Question and Answer Details

Answer

Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Dear questioner, we would like to thank you for the great confidence you place in us, and we implore Allah Almighty to help us serve His cause and render our work for His Sake.

It is permissible to allocate a portion of the money of Zakah and voluntary charity and other funds to manage the psychological war against the enemies of Islam and to affect the public opinion in America and other Western countries, as it has become clear in the current crisis that psychological war and affecting the public opinion are important factors in the management of battles.

In this concern, Sheikh Ja`far At-Tahlawi a prominent Azharite scholar states the following:

“First of all, it is well known that psychological war has more effect on the minds and hearts of warring parties than the actual fighting. If the enemy manages to lower the spirits of the invaded and affect their morale, this will have more effect on the soldiers than the armed attacks they launch. This is a kind of psychological defeat that heralds actual defeat. Allah Almighty says: “And was it so, when a disaster smote you, though ye had smitten (them with a disaster) twice (as great), that ye said: How is this? Say (unto them, O Muhammad): It is from yourselves.” (Al `Imran: 165)

This technique of war (i.e., psychological warfare) was used previously by the polytheists against the Muslims in the Battle of Uhud. They propagated among the Muslims that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was killed. So, there is nothing wrong as far as Islam is concerned to prevent supporting such war technique by allocating a portion of the money of Zakah to it.

In the second place, although those criminals are bombarding the civilians and launching unprovoked war against the origin of Prophet Ibrahim (peace and blessings be upon him) and the early capital of the Islamic Caliphate, they claim that they are peace messengers and liberators, irrespective of their killing of civilians and other barbaric actions. Actually, it is not strange for them to say so; this is the habit of the extreme disbelievers. They do as Pharaoh the tyrant did. The Qur’an relates him as saying about Prophet Musa (peace and blessings be upon him) “Lo! I fear that he will alter your religion or that he will cause confusion in the land.” (Ghafir: 26)

What is happening now is but an extension of the chain of tyranny and excessiveness of early tyrants. The disbelieves are the same throughout the ages. Allah Almighty says: “Have they handed down (the saying) as an heirloom one unto another? Nay, but they are froward folk.” (Az-Zariyat: 53)

Thirdly, it is permissible for Muslims to allocate a portion of the money of Zakah, or even more, to direct the public opinion in America and other Western countries to the brutal and criminal acts that the allied forces are carrying out against the innocent Muslims and Arabs. This is efficient in directing the public opinion to the right direction. It also clarifies the falsehood of the leaders of the White House who claim to be clean handed, and who lie in saying that they aim at liquidating the Iraqi regime in Baghdad.”

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Allah Almighty knows best.