FREE THE CAPTIVES

BY Shaykh Ahmad Mūsa Jibrīl ‫حفظه هللا‬

 ‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬
‫الحمد هلل ربّ العالمين‬
‫على ما تواتر من نعمائه وعلى ما تتابع من جميل كرمه و إفضاله‬
‫والصالة والسالم على المبعوث رحمة للعالمين‬
‫وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن سلك سبيلهم إلى يوم الدين‬
‫أما بعد‬

‫‪There's many general Āyat and Hadīth that mention the right of a Muslim‬‬
‫‪over another. And that definitely encompasses the rights of Muslim‬‬
‫‪captives.‬‬

‫‪Those Āyat and Hadīth on the rights of brothers and sisters over each other‬‬
‫‪are more than sufficient to tell us the rights of Muslim captives.‬‬

‫‪Āyat like:‬‬
‫ّين فَ َعلَ ْي ُك ُم ٱلنَّ ْ‬
‫ص ُر‬ ‫ص ُرو ُك ْم فِى ٱل ِد ِ‬
‫َوإِ ِن ٱ ْست َن َ‬

‫‪And in Sūratul Al-'Imrān:‬‬

‫ف بَيْنَ قُلُوبِ ُك ْم فَأ َ ْ‬

‫صبَحْ تُم‬ ‫علَ ْي ُك ْم إِ ْذ ُكنت ُ ْم أ َ ْع َدآ ًء فَأَلَّ َ‬
‫ٱَّللِ َ‬ ‫واۚ َوٱ ْذ ُك ُر ۟‬
‫وا نِ ْع َمتَ َّ‬ ‫ٱَّللِ َج ِميعًا َو ََل تَفَ َّرقُ ۟‬
‫وا بِ َح ْب ِل َّ‬ ‫َص ُم ۟‬
‫َوٱ ْعت ِ‬
‫ْ‬
‫بِنِ ْع َمتِ ِهۦٓ إِخ َٰ َونًا‬

‫‪And the verse:‬‬

‫إِنَّ َما ْٱل ُمؤْ ِمنُونَ إِ ْخ َوة‬

‫‪And in Sūratul Al-Anbiyah:‬‬

‫ِإ َّن َٰ َه ِذ ِهۦٓ أ ُ َّمت ُ ُك ْم أ ُ َّمةً َٰ َو ِح َدة ً َوأَن َ۠ا َربُّ ُك ْم فَٱ ْعبُد ِ‬
‫ُون‬

‫‪And like that verse:‬‬

‫إِ َّن َٰ َه ِذ ِهۦٓ أ ُ َّمت ُ ُك ْم أ ُ َّمةً َٰ َو ِح َدة ً َوأَن َ۠ا َربُّ ُك ْم فَٱ ْعبُد ِ‬
‫ُون‬

‫‪And the various different Ahadīth on this matter:‬‬

‫ْال ُم ْس ِل ُم أ َ ُخو ْال ُم ْس ِل ِم ََل يَ ْ‬
‫ظ ِل ُمهُ َوَلَ يَ ْخذُلُهُ‬

‫‪A Muslim is a brother of another Muslim.‬‬

‫‪1‬‬
A Muslim is a Muslim's brother. He doesn't wrong him and he doesn't
desert him.

When Imām an-Nawawī was mentioning what ُ‫ يَ ْخذُلُ ُه‬means, he said: It

means a Muslim should never desert or abandon his brother or sister
in a time of need.

Because the rights of captives are essential and important, they were also
mentioned in seperate, specific Ahadīth like the famous Hadīth in Sahīh al-
Bukhāri:

َ ِ‫فُ ُّكوا ْالعَان‬

‫ي‬
Free the captives.

This Ummah was once upon a time, the Leader of the Umam in
implementing the Justice of Allāh ‫ سبحانه و تعالى‬to both Muslims and Non-
muslims.

When the tables were turned, and they were living under the rule of Tawhīd,
Muslims didn't transgress against them nor did Muslims do to them what
they're doing to us today.

History documented letters by Ibn Taymiyyah and other 'Ulamah and more
importantly, the Guidance; the Qur'ān and the Sunnah, all proved that.

But when the ummah left the Guidance—and they were told when they
leave the Guidance, they would become the lowest of the Umam, it
happened as they were told.

And those scenes, that used to drop the most masculine of men to their
knees, weeping, have now becomes scenes that males casually swipe
through their phones looking at them.

Scenes that used to spark wars have become nothing in the eyes of the
Ummah today.

Just one of the hundreds or one of the thousands of acts of hostility that we
see with our own eyes today, especially towards sisters, when they used to
not see them— they didn't have internet, when they used to hear of them,

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they would trigger the most oppressive ruler to declare war and eradicate
towns off the face of the earth.

There's historical examples of that. Some leaders may have oppressed their
own people—Muslim leaders who oppressed their people but when an
outsider took captive, especially when it was women, it was a declaration of
war considered more hostile than invading Muslim lands.

Hāshim ar-Rifa'ī said in his poem:

ّ ‫وآلمني وآلم ك ّل‬
‫ أين المسلمونا‬: ‫حر سؤال الدّهر‬
It hurts me and it hurts every person, the Question of: where are the
muslimeen?

‫أذوب لذلكَ الماضي حنينا‬

ُ ‫تُرى هل يرج ُع الماضي ؟ فإني‬
Do you think that past would ever return again? Because I melt in
agony over the returning of that past.

Even in times when Muslims were weak, captives were a concern and a
priority to them.

The rule is:

‫ما َل يدرك كله َل يترك كله‬
What of it can be gained or achieved, in its entirety, it shouldn't be
disregarded entirely.

And the backing for that rule is from the Qur'ān and Sunnah:

Sūrah at-Taghābun:

َ َ ‫ٱَّللَ َما ٱ ْست‬

‫ط ْعت ُ ْم‬ َّ ‫وا‬۟ ُ‫فَٱتَّق‬

Keep your duty to Allāh and fear Him as much as you can.
‫ست َ َط ْعت ُُْم‬
ْ ‫َماُٱ‬
As much as you can.

And the Hadīth in Bukhāri and Muslim, the portion of it:

َ َ ‫َو َما أ َ َم ْرت ُ ُك ْم بِ ِه فَأْتُوا ِم ْنهُ َما ا ْست‬

‫ط ْعت ُ ْم‬

The Messenger ‫ ﷺ‬said:

If I order you to do something, then do of it, as much as you can.

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You're ordered to free or ransom the captives. You can't do it, if you're
in phase where you can't free them, then you look for means to give
them victory.

The Hadīth: if I order you to do something, then do of it as much as you can,

do what you can and there's always plenty that you can do.

In the most difficult times of the Messenger ‫'ﷺ‬s Da'wah, when he

himself was suffering the hostility of Quraysh, when he was slandered
and oppressed, when the entrails of the camels were thrown on his
blessed back—may my parents be ransomed for him, ‫ﷺ‬, when they
were scheming to restrain him, kill him or oust him, in those most
difficult dark times, he was concerned about the captives.

When Banī Makhzūm took 'Ammār bin Yāsir, and his mother and
father, torturing them in the hot sun of Makkah, he didn't say, 'what's
my du'ā gonna do?' or 'How's my inspirational words gonna help
them?'

In those most difficult times—and I never read or heard or mentioned this

story, the Hadīth of what the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said to them, even when I was a
child; 'cause we learnt this as children— except that I imagined and
visualized, the blessed, radiant, bright face of Rasūlullah ‫ ﷺ‬in grief and in
sorrow, seeing his beloved friends in captivity under torture, not being able
to free them, but he leaves them with words of support and encouragement
and hope:

‫صبرا آل ياسر فإن موعدكم الجنة‬

‫ابشر آل عمار وآل ياسر فإن موعدكم الجنة‬

Isn't that like sending the captives, letters? Or postcards with the Hadīth or
Āyah in it? They'll hang it in their cells and read it over and over, and it'll
make their day, and possibly their month?

When they walk to the mail hall and everyone walks back with mail in their
hands except the Muslim or a Muslimah, who walk back to their cells
sluggish, empty handed. Isn't that a deficiency in our fulfillment of their
rights?

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In his difficult times, ‫ﷺ‬, encouraged the Sahābah to free the slaves and
captives. And the Sahābah rushed to it.

You know the famous story of Abū Bakr, ransoming Bilāl ‫رضي هللا عنهم‬. And
like wise, 'Āmir bin Fuhayrah and Zinnīr ar-Rūmiyyah and others ‫رضي هللا‬
‫عنهم اجمعين‬

Infact, Rasūlullah ‫ ﷺ‬was so concerned over the issue of captives, that he

took preventive steps so that none of them would fall as captives. That's
why he chose 'Uthmān ‫ رضي هللا عنه‬over everyone else in Sulh al-
Hudaybiyyah, to represent him to Quraysh— because 'Umar advised him
and suggested that 'Uthmān has a large, strong clan, that would support
him, protect him and it's less likely they would capture or kill someone like
'Uthmān ‫رضي هللا عنه‬.

The point being is that even in the weakest times, captives were
always a priority to the Messenger ‫ ﷺ‬and the Ummah.

And there's plenty to do to support them.

In one of the most sacred moments before Allāh, standing before Allāh
in our Fard Salāh, in Qunūt, the Messenger ‫ ﷺ‬makes du'ā for the
captives by name.

َ‫َّاش بْنَ أَبِي َربِيعَة‬ َ ‫عي‬ َ ِ‫اللَّ ُه َّم أ َ ْنج‬

‫سلَ َمةَ بْنَ ِهشَام‬ َ ِ‫اللَّ ُه َّم أ َ ْنج‬
‫اللَّ ُه َّم أ َ ْنجِ ْال َو ِلي َد بْنَ ْال َو ِلي ِد‬
َ‫ضعَفِينَ مِنَ ْال ُمؤْ ِمنِين‬ ْ َ ‫اللَّ ُه َّم أ َ ْنجِ ْال ُم ْست‬

And in another narration, he mentioned the names in a different order. He

said:

ْ َ ‫َّاش بْنَ أَبِي َر ِبيعَةَ َو ْال ُم ْست‬

َ‫ض َعفِينَ بِ َم َّكة‬ َ ‫اللَّ ُه َّم أ َ ْنجِ ْال َو ِلي َد بْنَ ْال َو ِلي ِد َو‬
َ ‫سلَ َمةَ بْنَ ِهشَام َو َعي‬

He mentioned du'ā for captives by name and he said, O Allāh, help the
helpless, weak believers of Makkah.

And in another narration, he mentioned them in a slightly different order and

he said, O Allāh, save the weak, faithful believers of Makkah.

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I don't know ‫ والعلم عند هللا وهللا تعالى أعلم‬that the Messenger ‫ ﷺ‬ever made du'ā in
Qunūt for martyrs by name. But he mentioned captives by name in Qunūt.

In addition to the significance of the du'ā, you learnt that he mentioned

their names so they won't be forgotten and if to highlight the Muslims
duty towards them, and to make them a priority.

The Martyrs are alive with Allāh, with being provided for, while the captives
are a cause that you need to work for.

Don't underestimate when someone tells you to make dua for them.

Or write them or raise awareness for them.

Or write those who are oppressing them.

Or if you're asked to put money in their commisaries so that they can buy
food and essentials.

Mass write the warden of the prison where they're being mistreated.

That's similar to what Ibn Taymiyyah and many other 'Ulamah did.

Don't underestimate that at times, when those are the only means available
to you

‫ما َل يدرك كله َل يترك كله‬

Do you remember the Halaqah when I mentioned the story of Baqi' Ibn
Makhlad ‫ رحمه هللا‬and the woman who approached him and told him that her
son was captive, and he made du'ā for her? And the moment he made du'ā
for her, was the moment the shackles were broken off the feet of her son
and he was freed. I don't wanna go over that again but there's many more,
documented similar stories.

And in this Ummah, there are those whom if they ask Allāh ‫سبحانه و تعالى‬, He
would answer them.

The Khulafah after the Messenger ‫ ﷺ‬learnt of their priorities from Rasūlullah
‫ﷺ‬.

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That's why 'Umar said:

‫ألن أستنقذ رجالً من المسلمين من أيدي الكفار أحب إلي من جزيرة العرب‬

In Musannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah, he said;

“Freeing a captive is more beloved to me than the entire Arabian
Peninsula.”

And also in Musannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah, he said:

‫كل أسير من المسلمين كان في أيدي المشركين ففكاكه‬

‫من بيت مال المسلمين‬

“Every captive of the Muslims should be ransomed from the house of

the wealth of the Muslims, from Bayt Maal al-Muslimeen.”

Meaning it's the Muslims who will ransom him, not his mum, or his
dad, or his wife or his relatives. It's the duty of the Muslims to do so.

Infact, Muslim leaders and 'Ulamah were concerned over the captives of the
Jews and Christians living under Muslim Rule: Ahl-al-Dhimmah who were
taken as captives.

Muhammad bin 'Abdullah bin Zanjaway, a Muhaddith, and a friend and a

neighbor of Imām Ahmad Ibn Hanbal ‫رحمهم هللا‬, he said:
Al-Hussayn bin 'Ali ‫ رضي هللا عنهما‬was asked about captives from Ahl-al-
Dhimmah, who were captured by an enemy. Al-Hussayn ‫ رضي هللا عنه‬said:
It's the duty and responsibility of the Muslims to free them.

Ibn Taymiyyah had many stands pertaining to this specific matter like that.

If that was their concern over captives of the people of Dhimmah, Ahl-al-
Dhimmah, who are Christians and Jews, then imagine their concern for the
people of Tawhīd! If that was their concern for the men of the Ummah, then
imagine their concern for the honourable women of the Ummah!

Because Men of Tawhid and chivalry, they know their priorities and
concerns.

And a woman is given more precedent over such matters.

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With a man, you fear for his Deen and his well-being in captivity.

For a woman, you fear for her Deen, for her well-being and for her honour
For her honour!

Noble honourable women in captivity would rather their hearts be

lifted and snatched from their chests, than their niqabs to be forcefully
lifted off their faces. In Palestine, in bilad As-Sham, in Iraq, those in
the camps of the Chinese government and elsewhere..

'Aafia Siddiqui, here, a prime example!

When we say 'Aafia Siddiqui, we don't ONLY mention 'Aafia Siddiqui for
HER horrific personal ordeal. Aafia Siddiqui is the icon for the plight of
Muslim women unjustly held in prisons all over the globe.

'Aafia's case is a crown of disgrace for this country and then unmasking of
the reality of their injustice system and it will remain so.

And it's a bigger disgrace for those who lied upon her and betrayed her and
sacrificed her and those who refused to help her and those who are silent
about helping and aiding her when they are able to speak.

When they used to transform me from prison to prison, in airplanes, and

SUVs and buses, they had and they did so, with detailed, calculated
protocols for security reasons.

For example, I was placed in handcuffs, chained to my waist, and because

they said 'you're in the dangerous catergory', they put a black box around
the chain in-between the cuffs so that you can't move your hands. And then
you got foot shackles where you can barely walk.

Pay attention to what I'm getting at because you know I would never
mention a personal story unless it raises awareness for a Muslim or a
Muslimah or benefits the Ummah.

Sometimes they transported me in a bus alone, they said, 'you're dangerous

to be with other inmates'.

Inside the bus, there's a cage with an officer who has a gun, an assault rifle.
That caged room has no access towards the man, meaning I can't get to

8
him, he can't get to me. He enters and exits from outside the bus. The driver
and all the other officers, that are with me inside the bus, they have no
guns.

Before entering the bus, I see them in the window, they take their guns and
they place them in suitcases and put them in a compartment under the bus.
And then they come in the bus and that is so inmates, that they're
supervising, won't snatch them.

That's their protocol and it's consistent every single time I was transported.

When they go outside, and I'm about to go somewhere, two of them stand
at a distance with their guns drawn and the ones around me, they have no
guns.

That's to tell you how calculated and precise, and detailed they are in the
security of handling a prisoner.

They've done it for years and learnt from mistakes that they study and
analyse. They are very well trained.

But one of them—one of their most elite, he's chosen because he's the best
of their best—leaves to interrogate the most dangerous woman on earth, as
they allege, but he conveniently leaves an M4 under his feet.

And this 100 pound woman, surrounded by translators and soldiers in the
room, happens to get a hold of that M4 and shoots at them.

I'm not joking. That's not even something you can put in a fictional book. It's
something only a half-wit can believe. That's the story of your sister 'Aafia
Siddiqui.

And that alleged gun that she picked up, it later turns out, no bullet was
discharged from it, no fingerprints of hers was found on it, no gunshot
residue on her hands or clothes were found.

They shoot her, take her kids, her life, her sanity, HER SANITY, and on top
of that, an 86 year sentence.

And then you read that she boycotted her lawyers and some criticized her
for that. Why?!

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Because let me tell you, from first hand experience, with case like that, your
lawyers work against you more than anyone else. And when we try to fire
our lawyers, they impose them upon us! It happened to me. Happened to
my father. Happened to 'Aafia. Happened to many other cases that I know
of.

In case like that, your own lawyer is against you. And that supposedly
impartial judge is even worse than that. The least one to worry about is the
prosecutor!

I actually heard of 'Aafia Siddiqui, may Allāh ‫ سبحانه و تعالى‬hasten her release,
for the first time, when I myself was in prison. I was in solitary for a very long
time and I didn't know much about what was happening in the world. One
day, they released me into a cage to exercise, and there was a small
bookshelf on wheels and on top of it, was a few pages from a newspaper. I
took that outdated paper and I began to read it. And there was the story of
'Aafia Siddiqui, a very long story that they had written.

And then there was a smaller one about Imām Luqmān, in same paper,
‫رحمه هللا‬, from our local area. And I'll talk about him another time ‫ إن شاء هللا‬if
you'll remind me.

Both cases are very similar. They've a history of what they do.

They entrapped Imām Luqmān in to a warehouse, out in Dearborn. They

claimed he pulled a gun on them. So they riddled him with 20 bullets. May
Allāh ‫ سبحانه و تعالى‬have Mercy on him, grant him Forgiveness and raise his
rank in Jannah.

But similar to 'Aafia, and I witnessed with the Imām, he didn't have a gun.
And as thorough as they are, they didn't bother to test for residue of the gun
on the clothes on his body. And later on it was discovered that his finger
prints weren't even on that gun, that they say he allegedly shot with! And
after all that, you hear Murji'ah-Reject or modernist or munāfiq saying, 'well
she or he was convicted,' go and buy what Tawaghīt Systems decree— is
sufficient for you to know their level of Tawhīd.

'Aafia was convicted by 12 people. In a nutshell, the system of Jāhiliyyah

works like this: they find 12 random crack heads, or biased meth addicts

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from some alley or slum, and between hearing a fairytale story, in slumber
and sleep in the court room—as they did in my own case, they wake up
convicting an innocent woman. And then 86 years.

Do you know that there's volumes, on top of volumes ran on the

status, and rules, and etiquettes, and qualifications for a Muslim
Judge who would stand in such a matter? The qualifications for that
position are significant because the lives of innocent people are not a
game to us.

There's thousands of 'Aafias globally, but 'Aafia Siddiqui has become a

symbol for the thousands of imprisoned women globally.

Abū al-Baqā ar-Rundī wrote a poem which was an elegy for al-Andalus. A
poem which made the people of Andalus cry. He mourned the Catholic
invasion and the conquest of al-Andalus.

In the portion that I wanted to mention, he said:

ُ
َ‫يستغيث بنا ال ُمستضعفُون‬ ‫كم‬
ُ
‫إنسان‬ َّ ‫وهم قتلى وأسرى فما‬
‫يهتز‬

How often have the weak and those who're being killed and captured,
ask our help, while no one is moved or stirred?

‫ماذا التقاطع في اإلسالم بينك ُم‬

ُ
‫إخوان‬ ‫وأنت ْم يا عباد هللا‬

What is this severing of the bonds of Islām, when you 'ibādallāh, are
brothers of each other?

‫أَل نفوس أبيَّات لها همم‬

ُ
‫وأعوان‬ ‫الخير أنصار‬
ِ ‫أما على‬

Are there no heroic souls with lofty ambitions? Are there no helpers
and defenders of the truth?

‫أم وطفل حي َل بينهما‬

ّ َّ‫يا رب‬
ُ‫كما تفرقَ أرواح وأبدان‬

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Our mother and a child have been seperated. Like souls and bodies
are seperated.

He was talking about what he saw in al-Andalus and it's what happened to
'Aafia. And it happened to many others who are seperated from their
children.

They took her three kids. And as the poet said, it's like a soul
seperated from the body for a mother.

They gave two back to the family and they kept or killed one. Her son,
Sulaymān is still missing until today. They take three, give two back, I mean,
some sort of a game that they think.

Imagine that happening to you. May Allāh ‫ سبحانه و تعالى‬save you from that.

Wallāhi, I get traumatized every time I hear of a Muslim facing a

custody problem or his kids are taken away. And I remain ill for days.
Because they love to take their pure seed of Tawhīd and transform it
into a seed of Shirk!

‫الشمس‬
ِ ‫حسن‬
ِ ‫وطفلة مثل‬
ُ‫إذ طلعت كأنما هي ياقوتة ومرجان‬

A maiden, fair as a sun when it arises, as though she was rubies and
pearls.

ً‫يقودُها العل ُج للمكروه مكرهة‬

‫والقلب حيرا ُن‬
ُ ُ‫والعين باكية‬
ُ

She's lead off to abomination by 'ilj, against her will, while her eye is in
tears and her heart is stunned.

For years Aafia's been in solitary. Close your bedroom door on you, with all
the luxury comfort that you have and see how long you can stay in there.

Most people can't even do that for half a day, let alone a few days or
months or years. And that's with your cellphone, your food and refrigerator
in that room and possibly an attached bathroom.

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Imagine a 6 by 8 ft cell. In a bed that's from metal and a small mattress. And
a toilet from metal and a sink from from metal that it's attached to, and the
toilet's in your qibla generally. Most of the time it's in your qibla.

And they mask the windows where you can't really see through it. And they
play with the warm and cold temperature as they please, to discomfort you.

And a guard walks by almost every half hour and so, invading your privacy.
And then other guards, take their ptsd anger out on you.

Most of the federal correctional officers, back when I was in prison, were
soldiers returning from Afghanistan. And you could just imagine the anger,
the hatred they would spew on a Muslim. The hardships that they cause,
sometimes instigated inmates to harm or kill someone. Giving you food that
they wouldn't give their own dogs.
To be accurate, not all of them are like that. But there are many like that.
And that's all it takes.

And while in she's in that 6 by 8 cell, imagine what's going through her
mind; flashbacks of what they did to her over the years, conditions of
her kids and her family.

Abū al-Baqā ar-Rundī concludes and says:

‫القلب من كمد‬
ُ ‫يذوب‬
ُ ‫لمثل هذا‬
ُ‫إن كان في القلب إسالم وإيمان‬

The heart melts with sorrow at such sights, if there's any Islām or
belief in that heart.

‫وصلى هللا على سـيـدنـا مـحـمـد وعلى آله وصحبه‬

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