Jake Bilardi’s Deleted Blog

From the Eyes of a Muhajir

An Australian Muhajir in the land of the Khilafah

Skip to content

• Home
• About

HomePosts tagged ‘Baiji’

Baiji

Let Them Feel Our Pain

January 19, 2015 Islamic State, Khilafah, Baiji, Mujahideen, ISIS, terrorism, Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, kufr, kuffar, Sham, Islam, Muslims, Ummah, jihad, munafiqeen, Australia, Melbourne, Islamic State in Iraq and Sham, Tawheed, Somalia, Yemen, Israel, Palestine, Libya, Afghanistan, Crusaders, Prophet Muhammad, Qur’an, Sunnah, Sydney, France, Paris, Jews, Amedy Coulibaly, Said Kouachi, Cherif Kouachi, Charlie Hebdo, Syria, Dabiq, shuhadah, Hadith, Pakistan, airstrikes, muwahideen, al-Wala wal-Bara, aqeedah, manhaj, Dawla, Dawlatul Islam, Yazidis, Man Haron Monis, Abdul Nouman Haider, shaheed, fasad, Crusade, Sunan Abu Dawud

Man Haron Monis, the brother who took hostages in Sydney, Australia, executing two before attaining his shahadah. 18-year-old lion, Abdul Nouman Haider, attained his shahadah after stabbing two police officers in Melbourne, Australia

With the current Crusade against Islam approaching it’s peak prior to their promised defeat in Dabiq, is it not time for the Muslims to stand up and respond within the lands of the kuffar? Is it not time that their women become widows just as our women have become widows? Is it not time that their children become orphans like our children have become orphans? Is it not time that they feel the pain that they have inflicted upon the Muslim Ummah for the past century? The Messenger of Allah (salallahu alayhi wa salam) said, speaking about the superiority and obligation of jihad:

Ibn ‘Umar said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (salallahu alayhi wa salam) say: “When you engage in ‘aynah transactions (a kind of transaction intended to circumvent the prohibition on riba), and you take hold of the tails of oxen and you are content with agriculture (at the time when jihad is obligatory), and you give up jihad, then Allah will send upon you humiliation that will not be dispelled until you return to your religion, Allah will send upon you humiliation that will not be dispelled until you return to your religion, Allah will send upon you humiliation that will not be dispelled until you return to your religion.” [Sunan Abu Dawud]

Alhamdulilah, despite the general inactivity of the Muslims living in the lands of the kuffar, in recent times, we have witnessed the small group of lions rise up and take action and recently these men rose in Australia and France. The gems of the Ummah, those whose love of Allah (azza wa’jal), His Messenger (salallahu alayhi wa salam), His religion and the believers, led their hearts to ache at the ongoing Crusade. They were denied the opportunity to join their brothers on the front-lines in Iraq, Sham and elsewhere but this didn’t divert them from the path of Allah (azza wa’jal), they knew their obligations and stayed where they were to strike fear into the hearts of the kuffar and to punish them for their crimes against Islam and the Muslims. We look towards our brother Abdul Nouman Haider (May Allah accept him as a shaheed), who seriously wounded two police officers in Melbourne, Australia in a knife attack before he was shot dead, and we see nothing but an 18-year-old who loved his religion and brought honour to the Muslims in Australia and beyond. While so many young Muslims are being dragged towards fasad and kufr by the filth in Australia, he rejected their criminality and chose the path of tawheed and the path of jihad, seeking the pleasure of his Creator and chasing martyrdom. May Allah accept his deeds and make him among the shuhadah. Likewise in the Australian city of Sydney, we witnessed the brother, Man Haron Monis, bring Australia to a standstill and catch the world’s terrified attention as he seized dozens of hostages in a cafe in the city. Alhamdulilah, prior to his shahadah at the hands of the kuffar, two hostages were executed. May Allah accept him as a shaheed.

Brothers Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi launch their attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France

Then we move to France, where the successful twin operations executed by our brothers Said Kouachi, Cherif Kouachi and Amedy Coulibaly, again caught the world’s attention, terrorising every kafir on Earth. The lions defending the honour of the Messenger of Allah (salallahu alayhi wa salam), shot dead 12 people at the Paris office of the dogs of the Charlie Hebdo magazine, among the dead were cartoonists who were insistent on their attacks against the Messenger of Allah (salallahu alayhi wa salam) and two police officers, including one apostate. After the attack and a two day manhunt, brothers Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi were honourably struck by the bullets of the kuffar as they valiantly rushed towards them in a final battle. Just as the brothers were killed, brother Amedy Coulibaly ensured the kuffar that they would never experience a second of peace, seizing hostages at a kosher supermarket in the capital, killing four Jews before he too acheived what he was chasing. It is these successful operations in both Australia and France, with a combined death toll of 19 and 22 injured, that remain the ever-brightening light of the Ummah in the West and are a great inspiration for the Muslims.

But despite these great and successful operations, they can only be classified as sporadic. Alhamdulilah, these simple attacks have terrorised every kafir on Earth, yet the Muslims should never think that this is enough, we must be relentless, never allowing these pigs a moments rest, keeping them up at night with the legs trembling in fear, wondering if they’re house is next. You may think large scale bombings or shootings are the best methods of execution but wallahi, the best method is to simply take a knife and let it meet the throats of every kafir walking down the street, this is what scares them the most, that there will rise in their lands an undetectable, undercover army attacking in suburban areas with simple tools. With large-scale attacks involving explosives and firearms, they are aware that these plans take time and so they have the opportunity to prevent it before it happens and they can also track illegal firearms. However, they can never stop a man with a knife or other household items, who acts without warning. Unless they want to childproof their countries and outlaw anything that could possibly be used as a weapon, they cannot stop such attacks.

The Ummah needs to begin a relentless and ruthless assault on the kuffar in their homelands, we have brothers in every land on Earth, you may not be many in some places, such as Australia, but a Muslim with a shred of iman is all it takes to terrify every kafir dog on Earth. Why do you think they are attacking the Islamic State, is it because they want to save the Yazidis? Is it because they care about the people of Iraq and Syria? No, it is because they are terrified of a strong Ummah, we are so far away from their lands at the moment, yet they got so scared they had to come and fight us now before we reach them. And still, they did not want to send their army to face the lions of the Khilafah so they resorted to cowardly airstrikes, and they even realised they had made a mistake when the mujahideen began downing their planes.

So many Muslims claim they love Islam and they love the believers, claiming that this love is in their hearts. If this love is truly in your hearts then it will manifest in your actions, a person who loves Islam will seek to defend it whenever anyone mocks or speaks ill of it. The one who loves the believers would not be able to sit peacefully any longer in the lands of those responsible for killing the Muslims. It is in these times when the munafiqeen are exposed, they attempt to deceive the people but Allah (azza wa’jal) reveals the diseases in their hearts. Today we see how small in number the muwahideen are, how few are those who understand al-wala wal-bara and how few are those who truly love Allah (azza wa’jal), His Messenger (salallahu alayhi wa salam), His religion and the believers.

“Those who believe say, “Why has a surah not been sent down? But when a precise surah is revealed and fighting is mentioned therein, you see those in whose hearts is hypocrisy looking at you with a look of one overcome by death. And more appropriate for them [would have been] obedience and good words. And when the matter [of fighting] was determined, if they had been true to Allah, it would have been better for them.” [Surat al-Muhammad 47:20-21]

Civilians in Raqqah recover the dead after a series of airstrikes from the Nusayriyyah and the Crusaders.

Can you forgive those pigs in planes who fire at the homes of innocent Muslims in Iraq, Sham, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Palestine and Libya? What about the wives and children of the mujahideen who have repeatedly been targeted in airstrikes with no soldiers present? I remember in Baiji watching these missiles flying into the homes of innocent people, this was first-hand confirmation that they were targeting Muslims, not the mujahideen. I also watched as my emir in Baiji broke down in tears as he was informed on the phone that his wife had been injured and his three-month-old child killed in an American airstrike. The house was in a residential area and there were no soliders nearby. What is the crime of a child? There is not a single child on Earth that can be held accountable for his/her actions let alone the actions of his/her parents.

Is it not time for these dogs to experience this pain? Is it not time that their blood floods their streets? We have seen what a small attack killing a small number of their people has done to them, it has broken them, so just imagine if we responded in the same manner that that they attack us? Wouldn’t victory be just around the corner?

“O you who believe! What is the matter with you, that when you are asked to march forth in the Cause of Allah (i.e. Jihad) you cling heavily to the Earth? Are you pleased with the life of this world rather than the Hereafter? But little is the enjoyment of the life of this world as compared to the Hereafter. If you march not forth, He will punish you with a painful torment and will replace you by another people; and you cannot harm Him at all, And Allah is over all things competent.” [Surat at-Tawbah 9:38-39]

Leave a comment

Advice for Those Considering Making Hijra

January 17, 2015 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Aleppo, Ansar, Baiji, Crusaders, Halab, Hijra, iman, Iraq, Islam, Islamic State, Jarablus, jihad, kuffar, Muhajireen, murtadeen, Muslims, Prophet Muhammad, Qur’an, Rawafidh, Sham, shuhadah, Sunnah, Unted Kingdom

I address this message specifically to prospective muhajireen from all corners of the Earth, there are many things I wasn’t aware of before arriving and I also underestimated the difficulties I would face here. I don’t wish to see brothers also face the shock of the realities over here and I urge you to expect to face the most difficult moments of your life before departing because overestimation is always superior to underestimation.

Firstly though I wish to advise those who have resolved to make hijra to take all precautions to avoid detection by the authorities of their country. The kuffar and murtadeen will do everything in their power to imprison for long terms or even kill anyone planning to join the army of the Khilafah, so extreme vigilance must be exercised by all Muslims, in particular those looking to join their brothers in the Islamic State. I strongly urge you to act discretely, do not do anything to attract the attention of the authorities. For example, do not attend protests or high-profile ‘extremist’ gatherings nor post comments online that expose your views. If you wish to do the latter then use an alias and do not reveal any information about yourself. Also, do not discuss your plans with anyone, the kuffar and murtadeen are placing so many spies within our communities worldwide and the government is tapping in to our phone and online conversations, so you cannot trust who is listening. Even if the person you are directly speaking to is a trustworthy brother, you don’t know who the people around are or if your activity is being monitored. If you know there is no evidence against you don’t worry if you get arrested, inshallah you can fight the charges and try again upon release. However, if you know there is evidence against you then make sure you have a Plan B just in case the police come to arrest you, we want to see our brothers in Jannah not prison. Put your trust in Allah (azza wa’jal) and inshallah you will be successful in this life and the next.

Now I’ll discuss the preparation for your time with the mujahideen. It’s honestly a combination of psychological preparation as well strengthening your iman and training yourself to be incredibly patient. Don’t be overly concerned with physical preparation, I myself and many other brothers here are not too fit, but we manage, physical fitness makes life a lot easier but it is not the most important thing. If you look at the armies of the kuffar, most of their soldiers are incredibly fit yet they still turn on their heels and run when faced by the mujahideen, we fight with our iman first and foremost.

A very important reminder is to never forget that the mujahideen are not invincible, we sometimes lose battles, just as the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wa salam) did. Myself having been trapped by the Rawafidh and Crusaders in Baiji on two occasions I can tell you that Shaytan came to me like never before, especially because most of the brothers I was very close to in both situations had been killed. My iman dropped to unbelievable depths and I began to feel completely hopeless. It’s situations like that, when brothers are exiting on mass with bullet wounds and airstrikes are picking off everyone you know one-by-one and you are sitting expecting death to come to you at any moment with no ability to retaliate, that test your iman in ways you never quite expected. It was only then that I wished I had focused more on preparing my iman while I was in Australia. Seeing the shredded bodies of the people I was closest to, including those twisted around the metal of a destroyed vehicle and listening to one brother crying out to us for 10 minutes after being hit with an airstrike with us in no position to assist him before Allah (azza wa’jal) took his soul, were no doubt the greatest tests of my iman. I give you this example because, I myself never properly prepared myself for these events and I don’t wish others to also go through the same great difficulties that I faced as a result of these events. Alhamdulilah, Allah (azza wa’jal) strengthened me and kept me firm upon His path and never allowed me to deviate.

I remember meeting a brother from the UK in Jarablus, Aleppo province after I had only been here for almost two weeks and he advised me: “Never get too close to the brothers, because brothers come-and-go and if you get close to someone and he’s killed, you’re going to have a very difficult time.” I guess I never really understood this until I lost the first brother. I feel that this is advice that should be passed on to every mujahid, because although it sounds quite strange and wrong to say ‘don’t get close to the brothers’, the brother himself admitting this, it is 100% true.

While it is normal to be upset by the death of someone close to you, a strong iman will mean it at least doesn’t have a lasting psychological effect on you. Even the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wa salam) cried upon sighting the bodies of his companions killed in battle. Psychological preparation and strengthening your iman go hand-in-hand, with a strong iman you will be psychologically prepared.

Another thing that many brothers lack which is very important here, is an incredible amount of patience. You may think you’ll come here, train then go fight, this is far from the reality, a lot of your time, particularly when you first arrive is just sitting around doing nothing and waiting. When you arrive, for the first week or two, you will have to sit in a building with very poor or sometimes no toilets, kitchen, etc. and there are scarce amounts of water and food available and then you will go to training for around one month where the conditions are even worse. It’s all a process to weed out the weak and see who amongst you will crack and decide to turn back and also to catch any suspected spies, both of which I witnessed first-hand upon my arrival, proving the necessity of their rough treatment of new arrivals. Just remind yourself that if the emir is treating you roughly and forcing you to live in excessively difficult conditions it is nothing but a test to try and break the weak, be patient and remember Allah much and inshallah the time will go quickly.

“O you who believe! Seek help in patience and prayer. Truly! Allah is with the patient.” [Surat al-Baqarah 2:153]

My final warning and advice to you is that you will almost certainly come across many things that will frustrate you, it may be a brother acting out of line, committing inappropriate or haram acts or possibly even your emir himself. Never let these actions go unreported, remember that you have a duty to enjoin the good and forbid the evil, advise the brother in private and if it happens again then report it to the emir. If the emir himself is the issue or he refuses to act on an issue, speak to the person above him and continue to go up the chain of command until you reach the Khalifah if necessary. We have a duty to ensure that the citizens are treated justly and the State is being run according to the Qur’an and Sunnah and this includes the behaviour of the soldiers and police. Never think that you are not in a position to report wrongdoings. No-one is exempt from the Sharia of Allah, this is why Shaykh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi himself quoted the words of Abu Bakr as-Sideeq (radi Allahu anh): “If you see me upon the truth, then support me and aid me and if you see me upon falsehood, then correct me and advise me and obey me as long as I obey Allah (azza wa’jal).” We have a duty to advise all, even the Khalifah himself, to uphold the Qur’an and Sunnah.

May Allah (azza wa’jal) reward all those who go out in His Cause with the greatest of rewards and unite us together in al-Firdaws al-A’la. May He make the path easy for the muhajireen and protect them from the plots of the kuffar and munafiqeen. May He make us among the righteous, the patient and the shuhadah. Ameen ya Rabb.

Leave a comment

Coming Face-to-Face With the Enemy

January 16, 2015 Abu Abdullah al-Habashi, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Anbar, Baiji, battle, Iraq, ISIS, Islamic State, Islamic State in Iraq and Sham, istishadi, Khilafah, Mujahideen, Ramadi, war

Islamic State mujahideen continue to slaughter the Rawafidh in Ramadi.

It’s not very often that you’re next door neighbour has snipers and doshkas aimed at your house but on the frontline in the city of Ramadi, this is a common sight. As the Islamic State pushed forward in the city, the difficulties faced during combat from a distance in the urban landscape led the mujahideen to push so close to the enemy that today we sit mere metres from them. Moving between makeshift doors between adjoining houses to avoid being spotted by enemy soldiers as well as foreign drones and warplanes, you then reach the outside, you think the path you have been taking for so long is safe and then all of a sudden a sniper fires a bullet straight above your head. You continue on your way, more vigilant now; the body of a soldier killed in earlier fighting lies on the road and stray dogs run through the streets, spooked by the shooting. Then a barrage of bullets are fired in your direction, you duck inside a near-by house knowing there’s no point in shooting back. Then you hear the whistling of a mortar as it descends near-by before the ground-shaking explosion, you wait until the firing stops and then quickly move, travelling straight between two enemy positions, ducking down to avoid being caught in the cross-hairs of their snipers. You reach another house and begin the short but secure journey through the walls into the next. What would, if not for the ongoing battle for the city, be a quick five minute journey is now a dangerous 10-minute dance with death.

Coming from fighting in Baiji, where operations were conducted from over 1 kilometre away from the enemy, being stationed in a house just over 100 metres from the enemy was a very big change. While it increases the chances of killing their soldiers it also puts yourself in an incredibly dangerous position, it is quite common for both the mujahideen and the Rafidhi and apostate forces to place improvised land mines outside each other’s houses leading to heavy casualties on all sides.

The close-quarters, house-by-house, street-by-street fighting makes Ramadi possibly one of the toughest battlefields in the world, perhaps excluding the ongoing battle in Ayn al-Islam (AKA Kobani). I remember shortly before making hijra I read of an interview conducted by the BBC with the British-Eritrean brother Abu Abdullah al-Habashi (May Allah accept him among the shuhadah) who stated that he had been fighting in Ramadi. Now that I am here I understand exactly what he meant when he said, “The fighting in Ramadi is the best and hardest fighting. It’s a city made of concrete and everything’s blowing up”.

Currently, the battle for Ramadi has been fought to a stalemate and it appears it will end as a bloody war of attrition unless either ourselves or the Rawafidh can make a sudden key advance. The fighting here remains constant and deadly, but still neither side is prepared to make that vital push forward that alone could spell victory for us or them. Still, despite the army having surrounded us in many positions, if anyone appears likely to push forward it is the mujahideen of the Islamic State. The army are happy to sit and defend their remaining territory but as for the lions of Khilafah, they are eager to advance and conquer Ramadi in its entirety. With a current waiting list of 12 martyrdom bombers, of which I am one, the Islamic State has the opportunity to launch large assaults and make big gains. Inshallah all the martyrdom operations will be successful in opening up the enemies positions and very soon the year-long battle for Ramadi can be brought to a close.

Leave a comment

Being White in the Islamic State: The Abolition of Racism

January 15, 2015 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Ansar, Australia, Azerbaijan, Baiji, Chechnya, France, Germany, Iraq, ISIS, Islam, Islamic State, Islamic State in Iraq and Sham, Jarablus, jihad, Khilafah, Kyrgyzstan, Melbourne, Mexico, Muhajireen, multiculturalism, Peru, Prophet Muhammad, Qur’an, racism, Raqqah, Sham, Sharia, Sudan, Sydney, Turkey, Ummah, United Kingdom, war

Muhajireen from Australia and the UK appear in the video ‘There is no Life Without Jihad’ urging their brothers to join them.

Australia has long praised itself for its ‘successful’ multiculturalism programme, uniting more than 150 different ethnic and religious groups under the banner of Australian nationalism. They often point out the failures of similar programmes in Europe and proudly state that they are the only nation to have “gotten it right”, they deceive themselves though. While there are great numbers of Australian citizens from various lands, the extent of racism and marginalisation of minorities is often not acknowledged by the government. Coming from such an environment however allowed me to compare the world’s self-proclaimed multiculturalism success story to the situation in the Islamic State and what I have found is the true abolition of racism and the destruction of all forms of racial and ethnic boundaries.

The local residents across the Islamic State in both the lands of Sham and Iraq are the most hospitable people I have ever come across, especially when it comes to the muhajireen. Their faces light up whenever they see a soldier from abroad, they are eager to invite you into their homes and the children are pleased to simply shake your hand with a huge yet shy smile on their face.

The locals are quick to accept muhajireen from all corners of the world into the country, from Chechnya, Sudan, Kyrgyzstan, France, Peru, Mexico and of course, Australia. You could never feel more comfortable and welcome in any place on Earth, I guarantee you. Muhajireen fight alongside the Ansar, unlike the Australian government’s laughable claim that we are used as ‘cannon fodder’ by the Ansar. We live in the same tough conditions on the front lines and relax in the cities when the opportunity arises. We marry from their women and they likewise marry from among the women of the muhajireen. There is nothing but the strongest of relationships between the Muhajireen and Ansar, walhamdulilah. This is one of the reasons the world is failing in defeating us, because we stand as a single, solid structure before the kuffar and Allah (azza wa’jal) says:

      “Verily, Allah loves those who fight in His Cause in rows as if they were a solid structure.” [Surat as- Saff 61:4]

While the vast majority of muhajireen are based in the Shami region of the Khilafah, the small groups of muhajireen on the Iraqi battlefield are greatly welcomed. Due to the small number of foreign fighters in Iraq, the Ansar are very excited to fight alongside a muhajir, but still their love of the muhajireen is not excessive.

I can admit that there have been instances where I have felt uncomfortable due to unnecessary and special treatment by local residents and have also received some awkward and confused stares. I just accept though that the sight of a white guy carrying a gun that doesn’t want to kill them is still quite new to most of the people here. There have been many beautiful moments though. Travelling from Jarablus to Raqqa and meeting an elderly man who stopped and made dua for us. Meeting a brother in Baiji who had been with the mujahideen since it was founded and he broke down in tears out of joy of meeting myself, a brother from Germany and three Turkish brothers. Also in Baiji, a sheikh began crying and making dua after meeting myself, the same German brother and a brother from Azerbaijan. Also, the smiles and sometimes confused and shocked looks of the children upon sighting a muhajir could bring a smile to even the most poignant of people.

I remembered reading before I left, the reports that foreigners were not being welcomed by the people of Sham and Iraq and that they don’t want international soldiers. While I never quite understood how this could possibly be true I have now realised that, yes, muhajireen are not welcomed by the armed groups, not necessarily the population, in Syria and Iraq but in the Islamic State, everyone is asking, “where is the rest of the Ummah?”

In reality Australia is nothing but a melting pot of various religious and ethnic groups. While they claim to have a successful multiculturalism programme, there remain entire neighbourhoods in Sydney, Melbourne and other cities which are dominated by one particular racial group, is this success? The reason they will never succeed is because they are trying to unite the population under nationalism, pushing the claim that everyone is Australian therefore there is no difference between a White Australian and a Somali or Lebanese Australian. In the Khilafah however, the concept of being Australian, Iraqi, Syrian, British or American is thrown in the bin and the population are united by Islam and this is a bond stronger than the bond of blood, this is why the Islamic State has been successful in eliminating racism and in building the world’s only true multi-ethnic state.

“All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over a white except by piety and good action.” [Prophet Muhammad’s (salallahu alayi wa salam) Final Sermon]

Leave a comment

From Melbourne to Ramadi: My Journey

January 13, 2015 ‘Arab Spring’, 9/11, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Abu Ghraib, Abu Umar al-Baghdadi, Afghanistan, Ahrar al-Sham, al-Qaeda, al-Shabab, Aleppo, Algeria, Anbar, Ansar al-Sharia, Ansar Dine, Atheism, Australia, Baghdad, Baiji, Bilad al-Sham, Boko Haram, Caliphate, Chechnya, China, Crusaders, democracy, Egypt, Europe, fitnah, Haditha, history, Indonesia, Iraq, ISIS, Islam, Islamic State, Islamic State in Iraq and Sham, Israel, Jabhat al-Nusra, Jarablus, jihad, khawarij, Khilafah, Libya, Mahmudiyah, Mali, Melbourne, Mujahideen, MUJAO, Nigeria, Palestine, politics, Prophet Muhammad, Qur’an, Ramadi, religion, revolution, Salaheddine, Shaykh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Sinai Peninsula, Somalia, Sunnah, Taliban, Tawheed, terrorism, Tunisia, United States, Usama bin Laden, war, Yemen

The Yarra River in the heart of Melbourne, a beautiful city polluted by a corrupt society.

With my martyrdom operation drawing closer, I want to tell you my story, how I came from being an Atheist school student in affluent Melbourne to a soldier of the Khilafah preparing to sacrifice my life for Islam in Ramadi, Iraq. Many people in Australia probably think they know the story, but the truth is, this is something that has remained between myself and Allah (azza wa’jal) until now.

My life in Melbourne’s working-class suburbs was, despite having its ups and downs just like everyone else, very comfortable. I found myself excelling in my studies, just as my siblings had, and had dreamed of becoming a political journalist. I always dreamed that one day I would travel to countries such as Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan to cover the situations in these lands. I was intrigued by the conflicts in these countries and I was bent on understanding the motivations behind violent political and social movements. While the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State in Syria and Ansar Dine/MUJAO in Mali occupied my mind day-in-day-out, I also took interest in the rise of violent street gangs in Mexico, El Salvador and Brazil. Through my research I found a common link between all these organisations, they are made-up of oppressed and neglected people seeking their own form of perceived justice.

But let’s go back a little bit further…

Being the youngest in a family of six, I was always treated as a student by my older siblings, all of whom were studying a variety of different topics. So from a young age I was being used as a study tool by my siblings, being taught Psychology, Biology and History among other subjects. I should be rivaling Albert Einstein if all the information had settled neatly in my memory, but most of it left as soon as it entered. It was my eldest brother’s deep interest in international politics though that grabbed my attention the most and while I may have fallen asleep during some of the ‘classes’, I can still to this day remember many of the things he taught me. In fact the first time I ever heard the words ‘al-Qaeda’ and ‘Usama bin Laden’, they came from his mouth, but as I know he is unhappy with me being here, I can confirm for his sake that, no, he did not ‘radicalise’ me.

From then on, my love of politics only grew, learning from my brother before going on to do my own research. Being just five-years-old at the time of the attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001, my knowledge of the operation was basically non-existent. Despite this, I was immediately drawn to the topics of al-Qaeda and ‘Islamic terrorism’ based on the little information my brother had provided me with. I was intrigued, why would a group of people living in caves in Afghanistan want to kill innocent American civilians? And the even more perplexing, how did such a simple group fly commercial airliners into the global superpower’s trade and defence centres? It was from here that my research into al-Qaeda, Shaykh Usama bin Laden (May Allah have mercy upon him) and groups with similar ideologies worldwide began. I spent every day researching online and reading the books I had begun collecting and I was understandably very pleased when the Victorian state government introduced a laptop-in-schools programme, meaning I could now spend the otherwise wasted time in boring classes reading.

Australia, a nation full of proud nationalists and people who love democracy and what they perceive to be freedom, has forever stood beside the Americans in this war, deploying troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Therefore, in the media, the reports every morning when I sat on the couch eating breakfast and watching the news before school had to include a story on the Taliban’s brutality or fears of al-Qaeda operatives hiding in Europe. It was Channel 7’s program ‘Sunrise’ that I turned on most mornings, watching discussions such as, ‘Another attack in America, should we be suspicious about the Muslims in Australia?’ Still, as an Atheist of only 13-years-of-age I couldn’t believe everything I was seeing and hearing, my views of the Muslims were very positive and when it came to organisations such as the Taliban, my views almost six years ago would be considered by the Australian government as extreme and myself an Islamic extremist, although I was still an Atheist, a little confusing I know. I saw the Taliban as simply a group of proud men seeking to protect their land and their people from an invading force, while I did not necessarily agree with their ideology, their actions were in my opinion completely justified. I saw the foreign troops burning villages, raping local women and girls, rounding up innocent young men as suspected terrorists and sending them overseas for torture, gunning down women, children and the elderly in the streets and indiscriminately firing missiles from their jets. Who was I to believe was the terrorist? I saw similar events unfolding in Iraq where the mujahideen of Shaykh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (May Allah have mercy upon him) as well as other smaller factions were valiantly fighting the occupation. I read of the massacre in Haditha where US soldiers shot dead 24 civilians, majority of whom were women and children as well as an elderly man in a wheel-chair. I read about how soldiers raped 14-year-old Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi in Mahmudiyah before killing her and her family and setting fire to their corpses. I read and viewed images of the inhumane torture in Abu Ghraib prison as well as many other atrocities committed, primarily by the Americans, with also cases of torture, summary executions and massacres of civilians being carried out by military personnel from other nations of the coalition. I was beginning to learn that what the media was feeding us was nothing but a government-sponsored distortion of the reality. The image of the American hero waving the US flag on top of a Hummer rolling through Baghdad was nothing but the soft cover to a brutal untold story.

It was from my investigations into the invasions and occupations of both Iraq and Afghanistan that gave birth to my disdain for the United States and its allies, including Australia. It was also the start of my respect for the mujahideen that would only grow to develop into a love of Islam and ultimately bring me here to the Islamic State, but I’ll get to that later.

Structuring my research, I saw the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as the modern base for understanding the conflicts involving Islamic groups across Africa, the Middle East and Asia as well as sporadic attacks in Europe and the United States. From here I began focusing on the struggle in Palestine, this was the ultimate David and Goliath story, where the world was wanting so desperately to turn the victim into the oppressor and the oppressor into the victim, with much success. I saw the Israeli army tearing down the homes of Palestinian families to make way for a new Jewish family moving in from Europe, I saw Israeli soldiers torturing children for allegedly throwing stones at their heavily armoured vehicles, I saw them shooting innocent people and their treacherous leaders justifying their crimes by claiming that Jews are superior to all other races, stating that Arabs are less than dogs and should be treated as such, pointing to the Talmud as the source of their bigotry. My Atheist secularist views led me to support the aspirations of the Palestinian state and blinded me from realising what the true problem was, not Israel, nor Israelis but the religious ideology that governed them. I began to support the violent resistance in the Gaza Strip, recognising that it was this resistance that kept small pockets of Palestine from the hands of the Jews, even if it does mean that they are frequently hit with airstrikes. Also, the presence of a base to attack Israel from the west was always a sign of hope, especially considering the current aggressive advance of the Islamic State from the East and as well as the bayah to the Khilafah by the mujahideen in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula potentially allowing for attacks from all directions to liberate Palestine.

I could wrap this up very shortly but I want to divert away from my interest in violent Islamic movements for a minute to explain how I developed a wider world view and how I transitioned from being a reluctant-supporter of Islamic militant groups in different lands to become certain that violent global revolution was the answer to the world’s ills.

In the course of my research I decided to delve deeper into the blood-stained history of the world. I learnt for the first time in great detail, the scale of the atrocities committed against the native population of the Americas by both the British and Spanish colonialist forces. About how both nations attempted to completely wipe out the natives in order to build their own respective civilisations, slaughtering millions of innocent people, intentionally spreading disease amongst them and raping the native women in an effort to breed-out the present race. I also learned more about the similar systematic genocide in my own country, Australia, the stories they choose to leave out when you’re in history class at school. I learnt about how the Crusaders rampaged across Europe and the Middle East, seeking to eliminate Islam from the region and restore the rule of the Catholic Church. I learnt about how the British and the French competed with each other to colonise the African continent, the advent of which still today leaves the affected nations facing great difficulties. I was beginning to realise that the cruelness of the world today is nothing but a historical expectation.

I continued to read; America’s land grab in Mexico as well as their brutality towards the Filipinos after the Spanish, who were themselves no better, signed over control of the archipelago to the Americans. The Portuguese soldiers who rampaged across East Timor, the British who seized control of many of the Pacific Islands, enslaving the populations on the pretext that non-Whites were created to serve the White race.

Continuing forward and the world bore witness to two World Wars, the second more brutal than the first. US, British, French and Australian forces imprisoned captured Axis soldiers in internment camps, torturing them and executing them as a source of entertainment. When US forces entered Japan they proceeded on a systematic campaign of massacring civilians and raping the local women before delivering the infamous nuclear bombs to Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The crimes committed by all sides in these wars are far too many to innumerate, so I’ll leave the rest of them for you to discover on your own. Then as the American war machine was kicked back into action in the Cold War, the world again witnessed more of their brutality, particularly in Korea and Vietnam. Today, they hail as heroes their soldiers who fought in these wars, history will always record though that they were nothing but a gang of rapists, murderers and brutal cowards who loved to inflict pain on an already aching population. Then there was their trade embargo, economic sanctions and isolation of Cuba due to its Communist leadership which left the people of this small Caribbean island in unimaginable poverty. Then there was their economic and military support for brutal rebels and dictators throughout Latin America simply because they were anti-Communist. El Salvador, Chile, Brazil, Nicaragua and Argentina are just some examples of countries torn apart by extreme violence and whose people suffered under animalistic rulers due to American intervention. Today, the people of El Salvador are still seeking to identify the victims of the anti-Communist American-backed regime that slaughtered all who were associated with the Communist rebels, even those who had only seen the world for a mere three days. Argentina and Brazil are still seeking more information on the Nazi-style prison camps set-up by their own respective American-backed dictators and Chile still mourns their own 9/11, when on the same day in 1973 the Americans supported Pinochet’s coup and subsequent iron-fisted rule, during which thousands were killed and many more tortured and disappeared on allegations of dissent.

The Cold War, I noticed, bore great similarities to the current conflict gripping the world today. Yesterday the Americans were openly backing the tyrants simply to impose their own ideology on the people and today, they realised this backfired and has led to hatred of the US across Latin America so now they have tried to be smarter about how they colonise and only some have managed to see through the facade. Whenever America goes to war now, they claim it is simply humanitarian intervention. Take their recent airstrikes against the Islamic State, they hyped-up the story of the Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar, making unsubstantiated claims of genocide before admitting the situation was greatly exaggerated and it was not much of an issue. But this correction came after the first missile had been fired and therefore, they were already in, so… ‘Well, we can’t pull out now’… Now as a result, every day the Americans are firing missiles at innocent Muslims in both Iraq and Sham.

It was also through these two successive American-led campaigns to impose the Democratic system upon the world that I woke up to the reality of what this ideology was, nothing but a system of lies and deception. The democratic system focuses heavily on providing the people with so-called freedom, allowing the citizens to select their leaders, alter laws if they feel the need and ultimately have the people decide the way their country is run, but this is far from the reality and there was no statement that summed this up greater than the words of the former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, “The people who cast the votes decide nothing, the people who count the votes decide everything.” The reality of democracy became clear to me, place in people’s mind the idea of freedom and convince them that they are a free people while oppressing them behind the scenes. On top of this the Western world throws celebrities and false reality into the spotlight to distract the people from what is really going on in the world, hence the widespread political ignorance among Westerners. This was the turning point in my ideological development as it signaled the beginning of my complete hatred and opposition to the entire system Australia and the majority of the world was based upon. It was also the moment I realised that violent global revolution was necessary to eliminate this system of governance and that it I would likely be killed in this struggle.

I saw people screaming, “Where is the Democracy?” in supposed democratic states and it made me hopeful that perhaps people were waking up to the reality but as it turned out they were still deceived despite their moment of anguish. I found a people though who had lost all hope in the democratic system and the United States and so I had to learn more, they were the gangs of the Americas. While their brutality is unforgivable and the suffering they have inflicted on innocent people, unimaginable, their underlying rationalisation is the unheard tale of the failed democratic system. I remember watching documentary-after-documentary about the Mara Salvatrucha in El Salvador, the Amigos dos Amigos in Brazil, Los Zetas in Mexico and the various street-gangs in Los Angeles. The elite prefer to portray them as simply groups of young men looking at making some quick cash and who love killing and mayhem but when asked what the real reasons for the establishment of their gangs are, the founders of these criminal organisations as well as their members always seemed to agree that they had the right to steal, rape and murder because the government and police force were doing the exact same to them in their communities. They all referred to the government as gangsters and the police force as well and rightfully so. They are predominantly from poor communities unfairly targeted by law enforcement and government policies and they are denied the opportunity to integrate into the system and build a regular life, so turning to a gang becomes their most viable option. I don’t want to go much deeper into my studies into the gangs in this region because I wish to return to the conclusion of my story, but this was something that only confirmed my understanding of the deception of democracy and that this is something that can only and must be destroyed by violent revolution. What would replace it though? Socialism? Communism?? Nazism??? I was never quite sure.

Sorry for the long detour but I felt it necessary to give the full story, I’ll now start to wrap things up, you can take a break and finish it a bit later if that’s enough reading for you at the moment.

…With the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ revolutions only giving rise to new dictators in the lands of Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen, it also gave birth to new mujahideen and even the nationalist, democratic uprising in the land of Sham was the beginning of the return of the Islamic State and Khilafah in the region. It was around this time that my love of the mujahideen began changing from a political admiration to a religious one. I had begun researching different religions, seeing that they were key to many of the conflicts taking place in the world today and during this new period of study I found myself deeply confused by all of these outlandish and odd religious systems, that myself as an Atheist had never been exposed to. However, it was Islam that for me stood out as easy to understand and was shockingly consistent with established historical and scientific facts, which for an Atheist is about as likely as Earth colliding with Pluto. Slowly but surely I began being drawn towards the religion and it was no longer a political interest for me but the truth I had been circling around for years with my research into the mujahideen.

Just as I had been eager to gain knowledge of the political world, I had now opened a whole new realm of knowledge and was keen to learn as much as I could about the religion. The more I learned, the more I came to understand and make connections with my previous research. Then things took a turn, something I did not fear as an Atheist but began to fear as a Muslim, was supporting the mujahideen, convinced that I had been ‘radicalised’ by violent terrorist organisations. So, what I can say is one of the most shameful periods of my life, the research I had been doing all these years and the beliefs I had held so strongly to despite no-one around me sharing them were thrown aside.

However, as I read through the Qur’an, I couldn’t help but make strong associations between the speech of Allah (azza wa’jal) and the chaotic scenes around the world today. For example, Allah (azza wa’jal) says, “And when it is said to them: ‘Make not mischief on the Earth’, they say: ‘We are only peace-makers.’ Verily! They are the ones who make mischief, but they perceive it not.” [Surat al-Baqarah 2:11-12]. Is this not the reality of the kuffar today? Who claim to be helping to free the people while doing nothing but increasing their suffering. As my realisation of this reality re-kindled my previous views about global revolution, I began to truly understand what I had focused on studying for more than five years, the motivation of the mujahideen: The doctrine of jihad and it’s superiority in Islam. As the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad ibn Abdullah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The head of the matter is Islam, its pillar is the prayer and its peak is jihad.” I now for the first time truly understood why there were Islamic armies from Mali to China, from Chechnya to Indonesia, it was an obligation upon every able Muslim to fight, an obligation that a person who dies without having fulfilled, he dies upon a branch of hypocrisy as stated by Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). So after my period of peaceful, submissive, down-trodden aqeedah, my return to the path of ‘radical, terrorist’ aqeedah began and the more I learned about the concept of jihad, it’s benefits, it’s importance and the rewards for taking part in military operations to raise Islam in the land, the more I desired to join the mujahideen. As I learnt more about the aqeedah of groups such as al-Shabab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria and Ansar al-Sharia in Yemen as well as various other organisations across the world, my support for such groups grew and grew. My main interest though was the mujahideen in the land of Sham, I found myself drawn to Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham. Knowing the many ahadith regarding the blessings of the land of Sham I was eager to make hijra and join either of these two organisations. Despite my eagerness though, I met one key roadblock, how was I to get in? I had no contacts to assist me. After failed attempts at finding a contact I gave up all hope of making hijra.

As the war in Sham progressed and the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham appeared and the ongoing fitnah in the region was ignited, I found myself still on the side of Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham, agreeing with the assessment of the mischief-makers that the Islamic State were from the khawarij. I believed it a duty upon others to slaughter the mujahideen of the Islamic State and had no respect for them, falling for the many lies being spread against them. It was my conversations with brothers from the State online though that began getting me to question my view of the organisation and the stories I had heard about it. As the Islamic State began to expand, seizing the cities of Raqqah, Fallujah, Mosul, Tikrit and others, Allah (azza wa’jal) Himself exposed the lies of the liars and humiliated the enemies of the State, a clear sign that they were upon the truth. Slowly but surely, I would come to love the State, recognising that they are the only people in the region establishing the Islamic system of governance, providing services for the people and most importantly they possess a sound aqeedah and manhaj that has led to their correct and effective implementation of the Sharia. It was this realisation that once again increased my desire to make hijra but once again I failed to find any contacts. This time was different to previous attempts at leaving though, I was growing tired of the corruption and filthiness of Australian society and yearned to live under the Islamic State with the Muslims. I now had the determination to finally remove myself from this land. I continued my search for a contact, even at one point considering simply crossing the border alone without any assistance. Finally, I made contact with a brother online who promised to bring me across the border, it was a risky decision to trust someone online but I was desperate to leave and was confident the brother was genuine. Fearing possible attempts by the increasingly-intrusive authorities in Australia to prevent my departure I began drawing up a Plan B. This plan involved launching a string of bombings across Melbourne, targeting foreign consulates and political/military targets as well as grenade and knife attacks on shopping centres and cafes and culminating with myself detonating a belt of explosives amongst the kuffar. As I began collecting materials for the explosives and prepared to start making the devices I realised that the authorities were oblivious to my plans but if anything was to attract their attention it would be my purchasing of chemicals and other bomb-making materials and so I ceased the planning of Plan B and sat waiting until everything was prepared and I could exit the country undetected.

Without revealing any sensitive information about how I entered the Islamic State, I’ll skip to the moment I entered the city of Jarablus in Aleppo province. I felt a joy I had never experienced before, the first time my eyes spotted the banner of tawheed fluttering above the city, everything felt surreal, I was finally in the Khilafah. At this time I couldn’t help but remember that moment a few years ago when I told myself that there will come a day where I will fight to overthrow the democratic system, that day had come, just not in the way I had expected. After a difficult and long journey in Jarablus, I put my trust in Allah and signed myself up for a martyrdom operation and was promptly sent to Baiji in Salaheddine province, Iraq. I sat for one month in Baiji before my failed operation arrived. After I witnessed the mistakes made, I turned to fighting in the city before once again registering for a martyrdom operation, a decision that would bring me to the large yet modest city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province. And that is where I sit today, waiting for my turn to stand before Allah (azza wa’jal) and dreaming of sitting amongst the best of His creation in His Jannah, the width of which is greater than the width of the heavens and the Earth.

I guess I was always destined to stand here as a soldier in the army of Shaykh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (May Allah have mercy upon him) considering the great respect I had for him even before I entered Islam. May Allah accept him among the best of shuhadah and allow me to sit with him in the highest ranks of Jannah.

Leave a comment

Istishadiyeen: Those Who Race to Jannah

Image January 11, 2015 Abu Bakr al-Masri, Baiji, Iraq, ISIS, Islamic State, istishadi, Khilafah, lion, martyrdom, Mujahideen, Salahaddine, shahadah, terrorism

One of those lions in Baiji who fulfilled his duty and sold his life to Allah (azza wa’jal) as he valiantly advanced forward to kill and be killed. May Allah reward you with the highest status in Jannah Abu Bakr al-Masri and inshallah we’ll be sitting together again very soon.