Abdullah Yusuf Azzam
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam[a] (14 November 1941 – 24 November 1989) was a Palestinian jihadist and theologian. Belonging to the Salafi movement within Sunni Islam, he and his family fled from what had been the Jordanian-annexed West Bank after the 1967 Arab–Israeli War and pursued higher education in Jordan and Egypt before relocating to Saudi Arabia. In 1979, Azzam issued a fatwa advocating for "defensive jihad" in light of the outbreak of the Soviet–Afghan War, and subsequently moved to Pakistan to support the Afghan mujahideen.[2]
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam
14 November 1941
Assassination via car bomb
Jordanian (1948–1989)
Damascus University (BA)
Al-Azhar University (PhD)
Mentoring Osama bin Laden in Saudi Arabia and co-founding Maktab al-Khidamat in Pakistan
ʿAlim and theologian
Abdullah Anas (son-in-law)
As a teacher and mentor to Saudi militant Osama bin Laden, he was one of the key figures who persuaded bin Laden to go to Afghanistan and personally oversee the mujahideen's efforts in that country.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] In 1984, Azzam and bin Laden co-founded Maktab al-Khidamat, an Islamic advocacy organization that sought to raise funds for the mujahideen while also recruiting non-Afghan fighters (known as Afghan Arabs) for their cause.[5] Following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989, he continued to promote jihadist militancy on behalf of other Muslims in other countries in an effort that led to him becoming known as the "father of global jihad" in many circles.[9][10]
On 24 November 1989, Azzam was killed by a car bomb detonated by unknown assailants in Peshawar, Pakistan.[11]
Early life and citizenship[edit]
Azzam was born on 14 November 1941 in Silat al-Harithiya, in what was then the British Mandate for Palestine, to a family of Palestinian Arabs.[12] He became a citizen of Jordan after the Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, which followed the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Azzam has been described by most of his biographers as being exceptionally intelligent as a child. He liked to read, excelled in class, and studied topics above his grade level.[13][14]
Education[edit]
Muslim Brotherhood[edit]
In the mid-1950s, Azzam joined the Muslim Brotherhood after being influenced by Shafiq Asad 'Abd al-Hadi, an elderly local teacher who was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Recognizing Azzam's sharp mind, Shafiq Asad gave Azzam a religious education and introduced him to many of the Muslim Brotherhood's leaders in Palestine. Azzam became more interested in Islamic studies and started a study group in his village. Shafiq Asad then introduced Azzam to Muhammad 'Abd ar-Rahman Khalifa, the Muraqib 'Am (General Supervisor) of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan. Khalifa met with Azzam during several visits that he made to Silat al-Harithiya. During this part of his life, Azzam began reading the works of Hasan al-Banna and other Muslim Brotherhood writings.[13]
In the late 1950s, after he had completed his elementary and secondary education, Azzam left Silat al-Harithiya and enrolled in the agricultural Khaduri College in Tulkarm, about 30 kilometres southwest of his village. Though he was a year younger than his classmates, he received good grades.[13][14] After graduation from the college, students were sent out to teach at local schools. Azzam was sent to the village of Adir, near the town of Kerak in central Jordan.[13][14] According to one of his biographers, Azzam had wanted a position closer to home, but was sent to a distant school after an argument with his college's dean.[13] After spending a year in Adir, Azzam returned to the West Bank, where he taught at a school in the village of Burqin, about four kilometers west of Jenin. His colleagues in Burqin remembered him as being noticeably more religious than them. During breaks, while others ate, Azzam would sit and read the Quran.[13]
Islamic studies in Syria[edit]
In 1963, Azzam enrolled in the Faculty of Sharia at the University of Damascus in Syria. While in Damascus, he met Islamic scholars and leaders including Shaykh Muhammad Adib Salih, Shaykh Sa`id Hawwa, Shaykh Mohamed Said Ramadan Al-Bouti, Mullah Ramadan al-Buti, and Shaykh Marwan Hadid.[13] Azzam's mentor, Shafiq Asad `Abd al-Hadi died in 1964. This strengthened Azzam's determination in working for the cause of Islam. During the holidays, Azzam would return to his village, where he would teach and preach in the mosque.[13] Azzam graduated with highest honors in 1966, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Sharia. Thereafter he returned to the West Bank, where he taught and preached in the region around his village.
1967 Arab–Israeli War and the Palestinian cause[edit]
After the 1967 Six-Day War ended with the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, Azzam and his family left the West Bank and followed the Palestinian exodus to Jordan.[13][14]
In Jordan, Azzam participated in paramilitary operations against the Israeli occupation but became disillusioned with the secular and provincial nature of the Palestinian resistance coalition held together under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and led by Yasser Arafat.
Instead of pursuing the PLO's Marxist-oriented national liberation struggle supported by the Soviet Union, Azzam envisioned a pan-Islamic trans-national movement that would transcend the political map of the Middle East drawn by European colonial powers.[15]
Islamic studies in Egypt[edit]
In Egypt Azzam continued his studies at the prestigious Al-Azhar University, getting a PhD in Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence in 1973, while being acquainted during his stay with the ideas of Sayyid Qutb.[16] He completed his 600-page doctoral thesis in around 16 months.[17]
Some researchers believe he had a role as an ideologist in founding the Islamist Hamas movement in Palestine.[18]
Professor in Saudi Arabia[edit]
Azzam took a position as lecturer at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he remained until 1979. Osama bin Laden was enrolled as a student in the university between 1976 and 1981 and probably first met Azzam during that time.[19]
After his death, Azzam's militant ideology and related paramilitary manuals were promoted through print and Internet media by Azzam Publications,[54] a publishing house that operated from a London post office box[55] and an Internet site. Both were shut down shortly after the September 11 attacks and are no longer active, though mirror sites persisted for some time afterwards. Babar Ahmad, the administrator of azzam.com, was extradited from the UK to the USA where he pleaded guilty to "conspiracy and providing material support to terrorism."
Azzam popularized the idea of armed Islamic struggle (which went on to be developed further by groups such as the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria (GIA)).[56] Prior to his work, declarations of jihad in the twentieth century (such as against Israel) were essentially rhetorical and served more as a religious blessing of wars already declared and organized by secular bodies. But with his tireless travel and exhortation of activists, thousands of whom traveled to be trained and to fight in Afghanistan, what Azzam "called for actually came about".[57]
Azzam also broadened the idea of jihad. Azzam preached that jihad was
Azzam had considerable impact. Fatwas going back to the Crusades had urged Muslims to defend one another against an invasion, but his contention that "such defense was a global obligation," that "Muslims everywhere were personally bound to take up arms" against invasions such as the Soviet's, was "all but unprecedented".[59]
Azzam is thought to have had influence on jihadists such as al-Qaeda with the third stage of his "four-stage process of jihad". This third stage was "ribat," defined as "placing oneself at the frontlines where Islam was under siege". This idea is thought to reinforce militants' "perception of a civilizational war between Islam and the West".[60] His son Huthaifa Azzam, who assumes his father's legacy, on the other hand, says that al-Qaeda's methods of targeting civilians in the West or elsewhere would have been rebuked by Azzam, as would have been the use of kidnappings and beheadings.[61]
The internationally recognized terrorist group Abdullah Azzam Brigades (a Lebanese branch of al Qaeda) is named after Azzam.
Having "published over 100 books, articles and recorded conferences",[62] some of his works include:
