The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On December 6, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) information bureau in Iraq's Al-Anbar province released a 10-minute video titled "Walaa' wa-Baraa' [i.e. loyalty to Islam and Muslims and renunciation of apostates]."[1] The video focuses on the story of Abu-Al-Baraa' Al-Urduni – Muhammad Mazen Al-Dhala'in, the son of Jordanian MP Mazen Al-Dhala'in, who joined ISIS in Iraq and carried out a suicide attack against Iraqi Army soldiers in the Al-Ramadi region. The video describes Muhammad's transformation from a young Jordanian bon vivant who even studied medicine in Ukraine into an ISIS suicide fighter loyal to ISIS's view of Islam who renounced his family.
The video compares Muhammad Al-Dhala'in/Abu-Baraa' and his loyalty to and defense of his religion to his father and other MPS who, it says, serve the Jordanian taghut, or tyrant – that is, King 'Abdallah II and the royal family. In the video, Abu-Baraa' threatens the king before embarking on his suicide mission, promising him, inter alia, that he will not escape punishment and that ISIS members will arrive on the appointed date and slaughter the members of the Jordanian Parliament.
A narrator opens the video, enumerating the immense achievements of the "young" Caliphate to date. He compares its fighters and their loyalty to Islam and to the Muslims, and who endeavored to defend them, with others who have failed to renounce the apostates and who continue to shelter in their midst. He claims that ISIS considers the Jordanian MPs "apostates" and "enemies," and stresses that the loyal fighters were not taken in by the lies of the Salafi-jihadi clerics (primarily those affiliated with Al-Qaeda), and nevertheless went forth to defend their religion and people. Branding these clerics henchmen of the tawaghit (tyrants, i.e. the Arab leaders), he says that they "constitute a rod in the tyrants' hands, who move it about as they please and smite with it as they please."
Next, the narrator presents Abu Baraa' as a model of a young man who chose to side with those loyal to Islam and who renounced even his family and his father, stating that he was born in the town of 'Ay in Al-Karak district, grew up lacking for nothing, and received a good education. He then went to the Ukraine to complete his medical studies, at Kharkov University, according to the narrator. The most formative event and turning point in his life was ISIS's capture of the Jordanian pilot Moaz Al-Kasasbeh, who was both a relative of his and also from 'Ay, said the narrator, and added that Abu Baraa' subsequently realized that the murtada – apostate – Jordanian government is effectively waging a war on the Islamic religion and on Muslims. He then decided to join ISIS in Iraq in order to assist his unfortunate Muslim brothers and in order to cleanse his family's shame.
Abu Baraa' in a photo from his previous life, apparently during his time in the Ukraine
Then the video shows segments from news reports in which his father tells of his son's religious radicalization and his attempts to dissuade him from traveling to Iraq.
Next, the video shows Abu Baraa' before he sets out for his suicide mission, and warning the Jordanian king 'Abdullah II: "This is a message to the tyrant of Jordan. Know, oh 'Abdallah son of Hussein, that you are an apostate who is short of stature. By my life, there is no God but Allah; even if you escape our hands, you will not succeed in escaping the hands of Allah – may He be praised and exalted. Even if you manage to escape our punishment, you will not managed to escape Allah's punishment." He then addresses the Jordanian MPs, including his father: "To all the tyrants in the Jordanian parliament, by the life of Allah, the one and only, we will come to slaughter you. I have sworn an oath that we will come to slaughter you, we will reach you, [we, the] men who love death as much as you love life. By my life, we are coming to slaughter you, oh you tyrants."
The final part of the video shows Abu Baraa' driving an armored personnel carrier armed with explosives at a position manned by Iraqi Army soldiers in the Al-Jarashiya region north of Al-Ramadi, and blowing it up with him inside. Later on, the video shows his friend, Abu Muhammad Al-Jazrawi, driving another APC armed with explosives at the same target, and doing likewise.
The video concludes with a background image of Abu Baraa' and the Jordanian pilot Al-Kasasbeh, with the narrator stating: "How great is the distance between one who spilled his blood to exalt the word of Allah [i.e. Abu-Baraa'] and one who spilled his blood on behalf of a war upon Allah's religion [i.e. Al-Kasasbeh]."
Abu Baraa' and friend, likely the suicide bomber 'Abd Al-Hamid Al-Jazrawi who followed up Abu-Baraa's suicide attack with his own.
