Testimony of the Jabhat al- Nusrah defectory - Bilal al- Chouachi

Original arabic link: http://justpaste.it/bilalimonyar

 

 

For the past few weeks I have been getting messages from brothers in Tunisia, Shaam, Egypt, Libya and Iraq asking me about my view on what is happening in al- Shaam and my positions towards the Islamic State and Jabhat al- Nusrah, or the positions of Sheikh so-and-so or Commander so-and-so. Some want me to defend the Islamic State and defend them from the Nusrah Front, others want me to be neutral. All these weeks I tried to be neutral and not take sides with or against other parties. But I'm no longer prepared to see the arguments and confusion I see on social networks that I see the brothers engaging in. All the lies, and false charges. So I have decided to give a brief summary of what I have seen:

 

Since I arrived in Syria, I have found that most of the news regarding the Islamic State is based on word of mouth. Many of the soldiers of Jabhat al- Nusrah hate the Islamic State and make accusations against them. When you ask whether they have personally verified these accusations or asked Shari'een or leader's of the Islamic State, they say " No". One of the virtuous brothers from Jabhat alNusrah who admitted many Mujahideen into the ranks, said that he forms his opinions based on what his leaders tell him about the Islamic State, and that he has not seen or proven these allegations himself. So I have decided not to believe anything myself until I can prove it.

 

The brothers of the Islamic State, since my arrival have treated everyone from Jabhat al- Nusrah very well, but the attitude of the leadership of Jabhat al- Nusrah is too harsh and driven by positions to protect themselves from " humiliation" ( very prideful).

 

I have noted the negligence of the Jabhat al- Nusrah leaders towards the camp of Muhajireen in al Ba'ab city, and I saw for myself, the negligence towards the Muhajireen and the complaints of the brothers. At the time the Muhajireen of the Islamic State were being attacked by those who oppose the Islamic State, such as Liwa al- Tawheed and Ahrar al- Shaam. I asked for a weapon to defend the Muhajireen myself. The Jabhat al- Nusrah commander told me that I will only get a weapon to enter the camp, and there is no camp. A brother from the Islamic State gave me a weapon and allowed me to keep it.

 

I noticed the abandonment of supporting the Islamic State against the corrupt people, like Haji Bab, that everyone agree's that he fights Islam and transgresses against Muslim's. Even the Muhajireen from Jabhat al- Nusrah did not feel safe until entering under the protection of Umar al- Shishani in al- Ba'ab.

 

I witnessed the fighting that happened in al-Ba'ab, and a lot of the fighting occurred with light and heavy machine guns. I was surprised at the claim which reached brothers in other places that the Islamic State was bombing the city. This was a lie. 

 

After I stayed for a month in al- Ba'ab, I heard that there was a good working relationship between the Islamic State and Jabhat al- Nusrah in al- Tabqah. The Emir was Jabhat al- Nusrah's Abu Dharr alTunisi, who was a a fine man from Tunisia who was known for his participation in Jihad since 2004. So I decided to join the Jabhat al- Nusrah division in Tabqah. Abu Dharr spoke about problems in Jabhat al- Nusrah's manhaj ( methodology) and application of law. He said he had observed this over the best part of a year. We decided to gather these claims and together we went to Sheikh al- Joulani regarding these matters.

 

The most important problems we observed are:

A) The absence of a clear direction and project to establish the religion of Allah ( Shariah Law) in Syria. Jabhat al- Nusrah's goals were just limited to fighting, and they did not intend to establish the promotion of good and the forbidding of evil.

B) The lack of a clear charter for Jabhat al- Nusrah which pronounces it's faith, approach and objectives clearly.

C) The lack of a clear position regarding the Syrian National Coalition and the Supreme Military Council, as well as the absence of a clear position on the Free Syrian Army and the Islamic Front, despite the wide suspicions and accusations surrounding these aforementioned groups, as well as the evidence of statements of kufr ( disbelief) from some of the leaders of these groups.

D) Trying to please groups that only claim to be on the Millah of Ibrahim ( the path of the Prophet Ibrahim) and only claim to be free of the Arab and non- Arab Tawagheet ( tyrannical government's who rule by other than Shariah), and who claim to be free of secularism, democracy and other types of kufr ( disbelief).

E) Refusing to repudiate rebel groups from Hasakah who fought against the Islamic State and who allied with the PKK ( Kurdistan Worker's Party) against the Islamic State.

F) Failing to stop any of the groups who fought the Islamic State, or at least not attempting at all to stop any of the groups fighting the Islamic State in Deir az- Zour. They also failed to stop their associations with these suspicious groups and failed to hold these groups accountable in a court.

 

We took these concerns to a meeting with Joulani and discussed these issues with him. He promised that he would repudiate these rebel groups and that he would end the fighting against the Islamic State. He indicated the legitimacy of the issues mentioned. He said he will not take fatawah except those of Sheikh al- Maqdisi, Sheikh Abu Qatadah, Sheikh Sulayman al- Alwan and Sheikh Nasser alWuhayshi. He promised to isolate Abu Mariyah al- Qahtani, who is the head of corruption in Jabhat al- Nusrah, as well as Abu Abdullah al- Shaami, known in Shaam as Abu Muhammad Attoun. He declares he believes in the dream of every Muslim ( Caliphate) and that his love for the old state (ISIS) does not allow him to fight it. Joulani ordered us to rush to Badia ( desert) to take part in the battle of Homs, promising us that we will not be taking part in the fighting against the Islamic State.

 

Two days later we met with the second in command of the Islamic State and we asked him what was on our minds, including questions and reservations, the duties of the Islamic State, blood, extremism in Takfir, Islamic politics, relationship with the people, transactions, the relationship with Jabhat alNusrah and al-Qaidah. He answered all of our questions:

 

What we concluded from his answers was that the leadership of the Islamic State and Shura were innocent of these charges of Ghulu (extremism) and bloodshed, and of refusing to prosecute any possible extreme elements in their midst. We found the the cause of some of their problems was due to the large number of fighters and the difficulty in managing some of them, especially in the acceleration of recent events heightened by the enemy. We found that this man accepted some criticisms and asked us for good advice. We found him to be patient, even though we were speaking and shouting emotionally.

 

We resolved with the second in command that it is not proper to fight each other and that we should help each other in doing what is right and proper, and that the relationship between the Jabhat alNusrah division in Tabqah was independent of the main Jabhat al- Nusrah organization. Henceforth we moved out and headed for the siege of Homs.

 

Once we arrived to the Badia desert ( for the siege of Homs), we discovered that the leader of our division was a Syrian and that he had disappeared to Deir az- Zour under the pretext of trying to talk the group's into reconciliation.

 

During his absence, we got the news that Abu Khalid al- Suri was assassinated. We got news that Joulani indirectly accused the Islamic State of this killing and that we would fight them. We consider his ( Joulani's) statement hasty and beyond discipline from an Islamic point of view, because Islam rejects relying on opinion's. We consider Joulani's speech as a breaking of promises.

 

The Emir of Deir az- Zour sector, Abu Issa, returned and took advantage of Joulani's speech and the mysterious disappearance of three brothers who traveled to Aleppo, and took advantage of these event's and even tried to convince us to participate in fighting the Islamic State, and even to allow the convoy's of Jabhat al- Nusrah to pass through our area to go to Deir az- Zour to fight the Islamic State. We rejected this and we considered it to be a transgression of the covenant with the Islamic State.

A long statement came out from Abu Abdullah al- Shaami ( also known as Abu Muhammad Attoun) in which he issued a fatwah ordering fighters to fight against the Islamic State and declared them as Khawarij and bughat ( aggressor's), and allegedly a sect which abstains from the truth. He encouraged all groups to fight it ( the Islamic State), by tossing aside the specific instructions of Abu Qatadah and al- Maqdisi about not fighting the Islamic State. They described the conspiracy against the Islamic State as a devilish conspiracy, even though Joulani claimed in the beginning that he would follow the instruction's of the two Sheikh's ( Abu Qatadah and al- Maqdisi) .

 

We have noticed that the statement ( by Abu Abdullah al- Shaami ) - supposedly based on true event's - required proof for each and every one of them to be upheld in a Shariah court. We have noticed that the foundation's of these claims are not solid, such as the claim that the Islamic State originated from the Khawarij and the Rafidhah, and the implicit accusation that the Islamic State collaborates with the Assad regime, or the claim that the Islamic State reject's judgement under the Law of Allah ( Shariah court's), or the claim of kufr ( disbelief), or the claim that the fight against the Assad regime is impossible if the Islamic State is not fought first. None of these claims are true.

We waited for a firm stand from Joulani, but we were let down and we realized that either he is responsible for this deviation, or that he has lost control over the group. And then there began a farcical chain of testimonies against al- Adnani's Mubahalah, which were based mostly on distorted facts or smaller matters which do not necessarily refute or delegitimize the Islamic State. From among those in the council, we discussed with those who were qualified with Shariah diplomas. We found them to be Murjiah toward's the Military Council and Khawarij toward the Islamic State. With one of them being more forgiving and unprepared to make takfir on the Military Councils but not hesitating to make takfir on the Islamic State. Abu Dharr, Abu Suhaib, and I were all witnesses to this.

We decided to leave Jabhat al- Nusrah and informed the Emir of our local area as well as the Majlis alShura of that area. We were shocked at the decision of the Emir and his willingness to fight us. His assistant's even aimed heavy machine gun's at the the room where we were meeting.

The Emir resorted to deception and disillusioned us when he asked us to abide by the decision's of the Shura Council. He then kicked me out of the Shura Council, accusing me of lying and causing sedition. After he revealed a conversation between me and one of the soldiers at the front in Deir az- Zour, he admitted that they were in cooperation with Shuhada Badr, Liwa Muta, Qaqa'a battalion, the Islamic Front and the clans fighting the Islamic State, citing that Abu Mariyah said that not all of the member's belonging to the Supreme Military Council are infidel's

 

After being kicked out, Abu Issa sent Abu Dharr under the pretext of searching for the missing brothers, whilst accusing the Islamic State of abducting them. They took advantage of my absence and the absence of Abu Dharr and persuaded the rest of the Shura Council to go to Joulani and council him, and when they went, he ( Abu Issa) arrested them in Aleppo and took their weapons and handed them over to Abu Firas al- Shaami, and then returned to the rest of the brothers where they arranged to sneak the convoy before dawn to surround the Muhajireen. They accused the Muhajireen of corrupting every Jihadi field they enter, and the informant tricked the rest of the brothers into thinking that their destination was to Qalamoun. Abu Issa sneaked in with the convoy and on the way there the brothers found out that their destination was Deir az- Zour ( and not Qalamoun), so they ran to us and told us that Emir Qa'qa had joined the conspiracy. 

Abu Dharr and a group of brothers decided to pull out of Jabhat al- Nusrah from that area because it was using the lie of lifting the siege of Homs to send the brothers into Deir az- Zour. Abu Dharr took Jabhat al- Nusrah's headquarters and arm's depot's in that area, including three tanks, and demanded that the convoy should return because the convoy only came out of Tabaqah with the agreement between Abu Dharr and the second in command of the Islamic State, and asked them to judge at a Shariah court ( referring that Jabhat al- Nusrah take him to a Shariah court regarding the taking of the headquarters).

In the meantime, a convoy came from Aleppo under the pretext of participating in the lightening of the siege of Homs. The majority of the convoy were brothers from Turkestan deceived by the lies of Jabhat al- Nusrah. Abu Dharr stopped them and discovered that the convoy was going to Deir az- Zour and that the Ajami ( Turkestani) brothers did not know this. He detained the convoy and inserted it as a piece of evidence ( for the trial) that would be judged by a Shariah court. 

The Islamic State of Iraq and Shaam did not have any involvement in these event's, as rumored in the media of Jabhat al- Nusrah and it's supporter's. And until now they ( Jabhat al- Nusrah) did not respond to the request's of Abu Dharr to have joint court's.

We have formed an independent battalion called al-'Iqaab ( The Punishment). The reason why we did not pledge allegiance to the Islamic State is our desire to wait until the revelation of some things but our relationship with all the Mujahideen is generally good.

I personally consider the dispute between the leadership of the Islamic State and Sheikh Ayman alZawahiri, as an organizational dispute, and it falls within the door of legitimate politics and the primary cause of it is a misunderstanding caused by the lack of channel's of communication between the Islamic State and Sheikh Ayman al- Zawahiri. I also heard the latest speech of Sheikh Ayman alZawahiri and found his usual wisdom for the Ummah, especially when he demanded everyone to stop the fighting and not to participate in it, and that the biggest beneficiary of it are the enemies of the Ummah. In general, the Ba'athist Regime and it's allies, especially the Safavid's. I ask my brother's to save the status of the elder's and the leader's, and not overthrow them, and for each knight there is a setback, and the Prophet, peace be upon him said: "Forgive the people with high moral values when they slip." And if you wanted to know the curriculum and the doctrine of Sheikh Ayman al- Zawahiri, then read the book " Al- Walaa wal Baraa- A Movable Doctrine and the Missing Reality " and his " acquittal", and his book " Knight's Under the Prophet's Banner ," and the rest of his books and his letters of guidance.

Jabhat al- Nusrah has deviated from the Manhaj of al- Qaidah, or at least the Shura Council of Jabhat al- Nusrah has, and it has been breached (infiltrated), and the least we can say about Joulani is that he lost control of the group.