Journey Through the Maze: How radical Islamists see the world

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
Sun-Tzu
Chinese general & military strategist (~400 BC)

If your inbox is anything like mine you have at least a dozen emails from individuals who are extremely concerned about attacks by Islamic extremists. The messages may range from expressions of security concerns to calls for racial profiling. Here is an article that you may want to share and encourage the recipients to read in its entirety. plk

Special briefing: How radical Islamists see the world | csmonitor.com

By Dan Murphy and Howard LaFranchi | Staff writers of The Christian Science Monitor
from the August 02, 2005 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0802/p04s01-wogi.html

Read the article in its entirety at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0802/p04s01-wogi.htm

Summary:

In this article the Monitor examines the origins of Islamic terrorism and how it is evolving now.

What is Al Qaeda today compared to five years ago?

In some ways it is less like the Al Qaeda of 2001 than like the Al Qaeda of the mid-1990s, before it was able to build up organizationally with a base of operations in Afghanistan.   It is best understood as a radical ideology loosely inspiring a disparate and very decentralized set of localized Islamist extremist organizations. For some terrorism experts, Al Qaeda as an organization simply no longer exists. Its Afghan training and indoctrination sites are gone.
Key leaders have been killed or captured, or are on the run. Yet Al Qaeda as an ideology of global confrontation and jihad, "struggle" or "holy war," still exists. "That is why I speak of 'Al Qaedaism' as more of a factor today than Al Qaeda," says Magnus Ranstorp of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Who are Al Qaeda's leaders?

Osama bin Laden, still at large, founded the organization in 1988, along with Mohammed Atef (aka Abu Hafs al-Masri), an Egyptian who was killed in a US airstrike in Afghanistan. The group has a shura, or consultative council, the composition of which is unknown. But some of the people "most wanted" for organizing operations under Al Qaeda's name or ideology, such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, are not believed to be part of any centralized leadership.

Are they still organizing operations?

The Al Qaeda leadership may maintain some command-and-control capability from suspected locations in or near Pakistan - despite Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's recent declaration about a smashed Al Qaeda.   One possible example: In a tape released June 17 by the Arab television network Al Jazeera, Al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri called for revenge against Britain for allying with the US.   Some experts believe such tapes are directives to proceed with an operation.   In any case, the London bombings soon followed.

What do the militants want?

For Islamist militants, the long-term objective is an Islamic superstate, or caliphate. Narrower objectives include the end of the state of Israel and toppling secular Middle Eastern regimes like Egypt's. It is an article of faith that the US and all secular Western states stand in their way, and weakening those states is seen as positive for all their objectives.

Who is their main enemy?

The global jihad has long named two types of targets: the "near enemy" (Israel or secular Arab regimes) and the "far enemy" - America and its allies.
Zawahiri was always more interested in the "near enemy" that stood in the way of an Islamic state in his homeland, Egypt.   Bin Laden was more interested in the "far enemy," because he felt success could not be achieved closer to home until US financial and military backing for these regimes was eroded.   When Zawahiri merged his Egyptian Islamic Jihad with Al Qaeda in 1998, the two trends were brought together.

What Is their ideal society?

They want a society that applies the Koran literally and adheres to the social practices that prevailed at the time of the prophet Muhammad.    It would not be democratic in any modern sense, though there are provisions for shura, or consultation - generally interpreted to mean the leader should take advice from trusted community members.   In their interpretation of Islam, women and men have defined roles, and women generally have fewer rights.   Their views stem from the Salafi movement within Islam's Sunni sect, the religion's largest.   For a Salafi adherent, interpretation of the Koran stops 1,300 years ago, with Muhammad, his companions, and the three generations that followed them.

What about Wahhabi thinking - is that behind Al Qaeda?

While many in the West use the term Wahhabi, practitioners of this Sunni school reject the notion that they belong to any particular sect.   To their thinking, they are simply following the true path of Islam.   They are Salafi followers of Mohammed ibn abd al-Wahhab, an 18th century Arabian preacher.
Although the vast majority of Salafis are not involved in violence, almost all attacks linked to Al Qaeda have been carried out by people under the Salafi umbrella. The House of Saud helped this school become Saudi Arabia's dominant interpretation of Islam. Many Saudis refuse to view Osama bin Laden as a Wahhabi, rejecting his thirst for overthrowing the Saudi regime. Wahhabis are supremely intolerant of Shiites, seeing practices such as the veneration of historic Imams Hussein and Ali as a breach of monotheism.

What are the roots of violent jihad?

Ibn Taymiyah, a 13th century scholar, is an intellectual forerunner of the modern Salafis.   Appearing in an era when crusaders remained in the Middle East, he advocated a muscular approach to Islam that called on believers to fight infidel invaders.   The foundation of Israel was seen by most Muslims, of all strains, as a hostile act that undermined Islam.   For Salafis it was a call to jihad, to regain the land and holy places they felt had been usurped.
He and his followers were enraged and humiliated that a US-led coalition repelled Hussein and that US troops were then stationed in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest places.

What does the Koran say about violence against civilians?

As with most religions, it is a question of where emphasis is placed. The Koran has fairly clear injunctions against murder, including "Whoever slays a human being, unless it be for murder or for spreading corruption on earth, it shall be as though he had slain all mankind" (5:32). Suicide is warned against even more strongly: "Do not kill yourselves ... whoever does so, in transgression and wrongfully, we shall roast in a fire" (4:29). Warfare in certain circumstances is condoned, even urged, just as in the Old Testament, but there are limits. "Fight in the cause of God against those who fight against you, but do not transgress limits. God loves not transgressors" (2:190) and "let there be no hostility, except to those who practice oppression" (2:193).

In the most widespread interpretations, such verses bar both attacks on civilians and suicide attacks, while allowing Muslims to fight against those who directly attack them. But how does one define the meaning of "those who practice oppression" or "spreading corruption on earth" or even "those who fight against you?" It is here that the minority of Islamist radicals who attack civilians find their wiggle room.

Read the article in its entirety at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0802/p04s01-wogi.htm