Jamaat Ansar al-Islam fighters in northern Iraq. |
This latest statement from Jamaat Ansar al-Islam is intended to commemorate Abu Ahmad of Mosul, a leading figure in Jamaat Ansar al-Islam’s Iraq branch who was reportedly killed by the group’s traditional rivals the Islamic State, whose claim to a state/caliphate it has officially rejected. However, on account of ideological overlap in that Jamaat Ansar al-Islam is also aspiring to a caliphate and the overwhelming power of the Islamic State [IS] inside Iraq, the overwhelming majority of members- primarily based in Ninawa and Kirkuk provinces and smaller contingents mainly in Salah ad-Din and Anbar provinces- have given allegiance to IS (approximately 90%, as confirmed by Abu Bakr al-Iraqi and Abu Obeida al-Salafi, two of the remnants in Kirkuk and Baghdad who did not give allegiance).
This does not mean that there are no people in areas like Mosul who will claim affiliation with Jamaat Ansar al-Islam, but like those with Jaysh Rijal al-Tariqa al-Naqshbandia affiliation, they have absolutely no influence, having to keep their affiliation a secret in the shadow of IS authority and unable to instigate unrest to destabilize IS rule. Indeed, for all intents and purposes, as both Abu Bakr and Abu Obeida readily admit to me, Jamaat Ansar al-Islam has ceased to exist in Iraq, while its offspring Syria branch survives in the west of Syria.
For full Arabic text, click here. |
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,
Statement no. 455 from the central media admin- Jamaat Ansar al-Islam
The Bleeding Wound of the Ansar
Thanks be to God who makes Islam and Muslims mighty, and lowers the disbelievers and apostates, and prayers and peace be upon the Imam of the Mujahideen...and all his family and companions and whosoever has gone on their direction/program and has taken up their guidance to the Day of Judgment. As for what follows:
The Almighty has said: “Verily those who disbelieve in the verses of God, kill the prophets unjustly, and kill those who command justice from the people, inform them of a painful torment. They are the ones whose deeds have borne no fruit in this world or the Hereafter and they have no supporters."- Sura Al Imran [Qur’an 3:22].
And the Almighty has said: “And whoever murders a believer, his reward will be Hellfire in which he will abide for eternity, and the anger and curse of God will be upon him, and He has prepared for him a great torment."- Sura al-Nisa [Qur’an 4:93].
As for what follows:
Were it the case that man stood and clung to the coverings of the Ka’aba or prayed to God on the day of Arafat on Mount Arafat or sought the hour of response on Friday or concluded the prayer for God- Almighty and Exalted is He- to bestow on him killing and death at the hand of the khawarij, you would not think he has any good sense. But it has come in a chain of transmission from Imam Ahmad [ibn Hanbal] on the authority of Abu Umama that he saw heads set up on the steps of the mosque of Damascus, so Abu Umama said: “The dogs of the hellfire [x3] are the worst to be killed under the cover of the sky, while the best of those killed are the ones they [the dogs of the hellfire- i.e. the Khawarij] killed.” Then he recited the verse: “The day on which some faces are whitened, others are blackened.” I said to Abu Umama: “Did you hear this from the Messenger of God (PBUH)?” He said: “Had I not heard it but twice, thrice, four, five, six or seven times, I would not have related it to you.”
Indeed among the greatest trials by which the Ummah of Islam and the Ahl al-Sunna have been tested is the trial at the hand of the internal enemy, particularly the one who violates the prophetic guidance (on whom may the best of peace and prayers be), those who have gathered from among error and false creeds, and among the most harmful of them are those who have added to their decline the spilling of blood on account of the corruption of takfir of the violator of the Ahl al-Sunna.
And were man to revisit history, he would see the surprising aspect and appalling amount of killing, imprisonment, eviction and strangling of the best of the Ahl al-Sunna from the students of ‘Ilm, the ulama, the sheikhs of da’wah and the best mujahideen at the hand of those we have mentioned.
And whosoever wishes to test the credibility of what we have said in these days of ours, let him look at the great fitna of the Ahl al-Sunna at the hand of the Rafidites [Shia], the zanadiqa [atheists/heretics] and the heretic Khawarij who are almost equal in nature.
And we the Ahl al-Islam in this period of history scarcely escape from one disaster without one after another following, and we do not reckon to be the last the killing of two distinguished brothers- that being known to us from their fates- of the beloved and hated- one of them being Kak Sadiq in the prisons of the Rafidites in Tehran [1] in circumstances that remain obscure to us. And we will follow with a remembrance of him in a statement if God wills.
The second brother is Shamel Abu Ahmad, who was kidnapped in Mosul more than two months ago, then it became clear that he was in the prisons of Baghdadi’s group, and after his kidnapping he was killed and his body was not handed over to his family until after two months.
And from gathering what is between the two events, two pictures and two similar instances...it becomes clear to one what enmity these people conceal and bear to the Ahl al-Islam wa al-Sunna and the people- all of them- sympathize with the situation that has befallen the Ahl al-Sunna generally and in Iraq in particular, except that the followers of Baghdadi continue to direct their arrows at the throats of our mujahideen brothers without discrimination.
And among them is Abu Ahmad Shamel- may God the Exalted accept him- who was among the callers and Ahl al-'Iltizam in the days of old before the fall of Saddam the buried, before the officers of Saddam followed as chameleons [2]: those people whose shots that they fired into the chests of the monotheists had not yet cooled off and the remains of whose lashes from the bodies of the callers had not yet been wiped away; these officers who mostly repented after the loss of power and the passing of positions and authority but the repentance of most of them was not yet good in nature.
After the entry of the Crusaders into Iraq, the brother [Abu Ahmad] joined the convoy of jihad and joined the ranks of Ansar al-Islam, and he remained a steadfast mujahid as we reckon him and God is his reckoning in the totality amid the seeking of knowledge, da’wah and jihad. He was appointed an amir over Shirqat, then a military official for Mosul, then an amir over Mosul and a member of the Diwan al-Shir’ wa al-Qada [cf. IS Diwan al-Qada] into the aftermath of the imaginary withdrawal of the Crusaders from Iraq, and after Baghdadi’s group decided to wage a war of extermination against Jamaat al-Ansar and this is in witness of them before their true nature appeared in al-Sham.
The brother was a negotiator with them from our side in the first instance in the thought on our part and the hope that perhaps we could shield the Muslims from the bloodshed and afterwards the despair from the lack of response. The group then decided to withdraw Abu Ahmad from the outside and to protect him.
After Baghdadi’s group entered Mosul, the mujahideen from Jamaat al-Ansar advised their brothers to leave their areas that were under their [IS] control [3] because they were convinced and the reality bore witness to the slogan of Bush the Crusader- “If he is not with us, he is against us"- and there would be no innocence for your blood without that [i.e. being under allegiance to IS] even if you are a monotheist, Sunni Muslim.
But he- may God the Exalted accept him- refused and was looking for a gap and opening by which to drive back the assault of the Rafidites from the abode of Islam and the lands of the Muslims, except that the people refused and pledged not to increase the oppressed Ahl al-Sunna’s oppression and suffering.
And we bear witness to God that Abu Ahmad waged jihad on the Crusaders and their apostate helpers, and he was imprisoned, wounded and wanted by all sides from the Crusaders’ helpers, and he was a just Muslim as we reckon him and God is his reckoning, a companion of help, desiring to meet the needs of his brothers, a companion of manliness. In him were genuine qualities of the Arabs. And the Ansar would very often dispatch him to represent the group in meeting with distinguished seniors and sheikhs of the tribes for qualities by which he stood out. And he was enamored with seeking knowledge and learning, attentively listening to the Muslims and showing great interest in their causes.
If there were sufficient space to continue, all of his virtues and good qualities would have to be mentioned, to it suffices him to affirm that he was steadfast, on the right path, and did not deviate from the guidance and the Sunnah, and was not carried away towards the people of excess and indulgence in the abundance of enticement and intimidation amid the strong degree of destitution and need.
If he were in the heart of those following taqlid from the followers of Baghdadi, and those who have entered into a pact with them on the pretext of reform for justice as well as honoring the taboos of God and especially the sanctity of blood- the blood of the monotheist Muslim- they would have abandoned and disavowed it [IS], and they would not have followed it, contended and applied the same lines of reasoning and evidence as the supporters of the tawagheet in their affiliation: “For indeed, the eyes are not blind, but the hearts in their chests” [Qur’an 22:46], “When those who have been followed disavow those who have followed, and they see the torment, and the ties are cut off from them.” [Qur’an 2:166].
And by God it suffices man from the anger of his Exalted Lord and his own failure that the monotheist mujahideen from the Ahl al-Sunna should be his adversary on the Day of Judgment.
Finally we would like to recall the surprise and bewilderment of the distinguished Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi- we ask God to strengthen him and make good his end [5]- when Muslims without allegiance to Baghdadi informed him about the situation and that they were expelled, wanted and did not find security and whoever was arrested would not return. He said in bewilderment: “How can that be when people in the states of kufr [disbelief] and under the authority of many of the states of ridda [apostasy] do not suffer from what you mention?”
We would like to inform Sheikh Abu Muhammad and whoever wants to know that Baghdadi’s group have not been content alone with killing the Muslim who contravenes them and whoever does not agree with them in what they follow, but they have also preserved Sana al-Gharawi, leader of the Mosul operations- a matter of evil renown- by confining the body of the dead person in the Health Department of Justice building and they have not handed it to his family, and many of the families of our brothers continue to wait to see the bodies of their son or a piece of their liver, even if it is just worn out bones, especially the seven brothers they killed in Tikrit. [4]
May God accept from our brother Abu Ahmad what he offered and what has died upon him, and may He make him the best of those they killed with his other brothers from the Muslims, and may He compensate him in his family and his offspring of six daughters. And may He bestow on them patience, reckoning and tranquility...and may God’s peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and all his family and companions.
Jamaat Ansar al-Islam
Central Media Admin
12 Jumada al-Akhira 1436 AH
1 April 2015
Notes
[1] Recall Jamaat Ansar al-Islam’s origins in its furthest predecessor Ansar al-Islam, which was dismantled after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, leading some members to flee to Iran. Over the years, allegations emerged of collaboration between Ansar al-Islam and Iran, though this is certainly no longer true.
[2] Implicitly playing on a common trope in non-IS jihadi discourse that IS et al. are unreformed Baa’thists. For one example for comparison, see this post.
[3] This of course did not happen, as most of the Ansar gave allegiance. In Kirkuk province, the Ansar were particularly concentrated in Rashad district, but they all gave allegiance to IS.
[4] Jamaat Ansar al-Islam initially coordinated with IS in bringing the downfall of Tikrit city in June 2014, and worked with IS in some of the fighting near Amerli that came under siege. However, IS quickly turned on the Tikrit contingent, arresting and killing members.
[5] A leading al-Qaeda-aligned critic of IS based in Jordan.
Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a research fellow at the Middle East Forum’s Jihad Intel project.
