333 Carlos Setas Vílchez What are we talking about when we talk about al- Qaeda? Surprisingly, according to Fadil Harun’s autobiography, al-Harb ‘ala al-Islam: Quissat Fadil Harun,27 al Qaeda believed that most jihadist groups suffered from gross ideological vulgarity. In the 1990s, the leaders of the organisation were horrified – according to Harun – by the proliferation of the takfiri 28 and their growing influence on the jihadist circles in Peshawar.29 Moreover, al Qaeda rejected Salafism in the belief that it verged on fanaticism. Despite this, academics have often described al Qaeda as being Salafist. Al Qaeda took care to criticise other Muslims and supported the idea of guiding by example. According to Harun,30 the group felt no particular hostility towards the Christians or Jews, which it has sometimes been claimed. This is hard to believe in view of some of the official statements made by al Qaeda, although in some cases these may be open to interpretation. As we saw earlier, the occupation of Muslim territory by infidel forces, basically Palestine by the Jews and Saudi Arabia by U.S. troops, in addition to U.S. support for dictatorship regimes in the region was the main leitmotiv of al Qaeda. In a statement in 1996, bin Laden authorised a defensive jihad against the Americans on account of their presence in Saudi Arabia. He also denounced the oppression and injustice suffered by Muslims at the hands of the Judeo-Christian or Judeo-Crusader alliance.31 Another statement made in early 1998 announced the formation of the World Islamic Front and the jihad against Jews and Crusaders until their expulsion from the lands of Islam.32 In both cases, the grounds given for justifying the jihad against the Jews and Crusaders – note that the Christians appear to be equated with the Americans in these references - are more political than religious. They do not express hatred of the Jews and Christians on account of religious differences, but rather based on the organisation’s perception of international politics. There has been a tendency to present al Qaeda as an organisation that abhors the West and the values it proclaims, such as freedom. However, Bin Laden himself refuted this interpretation in a statement33 in which he ridiculed these claims and 27 Fadil Harun was the “Confidential Secretary” of al Qaeda until his death in 2011. 28 A takfiri is a Muslim who accuses other Muslims of apostasy, thus declaring them impure. 29 LAHOUD, 2012, p.43. It is not surprising that bin Laden was the target of an assassination attempt in Sudan in 1994 by a takfir group that considered him an infidel, BERGER, 2006, pp.135- 136. The rivalry between al Qaeda and the takfiri was also evidenced by the testimony of Abu Jandal, who was appointed bodyguard of bin Laden after protecting him from a Sudanese takfiri in Kandahar, BERGER, pp.259-261. 30 LAHOUD, 2012, p.38. 31 LAWRENCE, Bruce (ed.), Messages to the World, the Statements of Osama bin Laden, London, Verso, 2005, pp.23-30. 32 Ibid., pp.58-62. 33 Ibid., pp.238-244.
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