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Brother Yussuff seems to be confounding jihad with qitaal(Fighting). Also, he seems to know more about the trapped youth than themselves. While we do not have true Islamic governance, that is not an excuse to prolong the status quo. To continue to be same old same old and continue to live the good life here and let Muslims everywhere go to the dogs without lifting a finger is shameful.

I am sorry to say but brother Mohamed seems to be totally brain washed by the media. Jihad is the pinacle of Islam and it will never be over. Those youth have integrity and they care about their fellow muslims and wanted to help them. The US soldiers and their allies are making their own jihad against the Muslims and are willing to sacrifice themselves for what they believe is their mission. Brother Mohamed needs some real Islamic education.

we muslims are not defeated by our enemies, we muslims are defeated by our ownselves and betrayed by our own muslim! Days of jihad is not over. And so is Qital. The commands of Allah in His book and His messenger is a guidance for all muslims till the last Hour. stop watchin fox news and cnn. Give a benefit of a doubths to our brothers. Innocent until proven guilty !

[b]السلام عليكم[/b] Brother Mohamad makes some good points. Many youth seriously entertain the idea of jihad, but live "dual" lives. They earn an income, earn an education and reap all of the benefits of living in an open and opportunity-rich western environment, but spend hours on youtube looking at jihadi videos and listening to nasheeds that extol the virtues of jihad while rejecting the very system that provides them (western Muslims) with the opportunities and comforts they have spent their life taking advantage of. This duality or "cognitive dissonance" as psychologists call it creates a dilemma, the young person cannot marry both worldviews so he must pick - for the five Virginia youth they chose the path of jihad. To be sure, they were probably not prepared for the harsh reality of rebel life in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The "romance" of jihad probably came to an end when they stepped off the plane and realized the harsh reality of their decision. Despite all of this, it would be naive to say that "jihad is over." In fact, we know that conceptually jihad never ends - only Allah can begin and end struggles, and Allah knows best. It's true that the Muslim world is ruled by power-fanatics, despots and apostates who often act as puppets for greedy western corporate entities. But what of the suffering of the ummah? In Chechnya, young men (and women) are tortured and murdered on a regular basis; often for just expressing ideas that stray beyond the state-sponsored Sufism, or for criticizing Russia. In Palestine, the ummah suffers every known deprivation at the hands of a government (Israel) that regularly breaches international law and assassinates Palestinian activists all over the world. Can we ignore this? Our ummah is in trouble - serious trouble and any Jumu'ah prayer that fails to mention this (in my opinion) is doing a grave misservice. It is easy for us to sit in our capitalist bubble and pretend that being a good American is compatible with being a good Muslim. The truth is a very real fracture exists. Certainly pretending that the "days of jihad are over" borders on being blasphemous. As Muslims we have an OBLIGATION to help our brothers and sisters. We all now the Hadith that conceptualizes the ummah as one body, and we all know that the chain of narration is rock solid. We have a duty, an iron clad obligation to not just "think" about those in our community who suffer, but to commit real time and real resources to helping. With all due respect to the author, brother Mohamad, the problems that afflict our global community are not going to go away by simply forgetting about the world beyond our comfortable borders; certainly we cannot dismiss the tradition of jihad (as if we even have that right). Our community leaders, our Imams, our Sheiks and our council members need to stop pretending that the issues of Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Bosnia, Croatia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, India, Sudan, etc. are simply going to be willed away. For those of us who have traveled outside of the west it is apparent that the Muslim world is in serious trouble. Regions that are not engulfed in war and fratricide suffer from a sort of cultural suicide where the erosion of Muslim values is labeled “progress” by leaders more interested in making money for their kingdom than for upholding the Sunnah. Dissent is responded to with extreme violence. “Model” Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE have some of the worst human rights records in the world. As Muslims in the west we don’t face these same sorts of problems – but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t contemplate them. We have the luxury to think about cars and higher education and 401k’s. In other parts of “our” world Muslims blow themselves up because they don’t have clean drinking water or regular access to health care and see masjids ripped apart by missiles bought and paid for by our governments. The liberal philosopher Noam Chomsky has likened martyrdom operations to a "culture of desperation." Think of the disparity between our lives on theirs. Shame on those of us who think that our communal struggle is over! Some of our youth may make misguided, fantasy-driven decisions, but at least they have the clarity to recognize that gross injustice being doled out to our ummah. Outside of the west our community is in crisis mode. CAIR, ISNA....NONE of these organizations should ever hold an event, a press conference or even a bake sale without reminding our government (and us) that the murder of Muslims across the globe is a daily occurrence. Once we stop fixating on material life in the west (good education, god job, etc.) and make serving our ummah a priority - and openly talking about the disaster that is Muslim geopolitics - our young people will stop trying to address the problems we seem too ashamed, too weak or too comfortable to do ourselves.

as salaam wu alaikum wa rahmatullah Bismillah. AlhamduilAllah. La ilaha il Allah wa ashaduan Muhammadar RasoolAllah; sal Allahu alayhee wa salaam. It is unfortunate that such a commentary was found suitable to be placed in a community paper entitled 'The Muslim Link.' May Allah subhanna wa t'ala extend HIS mercy upon us all. Ameen. Such commentary is so counterproductive to sustaining and maintaining a cohesive, conscious link throughout the muslim ummah. Moreover, the content obviously denotes a lack in knowledge of this beautiful deen and what is extensively defined as jihad via the Qur'an & Sunnah. I ask Allah subhanna wa t'ala to increase the striving with knowledge that benefits in better serving HIM azza wa jal. Ameen. I ask Allah subhanna wa t'ala to increase the imaan of the striving muslims. Ameen. I ask Allah subhanna wa t'ala to grant this ummah just leadership from HIS azza wa jal authority that we may be successful and raised in the ranks of the believers. Ameen. May Allah continue to purify this ummah from the evil deeds, evil actions and ignorance of false scholars and/or those who have no knowledge. Ameen. Ameen. Ameen. May we focus our attention. energy, and resources on improving our condition as muslims instead of propogating useless information or material adverse to the teachings of our Nabiyy sal Allahu alayhee wa salaam, the Sahaba radi'Allahu anhum, & the Tabi/ Tabi'een rahimAllah t'ala an. Ameen. Oh, My Ummah, let not our current condition, the socio-political status, unusual events, or views of the enemies of this deen have us fall back on our heels. Oh, My Ummah, remain steadfast, patiently in perserverence, as we hold on strong to the rope of Allah; A firm handle...Tawwakullah. Oh my Ummah, let us truly be [b]linked[/b] and remain unified; never dividing into sects as those before us. My Ummah, do not become apologetic of the ahkam of our deen and resort to compromising positions or a status wherein we nullify our shahadah. All things stated in good, truth & of benefit is only because of the rahmah of Allah; And all praise is due to Allah, Ar Rahman, Ar Raheem. Anything stated in error or in fault is due to my ignorance and the shaytan. I seek refuge in Allah azza wa jal and ask HIS forgiveness. Wa ahkiru dawan AlhamduilAllahir raabilalameen.

There are thing to agree upon such as that fact that they could have used their energy back here to better our community and they had a future in front of them. But we all hope they are dismissed and let go and the verdict is innocent. Inshallah. We must think the best of our brothers.

Jihad has conditions just like any act of worship in Islam in order for it to be correct and accepted by Allah Subhanahu wa ta'alaa. You'll the find same person who believes Salaat is not correct without Wudu, deeming it permissible for him to fight in Jihad without an Ameer, without the permission of his parents or any of the other conditions of Jihad being present. The days of Jihad are not over due to the statement of the Lord of the Worlds, translated in English to mean "This day I have perfected for you your religion, completed my favor upon you, and have chosen Islam for you as your religion." Thus Jihad remains an obligation until the Day of Judgement upon this ummah. Abandonment of this obligation brings shame and humiliation upon the ummah. As can be seen all over the world today, A more correct statement would be that what many people today view as Jihad, is actually in direct opposition to the deen. Suicide is clearly prohibited in the Qur'an and Sunnah, yet you find those who try to twist theses clear texts to allow for suicide bombings. In addition to the crime of killing oneself, the suicide bomber usually targets crowded areas where his victims include women, children, babies, the elderly, non combatants, and disapporionately, muslims! All of whom are impermisiible to kill in Islam without right. The fact that there are those amongst this ummah, that will respond to the call of a man with a degree in Engineering who hides out in a cave, and places himself in the position of an Ameer, calling the peopleto jihad, is a clear testifiication to how ignorant we are of our deen. Victory lies in obeying Allah and following the way He has prescribed for us. We will only continue to be humiliated as long as we chose to follow our intellects and emotions, over the Book and the Sunnah, no matter how well intentioned we may be.

[b]السلام عليكم[/b] I think it is important that the Muslim Link printed this article and I am glad they did. It is good to hear different opinions even if we do not agree with them. Could the Virginia youth that went searching for jihad in Pakistan have had good lives here in America? Of course. By all accounts they were smart, respectful, industrious young people. The media has already done their job however; they have convinced everyone that opposition to American foreign policy is tantamount to extremism, terrorism or Wahhabism (or whatever else they want to call it). The truth is that more and more Muslims (and) non Muslims are beginning to see the insanity that is America’s foreign policy and for this we should be glad. We should be glad because the CIA, the NSA and the FBI keep track of people that post in forums like this, and just as with Vietnam, eventually they won’t be able to keep track of everyone who disagrees with them. Opposition to injustice is an Islamic duty and one of the manifestations of this duty is jihad but we are trapped in a dichotomy; we are Muslims, we live in the west and we pay taxes, and some of these taxes end up paying for weaponry and policies that kill Muslims. No matter how you look at it, this is a problem. It is a reality. Our Imams don’t want to talk about it, our community leaders avoid the topic and all the while our ummah is being DECIMATED. The Virginia youth obviously did not find answers to the questions they raised about how to reconcile being a Muslim in a country that actively kills Muslims overseas. And, they shouldn’t have to. This is the responsibility of our religious leaders, or Imams and our Sheyks. I am not proposing that we all go “Awlaki” and immigrate to another country, because truthfully, we have no where to go that is truly “Muslim.” Who can honestly say they would be better of being a Muslim in Iraq or Bosnia or Chechnya than here in the USA? At least here we have the opportunity to voice our opinion, we have the freedom to express disagreement without fear of being beheaded or tortured (most of the time). But we have an obligation to speak out for those who do not have this freedom. This is the Islamic way. [b]Lā ilāha ill-Allāh لاإله إلا الله [/b]

[b]السلام عليكم[/b][size=medium][/size] With all due respect to you Abu Ibraheem, I think the responsibility is with our uluma. The problem is (and people like Awlaki and Bin Laden have exploited this) is that our religious leaders are all in the pocket of big corporation$. While we endlessly debate the relevance and proper manifestation of jihad, Islamic culture is being extinguished all over the globe. The Virginia youth saw things very clearly, and I am not going to say I think they made an incorrect assumption; the United States is part of a larger mechanism which is at war with Islam. Do we need the consensus of a hundred thousand corporate-sponsored Imams and Sheyks to tell us this? We can see it with our own eyes! We are told Hamas is a criminal organization and that Israel is a "good partner" to the United States, but within 30 seconds we can watch video of American-made Israeli rockets destroying Palestinian schools and masjids. Why isn't that the main topic at every ISNA convention instead of these "bridge building" seminars where everyone just spins their wheels talking about inter-faith camping trips? The uluma of Saudi Arabia proclaims itself as the vanguard of Islam, yet EVERYONE can see how the royal family (who ultimately pay the uluma) lives in extravagance while millions of Saudis live and die in abject poverty. The uluma of Saudi Arabia proclaims to extol the virtues of Wahhabism; and yet the human likeness of the KING himself is plastered all over every single piece of Saudi money. Are we to believe that these people are making responsible decisions about the welfare of our global community? The "Muslim" president of Chechnya has been photographed drinking alcohol with prostitutes and has reportedly been part of torture sessions where Chechen "rebels" were castrated and beheaded. The global uluma (including every major Islamic organization in the USA and Canada) has said nothing. Are we to believe that because he has not been officially declared an apostate by our religious leaders that this gives legitimacy to his regime. What about the tens of thousands of Muslims who suffer because our global leadership does absolutely nothing.....and then we have the audacity to point the finger disapprovingly at young people who decide to address these sorts of crisis in the most direct way possible?! The problem as I see it is twofold: 1.) Our uluma are afraid to speak about the war against Islam. In the east they yell and stomp their feet, but it is really just empty rhetoric. As long as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the Kuwait government keep getting oil money, nothing will happen. In North America most Imams wont touch the subject with a ten-foot-pole. Even the mention of jihad will get you snitched out to the FBI and "boom" you have a file. 2.) In the absence of from-the-top protest we expect our young people to sit around and do nothing when it says explicitly in the Noble Qu'ran and Sunnah that helping your brother or sister is an act of righteousness (!?). Do We expect our youth to wait around for someone to declare themselves Amir, and free of corruption and corporate influence and tell them the truth....and then in the absence of that authority we criticize them (the youth) for doing the simplest thing possible, offering their minds and bodies in the defense of our ummuah? Every Friday across this country we have congregate and talk about the importance of dawah, of community, of solidarity....and[u] 3/4 of the Muslim world is in absolute ruins[/u] and no one even mentions it. The five Virginia youth may have been misguided but at least they were willing to address a problem that 99% of our uluma are afraid to. Allah Knows Best.

The issue is what is Jihad! We need to reclaim this word from the media and from the modern Khawarij. Jahada means to strive, to act with diligence. It is a pillar of our faith. It means that Islam is not a mere profession upon the tongue, or a set of beliefs; Islam is an imperative call to action - to act in PEACE. There is no peace without justice and freedom from oppression. Islam demands that we have compete freedom of belief. La Ikraha fi din (2:256). There can be no compulsion in religion because Allah (SWT) has created us with free will, and the whole purpose for which He created us is defeated if we are compelled to follow a particular path. We must have free access to His message and absolute freedom to choose to believe ... or not to believe. Jihad, then, is putting our faith in to action by resisting all forms of oppression and creating a society in which all people are free to hear the message and make that choice to believe. The means we use to effect this resistance and overcoming of oppression must never become a form of oppression itself. Islam does not condone the principle of "by any means necessary." The ends must be pure and permissible under Shariah law and so must the means of achieving those ends. If they are not, then the whole effort will only land you in hell fire. While it is true that the Prophet (SAW) had to resort to qitaal to prevent oppression of his community, it is not necessarily the case that we are so forced today. Certainly, where Muslims are oppressed by force, equal force is justified. But most of the qitaal we see today is not for Islam, but for territory and political purposes. We continue to be obsessed with tribalism and nationalism instead of jihad fi sabillillah - striving in the path of Allah. The path of Allah is the spiritual development of the individual as well as the spiritual development of mankind as a whole, for we are not just "roughed individuals," we are an Ummah.JIHAD IS FARD upon all of us. JIHAD is and Essential part of the faith of Islam. We must reclaim the term from those who seek to destroy us from both sides of the straight path and use it as a rallying cry to raise us to act in accordance with the principles of this deen. Today, the means we employ to effect this striving to get out the message and create a society in which all people enjoy freedom from oppression must be those which are the most effective. No qitaal today is working. Every armed struggle supposedly fought in the name of Islam is failing. NOT ONE HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL. Ponder this carefully. What is Allah telling us? We are fighting for the wrong reasons and with the wrong methods. Our greatest weapon is our own behavior. If we all took care of our akhlaq, then acted in the world, helping others and working against oppression, people would come to see the truth of our deen. Instead of whining and complaining about how we are treated, we must research and document the oppression, work with NGOs world wide to remove oppression, use the internet to get the word out, protest peacefully to raise awareness, obtain government positions to enable us to pass legislation, and become totally engaged in the community and in the world. Without our active attention and care, the world has languished. We have become whiny and weak. Our first act of Jihad must be to wake up, take responsibility for ourselves, stop waiting for someone to come and save us, be it Messiah or Madhi. We - We are the khalifah!

The second Caliph, Umar Ibn al-Khattab was once confronted by a citizen who said to him: "Fear Allah!" Those around him shouted at him but 'Umar said: "Let him be! There is no good in you if you do not speak up like this man. And there is no good in us (leaders) if we do not listen!" One day 'Umar gave a sermon in which he said: "O People! It is your duty to rectify any aberration you see in us!" a Nomadic Arab in the audience stood up and said: "O Commander of the Faithful! We will rectify any aberration we see in you even if by the edge of the sword!" 'Umar said: "All praise be to Allah who placed in this Ummah men who would rectify their rulers' aberrations even if by the sword." Ironically, certain of the founding fathers of USA must have been influenced by such revolutionary ideas of Islam, which did not exist anywhere in the Western world. Indeed, the State should be answerable to people and the rulers should be afraid of the power of the people, not the other way around.