The Driving Ideology Behind Al Qaeda

CNN recently aired a very interesting documentary chronicling the life of Osama Bin Laden. Beginning with an insight into his childhood, they went on to document his evolution from being a spoilt saudi multi millionaire to the becoming the head of an international terrorist organization that has succeeded in taking the lifes of thousands of innocent civilians. Now I am an avid observer of human nature and I staunchy believe that to understand the attitudes and actions of people we need to delve first into their charecters. Upon evaluating their moral and social interactions one can begin to piece together a more complete picture that can help us deal with social oddballs.

Now I don’t refer to Bin Laden as a social oddball because I can’t find other more befitting terms, such as mass murderer or lunatic, I use the term oddball because I believe that the evolutionary process that led to Bin Laden’s radicalization is an aspect of the Al Qaeda phenomenon that is touched upon far less than it merits. Al Qaeda is the micorcosm portrayal of the sentiments felt by the majority of the dissaffected and underpriveliged in most muslim countries. It is only the magnitude of the translation of these sentiments that holds the blurry distinction between most orthodox muslims and the terrorist operatives of Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and other such terrorist groups who draw upon hardline Islam as their basic driving ideologies and recruting backyards.

The question that arises is that if Islam was the driving force that led to the conceptualisation of terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda and Hezbollah, then why doesn’t history provide us with parallels with which they can be compared? The answer lies in the fact that Islam is simply being used as a smoke screen to push for revolutionary change not only in the middle east or the muslim world, but in the pathos of the religion itself. The theory may sound ironic, but the fact is that Islam is such a wide,complex and multifarious religion that opputunists can segmentalize and subsequently by attaching a certian amount of hype and emotion to those segmentalized parts, in effect create a heirarchy of interpertation in the religion itself. It is a fact that waging jihad is mentioned in the holy book and foundation of Islam, the quran. However jihad is not about killing and murdering in the name of God. It does not involve the massacre of innocent civilians who happen to be non muslims. At its heart jihad is essentially a struggle,a struggle that intrinsically at its zenith is the fight agaisnt ones own temptations. It is the methodology by which we attempt to outwiegh the evil in our soulds by indulging in righteousness. However, the true essence of jihad is conviniently excluded from the religious fatwas and teachings of hard line, fundamentalist clerics. Islam is a religion that is based on belief, belief in principles that preach peace and harmony, a fact further fortified by history which shows that during the Prophet Muhammeds lifetime, the muslim nation was found to be in a defensive position, due not to the lack of oppurtunities but as a reflection of the peaceful nature of Islam. A few years after his death, yes the muslim armies began to conquer territory and distant lands. But this wasn’t concieved by Islam or it’s prophet, these military campaigns were initiated by oppurtunists. It is the same breed of oppurtunists whom we see today in the form of Al Qaeda’s leadership.

At the helm of Al Qaeda we find Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri. Bin Laden is a business man well versed with economic principles and seasond by the experience of being born into one the richest families in Saudi Arabia, whilst Ayman Al Zawahiri is a physician. Both are clever men who have their own political agenda. Whether it is due to their devious nature or the perversity of their perceptions that they preach the launching of ideological and religious wars not only against muslim governemnts but also against the rest of the non muslim world, is irrelevant. What is relevant is the fact that the opposition that draws on the educated and moderate ranks of Islam has yet to formulize an effective strategm to counter balance the rise of hard line Islam among the muslim masses. It is an interesting observation that the ranks of such terrorsit organizations are almost entirely composed of individuals who hail from poor and illeterate backgrounds as when compared to their leadership which is an amalgam of rich,educated social misfits with their own political and ideological agendas.

My personal opinion on Osama Bin Laden is that he is a disgruntled, egotistic narcisst who having been rejected and disowned by his own family and country has struck out to establish an institution where he would hold an exalted and revered postion. This mentality can be observed in his television interviews and training videos that have been released which show him being transported mobster style in armed motorcades and being recieved with celebratory gunfire from automatic weapons and rocket launchers. These are all the visible manifestations of a maligning superiority complex.

It is only after we thoroughly analyze the conditions and circumstances that initiate such mental degenration that we can fully comprehend the Al Qaeda phenomenon and formulate plans to prevent this cancer from spreading among the masses of hard line orthodox muslims. Moderation, liberty and peace are the qualities that we should be preaching our children, not the different methods on how to use an AK-47 automatic rifle. We must recognize the dangers of allowing our populace to be exposed to such dangerous ideologies and our response must center around the demystifying of Islam. We must promote and encourage the questioning of different interpertations on all aspects of the religion. It is integral that the educated, enlightened moderates of Islam stand unified against this plauge. These are times of change and it is paramount that we muslims live up to perform our obligations dutifully. The future of our religion and the world hinges on how we react agaisnt the ideological and intellectual likes of Osama Bin Laden and his henchmen.