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Jordan-based pro-Al-Qaeda ideologue Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi continued to comment the U.S. drone strike that killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri in Kabul, Afghanistan on July 31. In recent tweets, the jihadi cleric defended statements made by Afghan Taliban officials saying they had no knowledge of Ayman al-Zawahiri's arrival and stay in Kabul.[1]
On August 2, the jihadi cleric tweeted a eulogy of Al-Zawahiri, a few hours after President Joe Biden announced the drone attack. "If one master is gone, another rises, who will follow the same words and actions," read one verse of the poem he tweeted. It continued: "We are the kind of people who do not see killing as a humiliation, as others do."[2]
Defending The Afghan Taliban For Denying Knowledge Of Al-Zawahiri's Hideout
In two tweets on August 4, Al-Maqdisi discussed the ramifications of the drone attack for the Afghan Taliban, after some jihadis criticized a statement issued by the jihadi organization saying that "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has no information about Ayman Al-Zawahiri's arrival and stay in Kabul."[3]
"Some brothers denounce the statements made by the Taliban leaders, claiming the group said Al-Qaeda has no presence in Afghanistan just in order to evade America's hostility to the Emirate [Afghanistan]," and also to prove that America has breached the truce with the Taliban when it launched the drone attack, said the tweet, which further included a report by Al-Jazeera Network citing White House officials as saying the Afghan Taliban hid and sheltered Al-Zawahiri in Kabul.
Addressing such critics, he said: "Leave the words aside and focus on the actions." He noted that it is permissible for the Afghan Taliban to lie: "If Doctor Ayman Al-Zawahiri was killed in the center of Kabul, and he was a guest there, so let them make any statement that serves their best interest!"
War Is Deception, Muslims Are Permitted To Lie
In a second tweet, Al-Maqdisi reminded jihadis and Muslims: "Remember the [Prophet's] saying that war is a deception and that its permissible to lie in a war against your enemy."
He went to add that Muslims should not limit their thinking when it comes to the statements and tactics needed "to dismantle an alliance of enemies rallied against you, or to bypass a siege and aggression, or to free prisoners."
"All is permissible in political shari'a, as long as it does not violate monotheism or [the principle of] loyalty and disavowal,"[4] he concluded.
[1] Twitter, August 4, 2022.
[2] See MEMRIJTTM Report As Supporters Await Official Al-Qaeda Confirmation Of Al-Zawahiri's Death, ISIS Supporters Celebrate, Accuse Afghan Taliban Of Betrayal, August 1, 2022.
[3] See MEMRI JTTM report, In Official Statement, Afghan Taliban Condemn U.S. Drone Strike Killing Al-Qaeda Leader Al-Zawahiri: 'If Such Action Is Repeated, The Responsibility Of Any Consequences Will Be On The United States Of America', August 4, 2022.
[4] Islamic jihadi concept of Al Wala' Wa Al-Bara' — maintaining loyalty to the community of believers and the teachings upon which it is based, and to disavow the actions of those who oppose Islam and persecute the Muslim community.
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