Abd al-Qadir bin ‘Abd al-‘Aziz

Abd al-Qadir bin ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, also known as Sayyid Imam Sharif, (1950-), was the first leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, until Ayman al-Zawahiri took over in 1991. He is still seen as one of the leading Salafist scholars.

Al-Zawahiri may have published some of al-Qadir’s writings under his own name, and therefore likely split over this controversy. Al-Qadir authored the Manual of Military Preparation, “Rislat al ‘umda fi I’dad al-udda li’l-jihad fi sabil allah,” manual of jihad. Al-Zawahiri claimed that the name Abd al-Qadir bin ‘Abd al-‘Aziz is a "a symbolic name of al-Jihad Group and not the real name of the author of the “document of guidance,” to the extent that many of the brothers imagined that it was a symbolic name of mine!" , for which Jarret Brachman charged him with plagiarism. Brachman and other U.S. analysts have suggested discrediting al-Zawahiri as a false authority on jihad.