Social Studies > Religion and Philosophy > Religions > Religious Groups (4 resources)

Al-Qaeda

Suspected al-Qaeda acts 1993 Killing of U.S. soldiers in Somalia 1993 Bombing of World Trade Center; 6 killed 1994 Investigation of the WTC bombing reveals that it was only a small part of a massive attack plan that included hijacking a plane and crashing it into CIA headquarters. 1995 & 1996 Bombing of U.S. barracks in Saudi Arabia; 22 soldiers killed. 1998 Bombing of US Embassies in East Africa; 224 killed, including 12 Americans. Dec. 1999 Jordanian police arrested members of a cell planning attacks against Western tourists. Dec. 14, 1999 Plot to bomb millennium celebrations in Seattle foiled when customs agents arrest an Algerian smuggling explosives into the U.S. Other Algerians subsequently arrested were "Afghan alumni." 2000 Bombing of the USS Cole in port in Yemen, 17 U.S. sailors killed. Sept. 11, 2001 Destruction of WTC, attack on Pentagon.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 al-Qaeda (or al-Qa'ida, pronounced al-KYE-da) surpassed the IRA and PLO as the world's most infamous terrorist organization. Al-Qaeda—"the base" in Arabic—is the network of extremists organized by Osama bin Laden.

The Mujahideen
Al-Qaeda has its origins in the uprising against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Thousands of volunteers from around the Middle East came to Afghanistan as mujahideen, warriors fighting to defend fellow Muslims. In the mid-1980s, Osama bin Laden became the prime financier for an organization that recruited Muslims from mosques around the world. These "Afghan Arab" mujahideen, which numbered in the thousands, were crucial in defeating Soviet forces.

After the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, bin Laden returned to his native Saudi Arabia. He founded an organization to help veterans of the Afghan war, many of whom went on to fight elsewhere (including Bosnia) and compose the basis of al-Qaeda.

Bin Laden also studied with radical Islamic thinkers and may have already been organizing al-Qaeda when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. Bin Laden was outraged when the government allowed U.S. troops to be stationed in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam. In 1991 he was expelled from Saudi Arabia for anti-government activities.

The rise of al-Qaeda
After his expulsion from Saudi Arabia, bin Laden established headquarters for al-Qaeda in Khartoum, Sudan. The first actions of al-Qaeda against American interests were attacks on U.S. servicemen in Somalia. A string of terrorist actions suspected to have been orchestrated by al-Qaeda followed (see sidebar), and in August 1996 bin Laden issued a "Declaration of War" against the U.S.

Al-Qaeda also worked to forge alliances with other radical groups. In February 1998, bin Laden announced an alliance of terrorist organizations—the "International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders"—that included the Egyptian al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the Harakat ul-Ansar, and two other groups.

Bin Laden was expelled from Sudan in 1994 as a result of the bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa, and moved his base of operations to Afghanistan. Currently bin Laden is the "guest" of the Taliban, Afghanistan's ruling faction. Al-Qaeda set up terrorist training camps in the war-torn nation, as it had in Sudan.

Ideology and Goals
The principal aims of al-Qaeda are to drive Americans and American influence out of all Muslim nations, especially Saudi Arabia; destroy Israel; and topple pro-Western dictatorships around the Middle East. Furthermore, it is bin Laden's goal to unite all Muslims and establish, by force, an Islamic nation adhering to the rule of the first Caliphs.
According to bin Laden's 1998 fatwa, it is the duty of Muslims around the world to wage holy war on the U.S., American citizens, and Jews. Muslims who do not heed this call are declared apostates.

Al-Qaeda's ideology, often referred to as "Jihadism," is marked by a willingness to kill "apostate" Muslims and an emphasis on jihad. Although it is clearly at odds with nearly all Islamic religious thought, it has its roots in the work of two modern Sunni Islamic thinkers: Mohammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and Sayyid Qutb.

Al-Wahhab was an 18th-century reformer who claimed that Islam had been corrupted a generation or so after the death of Mohammed. He denounced any theology or customs developed after that as non-Islamic, including more than 1,000 years of religious scholarship. He and his supporters took over what is now Saudi Arabia, where Wahhabism remains the dominant school of religious thought.

Sayyid Qutb, a radical Egyptian scholar of the mid-20th century, declared Western civilization the enemy of Islam, denounced leaders of Muslim nations for not following Islam closely enough, and taught that jihad should not be undertaken just to defend Islam, but to purify it.

The future of terrorism?
Al-Qaeda may very well be the future of terrorism—global, decentralized, and ruthless. It supports terrorist organizations from such diverse countries as the Philippines, Algeria, and Eritrea, and backs fighters in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Tajikistan, Somalia, Yemen, and Kashmir. Unlike many terrorist organizations, it does not depend on the sponsorship of a political state, nor is its purpose circumscribed by a particular conflict. Its infrastructure is small, decentralized, and mobile, and it can recruit members from thousands of "Arab Afghan" veterans and radicals around the world.

Most troubling, if the campaign of terror planned in 1993 and the September 11, 2001 attack on the WTC and Pentagon were orchestrated by al-Qaeda, it indicates that the group has not only the patience and resources for meticulous, long-term planning, but also a willingness to undertake terrorist actions of a scale hitherto unseen.