Transcript Global Jihad File

Politics of the Middle East
The Global Jihad
Join The Caravan
• Muhammad abd al-Salam Faraj,
Jamaat al-Jihad
• Abdullah Azzam, Godfather of Jihad
• Afghan Arabs organiser
• Maktab al-Khidamat
• “Jihad and the rifle alone. No
conferences, no dialogue, no
negotiations”
Causation?
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The Rise and Fall of Political Islam
1924 End of the Caliphate
Hassan al Banna, Sayid Qutb
Failure of Arab Nationalism, the absence of a
unification narrative
• Quietening of the Islamists
• “Islamist movements have been in part
secularized by the political process, where
political logic has trumped religious logic”
• Hijra
Causation
• Existing explanations focus either on very specific
issues of the modern era or timeless
metanarratives
• Poverty
• Authoritarian regimes
• US (Western) foreign policy
• The Jewish state
• Globalisation and modernity
• Culture and values
• Clash of Civilisations
• Rejection of the Contemporary International
Order
• Rejection of a divided ‘spiritual’ umma
• Rejection of secular and illegitimate
governance
Objectives
• Unity and Legitimacy
• (1) A unified Islamic community ruled by
religiously sanctioned governance is the solution
to all grievances
• (2) The US and the international system are major
obstacles to that realisation.
Ijtihad and Islamic Reformation
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Closing the ‘Gates of Ijtihad’
Ibn Taymiyya 14th C
Ibn Wahhab 18th C
Jamal al din al Afghani 19th C
Stagnation of Islamic Society
Co-option of the Ulema
Ijtihad – Personal Reasoning
Who can interpret religious texts?
Preisthood of the individual
Salafi Jihadist Ideology
• Fundamentalist/ decontextualised
• Salafism, Hijra, jihad,
jayhilliya,
• Taymiyya, Afghani,
Maududi, Qutb, Azzam,
Faraj,
• Ayman al Zawahiri Knights
Under the Prophets Banner
• Qutb The New Jahiliyya
• ‘everything around us is
jahiliya, people’s perceptions
and beliefs, habits and
customs, the sources of their
culture, arts, literature and
their laws and legislations.
Much of what we think of as
Islamic culture, Islamic
sources or Islamic philosophy,
is in fact jahiliya.’
Four Pillars of Salafi Jihadist Ideology
• Jahiliyya (Ignorance of God’s will)
– The problem that should be resolved
• Salafism (Looking to the early period of Islam for
guidance)
– The solution to the problem
• Higra (Emigration to form a jihadist community)
– The preparation to bring the solution
• Jihad ( war directed against enemies)
– the action to bring the solution
Martyrdom and 72 Virgins?
• (They will be) on Thrones encrusted (with gold and
precious stones), Reclining on them, facing each other.
Round about them will (serve) youths of perpetual
(freshness), With goblets, (shining) beakers, and cups
(filled) out of clear-flowing fountains No after-ache will
they receive therefrom, nor will they suffer
intoxication: And with fruits, any that they may select
And the flesh of fowls, any that they may desire. And
(there will be) Companions (Houri) with beautiful,
big, and lustrous eyes, Like unto Pearls well-guarded.
A Reward for the deeds of their past (life). Not
frivolity will they hear therein, nor any taint of ill,- Only
the saying, "Peace! Peace". Quran 56: 15-26
Hadith, Jami` at-Tirmidhi
• Suffers from a weak chain of narration
• It was mentioned by Daraj Ibn Abi Hatim, that
Abu al-Haytham 'Adullah Ibn Wahb narrated
from Abu Sa'id al-Khudhri, who heard
Muhammad saying, 'The smallest reward for
the people of Heaven is an abode where there
are eighty thousand servants and seventy-two
houri, over which stands a dome decorated
with pearls, aquamarine, and ruby, as wide as
the distance from al-Jabiyyah to San'a
Al Qaeda (The Base)
• Founded 1988
• Computer Database containing
contacts of Afghan fighters
• Mujahedeen Myth
• 1992 Yemen, 1995 Riyadh, 1998
Kenya and Tanzania, 2001 US
• 1998 Fatwa
• 2001 merger with Egyptian Islamic
Jihad forming "Qaeda al-Jihad“
• Bin Laden the organiser
• Zawahiri the thinker
The Near and Far Enemy Debate
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Debate of the jihadist center of gravity
Near enemy (Arab regimes)
Far Enemy (hegemonic powers)
Structure vs Agent
The 20 year plan
– the Awakening (2000-2003) Provoke a war
– Opening Eyes (2004 – 2007) Become a global brand
and focus on Iraq
– (2007 - 2010) Focus on Israel, Syria, Turkey
– (2010 - 2013) Challenge US asymmetrically
Glocalization
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Franchising, The al Qaeda brand
Affiliates, Allies and Freelance Jihadists
Wedding local grievances to the global effort
“Think globally, act locally”
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Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Al Qaeda in Iraq (Now ISIS)
Ansar al Sharia
Boko Haram
Al Shabaab
Abu Sharif
Pakistani Taliban
Unity, Legitimacy, Hegemony
• The termination of the caliphate followed by
the failure of pan-Islamism, pan-Arabism and
political Islam leaves a narrative void.
• Post WWII consolidation of international
system and norms
• Hegemonic willingness to maintain the
existing order
Waning Influence
• Increased isolation
and stagnation of al
Qaeda Central (AQC)
post 9-11
• Death of bin Laden
• Soft Power strategies
• New Generation
Jihadists
• Recruitment flow
from Europe
• Rise of Islamic State
Jihad and Ice Cream