Voices of Jihad - RAND Corporation

the body for the purpose of waging jihad in the path of God and in
preparation for such a time as the call for jihad is issued, not to waste
time or for the enjoyment of the so-called ‘victory.’
. . . .
“12. When you are done playing with the ball, do not talk about your
game, saying ‘I am a better player than the opponent,’ or ‘so-and-so is
a better player,’ and so forth. Your concern and speech should be about
your bodies, their strength, and the muscles. Bear in mind that we only
played with the intention of training to run and maneuver in preparation
for jihad in God’s path.
“13. Any of you who, when he kicks the ball between the wooden or
iron posts, then runs so that his friends will run after him to embrace
or adulate him as players do in America and France, spit in his face and
discipline him and berate him. What do joy and embraces and kissing
have to do with this sport?” (Abdallah al-Najdi, 2005) 5
Nights in Iraq
“Let me tell you about some of the nights {in Iraq}. We could see them
and they couldn’t see us. One of those nights one of the brothers known
as Abu Ahmad Afghani he was sitting and crying so they asked him
why are you crying he said we used to pray to Allah (swt) that at the
time of the Jihad against the Soviet Union and Russia they used to
surround us from all directions but we could see them and we were
waiting for the right time to start to kill them. I pray to Allah he gives
me the same opportunity again. Where I am sitting in a place I can see
them all moving around me and I am just waiting for the right time
to kill from them. I wish I can have the same situation inshallah and
Allah grant me to be in the land of Palestine where I will be in the same
situation and have the same opportunity to fight there. After that he
went out from his checkpoint and he started to reconnaissance and he
came back and he said there are about 40 US patrol guards. The brothers
said what do you think he said lets take them. So we all gathered
together, all of us were happy and made Takbir 6 amongst ourselves as
Life in Jihad 15
5 Abdallah al-Najdi was the alias of the head of the “Information Department” of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula;
he published and often wrote in the online magazine Sawt al-Jihad (The Voice of Jihad). Al-Najdi was
arrested in June 2007.
6 Takbir is the Arabic name for the expression, Alluhu akbar! (God is very great!) (The Mishkat al-Anwar of Ibn
‘Arabi, book x, ch. ii). The ejaculation frequently occurs in the daily liturgy and in the funeral prayer.