Zawahiri lost no time releasing a video (an audio, really) on the suppression of the radicals in the Red Mosque by the government of Pakistan. Zawahiri is naturally outraged; what seems to have angered him most is what he calls “the dirty, despicable crime committed by Pakistani military intelligence – at the orders of Musharraf – against Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi when it showed him on television in women’s dress.” Indeed, Zawahiri questions the manhood of Pakistanis in general, as he calls them to jihad–not in Pakistan, but in Afghanistan. Here is the video:
You can read the full translation here. What is striking is how defensive and pessimistic Zawahiri sounds as he addresses Pakistani Muslims:
This is an eloquent message [from Musharraf] to every scholar and every free and honorable person in Pakistan: that resisting Musharraf, confronting him and demanding that he adhere to Islam and refrain from worshiping the Crusaders and Jews will only get you the worst types of contempt, humiliation and degradation.
[But in fact] this is your fate if you are silent and prefer the life of this world to the hereafter. Muslims of Pakistan: your salvation is only through Jihad.
Rigged elections will not save you, politics will not save you, and bargaining, bootlicking, negotiations with the criminals and political maneuvers will not save you. Your salvation is only through Jihad, so you must now back the Mujahideen in Afghanistan with your persons, wealth, opinion and expertise, because the Jihad in Afghanistan is the door to salvation for Afghanistan, Pakistan and the rest of the region. Die honorably in the fields of Jihad, and don’t live like women with moustaches and beards. Aren’t there any honorable ones in Pakistan? Aren’t there any jealous ones? Isn’t there anyone who prefers the hereafter to the life of this world? “O you who believe! What is the matter with you, that, when you are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, you cling heavily to the earth? Do you prefer the life of this world to the hereafter?
But little is the comfort of this life as compared with the hereafter. Unless you go forth, He will punish you with a painful punishment, and put others in your place. But Him you would not harm in the least, for Allah has power over all things.
Interesting. One might have expected Zawahiri to call for the overthrow of Musharraf. But perhaps he thinks he needs help in Afghanistan more.
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