ji·had·ica

New Issue of Jannat Released

The May issue of the Jannat (“Paradise”) Journal has been released.  The monthly journal is a collection of short news stories on the global jihad and excerpts from online Jihadi discussion forums.  If you haven’t been following the latest goings on in the jihadosphere, this is a good place to look to get caught up. Although Jannat covers most of the open conflict zones in each issue, it focuses heavily on the Palestinian territories, which means that’s where its producers likely live (Gaza would be a good bet).  Since it is critical of Hamas and hateful toward Hezbollah, it’s also safe to assume that its producers are Jihadi-Salafis of some sort.  Jihadis are trying to gain greater visibility in Gaza, but it has been tough given Hamas’s monopoly on Sunni Islamist violence there. The headline story in this issue is the Shia march from Iran to Iraq to Syria to

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Will McCants May 15, 2008

Jihadi Book Club: Omar Nasiri’s Inside the Jihad

Ekhlaas member Rahib Irhab (“Terrible Terrorism”) posted some excerpts from Omar Nasiri’s book, Inside the Jihad.  (The excerpts are originally from al-Hayat, who got them from the Arabic version of the book.)  Nasiri (a pseudonym) is a Moroccan-born spy who penetrated al-Qaida’s organization in the ’90s at the behest of the French.  Rahib Irhab suggests that forum members should read the book in order to understand how militant groups are penetrated, presumably to prevent the same techniques from being used again. Document: excerpts-from-omar-nasiri-inside-the-jihad

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Will McCants May 15, 2008

Jihadi Book Club: Encylopedia of Modern U.S. Military Weapons

On May 10, 2008 Ekhlaas member mohanad57 posted a link to Encyclopedia of Modern U.S. Military Weapons in pdf format. Like most illicit material shared by Jihadis, the link takes you to an independent file sharing site (in this case, rapidshare.com). This keeps the forum managers from getting in trouble, reduces bandwidth consumption, ensures that files can be shared rapidly, and makes the links temporary. For all you jihadologists out there: If there is a download you want on a Jihadi forum, get it immediately–the link will stop working in a few days.

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Will McCants May 14, 2008

Death of a Sulayman

Abu Sulayman al-`Utaybi that is. On May 11, al-Fajr Media Center (one of the main distribution points for AQ material) posted a statement on the forums by Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, a senior AQ leader in Afghanistan. Abu al-Yazid announced the death of al-`Utaybi, who was killed fighting U.S. forces in Paktia Province, Afghanistan. A sympathetic news source, Almoslim.net, says that he was probably killed on Saturday, May 10, when the Afghan government claimed that five people were killed fighting in Paktia Province. According to a May 12 statement by the Global Islamic Media Center (another important distribution organ), `Utaybi had been a Sharia judge for the Islamic State of Iraq, but had been dismissed from his post. According to Abu al-Yazid’s May 11 statement, `Utaybi left Iraq six months ago for Afghanistan. `Utaybi was a prominent militant in Iraq and you can find videos of him online, wagging the righteous

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Will McCants May 13, 2008

Dream Promotion

Ekhlaas member Jibal Afghanistan (“Mountains of Afghanistan”) writes about a dream he had recently about two leaders of the Arab Jihadis in Chechnya, Muhannad and Abu al-Walid al-Ghamidi. Here’s a translation: This is what I saw today in a dream about Muhannad, Abu al-Walid al-Ghamidi, and Ekhlaas. I performed the midday prayer. Then I prayed the sunna. Then I retired to bed. While sleeping, I saw… I am in Chechnya and the snow is thick and harsh. I was standing beside commander Abu al-Walid al-Ghamidi. Commander Abu al-Walid was standing over a snow vehicle that was to be driven by one of the brothers. It was a bomb. I said to commander Abu al-Walid, “Is it a martyrdom operation?” He said, “Yes.” Then the brother left with his vehicle. I turned around and found commander Muhannad sitting simply on elevated ground. I then walked with commander Abu al-Walid. I said

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Will McCants May 12, 2008

How Do You Become a Member of al-Qaeda?

Wali al-Haqq on Ekhlaas asks the provocative question, “how do you become a member of al-Qaeda?” He answers his question with four points: 1. Understand the nature of AQ’s organization, creed, and goals – The aspirant must recognize that there is an inevitable confrontation between true Sunnis and everyone else. A dialogue of civilizations is impossible; fighting is the only solution for the ills that confront Sunni Muslims. 2. Do what you can, trust in God, and be certain of victory 3. Be steadfast and patient, and cling to the Book and the Sunna in every matter 4. Be faithful to God and God will be faithful to you – Despite the wishy-washy title of the final section, it’s actually the most interesting. Wali al-Haqq says that if people want to join the organization of AQ, they should join another Salafi-Jihadi group or start their own. Eventually, they will reach

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Will McCants May 11, 2008

Abu Mus`ab Suri: Architect of Global Jihad Neglected?

Abu Ishaq al-Fahd on Ekhlaas complains that Abu Mus`ab al-Suri, one of the chief strategists in AQ’s orbit, isn’t being read by other Jihadis. This, he says, despite the fact that Ayman al-Zawahiri recently recommended his book, The Call to the Global Islamic Resistance. (The recommendation is in Zawahiri’s recent book, al-Tabri’a (The Exoneration)). If Jihadis are neglecting Suri, Western analysts sure aren’t. He has an insider’s perspective on the movement, which makes him invaluable for understanding some of its recent trends. The best treatment by far is Brynjar Lia’s new book, The Architect of Global Jihad. Abu Ishaq al-Fahd’s complaint: abu-musab-suri-work-not-read-enough

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Will McCants May 11, 2008

Lebanon: In the Mouth of the Dragon

The Jihadi forums are buzzing today about the impending civil war in Lebanon, which they ominously refer to as being “in the mouth of the dragon.” There were two items of particular interest. One was advice from a Jihadi name al-Jawahir to militants in Lebanon: 5-8-08-advice-to-mujahids-in-lebanon2 He counsels his brothers to operate in secret, shun reporters, gather armor-piercing weaponry, and refuse to help either the Lebanese Army or Hezbollah. The bit about shunning reporters does not seem consistent with Zawahiri’s type of revolutionary vanguardism, which is very dependent on the media. The second item is a short post recommending that the mujahids in Lebanon read Abu Bakr Naji’s Management of Savagery (you can find my translation of it here). Naji is probably dead (I’ll save that for another post), but this is the second time his ideas have been trotted out before a Muslim civil war; Iraq was the first.

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Will McCants May 9, 2008

Jihadi Book Club: Trita Parsi’s Treacherous Alliance

Trita Parsi’s new book, Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the U.S. is the subject of a long post on Ekhlaas. The poster uses it to prove his thesis that Iran is secretly working with the U.S. and Israel against the Sunnis. Many Jihadis maintain that the Shia, with Iran at their head, are allied with Israel. To bolster their claim, they will often point out that `Abd Allah b. Saba, a Jewish convert to Islam, originated the Shia practice of excessively venerating `Ali. Thus, it is natural that the Shia would work with a Jewish nation–it’s in their spiritual DNA. Never mind that `Ali rejected his excessive veneration and most Shia don’t believe he even existed.

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Will McCants May 8, 2008

New Book: The Media War on the People of Islam

A new booklet titled The Media War on the People of Islam (حرب الإعلام على أهل الإسلام) has been released online. Part one deals with Western insults to the Prophet and efforts to demoralize Muslims. Part two covers terms that people in the media use to discredit Jihadis, like Kharijites, takfiris (“excommunicators”), and “terrorists.” Part three is on al-`Arabiyya and al-Jazeera. media-war-on-the-people-of-islam (حرب الإعلام على أهل الإسلام)

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Will McCants May 8, 2008
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