on fighting the unbelievers.

Indeed, he—may Allah have mercy on him—wrote a substantial, stand-alone volume on this subject (1), yet regrettably only its abridged form has reached us. I therefore said, “What cannot be attained in full should not be abandoned altogether,” and hastened to examine it through a rigorous, objective study: comparing it with whatever manuscripts and copies were available, tracing each sentence and expression back to Shaykh al-Islam’s own words scattered throughout the works of his that I possess, as well as the writings of his devoted disciple, his kindred spirit, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah—may Allah have mercy on them both.

By publishing this concise treatise and others like it, we seek to clarify, plainly and decisively—for Muslims and for a Western public misled by the media—the legitimate concepts of jihad and its civilised methods, upon which Islam was built and through which it established its states, among them the state of Islam and the Muslims, and the refuge