Featured Documents - Miscellaneous
| [11/17/09] | Salman Al-Awdah Condemns the Fort Hood Shooting The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a statement by Saudi cleric Salman Al-Awdah condemning the Fort Hood shooting. Al-Awdah, who Usama bin Laden described as his "ideal personality" in a March 1997 interview, asserted that "this action taken out by Nidal Hasan was irrational and is empty of thought." In an interview with Wired's "Danger Room" blog, NEFA Senior Investigator Evan Kohlmann commented on the difference in reactions by Al-Awdah and Anwar al Awlaki, who praised Hasan as a "hero": "Kohlman[n] said that the contrast between Awlaki’s and Awdah’s statements reveals a gap between al-Awdah’s generation of Salafi jihadists, many of whom have mellowed in recent years, and the post-Iraq generation of jihadists. 'The naive younger guys have been raised and fed on bright-eyed propaganda about the ‘Shaykh of the Slaughters’ Zarqawi, beheadings, and suicide bombings. On the other hand, many of the older celebrated advocates of jihad and the mujahideen are increasingly opposed to the fanatical takfiri direction of Al-Qaida — casting it as counterproductive and even criminal…And, of course, these critical issues of jihadi jurisprudence are now being debated and contested largely over the Internet.'" |
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| [11/11/09] | Anwar al Awlaki Urged Muslims to "Fight Against Government Armies" in July '09 The NEFA Foundation has obtained a copy of an English-language online blog post from just this past summer by Shaykh Anwar al-Awlaki -- the Yemeni cleric suspected of influencing Ft. Hood shooter Maj. Malik Hasan -- titled, "Fighting Against Government Armies in the Muslim World." In his message, dated July 14, 2009, al-Awlaki openly admonished his supporters, "there can be no Islam with the presence of these armies... These armies are the defenders of apostasy in the Muslim world. They fight against Sharia and kill the Muslims who attempt to bring it back. They are fighting on behalf of America against the mujahideen in Pakistan, Somalia and the Maghrib. If this is the case with these armies how could anyone place the blame on the ones who fight them, accusing them of fighting against Muslims?! What kind of twisted fiqh is this? The blame should be placed on the soldier who is willing to follow orders whether the order is to kill Muslims as in Swat, bomb Masjids as with the Red Masjid, or kill women and children as they do in Somalia... Blessed are those who fight against them and blessed are those shuhada [martyrs] who are killed by them." |
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| [11/9/09] | Anwar al Awlaki: “Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing” The NEFA Foundation has obtained a statement issued by Anwar al Awlaki, an Al-Qaida-linked U.S. citizen, titled "Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing” in which al Awlaki profusely praised the Fort Hood shooter: "Nidal Hassan is a hero. He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people...The US is leading the war against terrorism which in reality is a war against Islam. Its army is directly invading two Muslim countries and indirectly occupying the rest through its stooges.” Al Awlaki continued, "Nidal opened fire on soldiers who were on their way to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. How can there be any dispute about the virtue of what he has done? In fact the only way a Muslim could Islamically justify serving as a soldier in the US army is if his intention is to follow the footsteps of men like Nidal.” Further, "The heroic act of brother Nidal also shows the dilemma of the Muslim American community. Increasingly they are being cornered into taking stances that would either make them betray Islam or betray their nation. Many amongst them are choosing the former. The Muslim organizations in America came out in a pitiful chorus condemning Nidal’s operation.” For more on al Awlaki, see NEFA's Backgrounder titled, "Anwar al Awlaki: Pro Al-Qaida Ideologue with Influence in the West", al Awlaki's essay "44 Ways to Support Jihad", al Awlaki's message "Salutations to al-Shabaab of Somalia", and a statement in which he lauded the mujahideen of Yemen. |
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| [10/21/09] | Sunni “Jondollah” Claims Suicide Attack on Iranian Revolutionary Guardsmen The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a claim of responsibility from a Sunni militant group known as “Jondollah” (“The Army of God”) for the October 18 suicide bombing attack on a delegation of senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers in the southeast corner of the country near the border with Pakistan. According to the communiqué, “one of the heroic men of Baluchistan—the land of martyrdom and resistance—named Abdulwahad Mahmadi Sarawani, was able to kill dozens of commanders and units from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Basij Militia, and officials from the Ministry of Intelligence… by carrying a martyrdom operation in Sarbaz, one of the cities in Baluchistan Province.” The statement indicated that the bombing attack was a response to the “crimes of the Iranian regime against the Baluchi people; the unarmed and oppressed, who loses everyday a number of its children sacrifices to the crimes of this regime that murdered throughout the last year alone hundreds of young men from this province… amongst them were the pious Ulama Hafidh Salahadin and Mawlawi Khalilallah Zare’i—who were executed for defending the rights of our oppressed people. Additionally, they executed the brothers Tariq and Asad Wafa’i, and three others from the city, and those are: Thabihalla Naro’i, Hajji Noti Zahi, and Ghulam Rasul Shaho Zahi, and all of those were guilty of Baluchi and Sunni. These crimes left to the Baluchi people no other choice except resistance and responding in the same manner to the Iranian regime.” |
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| [8/03/09] | Purported Claim of Responsibility for Jakarta Bombings The NEFA Foundation has obtained a communiqué from "the Tandzim Al-Qaida of Indonesia" claiming responsibility for the July 17, 2009, bombings at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta that killed seven and injured more than fifty people. Purportedly posted on behalf of Noordin Mohammad Top, the communiqué stated that the attack sought to avenge "the deeds of America and its accomplices against our brothers and sisters," target the Manchester United soccer team, and act "as a soother and healer for the hearts of the Muslims who are oppressed and persecuted all over the world.” According to the FBI, "Noordin Mohammad Top is reportedly an officer, recruiter, bombmaker, and trainer for the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) group that was involved in the bombings of a Bali nightclub, a Jakarta hotel, and the Australian Embassy in Indonesia between 2002 and 2004." |
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| [6/18/08] | July 2005 "Al-Qaida Organization in the UAE and Oman" Threat to the UAE In light of the June 14, 2008 warning by the U.K. Foreign Office that it believes "terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE," the NEFA Foundation is releasing a July 2005 communiqué from the military wing for the Al-Qaida Organization in UAE and Oman titled "A Letter to the UAE Oppressors." The letter stated, "We send you this loud and clear letter since you have brought it upon yourselves and did not change your way and kept on following the nation of cross and the Jews…haven’t you known by now that the Mujahidin who were able to attack America on its soil will also be able to reach the nation of cross and the Jewish pigs who are inside your country." It added, "We warn our Moslem brothers in UAE not to be near the following places in order not to interfere with the Mujahidin work and not to be harmed since we are very cautious not to target the Moslems. The places are: 1: the harbor of Jabal Ali in Dubai. All the Moslem workers should leave it at once 2: Dubai international airport 3: Abu Dabi international airport 4: the Dubai investments center." |
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| [12/07/07] | "Sisters' Role in Jihad" Today, a female suicide bomber killed at least 16 people in an attack in Muqdadiya, Iraq. A historical document, posted by the Al-Qaida linked website Qoqaz.net, provides insight into one perspective on the role women should play in jihad. The document states, "It should be noted that physical fighting has been a role assigned primarily to men, both by the Prophet (peace be upon him) and those after him. However, when the need arose, our brave sisters never held back from fighting, and neither should they now!" |
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