their right minds and possessed living hearts, they would never have descended to the situation in which we presently find ourselves. We are, by our own estimation, engaged in a ruinous, devastating war—nerve-gas warfare, troops on the ground, and the like—yet you scarcely see anyone so much as lift a finger, save whomever Allah wills. This is undoubtedly a grievous error: at such a critical juncture some individuals have taken their families off on holiday to the lands of unbelief, to the realms of vice and debauchery—Allah protect us!

Travel to non-Muslim countries for the purpose of daʿwah is permissible; if it produces real benefit and influence there, then it is allowed, for it is a journey undertaken for a legitimate interest. In those lands, countless ordinary people have been kept blind to Islam; they know nothing about it. Indeed, they have been misled and told that Islam is a religion of savagery, barbarism, and rabble. When the West hears of incidents perpetrated by people who claim to be Muslims, they cry: “Where is Islam in this? This is sheer brutality—wild beasts pouncing upon one another and devouring each other!” Thus the conduct of Muslims turns the people away from Islam. We ask Allah to guide us all to His straight path.

The second category is the emigration of deed: for a person to abandon whatever Allah has forbidden of sins and transgression, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “A Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand other Muslims are safe, and the emigrant is the one who forsakes what Allah has prohibited.” Hence you must renounce everything Allah has declared unlawful,