From Saudi Arabia to Yemen: Faris al-Zahrani, the Ideologue of Jihadi Operations in the Gulf

From Saudi Arabia to Yemen: Faris al-Zahrani, the Ideologue of Jihadi Operations in the Gulf

The then-Saudi Crown Prince (now King) Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz announced a four week long amnesty in 2004 and a pardon program for al-Qaeda operatives who were engaged in an open, bloody confrontation with Saudi authorities and Western expatriate workers. Those who voluntarily gave themselves up during this grace period were to be spared the Kingdom’s no-nonsense death penalty. The name Faris bin Shuweil al-Zahrani (a.k.a. Abu Jandal al-Azadi) emerged at the time as one of the Kingdom’s most wanted men. The suggestion that he would have surrendered under these conditions as a result of mediation was allegedly made by a comparatively mainstream Islamist Saudi Shaykh called Safar al-Hawali, whom al-Zahrani would later lash out at in response.

Just days later, al-Zahrani, who is now one of the more prominent post-2003 jihadi ideologues in Saudi Arabia, released an open letter responding to what he described as al-Hawali’s “lies.” He demonstrated his staunch belief in the infidelity of the Saudi state by recalling to his followers that he refused to receive a prize awarded to him six years earlier in order to avoid shaking the unclean hand of someone he considered “an infidel tyrant.” A strident al-Zahrani stressed that he would not willingly surrender. Al-Zahrani described a stark choice presented to him in an email, purportedly emanating from Shaykh al-Hawali: he had to choose between turning himself in to the Saudi state or face exile in an anarchic Iraq. [1] Choosing instead to live on the run, al-Zahrani was eventually arrested along with a fellow traveler on August 5, 2004, in the city of Abha, capital of Asir Province, ostensibly en route to Jizan Province in the south from where he would travel to Yemen (al-Watan, August 7, 2004). At the time of his capture, al-Zahrani was listed as number 12 on a list of 26 most wanted terror suspects issued by Riyadh following the outbreak of jihadi violence in the Kingdom in the spring of 2003 (AP, August 6, 2004). 

Al-Zahrani represents a new generation of Salafi-Jihadi theorists, particularly in Saudi Arabia. Despite being imprisoned, al-Zahrani’s writings continue to be widely consumed by jihadis, especially in Yemen, where the merger between members of Saudi al-Qaeda and their Yemeni counterparts created al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in 2009. Al-Zahrani, 37, holds a Masters degree in Islamic law from Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh. He had also been registered in a PhD program but failed to complete it. Al-Zahrani is married with two children.

Theorizing 

The significant role of al-Zahrani as a jihadi ideologue can be seen in his writings, in which he scripted prolific tracts discussing the legality or the ideological justification of the strategies and tactics employed by jihadis. As an example, al-Zahrani wrote a book entitled The Texts of [Islamic] Scholars on the Provisions of Raids and al-Tattrus [Shielding] (Traps and Explosives) which was released on May 19, 2003, and in which he stresses the importance of such tactics. 

A second book, entitled The Huge Amount of Verses and Hadiths [that prove] the Infidelity [of the] Peninsula Shield Forces, was published in 2002-2003. In this book, al-Zahrani refers to the Gulf Cooperation Council forces as not true Muslims, “because they played a major role in facilitating American occupation of Iraq.”

Another notable book authored by al-Zahrani was al-Bahith fi Jwaz Qatl Afrad Thobat al-Mabahith (An Inquiry into the Ruling of Death upon Soldiers and Officers of the Security Forces) which was first published on November 17, 2002. In this book, al-Zahrani justifies the killing of members of the secret services by labeling them as apostates and advocates of the “tyrants” he constantly rails against. He legitimizes this tactic by exploiting religious texts.

And in a fourth book called Tahrid al-Mujahideen al-Abtal A’al Ihiya’a Sunnat al-Ightyal (Inciting the Heroic Mujahideen to Revive the Practice of Assassination), al-Zahrani presents the jihadi perspective of the importance of assassination as a tactic. [2] In this text, he provides the tactical definition of assassination while detailing its various means and methods. More significantly, he discusses the religious legitimacy and feasibility of using such tactics. Al-Zahrani lists those individuals who should be targeted for assassination; in addition to diplomats, military officers and security agents of designated “enemy” countries, he urges jihadis to assault the security and military apparatuses of those Muslim countries whose governments were regarded by Salafi-jihadis as “tyrants” or “apostates.”

The Yemen Connection 

These last two books indicate the influence of al-Zahrani on the jihadis in the Arabian Peninsula, as these have been incorporated into use by AQAP. The assassination attempt on Prince Muhammad bin Nayef in August 2009, as well as the targeting of secret service officers in Yemen beginning in 2008, was a clear example of the spread of this deadly meme.

Furthermore, al-Zahrani played a significant role in efforts to appeal to the southern tribes in Saudi Arabia (to which he himself belongs), which appears to have been successful in mobilizing young men from the region to join the corresponding jihadis in Yemen. Since Saudi and Yemeni jihadis unified their command in 2009 under the umbrella of AQAP, the number of jihadis from the southern provinces of Saudi Arabia joining the group has increased, benefiting from tribal interrelations between Saudi Arabia and Yemen as well as their geographic proximity. 

According to figures compiled by the author, southerners make up nearly 22 percent of the whole Saudi Salafi-jihadi movement’s membership, close to the number of those who came from the western region, estimated at 21 percent. Those who came from the central provinces constituted 52 percent. [3] This development was accompanied by a manifesto from al-Zahrani entitled Ya Ahla Al-Janoub (A Call to the People of the Southern Region). This tract is considered as an exhortation directed to Saudi Arabia’s southern tribes in 2004 and it includes an early allusion to the possible involvement of Yemeni groups in a peninsular conflict. Among the one-third of AQAP comprised of Saudi nationals, 50 percent helm from the south and 39 percent from the central region, particularly Al-Qassim Province. Such figures point to importance of the ideology promulgated by al-Zahrani.

In addition to his operational theorizing for jihadis, Faris al-Zahrani has written several books disseminating his insights on more mundane general issues, which serve as guides for dedicated and potential jihadis. Nonetheless, it is his influence on the new generation of AQAP that is the most visible sign of his reach.  

Notes

1. “Statement on the False Allegations of al-Hawali,” July 6, 2004, www.tawhid.ws.

2. Tahrid al-Mujahideen al-Abtal A’al Ihiya’a Sunnat al-Ightyal is available at: www.tawhed.ws/dl?i=dh5d8za3.

3. Figures derived from the forthcoming book The Geopolitics of al-Qaeda by Murad Batal al-Shishani.