ji·had·ica

Al-Qaeda Cleric Linked to Chinese Terrorist Group

In the past week, there have been a spate of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, the Muslim-majority province in China. On Aug. 4, militants killed 16 police in Kashgar, Xinjiang Province, which is near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. On Sunday, bombers attacked 17 sites in Kuqa, west-central Xianjiang. Although I haven’t seen any claim of responsibility for the attacks, a good candidate is the Islamic Party of Turkistan (IPT), which in recent weeks has been threatening terrorist attacks in China during the Olympic Games.  They have also claimed other recent attacks. Although little is known about the IPT, Aaron Weisburd has done some amazing cyber sleuthing and discovered that the IPT hosted the website of `Abd al-Hakim Hassan. Aaron did not know who Hassan was and neither did the Jihadi ideologues on the elite Hesbah forum. But he knew that Hassan was someone important because al-Qaeda’s media distribution organization,

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Will McCants August 11, 2008

Shaykh `Isa on Near Enemy vs. Far Enemy

In a first effort to pin down Shaykh `Isa on the big Jihadi questions of the day, I read through his opinion on the near enemy/far enemy debate: “Are jihadi operations in the abodes of the original infidels preferable? Or in the lands of Muslims that are ruled by infidels?” The “original infidels” in the first part of the question are people who have never been Muslims. The unqualified “infidels” in the second part includes original infidels and Muslims who have apostatized. In answering the question, `Isa offers America as an example of the “abodes of the original infidels” and Afghanistan as an example of the “lands of Muslims that are ruled by infidels.” `Isa’s bottom line: “The apostate who has authority over Muslim lands is, in the eyes of the inhabitants of these countries, the near enemy, and the original infidels in their lands are the far enemy” (p.

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Will McCants June 12, 2008

Important al-Qaeda Scholar Identified

In the Tabri’a (Exoneration), released a few months ago, Zawahiri mentions several clerics he admires and who continue to support al-Qaeda. One of them is an Egyptian named Abu `Amr `Abd al-Hakim Hassan, whom he describes this way: He has a long history in hijra, ribat, and jihad. He was arrested and tortured in Egypt, which he endured patiently. He graduated from the College of Commerce and then from al-Azhar’s College of Theology. His scholarly and scientific efforts are copious. Among the works he produced were the books Elucidation of the Importance of Issues Surrounding Unbelief and Faith (التبيان في أهم مسائل الكفر والإيمان) in three parts, Jihad in the Path of God: Etiquette and Rules (الجهاد في سبيل الله- آداب وأحكام) in two parts, and Guiding the Mujhadis to the Commission of the Trustworthy Prophet (هداية المجاهدين إلى وصية النبي الأمين), which is a book explaining the Prophet’s (peace

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Will McCants June 4, 2008
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