just!My God, I thank You for a Teacher You inspiredWith words of light to face down Dajjal's advocates.Allah bless you, Ustadh Afifi, for Defending the TransgressedBy Censuring the Reckless Against the Killing of Civilians!Let the powers that be and every actor-speaker high and lowHeed this unique Fatwa of knowledge and responsibility.Let every lover of truth proclaim, with pride once more,What the war-mongers try to bury under lies and bombs:Islam is peace and truth, the Rule of Law, justice and right!Murderous suicide is never martyrdom but rather perversion,Just as no flag on earth can ever justify oppression.And may God save us from all criminals, East and west!By permission of Shaykh Afifi I have done some very light editing havingto do mostly with style, spelling, or punctuation such as standardizingspacing between paragraphs, providing in-text translations of a coupleof Arabic supplications, adding quotation marks to mark out textualcitations, and so forth.I also provided the following alphabetical glossary of arabic terms notalready glossed by the Shaykh directly in the textMay Allah Subhanahu wa-Ta'ala save Shaykh Muhammad Afifi here and hereafter, may He reward him and his teachers for this blessed work and grant us its much-needed benefits, not least of which the redress of our actions and beliefs for safety here and hereafter.Blessings and peace on the Prophet, his Family, and all his Companions,wal-hamdu liLlahi Rabb al-'alamin.G.F. HaddadDay of Jumu`a after `Asr1 Rajab al-Haram 14265 August 2005Brunei DarussalamGLOSSARYahl = [1] people; [2] qualified adherents or practicioners`aql = intellect, reasonAhadith al-Ahkam = hadithic proof-texts for legal rulings`amal = deed, actionasl = see usulAyat al-Ahkam = Qur'anic proof-texts for legal rulingsbab = chapter or legal subjectBanu Adam = human beingsdabit = see dawabitdarura = necessitydawabit = pl. of dabit = standard or pricipal ruleDoctor Angelicus = The Angelic Scholar, a title given to Thomas Aquinas,the great theologian of the western Church.da`i = summoner or preacherdunya = this world, this lifefa'ida = benefitfaqih = see fiqhfard `ayn = personal obligationfard kifaya = communal obligationfar`i = adj. from far`, see furu`fasl = see fusulfatwa = legal opinion, legal responsefiqh = Islamic jurisprudence, the expertise of the faqih; adj. fiqhi = legalfitna = strife, temptation, seduction, delusion, chaos, trial andtribulationfitra = sane mind and soul, primordial dispositionfuqaha' = pl. of faqih (q.v.)furu` = pl. of far`, [1] branches (of the Law), secondary legal texts;[2] corollaries, corollary legal principlesfusul = pl. of fasl = sections or legal particularsHadith = saying of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him blessings and peacehalal = lawful, permittedharam = categorically prohibited, unlawfulhasil = legal outcomehukm [shar`i] = legal status, legal rulingIblis = SatanIhsan = Excellence, the pinnacle of religious practiceIjma` = Consensusijtihad = independent judgement, personal decisioninsaf = fairness, setting things rightJahili = lit. ignorant; a pre-Islamic or pagan ArabJama`a = the Orthodox CommunityJamal al-Shuhada' = The Beauty of Martyrs, the title of the murdered vizier Nizam al-MulkJihad = moral or military struggle by the mujahidkhilaf = (juridical) disagreementkhilafiyya = fem. adjective from khilaf = having to do with (juridical) disagreementmadhhab = school of Lawmakruh = detestable, abhorrent, abominable, disliked, legally offensivemaqasid = pl. of maqsad, objective or