Given the central role of the Wahhabi tradition in inspiring the Taliban and al Qaeda, it’s worth looking behind the scenes at the news that al Qaeda wanted revenge for the killing of Abu Laith al-Libi in Pakistan — in particular what exactly al Qaeda said about his death.

According to our Dubai correspondent Firouz Sedarat,  al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri presented an eulogy for Libi in a 9:58 minute video, congratulating him for achieving martyrdom. He spoke of his death as a natural course in jihad.  ”Every time a martyr falls, another martyr grabs the banner from him, and every time a chief goes down in blood, another chief completes the march after him,” he says. These martyrs, Zawahiri declared to America and its “agents”,  are the “pioneers of the coming advance”.  

In his speech, Zawahiri accused “the enemy” of trying to weaken the resolve of Muslims. He referred to a response he had written to a document for the guidance of jihad by Sayyed Imam al-Sherif , who reportedly fell out with him over the use of violence. This document, he said,  presented an Islam desired by America and the West – helpless and submissive –  and was an insult to Muslims.

His comment appeared meant to scotch arguments, as seen in this report by Global Terrorism Analysis, that Islamist ideologues are  reviewing the role of violence in Salafism, the fundamentalist views propagated by the 18th century Sunni reformer Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab and inspiration for al Qaeda. The Nefa Foundation has a transcript.