Abu Muhammad Asem al-Maqdisi
Encyclopedia
Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi (
) or more fully Abu Muhammad Asem al-Maqdisi (
أبو محمد عصام المقدسي
) is the assumed name of Isam Mohammad Tahir al-Barqawi
(
عصام محمد طاهر البرقاوي
), an Islamist Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

ian-Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...

 writer. He is best known as the spiritual mentor of Jordanian mujahid Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh was a Jordanian militant Islamist who ran a paramilitary training camp in Afghanistan...

, the initial leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq
Al-Qaeda in Iraq
Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a popular name for the Iraqi division of the international Salafi jihadi militant organization al-Qaeda. It is recognized as a part of the greater Iraqi insurgency....

. However, an ideological and methodical split emerged between Maqdisi and Zarqawi in 2004 due to Zarqawi's takfiri proclamations towards the Shi'a populations in Iraq. Maqdisi opted for a more cautious approach towards targeted Shi'a killings, attempting to stop Zarqawi's radical ideological movement before Zarqawi's methods become counter-productive. The writings of Maqdisi still have a wider following; a study carried out by the Combating Terrorism Center
Combating Terrorism Center
The Combating Terrorism Center is an academic institution at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York that provides education, research and policy analysis in the specialty areas of terrorism, counterterrorism, homeland security and weapons of mass destruction...

 of the United States Military Academy
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...

 (USMA) concluded that Maqdisi "is the most influential living Jihadi Theorist" and that "by all measures, Maqdisi is the key contemporary ideologue in the Jihadi intellectual universe".

Maqdisi is currently in the custody of the government of Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

. The Tawhed jihadist website, which he owns, continues to operate; the USMA report describes it as "al-Qa`ida's main online library".

Background

Maqdisi was born in 1959 in the city of Nablus
Nablus
Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...

, Palestine
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...

. At a young age his family emigrated to Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...

. He later studied at the University of Mosul
University of Mosul
The University of Mosul is a public university located in Mosul, Iraq. It is one of the largest educational and research centers in the Middle East.- Academic program :...

 in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

. It was during this time he began to take on an Islamist world view.

He began to travel around Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

 in order to visit with numerous religious students and sheikhs. However he came to believe that many of these religious figures were ignorant of the true state of affairs in the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 world. He then began to study the writings of Sheikh ul-Islam
Sheikh ul-Islam
Shaykh al-Islām is a title of superior authority in the issues of Islam....

 Ibn Taymiyyah and Imam Ibnul Qayyim. While in Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...

h he read the writings of Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab and was strongly influenced by them.

Maqdisi travelled to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 and met many of the jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...

 groups there at the time. He also confronted the members of Takfir wal-Hijra
Takfir wal-Hijra
Jama'at al-Muslimin , popularly known as Takfir wal-Hijra , was a radical Islamist group led by Shukri Mustafa, which emerged in Egypt in the 1960s as an offshoot of Muslim Brotherhood, inspired by Sayyid Qutb.The group was...

 and wrote a book refuting their extreme views. In 1992 he returned to Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

. He began to denounce the Jordanian government and what he believed were the man-made laws being implemented there. His teachings gained many adherents and this earned him the attention of the government, and he was arrested and imprisoned. During the years 1995-1999 both he and al-Zarqawi were in prison together and he exerted a strong influence on al-Zarqawi, shaping his Islamist ideology. After they were released from prison al-Zarqawi departed for Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 while Maqdisi stayed in Jordan. He was later rearrested on terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

 charges for conspiring to attack American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 targets in Jordan. He was released again in July 2005, but arrested again after he gave an interview to al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...

. In 2009 he defended himself against "younger extremists accus[ing] him of going soft" by quoting the American Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, which identified him "as a dangerous and influential jihadi theorist." "Credentials Challenged, Radical Quotes West Point" By ROBERT F. WORTH, nyt.com April 29, 2009

Maqdisi has also told those thinking of fighting for the Yemeni government against the Sa'dah insurgency
Sa'dah insurgency
The Shia Insurgency in Yemen, also known as the Houthi rebellion, Sa'dah War or Sa'dah conflict is a civil war in Northern Yemen. It began in June 2004 when dissident cleric Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, head of the Shia Zaidiyyah sect, launched an uprising against the Yemeni government...

 of the Houthis
Houthis
The Houthis Houthis) are a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as a "powerful clan," and by the title Ash-Shabab al-Muminin or Youthful Believers). The group takes its name from Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, their former commander, who was reportedly...

, that they should instead keep well out of the war against the Houthis because Yemeni’s must not help Yemen’s pro-Western government, which deserves to be overthrown.

External links

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