On July 19, 2010, the Shumukh Al-Islam jihadist web forum posted a 15-page interview with Sheikh Abu 'Abdallah Al-Ansari, the leader of the Gaza-based Ansar Al-Sunna organization. Ansar Al-Sunna is one of the numerous salafi jihadi groups operating in Gaza; it recently became the second such group to receive a measure of official recognition from the wider salafi jihadi community.
The interview was conducted by Al-Ma'sada, a media group affiliated with the Shumukh Al-Islam forum. Following are excerpts:
On Al-Qaeda and the Global Jihad
"Regarding the groups that call people to pure belief in Allah's unity and that fight for it – such as the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan [i.e. the Taliban], the Islamic State [sic; Emirate] of the Caucasus, the Islamic State of Iraq, the brothers in Al-Qaeda in all the various places they are found, the brothers in [the Iraqi Kurdish] Ansar Al-Islam group, and the brothers in Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen and Hizbul Islam in Somalia – we consider [all] these to be on the Straight Path and on the path of clear guidance. They are reviving the aspects of the Islamic religion that had faded away, and they fight for the normative practice of the rightly led [caliphs] Abu Bakr and 'Ali and of the rightly guided [caliphs] 'Uthman and 'Umar. We proclaim our total loyalty to these [groups], and we will aid them with our money, our lives, and all that is dear to us. We will defend them with the tongue, the pen, the lance, and the sword…
"As for our stand regarding the Al-Qaeda organization, I already mentioned it, but I will add that they are the imams and the leaders; they are the armor of Islam and its defenders. May Allah's blessing be upon them and their jihad, and may He bring us together with them in the arenas of the battle for Islam in this world, and in the Paradise of the Lord of the worlds in the afterlife.
"As for the jihad-fighting Sheikh Osama bin Laden: It is an honor for the likes of us to speak about him, and it increases our worth. We are in relation to him like a student who studies with his teacher, or like an orphan towards his guardian. One need not ask about people like him [i.e. of his stature]. He has crossed the bridge, and we consider him one of the Muslims' rightful leaders in our times, one of the authorities. We offer our lives for his life, and our breasts are his armor… We ask Allah to protect him and keep him until he can pray in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, at a time when the shari'a is strong and mighty in it."
