ji·had·ica

The Denudation Of The Exoneration: Part 10

  Amidst the personal attacks on Zawahiri in part 10, Sayyid Imam mentions a few more interesting historical tidbits.  First, he notes the opposition of two prominent Jihadis, Abu Mus`ab al-Suri and `Abd al-Rahman al-Kindi (died in 2003), to the attacks on the U.S.  He also discloses that Zawahiri’s imprisoned brother, Muhammad, has been trying to cut a deal with the Egyptian authorities.  Finally, Sayyid Imam claims that Bin Laden told him that the Sudanese had encouraged him to turn against Saudi Arabia in 1994.  Whatever the truth of this last bit, it reminds us that states have frequently used al-Qaeda to their own ends. By the way, Nathan Field has a review of Sayyid Imam’s book.  His take: it’s lame.  I’ll withhold my final judgment until the whole book has been published but I like what I’ve seen so far.  It may be less theoretical than the first book and engage

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Will McCants November 29, 2008

The Denudation Of The Exoneration: Part 9

Today, Sayyid Imam treats the issue of Palestine, arguing that a peace treaty with Israel is Islamically legitimate.  Although Imam also indicates that he wants it to be under Muslim control again, he argues that it won’t happen until the caliphate is reestablished.   In addition to the Palestinian issue, Sayyid Imam also explains more about the immediate context that produced the Document and now the Denudation: Islamist prison politics in Egypt.  His speculation on the use of terrorist attacks to increase the bargaining power of prisoners is interesting in light of the statement released by the Deccan Mujahideen which says that their principle demand is the release of Islamist militants in India. Continuing…  Palestine was not occupied until after the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate and it won’t return unless the caliphate returns.  Jihad in Palestine is obligatory on those who are able to do it, but it will

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Will McCants November 28, 2008

The Denudation Of The Exoneration: Part 8

In part 8, Sayyid Imam continues to hammer al-Qaeda for bringing disaster to the Middle East and for the hypocrisy of its leaders.  He puts forward the odd claim that AQ lied to the U.S. about WMD in Iraq and about AQ ties with Iraq to push the U.S. to invade observes that Iran and Syria have been the primary beneficiaries of AQ’s antics in Iraq notes what any observer of the region already knows but rarely says: bashing the U.S. and Israel and talking about the Palestinian issue is great PR offers an excellent explanation as to why AQ will not get a foothold in the Palestinian territories claims that Bin Laden gave Saudi donations for jihad to Nawaz Sharif in support of his candidacy against Benazir Bhutto Continuing… Z claims that only the mujahids have thrawted the plans of the U.S.  That’s like Gamal Abdel Nasser’s slogan after the

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Will McCants November 28, 2008

The Denudation Of The Exoneration: Part 7

In today’s installment, Sayyid Imam begins section three of his rebuttal in which he surveys the rhetorical tricks Zawahiri employs to misguide his readers.  Imam continues to portray Zawahiri as the student of Bin Laden, the inverse of the common description of their relationship.  To this end, Imam says that Zawahiri has adopted UBL’s obsession with oil.  The inversion may be pure invention, but it’s worth thinking about. Continuing…. In the first section, I demonstrated that Zawahiri is a liar, making him unfit to give religious opinions.  In the second section, I showed how he distorts the Sharia to justify mass murder.  He should call his book The Justification rather than The Exoneration. In this third section, I will expose the deceptions Z uses.  Z asks around one hundred questions in the Exoneration but does not offer any answer.  He does this to confuse the reader, leaving him in a thick

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Will McCants November 25, 2008

The Denudation Of The Exoneration: Part 3

As with Wednesday’s installment, Sayyid Imam saves the good stuff for last.  He obliquely chides Mullah Omar for not turning over Bin Laden to the U.S.  Imam also discloses that Bin Laden was plotting with Pakistani intelligence before 9/11 without the permission of Mullah Omar and alleges that he worked with ISI head Gen. Mahmud Ahmed.  Finally, Imam reveals that Zawahiri did not know of the 9/11 attacks until after they happened.  In all, the picture he paints of Zawahiri is of a man very peripheral to al-Qaeda operations until after 9/11.   At the beginning of today’s installment, Sayyid Imam rebuts several of the principles underpinning the “school of al-Qaeda” and reprises the argument of his last book that even though jihad is a duty, there are conditions that must be met before it can be undertaken.  My paraphrastic translation follows: Muslims are the cause of their own problems,

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Will McCants November 21, 2008

The Denudation Of The Exoneration: Part 2

Here’s a paraphrastic translation of the second installment published today.  I promise, it’s worth reading to the climactic end: As I said yesterday, the testimony and hadith transmissions of a liar are not acceptable in Islamic law or in the religious sciences.  So Zawahiri’s religious pronouncement’s in the Exoneration should be rejected. [Sayyid Imam goes on to quote medieval scholars in support of his position.] Before I get into Zawahiri’s jurisprudential mistakes, I want to say that this is not merely about the errors of one man on some jurisprudential issues.  It is the attempt to establish a corrupt, wayward school (madhhab) to justify excess in shedding blood.  I will detail how this school was established, examine its fundamentals, and refute them.  This corrupt school has been called by some, “the al-Qaeda concept.” 1.  How was the school of al-Qaeda established for excess in shedding blood? The school emerged in

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Will McCants November 19, 2008

The Denudation Of The Exoneration: Part 1

Al-Masry al-Youm has begun its serial publication of Sayyid Imam’s new book, The Denudation of the Exoneration.  Since Media Shack won’t be covering it in depth, I’ll be posting summaries of it here as it comes out.  I’ll also .pdf the webpage so readers of Arabic won’t have to go scratching around for it later. The first installment begins with “The Lies of Zawahiri,” so you know it’s going to be good.  Highlights are the revelation that Zawahiri was a Sudanese agent in the early ’90s and Sayyid Imam’s call to a mubahala.  As you’ll see, it’s hard not to believe that Sayyid Imam relishes the chance he’s been given to put his finger in Zawahiri’s eye.  Here is a summary: Zawahiri repeatedly says I wrote the Document [the Tarshid] under the supervision of the U.S. and the Jews.  He is a liar and I call him to a mubahala.

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Will McCants November 18, 2008

Shumukh’s Prebuttal Of Sayyid Imam

The Egyptian newspaper, Al-Masri al-Youm, announced last week that Sayyid Imam will publish a rebuttal of Zawahiri’s Tabri’a (Exoneration), which itself was a rebuttal of Sayyid Imam’s Tarshid–a text that caused a great stir last year because the author criticized his former colleague, Zawahiri, for being an unrealistic revolutionary.  Since Rob at Media Shack is probably going to cover the book’s serial publication (the release begins this Tuesday), I’ll focus on Jihadi reaction to the text as it is released.  (Incidentally, Imam’s new book is entitled, Denudation of the Exoneration.)   Today we have a prebuttal of the work posted to the Shumukh forum, followed by comments.  The author of the prebuttal, Ayman, employs several lines of attack:   Sayyid Imam’s earlier books were too extreme in their formulation of laws for jihad. He is a flip-flopper.  Why should we trust what a flip-flopper says? If he really understands Islam,

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Will McCants November 17, 2008

Returnee from England

Hani al-Siba`i, Egyptian Jihadi and provocateur extraordinaire, is being kicked out of the U.K. and sent back to Egypt.   Hani, like Sayyid Imam, was a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad and convicted in absentia in the Returnees from Albania case.  Sayyid Imam is serving a life sentence for his conviction and jail time surely waits for Siba`i.  We’ll see if he maintains his harsh condemnation of Sayyid Imam’s and EIJ’s “reconsiderations” of jihad. Those who follow the forums are very familiar with Siba`i’s Jihadi advocacy, both online through his Maqrizi Center site, and on television.  Since he may be entering a period of extended silence, savor his brilliance one last time (go to the 3:35).

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Will McCants October 15, 2008

Zawahiri vs. His Mentor

Lawrence Wright has a new article on the acrimonious debate between Zawahiri and his former mentor, Sayyid Imam. This is the most serious ideological fissure in the Jihadi movement in twenty years (since the death of `Abd Allah `Azzam) and Wright does an excellent job of tying together all the pieces of a complicated story. Document (Arabic): Guiding the Jihad (ترشيد العمل الجهادي في مصر والعالم) Document (Arabic): Exoneration (التبريئة)

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Will McCants May 25, 2008
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