Maybe you explain why there are clashes between Dawlah and JN? There is so much ambiguity when someone is trying to learn about the truth when he isn't in the front lines. Anywhere where ISIS rebuttals can be read?
First of all, the group Jabhatun-Nusrah was a group, which was sent to Syria during the revolution by Sheikh Abū Bakr al-Baghdādī himself. The friction started once Sheikh al-Baghdādī announced, through a speech that Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah was fighting in Syria under the Amīr, Abū Muhammad al-Jawlānī. See my previous article for a brief history:
http://dawlatul-islam.tumblr.com/post/78654075469/abu-naasir-al-iraqi
After this speech was released by Sheikh al-Baghdādī, many pledged a new bay’ah to him as Amīrul-Mu’minīn. In the city of Mansūrah (my current work place), which is between Tabqah and Raqqah, the brothers informed me that as soon as they heard this speech from Sheikh al-Baghdādī, they rushed to pledge allegiance to him without hesitation. All of the mujahidūn from Jabhatun-Nusrah in Mansūrah all pledged allegiance to Sheikh al-Baghdadi except for a minority whom can be counted on one hand. This minority were not keen on the idea of change and remained as Jabhatun-Nusrah. Amongst this minority was Abū Sa’d al-Hadramī, who the brothers later in Mansūrah described as ‘one of the heads of the fitan’. Why this person has been mentioned, will be talked about further on.
From what I have heard amongst the brothers is that the Amīr, al-Jawlānī wasn’t aware of the fact that this speech had been released by Sheikh al-Baghdādī and was later informed by members of Jabhatun-Nusrah, Allah knows best how true that is. Instantly a refutation was sent out by Amīr al-Jawlānī himself, addressing the situation and his stance on it. He confessed that he is aware of the help that he had received from Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah, that he was grateful for the weapons and the money he had taken however, Jabhatun-Nusrah was now under his command and he pledges his bay’ah to the Doctor Ayman ath-Thawāhiri, meaning: he left the bay’ah he had with Sheikh al-Baghdādī and this is where the fitnah began.
Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah was confused, no one could give the exact reason on why the Amīr, al-Jawlānī had decided to go his own way, even though the majority of his group had pledged allegiance to Sheikh al-Baghdādī. Some said for power, some said greed, some said misguidance. Whatever his reasons were, Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah and Jabhatun-Nusrah remained as allies even though some would argue, that they (Jabhatun-Nusrah) were to be fought as bughāt (rebels) for breaking away from the bay’ah. For those who don’t know the ruling on bughāt, this should be helpful, Allah willing:
((As it is known that the ruling on the apostates is that they have lost all their Islamic rights and they are to be killed and they recieve none of the treatment of the people of Islām. Unlike the rebellious Muslims; the bughāt who are still afforded a level of leniency and ease, even while they are fought, because they are still considered Muslims and as such, they are still considered Muslims and as such, they are given their rights. Below the chapter, “Chapter of fighting the Bughāt”, Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī said, “and the one who retreats is not to be pursued and the one from them who is wounded is not finished off and their wealth is not taken as war booty (ghanīmah) and their offspring are not taken captive as slaves. And whoever from them is killed, then he is to be washed, shrouded and prayed upon.”))
[al-‘Uddah Sharh al-‘Umdah, p.642; publication of Dārul-Kitāb al-‘Arabī, 6th edition, 1421 H.]
When I first arrived in Syria the two (Jabhatun-Nusrah and Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah) were together fighting side by side. I remember in Haleb (Allepo) on our first day, both groups were having problems with Jayshul-Hurr and we had to be taken to safety as we hadn’t yet received our weapons. That very same night, a brother by the name of Khattāb asked me would I like to see the bodies of those that were killed that day. I replied in the affirmative and he took me upstairs to see the bodies. Lay there together were members of Jabhatun-Nusrah and Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah whom had fought side by side against Jayshul-Hurr and been killed together. This was how it was, even after the fitnah of the Amīr al-Jawlāni, breaking the bay’ah.
Question: what went wrong? The answer to this is the underlying alliances, groups from Jabhatun-Nusrah always had with groups from Jayshul-Hurr. I won’t ever forget 3 experiences I had personally with Jabhatun-Nusrah before the battle of Dayruz-Zūr (Ghazwatul-Khayr) against the Shi’ah, Allawites:
No.1) Their claim over the oil-wells of Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah in Dayruz-Zūr. That day we were in the Maqr (residence/base), waiting for the battle of Ghazwatul-Khayr, when we were called out for an emergency. We grabbed our weapons, ran towards our vehicles and as usual before arriving at our destination, the remembrance of Allah started to roll off of our tongues. The brothers were advising us to be prepared as they weren’t sure what to expect in this case of emergency. Upon arriving at our destination, the boot of the car flew open and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Jabhatun-Nusrah, Ahrārush-Shām and groups of Jayshul-Hurr had come and tried to verbally claim our oil wells. There were maybe over 200 of us who had been called out for this emergency. The majority of us were confused. Some even saying they are ready to throw down their weapons and that they’re not going to fight their brothers, simply because they’re from another group. It was really an odd sight. Cars equipped with men from Jabhatun-Nusrah, Ahrārush-Shām and Jayshul-Hurr with heavy weaponry had come trying to claim the oil wells belonged to them and that we needed to hand them over. Our Umarā’ (Amīrs) told them that either you leave or you have to take them from us by force. Praise is only due to Allah, In the end the groups submitted to us and left our residence with the brothers shouting “Dawlatul-Islām.. Bāqiyah!”. A victory but still I was completely confused. In Haleb we (Jabhatun-Nusrah and Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah) fought against these groups together (except for Ahrārush-Shām) but here in Dayruz-Zūr, Jabhatun-Nusrah had an allegiance with them. This became clearer to us later when we were shown prisoners from these groups, whom had confessed to an underlying allegiance with Jabhatun-Nusrah and from the accounts of those who came forward from these groups, whom had made Tawbah from their actions, further exposing these underlying plots.No.2) The bay’ah they (Jabhatun-Nusrah) were in with groups from Jayshul-Hurr (such as liwāul-Qa’qā’) who were being funded by the French government in order to fight against Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah. After finding out that Jabhatun-Nusrah had an underlying allegiance with these groups, the Umarā from amongst us had made the decision to go and speak to the Umarā of Jabhatun-Nusrah. They wanted to discuss the dangers of this matter, as Jabhatun-Nusrah was aiding these groups in ways that may have caused danger to Dawlatul-Islamiyyah because they were giving strength to these groups. We told them that it was important they leave the bay’ah or we will have to fight them alongside these groups as murtadūn, as this was an issue of Muwallāt and Allah - the Most High - says:
"Let not the believers take the disbelievers as Auliya (supporters, helpers, etc.) instead of the believers, and whoever does that will never be helped by Allah in any way, except if you indeed fear a danger from them…" [3:28]
However, praise be to Allah, Jabhatun-Nusrah understood this matter and decided to leave the bay’ah they had with these groups and things became normal once again.
3) The final issue, which i will not forget is their attack on 3 of our brothers crossing their checkpoint in Dayruz-Zūr. These 3 brothers from Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah were driving around Dayruz-Zūr and decided to go past a Jabhatun-Nusrah checkpoint. On the way past the checkpoint the members of Jabhatun-Nusrah commanded that these 3 brothers stop the vehicle. The brothers were confused, they didn’t see why they had to stop as we were allies and kept on driving. In reality this was wrong and from adab and akhlāq (good manners and conduct) they simply should have stopped the vehicle but instead they kept going. Simply a few seconds after crossing the checkpoint, all of a sudden fire was let lose on these 3 brothers. Jabhatun-Nusrah had taken aim at them and started firing, severely injuring all 3 of them. Once this news reached us we sprung up for action. This was different. It wasn’t simply arguments over oil and secrets. They had actually tried to kill our brothers, severely injuring them. I remember after my injury in Ghazwatul-Khayr I met one of the brothers who was injured during this attack. We shared the same room in the hospital. I would listen to his moans every night from the pain he was experiencing, watching as he was carried to the toilet, unable to walk, sit or use the toilet by himself. Seeing your brothers injured is one of the most hurtful experiences you can have. It’s not easy on a persons heart.
These are the 3 experiences I will never forget and this is what first changed my opinion of Jabhatun-Nusrah. The next issue was the issue of the Sahawāt. The funding that was being given to various groups in order to fight against Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah. Indeed this scheme was a hidden plot from a long time before it happened. How strange that we were in Dayruz-Zūr fighting against the government forces in such a great number and suddenly we were attacked in Haleb by various groups from this new group by the name of Jabhatul-Islāmiyyah, which was simply a new title for Jayshul-Hurr, Ahrārush-Shām and a few other groups. Muhājirīn and Ansār were killed, muhājirāt were raped and killed and Jabhatun-Nusrah were no where to be seen. They were offering no help as in the beginning Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah needed support as more than 1000 of our men were in Dayruz-Zūr fighting against the government forces and I’m witness to this, my injury was in this battle. They attacked us in our weakest spot as we have never actually controlled Haleb, therefore it wasn’t hard for them to attack us the way they did. In the end our men had to leave Dayruz-Zūr and aid our brothers in Haleb because of how tough the fighting was. The next step Jabhatul-Islāmiyyah took was attacking us in Raqqah alongside Jabhatun-Nusrah, which I referred to as ‘Chinese Nusrah’ as there was no way we could imagine the real Jabhatun-Nusrah would fight us alongside these groups. We were also aware that many from Jayshul-Hurr had recently made bay’ah to Jabhatun-Nusrah which would explain this situation. Ahrārush-Shām had a huge part to play in this attack on Raqqah, taking captive brothers, injured and even our sisters. Praise be to Allah none of the sisters were harmed and were returned back to us safely once the Amīr of Raqqah threatened to send istishhād vehicles towards them in rows if they didn’t return them. Maybe two days after being forced out of Raqqah, the brothers surrounded the city and took it by force, leaving no other group to exist except Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah, which is now our stronghold in Shām. One of the people who was executed during the retaking of Raqqah was, Abū Sa’d al-Hadramī and he was executed for feeding information to Jayshul-Hurr during the attack on Raqqah against Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah. There are many lies spread about the reason for his execution but the reality is, he was executed for issues I Muwallāt.
Now the final step which broke the camels back, was when Jabhatun-Nusrah attacked us in Dayruz-Zūr with Ahrārush-Shām claiming firstly that they were fighting us because we are bullying and attacking the others groups. Apparently one of the reasons for this attack on us was to make us submit, to stop fighting against so called ‘mujahidūn’ and bring us back to fighting against the government forces because apparently all we do is fight other groups of mujahidūn. Praise be to Allah this backfired on them all, each and every group. Each and every time they attacked us, Allah gave us victory over them, even though we are few and they are many and the fighting continues. Allah - the Most High - says:
"…and never will you be availed by your [large] company at all, even if it should increase; and [that is] because Allah is with the believers." [8:19]
We ask Allah to keep us steadfast and expose their lies and propaganda. There could be a lot more said such as; why did Jabhatun-Nusrah take the side of these groups when they were funded with weapons by the likes of Turkey, Saudi, Qatar and so on? Why during this period of time have they donated ammunition towards the PKK? why did they continue to fight us after Sheikh Abū Muhammad al-Maqdisī told them to stop? Why are there rumours from ex members of Jabhatun-Nusrah that when Sheikh al-Maqdisī released this statement, Amīr al-Jawlānī was placed under house arrest because he wanted a cease fire, but this is simply a brief answer to a question.
