From the Biographies of the Distinguished Martyrs: (39) Abu Maysara al-Iraqi
The final Iraqi cofounder
Abu Maysara al-Iraqi
The penultimate “distinguished martyr” is Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, the last documented Iraqi cofounder of Islamic State and the organization’s first media chief and spokesman. The author is again stated as Abu Abdul Malik, not Abu Ismail al-Muhajir. We learn key details about the pre-war Iraqi jihadist scene.
Surprisingly, Abu Maysara belonged to an originally Shiite family from Kadhimiya in Baghdad. At some point, he began attending a Sunni mosque and became Salafi before later converting his family as well. This was during the Faith Campaign in the 1990s. During his studies of Sunni Islam and Salafism, Abu Maysara learned from and became friends with Muharib Abu Abdullah al-Jaburi, who, in 2006, would replace him as the spokesman of Mujahidin Shura Council and become the first Islamic State spokesman.1
Muharib Abu Abdullah al-Jaburi
Abu Maysara is not the only known case of an Iraqi Shiite converting to Salafism and eventually joining the jihadist movement. Readers may recall a similar story shared in a YouTube comment under a video by Nibras Kazimi. The commenter reported that his bus driver to university “was a Wahhabi. He was of Shiite origin, but his family converted to Wahhabism during the Faith Campaign that Saddam launched in the ‘90s.” Unlike that individual, who only went militant after Saddam’s defeat, Abu Maysara became an active jihadist during the final years of Baathist Iraq.
He joined a jihadist-inclined cell in Baghdad (a known hotbed) and began proselytizing for jihadism. The cell made steps towards becoming a militant organization, but they were arrested by the Baathist intelligence services and sent to prison. Abu Maysara and the rest of the cell were released months before the Coalition invasion. They may have been freed during the political prisoner amnesty announced in October 2002.2
After the fall of Baghdad, Abu Maysara once again began to agitate and organize for jihadism. His exact introduction to Zarqawi is left unsaid, but he almost certainly encountered Zarqawi in Baghdad through the jihadist networks operating in the city. It is possible they may have met before the war, as Zarqawi entered Iraq in November 2002 and had embedded in a Palestinian neighborhood in Baghdad. Abu Maysara joined Zarqawi and was among the twelve founders of Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad. Upon the group’s public announcement in April 2004, Abu Maysara was appointed its spokesman and media chief, especially on jihadist forums, which Abu Abdul Malik praises as “the first generation of those steadfastly defending the frontier of the international information network.” Already at this early stage, the Iraqi jihadists recognized the central important of internet media. Remarkably, Abu Maysara was only twenty-four years old when appointed to this position. He was later killed by the explosion of a hand grenade during a Coalition raid in 2006.
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
He was cheerful, smiling, courageous, and magnanimous, a lover of knowledge and its people. He was known for his call to monotheism and for disavowing the people of shirk and condemning them, and for exposing the innovations of the Murji'ah and revealing their deviations and refuting them...
He was born (may God have mercy on him) in the city of al-Kadhimiya in Karkh, Baghdad, into a family that adhered to the Rafidah creed and methodology, and who traced their lineage to the House of al-Sa'di. His family later moved to another district in Baghdad to settle near a mosque belonging to Ahlus-Sunnah. It was not long before our brother joined Quran memorization classes, growing up in obedience to God under the shade of the mosques and in the care of the people of knowledge and its students.
He learned monotheism, acted upon it, and taught it to his family. So, God opened their hearts to monotheism just as He had opened his heart. Then, despite his young age, he joined the lessons of Shaykh al-Musnad Subhi al-Badri. He learned: the chained hadith with priority, the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi, the Bayquniyyah system, the summary of the sciences of hadith, Nuzhat al-Nadhar Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikr, the Sahih al-Jami’ of Imam al-Bukhari, and other books.
Our companion continued to seek knowledge from its people. He read to them al-Tajrid al-Sarih by al-Zubaydi, al-Shama'il al-Muhammadiyah by al-Tirmidhi, attended lessons explaining Sahih al-Bukhari, and ‘Aun al-Ma'bud Sharh Sunan Abi Dawud, and he received a general Ijazah [license to narrate] for those narrations.
In Fiqh [jurisprudence] and Usul [principles of jurisprudence], he read most of what is in the two books al-Muhalla and al-Ihkam fi Usul al-Ahkam by Imam Abu Muhammad ibn Hazm and was greatly influenced by his school of thought. He also studied grammar, rhetoric, morphology, logic, and debate.
He attended the classes of other shaykhs and students of knowledge and drank from their knowledge, among them the Mujahid Shaykh Muharib Abu Abdullah al-Jaburi–may God have mercy on him and grant him spacious gardens in Paradise.
His pursuit of knowledge and study circles did not prevent him from working, Da'wah, and enduring harm. He joined the group of monotheists in Baghdad early on, before leaving them. He worked in the field of calling to pure monotheism, disavowing the polytheists, and working towards establishing a jihadist group...
He achieved this, as he and a group of his companions formed a scholarly nucleus as a preliminary step to building a jihadist group. It lasted a few months before God decreed that it would fall into the hands of the intelligence service of the tyrant of the Ba'ath Party, Saddam. They were not released until just before the Crusader invasion of Iraq. He emerged (may God have mercy on him) from prison more aware and informed about the affairs of collective work, and more careful not to be captured again, for "A believer is not stung in the same hole twice." And whoever is sincere with God, He will be sincere with him.
Baghdad fell into the hands of the new Crusader invaders, and America advanced with its cavalry and infantry, raising its idol of Democracy and compelling people to worship it. The traitors among the Arabs and non-Arabs obeyed it, while the people of Islam rose up to defend the religion. Abu Maysara al-Iraqi was among the first to answer the call–
"O horses of God, ride forth! O knights of Islam, rise up!"
With this, Abu Maysara went around to his companions. He struggled and exerted effort, and God benefited others through him. It was only a matter of days before he joined the first vanguard forming Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad. He was, may God have mercy on him, close to Shaykh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, may God have mercy on him, and was beloved by those who knew him. After the announcement of the group, he was appointed deputy head of the media department and an official spokesman for the group on the internet and on jihadist forums (may God honor its men) gathering around him the first generation of those steadfastly defending the frontier of the international information network.
During this time, our companion reached the age of twenty-four and began thinking about starting a Muslim household. He chose for this a noble sister from among the best women, truly one who could be considered from the descendants of al-Khansa'. He sought God's Guidance and consulted others, then proceeded towards his goal.
He proposed to her, and the marriage contract was performed. Nothing remained but the wedding night. But Abu Maysara willed one thing, and God willed a better thing for him.
Our companion went on his way, hoping for the forgiveness of his Lord. He and three of his companions–Abu Sufyan Hassan al-Zaydi, Abu Abdulaziz, and another brother whose name I have forgotten–made a pact not to be captured and to fight until martyrdom. They were all truthful in the pact they made; we hold this opinion of them, and God is their Reckoner. Our companion fulfilled his pledge after the Crusaders besieged the residence he shared with his companion Abu Abdulaziz. They engaged the enemies of God and inflicted damage upon them. However, they had an appointment with martyrdom. Abu Abdulaziz departed first, then our companion–the Lion of Flags, Abu Maysara al-Iraqi–joined him after being hit by shrapnel from a hand grenade thrown by the enemies of God.
One of the brothers informed me that when he was in the prisons of the Crusaders, they showed him a picture of Abu Maysara al-Iraqi–killed. The brother said: "By God, I have never seen a face like his face. The light of martyrdom was apparent upon him. It increased my steadfastness, and God strengthened my heart. The injury was in the head, and blood was flowing down his face. It was as if he was asleep, and his sight strengthens hearts by the will of God."
By God, O Abu Maysara, God has favored you over us and chosen you from among us. We testify that you acted upon what you knew and fulfilled what you pledged. So, may God have vast mercy on you, grant you the high ranks of the highest Firdaus in Paradise, and gather us and you in the Gardens of Bliss as brothers facing each other on thrones...
Longing for you, from which tears flow... and an ardent grief for you, for which ribs feel constricted.
Written by:
Abu Abdul Malik
Cf. Craig Whiteside, “Lighting the Path: the Evolution of the Islamic State Media Enterprise (2003-2016),” International Center for Counter-Terrorism, 15 November, 2016. https://icct.nl/publication/lighting-path-evolution-islamic-state-media-enterprise-2003-2016
Cf. Rory McCarthy, “Saddam sets free political prisoners,” The Guardian, 20 October, 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/21/iraq.rorymccarthy