ISIL, Nusra Clash... Who Arbitrates Who?

Ahmad Farhat

Translated by Sara Taha Moughnieh 

Hours after assassinating Abu Khaled Al-Souri in Aleppo, North Syria, the clash took a new turn between the "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant" and its opponent armed groups like "Al-Nusra Front" and "the Free Ones of the Levant", and warned of a fierce war that begins in the Levant and extends further beyond Iraq.

While lamenting the death of Souri, leader of Al-Nusra Front, Abu Mohammad Al-Joulani threatened of the worst in case they refused to refer to "arbitration". This escalatory step was not surprising, as the developments in the Syrian field, especially concerning the warlords clash is a natural result for the Takfiri thought which rejects the other and declares war against him refusing any form of dialogue.

The significant point here is that some groups like "Al-Nusra Front" and "the Islamic Front" denied adopting the Takfiri thought and committing crimes, and held "ISIL" responsible for that.

However, the truth is that all these group adopt the same thought, a Takfiri and eliminative one, and they practice this thought on each other... executions in fields and camps, expulsions against each others' fighters, booby-trapped cars, suicide bombers, killings among each other, and issuing Fatwas as undercovers for their crimes.

Lately, a voice record was released for head of Al-Nusra Front which is connected to Al-Qaeda, Abu Mohammad Al-Joulani, in which he was heard threatening his former "Prince" Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and demanding him to refer to the "law of Allah" or else members of the front will exile ISIL even from Iraq.

Joulani's recording does not differ in content from a previous recording for Baghdadi, in which he called upon the armed groups to stop killing his militants or else "take note that in this state, there are men who do not accept injustice..." Baghdadi said.

By listening to the two parts, you cannot find essential differences between both speeches, even in the allegations and evidence they present, as both parts accuse one another of acting in contrary to Sharia, claim that they are being forced for war, and threaten of destruction in indication to the common mentality which has the same origin.

Speaking to Al-Manar website, Secretary General of Al-Ummah (Nation) movement, Sheikh Abdul Nasser Al-Jabri stressed that these groups adopt the term "Takfirism" to legitimize killing and destruction, and indicated that such acts are far from Islam and the Islamic Shria, as Islam preserves people's life, blood, and honor, while those legitimize the killing of people.

Surprisingly, Al-Nusra Front demands ISIL to refer to the "Law of Allah" and to three "significant scholars" whom Joulani named in his statement and they are "Abu Mohammad Al-Maqdissi, Abu Qutada Al-Filistini, and Suleiman Al-Alwan. Who are these?
His real name according to some internet pages is Issam Barqawi. He is a Jordanian of a Palestinian origin, and was labeled by Saudi media in 2004 as the most important sheikh who encourages violence. He is also considered one of the most significant speculators of "Jihadi Salafism" movement which Al-Qaeda follows.

Al-Maqdissi is imprisoned in Jordan and he communicates with his supporters through letters. A letter recently released by him called for thinking over before pledging allegiance to Abu Baker Al-Baghdadi as a "general Imam for Muslims".
His real name is Omar Mahmoud Othman, He is of a Palestinian origin and was born in Bethlehem in 1960. He was detained by the British authorities who returned him to Jordan last year. Al-Filistini is also a speculator of "Jihadi Salafism".

Abu Qutada demanded the "prince" of ISIL to pull out his militants from Syria and called on Baghdadi's men to join Al-Nusra Front under the banner of Joulani who on his part called him to seek reconciliation and declare war against some factions in the "Free Army". He also called on "The Free Ones of the Levant" movement (which was established by Abu Khaled Al-Souri) to avoid any alliance with what he referred to as "secular factions". This call was made before reporters at the beginning of this year ahead of his court hearing in Jordan.
Suleiman bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al-Alwan is a Saudi who follows the Salafist movement. He was arrested several times by the Saudi authorities, and he is now imprisoned in the kingdom.

A voice record for Alwan was broadcast in which he was criticizing Baghdadi and stating that the latter did not have the right to demand anyone's allegiance...

We notice here that the conflict with ISIL is mostly because of Baghdadi's demand that the leaderships of "Jihadi Salafism" pledge allegiance to him as their "prince". For their parts, the Salafists blamed him for accusing them of infidelity and declared war against him amid regional and international intersections.

Arbitration

Regarding the concept of arbitration, Sheikh Abdul Nasser Jabri indicated that whoever wants to judge should be a scholar who has an experience in judiciary, and whoever wants to demand arbitration should be within the legitimate circle which can only be specified by scholars. Based on that, Jabri stressed that he did not find in any of these individuals the characteristics of a scholar.

Sheikh Jabri clarified that the three names mentioned above were not scholars, adding:

"We don't know where they have studied or who their professors were..."

A question should be asked here. How could he demand arbitration that who is not committed to the legislative law and rather takes the sword as his slogan, killing as his method, and criminality as his ideology, disregarding Prophet Mohammad's (PBUH) directions for his Armies on war?

Some of these directions appeared in the following quotes:
Ibn Abbas said:

"When the prophet (PBUH) used to address his armies before a war, he used to say: "Go in the name of Allah, and fight for the sake of Allah those who disbelieved in Allah; don't sell out, don't bear a grudge, don't torture, and don't kill children or worshipers."

Omran Bin Al-Hasseen said:

"The prophet (PBUH) used to urge us to give charity and prohibit us from torturing."

"Therefore give admonition in case the admonition profits (the hearer). The admonition will be received by those who fear (Allah). But it will be avoided by those most unfortunate ones, Who will enter the Great Fire." {Al-Aala 9-12}

Source: Al-Manar Website	28-02-2014 - 13:26 Last updated 28-02-2014

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