Origins of Takfir: I learned the most about Al-Qa`idah and about Ayman Adh-Dhawahiri from reading the recent memoir of Muntasir Az-Zayyat. I ran into Az-Zayyat in Beirut last summer. The book is quite interesting (albeit obviously self-serving but frank). You read this and realize what a sinister role Anwar As-Sadat had played in creating and sponsoring the rise of fanatical religious groups in Egypt and beyond. He also reports about [possible] origins of the common takfiri practice: he argues that it started (in distinction with Sayyid Qutb's takfir of society as a whole) in jail, due to the cruel torture that Muslim prisoners were subjected to (under Nasser and later under Sadat). Shukri Mustafa used to say how could those people who torture us in jail like this be Muslims?(p. 38). You also learn about Ayman Adh-Dhawahiri's obsession with secrecy, and his propensity toward "dissimulation" at least in appearance and in resorting to disguises.