Al Qaeda

Al Qaeda's Somalian affiliate al Shabaab

Al Qaeda al-Jihad (the base of the holy struggle) or Al Qaeda, along with its affiliates, constitutes the foremost international terrorist threat to global security, according to official evaluations. Despite its probable failure to assemble the Muslim majority, the movement has effectively allocated to itself the leading role in “a putative, militant global jihad.” For its militant supporters, jihadism considers itself engaged in a sacred conflict of global proportions as between Dar ul-Islam, the home base of faithful Muslims, anointed with divine sanction, and the Dar ul-Harb, the domain of the world’s nonbelievers, characterized by a fraudulent regime, idol worshiping, and corrupt practices. Al Qaeda has a Strategic Doctrine of Global Jihad to protect Dar ul-Islam against nonbelievers and to conquer and eradicate Dar ul-Harb. According to this Strategic Doctrine of Global Jihad, terrorism is determined “to be both a legitimate defensive tactic for the protection of Dar ul-Islam against infidel threats, and a divinely sanctioned offensive strategy for the pursuit and conquest of Dar ul-Harb”; terror is assumed as a weapon against Al Qaeda’s “enemies of Islam”, in order to reinstate a global caliphate. Wahhabism, some say the most pure form of Islam, enforcing strict sharia law, is also a fundamental value of Al Qaeda.

Islamist fundamentalists Osama bin Laden, Sayyid Qutb, and Abdullah Azzman are crucial figures in the leadership and founding of Al Qaeda since the 1980’s. Presently, Ayman al-Zawahiri is the leader of Al Qaeda, and the successor of bin Laden. Among others, these founding/leading members of Al-Qaeda believe/d that the West “was not free, they were prisoners of greed and selfishness.” They believed that Americans were materialistic pagans and feared that Western ideals would infiltrate the true Islamic world. The leaders of Al Qaeda were/are also in strong opposition of American military presence in sacred Islamic territory, specifically cities like Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Over the past four decades Al Qaeda has evolved through four phases of militant struggle against designated targets at each stage, beginning with the original: “Arab-Afghan” mujaheddin, the Resistance from Exile, the alleged Homegrown terrorism, which has now become Al Qaeda al-Jihad, sometimes referred to as Al Qaeda al-Oum (the Mother Base), as a global, distributed “system of systems” for worldwide jihad commanded from the isolated northwestern borders of Pakistan. There are rebel footholds in Yemen, Syria, and Somalia by various branches of Al Qaeda as well as influence in over 80 countries.

Timeline

1950 - 1960: Sayyid Qutb's writings on sharia and jahiliyyah inspire future al Qaeda leaders Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden

1979: Soviet Union invades Afghanistan. bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam fight for the U.S.-backed Mujahideen

1984: Azzam founds Makhtab al Khadimat (Office of Services) in Pakistan to recruit fighters against Soviets. bin Laden provides financial support.

1986: bin Laden establishes Al Masadah ("Lion's Den") training camp. Meets Ayman al-Zawahiri.

1988: al Qaeda founded by bin Laden and Muhammad Atef and Abu Ubaidah al Banshiri

1989: Azzam killed by car bomb, Office of Services splits into power struggle, with extremists sympathetic to bin Laden taking control.

1992: bin Laden relocates to Sudan and orchestrates attacks on U.N. troops.

1993: World Trade Center bombed. Attack on U.S. soldiers in Mogadishu, attackers allegedly trained by bin Laden.

2001: World Trade Center attack.

Annotated Bibliography:

Rudner, Martin. "Al Qaeda's Twenty-Year Strategic Plan: The Current Phase of Global Terror." Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 36.12 (2013): 953-80. Web. This source was valuable for doctrinal context of Al Qaeda, as well as their objectives and changes they've undergone.