Abdullah Yusuf Azzam

Palestinian Sunni Islamic scholar and Salafi jihadist (1941–1989)

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Lived 1941–1989, aged 48

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Era
1941–1989
Aged 48

Summary

Updated 2026-06-14

Palestinian theologian who issued the 1979 fatwa calling for defensive jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan, then recruited and mentored Osama bin Laden into the war. Co-founded the mujahideen funding network that seeded what became al-Qaeda. Killed by car bomb in Peshawar months after Soviet withdrawal.

Biography

About

Abdullah Yusuf Azzam fled the West Bank after the 1967 Six-Day War and pursued religious studies in Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia within the Salafi movement. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, he issued a fatwa declaring defensive jihad and moved to Pakistan, where he became a key figure persuading Osama bin Laden to join the mujahideen cause. In 1984, Azzam and bin Laden co-founded Maktab al-Khidamat to funnel money and foreign fighters into Afghanistan. After the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, he continued advocating jihadist militancy for Muslim causes worldwide, earning him the ti…

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