For reference:
The Abu Sayyaf Group (Arabic: جماعة أبو سياف; Jamāʿah Abū Sayyāf, ASG; Tagalog: Grupong Abu Sayyaf), also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya is one of several militant Islamist separatist groups based in and around the southern islands of the Philippines, in Bangsamoro (Jolo, Basilan, and Mindanao) where for almost 30 years various Muslim groups have been engaged in an insurgency for a state, independent of the predominantly Catholic Philippines. The name of the group is derived from the Arabic ابو, abu ("father of") and sayyaf ("Swordsmith"). The group calls itself "Al-Harakat Al-Islamiyya" or the "Islamic Movement". The name Abu Sayyaf was derived from the kunya adopted by Abdurajak Janajalani when he named his oldest son Sayyaf, thereby becoming Abu Sayyaf or the father of Sayyaf. Abdurajak named his son after the Afghan mujahid commander Rasul Sayyaf who ran the training camp he attended in Afghanistan. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations, and extortion in what they describe as their fight for an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago with the stated goal of creating a pan-Islamic superstate across southeast Asia, spanning from east to west; the island of Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, the island of Borneo (Malaysia, Indonesia), the South China Sea, and the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar). The Abu Sayyaf Group seeks a 13 province autonomous region, free from the predominately Catholic government of the Philippines.
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/026169.php
8, 2009
Muslims behead Christian farmer after family fails to pay ransom
“As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may he be exalted, says, ‘When you encounter those [infidels] who deny [the Truth=Islam] then strike [their] necks’ (Qur’an sura 47, verse 4)” — Al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah, (The Laws of Islamic Governance).
“Kidnapped farmer beheaded by Filipino al-Qaeda militants after family fail to pay ransom,” by Lizzie Smith for the Daily Mail, May 18 (thanks to Religion of Peace):
A Filipino farmer kidnapped by Muslim militants has been beheaded after his family failed to pay a ransom for his release.
Police in the Phillipines have recovered the severed head of farm owner Doroteo Gonzales, 61, who had been snatched by gunmen on April 25.
He was taken from his house in the southern Zamboanga city to the nearby Basilan Island, where al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf rebels are holding at least another five people following a surge of ransom kidnappings....
The victim’s family had failed to pay a ransom of 25 million pesos ($525,000) for his release, he added.
Regional police head Bensali Jabarani said: ‘The Abu Sayyaf has been by far the most violent armed group. They resort to killing their hostages if the situation starts to drag.’...
The Abu Sayyaf, which has about 400 fighters, is believed to have received funds from al-Qaida and is on the U.S. list of terrorist organisations.
Posted by Robert at May 18, 2009 8:31 AM