Jordanian-Palestinian Islamist writer (born 1959)
Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi (; born 1959)—Abu Muhammad Assem al-Maqdisi (), in full—is the assumed name of Assem ibn Muhammad ibn Tahir al-Barqawi (), an Islamist Jordanian-Palestinian writer and Salafi jihadi ideologue. Al-Maqdisi is known for popularizing a handful of significant themes within radical Islam, including the theological concept of "Al-Wala' wal-Bara"'. He is regarded as one of the earliest public Islamists to openly denounce the Saudi royal family as apostates from Islam. Al-Maqdisi believes that democracy functions as a religion in its own right and has accused Muslim advocates of democracy of apostasy. Additionally, he is recognized as the spiritual mentor of Jordanian jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who served as the initial leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. In 2004, a significant ideological and methodological divide emerged between al-Maqdisi and al-Zarqawi due to the latter's proclamation of "takfir" against all Iraqi Shīʿites. Al-Maqdisi took a more cautious approach: he preferred targeted killings of Shīʿites, aiming to prevent al-Zarqawi's ideology from becoming counterproductive.
As of 2012, the writings of al-Maqdisi still had a wide following: a study carried out by the Combating Terrorism Center of the United States Military Academy (USMA) concluded that al-Maqdisi "is the most influential living jihadi theorist" and that "by all measures, Maqdisi is the key contemporary ideologue in the jihadi intellectual universe". The jihadist website "Tawhed", which al-Maqdisi owned at the time, remained operational as, according to the USMA report, "al-Qa`ida ["sic"]'s main online library".
Background.
Maqdisi was born in 1959 in the city of Nablus, West Bank. At a young age, his family immigrated to Kuwait. He later studied at the University of Mosul in Iraq. It was during this time he began to take on an Islamist worldview.
He began to travel around Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in order to visit 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 world. He then began to study the writings of Sayyid Qutb and Hassan al-Banna and the methods of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Maqdisi travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan and met many of the Afghan jihadi groups there at the time. In Pakistan, he spent three years in Peshawar, a hub for the Afghan Jihad, as a professor of religion. There, he met the later infamous jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and published influential works, including "Millat Ibrahim" and "Al-Kawashif al-Jaliyya fi Kufr al-Dawla al-Sa'udiyya", the latter condemning the Saudi state as infidels. He also confronted the members of Takfir wal-Hijra and wrote a book refuting their extreme views. In 1992, he returned to Jordan. He denounced the Jordanian government for what he believed were insufficiently Islamist policies. He was also the first prominent Islamist scholar to brand the House of Saud as unbelievers or "takfir", and to hold the adoption of democracy as tantamount to apostasy. His teachings gained many adherents; this earned him the attention of the Jordanian government, and he was arrested and imprisoned. During 1995–1999, he and al-Zarqawi were in prison; he strongly influenced al-Zarqawi, shaping his Islamist ideology. Their strategic plans were described by Fouad Hussein in his book "Al-Zarqawi: The Second Generation of Al Qaeda".
After they were released from prison, al-Zarqawi departed for Afghanistan while Maqdisi stayed in Jordan. He was later rearrested on terrorism charges for conspiring to attack American targets in Jordan. He was released in July 2005 but arrested again after he gave an interview to Qatari state-affiliated Al Jazeera. 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."
Maqdisi served a five-year term in a Jordanian prison for allegations of jeopardising state security and recruiting jihadists to fight in Afghanistan. The Jordanian government released him in June 2014, likely due to their opposition to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. On 21 September 2014, he advocated for the release of British national Alan Henning, who was being held by Islamic State. Al-Maqdisi said, "Henning worked with a charitable organization led by Muslims, which sent several aid convoys to help the Syrian people. Is it reasonable that his reward is being kidnapped and slaughtered? ... He should be rewarded with thanks. ..We call on the (Islamic) State to release this man (Henning) and other aid group employees who enter the land of Muslims with a guarantee of protection ... according to the judgment of Shariah law."
In 2009, Maqdisi advised against joining the Yemeni government in its conflict with the Houthis, a Shia insurgent group. He also urged Yemenis to avoid supporting what he described as the country's then-pro-Western government, advocating for its replacement.
Jihadi relationships.
Abdullah al-Muhaysini, a Saudi Arabian religious scholar, has endorsed Islamic extremists and convicted terrorists such as Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, Eyad Qunaibi, Tareq Abdulhalim, Hani al-Sibai, Yusuf al-Ahmed, Abd al-Aziz al-Tarifi, Sulaiman Al-Alwan, Abu Qatada al-Filistini, and al-Maqdisi.
Doğu Türkistan Bülteni Haber Ajansı reported that al-Filistini praised the Turkistan Islamic Party along with Abdul Razzaq al Mahdi, al-Maqdisi, al-Muhaysini, and Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Al-Muhaysini referenced al-Maqdisi and Abu Qatada.
Upon the death of Omar Abdel-Rahman, condolences were given by al-Maqdisi.
Tariq Abdelhaleem complained about Hayyat Tahrir al-Sham being criticized by Barqawi on Twitter. Abdelhaleem criticized a statement on al-Sham by Barqawi. Abdelhaleem tweeted a defense of Abu Jaber Shaykh in response to Barqawi. Nusra was criticized by Maqdisi. An HTS spokesman was slammed by Al-Maqdisi. Barqawi was criticized by Tariq.
Euphrates Shield was attacked and criticized by al-Maqdisi.
Views.
Democracy.
Al-Maqdisi elucidated his perspective on democracy in his book, "Democracy: A Religion":“By legislating man-made laws rather than divine ones, they challenge the sovereignty of the Deity. This of course is "shirk" [idolatry] and is the most severe of the sins that one can commit against Allah. Because these legislators disbelieve in Allah and His divine law, it is the duty of every Muslim to fight them through jihad.”Al-Maqdisi defines democracy as:“political philosophy that draws adherents to it, much like socialism and communism. In this way it competes with true religions such as Islam. In fact, democracy is greater than the cogs that put it to work, for if the people would demand of their representatives to inject the law with a more Islamic flavor, they would be told it contradicts democracy.”
References.
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