From our perspective, it was only a matter of time before Al-Qaida in the Land of the Two Rivers discounted news published by Mafkarat al-Islam (Islam Memo in English) as the controversy surrounding the media outlet continues to grow. And that’s Al-Qaida did Sunday in a lengthy statement.
As our regular readers know, we have had concerns about Islam Memo’s reporting for some time now, to the point that we addressed a letter to them on February 28th 2005 asking some specific questions about their coverage and agenda. That letter went unanswered. Since that time, we have been using Islam Memo for supporting news only, as a means to broaden our coverage. We rarely publish the Iraqi Resistance Report, rather we publish selected news items from Islam Memo as a secondary news source for items not reported elsewhere. While it may not be as an exciting of a read, the statements from the Mujahideen are a direct source of information, not something interpreted by a reporter and at JUS we rank these the most reliable sources. From there, we publish a broad scope of news items and articles on the basis of “news that let’s you decide”
Now that Al-Qaida in the Land of the Two Rivers has openly rebuked them, which follows criticism from other Mujahideen groups, there is sure to be further reservations concerning the validity of Mafkarat al-Islam news.
The specific allegations against Islam Memo are:
- That they are Saudi funded with the purpose of painting a discouraging picture of the Mujahideen under the guise of jihad news. There are some rumors of a connection with Saudi Sulul forces.
- They are accused of not getting their news from the Mujahideen but rather US-backed Iraqi officials and national groups with an agenda. In addition, there is criticism for not referring to the Mujahideen as such but rather as “Resistance fighters”.
- They are accused of promoting a secular national Iraq.
- They are accused of estimating casualties and relying on less than credible eyewitnesses.
- They are accused of altering footage to remove Al-Qaida’s logo to claim it as their own.
To this we say, Allah knows best. That said, the fact that Al-Qaida has now raised the issue publicly, we at JUS will be closely watching Islam Memo’s response in the coming days.
Here is Al-Qaida’s statement, published here uncut and uncensored, as translated by JUS.
We remind our viewers that the opinions and points of view expressed in this statement are those of the author and shall not be deemed to mean that they are necessarily those of Jihad Unspun, the publisher, editor, writers, contributors or staff.
Al-Qaida To Islam Memo: Stop Lying About Mujahideen
Praise be to Allah who raised the skies and set up the balance (of justice). Peace and prayers be upon our prophet, Muhammad who was sent with the sword to establish justice and goodness, his family, and his companions, the brave and courageous Mujahideen.
Islam memo published the following news item by its correspondence in Ramadi in which the following allegations were made:
“Four Sunni citizens were killed at the hands of Al-Qaida operatives this morning as they made their exit from a voting booth after casting a “No” vote on the constitution, according to relatives of the victims….” The news item goes on until it says:
“The question now is: When would Al-Qaida organization stop spilling the blood of fellow Muslims using all kinds of excuses? The excuse today was “voting on the constitution”, before that, members of “Islamic Party” were made lawful target for the same reason. And before that, al-Qaida operatives fought other resistance groups at the time of Fallujah 2 to force them to pledge allegiance to Zarqawi according to the wishes of Bin Laden. This confrontation resulted in weakening the resistance and caused the American occupiers to storm the southern part of Faloujah after resistance fighters have made advances in the north.”
This was not the first time that Islam Memo propagated lies about Al-Qaida. However, this time we felt compelled to refute their lies as their hidden agenda during this critical time became clear. The Ummah is living in a very critical time in its tedious struggle against the enemies of Allah and it is that time that has been chosen by Islam Memo to advance their agenda against the party of Tawhid. Although there have been many violations of Shariah committed by Islam Memo’s site, a site that is supposed to be an Islamic one, we have opted to limit our response to the false allegations regarding the above incident only to be brief.
First: One cannot fail to see the unfairness of the correspondence (the one who wrote this news item) and his hatred for Mujahideen. This approach (Islam Memo’s approach to Mujahideen news) has nothing to do with “honesty and accuracy in delivering the news” but it has everything to do with a certain political position that has been adopted by Islam Memo. Just take a closer look to their statement: “When will Al-Qaida stop spilling the blood of fellow Muslims…” What did they really intend to convey?
Second: Their conclusion regarding the above incident was based on multiple lies:
1. We have asked many brothers in the area and we could not verify the allegations of having 4 Muslim brothers killed as they exited a voting booth. As to accuse Al-Qaida of committing the crime (assuming it did happen) is totally false. Our position has been made clear: We decided not to target voting booths. We have reached this decision after we realized that many ordinary, less informed, and innocent Muslims may have fallen for the erroneous fatwa that it was their duty to vote no on the constitution in order to kill it. Those ill advised and uninformed Muslims have been confused by the heavy propaganda campaign carried out by enemies of Islam that caused them to be misled. Those Muslims are unaware of the Islamic Shariah position with regards to participating in an act of Kufr. Voting on manmade constitution is illegal in Islam.
Our media department has exposed another lie not too long ago. It was alleged that a statement made by Sheikh Abu Mesa’ab, may Allah preserve him, in which he calls for killing Sunni people if they vote on the constitution. This lie was heavily propagated by all news outlets. The way this lie was presented by Islam Memo went as follows: “News media around the world is circulating what did not come as a surprise to us……”
Our Shariah committee has made our position with regard to the constitution very clear. Sheikh Abu Hamza Al-Baghdadi, may Allah preserve him, in a lengthy statement, made it very clear that Sunni people are our brothers and sisters and they have not been targeted by us at all.
- Their allegation that we have made the blood of members of the Islamic Party lawful is totally false. We challenge them to present a proof as to where and when did we announce that. While it is true that we have serious differences with that misguided party but we did not target its members for killing. What is true though is we have targeted the leaders of this party as they have deviated from true Islam and began to promote the kafir agenda. And as such they became an enemy to Islam and Muslims.
- In the news item, Islam memo claimed that Al-Qaida Mujahideen engaged in an armed confrontation with other “resistance” groups to force them to pledge allegiance to Zarqawi as requested by Bin Laden. Glory is to Allah, this cannot be farther from the truth. We have not threatened (with weapons) any Muslim who is staying behind (not joining the Mujahideen caravan); let alone a Muslim who is actively fighting the enemies of Allah. How could anyone in his right mind entertain such thought?
It is so sad that a party of people who have given up everything in life in order to defend the religion of Allah and establish La Ilaha Illa Allah is being slandered like this. Is this the way to recognize heroes of our Ummah?
As to the issue of allegiance which has been misrepresented in a very impolite way, our position is very clear to our brothers in other Mujahideen groups. We have never made allegiance to Zarqawi a pre-requisite for aiding or looking after our Muslim brothers. Aiding our Muslim brothers is a duty, the level of that aid and support depends on good they adhere to the Islamic Shariah.
Third: As to Islam memo conclusion (based on lies) that we have made Muslim blood lawful, this is an old trick that surface any time, anywhere there is Jihad. We find no better response than the one offered my Sheikh Yousef Al-Iri, may Allah gives him mercy, he said: “Explain how and why would we risk everything, leave our good life and go to Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, Somalia, Kashmir, and other places to defend the religion of Allah? We went there to defend the honor and religion of Muslims. We went there to sacrifice our blood in order to preserve theirs. How is it possible that on one hand we travel thousands of miles to defend Muslims and on the other hand we spill Muslim blood right here at home? How could anyone accept such conclusion?
No one with decent mind accepts that, let alone, one who knows Allah’s Shariah. We are not a misguided party and we do not make a blanket Takfir (calling an entire community Kafir community) on any Muslim community. If that was true, why did we go to defend our brothers in Bosnia and Chechnya whose knowledge of Islam does not go beyond “Shahadah”?
We do not understand why this ferocious campaign against Mujahideen is occurring at the present time. This is exactly what the cross worshippers and their collaborators want to see. They want to stop the spread of Jihad that has already started to dismantle their dreams. They (Islam Memo team) will be well advised to aim their arrows in the direction of the brothers of swine and Apes and those who promote “National Islam.”
Allah knows those who mean harm from those who mean good. Their testimony will be recorded and they will be questioned about it.
{And Allah has full power and control over His affairs; but most among mankind know it not.} 12:21
Allahu Akbar…Allahu Akbar…Allahu Akbar
Glory is to Allah, His messenger, and to the MujahideenMedia Division
Al-Qaida in the Land of the Two Rivers
nerdified link
So which is the fake? AQ? Mafkarat? Every few days, for those unfamiliar with this particular area of the internets, somebody calls out Jihad Unspun as a CIA plant. This has been going on for years. Years. Ever since Agent bin Laden went on sabbatical.
I eagerly await a letter from Zawahiri to clarify this matter.