Last week, I reported on a public message from several prominent jihadist ideologues to Ayman al Zawahiri. The ideologues want Zawahiri to issue a statement that more directly condemns the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS). The signatories quickly took to Twitter to post the message and build support for it. They have continued to do so.
Yesterday, Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini, a popular al Qaeda-linked Saudi cleric, tweeted the message above. Muhaysini calls on supporters to retweet the message, with an associated hashtag, “so that everyone will see the extent of the demand and so that the call is conveyed.” The hashtag says the message is from the Ummah, or community of worldwide Muslims, to the sage of the Ummah, Ayman al Zawahiri. (Of course, the notion that Zawahiri is the sage of some unified Muslim community is ridiculous.)
Muhaysini and the others want Zawahiri to “direct general guidance to the mujahideen” in Syria, in addition to issuing a more pointed condemnation of ISIS.
Thus far, more than 850 people have retweeted Muhaysini’s message.
Thanks to Oren Adaki, a research associate and Arabic language specialist at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, for his translation help.
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