In comments likely to deepen divisions between militant groups the head of al-Qaeda has blamed the leader of ISIS for causing a civil war in Islam, calling the so-called caliphate illegitimate and telling Muslims they are not obligated to join it.
After being absent from public discourse for over a year, Ayman al-Zawahiri has followed up his most recent address with an audio message released by al-Qaeda’s official media wing, in which he directs his criticism at Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of ISIS.
“My dear brothers, I want to emphasize an important point, we don’t recognize the caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Babghdadi. This caliphate was forcibly established, contrary to Islamic law, and the Muslim people are not obligated to it,” the message said. “We don’t recognize Baghdadi as the head of the caliphate.”
This is not the first time Zawahiri has criticized Baghdadi in public. In May 2014, Zawahiri called upon Baghdadi, who previously headed an al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq before separately establishing ISIS, to leave his base of operations in Syria and return to Iraq, calling him “al-Qaeda’s rebellious soldier.”
The video was released two days before the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
