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In the name of God the most merciful 
 
Honorable shaykh, 
 
God‟s peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you 
 
This is a letter from a loving brother whom you know and who 
knows you and who accompanied you on some business and programs, 
but conditions prevented us from communicating. My heart is full 
of love and appreciation to you; it gets happy for your 
happiness; and it hurts for your sadness; it longs to meet you, 
and still loves you in God. If we disagree on some of the 
issues, this disagreement should not keep us from communicating 
and offering each other advice. Instead, it should strengthen it 
and make offering advice an obligation.  
 
Based on that, I wrote to you this letter, which I hope that you 
will receive with love, appreciation, and an open heart, 
especially when you know who the sender is. Regardless of the 
hardships and adversities, brotherhood in God will always grow 
stronger. 
 
You know that previous crises showed that loyalty between the 
faithful continues, and admiration and forgiveness continue 
regardless of the differences in points of view. 
 
Honorable Shaykh, 
 
At this era, everyone knows about your unprecedented 
contributions and great efforts in the field of jihad, the 
revival of the spirit of jihad in the nation, and mobilizing its 
energy and cadres to carry out this obligation. You have indeed 
become the chief innovator in this field at this day and age.  
 
Among the most prominent landmarks of accomplishment is breaking 
the American illusion, uncovering the truth about its fake 
strength, reviving the confidence of the nation in itself and 
its capabilities, and targeting with precision the greatest 
enemy and the head of the snake without getting distracted by 
opponents and enemies who are only some of the poison and 
secretions of that snake. 
 
As your Eminence knows, the greatest thing that one can win in 
this life is God‟s pleasure; anything less than that would be 
considered limited gains that might have bad consequences. One 

SOCOM-2012-0000018-HTdoes not leave his homeland, money, and family behind except for 
seeking God‟s pleasure. We consider you one of those who 
dedicated his life and his money for the sake of God, but God is 
the ultimate judge. Careful consideration, self-examination, 
requesting guidance from God, and striving to reach truth and 
virtue and abiding by them are among the greatest reasons for 
success.  
 
Also among the great reasons for success are consulting others, 
getting to know their opinions, even if they different from 
yours, and considering those opposing opinions because some of 
them might lead to the right path and truth.  
 
God said, “Consult with them on the matter.” Here you notice 
that even the one who received the revelation and who 
communicated with the angel Gabriel ordered consulting others 
and seeking their opinion. 
 
No doubt that one‟s distance (due to security situation and 
other reasons) from reality can weaken his precise vision, and 
it makes it harder for him to detect reality in a subjective 
manner, which sometime might affect the accuracy of his opinion. 
 
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The reason is that he bases his opinion on general information 
given to him by admirers and sympathizers who mix up wishful 
thinking and reality. 
 
This is like asking people to give you their opinion regarding a 
specific event. They might give you the number and identities of 
those who agree with them and understate those who disagree with 
them. We have noticed something similar among those who agree 
with you and who inform you of the situation. 
 
You can overcome this problem by listening to the opinions of 
those who are neutral on the issue or even those who disagree 
with you in order to get a clearer picture of people‟s points of 
view and evaluation of the event. Getting various vantage points 
is in our interest and can serve the decision, opinions, and 
positions that we form.  
 
Being chased, besieged, and distant is not the best environment 
for thinking and for forming the right opinion and decision. In 
this case, one should seek the opinion of brothers who are 
outside of the hardship that he is in and should be wary of his 
own opinion, which could be subject to influences that he is not 

SOCOM-2012-0000018-HTaware of. None of us believes that he is immune from making 
mistakes, and we should apply this belief by reexamining and 
reconsidering our opinions. 
 
One can see his weakness and deficiency when he examines old 
decisions that were later proven to be mistaken or assumptions 
that turned out to be wrong. Returning to the truth and backing 
away from an opinion once you discover its falsehood is a reason 
to be proud and is honorable. That is the tradition of the 
companions of the Prophet, the faithful scholars, and leaders of 
our nation. Retraction does not take away from the person; to 
the contrary, it elevates him in this life and in eternity. 
 
One can make a mistaken decision, but he will be excused for it. 
However, once he becomes aware of the mistake, but insists on 
his decision, there will be no excuse, and that might be a 
reason for his failure in what he does. 
 
A quick review of the journey of work and the changes in it 
during the last twenty years reveals the effects of 
circumstances and variables that are out of one‟s control, but 
which one had to deal with based on the facts that were 
available to him at that time. Sometimes one makes the right 
decisions and sometimes does not, but one should benefit from 
this enormous experience (including the right and the wrong) in 
future work and correcting the course. 
 
To complete the picture, here is a short review of the journey 
of work and the accompanying changes and transformations over 
the last twenty years. 
 
-Work started with supporting the Afghani jihad, sacrificing 
everything, deploying youth to the fields of jihad, and placing 
great hope on the Islamic state in Afghanistan, which was 
considered a starting point for moving to all other countries in 
the world. 
 
-After a period of Afghani jihad and the attrition of many of 
the cadre and money, the idea of establishing an international 
Islamic force, which is not only based in Afghanistan, and 
Afghanistan is not its top priority, came to being.  
 
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Most of the work in Afghanistan turned to the goal of luring and 
preparing youth. 
 

SOCOM-2012-0000018-HT-Then the Gulf crisis and Iraq‟s invasion of Kuwait took place. 
You offered your serves to Saudi Arabia to defend it in 
confronting the Iraqi regime in order to not use the foreign 
forces, and you asked the youth from the peninsula (Yemen, Saudi 
Arabia, and other Gulf countries) to return to their countries 
to participate in confronting the Iraqi invasion. 
 
-After that phase, the goal became more precise and your 
approach and focus turned to attacking the head of the snake, 
America. You abandoned all jihadi work for the sake of this. 
America became the main enemy, and you declared a war against it 
and demanded it to get out of the lands of the Muslims and stop 
its dominance over Muslims. 
 
-Immigrating to Sudan and calling on others to do the same and 
placing great hope on the Sudanese regime, which subsequently 
pressured you to abandon the political and jihadi approaches.  
 
During this phase, your approach was: 
 
--This phase was not conducive to jihadi work due to the many 
challenges, pressures, pursuits, and siege. Instead that phase 
was a phase of spreading the faith, building the culture, 
instilling the doctrine of “there is no god but God” in the 
hearts of the nation, and teaching renunciation of worldly 
things in order to prepare for jihad. Based on this conviction, 
the Association of Mus‟ab Bin-„Umayr for Preaching was 
established and headquartered in Sudan. 
 
--As pressure increased, you decided to move to Afghanistan. You 
were not keen on fighting alongside Taliban or supporting them 
until Taliban took control of Jalalabad, Kabul, and the rest of 
the country. You got to know them better, you accepted them and 
got comfortable with their approach, and pledged allegiance to 
Mullah „Umar. That phase was the phase of working on completing 
the control over the rebellious north and deepening the roots of 
the infant Islamic emirate, which revived the ambitions that 
were on the verge of collapsing.  
 
--Before the state was able to stand on its feet and complete 
its control of the entire country, you started to operate 
externally by targeting the head of the snake. You were moved by 
the youth who were gathering, eager, ready for sacrifice, and 
whose numbers at training camps were increasing. Then came the 
operations of Nairobi, Cole, and then 9/11, which ended the 
government of Taliban (the Islamic Emirate) on which many hopes 
were hanging.   

SOCOM-2012-0000018-HT 
These phases were accompanied by ideological changes and 
transformations that I do not wish to talk about or evaluate 
because this is not the place for that. My intention is to talk 
about the phase that we are in, which is the phase of work in 
Muslim countries in general and the Peninsula in particular.  
 
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Before I get into the details of the matter, I wish to ask a 
question here: Why the peninsula only? Do you only care to 
protect yourself and your security and let the entire world burn 
down? 
 
I wish to say: 
 
First: We think that you should not work inside Muslim 
countries, even if it is directed against the head of the snake, 
because this can cause great harm to Muslim people and can 
inflict great damage on various areas, including preaching, 
charitable work, dependence on God, and other areas. It also 
gives a chance for the head of the snake to get stronger and 
spread its poison in a greater manner.  
 
Second: We think that the best places and most effective places 
for attacking the head of the snake are the locations in which 
it explicitly got involved militarily, such as Afghanistan and 
Iraq. Concentrating efforts in those areas is better than 
dispersing them and prevents the harm that could accompany them. 
 
Third: There is no doubt that the peninsula is unique and 
different in terms of supporting jihad through cadre, 
financially, and morally. The peninsula is considered the rear 
base for all jihadi work in the world, starting from Afghanistan 
and Chechnya, all the way to Iraq and Palestine. Attacking this 
base has a very clear and apparent effect on all jihadi work.  
 
Fourth: The best way to prevent the shedding of impermissible 
blood and not killing faithful people is to not work inside 
Muslim countries. I am sure that your Eminence knows that God 
said, “If it were not for faithful men and women among them, we 
would have punished them harshly.” If faithful swords stopped 
fighting for fear of hurting the few faithful in the nonbeliever 
society, can you imagine the ruling when we talk about Muslim 
population in a Muslim society? 
 

SOCOM-2012-0000018-HTFifth: Some of the brothers, who were among the veteran 
mujahidin and who dealt with some of the leaders of the 
organization, feared that the events in the peninsula might be 
influenced by anger, envy, and hatred toward citizens of the 
peninsula because of some past positions. 
 
Sixth: When looking at the justification for the events, one has 
to wonder why this is not taking place in Pakistan in spite of 
the fact that it is closer geographically, easier to reach, 
known for its strict position toward the mujahidin, handed over 
some leaders and others to America, overtly supported the 
American occupation, and actively participated in toppling the 
Islamic emirate. I do not think that you should target Pakistan, 
but I am just saying that to make my point clear. Why didn‟t 
this take place in Kuwait and Qatar when they are the greatest 
agents and collaborators for the Americans? 
 
The phase of working in the Arabian Peninsula: 
 
It seems that those who know you well say that you did not 
support working inside until recently. Perhaps the start was 
based on personal efforts and initiatives that you were not 
aware of, especially because when we wrote to you in the past, 
you expressed that work inside would be inappropriate and would 
cause great harm. At any rate, events showed that it was a 
mistaken decision that had very dire consequences, including:    
 
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-Harming jihad and the mujahidin in all arenas. 
 
--The nation lost many of the leaders and cadre who were killed 
or arrested because of these operations. 
 
--Pressuring those who support jihad in Chechnya, Iraq, 
Afghanistan, Palestine, and other places and completely cutting 
off the funding, which caused great damage to jihad there. 
 
--Banning youth from joining jihad and tightening the security 
on all passage points that lead to jihad, and arresting people 
going to jihad and returning from it. 
 
--Detaining a large number of youth and sympathizers around them 
and exposing them to temptation that might be detrimental.   
 
--Going after and perusing anyone who has ties to jihadi work. 
 

SOCOM-2012-0000018-HT--Suffering by many families of killed, detained, and wanted 
individuals. 
 
--Banning any talk or promotion of jihad through lectures, 
sermons, and forums. 
 
--People repulsed by the word jihad and its enemies continue to 
defame it. 
 
--The jihadi stream lost many of its honest and faithful 
scholars and preachers who defended jihad and adopted it causes.  
 
- Damaging the charitable work around the world and in all 
fields: 
 
--Shutting down several charitable organizations that were 
carrying out relief work all over the Muslim world, such as al-
Haramin Charitable Organization. 
 
--Banning the collection of donations from individuals, 
organizations, and companies under any name and for any 
activity. 
 
--Freezing bank accounts of charitable individuals and 
organizations. These accounts had great amounts of money that 
the poor were deprived of.   
 
--Arresting anyone who is suspected of collecting money and 
supporting a charitable project that does not belong to an 
official organization. 
 
--Stopping many charitable and relief efforts that were vital 
for needy Muslims all over the world (digging wells, building 
mosques, orphanages, education, health, clothing, and so on). 
 
-Damaging the spread of the faith and fear of God. 
 
-Giving an excuse to the deviated approaches to attack Islam in 
general and jihad in particular and push forward the projects of 
Westernization and secularism. 
 
-Giving the enemy a chance to get involved more than before and 
pushing the state to jump into the lap of the enemy.  
 
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SOCOM-2012-0000018-HT-Force official entities to deal with counter-terrorism in a 
much stricter way, change curriculums, and impose censorship on 
media in accordance with the so-called American campaign on 
terrorism.   
 
-The great damages inflicted on Muslims‟ lives, properties, and 
freedoms.  
 
Things are moving for people in a way that they did not want or 
seek. They even used to condemn people if they did any of the 
following: 
 
You used to condemn any act that did not target the head of the 
snake and used to consider it unjustified and a waste of 
capabilities, but now because of the latest events, the battle 
has shifted from the head of the snake to its tail and from 
America to the regimes. This was a colossal strategic error that 
caused many losses in exchange for a very limited number of 
gains. These gains do not compare to what was sacrificed for 
them. 
 
One can notice the lack of precision in predicting the position 
of scholars and the public toward the events inside. Perhaps the 
picture that is being conveyed to you is different from reality. 
I would like to say to you in all honesty, I do not know anyone 
who is a scholar, an intellectual, or a preacher who supports 
these actions or views them as legitimate. Many of the veteran 
mujahidin and the public stand against these actions. The most 
that is happening is some sympathy toward those who are innocent 
but were arrested and somehow hurt, or for believing that these 
youth were falsely accused of carrying out these actions. 
 
The reality is that many of the actions of the youth and your 
statements, such as your call to target oil, turned people 
against you, especially scholars and intellectuals. If criticism 
against you would not be viewed as support to your crusader 
enemy, you would have seen much stronger open positions against 
you. Many of those who are quiet are doing so because they do 
not want to cause more problems. 
 
Public opinion polls in the Muslim world prove that support to 
you among the Arab and Muslim people has shrunk after you 
targeted the peninsula. 
 
It is not appropriate for an honest person to think that he is 
always right and that those who disagree with him are ignorant, 

SOCOM-2012-0000018-HThypocrites, or agents. Perhaps these people are correct on some 
issues. 
 
Such belief leads a person to have hatred, bad intentions, and 
suspicion toward brothers. I told some brothers more than once, 
“You are more worthy of the accusations that you throw at those 
who disagree with you. You would not like it if those whom you 
insult for disagreeing with you, responded to you in the same 
way in terms of suspicion, insults, and accusations of being 
agents.”  
 
The solution:  
Honorable Shaykh, I suggest that you get out of this crisis by 
conducting a review of this past experience and its apparent 
negative consequences. 
 
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You should go back to the principle from which you started and 
that is focusing on the head of the snake and targeting the 
greatest enemy of the Muslims, and not scatter the efforts and 
strength outside the target. The process of targeting should be 
governed and should not be conducted inside Muslim states in 
order to prevent the negative consequences I talked about 
earlier.      
 
The regimes do not get hurt by targeting Americans in their 
countries. Instead, these attacks are confirmations that they 
are with the Americans and that they are working against the 
enemies of America and that they are being targeted like 
America. 
 
As you know, one of the countries was about to be listed as a 
sponsor of terrorism and was about to be listed in what Bush 
calls the “Axis of Evil,” but after the events, it went on to 
top the list of countries fighting terrorism and won the 
recognition and praise of the Congress for its efforts in this 
field. 
 
Also, the political jurisprudence, which expanded to include 
dealing and having common interests with the Safawis who have a 
dangerous Persian project that threatens the presence and the 
future of the Muslim nation, will not be hampered by 
marginalizing and weakening the collaborating regimes that do 
not have any control. Any attacks on those countries negatively 
affect the Muslim people in the first place.   
 

SOCOM-2012-0000018-HTSome observers think that these acts help the interests of the 
head of the snake because they give legitimacy and justification 
to many of the projects that have been in the planning phase for 
a while and gives it (TN: the head of the snake) a chance to 
implement them. These acts convinced the world and the people 
that the American war on terrorism is just. 
 
These acts did not only target infidels and enemies of Islam, 
but they target security and sources of energy. These sources of 
energy are one of the most important sources of income and 
source of prosperity that that Muslims in these countries enjoy. 
If these sources of energy are damaged, all people get hurt and 
their religious and worldly interests get damaged.    
 
As for your statement about targeting oil because the ones who 
benefit from it are the enemy, it was not a good or an 
acceptable statement, unlike your statements and your talk in 
support of the persecuted and to incite attacks against the 
occupiers of Muslim lands.  
 
Targeting oil can lead to great negative consequences, 
including: 
 
1-It is the property of the nation and does not belong to a 
segment or even the ruling regime, for it is the main source of 
income. Establishing beneficial service projects for all Muslim 
people, hospitals, roads, communications, salaries, and 
infrastructure, depend on revenues from it. To make this picture 
clearer, you can compare between the infrastructure and 
prosperity in oil-producing countries and those in non-oil 
producing countries.  
 
The enemy benefiting from oil and the regimes taking a large 
amount of the revenue from it are not a justification or a 
reason that would make the people accept and support targeting 
it. 
 
2-The targeting of oil creates an excuse for foreign powers to 
intervene and impose international dominance over energy 
resources and get involved the country‟s security affairs and 
beyond, to include intellectual, cultural, minority, and 
sectarian affairs. 
 
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SOCOM-2012-0000018-HT3-The damage inflicted on innocents working in these facilities 
and those around them in terms of their lives, property, and 
honor as result of targeting them was prohibited by God. 
 
Therefore, I suggest to you: 
 
1-Issue a clear and unequivocal statement to anyone who listens 
to you and accepts your opinion to direct the work and focus it 
on the head of the snake in its home or in areas that it 
occupies, such as Afghanistan and Iraq, and to dedicate all 
capabilities toward this goal. Also, stay away from operating 
inside Muslim countries in order to protect the reputation of 
the mujahidin, protect their acceptance within Muslim societies, 
prevent any harm to the mujahidin and supporters of jihad, 
prevent the secularists and liberals from exploiting these 
events, and direct the souls of the youth for the great battle 
against the head of the snake. 
 
2-Issue your orders to your cadre to immediately abandon all 
work inside Muslim countries and move on to conduct jihad 
against the occupier in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
 
3-Call on Muslims, especially the scholars, intellectuals, 
dignitaries, and businessmen, to stand beside the mujahidin 
against the great enemy that directly or indirectly stands 
behind every catastrophe inflicted on the Muslims.  
 
This would also show the truth to all Muslims about the regimes 
that claim to be fighting terrorism because they are getting 
attacked and the regimes that pretend to be crying over the 
Muslim blood. This would place these regimes in a position where 
they will have to choose between standing in the trenches of the 
enemy and continuing to support them against the mujahidin or 
stand on the sidelines and open the way for the mujahidin to 
deal with their enemy. 
 
In closing: 
 
1-Hopefully God will give you honor in this life and in eternity 
and use you for improving the situation of the Muslims in 
general and the mujahidin in particular. I am writing to you 
based on my knowledge of you, your desire for the truth, and my 
intention to not see you accused or blamed by anyone. I pray to 
God to guide you because you went for jihad on His path, seeking 
His pleasure. God said, “We will show our paths to those who 
conducted jihad for us.” 
 

SOCOM-2012-0000018-HT2-The mistaken decision by Khalid Bin-al-Walid (may God be 
pleased with him), which led the Prophet (peace be upon him) to 
say, “O God, I am innocent of what Khalid did,” did not prevent 
Khalid from becoming God‟s sword against the infidels. Also, 
Khalid‟s stature did not keep the Prophet (peace be upon him) 
from criticizing him openly. Also, „Usama Bin-Yazid, who made a 
mistake and the Prophet (peace be upon him) criticized him and 
scolded him, was later chosen by the Prophet (after making a 
mistake and admitting that he made a mistake) to lead the first 
army to leave Medina after the death of the Prophet (peace be 
upon him). The army included the shaykhs of immigrants and 
locals. 
 
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We salute those who help secure Muslims, keep harm and fear away 
from them, win their prayers, and support the oppressed and 
defend them from harm.  
 
O God, the lord of Gabriel, Michael, Israfil, the creator of 
heaven and earth, you know the unknown, and you are the judge of 
your worshipers when they disagree with each other, guide us to 
the truth and to the right path. 
 
I pray to God through His generosity to protect you, guard you, 
preserve you from the harm of the infidels, bless you wherever 
you are, use you to support His faith, and make you one of His 
victorious loyalists who have no fear or sadness.  
 
The one who loves you, 
Riyadh 
14 September 2006 
  

SOCOM-2012-0000018-HT