A YouTube page that belonged to someone named Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who may have been one of the suspected Boston Marathon bombers of the same name, showed Tsarnaev was an acolyte of a violent Australian Muslim cleric.
The cleric, Feiz Mohammed, a Salafist of Lebanese heritage, made videos that were linked to Tsarnaev’s YouTube page. Some forms of Salafism have been linked to al Qaeda. Mohammed is a former boxer, as was the Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
In addition, the Tsarnaev account also linked to Russian-language videos from Abdel al-Hamid al-Juhani. Mary Habeck, who specializes in radical Islam at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and also is fluent in Russian, said, “(al-Juhani) is an important ideologue for al Qaeda in Chechnya and the Caucasus. The form of Salafism that Tsarnaev was [allegedly] interested in is a very radical form of Salafism, one that is usually associated with al Qaeda and associated groups.”
Habeck also noted that one video on Tasrnaev’s site had a sermon from Mohammad regarding the armies of Khuresan. There is a Muslim Central Asian prophecy that states an army from Central Asia will destroy enemies of Islam. She added, “The black banners from Khuresan are a reference to al Qaeda.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.