Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh, was a Jordanian jihadist who ran a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. He became known after going to Iraq and being responsible for a series of bombings, beheadings, and attacks during the Iraq War, reportedly "turning an insurgency against US troops" in Iraq "into a Shia–Sunni civil war". He was sometimes known by his supporters as the “Sheikh of the slaughterers".

Quotes

• The spark has been lit here in Iraq, and its heat will continue to intensify – by Allah’s permission – until it burns the crusader armies in Dabiq.

• They are the insurmountable obstacle, the lurking snake, the crafty and malicious scorpion, the spying enemy and the penetrating venom.
  • On the Shia of Iraq.Zarqawi in his own words BBC News (January 2004)

• God honoured us and so we harvested their heads and tore up their bodies in many places: the United Nations in Baghdad; the coalition forces in Karbala; the Italians in Nasiriya; the US forces on Khalidiya Bridge; the US intelligence in Al-Shahin Hotel and the Republican Palace in Baghdad; the CIA in the Rashid Hotel; and the Polish forces in Al-Hilla.
  • From a taped message on an Islamist website. Zarqawi in his own words BBC News (April 2004)

• When recalling historical experience, the testimony of ancient times, the proofs of the present reality, and the things that we are experiencing today, we begin to truly understand God's words: "They are the enemies; so beware of them. The curse of Allah be on them!" Ibn Taymiyyah was right in his description of these people when they repudiated the people of Islam. He said: This is why they cooperated with the infidels and the Tartars...They were the main cause of the invasion of Muslim countries by Genghis Khan...Some of them cooperated with the Tartars and Franks (European Crusaders)...some of them (Shiites) backed the Christians.....They (Shiites) harbor more evil and rancor against Muslims, big and small, devout and non-devout, than anyone else. ...They enjoy repudiating and cursing Muslim leaders, especially the orthodox caliphs and the ulema (clerics). To them, anyone who does not believe in the infallible Imam (Al-Mahdi) is a nonbeliever in God and the prophet... whenever Christians and infidels triumphed over, it was a day of jubilation ...This is the end of what Shaykh-al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said about them. It is as if he is living among us today, an eyewitness of what is taking place, and saying...They always support infidels, including Jews and Christians. They help them in killing Muslims.
  • Zarqawi Letter February 2004 Coalition Provisional Authority English translation of terrorist Musab al Zarqawi letter obtained by United States Government in Iraq, (6th April 2004)

• The mujahideen will give America a taste of the degradation you have inflicted on the Iraqi people.
  • On the beheading of Eugene Armstrong. Statement accompanying a video of the beheading of US hostage Eugene Armstrong The Irish Times (September 2004)

• These people who are using this prisoner as a playing card didn't know our religion very well. In true Islam, they don't kill women and young children.
  • Calling for the release of Irish Catholic charity worker Margaret Hassan.Zarqawi in his own words BBC News (November 2004)

• The fruits of jihad come after much patience and a lengthy stay in the battlefield...which could last months and years.
  • Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in quotes The Irish Times (20th January 2005)

• We have declared a bitter war against the principle of democracy and all those who seek to enact it.
  • A week before Iraq's parliamentary election The Irish Times (23rd January 2005)

• We promise God that the dog...Bush will not enjoy peace of mind and that his army will not have a good life as long as our hearts are beating.
  • Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in quotes The Irish Times (29th April 2005)

• The killing of infidels by any method including martyrdom (suicide) operations has been sanctified by many scholars even if it means killing innocent Muslims...The shedding of Muslim blood...is allowed in order to avoid the greater evil of disrupting jihad.
  • Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in quotes The Irish Times (18th May 2005)

• We declare that the Iraqi army is an apostate, agent army allied to the crusaders and came to destroy Islam and Muslims. We will fight it.
  • Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in quotes The Irish Times (5 July 2005)

• The storm that hit the United States was the result of every mother or father's prayer, or an orphaned son, or a woman whose honour was taken away in Iraq or Afghanistan.
  • On Hurricane Katrina. Referring to Hurricane Katrina The Irish Times (11th September 2005)

• Al-Qaeda organisation in Iraq...has declared war against Shias in all of Iraq.
  • Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in quotes The Irish Times (14th September 2005)

• The battles are many, and the names used are varied. But the goal is one: a Crusader-Rafidite [Rafidites – Shiites, used derogatorily by Sunni extremists] war against the Sunnis.
  • Leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi Declares "Total War" on Shiites, States that the Sunni Women of Tel'afar Had Their "Wombs Filled with the Sperm of the Crusaders" (September 2005).

• We ask God to have mercy on the Muslims, whom we did not intend to target, even if they were in hotels which are centres of immorality.
  • On the 2005 Amman bombings. Zarqawi in his own words BBC News (November 2005)

• America has realised today that its tanks, armies and Shia agents will not be able to end the battle with the mujahideen.
  • Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in quotes The Irish Times (25th April 2006)

External links

• Council on Foreign Relations