Al Qaida Before And After Bin Laden

Islamist’s jihadism around the mid 90s was inspired, organized and dominated by al‐Qa’ida. Afghan jihad was central on the rise to the rise of Al Qaida and to transnational jihad (the rise of Al Qaida). It brought an expansive concept of jihad that included terrorist attacks against western targets in western countries as well as in the Muslim world. They started a calculated planning against the U.S. and the western world. Nevertheless, al-Qaeda is driven, at its core, by political and not religious motives.

This group committed itself to a new active ideology and focused on targeting corrupt, non‐ believing, western countries that were supporting the local corrupt Muslim regimes. I see an Al Qaida before and after Bin Laden. The first one

He openly accused Saudi Arabia of being punitive to Muslims, he remarked how Saudi Arabia imprissioned unjustly members of the ulama, as well as, the wave of “corruption, repression and intimidation” of the Saudi government in his Declaration of War Against American. Therefore, he stressed the emancipation of Saudi Arabia as being an American protectorate. Unlike the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaida focused in the far enemy and used “offensive jihad” in the guise of “defensive jihad.” In a 1998 interview Bin Laden stated, “(...) This is a defensive jihad. We want to defend our people and our land. That is why we say, if we don’t get security, the Americans, too, would not get security. This is the simple formula that even an American child can understand. Live and let live” (Wiktorowicz). For Al Qaida jihad is mostly, fard’ayn an individual

Later on, the organization defined the term civilian in such a broader concept that made everyone living in a western democracy subject of an attack. For instance, regarding suicidal bombings Al Qaida extended to civilians instead of only military or political targets. Al Qaeda justification for September 11 and purposeful civilian targeting: individuals who support the government act as surrogates and representatives of the enemy; they are thus legitimate targets