In a few days the infighting between Syria's rebels will enter its fourth month. As usual, the fight between Jihadist groups is not only limited to the battleground; the ideological strife between the two main factions involved, Jabhat an-Nusra and the Islamic State in Iraq and as-Shām (ISIS), has reached unseen levels.

After Jabhat an-Nusra's leader, Abū Muhammad al-Jūlānī, provided ISIS with a five day ultimatum, ISIS responded fiercely. A previous post (published here) dealt with ISIS official response by their spokesman al-'Adnānī. Jabhat an-Nusra is still replying, so far a number of statements were published. The audio statements are all testimonials of senior Jabhat an-Nusra members. Some of these an-Nusra officials have a long proven track in Jihād, once being close associates of Shaykh Usama bin Laden himself.

This series shed light on the audio-statements and translations provided by Jabhat an-Nusra's English Twitter account.

Translation:

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Al-Baseera Media Productions Presents:
English Translation & Transcript of:

"Silsalah al-Shahada: Chain of Testimonies"

Shaykh Abu Sulayman al-Muhajir
May Allah Preserve Him

{ قُلْ هَـٰذِهِ سَبِيلِي أَدْعُو إِلَى اللَّـهِ ۚ عَلَىٰ بَصِيرَةٍ أَنَا وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَنِي ۖ وَسُبْحَانَ اللَّـهِ وَمَا أَنَا مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ }

{Tell them plainly: "This is my way: I call you to Allah, on the basis of clear perception – both I and those who follow me. Allah – Glory be to Him – is free of every imperfection. I have nothing to do with those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity."} [Qur'an 12:108]

Important points mentioned by the Shaykh in his testimony:

The denial of sheikh Al-Baghdadi that he has a binding bay'aa to Sheikh Ayman Al-Zawahari, may Allah preserve him
The acknowledgement and acceptance of Jamaat Al-Dawla to leave the judgment to Sheikh Ayman Al-Zawahari and the awaiting of his response
Extremism and void reasoning to establish Islamic principles in the killing of Muslims.

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In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

Praise be to Allah, and blessing and peace be upon Rasul Allah (Peace and Blessing Of Allah Be Upon Him) and his family and his companions. Allah says:

{But those who wrong follow their [own] desires without knowledge. Then who can guide one whom Allah has sent astray? And for them there are no helpers.}
[Qur'an 30:29]

And He also says:

{And thus do We detail the verses, and [thus] the way of the criminals will become evident.}
[Qur'an 6:55]

This is my testimony of some of what I have seen and heard in Sham, being asked about it on the Day of Judgment, when there will not benefit [anyone] wealth or children, but only one who comes to Allah with a sound heart.

I offer this testimony to my Muslim brothers, to banish suspicion and establish the proofs, and show what is correct to the people.

And to enable them to distinguish the honest from the liar.

And corrupter from the peacemaker.

And Allah Knows the corrupter from the peacemaker.

And I didn't provide this testimony until I saw its necessity after seeing the people talking about the Muslims and the Mujahideen in particular, inside al-Sham and outside of it, regarding the matter of Jamaat al-Dawla.

And I didn't provide it until the brothers asked me to provide it after the Mubahala of Adnani.

So it was a must to present what I know.

Allah says:

{And do not conceal testimony, for whoever conceals it – his heart is indeed sinful, and Allah is Knowing of what you do.}
[Qur'an 2:283]

The Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessing Of Allah Be Upon Him) said:

"Shall I not inform you of one of the gravest of the cardinal sins?" [1]

We said: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah!"

He  (Peace and Blessing Of Allah Be Upon Him) said:

"To join others as partners with Allah in worship and to be undutiful to one's parents."

The Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessing Of Allah Be Upon Him) sat up from his reclining position (in order to stress the importance of what he was going to say) and added:

"I warn you making a false statement and giving a false testimony. I warn you against making a false statement and giving a false testimony."

The Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessing Of Allah Be Upon Him) kept on repeating this (warning) till we wished he would stop .

Ibn Abbas (r.a.) said: "The witness must provide his witness whenever he is asked." [2]

So I say, seeking the help of Allah…

First, in regard to the baya'a from Jamaat al-Dawla to Shaykh Ayman al-Zawahri.

I mention here a story which occurred in front of me in a meeting of some brothers, and that when Jamaat al-Dawla accepted me as a mediator between them and Jabhat Al-Nusra in the first fitna when they declared the establishment of their Dawla [into al-Sham.]

When the news started to spread that the Bay'a of their Shaykh [Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi] to Shaykh Ayman was not full Bay'a, but as they claim it was a Bay'a of "love and support" only; as it was described by their Shari'Abu Bakr al-Qahtani in the terms he defined it and I don't know what kind of Bay'a he was speaking about.

So we were amazed about this issue, and we told al-Baghdadi about this matter in front of this Shari' [AbuBakr al-Qahtani], and the response of Baghdadi was: "I seek refuge in Allah, I have a true binding Baya'a to Shaykh Ayman, to hear and obey, in hardship and in ease!"

And he affirmed to us what we already know, that he is a soldier in the command of al-Qaeda and that he listens and obeys like the other Umarah of other regions [affiliated to Tandheem al-Qaeda].

Oh Allah Witness that I heard Shaykh al-Baghdadi saying: "I have a binding Baya'a to Shaykh Ayman al-Zawahari".

Secondly; concerning the issue of the conflict between Jabhat Al-Nusra and Jamaat al-Dawla and it being referred to Shaykh Ayman to judge in it. And I mention here another incident which happened during my first mediation. Al-Baghdadi said to me when we were discussing how to solve the problem:

"If Shaykh Ayman commanded me to assign the issue of Sham to someone else I would do so." [End of his quote.]

The matter of waiting for the response was known and spread among the people and all the Mujahideen kept thinking about it; "when will the response be released."

And another evidence proves that they accepted the judgment of our and their Amir Shaykh Ayman, is that after they asked me to establish a court to separate between Jabhat al-Nusra and Jamaat al-Dawla during the first fitna, they refused establishing the court and retreated, justifying their action by saying that they are waiting for the response of Shaykh Ayman.

Oh Allah witness that al-Baghdadi declared that he was satisfied by the judge of Shaykh Ayman, but al-Adnani declared the reverse, oh Allah curse the liar among us and allow one of your proofs to show on him.

Thirdly; the extremism in justifying the killing of the Muslims.

In another meeting with al-Baghdadi, (it was probably the same meeting when he admitted that he had a Bay'a to Shaykh Ayman or maybe the meeting before), al-Baghdadi threatened to kill Shaykh Abu Maria and asked me to transmit the following words to Abu Maria:

"I swear to kill Abu Maria like I killed his cousin Nazim al-Jbori."

Then he said about Shaykh Abu Maria:

"He came to us as a repentant cop [member of the Iraqi security forces], and the brothers accepted his repentance, and I will treat him as a police officer [i.e. as an apostate] if he does one of the following: If he fights the Dawla, if he urges the people to fight the Dawla, or ‘educates' the people against the Dawla."

I asked him what do you mean by "educates" he [al-Baghdadi] said: "talks".

And he [al-Baghdadi] said: "I swear to Allah if it is proven that he is behind the last fitna (meaning linking Jabhat Al-Nusra with the main leadership in Khorasaan) then I will deal with him as I dealt with Nazim al-Jbori".

And he also threatened Shaykh al-Fatih [Abu Muhammad al-Jowlani] by saying: "I swear if it's affirmed that he is behind linking the group to Khorasaan directly I will kill him."

Then al-Baghdadi tried to justify this criminality by saying: "But I swear to Allah I won't betray them, if I want to kill one of them, then I will give him three days to change his routine [security] and prepare .Lo how these people justify killing people in such a way, and they think that they are doing well in work."

And when I objected on that and said:"How do you kill the Mujahideen?"He [al-Baghdadi] said to me: "La holawa la quwataIlabi Allah [there is no Power except with Allah]"and asked his vice Abu ‘Ali al-Anbari to reply, Abu ‘Ali said:

"Al-Nawawi mentioned in his explanation to Sahih Muslim: ‘Whoever's evil won't be excluded except by killing him, then he must be killed.'"

And I was shocked because of that corrupted ruling.

And al-Baghdadi said: "I won't treat the Syrians as I treat the Iraqis, because the Iraqis know the policy of the jama'a. [i.e. the methodology of Dawla]"

SubhaanAllah, how these people come and deprecate Shaykh Ayman's judgment, claiming that he recognizes the borders of Sykes-Picot. And here, look what they say/do.

And we note here that all what Shaykh Abu Abdullah al-Shaami mentioned represents the Islamic position of Jabhat al-Nusra, and his statement has been released by its Islamic committee.

Oh Allah the Lord of the Heavens and the Earth, The Most Powerful and Exalted in Might, The Superior, The Avenger, our Lord and Lord of everything, your slave Abu Muhammad al-Adnani has denied what Abu Abdullah al-Shammi said in his statement, and I witnessed of what I saw and knew, if I lied or mixed the truth with falsehood in my testimony then make your curse upon the liar and make him a sign to the others.

{And those who do wrong will come to know by what overturning they will be overturned}
(Quran 26:227)

And praise to Allah, Lord of all that exists.

[End of Testimony]

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Audio clip from a speech of Shaykh Ayman al-Zawahari, may Allah preserve him, were he affirms. That Jamaat Al-Dawla have brought the matter him, before he made the judgment:

"[Point] six: I have received correspondence from both parties [Jabhat Al-Nusra and Jamaat Al-Dawla] and from others, and based on this, after making shura [consultation] with the brothers in Khurasaan and outside of it and consulted Allah (swt)….. (voice fading)"

-Shaykh Ayman al-Zawahari

Audio clip from part of the speech from Shaykh Abu Abdullah al-Shaami, may Allah preserve him, about the judgment being made by Shaykh Ayman al-Zawahari and the agreement of both parties.

"So we (the Shura of Jabhat Al-Nusra) halted in obeying him (Sheikh Al-Baghdadi) and decided to refer the matter to Sheikh Al-Zawahiri (may Allah protect him), whereby both parties accept him as a judge and a decider in the matter. In addition to this, the Sheikh (Al-Zawahiri) is the Ameer of both of us, so his ruling becomes binding from two aspects… (voice fading)"

-Shaykh Abu Abdullah Al-Shamee

[End of Video]

Tuesday 17th Jumada Al-Ula, 1435
18th March 2014

[1] Narrated by Bukhari, Hadith No.5976
[2] Tafseer At-Tabaree (V.6, pg. 100)