From the Biographies of the Distinguished Martyrs: (40) Muhammad bin Saud al-Mutayri "al-Battar"
The final "distinguished martyr," a dual operative of AQI and AQBH
The fortieth and final “distinguished martyr” is Muhammad bin Saud al-Mutayri–his original given name was Sami–a Saudi jihadist who operated both in Iraq and in Saudi Arabia. This makes him a key data point in the long overlap between Islamic State and the original AQAP (also called AQBH, AQ fi Bilad al-Haramayn). This entry is written not by Abu Ismail al-Muhajir nor by Abu Abdul Malik (as the previous two entries were), but by a new figure: Abdul A'la al-Mudari. Not much is known about him, but presumably the other authors were killed during the writing of the series.
Returning to Mutayri, we learn he was initially a troubled youth but from a stridently Salafi family in the Hijaz. Before the war, he was arrested for street fights and spent some time in Saudi prison. Once released, he underwent a religious awakening, largely due to his Salafi mother. Then, Mutayri and his brother, Rakan Abu al-Walid, entered Iraq in February 2004. Two months later, Rakan fought and likely died in the First Battle of Fallujah. Interestingly, around this same time, Mutayri was sent back to Saudi Arabia on the orders of Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad’s (JTJ) leadership. This would mean that traffic between Iraq and Saudi Arabia went both ways, not strictly from Saudi to Iraq. This would require fairly mature logistical networks between JTJ and AQBH–or a broader Middle Eastern jihadist network (a “Salafist International”)1 that assisted all jihadists, as theorized by Nibras Kazimi.
In any case, after his re-entry to Arabia, Mutayri and his older brother were again arrested by Saudi authorities. Mutayri immediately began planning their escape, which he achieved some months later. He went right back to work, joining an AQBH cell led by a jihadist named Muhammad al-Julaydan. They planned operations against the Saudi government, but soon had to depart from Arabia to Iraq. Mutayri settled in Ninawa, working as a media operative in the field, especially in and around Mosul. Two months after his entry, at a meeting with the Emir of Northern Iraq–a North African jihadist named Abu Qasurah al-Maghribi–Mutayri met the author of the biography, Mudari, and they began to work closely together. Mutayri was later killed during a raid, though he reportedly sought to eventually return to Arabia and fight the Saudi government. The rest of the biography is devoted to his character, which finally concludes this series.
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
To God is the mother who gave birth to you, and from the spring of pure creed she quenched and nourished you. So you were pure-hearted and truthful of tongue. Your countenance would dispel the worries of the soul and scatter its sorrow. I knew you several years before the migration, a young man whose worldly life would buffet–sometimes it would pull him, and sometimes he would pull it...
But despite that, you were a man whose noble character and chivalry prevented you from many sins and disobediences. I knew you to be brave, daring, loyal, with a unique upbringing and a sound innate nature.
Your parting is like the parting of life itself, and your loss is like the loss of a constant water source. Peace be upon you, for how much loyalty do I part with in you, and how much generosity?
Brother Muhammad bin Saud al-Mutayri, may God have mercy on him
Muhammad bin Saud al-Mutayri "al-Battar" from the village of Hadhah in the land of Hijaz. He was truthful to God, so God was truthful to him–we hold this opinion of him, but we do not sanctify him over God.
His eyes witnessed many events and upheavals, which had a great impact on his soul. Among these was his experience in prison, which was not in the Cause of God, but rather due to a fight between him and a young man like himself, for which he was imprisoned for several months. His eyes saw all kinds of youth falling short in their duty to God. And because he was a man born and raised in a righteous, striving family–we will pause to speak of it–it had a profound effect on the formation of his personality and thinking. Therefore, after God's Guidance, he learned the difference between good and evil, and he knew God's Favor upon him for having raised him in the care of this pure family. Then he knew that this world and its pleasures are but like the mirage of dreams; they soon vanish, leaving you grasping nothing. And then he also reviewed himself thoroughly and returned to his Lord repentant, returning, worshipping...
The Blessed Family
A family whose foundation was laid by a righteous, pure, virtuous, and steady mother. She took upon herself the task of raising her children with a righteous upbringing. Her concern was not to have a son who was an engineer, pilot, or doctor, yet hollow in religion and tainted in creed. Rather, her greatest concern was to plant the pure creed in their hearts and raise them upon it. God granted her success in this and knew the sincerity of her intention–we hold this opinion of her, but God is her Reckoner–so He honored her with the martyrdom of two of her sons; one of them was my travel companion and the friend of my heart, the possessor of high ambition and sincere resolve, Rakan Abu al-Walid, who was most likely2 killed in the First Battle of Fallujah.
The second was the fierce hero and unique, daring adventurer who knew no fear when faced with grave danger, Sami by name and by nature. He entered Iraq before the First Battle of Fallujah with his brother Rakan and stayed for two months. Then the brothers sent him back to the Arabian Peninsula for a specific task, and he was imprisoned there for eight months. After that, he returned to Iraq and stayed for a short period, during which he survived a bombardment that targeted the house he was living in. God saved him for a momentous day.
He returned to the Peninsula by order of the brothers and stayed there also for a short time, participating with his brothers there in some operations. God decreed that he be captured again, along with his older brother Salih. He began planning to escape from prison from the very first day he entered. After studying the prison's vulnerabilities, he planned for it, and indeed they achieved what they wanted. Sami told me that he was certain, by God, that he would be able to escape, and he had threatened the vile director of the Alshiya prison, Abu Turki, with death if God destined his release–knowing that such an explicit threat could complicate his case further. But he was certain that God would enable him and make it easy for him. Among the things he told me was that he used to write his name on the prison walls and say, "Remember Abu Turab al-Mutayri…"
After God granted him favor by his escape, he stayed in the Peninsula with a group of brothers who had escaped from prisons. Their leader was the mujahid brother Muhammad al-Julaydan, may God have mercy on him.
They formed a cell for operations in the Peninsula, but God did not decree a long stay for them, so God the Most High chose them for martyrdom, may God have mercy on them all.
The raid in which Sami al-Mutayri and his brothers were killed, may God have mercy on them
After their death, our hero Muhammad departed for the Land of the Two Rivers. He settled in the Northern Province and began working as a field media operative. In his early days, he was caught in an ambush by the apostates in one of the neighborhoods of Mosul. He and his companion engaged them, and he was hit by several bullets in his leg. It was not long before God healed him, and then he returned to his work. Two months after his arrival, the first meeting between me and him took place in the desert, while we were guests of the Emir of the North, Shaykh Abu Qasurah al-Maghribi, may God have mercy on him. When I saw him, I praised God abundantly for His Favor. It was an intimate meeting that moved everyone present. From that day, we were together until a week before his death, when he left our position for another location that was then raided and besieged. He engaged them and was killed, advancing, not retreating, may God have mercy on him.
He wished from God to fight the tyrants in the Arabian Peninsula, and he was among the people who hated them the most.
The brother is killed - may God have mercy on him
He carried within his chest a pure, clean heart. What was in his heart would flow onto his pure tongue. He was, may God have mercy on him, among the people most chaste in tongue and gaze, possessed of intense modesty, truthful in word and deed, generous and giving, deeply concerned with security matters and well-informed about them. He loved to learn anything that would benefit him in his field. So he was skilled in using computers and was proficient in forgery. God opened through his hands many matters that we still benefit from to this day..
And now, O Muhammad, O beloved of the heart: Sleep with a content eye, at rest… By God's leave, there is no more terror after today, no worry, no fatigue. Sleep, O pure and virtuous one, the sleep of a bridegroom. For you were on the verge of marriage in this world, but God, glorified be He, willed other than that for you. Receive glad tidings, by God, for I believe you did not leave your home for worldly gain or pleasure, but you sought the Face of God and the elevation of His Word. So I ask the Master, the Rich, the Generous, the Kind, the Most Merciful to grant you the best that He grants a martyr in His cause, and to make your grave a garden from the gardens of Paradise.
Farewell, O most generous of men, but until we meet again. By God, your parting is difficult and your absence is unbearable, but such is the state of this world–it does not remain in one state..
In the depths of the heart and soul will remain for you a hidden affection on a day when secrets are laid bare
Be patient, O his grieving mother, for you are a school of patience. Be steadfast, for you saddened him in his last communication with you. I saw him afterwards and knew it from his face. He said to me, "God's curse be upon the tyrants, and may God make their poverty in their hearts, and preoccupy them with themselves." So, O mother of Salih, Muhammad would always mention your steadfastness and patience, so continue, for deeds are judged by their endings. And this world is but a fleeting, deceptive enjoyment; if it benefited anyone, it would have benefited the kings before us–so where are they now?…
I ask God to pour patience upon you, to strengthen your heart, and to make you steadfast...
Written by:
Abdul A'la al-Mudari
I owe the term to Kazimi. A jihadist source also strongly implied the existence of such an International.
That Mudari does not definitively know whether Rakan died in Fallujah reveals his distance from the earliest days of the movement. Abu Ismail al-Muhajir was intimately aware of JTJ’s formation, let alone the First Battle of Fallujah. Mudari seems to have joined JTJ some time after this battle.