Claim of IS to Global Jihad

Anyone who is familiar with the history of modern Jihad will recognize the Afghan Jihad as operationally the birth place of the movement. It gave a chance to individuals spread over all the world who believed in implementation of Islam to come together in one arena. The man who was ideologically the driving force behind the movement was Shaykh Abdullah Azzam(rh).  Then we had major movements like Chechen Jihad led by Amir Khattab(rh), Taliban movement and Alqaeda that sprung up. All major Jihad conducted around the world had links with these movements.

Fast forward to Syrian Jihad. We see the same connections among many Jihadi groups in Syria. Just to give few examples.

Ahrar al Sham : Many of its leaders were prominent members of Salafi movement in Syria imprisoned by Assad before revolution and some had active part in Iraqi Jihad. Its leader Abu Aiman al Hamawi was a close companion of Zarqawi(rh) and was the one who wrote the famous statement of the allegiance of Jamat ul Tawhid wal Jihad to Alqaeda. Abu Yazan al Shami according to one account was requested by AQ in Iraq to make Hijra to become a judge but was arrested. Abu Khalid al Suri(rh) started his Jihad from the time of Sh Abdullah Azzam(rh) and continued to be in companionship of Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al Suri, Zarqawi and others.

JundulAqsa : Formed by Shaykh Abdul Aziz Qatari(rh) with a history of Jihad dating back to the time of Sh Abdullah Azzam(rh).

JunduSham : Formed by Muslim al Shishani who was a prominent leader from the time of Khattab(rh) in Chechen Jihad.

JMWA : The leadership of JMWA siimilarly has history of participation in Syrian Jihad.

Harakat ul Sham al Islam : This group was formed by Shaykh Abu Ahmed al Maghribi who migrated to Afghanistan during 1990s, was also imprisoned in Guantanamo bay.

AnsarulIslam fi Sham : This is Syrian branch of Iraqi Jihadi group Ansar ul Islam. This was the oldest Jihadi group in Iraq which also gave refuge to Zarqawi before US invasion began. Its leadership of past and present has similar history of participation in Jihad and activism against Bathist movement.

Jabhat al Nusrah : This group has countless such individuals but among the most prominent known leaders include ex-military leader Abu Hammam al Suri who was among the top graduates of AQ's farouq camps and held responsibilities in Iraq and elsewhere, Abu Firas al Suri who started his Jihad in 1970s against Syrian Bathist regime then moved to Afghanistan and later participated in Jihad of Yemen and elsewhere. Abu Yusuf al Turki , the famous sniper who trained many in AfPak, Snafi al Nasr and many others.

The reason to mention all such groups and their histories is to make a point that these groups have a known history of struggle against secular, Bathist regimes and Jihad. While today, a IS(Islamic State as it calls itself) considers many of them as agents of West or apostates. It is unthinkable of so many groups, Mujahidin to become deviants, apostates or become stooges of the West overnight.

Meanwhile, such credentials are suspiciously absent from the current leadership of IS. After Abu Hamza al Muhajir and killing/sidelining of other leaders , most of the leadership of IS as we know today have no history of activism against Bathism or Jihad pre 9/11. Lets name a few of them.

Abu Ali Al Anbari : Loyal member of Saddam's Baath party till the very end of the regime.
Baghdadi : No history of Jihad before 9/11. No scholarly credentials except an Islamic degree from a state run University.
Turkmani : Similarly a member of Bath party till the end.
Abu Aiman al Iraqi, Wali of DeiralZour and many other such leaders have similar dubious credentials.
AbuJihad al Shishani. The man caught whose lying has been exposed clearly by Islamic Emirate of Caucasus.

There definitely would be exceptions to it and I also realize that a part from Salafi Jihadism with extremism has drifted towards IS. But it does'nt rule out the obvious fact that IS today stands at odds with Islamic Jihadi movement, its figureheads and thinking of its scholars like Shaykh Abdullah Azzam(rh), Shaykh Abu Yahya al Libi(rh), Atiyya al Libi(rh) and others.

At the end, I would also like to clarify that right of repentance is for everyone including Saddam's ex-generals. But there are ways to deal with issue.

1) Such people are never given leadership or preference over those who preceeded in the path. This principle is according to Quran and Sunnah. We know that Quran makes distinction between those who believed in Rasulullah(sa) earlier and those who came to Islam second. In Caliphate as well Emigrants had first right. And Abu Bakr al Siddiq also dealt with the apostates who came back to Islam similarly.

2) Such people, if their repentance is sincere should change their ways and never revert back to the ways of Jahiliiya. What we have seen from  this Bathist leadership of IS is betrayals like the ones to which Mujahidin testified, torture like the one did to Abu Rayyan etc. For details, their is testimony of Muslim al shishani (hf) about Abu Aiman al Iraqi's conduct and of Abu Firas al Suri(hf) about Abu Ali al Anbari's conduct.

IS as it stands today does fight against the Kuffar and in that we prefer should prefer them over kuffar. But this does not take away the fact that their intention is to aggress against other Mujahidin and they have done it countless times. It also does'nt take away the fact that they have made takfir of Mujahidin groups as testified by Amir of JaishulMuhajirin wal Ansar.