Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif

Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif (, Sayyid ‘Imām ash-Sharīf; born 8 August 1950), also known as Dr. Fadl or Abd Al-Qader Bin 'Abd Al-'Aziz, has been described as a "major" figure "in the global jihad movement." He is said to be "one of Ayman Al-Zawahiri's oldest associates", and his book al-'Umda fi I'dad al-'Udda ("The Essentials of Making Ready [for Jihad]"), was used as a jihad manual in al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. Fadl is reported to be one of the first members of Al Qaeda's top council.

In 2007, he criticized al-Qaeda and called for a stop to violent jihad activities both in Western and Muslim countries.

He is reported to have two wives, with four sons and two daughters between them. seventy-five miles south of Cairo. His father was a headmaster in Beni Suef. Sharif studied the Quran, and was a hafez (i.e. he had memorized the Quran) by time he finished sixth grade.

In Pakistan Sharif worked with Ayman al-Zawahiri to rebuild Egyptian Islamic Jihad in exile. In the mid-eighties, Sharif is thought to have become Egyptian Islamic Jihad’s emir, or chief. Al-Sharif denies this, saying that his role was merely one of offering "Sharia guidance." Zawahiri, "whose reputation had been stained by his prison confessions", handled "tactical operations." Al-Sharif impressed other jihadis with his encyclopedic knowledge of the Koran and the Hadith.

Sometime in the early 1990, Al-Zawahiri and Al-Sharif fell out over questions of strategy and tactics. Al-Sharif opposed Islamic Jihad's joining another Islamist group, al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, in its terror campaign against Egyptian government and foreign tourists in Egypt saying, "this is senseless activity that will bring no benefit."

"Al-Sharif believed that violent attacks were futile, and instead advocated slow and steady infiltration into the structure of the state, but the group as a whole decided otherwise." He took his family to Sana'a following the 1994 Yemeni Civil War, then to the mountain town of Ibb, and began working in a local hospital. His son Isma`il insisted his father had by then severed all links with militant groups. He called himself Dr. Abdul Aziz al-Sharif.

Arrest and imprisonment In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Al-Sharif was questioned by Yemen’s Political Security Organization, the Yemeni "secret police", while at work as a surgeon at the al-Shiffa Hospital in Ibb Governorate, south of Sana'a, on October 28, 2001. Shortly after he turned himself in. He was held for three years in detention in Sana'a, "without charge, without trial, and without access to an attorney."

Criticism of Jihad movement On 28 February 2004 Al-Sharif was transferred to Egypt. He was eventually transferred to Scorpion Prison, a facility inside Tora Prison where major political figures were held. There, Al-Sharif/Fadl was serving a life sentence, although according to his son his "cell" was a private room with a bath and a small kitchen, refrigerator, and a television. Al-Sharif claims that hundreds of Egyptian jihadists from various factions – including a majority of Islamic Jihad members – had endorsed his position. Lawrence Wright has described it as "undermin[ing] the entire intellectual framework of jihadist warfare."

Al-Zawahiri himself replied to al-Sharif in a nearly two hundred pages long "letter," which appeared on the Internet in March 2008. According to Diaa Rashwan, an analyst for the Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, in Cairo, it was "the first time in history" that al-Qaeda leadership "have responded in this way to internal dissent."

In countering Al-Sharif, Al-Zawahiri contends that "we have the right to do to the infidels what they have done to us. We bomb them as they bomb us, even if we kill someone who is not permitted to be killed." He compares the 9/11 attack to the 1998 American bombing of a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan: "I see no difference between the two operations, except that the money used to build the factory was Muslim money and the workers who died in the factory's rubble [a single night watchman] were Muslims, while the money that was spent on the buildings that those hijackers destroyed was infidel money and the people who died in the explosion were infidels."

Al-Zawahiri denies that by attacking a country which gave them visas the 9/11 attackers were "betrayed the enemy," saying, "even if the contract is based on international agreements, we are not bound by these agreements." He denies the attacks on New York, London and Madrid were un-Islamic targeting of nationalities saying "The writer speaks of violations of the Sharia, such as killing people because of their nationality, skin color, hair color, or denomination. This is another example of making accusations without evidence."

Rather than conducting terror attacks that bring devastating retaliation, "the Islamic mujahid movement was not defeated, by the grace of God; indeed, because of its patience, steadfastness, and thoughtfulness, it is headed toward victory."

Zawahiri denies Muslims living in non-Islamic countries are treated fairly, pointing out that in France, Muslim girls are forbidden to wear hijab to school, that Muslim men are prevented from marrying more than one wife, and from beating their wives, as allowed by the Sharia (according to Zawahiri).

The kidnapping or killing of tourists by jihadis has not been unislamic it has been done to send a message to their home countries (this is an opinion stated as fact): "the mujahideen don't kidnap people randomly ... We don't attack Brazilian tourists in Finland, or those from Vietnam in Venezuela."

Zawahiri also complains of a double standard when Palestinian organizations are not criticized for the same tactics and problems that Al-Sharif criticizes other jihadis. Why does al-Qaeda suffer from infighting? "Why don't you ask Hamas the same thing?" Zawahiri demands. "Isn't this a clear contradiction?" Zawahiri concedes Al Jihad has failed to overthrow the Egyptian government, then adds, "Neither has the eighty-year-old jihad kicked the occupier out of Palestine. If it is said that the jihad in Egypt put a halt to tourism and harmed the economy, the answer is that jihad in Palestine resulted in the siege of Gaza."

Al-Zawahiri's book has been published in French, in September 2008, by Editions Milelli .