From the Biographies of the Distinguished Martyrs: (21) Abu Muhammad al-Jazairi
The twenty-first “distinguished martyr” is Abu Muhammad al-Jazairi, an Algerian jihadist who died in Fallujah. His biography is dedicated to his battlefield exploits and bravery in the city, unfortunately revealing little about JTJ in this period. However, it mentions that Jazairi’s body did not decompose after his death, despite exposure to the desert climate. This is an important motif in Islamic martyr biographies. Again and again, we hear the refrain that a martyr “had not changed,” meaning had not rotted, after their death. This is not a merely jihadist theme. It is rooted in many Islamic sources, particularly the hadith, which state that the bodies of martyrs do not decompose. I have seen many instances of this motif in martyr biographies coming from Gaza, dead civilians and fighters alike. It is up to the reader to trust or distrust these stories.
Abu Muhammad al-Jazairi
He is the pious, the pure, the brave military man, indeed, the daring and reckless, with a clean heart (an open book), whenever you wish, you read it, with no ambiguity in its letters or meanings.
He arrived in the Land of Two Rivers before the first Fallujah, and stayed with Shaykh Uthman al-Ma’adhidi. Since the Shaykh–may God have mercy on him and grant him spacious gardens–was a Sufi mujahid and my companion a strict Salafist, he requested to live with Abdul Hadi al-Yemeni in a separate apartment, and so it was. The first Fallujah ensued, and its intensity grew.
While we were in the Golan, I saw a tall, thin young man with slight baldness carrying a Russian PKT (a heavy Goryunov). Iraqi soldiers had modified it to be used like the BKC, and he came with the reinforcements who rushed to help their brothers in the Golan.
When the helicopter came, the Lion of the Golan (previously mentioned), Abu Nassir al-Libi, stepped into an open area and began raining it with a barrage from the PKT.
It was my habit to boost the morale of the heroes so they could keep up and ensure a heavy fire, but I was surprised by this young man emerging from the crowd, chanting "Allahu Akbar," then taking his position and starting to rain the helicopter with a barrage of fire while continuously chanting "Allahu Akbar." Suddenly, everyone chanted, and then I saw white smoke emanating from the rear of the helicopter, and it began to descend into hell.
I approached the lion of a man and said to him, "May God reward you with good, for by God, you did not fall short or fail." He simply said with humility and shyness, “Thanks be to God,” and said no more. I then asked him to stay with us in the Golan, and the man agreed, even welcomed it. The battle continued, and every time the man proved that he was a man of situations.
One day, he said to me verbatim: “Glory be to God, my brother, when I see Abu Nassir by my side in the fight or in the line, by God, I feel at ease."
I carried these words to Abu Nassir, both to encourage him and to let him know that Abu Muhammad loved him. He said: "Glory be to God, by God, I feel the same as he does, and I do not doubt that he is braver than me." Then I discussed with Abu Muhammad about joining and pledging allegiance, and he said, "I am an obedient soldier without allegiance, and allegiance is an honor and a religion, so welcome to it, and whoever does not honor it, and whoever does not love allegiance unto death." By God, I was extremely happy with him and said to myself: "This, by God, is the treasure."
The first Fallujah ended with victory and triumph, and we began a stage harder than the first, the stage of building, building the city militarily and before that, faith-wise. But truth be told, Abu Muhammad was not convinced that the people here were serious that jihad was a religion for them, not nationalism or patriotism, and he was right regarding a number of weak souls who came after the battle and wanted to reap the fruit on the blood of the martyrs and the limbs of the disabled. We know that we found goodness in this land that we did not find in many, and God chose it for the elevation of His religion and the establishment of the banner of jihad in His land.
One day, orders were issued to prepare the groups and go out to the highway to cut off the American convoys, and Abu Muhammad was the leader of one of these groups. This was a mistake because the man was brave to the point of recklessness, but he was also wise. Indeed, he scouted the location of his group and took them to the closest possible place to the enemy and said to the brothers, "We will start shooting from this place and in the manner of the arrowhead, advancing and lying down until we reach the target. And if orders come to withdraw for any reason, whether a weapon malfunction, intense enemy fire, or the ineffectiveness of our weapons against the tanks, this is a large and deep hole to retreat into. If we enter it, the enemy will not see us, and then we take the second step and so on until they are secure."
Indeed, the advance was made, and Abu Muhammad advanced until he exhausted the enemy, and in the midst of his engagement and firing at them, the tanks surrounded them, so he ordered a withdrawal, and he and those with him withdrew to the hole, thanking God for their safety. When he counted his brothers, he found that two of them had not returned, so he went back to search for them, and the brothers tried to convince him not to go as the enemy was in front of them, but he refused strongly and insisted on going to search for his brothers. However, Abu Muhammad went and did not return, yes, he did not return to this day, and I have not met him, and perhaps I will meet him in a home better than ours and in security after fear, for God is the most merciful of the merciful.
After the battle ended, we began searching for the brothers and found the two brothers that Abu Muhammad went to search for as martyrs - we consider them as such - but Abu Muhammad we did not see, and we searched and searched, and found no trace of him. I suspected that he was captured, but after five days, we found Abu Muhammad under the enemy's withdrawing towers, so we knew that the man had advanced until he stormed the enemy when he did not see his brothers, then he was martyred, may God have mercy on him. By God, his body, color, or smell had not changed a bit despite the long duration and intense heat.
Written by
Abu Ismail al-Muhajir