On March 9, 2008, Islamist websites, including Al-Ikhlas, posted an Al-Sahab video featuring an address by Al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan Abu Yahya Al-Libi, titled "I Am Not in the [Business] of Deception, and No Imposter Will Deceive Me: A Reply to Document of Right Guidance." The address is a response to a book recently published by Sayyed Imam, a prominent jihadist scholar currently imprisoned in Egypt, titled Document of Right Guidance for Jihad Activity in Egypt and the World (see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 1826: Major Jihadi Cleric and Author of Al-Qaeda's Shari'a Guide to Jihad Sayyed Imam vs. Al-Qaeda (Part II): Al-Zawahiri Was Sudanese Agent - Sudan's VP Ali Othman Taha Hired Him to Attack Egypt; Ban on Jihad against Egyptian Regime in Egypt; Summary of Imam's New Right Guidance for Jihad Book ).
One of the major claims in Sayyed Imam's book is that the jihad groups are currently weak and must therefore stop fighting the Arab regimes. Al-Libi rejects this claim and states that the book is intended to distract the mujahideen from waging jihad. He also questions whether Sayyed Imam really wrote the book and whether it reflects his views.
The following are excerpts from his address:
"Since When Has [Egypt] Become the Guardian of... Islam?"
Al-Libi opens by sarcastically asking: "Since when has the apparatus of torture and killing... and of slandering Allah [i.e., the Egyptian security apparatus]... become responsible for guiding people to Islam or... for directing the mujahideen to the right path?!" Referring to Sayyed Imam's book, Al-Libi continues: "What type of guidance does the 'Document [of Right Guidance]' offer? Is it guidance that tells the mujahideen and the Muslims: 'Restrain yourselves and [allow] us [Arab regimes] to shed your blood and tear [you] apart...? [Is it guidance that says:] 'Be meek... so we can plunder your wealth...? Mind your own business and let us [spread] corruption...?'"
"They Should Bring [Sayyed Imam] to the Jihad Front... to Debate [with the Mujahideen]"
Addressing the Muslims, Al-Libi says: "As rational people, we must ask the following question: If this document really expresses the convictions of its putative author, why are the security apparatuses keeping him [i.e. Sayyed Imam] behind bars... when he could do them a much greater service [elsewhere]?... They should bring him to the [various] jihad fronts... to debate [with the mujahideen]... and explain their errors to them..."
Documents like Sayyed Imam's Aim to Distract the Mujahideen from Jihad on the Battlefield
At the end of his message, Al-Libi warns the mujahideen that documents like Sayyed Imam's are occasionally produced by the enemies of jihad in order to distract the mujahideen from their fighting, and - even worse - in order to convince them that the real battle is to be fought in the intellectual arena, not on the battlefield. According to Al-Libi, these documents also aim to distort the image of the mujahideen by asserting that the West is morally superior, thereby suggesting that the Muslims should cooperate with it.
