On August 1, 2022, Biden claimed that a US drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, killed “top al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri,”[1] and that the Taliban condemned the strike.
According to Biden, US intelligence located Zawahiri earlier this year and that he had moved to downtown Kabul to “reunite with members of his immediate family.”
Whenever a fasiq comes with any news, we as Muslims are obliged to verify the news lest we unintentionally spread false rumors and cause more harm than good. Allah says in the Quran:
O believers, if an evildoer brings you any news, verify ˹it˺ so you do not harm people unknowingly, becoming regretful for what you have done. [49:6]
According to antiwar.com the White House on Tuesday said that it has “no DNA confirmation that al-Qaeda’s top leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a CIA drone strike in Kabul over the weekend,” and said it had confirmed his death by “other” means. According to White House national security spokesman John Kirby, they do not need confirmation:
“We do not have DNA confirmation. We’re not going to get that confirmation. Quite frankly, based on based on multiple sources and methods that we’ve gathered information from, we don’t need it.”[2]
I am sure that they just dumped him in the ocean, you know to keep in line with a “traditional” Muslim burial like they allegedly did Osama Bin Laden. Apparently al-Zawahiri—like some kind of fictional super agent spy—has been able to evade capture all these years; and by the largest intelligence apparatus in the world, with the biggest budget in the history of the world. But now, all of a sudden, they managed to find him in a posh neighborhood in Taliban-controlled Kabul.
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But this is not the first time that al-Zawahiri has been claimed dead. Two years ago, on November 14, 2020 it was rumored that he had died of “natural causes”. This was reported by journalist and NYT Best Selling Author Hassan I. Hassan after allegedly corroborating the report with “sources close to Al-Qaeda.”
Also, in 2008, a US media report by CBS alleged that al-Qaeda’s deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was killed in a missile strike. That is 2008. However, Pakistan’s military denied any knowledge of the alleged death or injury of al-Qaeda’s number two man as reported by the USA network CBS.[3]
So as you can see, this is not the first time that Ayman al-Zawahiri has been claimed dead, and while I do not deny that he most probably is dead, I do reserve my right to question when and how it actually happened, seeing as I have no confidence in hearing the truth from a US President—certainly not one who likes to tell stories about little kids touching his hairy legs in a swimming pool.
When an ‘evildoer’ comes to us with news, especially one representing the interests of a western hegemonic power with overt aspirations of subjugating the lands of the Muslims, we must verify it first in order to keep with our Islamic obligations. Right now, even the CIA admits that they do not have DNA confirmation of his death and seeing as this appears to be a habit by the US when killing high profile terrorists, vis-à-vis Osama Bin Laden, I am not holding my breath that this is something we’re going to get this time either.
Now I’m sure that Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are dead. But when, where, and under which circumstances, is a completely different matter. And I am most certainly not trusting the US government to honestly tell me the facts and details. It is like what happened in the wake of the alleged Osama bin Laden killing in 2011 where President Obama was asked to produce evidence of his death. I mean, you are telling us you have the most notorious, most wanted mass murderer of the 21st century, and you are not going to produce any footage, video or pictures in order to document to the world that you ‘got him’?
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Instead, they chose to go with a story of them dumping the body in the ocean without producing any evidence of his death and then claiming it was done according to Muslim burial rites (because you know, we Muslims toss bodies into the ocean after their janazah prayers). Obama’s response to that critique was something to the effect of:
‘Well, look, you’re not going to see Osama Bin Laden walking around this earth anymore.’
So, yeah, there you have it. We are probably not going to see Osama bin Laden and al-Zawahiri walking around on this earth anymore. And that spells the end of the “War on Terror,” and a new paradigm shift is about to commence.
Why Nobody Cared About al-Zawahiri Being Killed
As an article in The Intercept points out, Gen Z could be forgiven for not knowing or caring who al-Zawahiri was, but it’s pretty odd that no one else seems to know or care either. I mean this is the face of the alleged most terrifying and dangerous terrorist organization to have walked the earth, and all we hear is crickets. The article points to the “sleepy” address by President Joe Biden announcing Zawahiri’s death where he said:
“People around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer.”
But, as the article points out:
“Very few, though, had been fearing Zawahiri — who had become better known for his conspiracy videos on global politics rather than actual terrorism — for a long time.”
This goes to show that the war on terror rhetoric has been supplanted in the public consciousness over the last couple of years by a new shift in politics and agenda, and that we are moving away from the war on terror, and onto a new war on… Russia? China?
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Jaalhaque 