Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna: Iraq Insurgent Profiles - Jamaat Ansar Al-Islam From 2007 Onwards
04 November 2014
By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
Over the years, there has been a good deal of
confusion over the use of the name 'Ansar al-Sunna'
when it comes to Iraq's Sunni insurgency, both in
local and international media. When the name is used,
the implied reference is normally to Jamaat Ansar
al-Islam, which is the latest incarnation of the al-Qa'ida-linked
Ansar al-Islam of Iraqi Kurdistan that was largely
destroyed after the U.S. invasion but regrouped as 'Ansar
al-Sunna' as a participant in the Sunni insurgency of
the Iraq War. The current Jamaat Ansar al-Islam is
known for its ideological affinity with the Islamic
State (IS) [i.e. sharing the same end goal of a
Caliphate] but is a rival of IS because it does not
accept IS' claim to be a state or Caliphate, having
clashed multiple times in Kirkuk and Mosul, among
other locations. Referring to Jamaat Ansar al-Islam as
'Ansar al-Sunna' should be avoided at all costs.
There is, however, another distinct Sunni insurgent
group known as Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna that originated
as a break-off after the main body of Ansar al-Sunna
became Jamaat Ansar al-Islam from 2007 onwards. The
group maintains a website featuring an outline of its
ideology (prepared by the group's leader Abu Wa'el Abd
al-Wahhab ibn Muhammad al-Sultan), photos of
operations and new statements. Ideologically, Jamaat
Ansar al-Sunna falls firmly within the Sunni Islamist
camp, rejecting democracy and the conventional concept
of elections, with a willingness to pronounce takfir
on those who accept and actively participate in the
process:
"Whosoever adopts someone besides God as arbiter or
legislator for legislation contrary to the law of the
Almighty, he has adopted someone besides God as his
Lord, and has desired something besides Islam as his
religion. And we consider democracy in its true form
to be kafir [disbeliever] da'wah...that has no link to
the Islamic Shura [consultation process]...And if
those who vote know that by their action they are
entrusting MPs in the dealing of sovereignty of shirk
[idolatry] (i.e. any legislation without God in
opposition to God's law) with the office of MP, they
are kuffar [disbelievers]...And every constitution
that disagrees with God's law, even if in part, is a
false constitution with which we are not satisfied."
At the same time the group rejects the idea of being
'hasty' in pronouncing takfir, likely an implicit
criticism of the readiness of groups like IS to engage
in such a practice, while trying to emphasize the
notion of equality of all Muslims: "We don't
distinguish ourselves from the rest of Muslims in any
respect." In a self-history on the group's website,
Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna also emphasizes that it is an
'Islamic' group, 'not secular or nationalist...but
deriving from Islam, based on the program of Islam and
serving Islam and Muslims." Most importantly, Jamaat
Ansar al-Sunna, like Jamaat Ansar al-Islam, stresses
the ultimate goal of a Caliphate: "Striving to
establish the Islamic State in all aspects...and any
group that has not been set up with the foundational
goal of rebuilding the Caliphate is a non-integral
group."
Despite the apparent lack of real ideological
differences with Jamaat Ansar al-Islam, as political
affiliation goes, Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna has always
been more 'moderate' than Jamaat Ansar al-Islam,
having been part of the political council of the Sunni
Islamist nationalist 'Muqawama Iraqiya' [Iraqi
Resistance] until the summer of last year, which also
includes the Islamic Army in Iraq that was working
until this year within the current Iraqi political
system for the establishment of a Sunni federal
region. In June 2013, Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna announced
its withdrawal from the Muqawama Iraqiya's political
council, while not denouncing the council per se:
"Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna announces its withdrawal from
the political council of the Muqawama Iraqiya for
situational reasons that there is no need to express
here. Indeed brotherhood and wala' remain for every
Muslim waging jihad in support of God's religion in
the council and elsewhere: we ask God to help our
brothers wherever they are to support His religion and
make His Word supreme."
Operationally, little has emerged in open-source
material on the activities this year of Jamaat Ansar
al-Sunna with the renewal of the wider Sunni
insurgency in Iraq, but the fact that such operations,
when reported, have been advertised on media such as
al-Boraq News (the Islamic Army in Iraq's forum
wing/news outlet) points to the continued affection
and respect of components of the 'Muqawama Iraqiya'
for Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna, in contrast to Jamaat Ansar
al-Islam that maintains its own media wing and whose
activities are not advertised in 'Muqawama Iraqiya'
circles. For example, on 25 September, al-Boraq News
stated that Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna claimed blowing up
an Iraqi army tower in the al-Mada'in area of south
Baghdad. Similarly, on 16 September, Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna
reportedly assassinated a Shi'a militia commander in
the al-Mada'in area.
Even so, indicative of Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna's
transnational orientation at heart is an appeal
released on 13 October 2014 to the 'mujahideen of the
Ummah' by Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna's amir Abu Wa'el,
emphasizing the need for them to put aside their
differences and unite against their enemies. For
example, he writes: "Expel from yourselves the
resentment and hatred for your mujahideen brothers."
He also emphasizes that "the Islamic Ummah in its
entirety is being targeted by its enemies, for they do
not distinguish between one sect or another, as long
as they [the mujahideen] want to establish the
religion of Truth on their land, and for the Shari'a
[law] of God to rule among them, for they [the
enemies] know that the return of the Ummah to its
religion will threaten their interests, destroy their
plans, and destroy the state of Israel which they
planted in the heart of the Muslim world, and which
would not exist were it not for the Muslims and their
successors' deviation from their religion, and the
rule of the Jews and Christians' allies over the necks
of the Muslim peoples." Among other enemies of the
Ummah mentioned in the tract are the "Majus [Persian]
Rafidites and their allies," and the amir contrasts
the 'people of Falsehood"s ability to come together
against the 'people of Righteousness' despite
differences, with "us, the Ahl al-Sunna: for our habit
is of difference and internal conflict" to the point
of internecine bloodshed.
Given the timing of the release of this 'appeal' and
the sample content above, it is clear that Jamaat
Ansar al-Sunna sees the international coalition's
efforts directed against the Islamic State as actually
part of a wider war on Islam- something that mirrors
the discourse of the Islamic Army in Iraq's spokesman,
who said the Muslims are the real target of the
coalition. Also compare Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna's line
with al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula's statement
denouncing the coalition efforts as a war on Islam and
the need for jihadis to put aside differences. This is
so even as none of these factions can truly reconcile
themselves with the Islamic State's demands for
subservience of all Muslims under a pledge of
allegiance.
The discourse of Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna has
implications for U.S. policy in attempting outreach to
Iraq's Sunni Islamist armed factions in the hope of
building a local ground force against the Islamic
State. If the meme with currency is that the efforts
against the Islamic State are really part of a war on
Islam, then this hope has little going for it at the
moment.
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EsinIslam.Com
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