By Grand Mufti Sheikh Al-Sadiq Al-Gharyani

Islamic teachings clearly say that whoever helps an oppressor or defends one or even covers their actions, assisting in the wrongdoings, is likewise an oppressor - both the doer and the helper of wrong and evil deeds are alike.

Allah does not only vow to punish the oppressors but also those who help them materialize their oppression.

{And do not incline toward those who do wrong, lest you be touched by the Fire, and you would not have other than Allah any protectors; then you would not be helped.} Allah says in the Koran. 
Allah also says, {then do not remain after the reminder with the wrongdoing people.}

Hence, the religious scholars agreed to hold the people assisting the perpetrators of crimes, such as banditry, accountable as well as the perpetrators themselves. If the culprit is a part of a group and the rest have only planned and schemed as well as guarded and covered for the crime, then all of them are to be considered bandits and murderers and thus all must be killed - not the one who murdered alone, no, all of the group – as Caliph, Omar, (may Allah be pleased with him) said “If Sanaa people gathered on his side, I would have killed them all for his deed.”

Libya has been – among all the miseries that are ongoing in the country – witnessing intermittent blackouts, which makes one wonders as where to those people want to take Libya. They are torturing and humiliating people depriving them from their rights.

Those people couldn’t have enough by the state of insecurity, kidnappings, and the hubbub they created in Libya, so they topped them all off by plunging entire cities into total darkness, yet people have no official entity to resort to.

I find it quite odd that despite the catastrophic situation that we have reached now in Libya, there are still some parties clinging to the faction that has drove Libya on this highway of darkness and murkiness. And yes, we have been living in downright darkness.

Undoubtedly, the so-called political agreement is the source of darkness, as all Libyans had to shoulder the burdens of a whole crisis-full bleak year under its rule. After all of those disasters caused by the political agreement, the parties should have announced its funeral and looked for what is on the table regarding reconciliation among Libyans, however; some are still gasping to stitch the tattered agreement so that more tragic dilemmas and humiliation can be created day-to-day in the lives of six or seven million citizens.

All what is going on in the country right now – the turmoil, lack of security, and deterioration of the state institutions of health, education and economy, as well as the bloodshed that is going on in the country – are all attributed to the people working under the scope of the political agreement, as they are tirelessly working on having this oppressive agreement prolonged.

I say, and I consider my words as a fatwa whose responsibility is to be borne by me alone, that from now on, whoever exerts an effort to support and extend the mandate of the so-called political agreement is in return going to be trying to keep the evil deeds going on with no restraints in Libya and maintain murders, abductions, and wrongdoings. Furthermore, I consider whoever tries to sugar coat the agreement, after its bitterness was tasted by the Libyans nationwide, oppressors and I say that they and their supporters bear the responsibility for the stealing of money, shedding the blood of people and wronging them.

The Prophet’s Sunnah has told us that if one does good and others followed his good deeds, then he would be rewarded for his and their doings, and if he does evil, then he and those who follow his evil deeds would be punished for it. It is written in Sahih al-Bukhari that the Prophet, (Peace be Upon Him) said “"The first son of Adam* takes a share of the guilt of every one who murders another wrongfully because he was the initiator of committing murder.” He also said “I saw `Amr bin 'Amir bin Luhai Al-Khuza`i dragging his intestines in the (Hell) Fire, for he was the first man who started the custom of releasing animals (for the sake of false gods).” Therefore, those who establish something new that can lead to the destruction of their country and maintain it despite everything wrong it, cannot be pardoned. They are like someone who has a child and he put his child in a room that he knows has no ventilation enough for his child to breath, then leading to the death of the child, then he would bring another child of his and put him in the same room without changing anything in it, thus in the first action he would be excused but in the second he would be a murderer.

Therefore, I pray that Allah leads people to the right path.

And to those, who say that they have the excuse of supporting the political agreement as it is the least of two crises, I say that this least of the two harms brings to inevitable crises – one is more likely than the second – and the damage that we’re experiencing today is an actual crisis that has entailed real killing, real destruction and real damage to the country. How could all of this happen for fear not to have a probable crisis?

Those people have very unrealistic excuse as well when they say that the international community would be very firm and conclusive this time and would definitely keep its promise. I say this is all a kind of a repetitive scheme as its promises are the ones responsible for the situation we are in now, so how many times should we be fooled by the same entity for us to use our logic?

When they signed the political agreement, they told us that Khalifa Haftar won’t be involved in the political scene, however; they are sparing no chance now to reiterate that he is a commander for the army and is fighting terrorism saying he is part and parcel of the political process. They are doing so while in fact, Haftar is being so careless about their agreement, yet they have never condemned or decried his actions, but rather he has always refused to meet them.

What has become of us? You fear international community, you – the ones who support the political agreement. Here is Haftar: the criminal, the fugitive who is wanted by the justice, the illegitimate and coup plotter who wants to steal legitimacy, he is refusing to even meet the UNMSIL; he has denied it access to land in Tobruk airport. Can you see how arrogant he is? Despite that, many are following him around so that they can make him – by fixing and amending the political agreement – the commander in chief of their army.

So why are we so afraid of the international community?

Is Haftar’s conviction of his own wrongdoing stronger that our conviction of the right we are advocating? Or the weakness that the Prophet (PBUH) told about in his hadith, “Allah will take fear of you from the breasts of your enemy and last enervation into your hearts.” Has stuffed the hearts of people.

Therefore, I say that those who support the political agreement, are the ones responsible for the bloodshed that is taking place nationwide, and they must take their hands off this oppression and misery so that they can return to the right path that they are looking for by engaging in a national recondition that is intact by foreign hegemony.

Disclaimer:  The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Libya Observer