al-Andalus Media presents a new video message from al-Qā’idah in the Islamic Maghrib’s Shaykh Aḥmad Abū ‘Abd al-Ilah: "Letter of Advice to an-Nahḍah (Ennahda) in Tunisia of al-Qayrawān"
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Category: al-Qā’idah
al-Katāi’b Media presents a new video message from Ḥarakat al-Shabāb al-Mujāhidīn: “Series: Punish Them Severely to Disperse Those Who Are Behind Them, Part 2: Attack on Apostate Positions – Dhobley – Islamic State of Juba"
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NOTE: Click here for part one in this video series.
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To inquire about a translation for this video message for a fee email: [email protected]
al-Katāi’b Media presents a new video message from Ḥarakat al-Shabāb al-Mujāhidīn: "Training Series: AK-47"
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al-Andalus Media presents a new statement from al-Qā’idah in the Islamic Maghrib's Abū Yaḥyā al-Shinqīṭī: "Oh People of Tunisia of al-Qayrawān Be Supporters of Sharī'ah al-Raḥman"
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UPDATE 5/21/13 1:55 PM: Here is an English translation of the below Arabic statement:
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Alhamdulillah who created for worshiping, and imposed on us to do jihad for the sake of Allah as we ought to strive, I praise and thank Him, and I ask Him grace and more, and I bear witness that Lā ʾIlāha ʾIllā l-Lāh IS Alone with no partner, which is the greatest witness, and I bear witness that Mohammed is his slave and messenger who was aided by His Lord and achieved his desires, may the peace and blessings be upon him, his family and Sahabah, and who followed them in work, intention and will.
Then:
(Arabic poetry)
My greetings to you, how are you, are you eager for the Sharia like me?
Our honorable people in Tunisia of knowledge and Jihad, Tunis of support and shelter, Tunisia of manhood and chivalry. O’ tribes of Al-Hamamah, Al-Maraziq, Al-Farafish, Al-Kadadma, Al-Sabiriya, Awalad Sidi Obaid, Al-Za’aba Talil and others from the people of magnanimity, O’ spending Ulema of Tunisia and its sincere preachers, and its youth who hold hot coals in the time of eeriness.
These are words of advice and support, which we offer to you when Tunisia is passing through a critical juncture and great cunning, either from our enemies the crusader Americans and their treacherous agents from Rafidah and apostates. Despite of that the Muslim is obliged to give advice to his Ummah and religion, since religion is advice as have been stated by our beloved peace and blessings of llah be upon him.
So I say and success is from Allah: In the beginning you have to thank Allah Almighty that he relieved you from the rule of that oppressing arrogant tyrant Ben Ali, who made you suffer from oppression what is only known by Allah. And today you have been liberated from that liberal ruler Alhamdulillah, remember that great blessing, and repeat in the streets, neighborhoods and cities of Tunisia, the Saying of the Almighty: (And We desired to bestow a favor upon those who were deemed weak in the land, and to make them the Imams, and to make them the heirs) 5 Surah Al-Qasas.
Then know may Allah have mercy over you:
Your Ummah is living in a hard stage, holding in its folds glad tidings and grief.
Wherever the Muslim turns his eyes, he sees what makes the heart dissolve, and erupts the tears. All that is because of the absence of the Sharia of Allah Almighty, and the collaboration of the traitors from our people who betrayed Allah and His messenger, whom their situation with their oppressed people is similar to the saying of the poet:
(Arabic poetry)
Brothers whom we took as shields, indeed they were so but for the enemies
I thought they were poignant arrows, indeed they were so but in our hearts
They said we did our best, I said yes but in corrupting me
The struggle between the people of good and the people of evil, between the preachers of the Sharia of Allah and His party, and the preachers of the methodology of Satan and his followers, is a constant tradition that cannot be replaced or changed, that is why Allah said in Surah Al-Anaam:
(Thus have We appointed unto every prophet an adversary – devils of humankind and jinn who inspire in one another plausible discourse through guile. If thy Lord willed, they would not do so; so leave them alone with their devising) 112
The Al-Allamah Ben Achour rahimahullah said in Al-Tahrir wa Al-Tanwir: “That is to alleviate the messenger peace and blessings of Allah be upon him from what grieved him from the conditions of his disbelieving people and their insistence to reject his Dawah, so Allah informed him: that those are his enemies, and the enmity of those similar to them to those similar to him is from the traditions of Allah Almighty in testing all the prophets, so every one of them had enemies, so the enmity of those people to the prophet peace be upon him isn’t a new thing. In other words: aren’t you a prophet and we have made for every prophet an enemy”. End of the quotation. Thus the people of falsehood Allah have made them for the enmity of the messengers and their followers, and filled their hearts with that even reviewed their thoughts they couldn’t change their stances because their hearts are full with the enmity of Allah and his message. And Allah made their ears deaf from hearing the truth, and made their eyesight go blind from seeing it? That is why they were the worst creatures to Allah, as Allah Almighty have said: (Surely the vilest of animals, in Allah’s sight, are the deaf, the dumb, who do not understand) 22 Surah Al-Anfal.
Allah turned them away from the right path, and in this life He only showed them the way of error, and that is why Allah Almighty said: (I will turn away from My communications those who are unjustly proud in the earth) 146 Surah Al-Araf, and it is a tradition in this universe, and that this variance between the Awliya of Rahman and the Awliya of Satan continues, so there has to be a trace for those elite who were selected by Allah Almighty, to believe Mohammed may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and support him, and follow his trail and footsteps, and follow them in the methodology that they pursued.
Also there should on the face of this earth another people who choose to take the path of the enemies of Allah and His messenger and follow their trail and footsteps, and in every generation there has to be a generation of those who are similar to Abu Jahal Amr ibn Hisham and Utba ibn Rabiya and Shayba ibn Rabiya and Zuma ibn Al-Aswad, and their like will remain in every time and place. And Allah have made this religion a lamp on this earth, and it will reach where day and night have reached, and it will not leave a house of Madar (mud or clay) or a house of Wabar (fur of camels and goats, i.e. tents) without entering it.
And so there will remain enemies who will seek to repel it, and distort its people, and calling and accusing them with improper words and heinous titles, since every battle of this world is similar to the well-known battles of the messenger of Allah peace and blessings of Allah be upon him like the battle of Badr, Uhud, Khaybar, Hunayn and the battle of Al-Ahzab (the coalition) and other battles, even if the battles vary by the inequality of men. So brothers do not be fed up by the presence of the enmities and obstacles that you will find on your way, since it is a constant universal tradition.
And we won’t retrieve our dignity and status among the nations except with two important matters, I keep them before you:
The first matter:
Holding to the Sharia of Allah and demanding its implementation in the real world, as a methodology of life and a system of state, and this is not just a desirable matter, but rather it is a required obligation, which the Muslim should seek for it with all his strength, and that he reject the other abominable calls of Jahiliya which we tasted and are still tasting because of it humiliation and degradation, and the young and old grew on it.
Happiness, security, success and economic prosperity is under the shadow of the Sharia of Allah Almighty, and that the political, social and economic corruption and the other disasters will be ratified in the absence of the Sharia of Allah, and replacing it with the garbage of the manmade laws.
The Truth Almighty says:
(And if they had kept up the Taurat and the Injeel and that which was revealed to them from their Lord…) 66 Surah Al-Maeda, and the Almighty says: (Say: O followers of the Book! you follow no good…) 68 Surah Al-Maeda, and the moral here is in the common phrase and not the specific reason (for occasion of revelation).
It has been authentically narrated from our prophet peace and blessing of Allah be upon him that he said: “I have left two things with you. As long as you hold fast to them, you will not go astray. They are the Book of Allah and my Sunnah”. And it has been mentioned in the Al-Musnad and Jamee Abu Essa Al-Tirmidhi from the Hadith of Abu Najeeh Al-Erbaz ibn Sariyah that our prophet peace and blessing of Allah be upon him: “Those who will live after me will see much dissension among the Muslims; so adhere to my Sunnah and the Sunnah way of the rightly guided successors after me”.
And I cannot forget before leaving this point to notify our people and loved ones in Tunis and Kairouan that they shouldn’t be deceived by the people who call to democracy by decorating it under the name of the truth and gave it a religious garment, who have misguided tendencies and the calls that deviate from the straight path that permeated in our societies until it reached a climax, and they aren’t hiding (And if We please We would have made you know them so that you would certainly have recognized them by their marks and most certainly you can recognize them by the intent of (their) speech) 30 Surah Muhammad, and it is true who said:
(Arabic poetry)
The people of evil are known by their semblance and the fingers point at their immorality
So beware from entering to their nets and being deceived by their falsehood…
Secondly:
My Muslim brothers in Tunis and Kairouan: we should be aware that uniting the word and rank is an order from Allah and His messenger peace and blessings of Allah be upon him in many authentic Hadiths and it is also a power for the Muslims, and it isn’t a secret that the enemies of our Ummah are waiting the befalling of calamities to it, they won’t agree that we raise a banner, or achieve a goal, and that is why if we remain in rivalry and dispute when will we liberate Bayt Al-Maqdis?… when will have time to support the Muslims and defend the honor of the religion?… if we use all our means to slander each other and everyone of us uses
al-Katāi’b Media presents a new statement from Ḥarakat al-Shabāb al-Mujāhidīn: "Alerting the Muslims to the Deception of the Plotters"
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Click the following link for a safe PDF copy: Ḥarakat al-Shabāb al-Mujāhidīn — “Alerting the Muslims to the Deception of the Plotters”
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To inquire about a translation for this statement for a fee email: [email protected]
al-Katāi’b Media presents thirteen new reports from Ḥarakat al-Shabāb al-Mujāhidīn
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News Report For the Day of April 26:
News Report For the Day of April 27:
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم=&1=&News Report For the Day of April 28:
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم=&2=&News Report For the Day of April 29:
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم=&3=&News Report For the Day of May 1:
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم=&4=&The Islamic World Issues Study Center presents a new release: "Answers To The Open Interview With the Mujāhid Shaykh [Omar Hammami] Abū Manṣūr al-Amrīkī"
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Click the following link for a safe PDF copy: The Islamic World Issues Study Center — “Answers To The Open Interview With the Mujāhid Shaykh [Omar Hammami] Abū Manṣūr al-Amrīkī”
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New statement from al-Qā’idah in the Islamic Maghrib: "Some of the Organization's Operations That Runs Out Against the Enemies of the Ummah, the Millat, and Their Agents"
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UPDATE 5/19/13 8:34 AM: Here is an English translation of the below Arabic statement:
Wednesday 5 Rajab 1434 A.H. corresponding 2013-05-15
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Click the following link for a safe PDF copy: al-Qā’idah in the Islamic Maghrib — “Some of the Organization’s Operations That Runs Out Against the Enemies of the Ummah, the Millat, and Their Agents”
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Check out my new 'Policy Watch' for the Washington Institute: "Standoff Between the Tunisian Government and Ansar al-Sharia"
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On May 10-11, Tunisian security services and police launched an unprecedented offensive against local Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia (AST), cracking down on members who were delivering public lectures or passing out their literature on the street. In response, AST leader Sheikh Abu Ayyad al-Tunisi made a veiled threat that youths would defend Islam in Tunisia just as they have in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Iraq, Somalia, and Syria — an indirect warning of potential full-blown jihad. Such a development would be a major break from Abu Ayyad’s public strategy over the past two years, in which he has argued that Tunisia is a land of dawa (i.e., proselytizing and associated Islamic outreach activities), not armed jihad. AST’s third annual conference in al-Qayrawan this weekend could help determine if the latest incident becomes a tipping point toward open conflict or an opportunity for both sides to back down.
Click here to read the rest.
GUEST POST: Jabhat al-Nusra's Relations With Other Rebels After the Bay'ah to Zawahiri
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NOTE: As with all guest posts, the opinions expressed below are those of the guest author and they do not necessarily represent the views of this blogs administrator and does not at all represent his employer at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Jihadology.net aims to not only provide primary sources for researchers and occasional analysis of them, but also to allow other young and upcoming students as well as established academics or policy wonks to contribute original analysis on issues related to jihadism. If you would like to contribute a piece, please email your idea/post to azelin [at] jihadology [dot] net.
Past Guest Posts:
Hazim Fouad, “Salafi-Jihadists and non-jihadist Salafists in Egypt – A case study about politics and methodology (manhaj),” April 30, 2013.
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Tara Vassefi, “Perceptions of the “Arab Spring” Within the Salafi-Jihadi Movement,” November 19, 2012.
Jack Roche, “The Indonesian Jamā’ah Islāmiyyah’s Constitution (PUPJI),” November 14, 2012.
Kévin Jackson, “The Pledge of Allegiance and its Implications,” July 27, 2012.
Behnam Said, “A Brief Look at the History and Power of Anasheed in Jihadist Culture,” May 31, 2012.
Jonah Ondieki and Jake Zenn, “Gaidi Mtaani,” April 24, 2012.
Joshua Foust, “Jihadi Ideology Is Not As Important As We Think,” January 25, 2011.
Charles Cameron, “Hitting the Blind-Spot- A Review of Jean-Pierre Filiu’s “Apocalypse in Islam,” January 24, 2011.
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, “Why Jihadi Ideology Matters,” January 21, 2011.
Joshua Foust, “Some Inchoate Thoughts on Ideology,” January 19, 2011.
Marissa Allison, “Militants Seize Mecca: Juhaymān al ‘Utaybī and the Siege of the Grand Mosque in Mecca,” June 9, 2010.
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By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
Much discussion arose last month when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Iraqi al-Qa’ida branch Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) declared that his group and Jabhat al-Nusra (JAN) are in fact one and the same, prompting Sheikh Jowlani of JAN to reply that he was not consulted on this decision, while pledging allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri and making clear the links between ISI and JAN.
It is likely that the decision to have an ISI-JAN merger announced was Zawahiri’s idea. From this likely supposition, many commentators claimed a turning point in JAN’s fortunes in Syria for the worse. Thus did Brian Fishman attempt to draw an analogy with Iraq, asserting: “It wouldn’t be the first time he [Zawahiri] botched the terror group’s strategy in the region.”
Fishman’s analogy is that the al-Qa’ida pledge in Iraq inevitably translated to brutalization of local Sunnis, which, along with “U.S. pressure” on al-Qa’ida, proved the decisive turning point against al-Qa’ida after the rise of the Sahwa (Awakening) movement. Hence he concludes, “For better or worse, the reckoning between al-Qa’ida’s Syria affiliate and other rebel groups is beginning.”
However, I contend that this view is well overblown. “Syria is/is not Iraq” is of course a statement frequently brought up in common debates over whether the outside world should intervene in militarily or provide lethal aid to rebel forces. The problem is that the general debate over comparisons of Syria to Iraq does not appreciate that the dynamics of how the civil war progressed in Iraq are vastly different from Syria.
Iraq’s sectarian civil war was focused on what might be termed a decisive ‘Battle for Baghdad’ between rival Sunni and Shi’a militias, with the former- demographically in a minority- believing that Sunni Arabs were in fact the majority and could win that civil war. By the end of 2006, large-scale ethnic cleansing of Sunnis from Baghdad had convinced many insurgents who had been working with al-Qa’ida that they could not win, and hence a key driving force behind the turn against al-Qa’ida.
On a side note, I should point out that the belief in a Sunni Arab majority in Iraq is by no means dead, and is back on the ascendancy, being promoted by some mainstream Sunni Arab politicians like Osama al-Nujaifi and by groups organizing demonstrations such as Intifada Ahrar al-Iraq (IAAI).
IAAI is essentially the activist wing of the neo-Ba’athist Naqshibandi militia movement. Concomitant with that belief in a Sunni Arab majority is the notion of marching on Baghdad to retake the city and calling for jihad, sentiments apparent at IAAI protests in areas like Hawija and Tikrit.
In any case, the development of Syria’s civil war is not analogous. For one thing, the timescale is much greater than in Iraq, and Sunni insurgents in Syria are not a minority who falsely believe they are in the majority.
False analogies with Iraq aside, an overview of statements made by various other rebel groups as well as developments on the ground show that nothing has changed for the worse for JAN. Beginning with the issue of statements on JAN’s pledge of allegiance to Zawahiri, the sentiment can be summarized as follows: ‘While we appreciate your efforts against the regime, we do not believe a pledge of allegiance to al-Qa’ida is in anyone’s interests.’ Thus, not a repudiation of JAN itself, but just al-Qa’ida.
Consider, for example, a statement (courtesy of Charles Lister) put out by a Deir ez-Zor battalion known as the Jaish al-Tawhid, which is aligned with the Salafist rebel coalition called the Syrian Islamic Front (SIF). The statement read: “As for Jabhat al-Nusra’s allegiance to al-Qa’ida, this is a matter for their concern, even though we do not support them [in it] as they have come to hold this view, and we recognize that Jowlani’s pledge of allegiance to Sheikh al-Zawahiri is a course of action that does not achieve legitimate interests.”
In a similar vein, Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiya– one of the largest battalions in the SIF- recently put out a statement indicating that they did not approve of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s declaration of a merger between ISI and JAN, saying that his announcement was not done in consultation with any proper religious authorities in Syria.
At the same time, the battalion made clear its appreciation of “the self-sacrifice and courage of Jabhat al-Nusra in battles and its good deeds and the goodness of its treatment of the people,” declared to be advancing “the interests of the Ummah.”
Notably, the statement recognizes the risks of conflict spreading in the wider region, but makes clear that “this does not constitute an arbitrary judgment for the artificial borders between the sons of the Ummah.” In other words, Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiya does not see the notion of an ideological project beyond Syria’s borders as somehow illegitimate.
Coming to reactions outside this Salafist framework, we have the case of a statement put out immediately after JAN’s al-Qa’ida pledge by a self-proclaimed Free Syrian Army military council in the Damascus area, indicating that while JAN is not part of its structure, “its role in the defense of our oppressed people facing the regime of the tyrant [Assad] is valued.”
The al-Furqan Brigades likewise weighed in on JAN’s pledge of allegiance to al-Qa’ida. Their statement cited Qur’an 5:51, “O you who believe, do not take the Jews and Christians as friends; they are in fact friends of each other. And whosoever among you takes them [as friends] is one of them; and verily God does not guide the people of wrongdoers.”