Word: bakr
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...Bakr spoke about his first meeting--and many others over several months--with al-Zarqawi in a recent interview with TIME in Baghdad. He admitted he was using a pseudonym and asked that some details of his experiences be omitted in order to avoid al-Zarqawi's wrath. The anecdotes and other details in his account were verified by several sources, including a second al-Qaeda fighter who has spent some time close to al-Zarqawi, commanders of two Iraqi insurgent groups who have met the Jordanian-born terrorist, U.S. counterterrorism officials-- who confirmed some aspects and cast doubt...
Such fiery rhetoric, though, masks a gradual but unmistakable effort by al-Zarqawi to recast his image. Based on interviews by TIME with Bakr and others who have associated with al-Zarqawi, a picture emerges of a cold-blooded killer trying to reinvent himself as a quasi-religious leader. He wants to be seen as a deeply spiritual Muslim whose actions are driven by a desire to save Islam from attacks from external and internal enemies, according to those sources. The most striking aspect of that transformation is al-Zarqawi's attempt to mimic the sirah, or lifestyle...
...Zarqawi hasn't lost his appetite for murder--or his determination to sow civil war in Iraq. Bakr says he recalls conversations in which al-Zarqawi raged at the Shi'ites. "Those were the only times I hear him shout," he says. "He really hates the Shi'ites, even more than the Americans." The terrorist leader may carry his Koran at all times, but his Kalashnikov is never far from his reach, as evidenced by last week's video, in which he is clearly seen wearing an ammunition belt. Bakr and other sources say al-Zarqawi constantly wears a suicide...
...Afghanistan and Jordan. To devout Muslims, emulation of the Prophet is considered desirable, and most believers concentrate on Muhammad's well-documented attributes, like frugality, modesty, charity and respect for elders. But al-Zarqawi, like others who subscribe to extremist schools of Islam, takes emulation literally. Among the examples Bakr cites is al-Zarqawi's tendency, modeled on the Prophet's, to "do everything from right to left: he puts on his right shoe first, washes his right hand first after a meal, talks to people sitting on his right." (Al-Zarqawi's status as a wanted man forces...
...been debated by theologians for centuries. The Prophet is said to have advised his followers to read the "The Cave" before Friday prayers, and "some people mistakenly take this to mean that this surah was the Prophet's favorite," says Khaled Abou al-Fadl, an Islamic jurist at UCLA. Bakr says al-Zarqawi frequently quotes extensively from "The Cave" and encourages discussion about its stories...