Abdullah Yusuf Azzam

Abdullah Yusuf Azzam
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam
عبد الله يوسف عزام‎
Personal
Born	14 November 1941; Silat al-Harithiya, British Mandate for Palestine
Died	24 November 1989 (aged 48); Peshawar, Pakistan
Cause of death	Assassination via car bomb
Religion	Sunni Islam
Citizenship	Jordanian (1948–1989)
Creed	Salafism
Movement	Muslim Brotherhood
Alma mater	Damascus University (BA); Al-Azhar University (PhD)
Known for	Mentoring Osama bin Laden in Saudi Arabia and co-founding Maktab al-Khidamat in Pakistan
Occupation	ʿAlim and theologian
Relations	Abdullah Anas (son-in-law)

Abdullah Yusuf Azzam^[a] ((1941-11-14)14 November 1941 – (1989-11-24)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]

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]

^ Haniff Hassan, Muhammad (2014). The Father of Jihad: 'Abd Allah 'Azzam's Jihad Ideas and Implications to National Security. 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE: Imperial College Press. p. 224. ISBN 978-1-78326-287-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference uoozvz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ BBC News: Bin Laden biography Archived 2017-08-28 at the Wayback Machine, 20 November 2001
^ Kepel, Gilles. Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. Harvard University Press, (2002), p. 145
^ ^a ^b Wright, Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-375-41486-2.
^ "Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America and the Future of Global Jihad". Brookings Institution. Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
^ "DEADLY EMBRACE: PAKISTAN, AMERICA, AND THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL JIHAD" (PDF). Brookings Institution. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 October 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
^ Riedel, Bruce. "The 9/11 Attacks' Spiritual Father". Brookings Institution. Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
^ Riedel, Bruce (11 September 2011). "The 9/11 Attacks' Spiritual Father". Brookings. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
^ Peter Brookes (1 March 2007). A Devil's Triangle: Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Rogue States. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 33–. ISBN 978-0-7425-4953-1. Archived from the original on 21 May 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
^ Allen, Charles. God's Terrorist, (2006) p. 285–86

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[1] Haniff Hassan, Muhammad (2014). The Father of Jihad: 'Abd Allah 'Azzam's Jihad Ideas and Implications to National Security. 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE: Imperial College Press. p. 224. ISBN 978-1-78326-287-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)

[uoozvz-3] Cite error: The named reference uoozvz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[4] BBC News: Bin Laden biography Archived 2017-08-28 at the Wayback Machine, 20 November 2001

[5] Kepel, Gilles. Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. Harvard University Press, (2002), p. 145

[wright2-6] Wright, Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-375-41486-2.

[7] "Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America and the Future of Global Jihad". Brookings Institution. Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2016.

[8] "DEADLY EMBRACE: PAKISTAN, AMERICA, AND THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL JIHAD" (PDF). Brookings Institution. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 October 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2016.

[9] Riedel, Bruce. "The 9/11 Attacks' Spiritual Father". Brookings Institution. Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2016.

[Riedel-10] Riedel, Bruce (11 September 2011). "The 9/11 Attacks' Spiritual Father". Brookings. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2012.

[11] Peter Brookes (1 March 2007). A Devil's Triangle: Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Rogue States. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 33–. ISBN 978-0-7425-4953-1. Archived from the original on 21 May 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2012.

[12] Allen, Charles. God's Terrorist, (2006) p. 285–86

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