Again dismissing the results of the Arab Spring, al-Qaeda (AQ) leader Ayman al-Zawahiri portrayed true "salvation" as Muslims rallying around fighters and uniting together in echoing their demand for Shariah-based governance.
His speech, "The Way of Salvation," came in a 45 minute, 10 second speech produced by AQ's as-Sahab Media Foundation, and was released on February 5, 2019. The video, which shows Zawahiri speaking and uses clips from news media and past as-Sahab videos and those from AQAP and AQIM, gives January 2019 as the production date. The perceived failure of the Arab Spring revolutions to bring real and lasting change is a frequent talking point for Zawahiri, and in particular, he raised the question of where to find "salvation," and answered it, in a speech issued in January 2018, "After Seven Years, Where is the Salvation". Zawahiri reiterated the same points from that discourse, as well as rebuke the Islamic State (IS) and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, once again, while denying any connection to them and its ideology and actions.
In his speech, Zawahiri argued that the Arab Spring ended in "death and failure," and people were deceived by the "global tyrants" to maintain the reins of power. Today, he said, Muslims face enemies from many sides: Shi'ites seeking to spread influence across the world, Americans and Jews through the occupation of Palestine and hold control over the "heart of the Islamic world," Russians, French, Chinese, Hindus, and Arab puppets. The AQ leader urged Muslims to come together, stating: "Therefore, we are in need to unite all categories of the Ummah in this jihadist confrontation, and the mujahideen are the shield of the Ummah and its solid nuclei, and the active scholars and seekers of knowledge are its leaders and its guide. It is a huge battle which needs the efforts of all who are sincere".
The video is available here:
http://sitemultimedia.org/video/SITE_Sahab_Zawahiri_Way_Salvation.mp4
Following is a translation of the speech:
In the name of Allah, and praise be to Allah. Peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family, his Companions, and those who followed him.
O Muslim brothers everywhere: Peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings.
And thereafter:
I would like to talk today about what is known as the Arab Spring, where many people tried to claim that they are replacing the call and jihad for their own interest. The most important matter was diverting the tide of popular anger in these revolutions into reconciliation and concessions. The regime then regained its breath and brought new agents that are more powerful, with more unjust control. Eight years after the flood of Arab popular anger, which spread from Tunisia to Egypt and Libya and then to Yemen and Syria, how did it end? And how can we bring it back from what ended it. It is a great responsibility which the Ummah, the burden of which the Ummah must bear.
The Arab Spring ended in defeat and failure, and unfortunately, that came at the hands of many people who climbed on the shoulders of the crowds and who were used by the global tyrannical forces to deceive and humiliate our Islamic Ummah. The most prominent example of this is the Ennahda Movement in Tunisia, which formed the lifeline of the old corrupt regime, and through its deceit of the Muslim masses, the old corrupt regime returned to the country, and it became more brutal and wild, and more hostile to Islam and Muslims. The Ennahda Movement participated in all these crimes, and then pulled the mask from its head to declare the truth, which is that it is a secular movement.
Also in Egypt, we saw the retreats of the Brotherhood and the Salafists and others, and the tanks of the army standing in the squares of Cairo as if it is the savior of the people, while its real aim was hidden. It stayed in the squares to fire on the demonstrators and protestors - an act that American decided to postpone for two years - at the hands of al-Sisi, which the Muslim Brotherhood considered as their man.
In Yemen, the anger of the people disappeared in the market of the Gulf bargains, and all the parties agreed on two matters: to take the highest price for removing the anger of the people, and to give the way to America to commit its crimes against the mujahideen and the people of the Arabian Peninsula.
In Libya, the American agent Haftar took over more than half of the country, and the revolution ended up in a maze. Libya now lives in this maze, where many parties are trying to deceive the Muslim Ummah that it has won. Unfortunately, this deceit is directed by the greatest criminals. What Libya is facing from satanic conspiracies did not drive most parties associated with Islam in the country to be united around word of Tawhid [oneness of Allah], the rule of Shariah, and allegiance to the believers and exemption from the disbelievers.
In Sham [Syria], the revolution of the Muslim people, who went out cheering “Our Master until the End is Muhammad,” ebbed to the corner of northwestern Syria under the secular Turkish sultan. This Islamic popular anger decreased, after the mujahideen forces were advancing towards Damascus. Many people accuse the gang of Ibrahim al-Badri [Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi / Islamic State (IS)] of being the reason for the retreat of the jihadi advance in Sham. Unfortunately the practices of Ibrahim al-Badri became a spreading epidemic, to be practiced by all except those who have mercy in Allah, against all. The matter has reached to accuse those who are forbidding this sedition. All this is done under secular Turkish secular checkpoints, and the enemy of religion is preparing its attack to eliminate all.
This is the gloomy picture of what happened to the Arab Spring. Why did it end this way? There are many reasons, but I can point out few summary points.
One of the main reasons of its failure is the absence in most cases of the doctrine of al-Wala wal Bara [allegiance and exemption], and the deviation of these regimes from the Shariah.
One of the main causes for the failure was entering into elections under the rule of the secular constitution. Elections were held prior to the revolution - elections which contradict the Shariah - with the alleged goal to rule with Shariah. This is the failure, the failure to rule by Shariah. Fatwas were issued to enter into elections under secular constitutions. Those who created these fatwas did not apologize to the Ummah that they were the reason for the loss of the popular anger and its fragmentation and confusion in the swamps of loss. They instigated the Ummah into a corrupt and destructive path, but they have yet to apologize. If the chance came again, they will repeat the same failure.
Among the causes of failure is rushing behind the secularists and the henchmen of the West, and to ally with them and derive strength from them, and to be under their leadership and concede to them what contradicts Shariah. Then they shifted and they sided with the Zionist and American military, and they showed their true face, which is not to accept any direction leading towards Islam, even if it is small. They welcomed its crash, forgetting what they called for from freedom, democracy, and pluralism. ِ
And among the causes of failure hastening to grab the reins of power before empowerment and to acquire areas, warehouses, headquarters, villages and cities.
The weapon was turned from the enemy to the chests of the brothers... What was the result? They became a target for bombing, destruction, and field army attacks. The cities fell one after the other, and the regions and the fronts. Conciliation and negotiation with the enemy is over the evaluation of regions, which the mujahideen were not able to defend in return for saving their lives and the lives of their people. The regional parties which claim that they are friends of the mujahideen are the parties negotiating with others and then tell the mujahideen what they should do. Instead of countries coming to the mujahideen to negotiate with them to end the war, the mujahideen receive orders from the countries and enemies and they must obey. This is because most of the leaders of the mujahideen were satisfied to live with false empowerment.
I want to remind my Muslim brothers of a beneficial historical example, which is the policy of Pakistan with the mujahideen. This, to show the danger of the intervention of secular countries in the affairs of Muslims. Turkey and the Gulf countries will not offer a tenth of what Pakistan offered to the mujahideen. What did Pakistan do to the Arab mujahideen at the end of the Jihad against the Russians? And what did it do with the Islamic Emirate and the Arab immigrants upon the Crusader invasion of Afghanistan? The answer is clear. I am not condemning anybody, I am reading the reality as it is, to know what is the way of salvation from this dilemma.
Another cause of the failure is ignoring the fact that the road is long and it is not right to coexist with falsehood and the tyrant. The way requires great sacrifices and to be prepared for immigration, pursuit, death, and imprisonment. The way of salvation is not the path in which the people are nurtured with jobs and profits with some manifestations of religiosity, and with agreement and bargaining with oppressed tyrants. Those that reared their youth on the innocence of the tyrants dragged them to the loss of religion and the world.
The example of coexistence with the tyrants is what happened with many callers, and especially in the Arabian Peninsula, who claim that befriending the controlling tyrant is more beneficial than confronting them. This was through the call to stop the jihad and distort their image, and the call to obey the ruler even if he is a devil. All these thoughts that contradict the Shariah were the seeds of failure, and those who claimed it deceived the popular anger, as they are weaker than to lead the Ummah to the road of jihad with the Islamic call and jihad.
They also deluded the people that victory can be achieved through peaceful means. This contradicts the rules and norms of life, and it is also opposes the traditions of Allah that we have learned from the blessed Qur’an.
For any revolution to succeed there must be an armed clash to eradicate the previous regime, or else the previous regime will return, but more ruthless, more cunning, and more corrupt than before.
The way of salvation is to avoid what I stated as causes for failure. In summary, it is to stress the foundation of creed in the soul of the Ummah, and to revive the doctrine of al-Wala wal-Bara, and to confirm the governance of the Shariah, and to avoid any political process on the basis of secular constitutions, and to seek Shariah-based governance. If this is achieved then the Ummah, with its scholars, will choose the practical and legitimate path to represent the Ummah and to revive Shura [consultation].
Among the causes of victory is leaving the illusions of control, and returning to fight the vulnerable, and uniting the mujahideen around the word of Tawhid, to exhaust the enemy and to free the Muslims from the dominance of the American tools - those whose bases are occupied by America, who are participating with it as allies and kill the Muslims under its banner, and who make relations with Israel.
And among the causes of victory is rejecting that Shariah be in agreement with the regime of the great criminals, and being aware of the weak rulers who lead the Ummah to defeat and to surrender to the great criminals.
And among the causes of victory is the revealing of the religious merchants and their adulterous leader, the ally of Israel and the unifier of the religions, and exposing the agents of the authority in al-Azhar and the administrator of fatwas. We need a comprehensive confrontation and a comprehensive jihad through hand, speech, advocacy, and political and intellectual action based on Shariah governance.
We are facing the Safavid enemy, the Rafida [Shi'ites], which seeks to spread in west and east.
We are facing the American and Israeli enemy, which occupies Palestine and seeks to control the heart of the Islamic world and its sources.
We are also facing the Russian enemy, which thirsts for our land.
We are facing France, the mother of cunning, the Crusader.
We are facing the atheist Chinese and the polytheist Hindus.
We are facing the agent rulers and their corrupt regimes which oppose and fight the Shariah.
Thus, we are in need to unite all categories of the Ummah in this jihadist confrontation. The mujahideen are the shield of the Ummah and its solid nuclei, and the active scholars and seekers of knowledge are its leaders and its guides. It is a huge battle which requires the efforts of all who are sincere.
In this battle we must be gathered together around the word of Tawhid. The mujahideen are extending their hand to all honorable and free people in our Islamic Ummah. We call on the Ummah not to believe the lies that the governments and their agents. Indeed, the Mujahedeen are not infallible, but most of what is said about them is wrong. The opposing media is trying to link us to the gang of Ibrahim al-Badri. We tried to reform them, and when we failed, we abandoned them and revealed their falsehood and deviation. We called for the arbitration of Shariah, and consultation, and holding their officials accountable. They are lying about the succession of the prophethood, and they claim that it is based on the allegiance of the unknown minority, declaring [Muslims] infidel, and bombing. We follow the Qur'anic method, which stipulates that consultation and counsel are among the characteristics of the faithful, while they say to the Ummah that their orders constitute consultation and counsel. We call for respect of Muslim sanctities, while they say we will fight those who do not pledge allegiance to us, and we will declare infidel those who fight us.
In conclusion, we call ourselves and all the Muslims for introspection, and to avoid the path of defeat and failure, and to start a new phase based on the Islamic call and jihad in all its aspects, and to be united like a solid structure.
Our last supplication is that all praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and may Allah's peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and upon his family and his Companions.
Peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings.
