as in other Muslim villages. The prophetic hadiths should be read among them, the teachings of Islam disseminated among them, and those among them known for innovation and hypocrisy punished as prescribed by Islamic law.

These combatants and others like them have said: “We are ignorant people. These men used to teach us and tell us: ‘If you fight these people, you will be fighting in Allah’s cause, and whoever among you is killed will be a martyr.’”

Among these people are many who acknowledge neither prayer, fasting, Hajj nor ‘umrah (the lesser pilgrimage); who do not regard carrion, blood or pork as forbidden; and who do not believe in Paradise or Hell. They are of the same kind as the Ismā‘īliyyah, Nusayriyyah, Hākimiyyah and Bātiniyyah. By the consensus of the Muslims, they are disbelievers whose disbelief is more extreme than that of the Jews and Christians.

The issuance of the Sultan’s decrees establishing the observances of Islam—Friday prayers, congregational prayers, recitation of the Quran and transmission of the hadiths of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—in these people’s villages is therefore among the greatest measures serving the interests of Islam and the most effective forms of jihad in Allah’s cause. This will help restrain those among them who secretly collaborate with the enemy and bring them into obedience to Allah and His Messenger and to those in authority among the Muslims. It is also among the means through which Allah helps subdue the enemies. What they did to the Muslims in the land of “Sīs” is an instance of their treachery through which Allah grants the Muslims victory over them. In this there is wisdom from Allah