I don't know how to link in comments off the top of my head, but this little snippet from Andrew Sullivan's comments linking to an article on a Bin Laden/Zarqawi meeting in The Atlantic offers insight to your question.
"Bin Laden also disliked al-Zarqawi's swagger and the green tattoos on his left hand, which he reportedly considered un-Islamic. Al-Zarqawi came across to bin Laden as aggressively ambitious, abrasive, and overbearing. His hatred of Shiites also seemed to bin Laden to be potentially divisive—which, of course, it was."
I got curious about that, Kissfan, so I did a bit of searching.
According to Volume 7, Book 71, Number 636 of the Sahih Bukhari, a collection of quotes and sayings from Muhammad, Muhammad forbade tattooing. The Sahih is also known as the sunnah, and is one of the Sunni six major oral traditions. The Sunni view it as the most authentic book after the Qu'ran.
Anyway, that particular saying is as follows:
Volume 7, Book 71, Number 636:
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "The effect of an evil eye is a fact." And he prohibited tattooing
You can look at Wikipedia's entry for Sahih_Bukhari, and USC has a good Muslim Students Association website that has the translated Sahih.
So, yes, I suppose tattooing was forbidden. It is interesting that Zarqawi would have a tattoo, but honestly I think both he and his followers seem to utilize their faith only to attempt to justify and rationalize their bloodlust. I might just be ignorant on that matter, though, since we don't get peeks at how they follow their religion and worship and such.
Also, I think Zarqawi identified himself as a Salafi, sort of a contemporary movement in Sunni Islam who apparently practice Islam as they believe the first three generations of Muslims did.
PS: I've started reading blogs again. Good to see you're still around!
Jesse,
It's good to hear from you again. Are you restarting Insomnia Inc?
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