The head of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has released a new video where he delivers a message focusing on the hijab controversy in Karnataka. He claims that the controversy has exposed the reality of Hindu India and its deception of pagan democracy. The video was circulated on al-Qaeda online groups late Tuesday night.
Al-Zawahiri was born in an upper-middle-class family in Cairo. He was an excellent student and was drawn to poetry. At 14, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood as he was drawn by their ideology. When Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981, he was jailed and tortured.
Following his release, he fled to Saudi Arabia where he practised medicine. He met Osama Bin Laden shortly after and the two became close associates.
In his eight-minute video, he can be seen hailing Muskan Khan for her efforts in the pro-hijab protests in February. In the video, he asks Allah to reward her for teaching other Muslim women suffering from inferiority complexes a moral lesson.
He further tells the Indians that they should be avoid being deceived by the pagan Hindu democracy of India. Moreover, he claims that the Indian democracy is a tool to oppress the Muslim minority of the country. Additionally, he said that the only way to resolve the conflict is to adhere to Shariah law and unite as one single Ummah across countries such as Somalia, China, and others.
He lashed out at other South Asian states, by saying that the governments in Pakistan and Bangladesh did not protect them but rather empowered the enemies to fight against them.
This wasn’t the first time Al-Zawahiri had released a video focusing on India. He has repeatedly tried to instigate the Muslim populace of the country against the country. He, however, failed to do so. The al-Qaeda group has been unsuccessful to gain a foothold in the country.
References: The Print
Featured image source: DNA India
