Abdullah Yusuf Azzam

Abdullah Yusuf Azzam (1941 – November 24, 1989) (Arabic عبدالله عزام) was a highly influential Palestinian Sunni Islamic scholar and theologian, who preached in favor of defensive jihad by Muslims to help the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet invaders. He raised funds, recruited, and organized the international Islamic volunteer effort of Afghan Arabs through the 1980s, and emphasised the political ascension of Islamism.

He is also known as a teacher and mentor of Osama bin Laden, and persuaded bin Laden to come to Afghanistan and help the jihad,BBC News: , November 20, 2001Kepel, Gilles. Jihad. Harvard University Press, (2002), p. 145Wright, Lawrence. Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. NY, Knopf, 2006.Allen, Charles. God's Terrorist, (2006) p. 285–86

Early life in the West Bank

Abdullah Yusuf Azzam was born in 1941 in the village of as-Ba'ah al-Hartiyeh (Silat al-Harithiya village), a few kilometers northwest of the city of Jenin, in the Jenin Sanjak (District), then administered as the British Mandate of Palestine.

After completing his elementary and secondary school education in his home village, he studied agriculture at Khadorri College near Tulkarm. After college...
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