Religious justification eludes leaders of al-Qaeda in the Maghreb

18/04/2008

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's shift towards suicide operations in the region have provoked criticism from many sources, but perhaps most significant is the rift it has revealed between the armed group and radical religious leaders, many of whom have refused to justify the violent strategy.

Analysis by Nazim Fethi for Magharebia in Algiers – 18/04/08

[Getty Images] Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb leaders are hard pressed to find religious justifications for their adoption of suicide attacks, such as this one on the UN headquarters in Algiers on December 11th 2007.

Since the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) announced it was aligning with the al-Qaeda cause in December 2006, the group led by Abdelmalek Droukdel, alias Abou Moussab Abdelouadoud, has shifted its strategy from kidnappings and roadblocks in Kabylia to the kind of bloody suicide attacks claimed by terrorist groups in Iraq. To many analysts, the change indicated a desire among GSPC leaders to prove their allegiance to Osama bin Laden’s network, forgoing – at least in the short term – any religious justification for the new direction.

The new suicide bombings revealed problems within the new partnership, even drawing criticism from the heart of the al-Qaeda network itself. According to accounts from numerous reformed terrorists, a large number of the terrorist network leaders have decided to suspend their activities and wait for guidance, or fatwas, from ulemas in the Salafist movement.

This is why highly-regarded Salafist imams have been pressed to provide religious legitimacy for such actions. According to local media, al-Qaeda network members have recently urged Mohamed Ali Ferkous, Abdelghani Rouissat, Cheikh Lazhar and other Salafist leaders around the world to voice their interpretations of suicide attacks.

Several internationally-renowned Salafist ulemas, such as Tartoussi, Abou Bakr El Djazairi and Youcef El Qaradhaoui, have denounced the use of suicide attacks.

The most damaging criticism of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, however, has come from an Algerian terrorist leader. Salim El Afghani, whose group refuses to swear allegiance to Droukdel, has publicly compared the activities of al-Qaeda to those of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), responsible for widespread killings in the 1990s under the orders of Antar Zouabri. His analysis caused a stir in the ranks of al-Qaeda in the country, pushing a number of its members to ask Droukdel to justify his suicide attack strategy with religious arguments.

The suicide attacks perpetrated by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have even provoked a reaction from a purported leader for al-Qaeda in Iraq. In a February interview with Qatar's Al-Arab daily, Algerian Abdallah Khalil, alias Abou Tourab El Djazairi, publicly rejected the suicide attacks perpetrated in Algeria. He said the al-Qaeda network in the Maghreb mostly consists of "adolescents motivated by revenge and resentment towards the ruling regime". He also accused them of ignoring Islamic rules, saying that attacks targeting civilians and even soldiers on meagre salaries do not constitute jihad in any way, and are merely "foolishness".

Al-Qaeda operations in the Maghreb are suffering greatly from the silence and criticism of the religious elite. In the past, terrorists in the region commonly based their actions on arguments developed by Sayed Imam, the "jihadists' theologian" and Ayman al-Zawahiri's former mentor. While the theologian's recent statements and latest book, "Correcting Jihad in Egypt and the World", represent a considerable step back from the radicalism of his previous theories, al-Qaeda leadership clings doggedly to his earlier position.

"Al-Qaeda has no ideology apart from bin Laden's personal whims. Whoever objects gets kicked out. This approach is what led to the September 11th attacks," Imam told al-Hayat in a December 2007 interview.

Imam also questioned the ideological motives of al-Qaeda and other groups, declaring that "those who target innocent people are working outside the parameters of Sharia".

The theologian added, "They place their own desires and will before that of God."