All language subtitles for Inside IS 10 Days In The Islamic State

MUSIC

GUNFIRE

They have taken a central
position on the world stage.

They call themselves
The Islamic State.

They claim religious,
political and

military authority
over all Muslims.

In reality, they are a tiny

minority of the
Muslim population.

I have traveled in the Muslim
World for over fifty years

and have experienced the love
and kindness of its people.

Now, everyday we read about new
atrocities perpetrated by ISIS;

they target innocent
people; killing, enslaving

and torturing in the
name of religion.

The group is a
Frankenstein phenomenon,

born of the 2003
invasion of Iraq.

and carry on the work of peace.

We now have more
than 1.3 million

killed civilians
across the Middle East

and more than one
hundred thousand

international terrorist,

instead of some hundreds, before

the beginning of
he war on terror.

Our wars have been a
terror breeding program.

EXPLOSION

In mid 2014 ISIS cut
all communications

with foreign journalists,

while I still had an open
line to the organization.

RINGING

For several months I spoke
at length with Abu Qatada.

His previous name was Christian.

He s German to the
core and a leading

figure in the IS
propaganda machine.

This is a guarantee of safety
for ürgen Todenöfer

and his team,

so that he can travel safely
in the territories of

the Islamic State with his
traveling companions.

The soldiers of the
Islamic State will

respect this guarantee
and allow him

free and safe passage
until he has

fulfilled his mission
and left once again.

My name is ürgen Todenöfer.
I was the first Western

reporter to enter ISIS
territory and come out alive.

My son Frédéric joined
me with a camera.

This is the story
our journey.

Northern Aleppo, Syria.

We are taken to a registration
center for new recruits.

This French speaking
fighter, who refuses to

be filmed, is responsible
for new arrivals.

Between fifty and
sixty will turn up

at this particular
center today.

After a series interviews,
the officer decides

how these men will serve
in the organization.

We saw people from
all over the world.

From Sweden, France,
The United States.

There was a guy
from the Caribbean.

Very good looking, very
charming, stylish,

Ray Ban glasses.

And I said what are
you doing here?

What have you done before?

He said I was just
admitted at

the Court of my
country I asked him

Are you going to fight
or are you going to

work in the administration
as a lawyer?

he said I m going to do
what the Calif is asking.

First night in Raqqah.

Gun and artillery
fire breaks out.

IS fighters celebrate
the conquest of

an important zone near the
airport of Der-E-Zor.

When we arrived in Raqqah
we found out immediately

that the boss of our IS
commando was the driver.

He was always masked. He
was a guy from the UK,

probably from London, and
he tried to dominate us.

We have strong
suspicions that our

masked driver was
Mohammad Emwasi,

also known as Jihadi John,

the executioner of
reporter James Foley.

There were many indications.

His direct contact with
foreign hostages,

his insistence to have one of
the hostages hand us

a letter for Prime Minister
David Cameron, on camera,

his peculiar way of
speech, his London accent

will result in the
bloodshed of your people.

Back home our suspicions were
strengthened as we got online

and heard his real
voice, reversed

engineered by the
Anonymous Network.

will result in the
bloodshed of your people.

It sounded just like our driver.

And we had some requests and
he didn t accept the requests.

They took all our
electronic devices.

We were even not allowed
to go to the balcony.

Of course we went to
the balcony and we

saw what was happening
in the streets,

but we weren t allowed
to go out into Raqqah.

This guy, the driver,
had an incredible

tone, a way of speaking
I couldn t accept.

So it was hard at the beginning
but, from Raqqah, our visit

in the so called Islamic State
started to be successful.

We cross the former
Syria-Iraq border, which

the Islamic State has
reduced to rubble.

Our masked English
driver is visibly angry.

For the entire six hour journey,
he refuses to speak to us.

Tell him he's not being filmed.
He's masked

anyway. And he's a fighter
who isn't scared.

MUSIC

On first glance, life in Mosul
seems completely normal,

if you forget that,
behind us,

there are armed IS
fighters at all times.

One of the IS guys tells us

the Shia are gone and
the fish is back.

A bad anc cruel joke

When considering how many Shia
have been killed in Mosul.

For the mostly Sunni
population here in

Mosul, life under
the Shia government

has been so bad in
recent years, that

the IS is viewed
as a lesser evil.

CALLING FOR PRAYER

Time for Friday prayers.

Shopkeepers shut their blinds
and close their stores.

As we walk through the market,

Abu Qatada attributes
this devotion

to the ISIS grip on Mosul.

The mosque gets so crowded,
that people lay their

coats and scarves so they
can pray on the street.

I have to admit
however, that we didn t

feel very comfortable
during the sermon.

MUSIC

Our next stop is the Central
Court of Mosul, where we hope to

find out how the new laws of
the IS are being implemented.

As a former judge myself,

I requested
an interview with a judge.

We recorded with him for
almost an hour, but our

masked English driver deleted
most of our footage.

The judge told us all former
judges and court workers had

been executed, while he studied
law at a local mosque.

Do you speak English?

And the end I asked
him, would there be any

executions or amputations
during the next days.

And I didn t say I d
want to see an execution

or an amputation, I
only wanted to know.

Abu Qatada said: If you
want to see an amputation or

an execution, that s no
problem, I can do that for you!

Do you want a Shia or
do you want a Kurd?

I will do it for you .

You know he said this
with a smile on his face.

And if a guy from the
media department can say

I will make the amputation
or the execution for

you , then it mean that
there is no justice, that

the laws of this Islamic
State are just a joke.

I was not only shocked,
it made me extremely sad.

Because I knew so much about
this man, about Abu Qatada.

I know how he was
when he was young

And he was completely different.

We drive to the mosque
where Abu Bakr al Baghdadi

made his first appearance
five months earlier.

Its leaning minaret
makes the tower

of Pisa look
positively vertical.

For the first time
in over fifty years

I m prevented from
entering a mosque.

One of our escorts walks
in with Frederic s camera.

The streets are
being patrolled by

different kinds
of police forces.

Is this ISIS police?
Or just police?

Religious law and order seems
to be the key concern.

It is puzzling to meet a
terrorist Chief of Police,

dressed in US army gear,
looted from Iraqi soldiers.

If you catch a thief,
how long will it take

until his hand is cut off?
How many days?

His message is official and
opaque, but it becomes clear

just how firm the IS grip
is on the local population.

Was he stealing something?
Or fighting?

The man in the next
cell was arrested for

possession of sleeping pills
and anti-depressants.

For sleep...

It s not allowed?
But if he is sick ?

No, no, no! No sick!

No sick.

It can be hard to understand
what constitutes a crime

in a puritan and
totalitarian regime. Will

the people of Mosul accept this
situation, if the IS can t

deliver on its promise of
security and prosperity?

MUSIC

This former Iraqi army base is
currently in the hands of ISIS.

The fighter outside the base has
an American M16 assault riffle.

Did you participate in a fight?

How old are you?

How old?

And you?

And how much are you paid?
Do you

get money when you are fighting?

And you are the boss.

Minutes after we enter the army
base, we spot an American plane.

The fighters tell us our
visit will be cut short.

We are not allowed to
film the secret prisons

hidden under the
hills of this base.

Instead, we are shown a
tank graveyard.

This is what is left of
the Iraqi army in Mosul.

What the IS had no use for has
been abandoned or destroyed.

On our way to the city gates, we
suddenly stop at a roundabout.

A Kurdish soldier
is being led to us.

Before the interview, the
prisoner thanks us for our time.

You are Kurdish.

His voice catches.

I want to stop the interview
when a drone is spotted.

I shake his hand long and hard.

They put a bag over his head and
drive him to a secret location.

MUSIC

We continue our drive to
the outskirts of town,

where we interview a
front line ISIS fighter.

He should look at me.

You were one of the
first fighters who

entered Mosul. Is that correct?
In August?

How many people were you?

Only three hundred?

How can you explain that
with less than three hundred

people, twenty-four thousand
people were running away?

How do you explain that?

What is your name?

As usual, I wanted to shake
hands, but he refused.

He said: You have a guarantee,
here in the Islamic State.

So you will survive here. But
you will go back to Germany.

And we will come to Germany.

We will search you, we will
find you and we will kill you.

I have had enough of the
so-called Islamic State.

I am saturated by
their rhetoric.

I have heard them speak in the
name of all Muslim people.

Still, from my understanding,

they don't represent
Islam at all.

It is strange to
see people going

through their day in a war zone,

and then watching IS propaganda
as their evening entertainment.

With three cars and
six armed escorts,

we pay a visit to a hospital.

As we see in the car
park, apparently

the Islamic State is even
issuing license plates.

The judge told me
corruption is over.

The Chief of Police
said there is no crime.

Perhaps the doctors will tell me
they have eradicated disease

We meet a young doctor who
doesn t want to be filmed.

He says he s from
Europe, but no more.

I press him and he
gets ready to talk.

We speak to three wounded
men; two IS fighters

and one civilian.

What did you do
before joining IS?

And why did you join ISIS?
What was your motivation?

You were injured last
Saturday by a drone attack?

He says it was
drones, he doesn t

know, but he thinks
they were Iraqi.

And there are also twenty
citizens, all killed,

just citizens, and also too
many injured, he says.

By the drones. By the drones.

I couldn t assess the
accuracy of these

allegations, but independent
sources have confirmed

multiple cases where civilians
or civil infrastructure

have been targeted
by coalition forces.

EXPLOSION

After fourteen year of War
on Terror, we have more

than one hundred thousand
international terrorists.

Some of them even
have their own state.

The Islamic State
is as big as UK.

MUSIC

EXPLOSION

EXPLOSION

Abu Qatada was deadly serious.

GUNFIRE

For the so-called Islamic
State, one hundred

and thirty human
lives are worthless.

The massacre at the
Bataclan Music Hall,

brought home their sadism.

Look at this!

He looks very happy
about killing somebody.

I am here to interview
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf.

With his help, I want to clarify

things and put them
into perspective.

He has studied Islam
for over thirty years.

He is of the most widely
respected and influential

Muslims scholars in the world.
He s also an American.

Did ISIS try to kill you?

They issued that there would
be a reward for somebody.

So you are a target.

I m a target. I gave a khutba,
which a Friday sermon.

It s madness. Complete insanity.

And I think it just
bothered them. Because my

argument was they had
nothing to do with Islam.

These people have nothing
to do with this religion!

This is literally
a statistically

insignificant number of people,

and yet they are claiming that
we represent the true Islam.

They don't represent my Islam.
And they don't represent

the vast majority of Muslims
around the world s Islam.

Making propaganda
every day with their

brutality is, I think
this is something new.

It creates a gross
distortion in the minds of

Western people [when]
that is all they see.

And also we re living
in an age to use

a French philosopher
the age of spectacle.

And so the more dramatic
you can do something,

the more media
attention it will get.

Some young people are attracted
by the ideology of ISIS.

But what would you say,
how many percent of

the Western Muslims are
attracted by ISIS?

Well I mean, if you take
your country for example,

there is about 5 million
Muslims in Germany today.

What we know of, there
is less than a thousand

[that] have gone to Iraq
and Syria to fight.

So, if you just take
those numbers, you are

dealing with .02 percent of
the Muslim population.

It almost doesn't
register statistically.

And yet if you watched
German media,

you re going to
assume that every

one of those 5 million German
Muslims

is a potential terrorist.

Despite the fact
that ISIS the state

has told people
you have to come.

So people aren't obeying them.

The word for war,
harb , in Arabic

is a negative term in the Koran.

Jihad does not mean war.
Jihad means struggle .

The greater struggle is the
struggle against the soul,

against the low qualities
of the soul, and then

the lesser jihad is the struggle
against enemies that are

trying to conquer your land
or something like that.

The verse that gave
permission to fight, which

is Surat al Hajj, the 22nd
chapter of the Koran.

The verse actually says:
permission is granted to

defend themselves because
they have been fought.

And then it says: had
it not been some people

defending other people,
churches, synagogues,

temples and mosques
where in God s name is

mentioned, much would've
been destroyed.

And so the very
reason for jihad was

to protect religious
communities!

You would say only
self-defence is allowed?

Self-defence is
allowed in Islam.

But to rebel against because
the idea is that

even a tyrannical government,
is better than anarchy.

We thought maybe
there were fireworks

or something related
to the show.

And they were shooting
everybody in a very calm way.

We're here in Paris,
we re sitting in a café.

We feel safe.

But there's people that
actually believe that they can

simply come, take a Visa, and
they can disregard the laws.

In Islamic law if you come

into a land with a
Visa, you re called

mu ahhad, which means you have

a contractual agreement
to obey the laws.

If you break those laws,
you re a criminal.

And this is by consensus
of Muslim scholars.

Do you think a
Caliphate would be

a solution for the Muslim World?

No. Umar, the second Caliph,
said that if anybody

claims to be a Caliph,
don t take his allegiance.

Because Caliphate has to be
an agreement of the Muslims.

I mean why can't I just
declare a Caliphate?

Right now, I am the Caliph!

California comes from the
Spanish word Khalifornia,

the land of the Caliph.
This is historical fact.

California? Are you sure?

Yeah, the land of the Caliph.

So I will declare the
Caliphate in California,

and Abu Bakr [al-Baghdadi]
is not the Caliph.

I am the Caliph, so now
everybody has to migrate

to California and take
allegiance with me.

This is ridiculous, it s absurd.
Who would accept that?

And I said this is anti-Islamic.

113 of the 114 surahs start with
the words In the name of God

the Most Gracious, the Most
Merciful. Where is your mercy?

What I ve seen, and
again I want to hear

what you saw, because
I wasn t there.

I like most people
only see what s

being shown to me, but they have

released several
things that have

indicated to me
that they re cruel.

Benjamin Franklin said in his

autobiography that since
the Prophet Muhammad

rebuked Khalid for
mistreating prisoners,

no Muslim has ever
mistreated prisoners.

So there s a founding
father of America who

knew more about Islam
than these people.

Because you can t kill a
prisoner, and to behead these

journalists thank God you
came back with your head.

Because several
journalists didn t.

Foley's mother, she
came out and just

begged for the mercy of her son.

And she said: I read
the Koran, and I read

about the Prophet,
and he was merciful.

Just show mercy to my son .

And I just felt it was
so ironic that here is

a woman who is not a
Muslim, and yet she had

a deeper understanding
of the religion than

these people claiming
to be the Caliphate.

Once they said:
we have captured

3,500 people in Mosul, but we

have killed only 50 percent
of them.

This was mercy, for
the other 50 percent.

What a lot of people
don't understand is;

there are many many
verses in the Koran

about being forgiving,

and not being angry about what
people say or attack you;

And the Prophet, when
he moved to Medina,

the first thing
he did was create

this pluralistic society where

the Jews had their religion, the
Muslims had their religion

he made covenants with several
different Christians.

These covenants are
still in existence.

The churches that they
have destroyed in Iraq;

they were there long
before the Muslims.

The Christians in
Iraq were there long

before the Muslims
ever got there.

In the entire biography
of the Prophet.

There is not one
case where he forced

anybody to believe
in his religion.

And he said God will
give you with gentleness

what he will never give
you with violence.

And so not to say Islam
doesn t have a martial spirit,

it doesn t have the idea of
self-defence, that s all true.

But at its essence
it s a merciful thing.

So when there s no mercy in
something, it s not Islamic.

How would you defeat ISIS?

ISIS is an ideological
movement, and so it s ideas.

And those ideas have to
be combated with ideas.

So you say we cannot
bombard ideologies?

I think it's unjust,
it s a moral to

bombard victims in
this situation.

Most of which are civilians,
women and children.

You have to bombard the young
people with ideas. Really.

But you will not reach
these fighters.

I think you'll reach
some of them,

I think you'll reach
some of them.

There s a group in Toronto that

were plotting this
terrorist act.

They were arrested
because of an informer.

They re all in prison.

I got a letter from
one of them, who

was introduced to
my tapes in prison.

And he was saying how ashamed
he felt that he had disgraced

the religion of Islam, in
this long letter to me.

And that he had been tricked
and fooled by this ideology.

So a lot of these are
young people that

have never been exposed
to real Islam.

Shaykh Hamza is the
kind of man I have met

for over fifty years
in the Muslim world.

better to light one
candle than curse

the darkness .

We have to illuminate ourselves,
and help to illuminate others.

I mean this is
really, I think

the essence of what
makes us human.

This kind of integrity and
good character is what

I hope will be passed on to
our young generations.

MUSIC

It seems to be so easy to
brainwash young people.

To tell them they re
doing something

great in the Islamic State .

And to persuade them that
they are fighting for Islam.

And they are fighting
against Islam.

They are the worst enemies
of Islam in our days.

For me the Islamic State
has as much to do

with Islam as rape
has to do with love.

Nothing.