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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Misunderstander of Islam rises high in Al-Qaeda

Apr 5, 2008 9:45 am By Robert Spencer

“Mr. Libi possessed one skill that Al Qaeda’s leaders had been lacking: religious scholarship. Perhaps with this in mind, Al Qaeda is featuring Mr. Libi, who spent two years in Africa studying Islam…”

How did he get it so drastically wrong? Why, if Islam teaches peace and tolerance as Western analysts, both Muslim and non-Muslims, constantly insist, did this man spend two years studying Islam and then join Al-Qaeda?

I keep asking this question, as regular Jihad Watch readers will no doubt be aware. I am sorry to belabor the point, but it is an important question, and it still has not been answered. Its implications are many. One of the principal implications involves Muslims in Western countries. How many have also studied Islam in the way Al-Libi has, and believe it mandates violence against unbelievers and Islamic supremacism? Is anyone even attempting to check immigrants for this — as difficult as that may be to do? What programs have Western Muslim groups instituted to teach against this ideology within Muslim communities, given that they profess to oppose it?

“Rising Leader for Next Phase of Al Qaeda’s War,” by Michael Moss and Souad Mekhennet for the New York Times (thanks to Mackie):

On the night of July 10, 2005, an obscure militant preacher named Abu Yahya al-Libi escaped from an American prison in Afghanistan and rocketed to fame in the world of jihadists.

The breakout from the Bagram Air Base by Mr. Libi and three cellmates “” they picked a lock, dodged their guards and traversed the base’s vast acreage to freedom “” embarrassed American officials as deeply as it delighted the jihadist movement. In the nearly three years since then, Mr. Libi’s meteoric ascent within the leadership of Al Qaeda has proved to be even more troublesome for the authorities.

Mr. Libi, a Libyan believed to be in his late 30s, is now considered to be a top strategist for Al Qaeda, as well as one of its most effective promoters of global jihad, appearing in a dozen videos on militant Web sites in the past year, counterterrorism officials said. At a time when Al Qaeda seems more inspirational than operational, Mr. Libi stands out as a formidable star whose rise to prominence tracks the group’s growing emphasis on information in its war with the West.

“I call him a man for all seasons for A.Q.,” said Jarret Brachman, a former analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency who is now research director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. “He’s a warrior. He’s a poet. He’s a scholar. He’s a pundit. He’s a military commander. And he’s a very charismatic, young, brash rising star within A.Q., and I think he has become the heir apparent to Osama bin Laden in terms of taking over the entire global jihadist movement.”

The secrecy that envelops Al Qaeda’s leadership structure makes such estimates speculative, other analysts noted. But one Islamist insider said that in addition to youth and charisma, Mr. Libi possessed one skill that Al Qaeda’s leaders had been lacking: religious scholarship. Perhaps with this in mind, Al Qaeda is featuring Mr. Libi, who spent two years in Africa studying Islam, in as many of the videos as the group’s top leaders, Mr. bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri.

“Bin Laden is an engineer and Zawahri is a medical doctor,” said Dr. Muhammad al-Massari, a Saudi dissident who lives in London. “So it is important that they also present someone who has the role of scholar.”

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