"The Sheikh of the Slaughterers": Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the al-Qaeda Connection

(MEMRI) Nimrod Raphaeli - Following the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, the Kuwaiti government expelled 250,000 Palestinians who had Jordanian citizenship, many of them teachers and other professionals. Among the returnees were also some who belonged to the Jihad movement, headed by Issam al-Barqawi, who acquired the name of Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi and became the spiritual teacher of this movement in Jordan. One of the most prominent clandestine organizations established in Jordan was Tawheed (Monotheism), later renamed Bay'at al-Imam. It was founded by al-Maqdisi in 1992 and joined by al-Zarqawi in 1993. In 1994, Jordanian security services uncovered weapons in the possession of these two men. Al-Zarqawi adheres to the strictest version of Islam - Saudi Arabia's Wahhabism.


2005-07-05 00:00:00

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