Zawahiri's Attack on Fellow Muslims and Threat Against Jordan
By Nick Grace
September 12, 2006

The 12th message from Ayman al-Zawahiri was released on September 11, "Hot Issues with Shaykh Ayman al-Zawahiri," which is dated September 2006. The video, which lasts 01:16, is not as well produced as as-Sahab's more recent products but is subtitled in what appears to be colloquial American English. The video features a one-on-one interview with the al Qaeda operations chief and an off-camera interviewer. Zawahiri sits in front of a bookshelf. As evidenced with shoddy editing during some of the questions, the original interviewer's voice has been replaced with a slick and deep-voiced presenter.

The video contains three main points: promotion of the fight to establish Islamic Emirates in Iraq and Afghanistan, criticism of Muslims who do not support al Qaeda or its Jihad, and a declaration that the looming theater in Jordan will lead to the biggest conquest - Israel.

http://www.globalcrisiswatch.com/aq/060911_zawahiri.rm [55.3 Megs]

"Hot Issues" was advertised on September 10 in the form of a promotional animated gif banner and was finally posted across the Internet in the Real Media and 3GP file formats.

Real Media 782 Megs: 6 links
Real Media 227 Megs: 19 links
Real Media 55.3 Megs: 86 links
3GP 30.4 Megs: 21 links

Total: 132 links

An Arabic-language transcription zipped as a RAR file was also posted across 89 free file transfer Web sites, some of which advertise pornography.

The video has three main messages:

1)To convey the importance of converting Iraq and Afghanistan into Islamic Emirates for the ultimate goal of establishing the global Caliphate superpower.

2)To criticize fellow Muslims who refuse to support al Qaeda and its Jihad either through donations or manpower. He spends a great deal of time on this issue, calling them religion-trading charlatans, defeatists, and collaborators. Interestingly, this is a theme that Adam Gadahn in his "Invitation to Islam" as-Sahab video also hit upon. Gadahn said: "What is really surprising is that some among us want to suffice with invitation (to Islam) alone without resorting to self-defense."

3)To threaten Jordan and Israel. Zawahiri states: "(I)f the Islamic Emirate arises in Iraq... and is able to infiltrate the traitorous Jordanian entity to stand on the borders of Palestine and... the Mujahideen come one after another from both inside and outside Palestine, then we will see the biggest conquest and greatest victory, with Allah's permission."

On the Defeatists:
"(T)hey in fact are striving for the secularization of Islam... (O)ur fundamental difference with them is in their backsliding from the faith..."

On the Collaborators:
"They have three things in common: abandonment of the rule of Shari'ah, recognition of the legitimacy of the corrupt status quo, and cursing and abusing the Mujahideen."

On the Followers:
"I call on every Muslim to make use of every opportunity afforded him to take revenge on America for its imprisonment of Shaykh 'Umar 'Abd al-Rahman."

To the Western Peoples:
"Your leaders are hiding from you the true extent of the disaster which will shock you... (T)he days are pregnant and giving birth to new events with Allah's permission and guidance."

Below is a revealing exchange:

Question: And what is al-Qaeda's wider vision regarding the Jihad in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Zawahiri: The wider vision of the Mujahideen in Iraq and Afghanistan is the establishment of an Islamic Emirate in both of them which will be a launch pad for the defense of Islam and the Muslims and a step on the road to the restoration of the Caliphate. And in Iraq, we must not forget that Jerusalem is a stone's throw from Baghdad, so if the Islamic Emirate arises in Iraq, with Allah's help, and is able to infiltrate the traitorous Jordanian entity to stand on the borders of Palestine and - Allah permitting - the Mujahideen come one after another from both inside and outside Palestine, then we will see the biggest conquest and greatest victory, with Allah's permission.

Speaking of America and the spreading of democracy, you mentioned just now that America cooperates with three groups to detour around the Islamic Jihadi resistance against it, and you mentioned one group, which you called the religion-trading charlatans. What are the other two groups?
Yes. We mentioned the first one, which is the group of religion-trading charlatans. As for the second, it is the group of defeatists, and as for the third, it is the group of beggars.

Amazing. You choose for them strong descriptions: charlatans, defeatists and beggars!
Yes, because of the ugliness of what they do.

OK. Who, as you see it, is this group of defeatists?
After the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate, a wave of psychological defeatism and doctrinal breakdown spread, and there crept into the people a tendency - through good intentions - that held that we should benefit from the status quo to rescue what can be rescued and achieve what can be achieved. And this trend, with the continuation of the blows aimed at the Muslims, continued to retreat one step after another, until, int he end, they pledged allegiance to Hosni Mubarak as president of the republic, 'Ali 'Abdullah Salih as commander of the believers, 'Abdullah bin al-Husain as leader of the Muslims, and Al al-Sabaah as guardians of the Muslim's affairs. And they entered Kabul on the backs of American tanks, with the protection of America's bombers, and in the shade of its cross; took Erdogan and friends as their role-models for success and superiority; declared their total observance of majority rule and abandonment of Shari'ah rule; and defined their affiliation by the nationalistic, territorial affiliation that prefers the patriotic unbeliever to the foreign Muslim. They have adopted a new creed which is incompatible with the creed of Islam and based on majority rule, national affiliations, restriction to the borders of Sykes/Picot, and allegiance to the nationalist state, as opposed to the creed of Islam which is based on the rule of Divine Shari'ah, the brotherhood of Islam, the unity of the Islamic lands, and the establishment of the Caliphate state. So they in fact are striving for the secularization of Islam... Thus, he calls for removing religion from life and making it a personal matter, and flees from the frank, serious ideological confrontation, which is that if the religion is a flase creed, then it must be removed from all aspects of life, whether public or private...So if the secularists are more cowardly than the atheists, then you can imagine the condition of those who strive for secularism under the cover of Islam.

Let us concentrate on the connection of those whom you call the defeatists to what you mentioned just now about the American attempt to detour around the Mujahid Islamic resistance to Crusader aggression.
...This faction detours around the Ummah's Mujahid vanguard and tries vainly to divert the Muslim masses from it with a fabricated deception which says that the violent confrontation with the ruling regimes which violates the positive law imposed by the traitorous rulers is forbidden and Haram, while they flee from Jihad against the foreign enemy, permitting it, but on two conditions: that it be in the occupied country only, and after permission is given by their local ruler to travel to the field of battle. And then, in the occupied country like Iraq and Afghanistan, they seek to cooperate with the Crusader occupation authorities in resisting Jihad - which they call terrorism - and entering the fraudulent political process under the supervision of the international false witness, the UN. So tell me by Allah, after this ploy - or predicament - how is it possible for the Jihad to come into being? And the American Crusaders couldn't be happier about these ploys...