NOTE: I want to thank my son, Ryan Denison, for writing The Daily Article while my wife and I were traveling last week. I am also grateful to the many readers who posted wonderful comments in response to his articles. It is a great privilege to share this ministry with my family and with each of you.
President Trump made an announcement Sunday morning that has dominated global headlines: “Last night, the United States brought the world’s No. 1 terrorist leader to justice. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. He was the founder and leader of ISIS, the most ruthless and violent terror organization anywhere in the world.”
The president explained how al-Baghdadi was killed: “U.S. Special Operations forces executed a dangerous and daring nighttime raid in northwestern Syria and accomplished their mission in grand style.” He added: “The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread.”
Now al-Baghdadi is dead, and the world is a safer place.
Who was Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?
Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Samarra was born and grew up in Samarra, part of the Sunni region of Iraq north of Baghdad. He received undergraduate, Masters, and PhD degrees from the Islamic University in Baghdad. He then changed his last name to al-Baghdadi and took for his first name Abu Bakr, the prophet Muhammad’s father-in-law and successor. He claimed to be a direct descendant of Muhammad.
While a member of al Qaeda in Iraq, he was imprisoned by American forces. Observers believe he was radicalized in prison. After the group’s leader was killed in a US air strike in 2010, al-Baghdadi was elected to succeed him. He broke from al Qaeda in early 2014 and seized land later that year upon which he announced the formation of a “caliphate.”
This was an enormously important step. After Muhammad died in AD 632, his successors (“caliphs” in Arabic) governed from a region they called the…
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