwa of apostasy will never overcome your Islam. By Allah’s permission, the coalition of the cross will never break your faith.

Continue forward, because Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, and Rome are in wait for you. Continue forward towards a new Badr, Uhud, and al-Ahzab. Continue forward towards a new Yamamah, Yarmuk, Qadisiyya, and Nahavand. Continue forward towards a new Ayn Jalut and Hittin. Continue forward towards Dabiq and Ghouta.

O soldiers of the Islamic State, it is a caliphate, by Allah’s permission. So if you want it to be upon the prophetic methodology, by Allah’s permission, then be wary of oppression, be wary of pride, be wary of conceit. Make your intentions sincere for Allah and constantly renew them. Do much repentance, seeking forgiveness, saying there is no might nor power except by Allah. Disavow your might and power and turn to Allah’s might and power. If you meet the enemies, then remember your tawhid and deen and remember their shirk and disbelief. If you do so, you will see how strong you are and how weak and cowardly they are. Remember, O mujahid, when you meet your enemy, that you fight an idolatrous and filthy Rafidi who fights for the cause of men, for the cause of [Imam] Ali, Husayn, and their family—or so they claim. They fight for the cause of Khomeini, Khamenei, and Sistani. They prostrate to graves, circumambulate them, seek blessings from them, swear by men, call upon dead men for help, seek their aid, and seek refuge from them. They make vows to dead men and rely upon them. If they want to get closer to Allah, or so they claim, they do so through fornication. Remember this, O muwahid [strict monotheist] mujahid. Remember that you fight a disbelieving atheist and filthy apostate who disbelieves in Allah, believes in democracy and secularism, and befriended and allied with the mushrikeen [idolaters]. They showed enmity towards the deen of Allah and the rule of Allah. They strive and fight to eradicate Allah’s shari’a. They spilled the blood of Allah’s allies from amongst the muwahid mujahideen. They spend their days in drunkenness, prostitution, song, dance, and other various kinds of sin and evil. They replace the noble Qur’an with musical instruments and drums.

Remember this, O mujahid, when you meet your enemy. Also remember your tawhid of Allah, your reliance upon Him alone, your seeking of His aid, your calling upon Him, your seeking refuge with Him alone. Remember your prostration and bowing to Him alone, your supplication of Him, and your submission before Him. Remember that you fight for His cause, may He be glorified.

If you know this, O mujahideen, then rise towards your enemies and intrude upon them, for they will not be firm nor stand, by Allah’s permission, in front of you.

O mujahideen, let not the ignorant person think that the mujahideen fighting for Allah’s cause never lose a battle. Rather, war is struggle and the days vary. The mujahideen fighting for Allah’s cause might lose a battle, a city, an area, but they will never be defeated and the final outcome is always for them. So be firm, O soldiers of the Caliphate, and ask Allah to make it upon the prophetic methodology, and it is so by Allah’s permission. Neither America, nor Europe, nor Russia, nor China, nor Iran will be able to stand before its legions. Its soldiers will demolish their thrones. But before so, every now and then, a shaking and sifting is needed.

O Allah, the deen is Your deen and we are Your soldiers who fight for Your cause. O Allah, You aided us by Your favour, grace, and generosity. We did not achieve this by our might and strength and we are not worthy of victory. O Allah, do not let their shirk overcome our tawhid. Do not let our sins surpass their disbelief. O Allah, forgive us our sins. We seek your forgiveness, repent to you, believe in you, and rely upon you. Do not hold us responsible for what the ignorant among us might do. “Our Lord, make us not a trial for the disbelievers” [60: 5]. Our Lord, forgive us our sins, keep our feet firm, and give us victory over the disbelieving people, O Lord, by Your mercy.

O Allah, send blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and companions.

And our last call is: praise be to Allah, the Lord of the creation.