Donald Holbrook
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190856441
- eISBN:
- 9780190942939
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190856441.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy
On 16 June 2011, three days before his sixtieth birthday, Ayman al-Zawahiri was declared the new leader of Al-Qaeda, replacing the fallen Osama bin Laden. The veteran Egyptian jihadist had little of ...
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On 16 June 2011, three days before his sixtieth birthday, Ayman al-Zawahiri was declared the new leader of Al-Qaeda, replacing the fallen Osama bin Laden. The veteran Egyptian jihadist had little of his predecessor's charisma and enjoyed much less popularity, respect and celebrity. Yet, as scores of jihadi commanders from different organizations have succumbed to their enemies' missiles, bombs and bullets, Zawahiri has soldiered on. His tenure as Al-Qaeda's leader has been marked by some of its darkest and most challenging moments, which have threatened the viability and future of Al-Qaeda's central leadership. The gravest such development has been the emergence of Islamic State as a separate and rival jihadist entity. The best way to gauge Zawahiri's response to these threats is by studying the official statements and public communiqués that he has issued since taking the reins. This book provides the reader with professional translations of Zawahiri's key statements during his first five years as leader of Al-Qaeda. These official communications are introduced and contextualized to provide the reader with a comprehensive sourcebook, outlining the Al-Qaeda leadership's stance on the challenges to its existence since the death of bin Laden.Less
On 16 June 2011, three days before his sixtieth birthday, Ayman al-Zawahiri was declared the new leader of Al-Qaeda, replacing the fallen Osama bin Laden. The veteran Egyptian jihadist had little of his predecessor's charisma and enjoyed much less popularity, respect and celebrity. Yet, as scores of jihadi commanders from different organizations have succumbed to their enemies' missiles, bombs and bullets, Zawahiri has soldiered on. His tenure as Al-Qaeda's leader has been marked by some of its darkest and most challenging moments, which have threatened the viability and future of Al-Qaeda's central leadership. The gravest such development has been the emergence of Islamic State as a separate and rival jihadist entity. The best way to gauge Zawahiri's response to these threats is by studying the official statements and public communiqués that he has issued since taking the reins. This book provides the reader with professional translations of Zawahiri's key statements during his first five years as leader of Al-Qaeda. These official communications are introduced and contextualized to provide the reader with a comprehensive sourcebook, outlining the Al-Qaeda leadership's stance on the challenges to its existence since the death of bin Laden.
Cerwyn Moore
Donald Holbrook (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190856441
- eISBN:
- 9780190942939
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190856441.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy
This publication is typical of Zawahiri’s ‘big films’. Like a contemporary Hollywood blockbuster, it is repetitive and overlong. Yet it comes at an important time in the aftermath of the toppling of ...
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This publication is typical of Zawahiri’s ‘big films’. Like a contemporary Hollywood blockbuster, it is repetitive and overlong. Yet it comes at an important time in the aftermath of the toppling of Mohammed Morsi as the Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt. Here, therefore, Zawahiri moves on from his focus on reshaping or reframing the Arab Spring according to his framework and agenda to dissecting the reasons for its failure. He presents Chechnya as an example for Arabs to follow, whereby the enclave persevered in protracted conflict against the Russian state. Zawahiri seeks to construct an uninterrupted rhetorical thread where the current struggle of believers echoes that of the first generation of Muslims, including the venerated battles they fought and won during the formative years of Islam. He uses the aftermath of the Arab Spring to re-illustrate the fallacy of the democratic method, reiterating his demand that Sharia becomes that which governs the affairs of men, as oppose to that which is governed by man. He speaks about the Coptic Christian minority in Egypt, warning its leadership against shoring up secular authoritarianism, whilst noting his desire to avoid direct confrontation with normal members of that faith community.Less
This publication is typical of Zawahiri’s ‘big films’. Like a contemporary Hollywood blockbuster, it is repetitive and overlong. Yet it comes at an important time in the aftermath of the toppling of Mohammed Morsi as the Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt. Here, therefore, Zawahiri moves on from his focus on reshaping or reframing the Arab Spring according to his framework and agenda to dissecting the reasons for its failure. He presents Chechnya as an example for Arabs to follow, whereby the enclave persevered in protracted conflict against the Russian state. Zawahiri seeks to construct an uninterrupted rhetorical thread where the current struggle of believers echoes that of the first generation of Muslims, including the venerated battles they fought and won during the formative years of Islam. He uses the aftermath of the Arab Spring to re-illustrate the fallacy of the democratic method, reiterating his demand that Sharia becomes that which governs the affairs of men, as oppose to that which is governed by man. He speaks about the Coptic Christian minority in Egypt, warning its leadership against shoring up secular authoritarianism, whilst noting his desire to avoid direct confrontation with normal members of that faith community.
Cerwyn Moore
Donald Holbrook (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190856441
- eISBN:
- 9780190942939
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190856441.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy
This is the seventh ‘interview’ between Al-Sahab, Al-Qaeda’s media production department, and Zawahiri, a tradition which started in 2005. This format gives Zawahiri the opportunity to discuss a wide ...
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This is the seventh ‘interview’ between Al-Sahab, Al-Qaeda’s media production department, and Zawahiri, a tradition which started in 2005. This format gives Zawahiri the opportunity to discuss a wide variety of matters in great detail, whilst giving the impression that critical issues have been addressed and approached from different viewpoints. This is the first significant statement about infighting among jihadis in Syria and whilst Zawahiri seems keen to blame the turmoil on ‘external’ factors such as criminality or alleged infiltration by the Assad regime, two key historical analogies that subsequently became prominent in his denunciation of this ‘fitna’ [sedition/strife] emerge. These are comparisons with the fate of the Groupe Islamique Armé (GIA) that fought in the civil war in Algeria and became widely condemned as a jihadi outcast and the infighting that spread throughout Afghanistan after Soviet withdrawal in 1989.Less
This is the seventh ‘interview’ between Al-Sahab, Al-Qaeda’s media production department, and Zawahiri, a tradition which started in 2005. This format gives Zawahiri the opportunity to discuss a wide variety of matters in great detail, whilst giving the impression that critical issues have been addressed and approached from different viewpoints. This is the first significant statement about infighting among jihadis in Syria and whilst Zawahiri seems keen to blame the turmoil on ‘external’ factors such as criminality or alleged infiltration by the Assad regime, two key historical analogies that subsequently became prominent in his denunciation of this ‘fitna’ [sedition/strife] emerge. These are comparisons with the fate of the Groupe Islamique Armé (GIA) that fought in the civil war in Algeria and became widely condemned as a jihadi outcast and the infighting that spread throughout Afghanistan after Soviet withdrawal in 1989.
