BOKO HARAM DECLARES ALLEGIANCE TO ISIL’S BAGHDADI

Damascus, 16 Ramadan 1435/14 July 2014 (MINA) – Nigeria’s Islamist group Boko Haram announced on Sunday allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State (al-Qaeda splinter group, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant “ISIL”), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

In a statement on Sunday, Abubakar Shekau, the head of the Nigerian extremist group of Boko Haram, expressed his support to the Islamic State and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ARA News quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“My brethren (ISIL’s al-Baghdadi, al-Qaeda’s Zawahiri and Taliban’s Mullah Omar), may Allah protect you,” Shekau said in a filmed message published online.

Militants of the Islamic State are in control in several areas in Syria, and their dominance spread dramatically recently over several Iraqi territories.

Previous, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the prominent Sunni religious leader, denounced Baghdadi’s caliphate announcement as violating Islamic law, Al Jazeera report.

He said in a statement on July 5 that the declaration was “void under sharia”.

“The declaration issued by the Islamic State is void under sharia and has dangerous consequences for the Sunnis in Iraq and for the revolt in Syria,” he said.

“We look forward to the coming caliphate.”

Since proclaiming a caliphate, numerous figures from the Sunni community have dismissed the Islamic State’s assertions.

Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, a Jordanian Salafist leader, called the group “deviant”, while the pan-Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir rejected the claims as “empty speech without substance”.

Hizb ut-Tahrir said the Islamic State had no real “authority” in implementing Islamic rule. (T/P09/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)