The leaked audio conversation of Sh. Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi with IS:

Mediating for Sajida in exchange for the Jordanian pilot Muath.

 

 Some remarks and observation

The first question that came to mind when listening to the leaked audio is: Lets forget the obvious, the fact that it was treacherous to officially publish a private conversation without any shame; we are not surprised by this behavior from IS. But a more important question is, why did IS only post what Sh. Al-Maqdisi said..? I dare IS to also post their replies from the leaked conversation. Because things that are said in a conversation lose (parts of their) meaning when the context of the dialogue is gone. That being said: I still don't hear anything wrong in the posted parts. While they tried their very best to defame him!

 

The second thing I noticed: In the leaked conversation you can clearly notice at the end that IS already killed Muath before trying to exchange him for Sajida. After a long time lying & playing around they eventually came to a dead end & made an alternative prop: the Japanese hostage for Sajida. When they made this alternative proposition, the Sh. directly knew that they already had killed Muath before IS "tried" to exchange him.

 

One of the conclusions from all this: Wallahi, there is a very great benefit for the Ummah & wisdom behind the fact that Sajida was not freed at the hands of the extremist. Wallahi, there is a very great benefit for Sh. Al-Maqdisi that Sajida was not freed by his mediation with (!) the extremist of IS. Wallahi, if Sajida was freed by IS (!) this would have caused harm for the Ummah & for Sh. Al-Maqdisi. That's why Allah prevented this. If IS freed Sajida: this could've made a lot of Muslims follow IS, but Allah wanted Muslims to save them from this deviance. Listen to what the Sh. said in the conversation: if you free Sajida the Muslims will love you for it. Allah prevented that!

 

The benefit of all this?

 

One of the main characters of the Khawarij is that they are very self-destructive. You can clearly notice this in the leaked conversation. What Sh. Al-Maqdisi advised them was (also) in their benefit, but they saw his advise as harm: because of their self-destructive nature. If they'd listened; if Sajida was freed at their hand; their popularity would grow in the Ummah. The Muslims would love them for it. But Allah wanted to prevent the Ummah from this, He wanted to protect Muslims from the deviance of IS: therefore Sajida was not freed at their hands. So instead of gaining the benefit Sh. Al-Maqdisi advised them; winning hearts & minds; they won the aversion & contempt of the Ummah.

 

Additional remarks on the television appearance of Shaykh Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi:

 

In the leaked audio conversation with Shaykh Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi we hear him say that he has been released (months before the burning of Muath and his TV appearance) but he did not make this publicly known (we learned about his release until after the burning) until he was finished mediating for the release of Sajida (the government also gave him a home curfew). So IS knew that he was released months before they burned the pilot, but they still accused him openly of appearing on television and defaming IS as a condition for his release! Many of them even denied the fact that the Shaykh was indeed mediating for Sajida, until they confirmed this with their own media publication (in which they shared the audio conversation with Shaykh Al-Maqdisi).

 

Another thing we noticed from this leaked audio is that IS wanted form the Shaykh to openly praise IS, and the Shaykh agreed to this. But the question remains, why did they want the Shaykh to praise him if they consider him to be a deviant scholars (as they said in their magazine Dabiq 6)? Why would they want the praise of a "deviant" scholar? Conclusion: with this they only proof that the Shaykh is indeed a respected scholar, and that his praise is a high-grade Tazkiyah Al-Hamdulilaah! They tried to defame him with this leaked audio, but how can you defame someone from whom you desire a Tazkiyah? That doesn't make sense.

 

They also criticize the appearance of the Shaykh on Jordanian television, they consider him to be a sellout, that he made some kind of deal in order for his release. But they proofed with their own publication that he was already released months before his appearance on Jordanian television. So why did the Shaykh give this interview on TV? He was very smart in doing so actually. Many general Muslims in Jordan support(ed) the Mujahideen and Jihad, but this support was in decline after witnessing the atrocities of IS; like the many meaningless slaughters and the burning of a prisoner. The general population linked these acts to the pure Jihadi Manhadj, and the righteous Mujahid scholars who are free from these foolish acts. So Shaykh Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi wanted to do some damage control, he wanted the general population of the Muslims to know that these were not the acts of Mujahideen who follow the pure Jihadi Manhadj, and that they did not belong to the scholars and leaders of Jihad who preached, fought and died for it. The general population of Muslims do not visit Jihadi sites like Minbar At-Tawheed, they are very dependent on (government-run) television broadcasts. So the Shaykh used the Jordanian television in his advantage as a pulpit for Jihadi Dawah, to gain back the general support for the Mujahideen and Jihad; support which IS was and still is destroying.

 

The Shaykh should be praised for clarifying to the general masses of Muslims that the Mujahideen are free from the sectarian and deviant "Jihad" of IS. This is a major progress for the future of Jihad, in which the whole Ummah will take part inshaAllah. Some might say 'But why did he only talk about the deviance of IS and not about the treason and disbelieve of the Jordanian government?' Well, before he was released, the Shaykh was imprisoned because he openly rejected the coalition against IS and called everyone who participated in it disbelievers! The Jordanian government tried to scare him with imprisonment if he did not stop criticizing the coalition (in which Jordan also took and takes part), but the Shaykh refused, so they imprisoned him for months, until he was released recently. If we know this, than how could those who support IS say that he made a deal with the Jordanian government? He defended IS by rejecting the coalition against them, and this cost him his freedom. So is this the tanks he gets?

 

Even though he disagrees with the deviance of IS, he was willing to be imprisoned for openly rejecting the coalition airstrikes against IS. If he was filled with hatred and envy against IS he would not be this balanced and fair! When Shaykh As-Shathri attacked IS and called them disbelievers it was Shaykh Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi who refuted him, because he went to far in his critique against IS. It is very sad and hurting to see that supporters of IS do not show the same fairness and balance towards Shaykh Al-Maqdisi. If you disagree with the Shaykh than be balanced and show at least the same fairness, the same Akhlaaq and Addab please. Honor the high position of scholars!

 

Written by: DMIS

 

Link to the leaked audio publication by IS: