A statement on my independence
Everyone who follows my work knows where I stand. You know my views, the actors I criticise in international politics, and the proportion in which I speak about each of them. That record is public and consistent.
So let this be clear in advance. If my tone ever changes completely, if I begin speaking disproportionately and negatively about one particular country in a way I never have, or if the way I speak about religious or political matters becomes unrecognisable, then assume one of three things has happened. Either my accounts have been hacked, or I am being coerced under threat of death or serious harm to myself or to those close to me, or, in the rarest case, I have been lured by some worldly desire.
In any of those cases, ignore what is published under my name and trust your own instinct. Hold to the Quran and its principles and to the Sunnah and its teachings. They do not change and they are not for sale. If I lose my independence I lose everything, and if something happens to me, everyone should know why.
To my enemies and to anyone who contemplates manipulating me by any means. I do not respect your capabilities more than I respect myself, and I do not respect myself more than I believe in my Islamic cause. No government and no organisation can remove the courage Allah has placed in my heart through tawakkul. The only door through which anyone can reach me is the door of honour and respect.
As Emiliano Zapata said, I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees. Losing is not my fear. Cowering before cowards is. Allah has blessed me with a certainty that, if you knew the feeling of it, you would fight me for