Hello Muslims in Nairaland. Happy Jumat to you all.
I happened to read this excerpt on a conversation between an ISIS jihadist and a fellow Muslim journalist on their views abt ISIS, their operations and propaganda. I would like to know your views too abt it. Here is the excerpt. please, don't mind the longevity but I bet you ll enjoy it.




Nina Arif struck up a correspondence with one
volunteer to try to find out.
It had been months since I'd heard anything
from Muthenna Abu Taubah.
He was a fellow British Muslim who, like me,
went to school in central London. Like me, he
loved martial arts. Unlike me, he went to Syria
and joined Isis.
Muthenna Abu Taubah was the alias of a man
whose real name I never knew, but to whom I
spoke for several months. He was a 24-year-
old half-Irish, half-Nigerian convert to Islam.
When I spoke last week to someone who knew
him out in Syria I found out he was dead,
killed in an accident in a bomb-making factory
in Raqqa, capital of the so-called Islamic State.
I first came across Taubah in late 2014, after
exhausting my contacts and spending hours
trawling through social media. I approached
the convert of four years as a Muslim
journalist who wanted to provide an alternative
to the dominant narrative on Isis fighters.
He agreed to answer my questions and we
ended up communicating - by WhatsApp
message - over a period of almost six months.
At first, Taubah spoke formally and stayed in
character as a jihadi warrior. He directed me
to his Twitter account where he'd gained quite
a following by posting statuses about life in
Syria, photographs of himself posing with his
AK-47 and offering advice to other would-be
jihadis.
Taubah had "signed a contract in blood" to
help the Syrian people. It was their plight and
that of other suffering Muslims, he said, which
motivated him to join the group.
"Look at China - men aren't allowed to grow
beards and Muslims aren't allowed to fast.
Look at France - women can't wear niqab. Look
at the USA and UK - you can't even talk about
jihad." While I privately dismissed the links to
propaganda he began to send me, which
simplistically divided the world into good and
evil, I could certainly empathise with
grievances about Muslims having their
freedoms curbed. I could agree too, that many
innocent Muslims were paying the price in
conflicts abroad.
But why had Taubah (Arabic for "repentance"
chosen the path of jihad as a response to
injustice? And weren't Isis committing
injustices too? Soon I would question him
about this. But first, I wanted to know about
his past.
Half in jest, I probed him based on what I
knew about the profiles of some jihadis: "Let
me guess… in your pre-Islam life, you were in
a gang of some sort, took drugs and went to
jail?" He replied with "no comment".
He was only prepared to reveal that his past
was "bad" and that he looked on the bright
side now: "When life gives you lemons, you
make lemonade."
Taubah gradually began to open up more,
telling me he went to university in the UK,
enjoyed Muay Thai, playing chess and once had
a dog. He said his family didn't understand
him, but he loved them and missed them - the
Nigerian side (he never knew the Irish side).
In Syria, he cooked meals with his friends,
adopted a cat and liked the "halal partying" on
Eid, which meant "eating food and having fun
with the ikhwan [brothers]". Taubah even
learned to speak Arabic by mixing with the
other fighters. He told me there were many
foreign fighters living with their families in
Raqqa, where it was "easier not to sin".
Despite his online persona, I wasn't sure if
Taubah actually engaged in combat. When I
asked what job he did for Isis, he vaguely told
me: "We work for Allah in the day and rest at
night." He said he couldn't reveal details for
security reasons, nor did he want to jeopardise
his family in any way. But I wondered if his
withholding information might also have been
because he planned to return home.
As well as bombarding me with jihadi
literature, Taubah also asked questions like
"how many countries have you travelled to?"
and "what's the most horrific thing you've
seen?"
He was sizing me up against himself to prove
how much life experience he had despite being
younger than me. "I've definitely got more life
experience than you," he said.
It was almost 3am and I was struggling to stay
awake but Taubah wanted to learn more about
me. "One more question…" He wanted to know
if I studied Islam, which scholars I listened to
and what I thought about Isis.
I responded with: "I don't know, that's why I'm
speaking to you." He soon asked: "What do
you think of me?" I answered as blandly as
possible, saying I thought he was passionate
about his cause. "Is that it? Nothing bad? I
think you're not being honest."
He was right. So I gave him a more honest
answer: "Some of the things you've said to
me… it's not a balanced way of looking at the
world. I'm worried you'll do things you regret.
You're very young and inevitably you'll change,
and so will the way you view the world. The
Koran says think, reflect and question things. I
think you only see black and white."
This was the first time I sensed Taubah was
annoyed that the barrage of jihadi propaganda
he provided hadn't penetrated my mind.
After telling me I should learn my religion, he
launched into a rant about Muslims in the
West: "They don't value the mujahedeen.
Instead they slander them and say they are
harsh. But they would never say anything
about the kuffar [non-believers]. They love
living under kuffar laws…"
I soon received an abrupt message: "I have to
tell you something. We should not be speaking
anymore." And with an apology for saying
anything "inappropriate", Taubah ended our
conversation.
I respected his wish not to communicate, but
just for four days. My gut feeling was that he
wanted to speak, but was instructed not to
(perhaps my scepticism towards Isis had made
me less trust-worthy). I reopened our
conversation by asking Taubah why he changed
his mind and, for the first time, sensed doubt.
"I have faults, I wouldn't be the best person to
represent IS," he said.
But despite this, he continued to send me links
to jihadi websites. "Some more propaganda for
you. I'm trying to radicalise you if you didn't
notice… I know you think I'm a terrorist."
This time, I decided to also send him articles
with arguments by Muslim academics and
scholars who opposed Isis. "I'm also trying to
de-radicalise you."
But Taubah dismissed all the Muslims I'd cited
as "kafirs" [unbelievers] and often grew tired
of my non-acceptance of his world view.
"There's no benefit in talking to you. I hate
these conversations… I feel sorry for the man
that has to put up with you." He frequently
attacked me yet continued to communicate.
Taubah sent me a photo showing the leader of
the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram
pledging allegiance to Isis. "Do you agree with
what they do?" I asked in reference to the
kidnapping of schoolgirls.
"It is ok to kidnap the women from the kuffar
as long as we don't have a treaty with them."
"Islam allows for young girls who are innocent
to be kidnapped and sold? Seriously?? That
could be your sister."
"Don't let your naffs [personal feeling] corrupt
your views"
"You're the one who has non-Muslims in your
family… So, tell me honestly, if IS wanted to
kidnap and sell your non-Muslim relatives into
prostitution, you wouldn't object to it?"
"You call the sunnah [teachings of the Prophet
Muhammad] prostitution. Fear Allah."
Taubah was angry and when I asked for the
evidence from scripture which sanctioned
people-trafficking, he told me that I should
look for it myself and learn my religion. "I'm
tired of arguing."
By now Taubah's Twitter account had been
shut down and he seemed worried when I told
him that I had found an article about him
online. I didn't understand why he was so
worried and pointed out to him that he should
have expected it, since he'd been very openly
pro-Isis on his very public Twitter account.
He didn't agree: "It wasn't clear that I am IS,
maybe a supporter." Taubah became
standoffish, saying things like "are you intel?"
and "I have you figured out… the conclusion
isn't good".
Our exchanges became less coherent since
Taubah became unwilling to continue debating.
Instead he conceded: "We see the world
differently because we have different
understandings of the deen [religion]." Soon I
stopped hearing from him.
Months passed and I often found myself
wondering what happened to Taubah. I finally
managed to reach somebody who knew him
and I asked the first question that came to my
mind, "Is Abu Taubah still alive?"
He was dead. He had been killed alongside his
best friend in a bomb-making factory in Raqqa.
I was told that the 24-year-old was engaged to
be married when the accident happened. But
he had once said: "Death is written for you.
When it comes, you can't avoid it."
Aside from a lesson in scripted jihadi
responses, our exchanges brought me insight
into an individual who perhaps lacked the
absolute conviction he first tried to project.

Isis follows suna, de r true muslims

resty4:
Isis follows suna, de r true muslims

and what does that makes Islam?

Hmmmmmn interesting reading, what is it really that these terrorists find so compelling about their beliefs

The prophet & terrorist of Islam boasted on his death-bed:

“I have been made victorious with TERROR”—Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 220

true2god:
The prophet & terrorist of Islam boasted on his death-bed:

“I have been made victorious with TERROR”—Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 220

later a sane human being will say that mohamMAD is his or her role model. What a pathetic.

I think its good we all respect each others religion. Islam doesn't support terror action and its not to classify all Muslims as being terrorist.

Jayboi:
I think its good we all respect each others religion. Islam doesn't support terror action and its not to classify all Muslims as being terrorist.

You are very wrong here islam as started by mohamed is a religion of terrorist and mohamed was a notorious terrorist himself. And by saying this I am not being disrespectful I am merely stating the facts according to their islamic unholy books.

Jayboi:
I think its good we all respect each others religion. Islam doesn't support terror action and its not to classify all Muslims as being terrorist.

until we see islam as terrorists sect and impose strict action on them okay look at angola they impose a strong law on them . Do you hear anything terrorism in that land? If we started covering up for the religion then other religion are in soup. Okay if the terrorism is not part of them why alquada, boko haram,alnusra, hazabollah, isis, taliban,alshabab and many more are all muslims from different continent but connected by only ideology , motive and book, quran. Think with brain before you post.

true2god:
The prophet & terrorist of Islam boasted on his death-bed:

“I have been made victorious with TERROR”—Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 220

Evidently mohamed is a self confessed terrorist yet some dolts here would have us believe otherwise as if they know mohamed better than himself. It is quite evident that it was actually satan that sent mohamed to establish his kingdom on earth and that's why the religion brings with it so much blood shed and misery. Only yesterday nine people were sentenced to death for 'blasphemy' against the philandering dead terrorist and thousands of innocents killed globally in his name every day. Mohamed and is evil doctrines are truely a curse to humanity.