THE al-Qaeda, Arabic name meaning “The Base”, is a radical Islamic organization with international operations that was founded in 1988. This organization has two main ways of acting: o terrorism (practiced through actions such as bombings and kidnappings) and the jihadism (armed combat in specific locations such as Syria and Yemen). One of its main creators was the Saudi Osama Bin Laden, and the most terrible act of terrorism attributed to this organization was the attack of September 11, 2001 to the United States.
The origin of al-Qaeda, as explained by the independent researcher and philosopher John Gray “is in the Cold War. It developed in the late 1980s, during the fight against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan orchestrated by the US, Saudi Arabia and European governments. Based on the operational structures he inherited from that time, he became the first practitioner of unconventional warfare to truly be global in its operations.” [1] P. 93.
In addition to tactical training and weapons mastery, Muslim fighters who fought in Afghanistan in the early 1980s also received from agencies such as
CIA knowledge of a military intelligence organization, that is, the ability to assemble an advanced operations command. Ironically, years later, imbued with radical ideology stemming from the ideas of Muslim intellectuals such as Said Qutb, these fighters carried out coordinated attacks on the United States itself.Said Qutb, mentioned above, was an Egyptian professor who studied in the US and later became one of the leaders of the Muslim brotherhood, the cradle of 20th century Islamic radicalism. During his time in the US, Qutb developed a real distaste for the American way of life and for the freedom they enjoyed both in politics and customs. The books Qutb wrote condemning Western culture became the “gospels” of terrorist groups that would later form in the Muslim world. Osama Bin Laden was one of the leaders nourished by Qutb's arguments, arguments presented to the Saudi by the brother of the Egyptian intellectual, Muhammad, as John Gray attests:
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Al-Qaeda's ideology is a typical modern hybrid. While claiming to be exponents of a native tradition, its founders reinterpreted Islam in light of contemporary Western thought. At King Abdul Azis University in Jedah, Osama bin Laden took classes in Islamic studies with Muhamad Qutb, brother of Said Qutb, the ideologue who, more than anyone else, invented radical Islam. Somewhat more moderate than his brother, Muhammad Qutb nevertheless shared with him the belief that the West suffered from a "great spiritual famine". He passed this conviction on to bin Laden. [2] pp. 93-94.
In addition to the tragedy of September 11, 2001, which produced nearly 3,000 deaths, they are attributed to Al-Qaeda the following actions: attack on the US embassy in Kenya, Nairobi, on 7 August of 1998; attack on the US Embassy in Tanzania in Dar es Salaam on the same day as in Nairobi; explosion of the American bomber USS Cole, which was docked in Yemen, on October 12, 2000; attacks on the London Underground system on 7 July 2005; and shooting attack on the newsroom of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, in Paris, on January 7, 2015.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
FERNANDES, Claudio. "What is Al-Qaeda?"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/o-que-e/historia/o-que-e-al-qaeda.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
