Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad al-Rubaish (July 7, 1979 – April 12, 2015) was a militant and a senior leader of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), who was held in

extrajudicial detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...

in the United States's

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by p ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. He was released into the custody of Saudi Arabian authorities and then escaped in 2006. He became AQAP's

mufti A mufti (; , ) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion ('' fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatāwa'' have played an important role thro ...

(expounder of Islamic law).

Guantanamo detention

Al-Rubaish was captured near the Pakistan-Afghan border and transferred to Saudi Arabia on December 13, 2006. When he was captured by the US army in 2001 for alleged connections to Al-Qaeda, he was a teacher in Pakistan, ultimately being released from Guantánamo in 2006, a time during which he wrote a famed poem, ''Ode to the Sea'', which caused controversy in India when it was included in the BA second semester syllabus at

Calicut University The University of Calicut, also known as Calicut University, is a state-run public university headquartered at Tenhipalam in Malappuram district of the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1968, it is the first university to be set up in no ...

, eventually withdrawing it. On February 3, 2009, Saudi security officials published a new list of Saudi suspected terrorists. Al-Rubaish was one of 11 of the 85 men on this list who was a former Guantanamo captive.

AQAP's mufti

In November 2009, a research paper from the

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

The Jamestown Foundation The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.–based non-partisan defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which i ...

'' asserted that al-Rubaish was now a

for

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ( or : Tanẓīm Qā‘idat al-Jihād fī Jazīrat al-‘Arab, . Organization of Jihad's Base in the Arabian Peninsula), or AQAP is a Sunni Islamist militant organization which seeks to overthrow the Yemeni go ...

(AQAP).

Call for assassination of Saudi royals

The paper's author Murad Batal Al-Shishani asserted that Al-Rubaish had produced an audio tape Al-Qaida had released in September attempting to justify a recent attempt to assassinate a senior member of the

Saudi Royal Family The House of Saud ( ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi State, (1727–1818), and his brothers, though the ruling fa ...

. The paper asserted Al-Rubaish had published a book criticizing

Shaykh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

Salman al-Ouda Salman bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Ouda (; born 14 December 1956) or Salman al-Ouda (, ''Salman al-Awdah''), known by his kunya as Abu Mu'ad (أبو معاذ) is a Saudi Islamic scholar. Al-Ouda is a member of the International Union for Muslim ...

, a critic of al Qaida's attacks on September 11, 2001. It also claimed that he had released an additional audio tape in November 2009, criticizing the Saudi government's introduction of mixed sex education for children.

Repatriation and escape

Al-Rubaish was transferred to Saudi Arabia on December 13, 2006, then escaped from custody and joined AQAP in Yemen, becoming a senior figure in the group.

Call for jihad

In early 2013, al-Rubaish called for

jihad ''Jihad'' (; ) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God in Islam, God ...

against Americans, saying "It is my duty to spur the Muslims to kill the Americans, to get them out of the Muslims' land", also expressing hope that Sunnis would unite in a war against Shiite Iran.

U.S. terrorist designation and reward

In October 2014, the

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

Rewards for Justice Rewards for Justice Program (RFJ) is United States Department of State's national security interagency program that offers reward for information leading to the location or an arrest of leaders of terrorist groups, financiers of terrorism, inclu ...

program opened a US$5 million reward for Al-Rubaish's location. In December 2014, he was designated a

Specially Designated Global Terrorist A Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) is a person or entity that has been designated as such by the United States Department of State or the U.S. Department of the Treasury. An SDGT designation is made under authority of U.S. Executive ...

Death

AQAP released a statement in April 2015 announcing that al-Rubaish had been killed with other unnamed individuals in a

drone strike Drone warfare is a form of warfare using Military drone, military drones or Military robot, military robots. The robots may be Telerobotics, remote controlled or have varying levels of Autonomous robot, autonomy during their mission. Types of ro ...

near

Mukalla Mukalla, officially the Mukalla City District, is a seaport and the capital city district of Yemen's largest governorate, Hadhramaut Governorate, Hadhramaut. The city is in the South Arabia, southern part of the Arabian Peninsula on the Gulf of A ...

in April 2015. It is believed that the drone strike was carried out by the United States.

Writings

Being "the main ideologue and theological adviser" of AQAP, "his writings and sermons were prominent in its publications."Andrew Buncombe (14 April 2015)
"Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad al-Rubaish: Religious leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula killed in Yemen drone strike"
''The Independent''. Retrieved 18 September 2019.

References

External links

A Poem From Guantánamo: “Ode to the Sea” by Ibrahim al-Rubaish
Andy Worthington * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arbaysh, Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad 2015 deaths 1979 births Assassinated al-Qaeda leaders Al-Qaeda leaders Guantanamo detainees known to have been released Saudi Arabian al-Qaeda members Deaths by American drone strikes in Yemen Saudi Arabian extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Individuals designated as suspected terrorists by the Saudi Arabian government People from Buraidah Saudi Arabian expatriates in Pakistan People killed in the Yemeni civil war (2014–present)