MIDDLE EAST HISTORY POLITICS CULTURE XI-XII Middle East | Page 93

KOSTANIAN ARARAT
(IOS)
AL-QAEDA. THE THREAT OF NETWORK THINKING TO THE
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
The purpose of this essay is to reveal the uniqueness of Al-Qaeda where
it can be seen from different angles. Some put the stress only on as it is a
classical terror organization that tries to create horror in Secular Arab states
and a message to the West of its existence. The other notion, which I believe
is more accurate, puts the stress on Al-Qaeda’s philosophical ideology that the
main issue is not related with terror per se, but a request to the Muslim
World to restore Islamic Caliphate under Wahhabi understanding, taking
into account, that Osama bin Laden, the founder of Al Qaeda, had been raised
in Saudi Arabia, and his lecturers at the Islamic school were mainly advocates
of Wahhabi-Salafi variant of Islam. It is worth mentioning that Al Qaeda uses
high technology and has strong secrecy in recruiting members from all
around the world. Moreover, they have secret members in most Arab
countries who does not want to live under secular system and want to
challenge the secular governments in all ways to return to the puritanical
Islamic living which had been during the Prophet Muhammad. Interestingly,
Al Qaeda set two kinds of enemies and tried to target both, “The near enemy”
and “The far enemy”. Near enemy understanding represents the Arab
governments that have secular system and a re in constant enmity towards
Islamic groups (Syria, Egypt), and the far enemy is considered to be Western
world (USA, Israel). Unfortunately, the American officials did not take al
Qaeda seriously and they were capable of monitoring them against any terror
operations. Things changed only after the “Sep 11” incident and as we know
G.W. Bush declared war on terror. Islamic radicalism has the tendency to
grow, as we have seen in Arab world after the so called “Arab spring”. Secular
governments must educate their illiterate people not to join these populist
groups in order to keep countries safe.
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