The Life of the Maldivian Martyr, Abu Nuh (rahimahullah)

Indeed in remembering the lives of the Prophets, the truthful ones, the martyrs and the

righteous, faith in ones heart is strengthened and made firm.

Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah mentions in Madarij al-Salikin that Junayd rahimahullah said:

“Stories are an army from the armies of Allah by which He strengthens the hearts of the ones

desiring Him.” Then he recited:

ف ؤادك وكلا ن قص عليك من أنباء الرسل ما ن ثبت به

Meaning: “And each [story] We relate to you from the news of the messengers is that

by which We make firm your heart.”

[End of His words – Madarij al-Salikin]

Hence we understood that remembering the lives of the righteous is a source of mercy from

Allah and a strengthening of our own faith. But if such stories are not given their due rights and

remain only on the tongues and ears, they will be erased from their memories and forgotten by

the passing of time. So may Allah make us of those who hear and receive benefit.

Today, with the help of Allah, we shall be mentioning some of the highlights from the life of our

brother from the Maldives, the Shaheed, the Mujahid and Muhajir, Abu Nuh rahimahullah, the

Mujahid who worked hard to serve the Jihad with his self and his tongue, the one who sacrificed

his soul and all that he had such that he became a role model for those who came after him. He

was a man whose equals are rare. He was a man whom one would enjoy his company with his

unique presence. With his actions he proved his sincerity. He left his family and all that was

precious to him for the sake of Allah in spite of his love to them, firmly confident in the promise

of Allah to replace what was left for His sake with that which is better. He was blessed in his life

and he was blessed after his passing, as hundreds have been given life by his blood which he

sincerely let flow for the sake of Allah, scaring the enemies and delighting the hearts of a

believing people. He was from the free men who were not servitude to anyone save Allah. He

surpassed us with his intentions and good work thus in turn was granted martyrdom ahead of us

and it was upon us to bid farewell rather than being bidden farewell as actions and Iman elevate

men to different degrees and Allah selects only the best from his slaves to be martyrs. The man

we are talking about is Abu Nuh, the Muhajir and Mujahid who was martyred in Ariha, Idlib of

Syria on 25th May 2014 in a confrontation between the Mujahidin and the regime forces. We will

begin with the words of his wife after his martyrdom:

“I am proud of my husband. He was a loyal husband, a great father and a righteous son. His

entire family is proud and happy for him for we cannot even imagine the provisions Allah swt will

provide for him.

Leaving us and all he had in this world was the toughest choice he made but still he sacrificed

this worldly life for his Akhira. He was supportive all throughout his life, a guard always on duty

looking out for his family. He proved to us that he is not just a smart mouth who only had words

to fight with, but he showed us with his actions that he meant everything he said.

We all love him for the sake of Allah...He left us in the care of Allah swt and who else can take

better care of us than our Creator.

May Allah accept from him and grant him the highest ranks of Jannah. Amin” [End of her words]

Life Prior to Syria

Before coming to Syria, I lived with the brother in a certain Middle Eastern country for a while. I

always noticed him to be different from most other people. He used to strictly fast every

Monday and Thursday without falling short. In addition to that, he used to order the good and

forbid the evil. One day, a young brother of about 15 years of age called his friend a Kafir over

some issue they argued about. And Abu Nuh was the first one to rebuke and censure him. Abu

Nuh then stressed to the young brother the dangers of such words, for the brother was

overcome by his emotions and young age. That was Abu Nuh in forbidding the evil and

commanding the good. And he was not from those who commanded the good while forgetting

themselves. A brother informed me that in the Maldives, Abu Nuh was not able to stay in one

job for long because if anything from that job turns out to be an obstacle infront of him and his

religion, he would prefer the love of Allah and leave the job even if that job offered him

satisfying pay. Also another brother informed me that while Abu Nuh lived in the Maldives, he

would always be searching for a path way to head out to the field of Jihad and that this brother

always knew that he was from those who were sincerely seeking Jihad unlike some others who

only pay some lip service to it. He said that Abu Nuh would even do hard labor work inorder to

collect money so that he could travel to join the Mujahidin. He was truthful with Allah and Allah

gave him what he sought after. That is how we consider and Allah knows best.

After his stay in this said country, he decided to leave to join the Jihad in Syria and I followed

behind him. At that time, Abu Nuh’s wife who was in Maldives was set to give birth to his

second child within a few weeks, yet Abu Nuh was not able to refuse the doorway to Jihad

which opened up for him after he worked so hard to find it. Rather Abu Nuh preferred the love

of Allah above the love of his soon expected baby, in compliance with the words of Allah:

وإخوانكم وأزواجكم وعشريتكم وأموال اق ت رف تموها وتارة قل إن كان آباؤكم وأب ناؤكم ن الله ورسوله وجهاد ف سبيله ف ت رب صوا تشون كسادها ومساكن ت رضون ها أحب إليكم م

يأت الله بأمره والله ل ي هدي القوم الفاسقي حت

Meaning: “Say, [O Muhammad], "If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives,

your relatives, wealth which you have obtained, commerce wherein you fear decline,

and dwellings with which you are pleased are more beloved to you than Allah and His

Messenger and jihad in His cause, then wait until Allah executes His command. And

Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people."

And he was definitely not from those who sought permission to stay with their families when

the Jihad became a Fard Ayn. Allah said about such people:

هم وقالوا ذرنا وإذا أنزلت سورة أن آمنوا بالله وجاهدوا مع رسوله استأذنك أولو الطول من ع القاعدين نكن م

Meaning: “And when a surah was revealed [enjoining them] to believe in Allah and to

fight with His Messenger, those of wealth among them asked your permission [to stay

back] and said, "Leave us to be with them who sit [at home ie; women]."”

And thus, he left everything for the sake of Allah and exited his house to face an entirely new

stage of his life full of hardships and trials. The day we were travelling towards the airport of the

country we were in, it was a day of huge political crisis and it was becoming very dangerous to

travel with a beard to the extent we were threatened by thugs on the roads a few times that day

and some of our company asked that each of us shave off our beards on the road. But Abu Nuh

rahimahullah refused this and said that we go ahead and that nothing will happen if Allah was to

protect us. So we did and Allah saved us from every harm and danger. Then we reached the

airport and were able to leave the country we used to live in. Then we entered Syria after a

short stay in a transit country and this was the beginning of Abu Nuh’s Jihadi life in search of

martyrdom.

In Syria

In Syria, we found Abu Nuh to be very accurate at shooting targets and the Prophet sallallahu

alayhi wasallam said [translated] “Indeed, power is in shooting. Indeed, power is in shooting. Indeed,

power is in shooting.” Muslim

In Syria, Abu Nuh received the glad tidings of his new born baby for whom he slaughtered two

sheep and this is a good example of how keen he was in fulfilling the rights of his family.

Abu Nuh used to frequently go to Ribat and always desired the battlefields. He was injured twice

before being injured a third time which was on the day of his Martyrdom. His first injury was in

one of his legs near the kneecap where a piece of shrapnel entered from one side and left from

the other side and he bore this trial with patience and I knew from him that he was very longing

to return back to the arena of Ribat again.

As for his second injury, it was about a month before his martyrdom. I was sitting next to him

when several small shrapnel pieces entered his other leg right above his knee but he remained

sitting for a while saying “It is just a small injury, I am not going back” but then he left after a

while due to excessive bleeding and this points out his courage and bravery and how he used to

hold on as much as he could bear.

Bukhari and Muslim reported:

Abu Hurairah narrated: The Messenger of Allah said: “Anyone who is injured in the path of Allah –

and Allah knows who is injured in His sake – will come on the Day of Judgment with his injury

bleeding. The color is that of blood and the smell is that of musk!”

The Media Jihad

It is worthy to mention that his Jihadi works are not restricted to the battlefield only. Rather he

used to work in the Jihadi media. Being the poet he was, he used to write lots of Jihadi poems

and poems of general Islamic nature such as a poem which he wrote as a reply to an atheist who

was annoying him online. It was a beautiful poem written in the Maldivian language which he

got sung by another brother and is available online by the name “Ilhaad” [Meaning: Atheism.] In

addition to that, one of the first things he did in Syria was recording a poem by his voice which

was a letter he wanted to send to his mother informing her of some of the fundamentals of the

Islamic belief and that a son who went out for the sake of Allah is not lost. This is also available

on the internet by the name “Loabiva Mamma ah” [Meaning: To my beloved mother.] We were

present in the time of the recording and it was very emotional as the brother Abu Nuh was

struggling to sing it due to being overcome by tears while addressing his beloved mother and

anyone who listens to the audio will find what we have said to be true. Furthermore, he has

many other poems which he sang and some have been released while the others are waiting to

be released, and another countless number of poems are written in his notebook without

having been sung.

Moreover, he used to be keen in trying to get the interviews of the scholars of Jihad and one of

them has been released by our media with the title “Faridatul Jihad” where Sheikh Abu Abdullah

al-Suri (president of the Shar’i council of Kafarrumat) answered some questions. And in his last

days, he was busy planning more media activities in order to raise awareness about the serious

significance of the Jihad. And we ask Allah to record them in his scale of righteous deeds for his

intention.

In addition, I would like to note that the news of his martyrdom has been a great influence on

the Da’wah. This is possible, it did happen in the past and its happening today as well. It is

narrated authentic that Haram bin Milhan was stabbed and while dying, he said: "By the Lord of

the Ka'ba I have succeeded." And it is also narrated that the man who killed him later on kept

asking the question "how has he succeeded, while I killed him" and this led him to embrace

Islam.

The point of benefit here is that it was the patience, steadfastness and the love towards

martyrdom which Haram bin Milhan expressed which then became a great Da'wah tool which

led to the Islam of his killer.

Hence when the news and the stories of the martyrdom of our brothers (Abu Nuh and Abu

Turab) and how they were patient and steadfast seeking martyrdom until they attained reaches

the ears of the people, life is given to the dead souls. The love for Islam and Jihad becomes

enlivened in their hearts. And this we have seen by the numerous Jihad influenced statements

which many brothers have been saying in the past few days after they heard the martyrdom of

our brothers. And by this we saw a revival of the Jihadi spirit in the community these brothers

belonged to and we ask Allah to reward them greatly. Indeed, they gave life to their words by

their blood and these words then became alive amongst the people which in turn gave them life

and took them out of the dead darkness which they were drowning in.

His Devoutness in worship

As for Abu Nuh’s devotion to Allah, then I saw that he used to fast every Monday and Thursday

unless he was taking a medicine because of his injuries. And he used to be in a constant state of

wudu to the extent if he was to break his wudu even in a cold winter night, he would renew his

wudu with the freezing cold water which was available. And not only that, he would be in a

constant state of wudu even while he was injured and unable to walk by himself. And he used to

stand up to pray every night and he would cry and weep much and this was noticed by many of

the brothers. I would pretend to be sleeping under my blanket and I would hear him crying and

weeping in Sajda on his mattress which was next to mine. One brother said that it was very

unlikely to find Abu Nuh praying any Fajr prayer except that he would be crying much in it.

Moreover, he would pray the night prayer even while he was injured and unable to pray

standing. At night time he would ask one brother to leave a small bucket of water next to his

bed so that he could make wudu on the bed and there he would pray sitting on his bed. He used

to advice his brothers in private reminding them of Allah and no one would be left unaffected by

his words. He was mindful in spending his money and would not spend it in useless matters and

this is reflected from his wasiyyat (will) that after his death, his money should be spent on

matters of Jihad and never on a useless matter. Every night before sleeping, he would read

something through his phone which I was not able to find out what it was. Had I known that I

would have had to write these lines about his life, I would have strove harder to find out what

that was.

On top of all this, the brothers found that in his last days he was more consistent in his worship

than before.

He used to strongly desire a high status in paradise. One day some of the brothers were

expressing how they wish to be martyred before their friends and Abu Nuh said: “I do not

actually mind whether I am martyred first or last as long as I get a higher status than all of you”

and everyone laughed.

He used to rectify himself frequently and correct his mistakes. He would purify his heart from

any sense of hatred towards his brothers except a hatred he had for the sake of Allah. Rather he

was from the most forbearing of brothers and would forgive and overlook any harm done to him

by another and this I noticed was of an amazing level. Even if he was upset, he would always

manage to smile back and cheer up his brothers.

Abu Nuh and the innovators

He used to hate the innovators with a furious hatred. Among the examples is his hatred towards

the Jama’at of al-Baqdadi whom he was willing to fight against to ward off their oppression

upon the people of Islam. In his last days, he was talking to one of his brothers about finding a

way to reach Deir al-Zour so that he could fight those extreme Khawarij whose oppression our

brothers of Sunnah there were facing on a daily basis. It should be noted here that the Jama’at

of al-Baqdadi is a group that refused every peace initiative proposed by the independent

scholars, the Mujahidin and the Muslims in general. Rather they are a group of Bughat

(transgressors) whose transgression upon the Muslims must be repelled and fought against until

they return to the command of Allah. At the same time they are a group that refrains from any

arbitration to any independent Shar’i court or independent judges from the reputable students

of knowledge, hence they are a Taifat al-Mumtania (preventive group) with force and might

refraining from arbitration to the independent Shar’i courts. Hence they are worthy to be fought

against as a group according to the Shariah of Allah. But in accordance with Shar’i politics, our

leaders do not allow fighting them except in defense. And we should note here that Abu Nuh

was not from those who hesitated in taking this decision, but rather he researched and

questioned about the Fatawa of the scholars before coming to his decision.

Abu Nuh’s despise of the innovators was not restricted to the extreme Takfiris only. Rather his

hatred is general on every deviant. He used to greatly hate the modern day Ikhwanis, the neo-

Murjia (the false claimants of Salafiyya) as well.

Dreams of Glad Tidings

Abu Nuh and many of his brothers saw various beautiful dreams about him, however I have

forgotten many of them now. But I will mention a few Insha Allah. Before doing so, I would like

to note here that dreams are not legislative and one should not determine who is upon the

truth based on certain dreams seen, rather the truth is determined by the Quran and the

Sunnah upon the understanding of the Salaf and the one who follows that path, is upon the

truth. As for dreams, they are only glad tidings for the one who is upon that correct path. As for

the one who is upon a path other than that, then dreams are nothing. Now let us mention here

some of the dreams of Abu Nuh seen by himself or by his friends about him.

During our first months in Syria, one of our brothers saw a dream where Abu Nuh had carried

out a martyrdom operation and was martyred in the process. So the brother who saw the dream

went along with another brother to see the face of Abu Nuh and they found his face to be very

bright and radiant. Then they saw the graveyard where Abu Nuh was buried hence one of the

brothers said Salam to Abu Nuh and he replied back from his grave. So the one who was seeing

the dream also said Salam to him and he replied back again from the grave and said: “This is the

real life, I am in so much delight. So wage Jihad sincerely for the sake of Allah and hurry up to

this world I am in.” [End of dream]

And one dream which Abu Nuh himself saw was that he and Abu Talha al-Suri was bitten by a

spider. Abu Nuh was bitten on his leg. Then he flew in the air fighting the disbelievers and killed

many of them with his gun and then he got martyred. And he saw the faces of the disbelievers he

killed and they were very ugly and black in color. But Abu Nuh’s face was in a very bright white

color and he asked one Kafir: “are you dead?” to which the Kafir replied: “I am dead and so are

you.” But Abu Nuh’s face was very bright and in white color whereas the Kafir was dark with

black color. And Abu Nuh saw that his beard was shorter than what it was before. [End of

dream]

Abu Nuh said about this dream (in real life) that after he saw it, him and Abu Talha were injured

in the same battle with Abu Nuh being injured in the leg which may have indicated the spider

bite which they both received in the dream. And then after a few days Abu Nuh burnt half of his

beard by accident. Then he said: “The two things seen in the dream have come true (spider bite

and beard shortening), so I think maybe the next will be my martyrdom.” And not a month

passed after that before he was martyred. And the three mentioned happenings occurred in the

length of one month and he was martyred with a short beard and a leg which had just

recovered.

Another dream Abu Nuh saw was that he was fighting the disbelievers and he was inside a

building. Then a missile landed on the building and he fell on his right side saying “laa ilaaha

illallah” and he was martyred. [End of dream] And this was very similar to what happened in

reality as what we knew of him last was that he was inside a building fighting the disbelievers

and now the building is on the ground due to the constant bombing with Abu Nuh inside it.

And one dream he saw when he was in Maldives was that he went to “Saudi Arabia” and saw

the people there as monkeys and then he went to another place where there were walls with

Islamic graffiti painted on it. He was very happy and satisfied being at that place. Then he

walked the path that this place provided until he went to a beautiful place and saw huge gates

and near them were handsome men with long beards. [End of his words]

When he came to Syria in real life, he pointed at the walls in Syria and said that they are the

walls he saw in his dream. It is possible that that path in the dream was the path of Jihad he

takes in Syria until he reaches Paradise.

Also in another dream he saw that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was arriving so he

rushed to meet him and saw the people crowding at an area other than where he was going. So

he went to see what it was about and found out that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was

in their midst, hence he squeezed himself in and shook hands with the Prophet. Abu Nuh then

tried to say something but he made a mistake and said something else to which the Prophet

sallallahu alayhi wasallam laughed. Then Abu Nuh asked the Prophet to make dua for him and

he asked Allah to forgive Abu Nuh. Next thing was that Abu Nuh saw a light emanating from

both his legs near his knees. [End of his words] One brother told Abu Nuh that this might refer to

the two injuries he received on both his legs near his knees and that it was a source of

forgiveness for him. Abu Nuh saw this dream while he was still in the Maldives.

In another dream, Abu Nuh saw a group of lions and then he saw himself fighting (an enemy)

alongside the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. [End of his words]

And one day after his martyrdom, Abu Nuh’s four year old son woke up and asked his mother:

“Dad is now sleeping in the sky, right?” The child was unaware of his martyrdom at the time he

asked this and later explained that he saw in a dream that his father was sleeping in the sky.

Add to that, after his martyrdom, his mother saw a dream where she was in a barren land along

with members of the family. In the middle of the land, there was a huge pit and Abu Nuh came

out from it. His cousin was holding his hand lifting him up. Then Abu Nuh’s wife standing there

asked him: “how did you come here?” to which he replied: “by hanging onto something.” Then

she asked: “what for?” then he smiled and replied something which indicated his love towards

his wife. At that time, Abu Nuh’s mom went running to him and tried to hug him to which Abu

Nuh replied: “mother, I am very untidy right now having been soaked in blood. I am going now.”

[End of dream]

His mother comments to the dream that Abu Nuh saw himself untidy but he was all in white

color actually. His clothing, long beard, hair and all, they were all in white color. And she also

adds that Abu Nuh had a “naughty smile” in the dream.

And many were the dreams seen about Abu Nuh which I have forgotten which I have forgotten

most of now due to the passing of time but in my first months of Syria, I used to think that Abu

Nuh may well be the first one to be martyred from our group due to the numerous beautiful

dreams seen about him being martyred ever since we entered Syria.

In Search of a Martyrdom Operation

A month or so previous to his martyrdom, Abu Nuh along with another brother had travelled to

meet Sheikh Abu Sulayman al-Muhajir hafidahullah (member of the Shar’i council of Jabhat al-

Nusra) asking for intercession in regards to the martyrdom operation he registered his name for.

He was asking the Sheikh to hasten its date. The Sheikh Abu Sulayman did tweet about this after

the martyrdom of the brother saying: “He came to me a few days ago rahimahullah asking to

intercede for a martyrdom operation he signed up for. He sought and Shahadat (martyrdom)

came.”

And on the day of the martyrdom attack of Abu Turab the Maldivian, which was also the day

Abu Nuh was martyred, Abu Nuh was said to have been arguing with Abu Turab saying: “I

registered my name before you for the martyrdom operation and it is not fair that you got it

before me.” And there it was that both of them were martyred on the same day with the

difference of only a few hours.

The Sought After Martyrdom

It was Sunday 25th of May 2014, just after the break of Dawn the four martyrdom operations

shook the Earth one after the other and the explosions echoed throughout the entire area and

beyond. Abu Turab was martyred fasting. Following the operations was the Iqtiham (storming

into the enemy) which Abu Nuh participated in. It was early morning and they were without

breakfast. They entered fighting the disbelievers fiercely in very close range capturing building

after building from their hands.

Abu Nuh was said to have fought the disbelievers with courage and bravery. In one instance, he

threw himself to the ground with the disbelievers very close to him and started spray shooting

them with his AK47. He also grabbed the bullets of a dead disbeliever and shared them with his

brothers. The battle in general was a dangerous encounter according the brothers who came

back safely after the operation.

Abu Nuh and some of his brothers entered a building. They captured it and exited to go capture

the next one. But because of the confusion natural during battle it went unnoticed for hours

that Abu Nuh did not exit that building. It was announced infront of the building that anyone

inside should come out immediately which was met with no response. Hours passed and the

brothers knew he was indeed missing but the building was no more. All the buildings near the

area were demolished due to the constant bombardment. Abu Nuh was martyred. Martyred

attesting what he said right before the battle: “I will not come back after today. I do not wish to

be martyred while on guard duty, rather I wish to be martyred while storming into the enemy at

the front line.”

This is what we have been able to gather of this great man to whom no justice is done by such

valueless words and no one is free from mistakes. Water which reaches a great amount is not

harmed by a small amount of dirt that falls in it. Great men are not harmed by minor mistakes.

We ask Allah to admit Abu Nuh and all of the other martyrs to the highest levels of Paradise and

not deprive us of the favor he favored them with. Indeed our beloved brother beat us in

attaining martyrdom and we ask Allah to include him in the foremost people who are the closest

to Allah. And we ask Allah to grant us martyrdom sincerely fighting for His sake looking forward

and not turning back, upon the Aqida and Manhaj of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam free

from innovation and shirk.

Written by: Abu Dujanah al-Maaldifi on account of what he saw and knew of Abu Nuh 01 June 2014 Bilad al-Sham Media (Maldivians in Syria) www.biladalsham.wordpress.com @BiladAlSham_Dhi