Ninth Reflection
When disbelievers occupy any land of the Muslims, waging jihad against them and fighting them becomes an individual obligation upon the people of that very land—not only from the standpoint of the Sacred Law, but even under international law. Those inhabitants must resist, fight, and inflict upon them the severest punishment they can manage, especially if the occupiers settle in their homes, consume their resources, and seize their lands and wealth, as is the case in Palestine, Iraq, and elsewhere.

Shaykh al-Islam said (1): “Defensive combat is the most intense form of repelling an aggressor who violates sanctity and religion, and it is unanimously obligatory. Against an attacking enemy who corrupts both religion and worldly life, nothing after faith itself is more incumbent than driving him back. No condition is required; rather, he is repelled according to one’s ability, and this has been explicitly affirmed.”