It is an obituary full of superlatives. Osama bin Laden was a martyr, a “hero of the first battle line” and a “Muslim firebrand.” He was a “reformer,” a “noble fighter” and a “man who said ‘no’ to America.” Al-Qaida’s highest ranking living member, Ayman al-Zawahiri, spent two-thirds of the video message released on Wednesday gushing with praise for Osama bin Laden, who was killed in Pakistan by US forces just over a month ago…

Contrary to the expectations of many experts, however, Zawahiri, a trained doctor from Egypt, did not present himself explicitly as the new “Amir,” or leader, of al-Qaida. Indeed, there is only one short passage in the video indicating that Zawahiri might have been presenting himself as a new representative on al-Qaida’s behalf. He declared that he was renewing the al-Qaida vow of fidelity to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, who granted asylum to both bin Laden and al-Qaida.