Abu Dhar Al-Burmi
In a recent article published in Issue 13 of Turkestan Al-Islamiyya, the Turkestan Islamic Party's journal, an Al-Qaeda cleric praised the Boston Marathon bombing's Tsarnaev brothers.
The cleric, Abu Dhar 'Azzam, has appeared in many videos by Al-Qaeda affiliates, under the name Abu Dhar Al-Pakistani or Abu Dhar Al-Burmi.
'Azzam begins his article by lamenting what he presents as the catastrophic situation of children in the Muslim world, who he says are targets for killing in Afghanistan, Burma, India and elsewhere. He faults the Muslim nation for neglecting its children not only physically but also culturally, by failing to give them a proper Islamic upbringing that will make them good believers and fighters for their religion. He writes: "If we neglect the jihadi, ideological and spiritual upbringing of the new youngsters and the new generation, history will not forgive us, and the disgrace of this treason will not be erased from our foreheads. The ummah is in dire need of children [who will be] slaughterers and fighters of the infidels and the devils - children who will be ascetics by night and knights by day, children who will fight the infidels and the leaders of polytheism..."
This opening brings Abu Dhar to present the Tsarnaev brothers as a model of the kind of jihad fighters that the next generation of Muslims should be raised to emulate. He writes: "This city of Boston, where Iblis [Satan] practices, is the city from which the movement to liberate America from Great Britain began. In the very house of unbelief, two Chechen brothers destroyed the infidels' fortresses on April 16, 2013. During the [ensuing] search [by the authorities for the perpetrators], the elder brother died as a martyr in the field of glory and honor, Allah willing. The younger brother, Dzokhar, remained, and told his dear nation: 'We did this operation as revenge for what America does in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan.' He didn't mention his homeland Chechnya, since this jihad is a jihad of [an entire] nation, not [a campaign] for the liberation of a single land.... The Muslims' lands are one and their honor is one.
"I saw Dzokhar's photo, the photo of a handsome young man in the prime of his youth. I thought to myself: Years ago, he was a child, and he saw the tragedies and catastrophes befall his beloved ummah, one after another. His older brother raised him on jihad and martyrdom-seeking. So, years later, he grew up to be a lion who demolished the fortresses of the infidels and massacred them, rocking the throne of the greatest tyrant on earth.
"Yes, this should be our model. In the very house of unbelief and misguidedness, in the city of Boston, the city of American universities that spread poison around the world - this is where Dzokhar was raised; in an environment that ridicules and denies faith, Dzokhar and his brother carried out an attack that pleases the believers and makes us content. By his act, he said to us: This is what you should do, oh pearls [the name Dzokhar is derived from the Arabic jawhar, meaning pearl] of Muhammad, and weep not. Weeping is unbefitting for men.
"This is but one pearl, oh infidels. Our sacrificing nation will offer many more pearls, until glory and honor is restored to their rightful people - the Muslims... Peace on Dzokhar and his brother, and on anyone who follows their example - an example from the pearls of an immortal nation..."
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