ABU MOHAMMED AL MAQDISI

Al-Maqdisi (who was born in Palestine and whose real name is Assem Barqawi) is regarded as one the most prominent Salafist figures in the world. He called upon Muslims to reject the "Islamic State" and its "caliphate", and reclaimed scholarly authority over militant jihad. His writings have been required reading for three generations of Islamist fighters. Deeply shaken by the Mecca siege as a young man, in his writings he combined the rebel’s ideology with Sayyed Qutb's politics, bracing Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri in their belief that Saudi and other Muslim leaders are infidels who must be fought in jihad.