The Iraqi Al-Qa'ida Organization: A Self-Portrait

Note the repeated claims to follow the Qur'an and Islamic tradition, which jihadists have backed up elsewhere with detailed expositions of Islamic theology. How would Badawi and Hooper respond to this? They haven't yet; so these guys continue unimpeded to make recruits among Muslims with these arguments. From the "Department of Indoctrination" of the Al-Qa'ida-Iraq organization's online magazine, courtesy of MEMRI, with thanks to RB:

"...What is the Al-Qa'ida organization in Iraq? This is an organization consisting of a group of Muslims from amongst the followers of the tradition and the community of believers [ ahl al-sunna wa'l jama'a ] which tries to please Allah by committing themselves to keep Allah's orders and proscriptions and to see to it that others do so [as well]... it has set for itself a number of central goals which are mutually interrelated and complementary:

"1) Renewing pure monotheism which was brought by our Prophet Muhammad amongst those whose monotheism was sullied by the filth of polytheistic elements, and the spreading of the axiom 'there is no God but Allah' in lands where Islam has not yet arrived.

"2) Jihad for the sake of Allah, so that His message be supreme, and in order to recapture all the lands of the Muslims from the hands of the infidels and the apostates, and to apply the Shari'a law, Allah's law, in these areas, without any distinction [in this respect] between ruler and ruled, and to free the Muslim prisoners of war, since this is a personal obligation [incumbent] on every Muslim, as all the ulama agree...

"3) To come to the aid of Muslims wherever they are and to reclaim the Muslim's dignity, which has been soiled by the [foreign] invaders and their agents, and his human rights of which he has been deprived, and to strive to improve his conditions and circumstances in every respect, both religious and this-wordly – material, social, educational, etc. – in accordance with the teachings of Islam...

"4) To re-establish the Rightly-Guided Caliphate in accordance with the Prophet's example, because [according to the tradition] 'whoever dies without having sworn allegiance to a Muslim ruler dies as an unbeliever.' [2]

"Our guiding principle with regard to our great goals is: [to follow] the Koran and the tradition of the Prophet, in the way of the righteous early generations, and [to follow] the elucidations of the great ulama from among those faithful to the Sunna [ ahl al-sunna ]....

"This is not an issue of Iraq in the geographic sense; rather it is an issue for our great Islam. Don't you see how all the infidels in the world have united and assembled armies from more than 30 countries to invade Iraq and to plunder its resources and to humiliate you and to violate your wives' honor. So why should your brothers the Jihad fighters - both foreigner and native [3] - be subject to reproach? These brothers of yours emigrated from their homelands, left their wives and children, and sacrificed their blood for your sake - to protect you, to protect your families, and to preserve your honor, and to drive the invaders from your land.

"Beware of the Western media's deception and of its agents, such as the 'Alawi government, who distort the image of your brothers the Jihad fighters, who came to you for your sake, without desiring for themselves neither your reward nor your gratitude, neither a penny nor a pound. They put their neck before your neck, their blood before your blood, and their life to ransom your life. God forbid that our Jihad should be [considered] civil strife [ fitna ]. Rather the avoidance of Jihad is civil strife. That was the verdict of Allah, who said of those who shirked Jihad, 'Surely they have already succumbed to temptation [ fitna ], and Hell engulfs the unbelievers.' [4]

"Come, Oh descendants of Khalid [Ibn Al-Walid], Qutayba [Ibn Muslim], and Al-Muthanna [Ibn Haritha], [5] rise up with your brothers who fight Jihad to conquer Iraq, and after that [to conquer] the rest of the Muslim lands that were conquered by the infidels. Extend a helping hand with whatever you can... to gain God's pleasure and to be saved from the fires of Hell, and in order to be worthy successors to good forefathers so as to free yourself from the guilt of shirking Jihad...

"As for you, soldier and policeman, we ask Allah to give you guidance before it is too late. You who betrayed the Muslims and who have degraded yourself in the service of the agents and under the command of the Cross in order to gain some crumbs from this world, trading your afterlife for your worldly goods... try to rectify what you have done wrong, before death overtakes you, and come back and return to your inborn Islamic nature, so that there be no more civil strife [ fitna ] and so that Allah's religion shall reign supreme. [6] If you do not do so, then the only thing you will deserve from us is the cutting off of your head as a punishment for your being a foreign agent and your betraying your religion and that of the Muslims. For you are the shield with which the occupying infidel defends himself. Repenting from being a foreign agent and joining the caravan of faith to make Allah's word supreme is surely better for you than this world and its goods, and we also would want and desire this much more."