Abu Anwar al Britani ...Shaheed in Syria in sha Allah
I was as i remember on my first night in my first training camp, I was looking around to see if any Foriegn fighters were around as my arabic was poor and wanted to be in company with some english speaking brothers who would understand me better ... As I looked around I saw a white skinned, long bearded brother who wore clothes which did not resemble the locals, he was immediately distinguishable for his long beard and different sense of dressing. I knew this was a Muhajir, a foriegn fighter...I dun recall if I called him or he saw me as another foriegner and came beside me, anyway Alhamdulillah we started conversing. I came to know he was called Abu Anwar, due to his love for the Shaikh Anwar al Awlaqi rahimahullah. I realised from his strong British accent that this brother was definitely British; So that's my friend, Abu Anwar al Britani, very thin and physically a little weak, but strong with faith and determination (As we consider)...May Allah have mercy on him.
We both immediately got very close to each other, perhaps due to the only 3 - 4 English speaking brothers in the training camp. We would always stick together. I was to be considered poor in Arabic, but he was Zero in it. I could understand half sentences atleast and try to figure out what was the talk about or whats going on, but Abu Anwar cudnt, so I was assigned as a translator for him which allowed us constant talks and conversation even during classes, always trying to explain to him what was being told, rules, jokes, islamic lessons, trainings etc . We even did Ribat together in the camp, through all this I came to know abu anwar very closely.
We both discussed our pasts, our love for shahada, our families, our anger towards the oppression, how we were inspired to wage jihad etc ... Abu anwar was around 26 years old, very soft spoken and very loving towards his brothers and severe towards the enemies of Allah...Regarding his past, He told me , he had to do work as a teacher before he came here for jihaad to collect finances and act normal in the society whilst leaving his country...
Despite defending yourselves and your family etc being a natural instinct even for animals, the West puts barricades and threats for any Muslims who wish to defend their fellow brothers and sisters therefore denying them even the natural instinct of self defence and honor. So the Muslims who come to defend and help One of the most oppressed people in the planet with the largest acknowledged humanitarian crisis in this era, need to hide and evade the Western intelligence agencies in fear of being labelled as terrorists for just helping their people.
Abu Anwar hated to work as an English teacher as he considered it being language of the west and that the Muslim children would learn English and imitate the west... But he still did it hoping to be on Jihad one day, defending the bleeding Ummah whilst living with honor and respect with his brothers...He thought he had to wear the robes of an English teacher to once wear the robes of a Mujahid...
On his teaching profession he had lot f problems with the staff due to his beautiful long beard, However, Abu Anwar remained patient and steadfast for the sake of Allah (as we consider) not compromising on the order of the Prophet sallallahu alaihiwasallam to let the beard grow...
As soon as Abu Anwar got an opportunity he applied for a leave from his school to complete the long journey he had began ...To complete the road to the Jihad in Bilad al Sham...
He took a stop at another country and from there straightaway left for Turkey. Even after reaching Turkey and risking all the security apparatus from keeping an eye on him due to his long beard, Abu Anwar stood firm and didnt even shorten his beard, having faith that if Allah wants to protect someone, No one can harm him. However as precautionary measures, Abu Anwar took a taxi all the way from one of the major cities, to the bordeing town of Syria and not a bus or flight...The whole taxi ride cost him around a 1000 $ + which is an enormous amount for a taxi ride, but for abu anwar this was not a loss or waste, it was all an investment for the sake of Allah. He did not mind the 1000$, as money used for the sake of Allah is never a loss and in sha Allah gets deposited in his good deeds, and he just wanted to reach to the land of jihad and fulfill his obligations in front of Allah...
Apart from all this, he never had a contact or a reference in Syria to pick him up from the bordering town, he came till the bordering town all on the basis of pure trust in Allah swt & perhaps Allah swt approved of the honesty and purity of heart (As we consider), as Allah swt allowed him a way to get into syria relatively very easily. One of the FSA group fighters saw the long bearded Abu Anwar and realised his purpose on the border and offered to help him get in Syria, Abu Anwar without many choices and desire to get in Syria, agreed...The FSA fighter got Abu Anwar in Syria and hosted him in their base for a while. Abu Anwar used to tell me that they all had Shaikh Osama Bin Laden's (rh) photos, prayed, had all kind f jihadi videos, wanted Sharia etc...Even though Abu Anwar loved the bros, and thought they were no different than other Mujahideen who attribute themselves as 'Islamists', He still didnt want to be attributed to the FSA banner and knew there were other groups who may be better (This was before the infighting etc began). He kindly asked them permission to leave and join a proper Salafi Jihadi group...Despite their love for Abu Anwar and desire to have a Muhajir in their group ,they allowed Abu Anwar to chose for himself and called a brother from a different group to pick him up....So that's when I met Abu Anwar in our training camp.
Abu Anwar and me once after having a conversation about Jihad, Shahada etc went to sleep in the camp. Abu Anwar's bed was right beside mine, and on the other side of his bed was a brother from Jazeera. The next day the brother from Jazeera told me he heard abu anwar speak in his sleep. He told me that Abu Anwar uttered words like " Shaheed in sha Allah in Syria...."
Apart from talking about Shahada in his sleep, Abu Anwar kept having many dreams good dreams including dreams of seeing Hoor Ayn and paradise like areas ... We consider these as glad tidings for him in sha Allah...Wallahu a3lam
You could see him sincere and afraid of Allah swt, that if he came to know of any ruling he would be quick to follow and if he considered somthing Haram or dangerous for his deen, he would be quick to avoid it. An eg. For us the nullifiers of wudhu was common knowledge , but once a brother came across a hadith while reading on his fone about having to do wudhu after eating anything touched by fire...The brother informed and asked the other brothers about these ahadith, we didnt know the explanation, reason or time of the ahadith, but apparently it was a must to do wudhu after eating anything touched by fire (later came to know that this rule is considered abrogated by many scholars). Most brothers did not accept it telling there must be an explanation to it, as we never heard it in any explanations or readings of nulifiers of wudhu, but abu anwar said, until he gets a proper explanation he would do wudhu and this shows his humble submission to the Quran and Sunnah and fear of falling in sin...
He knowing the virtues of Ribat, stayed in ribat for a long time and desired the ajr of it a lot apparently. Our training camp used to punish us for mistakes with extra Ribat / Guardpost duty, and as i recall Abu Anwar would call it a gift and not a punishment...After our training, Abu Anwar stayed in places of Ribat for a few months continuously...You would see him constantly doing azkaar and praying night prayers before sleeping.
Abu Anwar loved the land of Jihad and hated returning to the lands of kufr. He always used to tell that he would never want to return to dar al kufr even if he was seriously injured, he wasn't supposed to be even taken to Turkey but rather be left to be a Shaheed in sha Allah...
Abu Anwar always feared for himself returning back to Dar al Kufr so one day he decided to find a solution that wouldn't allow him to return even if he wanted to... So he simply went for shooting practice and kept his British passport as the target and fired 3 shots at it... We even filmed it...If I was allowed to, could perhaps publish it...
Abu anwar was very beloved to us and just the way he used to meet us in love and happiness always made us feel very beloved to him....he kept saying i love you for the sake of Allah usually whenever I would meet him after a long time....
He kept getting agitated when not being able to go on the front lines as afront line fighter and desired that Allah swt would laugh at him when he would be martyred marching towards his enemy without turning back...
Once in a battle after a succesful assault, abu anwar and brothers with him were clearing the area from any remaining enemies. As reported while he entered a room, a Shiite army soldier shot him on his chest and in sha Allah that was the time for Abu Anwar to achieve what he desired for...Martyrdom feesabilillah, and the Paradise & Hoor al ayn that he dreamt of...
And we hope Allah swt laughed at Abu Anwar and pray that Allah accepts him from amongst the martyrs that faced the enemy without turning back...
May Allah swt accept him and unite us with him in jannat ul firdaus al a3laa