Editing Al-Qaeda (section)

=== 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"/>}}