The Good Life Abandoned

"Life in Canada was good. I had money. I had good family. But at the end of the day, it's still dar al-kufr [a land of disbelief] and at the end of the day you cannot obey Allah fully as you can by living in a Muslim country, in an Islamic state."
"I originally come from Canada. Before Islam, I was like any regular Canadian. I watched hockey. I went to the cottage in the summertime. I loved to fish. I wanted to go hunting. I like outdoors. I liked sports. I was a very good person."
"My brothers, how can you answer to Allah when you live on the same street, when you're using their light and you're paying taxes to them and they use these taxes to assist their war on Islam. You can't live as a Muslim."
Andre Poulin, Canadian Muslim convert from Timmins, Ontario

A tweet claims to show a picture of the Andre Poulin, who later became known as Abu Muslim. (Twitter)

A ghost from the past. A troubled young man who repeatedly came to the attention of authorities. Known for issuing threats. He was on the local police radar. And then, he converted to Islam. The man who describes himself as a 'very good person', became an even better person by submitting to Islam. He travelled to Syria, married and his wife became pregnant with their child. What more could anyone ask for?

Celebrity, perhaps, that's what. And he has it. He's a star in a video. A video that features familiar Canadian scenes; snowy landscapes, hockey games. And a monologue from a camouflage-dressed Poulin, rifle slung over his shoulder, the black flag of the proud jihadist framing him. Interspersed with footage of hockey-playing, fishing, gassing up a snowmobile, Poulin spoke of his passion for jihad.

He had discovered his purpose in life. To recruit for jihad, reminding pious Muslims of their responsibility to uphold the tenets of the religion that circumscribed their lives; there is no greater calling. The RCMP's SITE Intelligence Group is in possession of the video produced by an ISIS propaganda wing, posted on the Internet. Poulin is no longer a young man from Timmins, but a fighter named Abu Muslim.

Then gripping scenes flash by purporting to represent an assault on the Aleppo airport with a fighter identified as Abu Muslim dutifully firing an RPG, racing along with other fighters. An explosion ensues and there he is, lying with a bloody leg, dead. He has completed his mission. He will not be among the contingent of Muslims leaving Canada to fight abroad, later to return to Canada.

His paramilitary training and violent anti-Western ideology died with him. But that ingested by others like him who won't have committed to the final glorious sacrifice for Islam may indeed return. And this is what concerns the SITE Intelligence group. And, if we only knew, the rest of us.

But there is the recruiting video, to galvanize Canadian Muslim men to respond to the call to jihad. Inspirational beyond the wildest dreams of some, motivated to travel to meet their well-timed and -sacrificed place in eternity.