Profile Of Muhammad Sofiyan Atsaury/Abu Ayyash

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ABOUT ME

Muhammad Sofiyan Atsaury

I was born in Depok, Kelapa Dua, Brimob, on 22nd April 1976, 34 years ago, in Brimob (Police Mobile Brigade) Barrack’s Community Health Centre, inside the Police HQ, 100m from where the Muwahideen youths are detained now. Raised in the environment of the barrack and educated in the family of police, as my father is a police personnel who grew up in the family not focused in Islamic education or a family that did not instil Islamic values since a young age, that I only knew Islam while I was active in the Islamic organization (Rohis) in SLTA high school in Central Jakarta.

It all started when I went to a school in Central Jakarta, at Budi Utomo Rd., a school that was always involved in the brawl at that time in Jakarta. I was truly jahil at that time that I always got caught by the police, Kodim (District Military Commander), Koramil (Regional Military Command Unit) and even got injured frequently in the hands, head, etc. due to being struck with the celurit (a type of curved knife normally used in street-fights).

But it was there where I obtained hidayah by getting to know the Islamic movement, my first tanzim was from the madrassa of Hasan Al Banna i.e. Ikhwanul Muslimin, we were active in the tarbiyah in the year 1994, where at that time we were drawn by the cases of the Bosnian Muslim massacre in Sebrenica, Palestine, the Russian invasion of Chechnya, Khasmir and the victory of the Mujahideen in Afghaistan. As a Muslim I was affected and it raised the sense of solidarity with fellow Muslims in me. Aren’t the Muslims brothers: "The believers, in their love, mutual kindness, and close ties, are like one body; when any part complains, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever." [Muslim]

I began to participate in the daurah launched by these ikhwahs and at that time we were provided with materials about ma’rifatullah wa ma’rifatil islam, ihsan, ghozwul fikri, etc. where I eventually joined in the halaqoh and ta'lim such as the tatsqif, mabit and the devices of these tarbiyah in every place, to the demo for Palestine and placards of Ramadhan, etc. In short, I became an adolescent masjid activist and Rohis at school , this was in the year 1994 and 1995. I at that time did not know the name of the jama’ah, but the books that became our references were:

- Al Islam by Sa’id Hawa

- Jundullah (building the mujahid forces): Sa’id Hawa

- Risaalah of Movement: Hasan Al Banna

- Majmu’ Rosail: Hasan Al Banna

- Al Qiyadah wal jundiyah: Mustafa Masyur

There was one more magical book (as Imam Samudra said) i.e. Ayyaturahman Fie Jihadil Afghanistan written by Sheikh Abdullah Azzam published by GIP (Gema Insani Press) translated by Abu Ridho, and there were still many others I still keep in my house to these days.
Through these books I was confident that this was “AL IKHWANUL MUSLIMIN” but we had never been told this by our mentor (murobbi), what jama’ah we were in and the characteristic of the movement was sami'na wa atho'na (we hear and we obey), that's all.

At that time I strongly believe that this was the best jama'ah because in terms of fikroh, aqeedah, ibaadah, manhaj and jihad, they all seemed to be at the forefront and again the most concerned with the suffering of the Muslims. After graduating SMU (high school) in 1995 I continued my study and went to a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Kediri, East Java, namely the Al-Falah II, I was there until 1997. I also went to register in the police force because of the insistence of my parents. At that time my murobbi did not prohibit me and I then followed the suggestion of my parents as my older brother (Agus Widodo) had already pursued the police education in Lido, so I enrolled at the Metro Jaya Polda (District Police) in Jakarta, the place where I am currently detained.

I joined the police in July 1997 and graduated in June 1998, and my first placement was in the Kompi Dalmas Sat Samapta (a kind of Crowd Control Unit – ed.), Metro Jaya. But upon completion of the education in the police academy it was not that I had turned futur but I tried to keep up with tholabul ilmi (pursuing education) in between my busy activities as a police officer, I then registered in Al-Hikmah PBAT (Integrated Arabic Language Programs) for 2 years in Mampang, South Jakarta for the 1998 batch and graduated in 2001.

Don't know for what reason but somehow the jama’ah that I followed changed to become a party, where the name is Partai Keadilan (Justice Party) at a time when I did not really understand why must they become a party, and why was Democracy, that was once their antipathy, now made as a means for tamkin. The reasons varied and from what I had heard they include:

- We admit that democracy is not from Islam and not an ideal system, but it is still better than Tyranny.

- So that the Muslims get the benefits and can ensure that secularism is not rampant.

- That being inside is still better than outside (with the yellings) for the sake of maintaining the benefits of taqwa, etc.

This is what I know and I didn't have the capacity to protest except to keep quiet, hear and obey, especially that I had joined the police so it could be that the earlier judgments were the justification.

Their references about their position are many and these had become parts of their ijtihad, among the ulama's whom they took as reference was Dr. Yusuf Qordowi, look at their books such as Fiqh Awlawiyat, Fiqh Siyasi, Manhaj Haroki (Sheikh Munir Ghodan), etc.

And I used to be one who defended this position intensely because our study was not focused on tawheed, how the wala’ wal baro’ which was once studied as a consequence of La ilaha illallah was no longer discussed. Yes, what we studied then was politics all the way, while our ruhiyah were empty. This was in 1998 and it went on until 2007, it was during this period i.e. in 2001 that I got married to my first wife. And after a duty in Aceh, I heard about the Bali bombing incident, where there were the Christmas bombings before that. Why, but this heart was as if amazed, pleased and why was this heart saying “these people are truly amazing” and what was the motivation of these people, obviously this was very interesting for me.

I, in the beginning, had a hobby of collecting anything about big events related to the Islamic world such; Palestine, Black September (WTC attack), Bali Bombing, the bombings in Tanzania and Darussalam, the Taliban in Afghanistan, until now I still keep those magazines and newspaper clippings, including the book about Bali Bombing written by Imam Samudra (Aku Memburu Teroris- I Am Hunting Down The Terrorists), Membongkar JI - Dismantling The JI (Nasir Abbas), Ali Imron Sang Pengebom - Ali Imron The Bomber (Ali Imron). These books are interesting to be debated and studied. What had kickstarted it all.

What’s interesting, there was one book which I have mentioned, in Tarbiyathen Jihadiyah written by Abdulldh Azzam, it was said: “That whosoever says that this dien was not established by the bloods of the Shuhada’s, the decomposition of their bones and pieces of flesh, then he does not understand the reality from this religion and he is dreaming in broad daylight.”

I began to protest bit by bit to the murobbi (my mentor) that the attitudes of the ikhwahs in the parliament were not right, not Islamic and not Shar’ie.

My conclusion was just simple, that the above incidents and those books which I had read are the (manifestations of the) attitude of baro’ or wala’ wal baro’ towards the enemies of ALLAH who are fighting against Islam and the Muslims. And so I believed that what was done by the friends (in the Parliament) was just a waste of energy, where the result has achieved nothing. It could be that the fates of those friends would end up like the FIS (Front Islamic…. ) or HAMAS (harokah al muqowwamah islamiyah) and Refah party in Turkey, which ended up being manipulated, deceived and disbanded.

I began to make an initiative to form small groups of jihadi firkoh, made up of those whom I took from the mutorobbi (my creation) because indeed I was also a murobbi who was in charge of three circles of halaqoh which I strained from those who were brave and determined. And a number of friends from Korsad (Justice Corps Unit) of the DPP (Central Delegation Board) of the PKS (Prosperous Justice Party) were also joining in and some Scouts members of the DPP PKS were attracted too for i’dad ‘askary in the form of forming an Airsoft Gun Club i.e. Basic 860 (i.e. the basis of Surah Al-Anfal, Chaptert 8 Verse 60, which means “And prepare against them whatever you are able and steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemies of ALLAH and your enemies.” (Al-Anfal : 60)

This club was disbanded because I started to bring in friends who were the students of Ustadz Aman and I was considered by friends as training them or inviting them to ‘play’ without going through a shura’. I gave them the reason that they were purely my paying customers and that I did not have any other tendency whatsoever because when I invited them to ‘play’, they, the youths whom I developed, did have the chance to meet the youth from the group of Ustadz Aman, where at that time Yudi was also there (here I noticed the oddity between the friends from the Tarbiyah Jama’ah [PKS] and the new friends with beards and pants cut off above the ankle bone). This became a talkabout in the mailing list saying that I had other agenda.

But it turned out that the friends of Ustadz Aman were also suspicious of me and this issue is still not finished until now. And for me this had become the thorns while in Jantho Aceh (for the military training), wallahu ‘alam.

Back to my old jama’ah, that I was like this i.e being involved in the terrorist network, was not a strange thing anymore for them because be it in the jama’ah of the ikhwans or in the office, I had been active in da’wah and always gave tahridh (motivation) to my friends for hubbul jihad da hubbul shahadah.

But as for Thogut, I had not fully discerned yet. Though I knew that Thogut is satan, it could also be something obeyed, loved besides ALLAH. Even though I am in the police, I would not let my situation be that it exceeds my taqwa towards ALLAH and His Rasul, so I reasoned.

But some friends offered me some books such as the Millah Ibrahim and Syirik Demokrasi (Shirk of Democracy) which should be read and are very important, and there were also some discussions about who the Thoguts are, written by an Ustadz who was involved in the bombing of Jati Jajar (Cimanggis, Depok), where I had served a duty before. My murobbi had prohibited me from reading these books and I was forbidden to associate with those people, I was not sure for what reason, I was just ordered and he said that if such was the case then all would be kafir. In the end, I just put down and kept the books.

Yet, there were some wedges and deep turbulence in this heart regarding the discussions of these books which made me think that my jama’ah and my job was a problem for my akhirah, na’uzubillah.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, while in Aceh (on duty there) I functioned as a trooper and Da’ie (as a speaker) because there is little bit of capability in me as a speaker and I could communicate with daleels a bit. I got married again in Aceh, but only in 2005, after the tsunami that I brought my wife to Jakarta, for that, the reason was long and I got married on the basis of ibaadah and because I liked her (even though I am in the police where polygamy is disallowed), I liked that challenge. More than that, it’s privacy and only ALLAH knows.

Apparently this became a problem in my jama'ah as it was considered as not shar’ie for not going through a process that was in effect like with first wife (ta’aruf) and I was asked to divorce my second wife without any clear shar’ie reason. Since the end of 2007 I became non-active in the jama’ah as a form of protest from me and a number of ikhwahs invited me to participate again, but I was still busy with the new fikroh.

There was something strage, in fact I even considered it as a heavy trial from ALLAH that in heading towards al-haq, it is actually not easy.

In the old jama’ah (Ikhwan) I began to be shunned and given ta’zir (punishment) for not showing up to study anymore and they started to think that I was having an deviated fikroh. On the other hand, in the jama’ah that was supposed to be accepting me, I was believed to be an intel (spy) just because I was still with the Thogut (I had not left the police yet) .

This new fikroh, which to me was incredible, always teased me every day that I was clearly an Ansorut Thogut (Forces/helpers of Thogut) where the kufr is obvious.

And I began to think of getting out in a nice and proper way but my job was eventually disturbed. With the new business in Airsoft Gun which, alhamdulillah, it was if ALLAH was giving me the way of ease and profit which was very extraordinary. Being occupied in this business made me forget the problems I had with my old jama’ah and this new jama’ah (the new fikroh then again continues to hurl fitnah to this day).

I did not expect, in fact even to this day that I am writing this, the Air Softgun business is so barokah as I didn't have to worry anymore about the ma’ishah (livelihood) after leaving the service. This is a form of an answer for my worry in the past that if I ever get out from the Thogut, what else would I eat and what job should I be doing in order to support my two wives and three small children, Allahu musta’an.

Yes akhi, Allah provides convenience for those of His servants who are honest and who make do’a especially those who want to be istiqomah in His path or for His cause. The fears had changed into firmness and calmness.

I somehow was slapped by my commander (Kasat – Squad Leader) only because of leaving the Bojong Sari (Sawangan) post before its time. I then deserted, firstly as my protest for being abusively punished by being slapped three times, beaten on the stomach, shaven and asked to salute the flag for more than one hour. Then I did not turn up for two weeks, and I had stayed at Yudi's house in Ranco, but as the ikhwans, who were Yudi's friends, disliked me, I then returned home and thereafter I was rearrested and surrendered to the Provost (military police).

Not long afterwards, apparently I was under interrogation again regarding polygamy, don't know who had reported it, but I responded to it in a casual way. I was asked to choose in the questioning, whether to maintain the police uniform or to divorce my wife, in this case the code of conduct trial was conducted for my cases i.e. the two weeks desertion and polygamy.

Yes akhi, this was my second trial in defending this tawheed, after first being shunned by the ikhwans in the jama’ah and suspected as an agent by the new jama’ah. And now (the second trial) I was ordered to obey the Positive Laws (read Thoghut laws) which forbids taaddud (polygamy).

Yes akhi, this is the trial for the people who want to uphold tawheed and iman, not with empty dreams but with actions and deeds, “Do you think that you will enter Paradise while ALLAH has not yet made evident those of you who fight in His cause and made evident those who are steadfast?” (Ali Imran: 142)

Not long after the trial I decided to leave the police, starting from mid August 2008 and to 3rd June 2009, I got PTDH (discharged without honour) alias fired, at the same time I was also working on the da’wah in Aceh, until the result becomes what you see now. As for the letter about my PTDH and the BAP (proofs of investigation report) regarding it, I have it at home for those who want to see it. This I write according to what I experienced and witnessed. And ALLAH is the Witness over my deeds. Wallahu a’lam,

Wassalammu’alaikum warohmatullahi wa barokatuh

Muhammad Sofiyan Atsaury/Abu Ayyash

Source: http://www.tauhidnews.wordpress.com/

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