ji·had·ica

Walking the Talk: Forum Members Travel to Afghanistan and Iraq (Part 1)

On the Firdaws forum yesterday, a member posted a message informing fellow Firdawsians that one of their own, asdasd99, had joined the caravan of jihad in Afghanistan. Asdasd99, who also goes by al-Miskin al-Muhajir (The Lowly Emigrant) on the Ekhlaas forum, had tried to go to Iraq a month ago with a group from Kuwait that I’ll be profiling this week.  However, unnamed “personal circumstances” kept him from going.  Looks like he resolved them. Document (Arabic): 6-29-08-firdaws-member-of-ekhlaas-and-firdaws-joins-jihad-in-afghanistan

Read More »
Will McCants June 30, 2008

Saudi Terror Arrests Summary, Government Points Finger at Iran

I’ve been collecting news stories on the terror suspects arrested in Saudi Arabia. Much of the reporting relies on Saudi security personnel and the Interior Ministry’s statement last week, so it should be read with due skepticism. There’s a lot to discuss, but I’ll save my comments for later. For the moment it’s worth noting that, as of today, the Saudis are now injecting a new piece of information into the story: the network was taking orders and receiving money from someone in Iran: The funding for the AQ cells in Saudi came from one of the major countries in the region in the form of Euros. (al-Qabas, “Oil Cell”) Instructions for the cells came from the same major country in the region in which leaders of AQ sought refuge, like the Egyptian Sayf al-Adl who is currently living there. (al-Qabas, “Oil Cell”) Below is my summary of all the

Read More »
Will McCants June 29, 2008

Mauritania Again

In the news surrounding the Saudi statement on its capture of suspected terrorists over the past six months (see Marisa’s links here and here and here), one thing stood out: 40 Mauritanians were arrested in Saudi’s oil-rich Eastern Province, some (all?) of whom were part of a cell that planned to attack oil installations in the province. I’ve written before on the repeated blipping of Mauritania on my radar screen and Alle has helped me understand (here and here) the rise of Islamist militancy in that country. But why are so many involved in militancy in faraway places like Saudi and Afghanistan/Pakistan? Why not just join al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb? (Picture of one of the Mauritanians arrested in Saudi)

Read More »
Will McCants June 28, 2008

Mahdi Will Appear After Return and Death of Caliph

Discussion of the appearance of the Mahdi, a messianic figure who will appear to restore justice to the world, is not a hot topic on Sunni Jihadi forums (in contrast with Shia miliants, who talk about it a lot). So a post today on Eklaas by al-Fata al-Jurani caught my eye. In it, he argues that the Mahdi will not appear until a caliph once again rules Muslims. After the caliph dies, the black banners will be unfurled and the Mahdi will appear. In support of his thesis, he offers two hadith: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Disagreement will occur at the death of a caliph and a man of the people of Medina will come flying forth to Mecca. Some of the people of Mecca will come to him, bring him out against his will and swear allegiance to him between the Corner and the Maqam. An

Read More »
Will McCants June 27, 2008

Managing Savagery in Saudi Arabia

In the past six months, Saudi Arabia has arrested around 700 suspected terrorists.  Yesterday, the Interior Ministry released a statement which claimed that many of those arrested were trying to implement the blueprint laid out by Abu Bakr Naji in his Management of Savagery. Naji argues that if Jihadis want to take power, they need to abandon the idea of overthrowing governments in the Middle East.  Instead, they should focus on creating security vacuums.  They can do this by striking  a country’s crucial industries, like oil and tourism.  The government will respond by pulling in its security forces to protect the infrastructure.  This will open up the desired security vacuums (“regions of savagery” as he calls them) that Jihadis can move into and set up rudimentary governments.  These vacuums can be as small as city blocks or as large as a province.  Once they have gained control, the Jihadis can

Read More »
Will McCants June 26, 2008

New Iraq Foreign Fighter Study

Clint Watts of PJ Sage has released part two of his study of the foreign fighter data from Sinjar, Iraq.  The CTC at West Point  was the initial conduit for the data and they wrote a useful accompanying report.  Clint has gone further by recoding the data (all of which he makes freely available on his site).  His new look at the numbers led him to some important findings, including: Al-Qaeda does little of its own top-down recruitment in Middle Eastern and North African countries. The Internet plays a limited role in radicalizing, recruiting, and coordinating young men in many Middle Eastern and North African countries. Returning veteran fighters play a crucial role in radicalizing, recruiting, and coordinating young men to fight in foreign countries. A handful of cities (what he calls “flashpoint cities”) produce a disproportionate number of foreign fighters. Based on Clint’s findings in part two of his

Read More »
Will McCants June 25, 2008

Islamic State of Iraq Online Media Distribution

Just in time for Craig Whitlock’s helpful survey of Jihadi internet propaganda, Ekhlaas member Usud al-Tawhid (Lions of Monotheism) has posted a message about the Islamic State of Iraq’s method of media distribution. The message is by an Abu al-Zarqa’ al-`Iraqi, who claims to be a member of the ISI. AZ warns forum members not to post media material from Iraq outside of official channels online. He relates that he once made this mistake when he published clips of an attack carried out by a certain “Dr. Fathi” (probably alluding to this). AZ’s action angered people in the ISI’s Media Ministry and resulted in AZ and another brother being hauled before a Sharia tribunal. A brother informed AZ that Furqan is the only entity that can publish media material for the ISI. By this, AZ says, the brother meant that members of the ISI’s Media Ministry in al-Furqan were the

Read More »
Will McCants June 24, 2008

Interview with Umarov, North Caucasus Amir

The attention of Western analysts today was focused on Abu Yahya al-Libi’s statement on Somalia. I read it and there’s not a lot there. Basically, Libi says keep fighting, no matter who is in power, until an Islamic state is established. More interesting is Kavkaz Center’s newly-released interview with Dokka Umarov, the amir of the North Caucasus Emirate that he declared at the end of 2007. Here’s what stands out: The decision to declare an emirate was not taken lightly and occurred after much debate. Umarov acknowledges that he has taken a lot of heat from fellow travelers for aligning himself ideologically with al-Qaeda and declaring war on the world. The mujahids do control some territory, but their control is not absolute. Therefore, he does not want his supporters rushing to form a state. The two translations, Arabic and English, diverge over what sort of state Umarov is talking about.

Read More »
Will McCants June 23, 2008

Letter from Balqa’ Jail

The Jihadi Media Elite (Nukhbat al-I`lam al-Jihadi) has posted a notebook that Zarqawi dedicated to his sister, Umm Qudama, and to his brother-in-law, Abu Qudama. According to the colophon, Zarqawi finished writing the notebook on May 31, 1998 from Balqa’ prison in Jordan. The Jihadi Media Elite posted images of the first five pages, which Zarqawi titled “the introduction,” but there are links to the rest. This is going to be a very important primary source for those interested in understanding Zarqawi’s psychological development and his time in prison. Here’s a summary of the introduction: Part of the Sunna is that God’s servants are tested so they can be distinguished from the insincere. Suffering imprisonment and torture is the lot of God’s Messengers and those who follow them. Our tormentors have no power over us. If we survive, we will see God’s promises fulfilled. If we die, we will attain

Read More »
Will McCants June 22, 2008

Zarqawi’s Sad Day Song

According to a member of Ekhlaas, whenever Zarqawi was feeling down, he would say to one of the brothers, “Let me hear the hymn, ‘Forgive me, my grief has overflowed.’”  He would listen to the hymn and his eyes would fill with tears. Here’s the hymn and here are some of the lyrics (Arabic).

Read More »
Will McCants June 20, 2008
Latest Jihadica
Subscribe

Copyright © 2024 Jihadica