Making Sense of Jihad

A Study of Knights Under the Banner of the Prophet (2d ed) - Part 3

Zawahiri Settles A Few Scores

(Find previous posts in the study go here)

The Introduction to the second edition of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s Knights Under the Banner of the Prophet, begins with a verse of secular poetry.

Cutting forest trees is not useless, They are for a pulpit or for a cross.

The verse comes from a poem of Mohammed Iqbal.  A secular poet and champion of the Islamic revival, Iqbal is the second secular poet Zawahiri turns to, and like al-Kawakbi, Iqbal advocated for broader Islamic revival.  Iqbal was also an advocate for the Pakistani state, and an ideal choice if Zawahiri had in part a Pakistani audience in mind.  Iqbal would appeal to the tastes of many of his Pakistani supporters and protectors.

He formally opens Knights 2 with a prayer of repentance.

All praise is due to God. We worship Him, We seek His help and His forgiveness and we turn to Him in repentance. We seek refuge in God from the evil within ourselves and our ill deeds. Whoever God guides cannot be led astray and whomever He leads astray, for him there is no guide. There is no god but God. He is alone, He has no partner and Muhammad is his servant and messenger.

A few paragraphs down he’ll note that the book isn’t a history (my word) or an analysis (my word).  And it certainly doesn’t leave a knowledgeable reader with the impression that its an ideological “manifesto."  Then what is it? This prayer of repentance suggests that Zawahiri primarily intends Knights 2 as a confessionary work.  It’s unknown whether that was the original intention for Knights 1, but it comes through clearly in the opening prayer for Knights 2:  We seek refuge in God from the evil within ourselves and our ill deeds.  It ends, appropriately, with an assertion of the mystical foundation of Salafist-jihadist thought: tawhid, the oneness of God. 

He goes on:

"Ye who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam,” [Koranic verse, Al Imran, 3:102]. “O mankind! Reverence your Guardian-Lord, who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, his mate, and from them twain scattered (like seeds) countless men and women; reverence Allah, through whom ye demand your mutual (rights), and (reverence) the wombs (That bore you): for Allah ever watches over you” [Koranic verse, Al-Nisa, 4:1]. “O ye who believe! Fear Allah, and (always) say a word directed to the Right, that He may make your conduct whole and sound and forgive you your sins: He that obeys Allah and His Messenger, has already attained the highest achievement” [Koranic verse, Al-Ahzab, 33:70, 71].

Three passages from the Quran (drawn from three Medinan suras, if you keep track of those things) represents a three-fold paradigm of worship within the Salafist-jihadi milieu: fear of God, reverence for life given you, and the practice of righteous conduct accompanied with a penitent heart.  Even though practically all Zawahiri's work include some religious context, that context will change from work to work.  He chose the words to this prayer, probably because they emphasize significant and recurring themes throughout the book, and place its historical accounts in their appropriate context.

Zawahiri begins his “re”-introduction of Knights with the intention of correcting the record and settling a few scores associated with Knights 1.  But first he offers personal context and motivation for the second edition:

Thereafter, I chose to publish this first part of the second edition of the book "Knights Under the Prophet's Banner" before the completion of the second edition, due to the circumstances that the mujahidin pass through. I hope to complete the second edition if God, to Whom is ascribed all perfection, prolongs my life, grants me support, and facilitates the circumstances.

In this edition, I expanded on a number of passages in the book, particularly those relating to the blessed raids on Washington, New York, and Pennsylvania. However, I stopped there, choosing not to elaborate on the events that followed these raids, because the battle is still violent and the enemy seeks any information. Moreover, many Muslim brothers are captured by the enemy and may be influenced by what I might mention.  Therefore, I preferred to talk only about the blessed raids, and as I mentioned in the introduction of the first edition:

The reader might expect to find in this book a history of a certain period or a narration of the incidents of a certain phase. He might also expect to find an analysis of policies, evaluation of certain methodologies, or critique of some systems. However, I draw the honorable reader's attention to the fact that the book -- even if it deals with any of that -- has not been written for such purposes, nor can its writer fulfill it.

The reason why this book has not been written for such purposes is in fact a message from the writer to his ummah. It is nothing like what the honorable reader might expect, even if the book includes a history or an analysis.

As for why the writer cannot fulfill it, there are many reasons. One of the reasons is that the writer does not have enough stability to ‘gather enough documentation necessary for this kind of analytical writing.’ Furthermore, the author possesses only his testimony which he cannot provide in detail because many of its characters are still in the midst of battle, and many of its events are still interacting in the field."

Thus, I ask the reader to accept this book (message) from me as it is, and this book is enough for a goal and a success.

What I want from this book is to deliver a message and a loyalty. It is not just a historiography and analysis, for I am not nor can I be, in my circumstances, a historiography or an analyst, even if I was one of these two.

A Study of Knights Under the Banner of the Prophet (2d ed) - Part 2

Front matter matters

If Knights 1 contained front matter, then we may never know if it corresponds with the material found in Knights 2.  The Al-Sharq al-Awsat serialization of Knights 1 contains no information on front matter. 

A book’s front matter usually includes things like dedications, tables of content, and expressions of gratitude.  Authors chose favorite poetic or prose passages in their front matter as an expression of their book’s overall themes.  The front matter in Knights 2 includes a hadith and a verse of secular poetry that encapsulate Knights 2 basic themes: self-sacrifice in the face of unjust rulers (hadith) and the inevitability of revolution (the secular poetic verse).  It also represents the first of many sacred and secular pairings throughout the book.

Zawahiri choses a hadith that retells the story of the personal sacrifice of the disciples of Isa bin Maryam:

In the authority of Mu'adh Bin-Jabal, the messenger of God, prayers and peace be upon him, said: "Take the present as long as it is a present; but if it becomes bribery, do not take it. Verily the millstone of Islam is in action; then it goes with the book of God wherever it goes; verily the book and authority will depart, then never depart the book. Verily there will be on top of you rulers who do for themselves what they do not for you, and if you disobeyed them, they would kill you, and if you obeyed them, they would misguide you.” They said, “Oh messenger of God! What are we to do then?” He said, “The same thing the companions of Isa Bin-Maryam (Virgin Mary) did; they were sawed with saws and were carried on the wood, dead for obeying God, and it is better than a life while disobeying God."

Meanwhile, the poetic verses comes from one of the early Islamic revivalist - Abd-al-Rahman al-Kawakbi (alt Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi). 

This is a word of truth and a shout in a valley, If it is gone with the wind today, Tomorrow, it will be forced on everybody

Zawahiri will return to these themes, often reemphasizing them with other sacred texts and poetic verses. He begins each chapter with poetic verse, and will often interrupt his narrative with poetry or sacred text, emphasizing his intended lessons.  He tells the story of a time in history -- his youth -- spent in self-sacrifice against what he perceived to be an unjust government.  In so doing, he creates a paradigm of Salafist-jihadist vocation in action, offered as a personal narrative to readers sympathetic to the cause.

Through Knights 2, Zawahiri attempts to communicate Truth, not facts in a temporal order, like a traditional biographic account.  Thus, lessons are key, because they help turn complex theological ideas into tangible ideas, not unlike the role of parables in Christian sacred texts and literature.  This is a point that many Western analysts appear to overlook in their search for al-Qaeda’s "ideology." 

The story being told begins with front matter.  And here, like in so many of the nooks and crannies of the Salafist-jihadist milieu, the sacred and secular meet uneasily, creating a personal narrative that grasps for heaven while all the while remaining rooted on earth.

A Study of Knights Under the Banner of the Prophet (2d ed)

Introduction

Part 1 of the second edition of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s Knights Under the Banner of the Prophet (Knights 2) appeared on the jihadi forums in late November 2010.  Zawahiri wrote the first edition of Knights (Knights 1) during a time of "worrying circumstances and changing conditions."  Taliban-sanctioned safe havens were disintegrating around al-Qaeda’s leadership.  Members were left, in the words of one militant, “moving between safe houses and hideouts...”  The book surfaced in the midst of this “maelstrom” in December 2001.

The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat serialized excerpts of Knights 1 in December 2001.  According to its editors (December 2, 2001):

The book was smuggled by an Egyptian fundamentalist called "A.S." who is a close aide of Al- Zawahiri out of an Afghan cave in the Kandahar region to the border city of Peshawar and then to London.

I’m skeptical of this account.  In the succeeding years militant media networks produced numerous stories of escape and evasion from the US invasion of Afghanistan, and though some mention cave complex here or there, few senior leaders appear to have had extended stays in caves, let alone the amount of time needed to write such a lengthy book.  Zawahiri offers a different account:

In fact, the first edition has been subject to distortion and elimination of some parts by the Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, which grasped it from the US intelligence. The US intelligence got  the first edition from my laptop in Afghanistan and tried to hide the complete version of the text.

His account suggests that the Al-Sharq al-Awsat edition came from one of his own laptops.  How did they obtain it?  Could it be the same laptop inadvertently acquired by journalist Alan Cullison in liberated Kabul?  I’ve been unable to substantially connect the release of Knights 1 to Cullison’s laptop.  Still, provenance is important in this case, because there are so many and fundamental differences between Knights 1 (as we know it) and Knights 2.  It becomes impossible to gain clear, accurate insights into the changes in Zawahiri’s thinking over time without a full and complete comparison of both texts.

Since the release of Part 1 of Knights 2, Usama bin Laden was killed in the Abbottabad, Pakistan raid, and Zawahiri is now al-Qaeda’s emir.  In retrospect, the book closes out a decade of struggle on both sides.  Perhaps Zawahiri originally intended the second edition to coincide with the anniversary of 9/11.  Perhaps he thought it was just time to readdress the unanswered questions surrounding Knights 1.  Only he can explain his motivations. 

Zawahiri has been the strategic mind behind many West-centered plots uncovered since 9/11, and has dedicated innumerable hours to establishing the foundations of al-Qaeda’s movement at strategic locations in Africa, Europe, and Central Asia.  He's 60 years old now.  A smart man, wise with years, and no doubt hardened from personal loss, physical hardships, and many years subduing his own ambitions for the greater movement.  Knights 2 offers the first hints of what al-Qaeda's movement will be under his leadership.

Mitchell's Appendices

I've reposted the Appendices of R.P. Mitchell's 1960 dissertation, appropriately entitled, "The Society of the Muslim Brothers."  It's an interesting read for MB scholars, representing possibly the only contemporary collection of MB publications from the time leading up to Nasser's crackdown.

I used to host them on my website, but I took them off, having come to the conclusion that no one was interested.  I've noticed a wee bit more interest in this material in the past month for any number of reasons: Beckbots, apologists, and an endless stream of blather from the MSM news channels.  However, to the young scholar, who was perhaps unaware of Mitchell's dissertation, this is all new.  Dig in, folks.

Jihad Vault: Building an Archive of American Online Jihad (Link fixed)

Update: I've updated the BestofthePest link.  It should work now.

Update(2): Not fixed! Working on it!

Update(3): Link fixed?

Little did I know that deleting the BestofthePest from my Box.net directory would cause such a fuss.  I received four requests from four different academics in the past two weeks asking me to restore the files. Unprecedented for this blog.  Honest, I didn't even know that many people read it! 

The study of online radicalization is very much the fad in academic circles right now, and as a service to my academic readers who have theses to write and crappy undergrad essays to grade, I am reposting BestofthePest.

However, I am also posting the directories from several other blogs that were active in 2007 and 2008.  The first is http://www.forpeopleofunderstanding.blogspot.com/.  Mostly active in 2007 and 2008, this appeared to be an online jihadi who was/is located in New Jersey.

Also in the collection: an archive of Tarek Mehanna's wordpress blog, iskandrani.wordpress.com.  Mehanna is a former Boston blogger arrested in October 2009.

There is also an archive of jihadi files associated with muslimpad.com hosting site, unavailable as if this writing.  This is mostly Samir Khan's (aka The Pest) works when his blog was hosted at muslimpad.

And then there are two collections of files associated with The Pest's web content.  Some of these files are copies, no doubt, but I am making it all available just in case there's value in the total:

inshallahshaheed collection 2
bestofthepest

Please don't stop with my work, folks.  There's plenty to grab and analyze still out there.  Archives exist of many salafi/salafi-jihadi blogs that came and went with their creator's enthusiasm.  I found this one tonight -- Islam is the Sunnah and the Sunnah is Islam.  My eagle eyes apparently missed this one when it was active in 2007-08.  While there, check out the links on the right.  Mexico City?  Really?  I had a "senior security advisor" recently tell me that there were no Salafists in Mexico.

What's Old is New Again

I came across a complete work called The Qurâanic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society.  Written in 1973, it falls squarely into the Pakistani genre of Quranic-based study of "good governance."  Its two volumes are filled with the kind of victim-centered woe that's so typical of the jihadi media we read today whether it be MB or AQ media: it's an Israeli conspiracy against Islam, Western world is keeping us down, etc. It's all there.

A brief excerpt:

The collective effort of the Millat for the moral perfection and happiness of the individual cannot, however, gain its ends truly and comprehensively unless it transforms itself into a free theo-democratic state, whose function should be to enforce the Islamic Way of Life in its totality and to act as a condition for the natural flowering of the ideals of Islam. Hence the establishment of the Islamic State, whenever and wherever possible, forms, according to the Holy Qur’Én, the duty of the Millat, not only towards Islam but also towards the individual.

Around the Web - I’m Back!

Well, sort of.  I’m trying to be “back.”  After a crazy 2010 in which I married a real life Frog and really turned 40.  Not sure what my 40s will bring, but a few things are certain -- it will include counter-jihad, vulgar French idioms, petanque, and plenty of very fine wines.  Unfortunately, it will also include English Premier and Ligue 1 “fuutbawl,” but that’s for a different post.

The two Aaron’s

Aaron, did some excellent work not too long ago  exploring the connections between the online world of Swede suicide bomber, Taimour al-Abdaly and the online world of The Pest, aka Samir Khan. 

Meanwhile, if you were reading Aaron Zelin’s Jihadology you would know that...

-- Bin Laden’s recent message to the French had nothing to say about the burqa law.

-- Daveed Gartenstein-Ross gives a strong defense of  applying jihadi ideology in the analysis of jihadi behavior.  [BTW: Congratulations]

-- There is an emerging Salafist-jihadist movement in Nigeria called the “Brigades of the Tawhid.”

-- And that there is a new study of Salafist-jihadism in Germany, by F.W.Horst, called, of all things,  "Salafist-jihadism in Germany."

It is also through Aaron Z -- retweeted by the estimable Mr Orange -- that Mark Stout just posted a fascinating analysis of an early EIG (Egyptian Islamic Group) counter-intel piece. 

One last thing...

I forgive you, Jarret...

...for employing any ideas that spring forth from the demented mind of 1998 Bad Writing contest winner, Judith Butler in your noble struggle against online jihadis.  I admire your work.  I loved your book.  But the Butler reference is beyond the pale.  She’s Lacan without the pen.  Come back to us, Jarret, come back!  Come back to the real world of applied jihad analysis! Sigh, well, if you insist on wasting your time in the dark chambers of post structuralism, just remember this: Sometimes a pen is just a pen.

Jihad Vault IV: In the Hearts of Green Birds

This cassette contains some of the thought provoking, and at times, miraculous biographies of the Shuhadaa.

Last year I decided to dedicate a few posts to Salafist-jihadi texts that emphasize the movement's mysticism and spiritualism.  Part IV profiles In the Hearts of Green Birds, a 90s-era English-language martyrology of individuals who died during the Bosnian War. The product of UK-based Azzam Publications, it  came to my attention back in 2006 when it was distributed around the then-limited English-language jihadi web.  It’s part of  a popular genre in the Salafist-jihadi media that highlights the sacred qualities of the deaths of young men who die during what Abu Musab al-Suri called “open front” jihads.

Azzam Publications was a close-knit network of UK-based e-hadis (some of the earliest examples we have) who distributed Salafist-jihadi multimedia often used in recruitment and fund raising for the various open front jihads of the pre-9/11 era.  NEFA Foundation has a screen capture from the group’s website before it was shut down after 9/11.

The current version -- still active on (where else?) Archive-dot-org  -- was posted on 08 Feb 2007 by someone employing the uploader ID, "caravansofmartyrs@yahoo.fr"  It carries a comment by a member of the ozooo media group, posted on 22 Feb 2008.  It lacks the transcript.

http://www.archive.org/details/In_The_Heart_Of_Green_Birds

My copy of the file, however, was posted to a commercial server probably by someone active on the Ummah.com forum, where I first came across it, back in Feb 2006. The Ummah.com post includes the transcript.  I also found the audio file and transcript on Archive around the same time.  The current Archive file lacks the transcript.

Here is an excerpt drawn from the Ummah.com transcript:

Abu Musa at-Turki, "Camera-man of the Mujahideen." Operation Miracle, July 1995

Born of Turkish parents in Germany, his parents did not have enough money to bring him up and so they sold him to a German family. He was brought up as a non-Muslim by a German family. He was a model student and a very well behaved child, and no one could see the difference, as he was very fair in skin color. All of a sudden when he reached the age of 15, things began to go wrong for him. He began to mess around in school, and he became confused. He knew there was something different about him. He knew he was different than these people and that he was not German. Once he had an argument with his German mother, and she told him: "You are not my son!" And he went back and said that: "...That statement reverberated in my mind, and I went back and asked my mom what does this mean? She refused to tell me. After much battery, she told me the whole story, and that she was still in touch with my Turkish parents. My real parents, I went to see them and I began to live with them...." So he began to live with them and after a number of years, at the age of 21, he traveled to Bosnia.

---more anasheed---

And this brother, he had some experience in how to make video-films and mix videotapes. So in Bosnia, they made him the cameraman in the Operation. So, along with a Kalashnikov and his weapons, he’d carry a camera. And this brother; I witnessed this brother, he would be in the front of the attacks, with his camera, fighting and even reaching the Serb bunkers before the rest of the brothers, and he’d be standing on top of the bunkers. The Serbs would still be shooting from out of the window of the bunker and he’d be filming on top. And he said to me; he reached the bunkers and he said to me: "I felt: should I throw a grenade inside or should I put a camera inside?" And then he said he’d put the camera inside so he could get the best possible pictures, so he could mix the best film, so that he could send it back to the other brothers that don’t know anything about Jihad so that they could see the Jihad in their TV’s so that they could find out and learn about Jihad. That was his intention, he wanted to make the best possible tapes, that’s why he was always in the front with his camera. In the second operation, Allah took him as Shaheed inshaAllah.

---more anasheed---

....many people who knew Abu Musa, described him like a walking cartoon character. And you’d look at this man and you’d think that he is dumb or that he’s mental, but he is, and was, very clever.

---more anasheed---

Still a cesspit after all these years

I drop off the face of the earth for a year only to return to discover that Archive-dot-org is still a wretched hive of evil media.  Just type "ansar1.info" in the search box at the top, and look at the crap that comes up.  I was looking for some texts to add to MSJ's growing stash.  I found only one, but what a one it is.

http://www.archive.org/details/AMEF_Signatories-Lord-Worlds-in-Yemen_English

Posted by one "lal.masjid@yahoo.com" on Oct 9 2010, it is a meditation on jihad with imagery common in the more mystical jihad writings, regardless of how artless that imagery is employed. 

While the ten horses neigh waiting for their bit and while the smith blows the bellows and strikes the white iron and the sparks fly, and while the weaver calls his friend to give him the thread to finish the remaining saddles, the horseman whispers an important matter in the blacksmith’s ear and says: “Reinforce the shield and armor.” This whisper deserves its reward and consideration.

And this whopper.

The fingertips long for the trigger and the ear grows accustomed to the sound of swords clashing. Likewise, the heart yearns to see the Merciful One and paradise. The breast longs for the 70 virgins, and the eye for Allah’s waving banners on top of the minaret. The ear hopes for the blessed sound of “God is Greater!”, so where are those who are rolling up their sleeves for the Lord of the Kaaba?

Wow!  What comes first the triggers or the sword clashes?  Awesomely bad stuff that is.  Stick to engineering they should.

Get the Complete "Nawai Afgan Jihad Set" Right Now!

The "Moqatel Islamic Forum" and Archive-dot-org bring you the "Nawai Afgan Jihad: Complete Set Of Nawai Afghan Jihad Magazine 2010."  Yours free for just searching "jihad" at Archive-dot-org!

http://www.archive.org/details/Nawai-Afghan-Jihad_Complete-Set-2010

Jihad Vault: The Best of the Pest

Since everyone's favorite online ehadi has gone on to bigger and better things, I thought about sharing some of The Pest's past works with you.  It's a directory of blog posts (from "inshallahshaheed") that I grabbed over the years, as the little one grew into full ehadihood.   Whether we like it or not, Samir Khan's work was pioneering and pivotal in the early development of an American Salafi-jihadi community.  This, despite the fact that it was mostly produced  in his parent's basement. 

I hope this helps any researchers out there who are exploring this early period (2006-2008). 

Jihad Vault, Part III

As part three of my occasional series highlighting the spiritual character of the Salafist-jihadist writing, I would like to introduce you to Yousef al-Uyyeri's, "The Path to the Land of Battle."  It's only 12 pages in its At-Tibyan translation (excerpted), and a comparatively breezy read compared to other studies in the Salafist-jihadi literature.  Nevertheless it offers a good snapshot of one of the key reasons why young men (and women) are drawn to the movement.

So let the Youth of this Ummah know: That the truthful and sincere ones who have preceded them (to the Lands of the Jihad), they verily made serious attempts and spent and sacrificed to the maximum of their humanly capability – and then they entered the land of the Jihad… but after what? They entered only after they exhausted everything, after they had gone through stages of fear and anxiety, and after they were expelled, and many hardships… But they were truly sincere to Allah, so thus they arrived at their intended destinations.

And it is for this reason that Allah has mentioned that the ‘path’ to the Jihad, is also a Jihad in and of itself. And that is why Allah has attached such great and enormous rewards to it, and He counted the one who leaves to go to the Jihad, as a ‘Mujahid’ even before he reaches the land of the Jihad – and if he dies in that path, he dies as a Shahid. All of this virtue and reward has come as incitement for the men of this Ummah to take part in the Jihad. And the Mujahid – what does he want from his Jihad? Indeed, he wants one of the two best things – either victory, or martyrdom. And if he attains either of the two, then he has been successful. And for this reason, Allah (Most Glorious is He) and His Messenger (salutations and peace be upon him) have clarified that the one who goes out for Jihad, then verily he will attain one of the two best things….

In a January 2008 expert report submitted in the federal case against Marwan Amawi, et al (click here and here for more on the outcome of the case), Evan Kohlmann quotes from "Path":

In his book “The Path to the Land of Battle”, Yousef al-Ayyiri encourages Muslims around the world to join in Al-Qaida’s cause, whether directly or indirectly—because, in his words, “The Virtue of Whosover Falls Down in the Path of Allah, and Dies, Then He is One of Them... Then he is one of them: Meaning, he is of the Mujahidin.” Al-Ayyiri goes on to implore his readers to “try hard, and walk to the path of the Jihad. Those who reached (the land of) the Jihad—they were not ‘supernatural’ people; rather, they were humans, Muslims. They merely tried sincerely to reach the lands, and Allah facilitated it for them—after they wore out their eyes and ears in search for this Path... And how many paths there are to Jihad! ...it is absolutely impossible for a sincere slave of Allah to miss all these pathways to the Jihad... If only one million (1,000,000) Muslims attempted to arrive at the lands of the Jihad, then 100,000 of them would have definitely reached—and they would have been sufficient for the Mujahidin to continue in the lands of the Jihad.”

What's clear here is that al-Qaida's leaders (like al-Uyyeri) make no distinction between the "internal" jihad of personal inner struggle - so often mentioned by MB front group talking heads on TV -- and the external jihad against designated enemies.

A copy is still hosted at -- where else? -- archive org.  It's one of dozens of at-Tibyan publications available at this directory,

http://ia311035.us.archive.org/2/items/guidebooks/

It is directly linked at the now-defunct, but still live, at-Tibyan blog,

http://www.tibyan.co.cc/2009/09/path-to-land-of-battle.html

Dumpster Diving

Some random links for a snowy day

At Archive<dot> org
http://www.archive.org/details/AlSuryEdarah
http://www.archive.org/details/ikhlasee
http://ia341330.us.archive.org/1/items/jadwal2_673/jadwal.html

At Scribd
http://www.scribd.com/doc/10979605/Mouhammad-Qotb
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3999459/Gaza
http://www.scribd.com/Northwaziristan-Shoora-Council/d/26243507
http://www.scribd.com/doc/25207906/Messge-of-Iamam-Zurqavee-to-Banihasan

Jihad Vault, Part II

Jihad:  The Forgotten Obligation

This second part of the Jihad Vault series, looks at Tamim al-Adnani's Jihad: The Forgotten Obligation.  An Soviet-Afghan-era sermon and essay that builds on the work of Abdullah Azzam in arguing that fighting the Soviets is fard ayn, or personally obligatory.  Adnani was the subject of an Azzam biography, The Lofty Mountain.  He is the fat guy in this post at Leah's blog, All Things Counterterrorism.

And includes this passage:

A further reason for this great virtue of spending time in Jihaad is that Allah Ta`ala has bought the Muslim lives and wealth in exchange for Jannah. This business transaction can only be fulfilled in the battlefield. Clearly a Muslim is so happy and pleased with transaction that he offers his life to Allah in the battlefield of Jihaad to become the buyer of Jannah. A Mujahid leaves everything behind in reaching the battlefield, where he continually faces death. He has given himself to Allah Ta`ala, in his march forth to the battlefield and this is the place where his chance of the acceptance of death is available. Taking all this into account it is as though he has given his life and he belongs to Allah Ta`ala. This clearly demonstrates the greatness of participating in Jihaad.

No need to host it here.  Adnani's work can be found all over the internet.

On the forums
http://www.alqimmah.net/archive/index.php?t-2029.html

On Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=332217565703&topic=12679
http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=317062590453&start=50&hash=a34646dcd97c6f8ade95ec16eef73c74

There's a hyperlinked version here
http://islam.worldofislam.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=119&Itemid=51&layout=default

Stored at the mirror site of the Harakat Mujahideen
http://www.2600.com/news/mirrors/harkatmujahideen/www.harkatulmujahideen.org/jihad/o-jihad.htm

Copies of the1988 audio can be heard at

Youtube (of course)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmmnF9I7gUE

And linked through this site (whatever it is)
http://www.homebusiness-1.com/home-business-videos/video/is8vv15qh04/Shaykh-Tameem-Al-Adnani-Jihad-The-Forgotten-Obligation-Part-1-8.html

And through a Turkish site
http://www.radyobakur.com/video.asp?v=is8vv15qh04&id=&search_query=shaykh-tameem-al-adnani--jihad--the-forgotten-obligation-part-1-8&page=1

It continues to inspire bloggers
http://ssjr05.blogspot.com/

Jihad Vault, Part I

The Battlefield:  The Safest Place on Earth

I've been asked many times to offer a list of essential works in the Salafist-Jihadist literature, or to compile a "Norton Anthology" of jihad.  It's a great idea, but it's easier said than done.  There's a lot that could be added to such an anthology.  The collection could change depending on the goal of the reading.  Should I focus on the military arts?  Strategy and doctrine? Intellectual foundations?  Historical documents?  Also, what about the softer, fluffier radicalism of the Ikhwan?  Do they have a place in the "Norton Anthology of Radical Islamic Literature"? What about multi-media?  Should the book include a CD? 

Rather than rack my brain over something that is clearly above my pay grade, I decided to dedicate a few posts to Salafist-jihadi texts that emphasize the movement's spiritualism.  It is, after all, a religious movement, and much of its media contains the elements of religion.  Sadly, this aspect of the movement is rarely discussed.  First, because the Western analysts who study the movement have never been trained to think with religion. Second, it is difficult to accurately discuss a religious practice that is not your own.  You run the risk of being inaccurate, or worse, insensitive.  And third, I think that secular analysis simply rejects religious justifications for actions.  Instead it prefers to base assumptions and conclusions on the conceit of objectivity allegedly found in more scientific approaches -- the much beloved "models" of Sageman or Pape.  And so a good 80 % of the Salafist-jihadi media is ignored as so much irrational gobbledygook. 

The first spiritual work I decided to share is The Battlefield:  The Safest Place on Earth.  Written by one Amir Sulaymaan, Battlefield was distributed through the At-Tibyan network in 2004-2005.  I know nothing about this personality, besides his name and few texts I've seen on the internet.  However, in a little less than 8 pages, Battlefield makes the common argument that violent jihad offers its practitioners multiple, spiritual benefits that regular life simply can't provide. Sulaymaan's work is essentially an argument for leading a liminal life of self-sacrifice and poverty for a greater good. 

Here is an excerpt:

The reason why Jihad of the battlefield is greater is because it contains the Jihad of self as well of the Jihad of the battlefield and they must be fought simultaneously. The Mujahid will have to fight his desires while he also fights his physical enemies. The Mujahid will sleep little and eat less. His meals will be the plainer than the meals of our domestic animals. He will pray where he can be shot and rest where he can be slain. He will trust in Allah, rely on his brothers and find safety in fear. He will fight the shaytan whose whisper will instructs the Mujahid to flee from the battlefield and to return home to the temporal, deceptive, and measely luxuries of this life. He will remember Allah most often because he will become acquainted with death like an owl is acquainted with night. He will look down at any portion of the Earth and see his grave. He will call on Allah until there is no more breath to call with and the angel of Death escorts him to the gates of Paradise. Anyone with even a vague shadow of understanding will see that the Jihad of the battlefield includes the Jihad of self and its difficulty is compounded. Allah says (what has been translated as)


"Those who believed (in the Oneness of Allah - Islamic Monotheism) and emigrated and strove hard and fought in Allah's Cause with their wealth and their lives are far higher in degree with Allah. They are the successful." (9:20)


The Jihad of the Battlefield is an essential part of our deen. There must always be men of our Ummah who will enjoin the right and forbid the wrong. There are six things sacred for the Muslims that must be protected at all cost


1) their blood (life)


2) their wealth


3) their honor


4) their intellect


5) their lineage


6) their deen.

Rather than host it here, I decided to have some online jihadis do the work for me.  You can find the full text  here:
http://www.lightuponlight.com/islam/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=466
Here:
http://m.esnips.com/nsdoc/19fe9d26-c1f0-4e7a-aa91-25b77ce70c6d/The%20Battlefield%20-%20the%20Safest%20place%20on%20earth.pdf
And is linked here:
http://digg.com/educational/The_Battlefield_The_safest_place_on_Earth

This UK-based online bookstore offers the full text of another Sulaymaan work, "An Offer to those who Hate Death":
http://www.maktabah.net/store/Products/ViewProductDetails.aspx?CategoryID=2&ProductID=28473&ID=0

Similarly, this UK-based online bookstore purports to supply copies of other Sulaymaan works, but I don't see any listed: http://www.as-sabeel.net

Around the Web - Snow Day Edition

It's back!  Around the Web has returned (I know you've missed it).  After thinking about it for some time, I admit that it's still the best way for me to keep up with the daily fire hose of information.  And after a day of cooking (chicken chili soup anyone?), I’m ready to pick through the web for a little counter-terrorism fun. 

Let's begin then...

One of the more intriguing recently thwarted plots comes to us from Bosnia
.

New jihadi blog. New to me, anyway: http://madkhalis.com/

Hey, check out Aaron, all grown up and writing for Studies in Conflict and Terrorism: "Comparison of Visual Motifs in Jihadi and Cholo Videos on YouTube," Volume 32, Issue 12 December 2009 , pages 1066 – 1074

Yeah, I’d say it was cheeky.  It's also wonderful.

What this suggests to me is that we need to be able to speak / read not only spoken or written languages of our sources, suspects, informants and opponents — but also the language or underlying logic of their thought.

Charles, I call this “thinking with the adversary.”  It’s a modification of an old Catholic theological principle.

Around Current Intelligence

Mike on Histories of Violence.  Tim on the Congo.   John on Niall.  Charli on drones.  Christopher on the Navy.  Tim (once again) on the possibility of a digital Pearl Harbor.

On to other items...

2d rule of jihadi media: let the adversary tell you whether something is radical or not.

I know this is old in blog-time, but I can’t resist writing this sentence: It was never 2000, and it’s not 50 now, and it was never 30 and it’s not 200 now.  The numbers have always been in the 5 or 10s.  Bradford’s law extends even to jihobbyists.

Strawmen? Check. Condescension?  Check. Bored analyst. Yawn.

In related news: "Al-Qaida's Zawahiri Hails KSM, Ramzi Yousef, and Others Held in U.S. Prisons."

What were those Uighurs doing in Cambodia in the first place?

The level of willful ignorance it takes to write something like this is astounding.

Of course it is.

Yes, we have NoVa radicals.  We have NoVa radicals today.

New Yemeni Blog (via Waq al-Waq) ...and a new report on AQAP

Reason #904820531 why lawfare is inadequate.

“The Financial Times actually wrote a fairly balanced story on Shariah finance for a change.”

Yeah. I would say that massive money laundering schemes will have their growing pains.

Two down, ? to go

Countering Thinktankistan, one blog post at a time

Reminding everyone that there is still a conflict in Kashmir.

A little late, don’t you think?

Is this an example of a Medinan strategy at work?  To a safehaven?

Perhaps they should just save the ink and trees and quit issuing worthless fatawa.

Prison News
http://forums.islamicawakening.com/prisoners/

Letter From Ismail Royerî ìI Am Going to Super-Maxî
http://umarlee.com/2009/12/21/letter-from-ismail-royer-i-am-going-to-super-max/

Meanwhile in Africa

From East

Somalian conflict is a war being fought on a global scale, because so many Somalians no longer live there.

Assessing the threat in Somalia (via ISN)

AP reported on the improving tactics in Somalia

A recent example of Al-Shabaab putting Salafist-Jihadism governance into action...and apparently consolidating its media message.

To West

The most interesting Africa-centered report in the last several months is the recent arrests in Ghana of AQIM suspects accused of smuggling drugs to finance the group’s operations.

Apparently, drug smuggling remains inadequate source of income.

CT progress in Mauritania?

Death in absentia in Algeria

By Request: The West in the Eyes of the Egyptian Islamic Movements

I recently received a request for a copy of The West in the Eyes of the Egyptian Islamic Movements, Ummah Press (Cairo): 1994. It's a gem of Islamist media from the time when they were honest about themselves and their goals. I discuss it here.  I was simply going to e-mail it to the requester; however, the file is too damn big for every e-mail program.  And so I am sharing it here for a while, with everyone.

Download MSJ-1.pdf

For librarians and analysts, here is the LC catalog data on it:

LC Control No.:       94960321
Type of Material:  Book (Print, Microform, Electronic, etc.)
Personal Name:     Gh¯anim, Ibr¯ah¯im al-Bayy¯um¯i.
Uniform Title:     Fikr al-siy¯as¯i lil-Im¯am Hasan al-Bann¯a. English
Main Title:        The West in the eyes of the Egyptian Islamic movement.
Published/Created: Mohandesseen [Giza] : Ummah Press Service, [1994]
Description:       44 leaves ; 30 cm.
Notes:             Includes bibliographical references (leaves 39-44).
Subjects:          Bann¯a, Hasan, 1906-1949.
                   Islam and politics--Egypt.
                   Islamic fundamentalism--Egypt.
                   Islam--20th century.
                   East and West.

LC Classification: BP80.B25 G5313 1994

Something Old, Something New

Dying to see more of the Blind Sheikh?  Well, someone who gave the e-mail address " abda88@hotmail.it" uploaded a collection of Omar Abdel Rahman videos.  So far, at least one is new to me. 

http://ia350636.us.archive.org/3/items/KishkRmv/

UPDATE:

I just noticed that the same uploader ID recently posted a video of one of my favorites among the crazy sheikhs, Khaled Something or Other.

http://www.archive.org/details/TsunamiKaledArrached

I can't remember his exact name, but who cares?  There is one video of a sermon he gave that culminated with his complete emotional unraveling.  It was worth every minute it took to download.  Let's see if this one has anything to offer.

Feel the Love

The Pest excitedly posted this earlier today.  It's a GIMF translation of an article/whatever by that most prolific of online jihadi "sheikhs," Atiatallah.  According to the ansarnet.info forum post, it's a translation of an Arabic post/article from November 2008.   The "sheikh" supposedly died a few years ago in Iraq, but that apparently hasn't stopped him from posting to jihadi forums.

The following text comes from the first page of the translation, and crystalizes the global Salafist-Jihadist image (caricature, actually)  of their mortal enemy, ie. the United States:

The Criminal Americans are Fumbling About, Carrying Out a War of Atrocities
by: Sheikh Atiatullah ‐ may Allah protect him ‐

This phenomenon not something strange coming from them, nor is something surprising to us; a phenomenon which is a result of its true identity is not unusual. They and their state of affairs are known to us from the start. They are the scum of humanity, having no religion nor God‐consciousness, no ethics nor standards for that matter, except what they boast about – as they must – from their hollow and deceitful slogans and expressions which only trick those who have no sense of morality and true religion.

Indeed they are the Americans, the leaders of humanity today.

… the immoral criminals, teachers of debauchery and filth, those who spread corruption across earth.

… a criminal, homosexual, shameless, dissolute people, worshippers of lusts and Satan.

… a tyrannical, conceited, impudent, and oppressive people hostile to others.

… a gluttonous, selfish, greedy, lustful, and animal‐like people.

… a people who reject Allah, the Magnificent, His laws, and His right of absolute authority.

… those who have haughtily refused the worship of Allah ()!

… those who deny of the Messengers of Allah and their Messages, those who abuse and mock the Messengers of Allah.

Are they not the ones who reviled Muhammad (), siding with and protecting those who cursed and mocked him? Do not the president of America and its masses believe that the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (), was a liar – that he lied to humanity in his claim that he was a Prophet of Allah to all people? Do they not believe that he was not sent by Allah nor was he sent revelation, and that this Quran brought by Muhammad () is a lie and fabrication which he himself put together?!

Do the American masses not believe that this Quran is backwards, callings to digression and what they call violence and terrorism, criticizing it, saying it to be the foundation of transgression against human and women’s rights?

Woe be to humanity if the likes of these people are its leaders, and woe be to humanity if they do not rebel against these likes and return to their Lord and submit the role of leadership to its best, the followers of the Messengers of Allah, Allah’s beloved, those who follow His Guidance, His Books and His Messages!

Due to the unawareness, rather the deep sleep of the people of Truth (the Islamic Nation), these people and their predecessors assumed leadership of the world. They built a materialistic and lustful society based on the disbelief of religion and the Last Day, drowning in entertainment and opulence: seeing the world as nothing but a source of entertainment, by any means or ends, without any of the curbs or restrictions of religion or the fear of the Lord, the Great and High Creator.

Here's a screen cap of the page:

abo mohemed elmaqdesi

Someone using the username, "tawheed@islam.com" and employing the kind of tag word combo that sets off "Hi, this is jihadi media here!" flags, also posted this to Archive<dot>org.

http://www.archive.org/details/tawhedf

The metadata says it all.

tawhedf menber tawheed waljehad abo mohemed elmaqdesi movies opensource_movies abo mohemed elmaqdesi
 تحية طيبة لاخواننا الموحدين نسال الله ان يعزبكم دينه وينصربكم ضعفائه
 هذا موقع منبر التوحيد والجهاد بكل ما يحتوي من كتب ورسائل يكنك تحميله الان
 زائد اللقاء للشيخ ابومحمد المقدسي مع قنات الجزيرة 2009 2009 forqan ; ansar ; alshouraa ; faloja ; benladen ; zwahery 2009-05-01 22:46:20 2009-05-01 22:45:09 tawheed@islam.com islamali 2009-05-01 23:03:48 sound color 2009-05-01 23:18:39 islamali

UPDATE:

It's a .zip file. I noticed long ago that  jihobbyist* like to "hide" their files in Archive by employing a little bit of technical subterfuge.  They change the extension on a file from its original (in this case a .zip) to one more appropriate for the the "movies" section of Archive (in this case it is a .mpg or .avi).  If you open the file up in a raw text edit program you see the real extension coding.  You just change the extension.

The Google "translation" of the Arabic shown here reflects the obvious.  This isn't a movie, it's a collection of docs from Al-Maqdisi's website, tawhed.ws running on some kind of .exe file with a bunch of Java-enabled capabilities.  I would never run the .exe even if I did own a PC, but in this case, it doesn't matter.  The content is in the docs directory, and that was created in July 2007.

Around the Web - Achoo! Edition

A blessed chill and rain has fallen on the nation's capitol today, offering me a brief respite from what has turned into the worst allergy season for me, evah.  But I blog on...

Happy Birthday, Ubi.

Another new Dr. Fadl book? More at AKI.
This guy is becoming the Dickens of serialized jihadi literature.

Meanwhile, if you need to get your Fadl fix all in one document there's this
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6759508/syedimam

And a new report from West Point’s CTC: Dysfunction and Decline:
Lessons Learned From Inside al-Qa`ida in Iraq

Same crap.  Different Language.  In this case, I think it’s Urdu
http://www.scribd.com/doc/7758888/Saqot-e-Kabul-w-Baghdad

This too is probably Urdu, though it's about the London bombings
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6759039/New-Folder-Sidiqlondon

Hakamiyyah.  The spiritual essence of the Salafist-Jihadist  cause. On display here
http://millatibraheem.muslimpad.com/2009/04/14/hakimiyya-is-the-essence-of-tawheed-part-2/

I think this title should be the title for a new magazine.  My Benadryl-soak brain has cover images and article titles just pouring out of it.  Ah! If I only had Photoshop!

MESH is Twittering now.

Don’t we all need a little WMD now or then?

How about one that doesn’t really exist, like a placebo?

As I noted in the Around the Web Mega Edition.:

[In Stage] Three these "moderate" groups start making bizarre accusations hoping to test and intimidate said agency. In Stage Four said agency will apologize for something it's not doing and cave to all demands.

I think we’re getting close to Stage 4.

War is Boring is Corrects South Park.
An aside:  I can’t help but add a comment to the pirate coverage over the Easter weekend.  It was awful.  I don’t know what was worse CNN’s coverage of how the pirates were putting a damper on the President’s personal weekend plans or FoxNews' “jihadists on the sea” absurdities. I do know this: TV news is worthless as a source of information.

The Internet’s most depressing blog at the moment is Long War Journal, particularly its excellent maps showing the advance of the Taliban toward Islamabad

On a related note: Abu Muqawama gives his readers another reason to be depressed about Pakistan.

ABC News/Washington Post Poll on US Views of Islam: Key Trends
(via Xroads Arabia)

In Algeria: “Al-Qaeda leader 'resumes' terrorist activity” (via AKI)

In Turkey: “Turkish Terror Cell Dismantled”

Still 300-400 too many, if you ask me.

Typical.  Just Typical.

An example of how Scribd is used:
http://abuqutaybah.blogspot.com/2009/04/apostasy-in-islam.html

Would you say The Pest is abetting copyright infringement here?
http://revolution.thabaat.net/?p=1214

“Getting it,” Battlefield version.

“Islamic extremism in India” (via Intelllibriefs)

Who own Soveriegn Wealth Funds, and why is this important?
More at Small Wars Journal

“4 Jihad Videos” (and that’s what they are)
http://www.archive.org/details/s5d151we

Jarret has a book called Global Jihadism: Theory and Practice.

Tim has a new article: ‘Digital information and the persistence of global insurgency‘

The Mostafa and Hamed Show Returns! with an all new episode!
http://ia331437.us.archive.org/2/items/mostafa_and_hamed/

An interesting question on cyberwarfare, posed at Kings of War
http://kingsofwar.wordpress.com/2009/04/08/the-strategy-of-cyber-attack/

OSINT Corner

Tech Crunch Web Trends

Have some time on your hands?  Google has released the Google News Timeline tool.

And there's a new online tool for data visualization

FIZ Karlsruhe now offers its computer science portal io-port.net…"The database contains bibliographical metadata, links to electronic full texts, and, for most of the references, article summaries or abstracts written by scientists."

UNESCO, et al  has the new World Digital Library... "functions in seven languages-Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish-and includes content in more than 40 languages. Browse and search features facilitate cross-cultural and cross-temporal exploration on the site."

Our Emerging American Problem

I noticed that the UK Telegraph reported on the content of The Pest's new jihadi journal. 

There is also a warning against visiting "un-Islamic" western gyms including LA Fitness with their "music, semi-naked women, free mixing and the danger of showing off".

Here in the US, I didn't see any mainstream reporting on the journal. However, Thomas, Aaron, Jarret and Rusty all commented on it after its release.

By the way, you can find the journal here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13978807/Jihad-Recollections-Issue-1

I find it interesting that the only content generally reported in the *mainstream media* -- and quite frankly, within the IC -- are the paramilitary articles.  Yet, I see the emerging threat not in the paramilitary content, but in the theological content.  The majority of the daily material produced by the small, but always energetic, Salafist-Jihadist community here in the United States is related to the theological concepts that characterize the movement such as hakamiyyah (sovereignty of God), and tawhid (monotheism).   

The Pest's friends such as "Abu Sabaya" at http://iskandrani.wordpress.com/ are dedicating a lot of their efforts creating a regional Salafist-Jihadist milieu, a particularly American version of the movement that stands in unique contrast to the surrounding popular culture, both Muslim and non-Muslim.  Individuals like "Abu Noah" spend most of their time on dawah and devotional matters (ibadat), not matters of violent jihad:
http://www.scribd.com/Abu_Noah

The paramilitary content is  a staple of jihadi journals.  They're the indirect progeny of the first post-9/11 jihadi periodical, Al Battar Training Camp.  Al-Battar was the brainchild of the AQAP's first generation of leaders, like Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin (see http://www.archive.org/details/abdul-aziz-almuqrin).  But even the early journals like Voice of Jihad and Al-Battar dedicated a lot of their content to the jihad of the pen -- polemics, poetry, justifications, expositions, and the rare fatwa -- not the paramilitary content.

I don't want to downplay the significance of the paramilitary material.  I use it all the time when producing certain analytical reports.  However, perhaps there should be more effort at dismantling the unique theological character of this small movement before it becomes a well-organized American movement.

Two from Scribd

I suspect they're both Salafi, rather than Salafi-Jihadi, but I'm not sure.

One is predominantly French:

http://www.scribd.com/defi007

The other is predominantly Indonesian (I guess):

http://www.scribd.com/matxan

A Two Fer

It's issue #53, but it may as well be #1.  This is the first time I've ever seen this jihadi newsletter.  I'm shocked at myself.  How could I ever miss a jihadi journal that has both Fajr and Jannat in its title.

http://www.archive.org/details/jannatalfajrmagazine_53

UPDATE

Note:  if you go to the main page of Arhive.org and search under "cehad" you receive some very interesting media results.

Around the Web - Easter-Week Mega Edition

I know, I know.  I've been remiss in my duties to post an Around the Web, and now I've been writing one for what feels like a week. It's going to take you about a week to get through it, too, but I don't want to hear any whining. It's a slow week in most offices.  If you can catch up on your fantasy baseball picks, you can read this post.  

We start with Jihadica, and the squibs from hell: Thomas surveys recent jihadi publications. They also have a roundup of their recent Workshop in Oslo (Part I and Part II). Excellent work all around.

Staying in Europe:  Italian police carried out CT raids last week:

Three of them, who lived in Naples, are though to be Islamist radicals sympathetic to the radical 'Takfiri' ideology...The three radicals had already been involved in falsifying documents to aid jihadist groups.

Meanwhile the Financial Times throws some cold water on all this talk of Islamic finance saving the world. [This talk concerns me, because the vast majority of people who know known nothing about Islamic finance.] (via Aqoul)

And the Times of London is reporting on something that happened, what?  Two weeks ago?

Holy Spicolli!  Abu Muqawama is an actual...guy.  I thought he was just a blog.

In Stage One, the agency (in this case the FBI) embraces radical Islamist front groups.  In Stage Two reality sets in and said agency withdraws their cooperation with groups, once understood that they share the same goals as AQ.  In Stage Three these "moderate" groups start making bizarre accusations hoping to test and intimidate said agency. In Stage Four said agency will apologize for something it's not doing and cave to all demands.

So where does the money go?  This recent Reuters list of "Gulf Arab foreign investments" gives you some idea. (via The Arabist)

I welcome to the club of "blogs she reads":

Shariah Finance Watch

http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/

And a jihadi blog (via The Pest)

http://millatibraheem.wordpress.com/

Flash: there are Salafi groups in the Levant, according to MEMRI there's a new Salafist-Jihadist one in Gaza, and two S-Js reported killed in Gaza.

Meanwhile, MB's Supreme Guide plans to retire.

And apparently there's a little competition for hearts and minds inside Egypt -- and it's not between "moderates" either

Good/Bad News from Libya? (via CBSNews)

An updated CRS Backgrounder on Egypt (via The Arabist)

Morocco apparently takes sides in the struggle between Sunni Arab states and Iran.  Meanwhile, there are still plenty of jihadis in North Africa, including Salafi-Jihadis in Morocco.

The Patriarch of Venice asks an essential question at the heart of the Christianity-Islam debate in a new book "Mestizaje: coexistence, or confusion?"

Speaking of Africa: The Pest of all people pointed out the novel qualities of a current release from AQ's Somalia branch.  It's an all-English video, featuring an American muj, rapping, or something. 
More at Jawa Report, Danger Room, and others including here and here.

The Pest's post is here: http://revolution.thabaat.net/?p=1096

You can find it here: http://www.archive.org/details/kmen-bradle

The video does suggest that there is an audience for this jihadi vileness in the US, and belies the commonly acknowledged trope that "our" Muslims (ie, the US) are not as radical as "their" Muslims (ie. Europe). Perhaps, but then, how do we know?  

Over in Yemen, Waq-al-Waq notes a recent article in AQ's periodical Sada al-Malahim that provides some "good background" on KSA's 85 Most Wanted.

And MEMRIBlog reports that Yemeni officials have their own Most Wanted list

Via EagleSpeak: Somali Pirates: U.S.Navy sees a new pattern

The List: If you're interested in Israeli politics, here's the list of new government officials.

Evil.  Pure Evil.

A virtual crisis for AQ?  Tim has the link.

What about the analog version of the group? Al Qaeda Today:  a Policy Forum luncheon hosted by The Washington Institute's Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence. (PolicyWatch #1477: Special Forum Report)

Drew has a post on a recent study that challenges the work of Robert Pape: Decision Processes of a Suicide Bomber

Question to the audience: How many suicide bombings in a row before it's called an offensive?
It must be Spring.