Jihadi row shows deeper radicalism among youths

Riyadh: In yet another fissure within radical Islamist networks, one of the world's most influential jihadi theologians is coming under fire from some former followers for allegedly moderating his views - a claim he denies.

The attacks on Jordanian cleric Abu Mohammad Al Maqdisi, who was spiritual advisor of the late Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, leader of Al Qaida in Iraq, are significant because of Al Maqdisi's longtime stature as a revered spiritual mentor.

For some outside experts, the bitter verbal dispute in jihadi online forums is alarming because it heralds the emergence of an even more radicalised younger generation of violent extremists.

"There's a new radical generation growing today" and it "is a product of the American occupation of Iraq," says Murad Batal Al Shishani, a London-based analyst of Islamic groups. This generation, which Al Shishani calls "neo-Zarqawists," includes veterans of Al Zarqawi's jihad in Iraq. Inspired by Al Maqdisi, the analyst adds, they now are "coming and saying that he is too soft."

"Al Maqdisi is often forgotten by the Western media, but he's actually very important," says Thomas Hegghammer, a fellow in Harvard Kennedy School's international security programme and moderator of jihadica.com, a blog that monitors jihadi internet activity.

The attacks on his credibility come on top of other disputes that have already caused "fragmentation" within the jihadi community, Hegghammer says.

Al Maqdisi denies changing his views, and some longtime observers agree.

"He has always stressed suicide bombings are legitimate but has never called for their unlimited and indiscriminate use," Joas Wagemakers of Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, an expert on Al Maqdisi's writings, says in an e-mail.

"You have to remember that many of Al Maqdisi's students are not very highly-educated and probably fail to understand the depth of his writings."