Sheikh Abdallah Azzam: al-Qa'ida's First Ideologue

CTC: Three-Part Study of Sheikh Abdallah Azzam, al-Qa'ida's First Ideologue

Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, more than any other cleric, is considered the strategic founder of al-Qaida. His very utterances of the need to establish an al-Qaida al-Sulba (firm foundation)to export jihad where Muslims are persecuted is the name Bin Laden finally settled on when naming his organization al-Qaida. To understand Bin Laden and those who harbor sympathies to al-Qaida, as well as their strategic vision it is vital to rediscover Azzam’s books. Part I of the series will look into a book published in 1984, and which by 1988 had gone through its eleventh printing; his Quranic interpretations of the Soviet-Afghan War, its significance and Azzam’s mythologizing and marketing of this conflict to attract more Arabs to join the fight. The book is entitled Ayyat al-Rahman fee Jihad al-Afghan (God’s Signs in the Afghan Jihad). Part II will look at Azzam’s history and his theories of what needed to be done to defend Muslim lands under assault. Part III will explore a book on Azzam’s views on the remedy for Muslim victimization.

Part 1: Leveraging the Soviet-Afghan War

Part 2: Remedying Muslim Victimization

Part 3: Defending Muslim Lands