Category: Fursān al-Shām Media

New release from Fursān al-Shām Media: "Abū Zūbayr al-Ṣūmālī: As A Stranger He Lived In The World And As A Stranger He Left…"

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

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It was a hot evening in Rural south Aleppo and I was at one of the bases of Jaish al-Nusra, an elite brigade of Mujahidīn. They had taken an empty luxury villa as a temporary base where the brothers would sleep and prepare for the coming battle; the battle of Khlasa. The garden was huge and beautiful, and there were brothers everywhere preparing themselves, some sitting under the trees reciting the Quran. The Amir, Commander Abu Taha had ordered that the Mujahidīn break their fast as fighting while fasting would be nearly impossible in the summer heat.
As I walked around between the brothers, I was greeted by Abu Zubayr Somali. A wonderful brother, I had previously met him on several occasions. He greeted me warmly and invited me to drink tea with him. He prepared the tea and we sat together on the balcony chatting.
Without exaggeration he is one of the best people I have met in my life, everybody who knew him loved him. He was a tall brother, dark in complexion.
“The person who owns this house must be very rich” Abu Zubayr told me. “The problem about making yourself too comfortable in Dunya is that how will you able to leave all this?”
Abu Zubayr told me that he used to live for a number of years in the US but realized that living in the land of kufr chasing after Dunya was of no use. He made up his mind to leave for Jihad. He left America attempting to reach his native land, Somalia to participate in Jihad there. Things did not go as he planned, he failed in reaching Somalia and returned to America.
But that was not enough to make this courageous soul give up, how could he live in America, the capital of oppression and kufr in the world? Now he was being monitored by the security services but for a person like Abu Zubayr, fearing the creation was not one of his traits.
Despite his lack of knowledge on the situation in al-Sham, upon hearing that there was Jihad taking place, he made up his mind to do Hijra to the blessed land of al-Sham. At the time the propaganda of the Khawarij, the Dawla group, was at its height and to many Muslims outside al-Sham it seemed that they were a group that was on truth. He left America with the intention of joining the Dawla group, unaware that they were Khawarij.
Taking all the risk, he began his journey towards Jihad. His movements were picked up by the security agencies and he was stopped for questioning. He later explained that Allah had made this very easy for him and he answered all their questions smoothly until the enemies of Allah were convinced that he had nothing to do with Jihad. He was released and then continued his journey towards al-Sham.
But how could such a pure soul filled with Imaan be amongst a group that has been an instrument to destroy the Jihad and Mujahidīn? Those who truly seek guidance, Allah guides them. Instead of joining the ranks of the Khawarij, he ended meeting other Muhajirīn brothers from the Mujahidīn areas and went with them, joining Jabhat al-Nusra. It was after he completed a Sharia course the reality of the situation in al-Sham became known to him.
It was not long before Abu Zubayr was in the brigade of the Inghimasīn, those who’s task it is to storm deep behind enemy lines. Battle after battle he participated in with the brigade. A brigade which is the cream of the Mujahidīn. The Battle of Al-Eis, one of the most important battles in the current jihad, Abu Zubayr was one of those who reached far behind enemy lines and the small unit destroyed an entire convoy of enemy troops. This was one of the major reasons for the Mujahidīn victory at al-Eis by the help of Allah.
After that he was deployed to Lattakia mountains, doing raid after raid, stopping any attempt from the enemy to advance. I met him in one of the bases of the Mujahidīn in Lattakia. As we sat and spoke my heart was filled with admiration of him. The next time we met was in Aleppo province before the battle of Khlasa, as I mentioned before, and it was also the last time…
As we sat and he served me tea, my eyes weld up with tears at his words. He had a calm way of talking and always reminded one of the Akhirah. An hour later I saw him sleeping peacefully on a bed, his weapon beside him.
Different units began moving in and out of the base, the battle was close and the place was buzzing with activity. I went with my unit to the site of the battle, as night fell the ground began shaking, the Mujahidīn were attacking Khlasa with all their might! We entered the battlefield, bullets were continually making whistling sounds above our heads as we moved forward.
Explosions of mortars and tanks, and then a rain of cluster bombs! As the early hours of the morning came, the battlefield fell quiet. The enemy had fled. Not only from Khlasa, but also from two extremely important towns which they feared being besieged in due to our capture of Khalsa. We remained in Ribaat until almost midday then we descended, we were all exhausted but overjoyed at the victory.
As we drove down I noticed the room that was being used as a command center had been hit by an airstrike. I asked the brothers if anyone had been killed, they told me Commander Abu Taha had been killed! Now my joy was replaced with sadness, he was a commander of such excellence that was rare to find. “Who else was killed?” I asked. “Abu Zubayr Somali” the brother replied. My world turned upside down with grief. Allah had chosen some of his closest servants and took them in the best month while they were storming the enemy (We consider them so and their accountability is to Allah). May Allah join us in their ranks.
Abu Zubayr had possibly had a feeling that he would be killed, his talk with me on that day gave me many indications. Not only that, but he had sent his will, not long before, to a brother.
Thinking about Abu Zubayr makes me think of the Hadith which refers to Sham as “the best of Allah’s lands to which the best of Allah’s creation gather in it” . The evil people of Sham can be found scattered out throughout the world while some of the best of the slaves of Allah flock to Sham. They are strangers to the world living in a land which has always been through the passage of time a home for the strangers; the blessed land of Sham.
Written by Abu Dujanah Al Afriki (Rahimahullah)
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New release from Fursān al-Shām Media: "Story Of A Mujāhid Who Threatened To Quit His Unit Before His Martyrdom"

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

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Meet our brother Sayfullah Jab’ar Al Turki who emigrated from Turkey to carry out Jihad in the cause of Allah in Syria. I don’t know too much about him but I will narrate what I saw and heard from Sayfullah within the time that I had spent with him. Before coming to Syria , he had told me about the Jahil life he lived before he got guidance from Allah SWT. He used to be involved in gang fights and other evil things while chasing the Dunya. Alhamduli’Llah he started practising the Deen and mended his ways.

Sayfullah started to realise the commandment of his Deen which he had to fulfil which is Jihad and to come to the defence of his brothers and sisters in Syria. I got the opportunity to meet Sayfullah when he joined my brigade within JFS, upon meeting him I recognised he had an injury to his head with some part of his skull missing, later he told me he sustained the injury in a previous battle he participated in.

After getting to know Sayfullah I found him to be someone determined to participate in battle even so in the Inghimashi role (front line stormers). When he was not taking part in battles I would find him occupying himself in the remembrance of Allah and increasing his knowledge by reading books. One thing that amazed me of Sayfullah was his long night prayers he would engage in every night, he would also advise other Mujahideen to engage in this worship and would say to them that: “this is your key to steadfastness on the battlefield.”

Just after Russia intervened in the Syria conflict, the Shia mercenaries also began a large scaled offensive from South Aleppo in an attempt to reach Kafarya & Fua, our unit was sent back to repel the attacks and launch counter attacks to regain the areas which we had lost. It was in the upcoming battles that Sayfullah would be martyred. The first counter attack we launched was a success and gained a few areas with few casualties Alhamdulilah, Sayfullah was not pleased as he was not chosen for the Inghimashi role he very much desired as he was put in a secondary position.

But he remained patient as he knew there would be an upcoming battle shortly within a few days. Preparations were made and everyone knew what role they would take up for this battle. Sayfullah was infuriated as he again found out that he would not be filling the Inghimashi spot once again, this time he couldn’t hold his anger and decided he would approach the commander to either place him in the role or quit and leave the brigade.

Sayfullah approached me to be the mediator between the two, reason was he only spoke Turkish and English and our commander spoke Arabic only. Our commander told me the reason for Sayfullah not being selected for the Inghimashi role. It was that he knew little Arabic and this could effect the squad in battle, it was hard for me to keep Sayfullah calm even though I advised him many times to remain patient and that he would get the opportunity soon. But his determination to be picked was not going to stop him as he told me to translate to the commander that if he wasn’t selected for this battle he would pack his bags and leave.

Seeing his persistence and courage the commander chose to switch him to the Inghimashi role. Sayfullah was delighted and now became impatient for the battle to begin. Me and Sayfullah shared the same room in our base and would spend time together as his poor Arabic and serious attitude character would keep him away from socializing with others. Every night before sleep we would engage in discussion and I once posed a question to him: “what is the thing you desire most in this world?”, he replied to live the rest of his life in Jihad and to go from one battle to the other and finally be martyred in the cause of Allah.

As a few days remained for the upcoming battle during the night Sayfullah and I would speak about the hereafter to raise each others Emaan, unlike other brothers he wouldn’t talk about Jannah or the Hoor Al Ayn but rather he would fear the hell fire and would just yearn to have himself saved from it. Moving on to the battle ,Alhamdulilah, it went well as we captured all the areas we were assigned to capture except one village. The Shia allegedly had an ambush set-up there as one of the commanders was observing things.

We decided to hold the lines we had captured and make Ribaat (Guarding a station). This Ribaat was going to be demanding as enemy artillery were raining down upon us and our positions had no defences. It was on the third day Sayfullah received his martyrdom (May Allah accept him), it happened when the Shia mercenaries made an advancement in an attempt to recapture the areas we gained, as they had advanced from two axes they laid a siege on the brothers. The brave Mujahideen fought to their last breaths and refused to surrender.

Sayfullah was hit by a sniper as so was the case with a few other brothers, injured brothers managed to sneak out crawling while escaping enemy fire, the bodies of the martyrs were left behind as it was impossible to retrieve them. Alhamdulilah, no one was captured alive. Even though we suffered some casualties, this was insignificant compared to what the Shia mercenaries suffered in the previous days and battles. We ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to accept Sayfullah Jab’ar Al Turki and all the other brothers who fell as martyrs alongside him and to grant quick recovery to the injured ones Amongst them. Ameen.

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New release from Fursān al-Shām Media: "Interview With Abū Bakr al-Brīṭānī: About His Journey to the Levant"

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

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What was it that made you take that step towards Hijrah?
Subhan’Allah living in the UK is very difficult, I felt as if I was imprisoned, you know you can’t really express your feelings, in case you’re being watched by the secret services or suspicion could be raised about you, it’s very difficult for someone who has such passion for the Muslim Ummah to be able to express his feelings.
So Subhan’Allah Ya’ani, it’s not easy to read news regarding Ahlu Sunnah in Syria where you are oppressed because you simply believe in Allah, follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW). Watching videos of innocent and helpless Muslims getting tortured by the regime, similar to Iraq, Burma and other Muslim countries; alongside these I was inspired by a few Mashaikh who would always talk about the situation of the Muslim Ummah and had links with Jihad.
They spoke about how Jihad would bring back the pride of Islam that we once had – such as Shaikh Abu Qatada al-Filistini, Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, Shaikh al-Muhaysini, because he was active in Syria, may Allah preserve them, and Shaikh Anwar al-Awlaqi who really had a big impact on me, I used to watch him at a young age, my family would always watch his lectures until it got to a point where he went to Yemen to join al-Qaeda. My parents, may Allah protect them, would then discourage me to follow his videos.
How did you go about making preparations for Hijrah, and were your family aware about you leaving them?
In terms of planning the routes, Allah made it easy for me, very easy to find hotel bookings, finding the tickets were not really an obstacle, you know it maybe less than an hour to get everything sorted out. In terms of planning, Alhamdulillah, Allah سبحانه وتعالى made it easy.
In terms of navigating my way from Turkey to Syria, Allah سبحانه وتعالى made it easy. At times I thought to myself “that’s it I’m going to get caught and sent back” when I got my passport taken off me in Turkey and inspected by the police, I could feel my heart pounding intensely, my knees shaking but Subhan’Allah once I began remembering Allah and the verse in Surah Al-Baqarah: {Allah has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing, and over their vision is a veil….} [Al-Baqarah; 2:7]. Allah blinded the Kuffar and I arrived safely.
In terms of letting my parents know, I told them whilst I was in Turkey that I was in Syria, because I got nervous when I accidentally answered a phone call from them. They wanted to know where I was because I was out of my house for so long, roughly four days.
Before I left I told them I went to visit my cousin in another city but unfortunately that failed because they contacted him. I really couldn’t say anything, when I spoke to my parents I kind of began to stutter, I got really nervous, they began to suspect so I just told them.
I told them I was in Syria with hope they wouldn’t call the police and they had known where I was and they wouldn’t panic as much but the opposite had occurred. If you really want to participate in Jihad Fi SabilAllah and your heart is pure and your niyyah is for the sake of Allah, Allah will find you a way out from every hardship. Alhamdulilah they constantly make Dua for me now.

What were the items you took when coming to Syria?
While preparing to come to Syria the expectations I had of it was that it was going to be similar to Afghanistan, as a result I brought with me many items which I didn’t need and some of which can be found in Syria. One thing which I overloaded in my luggage was clothes some of which I would not need later, as a fighter the best thing for one to wear is combat gear, which is provided here, or you can buy some using your own money. I also brought with me daily hygiene items which can be found in Syria.
An advice for those wanting to take part in Hijrah to Syria:
My first advice would be to not procrastinate and let the whispering of Shaitan hinder you from this path, if you’re not ready start preparations today, in terms of saving money, and even learning Arabic, [then] prepare yourself spiritually by increasing in good deeds and Dua for Allah to make things easy for you, take full measures to ensure your Hijrah goes well and put your trust in Allah سبحانه وتعالى .
Jazak’Allahu khair for conducting this interview with us.
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New release from Fursān al-Shām Media: "Yearning The Call To Jihād: 'From Xinjiang To al-Shām'"

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

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{The ones who have believed, emigrated and striven in the cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives are greater in rank in the sight of Allah . And it is those who are the attainers [of success].}

[Al-Bar’a; 9:20]

Brother Malik left his native land for Hijrah along with other brothers, who wanted to travel to Syria for Jihad in the cause of Allah, and to help support their vulnerable brothers and sisters in Syria despite themselves facing oppression under the Chinese government. They had to leave in secret, hiding from a government that would torture, kill and imprison, for years, those who had even thoughts of Jihad.

The first stages of the journey was to go from the Chinese occupied Autonomous Uyghur region into the Chinese heartland. The process involved three days of travel where they would have to overcome ambushes, checkpoints, and government inspections — by the Grace of Allah the kuffār were blinded and the brothers managed to surmount these obstacles.

Once they had managed to penetrate into the heartland they stayed in the home of one of the brothers. The situation there was dire and the authorities constantly raided the homes searching the premises and the surrounding area. In order to evade detection Malik began going out into the parks and for five months he hid and slept in the parks, in order to avoid detection and capture, all the while trying to find a way to get out of China to continue his journey.

At the end of the five months he managed to find a way out from China, and was able to go to Burma on the way to the Republic of Laos. The road through Laos was arduous and he and the others had to ride in a small car for ten hours before having to trek through a smugglers’ pass in the mountains for eleven more hours throughout the long night. After this exhausting leg of the journey the group paid a local man to let them stay in his home for a few days, so they could rest before preceding onward.

During the stay in that house they awoke from their long needed rest to the dubious claims of their ‘host’ that he had been robbed. He claimed that $2,000 had been stolen from him, the brothers discovered that they too had had their money stolen. It became clear to them that the man had robbed them as they slept but as they were in the country illegally and in need of shelter they could neither accuse him or go to the authorities.

The next stage of their the trip entailed crossing a river into Thailand. This river was fraught with many dangers, in addition to the swift current of the river itself, it was rife with gangs of bandits and pirates. While crossing the river their boat was stopped and all of their remaining wealth was stolen from them at gunpoint. After the many hardships and months away from their homes the loss of what remained of their meagre provisons seemed to be the end for many of the brothers who opted to return home. Yet by the Tawfiq of Allah Malik and some other brothers remained steadfast and completed their journey across the river into Thailand undaunted by their losses and trials.

After three days waiting in Thailand the remaining group of brothers moved on to the capitol Bangkok where they stayed for two months while they tried to find a way to get into Malaysia. By the favour of Allah they were finally able to pass into Malaysia but they faced new hurdles in their journey as they had counterfeit passports that would not hold up under the scrutiny needed in order for them to continue onward from Malaysia.

After a year and half of waiting and making their preparations they decided to attempt to fly out of Malaysia to Turkey. They entered the airport and when they reached customs the authorities discovered their fake passports and the brothers were detained and then charged with entering the country illegally and for having forged documents.

For four long months they languished in prison until money could be raised to secure their release, fees of $2,000 for each brother. After their release they were expelled from Malaysia, Alhamdulilah they were not repatriated to China but were instead allowed to continue on their way to Turkey. The flight from Malaysia to Turkey lasted eleven hours and cost each brother $500, Allah made their entrance into Turkey easy and from there they were able to enter into Syria.

After more than two years since first setting out from their homes, after enduring fear and duress losing their wealth, being tested with prison and facing trials and hardships, that saw even their stalwart brothers turn back, they endured and were patient with the order of Allah, all the while exerting themselves to their fullest in obedience to the command of their Lord who said to them:

{March forth, whether you are light or heavy, and strive hard with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah.}
[Al-Bar’a; 9:43]

So my beloved brothers and sisters in Islam this is but one story of many who have risked their freedom, their wealth and their lives in the service of our Lord, The One who created us and sustains us and The One to Who we belong and will return. How can we deny our Lord His right over us or be stingy with our wealth and lives when they belong to The One who created and gifted them. May Allah reward those brothers like Malik and increase them in goodness and preserve them and may He also grant us all the knowledge and ability to serve Him and obey Him, Ameen.

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