Hard-Left journalist Michael Weiss had a chance to speak with a citizen of the Islamic State. Even though he refers to “the so-called Islamic State” in the subhead to this article, he didn’t take the opportunity to ask this jihadi any questions about why he spoke exclusively in the rhetoric of Islam even though his group supposedly has nothing to do with Islam, or why he chose to be part of this supposed twisting and hijacking of the true Islam.
Nonetheless, much of what the jihadi says is illuminating, primarily not for what it shows about Weiss’ concerns, that the jihadis are still determined after some battlefield reversals, but for what it shows about their Islamic ideology, which Obama and all other Western leaders continue to ignore and deny.
“Inside the Head of an ISIS True Believer,” by Michael Weiss, Daily Beast, August 29, 2016:
With rare exception, active members of ISIS are notoriously shy about talking to Western reporters. The reason ISIS has invested so heavily in elaborate media and propaganda arms is that its mantra—“Hear from us, not about us”—is designed to demonstrate to fellow travelers and would-be enlistees that what the Crusader-Zionist press says is all lies. The higher metaphysical truth of the “Islamic State” can only be grasped by joining it or listening to what the mujahidin have to say.
For some weeks, I have been in contact via an intermediary with a man I will call Abu Jihad, trying to persuade him to talk to an American reporter. He agreed reluctantly, but as part of the deal, Abu Jihad asked that I not disclose his true identity or current role in the organization, apart from noting that it is by no means senior or even mid-level. He is both a citizen and employee of the caliphate and, importantly, lives in its de facto capital of Raqqa.
Mainly I was interested in probing the captive mind of a true believer. What does he think of his own sodality now that it is losing city after city, and township after township, across Syria and Iraq? I’ve interviewed several ISIS defectors who presented an unvarnished—perhaps selective—view of their erstwhile comrades long after saying goodbye to all that. But what motivates someone to hang in there and remain a loyal subject of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi even in these trying times?
I promised Abu Jihad to record his answers to my questions in full. Where what he says is in obvious contradiction to provable facts, I have added my own commentary in italics.
The Daily Beast: What do you do for ISIS?
Abu Jihad: I have occupied different positions and it’s really not important what your position is during a time of war. You will see judges, scientists, doctors, nurses, all in the same trench fighting Allah’s enemy.
TDB: OK, so what did you do before the Syrian revolution, and when you did arrive in the country?
AJ: I am from Gaza but I was born and raised in Kuwait. We [my family] had to leave during the First Gulf War and so we went to Egypt. I went to school there and graduated from college in Egypt. I went to Syria in early 2012.
TDB: How committed are you to the ISIS ideology and worldview? Did you join the organization right away or did you defect from another rebel or jihadist group?
AJ: I joined Jabhat al Nusra [the official al Qaeda franchise in Syria, now known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham] and during the fight between al Nusra and ISIS [in early 2014] I joined ISIS because I knew it was on the verge of declaring the birth of the Islamic State. Al Nusra didn’t have any clear vision.
TDB: What is it like living in Raqqa now? What are the effects of the coalition war on morale and discipline?
AJ: Thanks to God who gave us the opportunity in our lifetime to see the formation of the Islamic State. Raqqa is the capital of the Islamic State and will always be. We have a good Islamic life here. It is true that we have a few airstrikes once in a while, but we are Muslims, we knew it would not be easy for us to establish our state. We knew that we would struggle and would have hardships along the way.
If you look to the establishment of any nation in the past, it has had to go through what we are going through. The United States, for example, had a civil war for many years before it takes the shape that it has today. France, too, went through a revolution for 30 years. We just declared our Islamic State two years ago and now, as you see, the whole world is against us and yet we are expanding our territory and we are all over the globe.
[In reality, ISIS has lost as much as half the terrain it controlled in July 2014 in Iraq, and about a fifth of that it controlled in Syria at that time. That said, it has established “wilayats” or provinces in the Sinai Peninsula, Libya (where it is also on the backfoot now), Afghanistan, Russia, and beyond. Its spate of terror attacks in the West and Asia and other countries of the Middle East has been the subject of international headlines all throughout 2015 and 2016.]
TDB: How do you see internal support for ISIS among Raqqans?
AJ: Raqqans are the inhabitants of the capital of the Islamic State and they like the way they they live, in peace and safety. Some of them left, but most of them won’t trade their city for the world.
[There hasn’t been a popular grassroots “Sahwa,” or “Awakening” to oppose ISIS in Raqqa, although there are notable pockets of anti-ISIS resistance, particularly the activist organizations Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently and Eye on Raqqa, members of which have been caught by the jihadists and murdered, either in Syria or in southern Turkey. The true extent of Raqqan support for ISIS is not really knowable and won’t be until the terror army is expelled from the city.]
TDB: ISIS has lost a lot of senior leaders in the last two years including Abu Ali al-Anbari, Abu Muslim al-Turkmani, and now Abu Omar al-Shishani. Who are they being replaced with and do you believe that their killings will affect ISIS’s fortunes?
AJ: Killing high-profile ISIS leader and emirs will have no effect on us. People and names are not so important; the most important thing is the ideology. In 2006, they [the Americans] killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi [the founder of ISIS’s predecessor al Qaeda in Iraq] and many others and that didn’t stop the progress of the establishment of the Islamic State. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is just a man. He is the one who declared the birth of the Islamic State but he just kept working on what Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and [Aleppo-born al Qaeda jihadist and theoretician] Abu Musab al-Suri, and many others were working to do. The Prophet Mohammed died 1,400 years ago. Can we say Islam is over? There always will be men who dedicate their lives for the sake of God. They can kill people but the ideology won’t die.
[Here, Abu Jihad has a point: ISIS has over 13 years to be an adaptable and resilient guerrilla insurgency that has survived and even improved upon the loss of successive leaders. With each new anointment of an “emir” or now “caliph,” it transforms itself, usually according to composition at the upper echelons (foreign fighters give way to ex-Saddamists who now appear to be giving way, in some capacities, to Europeans). Abu Jihad’s reference to the current leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as “just a man” is interesting. Although subject to the same sharia jurisprudence as every other inhabitant of the caliphate, al-Baghdadi is the one to whom all must pledge a blood oath of fealty in order to join the organization: Indeed, he is the “Caliph.” This remark may betray a quiet recognition on the part of Abu Jihad that ISIS is already planning for its post-Baghdadist period in the event that the caliph is killed or captured.]
TBD: Do you think ISIS will lose Raqqa and Mosul this year? What are jihadists saying internally about the loss of Manbij?
AJ: We didn’t lose Manbij. We had to retreat because of the safety of civilians. We had hundreds of airstrikes every day and losing a battle doesn’t mean losing the war….
Also, we need to make the whole world understand that the Islamic State has no borders or map. We will expand until we occupy the world. As you see already, we are everywhere and the brothers are working all over the world. As I said, we may lose one or two rounds but war is not over yet. No matter how many weapons you have and how many airplanes are bombing us, we will win this war. We are fighting for the sake of God. But you have no cause to fight for.
TDB: What are ISIS’s plans for attacking the West outside of Syria and Iraq? We have seen what it has done in France, Belgium, Turkey, Lebanon and elsewhere.
AJ: Our brothers in Europe and the USA and all parts of the world are preparing surprises. What we did before will look like a joke compared to what is coming….

Angemon says
Too bad Mr. Weiss didn’t say what’s in square brackets to the jihadi’s face…
Oliver says
Mr. Weiss probably did not want to die in Syria.
he might be a lefty, and socialist, but likes the capitalist lifestyle.
particolor says
I think if they get too Cocky with India they will get something HOT and Heavy to think about !! 🙁
Dacritic says
Also too bad he didn’t ask, “Can you explain to me how ISIS is Islamic or not Islamic?”
He would be in for a long, thorough lecture on what real Islam is.
The Left are pussies. They never dare ask the questions that really matter.
Michael says
If you read the Koran you will see that Isis is only following what is written in this primitive rubbish like all religish junk
Oliver says
We should just kill the bastards; or deport them to the Islamic paradise of their choice. ALONG WITH THEIR LEFTISTS FRIENDS ( INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: POLITICIANS; ACADEMIC IDOTOS; AND THE MEDIA SLIME WHO GUSH OVER THEM; AND THE ” ENTERTAINERS’ WHO SUPPORT LEFT WING CAUSES, BUT DON’T KNOW HOW TO WIPE THEIR BUTTS).
And, in the meantime, hope that they (ISIS terrorists, and other terrorists) kill other Muslims, and leave decent people alone.
mach37 says
Killing the bastards will never end, as long as the Quran exists, and Imams teach the hadiths. Unless an amazingly charismatic leader comes along who can achieve a rewriting of the Quran and elimination of the hadiths – basically shutting down reverence for Allah’s Apostle – there will always be those fanatics who take the words in the Quran at face value.
J-A palmaer says
The purpose of the “religion” that existed “before creation” – invade all nations, subdue them to one single idea, or thought – make them “slaves” (not liberate them)… All humanity – so far it has involved nations, groups of people, fractions, indigenous people, etc. – will have to stand before this choice: Freedom or captivity (death, which is an inevitable thing anyway to all biological life)…
Can a so called “religion” like Islam offer something more than “submission” to its own law – or death?
13pr108 says
Relax Sikh Quom has no borders either…waheguru vs rahova: bring it on Rakshasoids
Verbal warfare will be avenged instantaneously through ParaShakti. Freedom of speech for ALL creatures (including canines). My gotra is my dharam.
It is not incorrect to say Sikhi is Sword-Arm of ‘hinduism’ – arranged marriage is excellent. Arranged marriage is not ‘forced marriage’. Dharam is not for cat ladies.
Westman says
“We didn’t lose Manbij. We had to retreat because of the safety of civilians. We had hundreds of airstrikes every day and losing a battle doesn’t mean losing the war….”
Deja Vu all over again for those who remember the Vietnam War. Bombing wars against an ideology have questionable results unless the Emperor is forced, hat-in-hand to submit. Islam has no “Emporer” and is directed by Muhammad’s reaching forward through 1400 years.
The closest thing to a center is Mecca; which if destroyed and salted with radioactive contamination, similar to Chernobyl, could lead to the rapid decline of Islam by effectively de-throning Allah.
Wellington says
A beautiful sentiment, Westman. More important, very likely an imperative one when one who wishes to preserve Western Civilization looks long term. Might have to come to this. Might.
Westman says
I remember when killing Bin Ladin was thought to have some significance. It has made no difference to the violence or ambitions of jihadists since they are based in the Islamic Ideology.
I suspect that stopping jihad will require reducing the holy places of Islam to ” the Ways of Life that have passed away before you…” (Qur’an 3:137)
gravenimage says
Alas, Westman, I don’t think destroying Mecca would end Islam.
TAD says
If anyone would like to understand the deeper significance of the Caliphate Map Robert posted above, see an extraordinary book called “Saharasia: The 4000 BCE Origins of Child Abuse, Sex-Repression, Warfare and Social Violence in the Deserts of the Old World”.
The Caliphate Map matches nearly identically the “World Behavior Map” published in the Saharasia book. The World Behavior Map traces the entire history of sadistic violence across the globe and back through time. As detailed in the book, a scientific analysis of 1100 world cultures was performed using history, archeology and standard ethnographic data to test the relationship between social violence and specific patterns of family and sexual life.
Its findings are undeniable: the most consistently violent and emotionally armored societies throughout history have been concentrated in exactly the same place that Islam has thrived and that today, the Jihadis are cheerfully claiming as their new Caliphate. In other words, Islam is holding up the most vicious, brutal, hateful part of the globe as the brightest example of the best it has to offer.
Not a good thing…
Richard Paulsen says
Probably true they will. There are more muslims in Europe and U. S. A. than Christians in the Middle East and North Africa.
Allen Combs says
According to my Bible, Allah is a false God and Jesus Christ will rule the world while the Arab nations bow in submission to the one eternal and powerful King of Kings.
No Fear says
Only if they read the bible, how else will they know about Jesus?
Kay says
Bow in submission?
Or rather bow in awe and gratitude and praise.
Tyler Durden says
US Has Killed More Than 20 Million People in 37 “Victim Nations” Since World War II
In some instances nations other than the U.S. may have been responsible for more deaths, but if the involvement of our nation appeared to have been a necessary cause of a war or conflict it was considered responsible for the deaths in it. In other words they probably would not have taken place if the U.S. had not used the heavy hand of its power
*****************
Horsecrap. More revisionist islamic BS, to try and muddy the waters.
abel & solomon says
Part Eight; Islamic Apocalypse! (taken from The Undoing:Islam by its own words, the amazing free e-book that’s turning heads in some very high places. Get your copy or read it online here;- http://abelandsolomon.simplesite.com/424568444 , for the bigger picture read our full length book Islamic Apocalypse;- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AS09LYW )
A World Caliphate
Surveys have consistently shown that a clear majority of Muslims around the world want to live under a Caliphate governed by Sharia Law. In Europe, 65% of Muslims immigrants thought Islamic rules were more important than the laws of the country they were living in. Every day the news media carry stories of the Islamic State beheading enemy fighters, brutal executiing gays, enslaving and raping non-Muslim women and more. Thousands of Muslim volunteers from around the globe have rushed to be part of this new Caliphate. The Islamic State openly tries to emulate Mohammed’s original Islam. This is not surprising given the millions of dollars of oil revenue that Muslim countries have invested around the world in building mosques and funding preachers who are actually just spreading true Mohammedan Islam. The ultimate aim of Islam is to bring the whole world under Islamic government and Sharia law, to be governed by the Koran.
666 – The Mark of the Beast
The Book of Revelation (13:15) says that the False Prophet causes those who will not worship the image of the Beast to be killed. Isn’t that what the Koran does; (9:5); “Kill the unbelievers…”? Are you aware of any other religion which orders its followers to kill everyone else? Revelation (20:4) even says the Christian martyrs will be “beheaded”, which is what the Koran commands in verse (8:12) “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads… ” Another clue to the identity of the Beast comes from Revelation verses (13:16-18); “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the Beast, for it is the multitude of a man and its number is 666”. The Greek symbols for 666 were handwritten on St John’s original manuscript of the book as well as in early copies such as the Codex Vaticanus and they are uncannily similar to the Arabic word “Bismillah” meaning “in the name of Allah”. In fact, the handwritten Greek symbols are its mirror image accompanied by two crossed swords, a symbol for both Islam and jihad. Google “666 Allah” and see!
World War III and Satan’s Throne
It seems like the Apocalypse is very near, an end time prophecy that is materialising now talks about Iraq, Isaiah (13:16) says; “Their children will be smashed to death before their eyes; their houses will be looted, and their wives raped.” This is exactly what the Islamic State have been doing. We also now know from recently discovered documents that both Al Qaeda and the Islamic State have deliberately sought to provoke a worldwide military conflict between Islam and the rest of the world. There are a number of Islamic nations too which are being driven by Apocalyptic theology. These Muslims deeply believe that it is their duty to Allah to push the world towards a final great Armageddon; “Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for holy war; rouse the warriors; let all the men of war advance and attack! …Let the nations be roused…. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.” (Joel 3:9,12,14)
Armageddon; the Valley of Decision
Indeed, we are already in that war, it is wrongly called the “war on terror” but it really is a sort of war between Islam and the “West”. As the true Islam of Mohammed and his Koran are the very root of this “terror”, (and don’t forget that over 95% of all terrorism in the world is Islamist), we are currently in a World War III of ideas and ideals under another name. A spiritual and intellectual war of ideas and ideals. But a physical one too.
John A. Marre says
They are telling us their intentions. They have been doing it since the Islamic State started. Western leaders pretend not to hear.
Joanne says
“We are fighting for the sake of God. But you have no cause to fight for.”
Interesting and I think true in the case of thoroughly secularized, post-Christian Europe in particular.
Maudie N Mandeville says
ISIS and Soros think alike. Maybe Soros can start funding ISIS under his Open Foundation (no borders).
gravenimage says
“The Islamic State has no borders or map. We will expand until we occupy the world.”
………………………
This is mainstream Islam, and always has been.