Libi, Abu Yahya al-

▪ 2009

Abu Yahya al-Sahrawi 

born c. 1963, Libya

      Al-Qaeda strategist Abu Yahya al-Libi emerged during 2008 as one of the top leaders in the new generation of the Islamic militant organization; he was also one of those “most wanted” by the United States. Libi was considered one of al-Qaeda's main theologians, because the top two al-Qaeda leaders—Osama bin Laden (an engineer) and Ayman al-Zawahiri (a physician)—had not undertaken Islamic studies.

      Little was known about Libi's origins, but it was believed that his birth name was Muhammad Hassan Qaʾid and that he assumed the alias Abu Yahya al-Libi in the 1990s when he joined al-Qaeda. He was also known under several other names, including Abu Yahya al-Sahrawi. Libi's education was entirely religious; during the 1980s he received five years of training in Mauritania in Shariʿah, Islamic law. After returning to Libya, he became a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a now-defunct network that in the 1980s attempted to topple Libyan ruler Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi.

      As a youth, Libi was influenced by the activities of his older brother ʿAbd al-Wahhab, who became a noted personality among extreme Islamists in Libya and who in the 1980s fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union's takeover of that country. Libi also joined the Islamic Jihadi fighters in Afghanistan in the early 1990s. He then went to Africa but returned to Afghanistan during the period that the Taliban controlled the country after the Soviets had withdrawn.

      After the U.S. declared war on the Taliban and invaded Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., Libi was arrested by the Pakistani authorities in the summer of 2002 in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. U.S. forces imprisoned him in a maximum-security facility in Bagram, Afg., but on July 11, 2005, he staged a daring escape with three other al-Qaeda prisoners and found instant fame. He appeared (2006) in a 54-minute videotape chronicling his capture in 2002, his time spent in prison, and his prison breakout.

      Libi climbed the ladder rapidly in al-Qaeda's hierarchy and was named a field commander. The charismatic militant preacher and ideologue helped recruit al-Qaeda members. He appeared in more than 12 videotapes giving “lessons” on Islam and jihad and rousing Muslims to fight the infidels of the West as well as Muslim and Arab rulers (whom he threatened constantly). Libi urged Muslims to help al-Qaeda fighters in hot spots such as Pakistan, Iraq, Palestine, Somalia, and Afghanistan. His videotapes, in Arabic, were placed on extremist Sunni Muslim Web sites, sometimes with English and Urdu subtitles to reach the broadest-possible audience. Although Libi was sometimes called “Sheikh,” a title reserved for distinguished religious scholars, he lacked the legal authority to issue a fatwa, a legal and authoritative religious decree. He was believed to be living in the mountainous region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Louay Bahry

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