Al Qaeda Ideology

Al Qaeda is a terror group with a deep religious ideology, which it uses to justify their actions. Al Qaeda has a Salafi-Jihadi ideology, a dogma that has found its beginnings with Jamal al Din al Afghani. Four main terms that formulate this ideology are Salifism, Jihad, Hijra, and Jahiliyya. Al Qaeda engages in what is called a lesser jihad, meaning creating a better community, expanding it or defending it through terror attacks or war. Greater Jihad includes betterment of the community and the self. This ideology helped influence the leader of Al Qaeda thus we will take a brief look into his path to Al Qaeda leadership. Osama Bin Laden began attending meetings at the University where Islam extremists went to speak. These speakers caught the attention of Bin Laden so he continued to frequent these meetings more often. The foundation of Al Qaeda ideology and the leadership of Osama Bin Laden led to many terrorist attacks across the world causing many casualties and striking fear into the hearts of many. Key Words: Ideology, Salifism, …show more content…
As stated above, Salifism Hijra, Jihad, and Jahiliyya are four terms that are crucial to Al Qaeda ideology. Corruption in Islamic society is represented by the term Jahiliyya. This term can also be associated with a state of ignorance that the Arab people lived in before God made revelations to Muhammad (Turner, 2010). The concept of Salifsm can be a counterbalance concept to that of Jahiliyya, which it is associated with an uncorrupted Islam in the time of the prophet. Safilism can be thought of as a counteractive component to relieve the problem of Jahiliyya. Jahiliyya can be thought of as decease, and Salaifism can be thought of the remedy that will cure the decease. Before taking any action to attempt to end Jahliyya, there is a preparation