Story highlights Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri: "We do not acknowledge this Caliphate"

Under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS has stolen a lot of al Qaeda's thunder in the jihadi world

(CNN) In a blistering new message, the leader of al Qaeda denounces the leader of ISIS as the illegitimate leader of a phony caliphate.

Exposing a glaring hostility between the two jihadi groups, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al Qaeda, openly attacks ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi for usurping the jihadi movement.

"We do not acknowledge this Caliphate," he says, according to a translation from SITE Intelligence posted Wednesday. "We do not see Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as one worthy of the Caliphate."

He dismisses al-Baghdadi as a pretender who declared himself caliph with the support of only "a few unknown people," and established ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic State, "by force and with explosions and car bombs," instead of by "the choice of the people" through "approval and consultation."

He also faults al-Baghdadi for failing to support Muslims who are not in the Islamic State's territory.

Read More