Purpose of New Fighting Group in Syria To Establish Leadership for Moroccan Jihadists

An expert in Islamist movements considers it an initiative to establish a leadership for Salafi jihadists in Morocco.

The 'Sham al-Islam' [Levant of Islam] group, established recently by Moroccan jihadists in Syria under the leadership of former Moroccan Guantanamo detainee Ibrahim Bin-Shaqrun, has released a 'charter' defining its beliefs, positions, and directions that include a number of coded messages.

Moroccan researcher Abdallah al-Rami, an expert in Islamist movements, has linked the founding of the group to disagreements between the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and the Al-Nusrah Front without excluding that the new group could be a convincing attempt to create a leadership nucleus for Salafi jihadists in Morocco where they are suffering divisions and the lack of organization and leadership.

Bin-Shaqrun had joined the Al-Qa'ida Organization in Afghanistan, was arrested at the end of 2001, imprisoned in Guantanamo, released in 2004, and deported to Morocco because charges against him could not be proved. However, Moroccan security re-arrested him in 2005 following his attempt to establish a jihadist organization, the so-called Al-Tawhid and Al-Jihad [Unification and Jihad] with other Moroccan Salafi jihadist elements from inside and outside the country. He was sentenced to six years in prison. As soon as he was released, he traveled to Syria.
Al-Rami thinks the new group, which Bin-Shaqrun announced through an audio recording, "might be the extension of that project aborted by Moroccan security in 2005. They have
announced a charter and an independent organization. Despite the name linked to the geographical area of the Levant, the group is composed of Moroccans."

Al-Rami adds that the new movement is attempting to gain its legality from its field presence in Syria and its closeness to Al-Qa'ida to establish a leadership and organizational nucleus for the Salafi jihadists in Morocco.

The charter of the group notes that among its objectives is "breaking the isolation that has struck between the nation's vanguard and its various strata, get through to them, and to engage with them in advice, education and giving, through wisdom and good preachment." However, the group indicates in its charter that the jihad for which it is calling is not only directed against the invaders, but it includes a wider circle it called the circle of apostasy. The charter stipulates that "anyone who supports the apostates, fights Muslims and jihadists, their soldiers and policemen, security men, and their helpers who defend them and abide by their orders and who assist to do this, are part of the general sect of apostates who must be fought regardless of being ignorant, interpreters, or coerced. We consider that disagreement lies in the infidelity of their elders - as long as it does not affect the duty of fighting them - since the fighting circle is wider than the apostasy circle, taking the priorities of the stage into consideration.

The group noted that it considers "all principles of ideological schools, be they communist, socialist, nationalist, secularist, liberal, or other kinds of ideological and doctrinarian affiliations other than the nation of Islam and its entity, call for infidelity and perversity."

The charter deals with ways to manage disagreement among various jihadist groups. It indicates that the "issue of unity among the groups must be based on legal foundations and the definition of a mechanism to translate these bases into practical reality." It adds that "the pledge of allegiance is one of jihad to manage the matters of hijrah [migration], readiness, steadfastness, and fighting. We do not make it a condition on those who join us to pledge their allegiance. However, anyone who enters any group is obliged to obey its emir as long as he is a member of the group."

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