Editing Al-Qaeda (section)

== Ideology ==
{{Main|Jihadism}}
{{Further|Qutbism|Islamic extremism in the 20th-century Egypt|label2=Egyptian Islamism}}{{Islamism sidebar}}
[[File:Sayyid Qutb.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Sayyid Qutb]], the Egyptian Islamic scholar and Jihadist theorist who inspired al-Qaeda]]

The [[Pan-Islamism|pan-Islamist]] militant movement of al-Qaeda developed amid the rise of [[Islamic revival]]ist and [[Jihadist movement]]s after the [[Iranian Revolution]] (1978–1979) and during the [[Afghan Jihad]] (1979–1989). The writings of Egyptian Islamist scholar and revolutionary ideologue [[Sayyid Qutb]] strongly inspired the founding leaders of al-Qaeda.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=332}}.</ref> In the 1950s and 1960s, Qutb preached that because of the lack of ''[[sharia]]'' law, the [[Muslim world]] was no longer [[Muslim]], and had reverted to the pre-Islamic ignorance known as ''[[jahiliyyah]]''. To restore [[Islam]], Qutb argued that a vanguard of righteous [[Muslims]] was needed in order to establish "true [[Islamic state (government)|Islamic states]]", implement ''sharia'', and rid the Muslim world of any non-Muslim influences. In Qutb's view, the enemies of Islam included "[[Jews|world Jewry]]", which "plotted [[List of conspiracy theories#Antisemitism|conspiracies]]" and opposed Islam.<ref>{{Harvnb|Qutb|2003|pp=63, 69}}.</ref> Qutb envisioned this vanguard to march forward to wage armed ''Jihad'' against tyrannical regimes after purifying from the wider ''Jahili'' societies and organising themselves under a righteous Islamic leadership; which he viewed as the model of early Muslims in the [[Islamic State of Medina]] under the leadership of the [[Muhammad|Islamic prophet Muhammad]]. This idea would directly influence many Islamist figures such as [[Abdullah Yusuf Azzam|Abdullah Azzam]] and [[Osama bin Laden]]; and became the core rationale for the formulation of "al-Qaeda" concept in the near future.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite book|last=R. Halverson , Goodall, Jr., R. Corman|first=Jeffry, H. L., and Steven|title=Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2011|isbn=978-0-230-10896-7|location=New York|chapter=3:The Jahiliyya|pages=45–46}}</ref> Outlining his strategy to topple the existing secular orders, Qutb argued in ''[[Milestones (book)|Milestones]]'': <blockquote>[It is necessary that] a [[Muslim community]] to come into existence which believes that ‘''there is no deity except God'',’ which commits itself to obey none but God, denying all other authority, and which challenges the legality of any law which is not based on this belief.. . It should come into the battlefield with the determination that its strategy, its social organization, and the relationship between its individuals should be firmer and more powerful than the existing ''jahili'' system.<ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Qutb|first1=Sayyid|last2=Al-Mehri|first2=A.B|title=Milestones (Ma'alim fi'l-tareeq)|publisher=Maktabah Book Sellers and Publishers|year=2006|isbn=0-9548665-1-7|location=England|pages=46, 57}}</ref></blockquote>
In the words of [[Mohammed Jamal Khalifa]], a close college friend of bin Laden: {{blockquote|Islam is different from any other [[religion]]; it's a way of life. We [Khalifa and bin Laden] were trying to understand what Islam has to say about how we eat, who we marry, how we talk. We read Sayyid Qutb. He was the one who most affected our generation.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=79}}.</ref>}}

Qutb also influenced [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gemsofislamism.tripod.com/qutb_milest_influence_obl.html|title=How Did Sayyid Qutb Influence Osama bin Laden?|publisher=Gemsofislamism.tripod.com|access-date=March 22, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017060150/http://gemsofislamism.tripod.com/qutb_milest_influence_obl.html|archive-date=October 17, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> Zawahiri's uncle and maternal family patriarch, Mafouz Azzam, was Qutb's student, protégé, personal lawyer, and an executor of his estate. Azzam was one of the last people to see Qutb alive before his execution.<ref>Mafouz Azzam; cited in {{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=36}}.</ref> Zawahiri paid homage to Qutb in his work ''Knights under the Prophet's Banner''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gemsofislamism.tripod.com/milestones_qutb.html#footnote_24|title=Sayyid Qutb's Milestones (footnote 24)|publisher=Gemsofislamism.tripod.com|access-date=March 22, 2010|archive-date=October 4, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004095024/http://gemsofislamism.tripod.com/milestones_qutb.html#footnote_24|url-status=live}}</ref>

Qutb argued that many Muslims were not true Muslims. Some Muslims, Qutb argued, were [[Apostasy in Islam|apostates]]. These alleged apostates included leaders of Muslim countries, since they failed to enforce ''sharia'' law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/07spring/eikmeier.htm|title=Qutbism: An Ideology of Islamic-Fascism|first1=Dale C.|last1=Eilmeier |work=Parameters|date=Spring 2007|pages=85–98|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609120804/http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/parameters/07spring/eikmeier.htm|archive-date=June 9, 2007}}</ref> He also alleged that the [[Western world|West]] approaches the Muslim World with a "crusading spirit"; in spite of the decline of religious values in the 20th century Europe. According to Qutb; the hostile and imperialist attitudes exhibited by Europeans and Americans towards Muslim countries, their support for Zionism, etc. reflected hatred amplified over a millennia of wars such as the [[Crusades]] and was born out of [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[Materialism|materialist]] and [[Utilitarianism|utilitarian]] outlooks that viewed the world in monetary terms.<ref>{{Cite book|last=R. Halverson , Goodall, Jr., R. Corman|first=Jeffry, H. L., and Steven|title=Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2011|isbn=978-0-230-10896-7|location=New York|pages=114–122|chapter=9: The Infidel Invaders}}</ref>

=== Formation ===
{{See also|Afghan Jihad}}
The [[Afghan Arabs|Afghan jihad]] against the [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|pro-Soviet government]] further developed the [[Salafi jihadism|Salafist Jihadist]] movement which inspired al-Qaeda.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kepel|first1=Gilles|title=Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam|url=https://archive.org/details/jihad00gill_0|url-access=registration|date=2002|publisher=Harvard University Press|ref=GKJTPI2002|isbn=978-0-674-01090-1}}</ref> During this period, al-Qaeda embraced the ideals of the Indian Muslim militant revivalist [[Syed Ahmad Barelvi]] (d. 1831) who led a [[Ahl-i Hadith#Indian Jihad Movement|Jihad movement]] against [[Company rule in India|British India]] from the frontiers of [[Afghanistan]] and [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|Khyber-Pakhtunkwa]] in the early 19th century. Al-Qaeda readily adopted Sayyid Ahmad's doctrines such as returning to the purity of early generations (''[[Salaf|Salaf as-Salih]]''), antipathy towards [[Western culture|Western influences]] and restoration of Islamic political power.<ref name="Haqqani 2005 13">{{Cite journal|last=Haqqani|first=Hussain|year=2005|title=The Ideologies of South Asian Jihadi Groups|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1437302091|journal=Current Trends in Islamist Ideology|volume=1|pages=13|id={{ProQuest|1437302091}}|via=ProQuest|access-date=March 16, 2022|archive-date=February 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228163319/https://www.proquest.com/docview/1437302091|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Marquardt, Heffelfinger 2008 37–38, 42, 150–151, 153">{{Cite book|last=Marquardt, Heffelfinger|first=Erich, Christopher|title=Terrorism & Political Islam: Origins, Ideologies, and Methods; a Counter Terrorism Textbook; 2nd Edition|publisher=Combating Terrorism Center, Department of Social Sciences|year=2008|pages=37–38, 42, 150–151, 153|asin=B004LJQ8O8}}</ref> According to [[Pakistanis|Pakistani]] journalist [[Husain Haqqani|Hussain Haqqani]], {{blockquote|Sayyid Ahmed's revival of the ideology of jihad became the prototype for subsequent Islamic militant movements in South and Central Asia and is also the main influence over the jihad network of Al Qaeda and its associated groups in the region.<ref name="Haqqani 2005 13"/><ref name="Marquardt, Heffelfinger 2008 37–38, 42, 150–151, 153"/>}}

=== Objectives ===
The long-term objective of al-Qaeda is to unite the Muslim World under a supra-national [[Islamic state]] known as the ''[[Caliphate|Khilafah]]'' (Caliphate), headed by an elected [[Caliphate|Caliph]] descended from the ''[[Ahl al-Bayt]]'' (Muhammad's family). The immediate objectives include the expulsion of American troops from the Arabian Peninsula, waging armed [[Jihad]] to topple US-allied governments in the region, etc.<ref name="Klausen 2021 53–54">{{Cite book|last=Klausen|first=Jytte|title=Western Jihadism: A Thirty-Year History|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2021|isbn=978-0-19-887079-1|location=Oxford, UK|pages=53–54|chapter=2: The Founder}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=J. Tompkins, Crossett|first1=Paul, Chuck|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPZdWxjMd6cC|title=Casebook on Insurgency and Revolutionary Warfare Volume II: 1962–2009|last2=Spitaletta, Marshal|first2=Jason, Shana|publisher=United States Army Special Operations Command|year=2012|location=Fort Bragg, North Carolina|pages=543–544|chapter=19 – Al-Qaeda: 1988–2001}}</ref>

The following are the goals and some of the general policies outlined in al-Qaeda's Founding Charter "''Al-Qaeda's Structure and Bylaws''" issued in the meetings in [[Peshawar]] in 1988:<ref name="ctc">{{Cite web|title=Al-Qa'ida's Structure and Bylaws|url=https://ctc.westpoint.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Al-Qa%E2%80%99ida%E2%80%99s-Structure-and-Bylaws-Translation1.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013055746/https://ctc.westpoint.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Al-Qa%E2%80%99ida%E2%80%99s-Structure-and-Bylaws-Translation1.pdf|archive-date=October 13, 2022|website=CTC}}</ref><ref name="Klausen 2021 53–54"/>

{{Blockquote|text=
'''General Goals'''<br />
i. To promote ''[[jihad]]'' awareness in the [[Islamic world]]<br />
ii. To prepare and equip the cadres for the Islamic world through trainings and by participating in actual combat<br />
iii. To support and sponsor the [[Jihadism|jihad movement]] as much as possible<br />
iv. To coordinate Jihad movements around the world in an effort to create a unified international Jihad movement.

'''General Policies'''<br />
1. Complete commitment to the governing rules and controls of ''[[Sharia|Shari‘a]]'' in all the beliefs and actions and according to the book [''[[Qur’an]]''] and ''[[Sunnah|Sunna]]'' as well as per the interpretation of the nation's [[ulema|scholars]] who serve in this domain<br />
2. Commitment to Jihad as a fight for God's cause and as an agenda of change and to prepare for it and apply it whenever we find it possible...<br />
4. Our position with respect to the tyrants of the world, [[secularism|secular]] and [[nationalism|national]] parties and the like is not to associate with them, to discredit them and to be their constant enemy till they believe in God alone. We shall not agree with them on half-solutions and there is no way to negotiate with them or appease them<br />
5. Our relationships with truthful Islamic jihadist movements and groups is to cooperate under the umbrella of faith and belief and we shall always attempt to at uniting and integrating with them...<br />
6. We shall carry a relationship of love and affection with the Islamic movements who are not aligned with Jihad...<br />
7. We shall sustain a relationship of respect and love with active scholars...<br />
9. We shall reject the regional fanatics and will pursue Jihad in an Islamic country as needed and when possible<br />
10. We shall care about the role of [[Muslims|Muslim people]] in the Jihad and we shall attempt to recruit them...<br />
11. We shall maintain our economic independence and will not rely on others to secure our resources.<br />
12. Secrecy is the main ingredient of our work except for what the need deems necessary to reveal<br />
13. Our policy with the [[Afghan Jihad|Afghani Jihad]] is support, advise and coordination with the Islamic Establishments in Jihad arenas in a manner that conforms with our policies"|title=Al-Qa`ida's Structure and Bylaws, p.2|source=<ref name="ctc" /><ref name="Klausen 2021 53–54"/>}}

=== Theory of Islamic State ===
{{See also|Islamic state|label1=Islamic State Theory}}
Al-Qaeda aims to establish an Islamic state in the [[Arab World]], modelled after the [[Rashidun Caliphate]], by initiating a global Jihad against the "International Jewish-Crusader Alliance" led by the United States, which it sees as the "external enemy" and against the secular governments in [[Muslim countries]], that are described as "the apostate domestic enemy".<ref name="McCants 2011">{{Cite journal|last=McCants|first=William|date=September 2011|title=Al Qaeda's Challenge: The Jihadists' War With Islamist Democrats|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23041773|journal=Foreign Affairs|volume=90|issue=5|pages=20–32|jstor=23041773|quote=Two months before 9/11, Zawahiri, who had become al Qaeda's second-in-command, published Knights Under the Banner of the Prophet, which offers insight into why al Qacda decided to attack the United States within its borders. In it, he stated that al Qaeda aimed to establish an Islamic state in the Arab world: Just as victory is not achieved for an army unless its foot soldiers occupy land, the mujahid Islamic movement will not achieve victory against the global infdel alliance unless it possesses a base in the heart of the Islamic world. Every plan and method we consider to rally and mobilize the ummab will be hanging in the air with no concrete result or tangible return unless it leads to the establishment of the caliphal state in the heart of the Islamic world. Achieving this goal, Zawahiri explained elsewhere in the book, would require a global jihad: It is not possible to incite a conflict for the establishment of a Muslim state if it is a regional conflict.... The international Jewish-Crusader alliance, led by America, will not allow any Muslim force to obtain power in any of the Muslim lands. ... It will impose sanctions on whoever helps it, even if it does not declare war against them altogether. Therefore, to adjust to this new reality, we must prepare ourselves for a battle that is not confined to a single region but rather includes the apostate domestic enemy and the Jewish-Crusader external enemy. To confront this insidious alliance, Zawahiri argued, al Qaeda had to first root out U.S. influence in the region...|access-date=November 13, 2021|archive-date=November 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113164716/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23041773|url-status=live}}</ref> Once foreign influences and the secular ruling authorities are removed from [[Muslim countries]] through [[Jihad]]; al-Qaeda supports elections to choose the rulers of its proposed Islamic states. This is to be done through representatives of leadership councils (''[[Shura]]'') that would ensure the implementation of ''[[Sharia|Shari'a]]'' (Islamic law). However, it opposes elections that institute parliaments which empower Muslim and non-Muslim legislators to collaborate in making laws of their own choosing.<ref name="McCants 2011"/> In the second edition of his book ''Knights Under the Banner of the Prophet'', [[Ayman Al Zawahiri]] writes:
{{blockquote|We demand... the government of the rightly guiding caliphate, which is established on the basis of the sovereignty of ''sharia'' and not on the whims of the majority. Its ''[[ummah]]'' chooses its rulers....If they deviate, the ''ummah'' brings them to account and removes them. The ''ummah'' participates in producing that government's decisions and determining its direction. ... [The caliphal state] commands the right and forbids the wrong and engages in [[jihad]] to liberate Muslim lands and to free all humanity from all oppression and ignorance.<ref name="McCants 2011"/>}}

=== Grievances ===
A recurring theme in al-Qaeda's ideology is the perpetual grievance over the violent subjugation of Islamic dissidents by the authoritarian, [[Secularism|secularist]] regimes allied to the West. Al-Qaeda denounces these [[Postcolonialism|post-colonial]] governments as a system led by [[Westernised]] elites designed to advance [[Neocolonialism|neo-colonialism]] and maintain [[Western imperialism|Western hegemony]] over the Muslim World. The most prominent topic of grievance is over the [[United States foreign policy in the Middle East|American foreign policy in the Arab World]]; especially over its strong economic and military support to [[Israel]]. Other concerns of resentment include presence of [[NATO]] troops to support allied regimes; injustices committed against Muslims in [[Kashmir]], [[Chechnya]], [[Xinjiang]], [[Syria]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Iraq]] etc.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=J. Tompkins, Crossett|first1=Paul, Chuck|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPZdWxjMd6cC|title=Casebook on Insurgency and Revolutionary Warfare Volume II: 1962–2009|last2=Spitaletta, Marshal|first2=Jason, Shana|publisher=United States Army Special Operations Command|year=2012|location=Fort Bragg, North CarolinaA|pages=539–544|chapter=19- Al-Qaeda: 1988–2001}}</ref>