Al-Qaeda Official for Pakistan Ustad Ahmad Farooq Justifies Jihad Against Pakistani Leaders, Says: 'Assisting the Infidels Even Partly is Leaving Islam'; 'We are Trying to ... Establish a Pakistan where Shari'a is Implemented in Practice... Which is the Center and Axis of the Mujahideen'

This is the second instalment of the interview with Ustad Ahmad Farooq, who is the Al-Qaeda official in charge of the Da'wah and Media Department for Pakistan. The interview was released on July 12, 2010 by Al-Sahab, Al-Qaeda's media arm, with Arabic and Urdu-language transcripts. The July 12 interview is the second in a series, and Al-Sahab intends to release a third interview with Ahmad Farooq sometime in the future. (To read the first interview released in November 2009, see: MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor,"Al-Qaeda Presents Ahmad Farooq, Head of Its Pakistani Media Department," No. 2661, November 18, 2009, http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=3751¶m=APT).

In the first instalment of the July 12 interview, Ahmad Farooq argued, among other points, that the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan constitute jihad as per Islamic Shari'a. He observed that like the war in Afghanistan, the war against Pakistan also is jihad, and it cannot be described as Khurooj (rebellion against an Islamic state).

He stated: "The battle which is being fought here in Pakistan... cannot be described as khurooj; it is jihad. The way we are confronting America in Afghanistan and any army that is siding with America, whether it be the Afghan National Army or different tribal chieftains, is the same way we are confronting America in Pakistan and the Pakistani Army that is aiding America. That is jihad, and this too is jihad. It is a duty incumbent upon every individual." (To read the first instalment of the interview, see MEMRI Urdu-Pashtu Media Project, "Al-Qaeda's Official for Pakistan, Ustad Ahmad Farooq, Justifies the Taliban's Jihad Against Pakistan, Says: 'If [There Is] a Force That Is Fundamentally Responsible for Throwing This Entire Region into Bloodshed and War - It Is the Pakistani Army'; 'It Was Pakistan that Activated its Airspace, Territory, Airbases, Centers, and Everything...For America,'"http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4451.htm) In the second instalment of the interview, below, Ahmad Farooq explains that the two key reasons for waging jihad against the Pakistani system of government and the Pakistani military are: their support of the infidels (i.e. the U.S. and its allies in the war against terror), and the failure of the successive Pakistani governments to implement Islamic Shari'a in Pakistan over the past six decades. He also points out that changing the entire system of governance is the goal rather than changing some leaders.

Following are excerpts from the Urdu-language version of the interview:

"Does Permission Exist in Shari'a for Khurooj [Rebellion against an Islamic State] in Pakistan?"

Al-Sahab: "From your discussion, should we understand that the war underway in Pakistan can not be called Khurooj [rebellion against an Islamic state]?" Ahmad Farooq: "No, this is not what I meant. Rather, it was intended to make it clear on those who argue about the conditions for Khurooj in order to reject jihad in Pakistan, or in order to distance themselves from it, or to absolve themselves of the duty to carry it out.

"The intention was that even if this entire discussion about Khurooj is set aside for the time being, even then the justification for this jihad [in Pakistan] can be found in different arguments and sections of the Islamic Shari'a. First, this is a jihad against the real infidels. Second, this is jihad in defense. Third, this is a jihad against those who aid the infidels. None of these is deemed as Khurooj.

"The meaning that Islamic jurists attach to Khurooj, let's examine that too. All the requirements [for Khurooj] discussed by Islamic jurists are fulfilled here entirely [i.e. in waging of jihad in Pakistan]..."

"An Infidel's Domination of Even One Muslim Woman Cannot Be Tolerated"

"All the scholars agree on the point that if an infidel becomes a ruler in a Muslim region, then he is not a ruler, not a ruler as per Shari'a. It is not a duty on us to obey him; it is not compulsory to follow him. It becomes required to remove him and install a Muslim ruler. ...