This was question posed to Shaykh Al-Albāni regarding his statement “Fight against yourself” and explanation by Sheikh on the matter of jihad today and what should be done.
Questioner: Ok, there is another question about our brothers in Bosnia …
Sheikh Al-Albāni: Yes.
Questioner: I heard that you said to some brothers who had wanted to go there to fight in the cause of Allāh 
with their lives: fight against yourselves (i.e. purify yourselves)
Sheikh Al-Albāni: Yes, that’s true.
Questioner: This means that you don’t advise (people) to go there (for jihād)?
Sheikh Al-Albāni: That’s true.
Questioner: Well don’t you think that people there are in need of help?
Sheikh Al-Albāni: How can I not think so? Yet is help achieved by putting more lives of Muslims to death in vain? Where is the preparation with which we have been commanded in the Noble Qur’ān?
Questioner: What if there is a benefit?
Sheikh Al-Albāni: If you believe that there is a benefit, then it (jihād) is compulsory. Do you believe so?
Questioner: Yes.
Sheikh Al-Albāni: On what basis?
Questioner: There are weak Muslims…
Sheikh Al-Albāni: Please brother, don’t tell me about the status quo; tell me what the benefit is.
Questioner: The benefit is helping them and (unclear speech) …
Sheikh Al-Albāni: May Allāh guide you! Helping them requires (the intervention) of the States not individuals. The situation needs organized army that are trained in using weapons. It needs tanks, aircrafts, etc. What individual means are you talking about? If we sent one thousand people from here and there, they would be easy targets of (the enemy) fire. What could these people do in the face of the tanks and destructive weapons (of the enemy)?
Questioner: Yeah
Sheikh Al-Albāni: Glory be to Allāh! I am surprised at how the youth do not look at these issues except in a very limited way. I asked you if there were a benefit. You said, “Yes.” What is this benefit? They are weak! May Allāh guide you, Abu Suhaib! As if I did not know that they are weak and that they are few in number and under-armed compared to the Serbs first and their allies second and particularly the Americans who have destroyed everything. Don’t you know these facts?
Questioner: Yes
Sheikh Al-Albāni: How can you say that there is a benefit? Is there a benefit in destroying Muslims in vain and that’s exactly what happened in Afghanistan? Do you think that jihād in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be any stronger than in Afghanistan?
Questioner: No.
Sheikh Al-Albāni: What was the result there? Uh? The result was that we reaped bitter melon (i.e. we suffered defeat) …
Questioner: Yes.
Sheikh Al-Albāni: … and we brought destruction upon ourselves because we opposed the religious teachings in many, many details, the most apparent of which, as the bad end results showed, was (differing and split). (Allāh says):
And be you not of Al-Mushrikun (polytheists, idolaters, disbelievers in the oneness of Allāh). Of those who split up their religion and became sects, each sect rejoicing in that which is with it. – Surah ar-Rum 30:31-32 1
Seven parties fighting against one party and that is the Communist party. The Communist party, which is a kafir party, vs three Muslim parties. How could this happen? Therefore, don’t forget, even though you live far away from us, the principle that the beginning should be with tasfia wat-tarbia (i.e. purification and education) …
Questioner: Yes
Sheikh Al-Albāni: … and then remember the saying of Allāh:
And whatever of misfortune befalls you, it is because of what your hands have earned. And He pardons much. – Surah ash-Shura 42:30 2
And we ask Allāh to grant victory to our Muslims brother in all Muslim land. Yes unfortunately as our Lord says in the Nobel Qur’ān:
That was the Way of Allāh in the case of those who passed away of old, and you will not find any change in the Way of Allāh. – Surah al-Ahzaab 33:62 3
And no turning off will you find in the Sunnah of Allāh.- Surah Fatir 35:43 4
Verily, Allāh will not change the (good) condition of a people as long as they do not change their state (of goodness) themselves. But when Allāh wills a people’s punishment, there can be no turning back of it, and they will find besides Allāh no protector. – Surah ar-Ra’d 13:11 5
Therefore, if we want to defend a nation from among the Islamic nations we must first and foremost defend Islam in our very home countries. Yet we don’t defend Islam in our countries and that’s why we have been inflicted by calamities in our home countries, and this is something we feel sorry about and we ask Allāh to grant Muslims His True Promise:
Verily, We will indeed make victorious Our Messengers and those who believe (in the Oneness of Allāh Islāmic Monotheism) in this world’s life … – Surah Ghafir 40:51 6
“There will not cease to be a group of my Ummah, victorious upon truth and not harmed by those who oppose them until the Hour is established.” 7 Maybe this is enough for you.
Questioner: May Allāh reward you with good, shaykh.
Sheikh Al-Albāni: The same to you, by Allāh’s will. Let me hear your voice soon.