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Aggressive ideology is source of real danger
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Published: September 19, 2009
With the arrest of several individuals in Caswell County, as terrorism suspects aspiring to engage in jihad, and our recent commemoration of the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York City, Washington and Pennsylvania, it is important that we understand the nature of the conflict in which we are engaged. I want to share some insights about the ideology of jihadism that are based upon my work in the study of the discourse of terrorism and specifically jihadism. These comments are part of a talk that I gave recently at the World Summit on Counter-Terrorism held in Israel.
Soon after the attacks on 9/11 many Americans, including President Bush, posed the question, "Why do they hate us?" We were simply at a lost to explain why we were attacked. Since that question was first asked, a variety of explanations have been offered, ranging from revolutionary and nationalist movements responding to decades of western imperialism and its consequent economic and political repression to reactions to U.S and Western foreign policy in the Middle East. Although justifications can be found for terrorist actions in these various reasons, the cause of jihadism is grounded in a different ideology.
I recently completed a study of several documents written by Ayman al-Zawahiri that were published in Cairo, Egypt, a few years ago. Al-Zawahiri is al-Qaida's second in command. He was born in Egypt and was educated as a medical doctor. Originally a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, al-Zawahiri formed and became the leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad before joining the ranks of al-Qaida. His ideological orientation is informed by a radical and fundamentalist version of Salafi Wahabism, which divides the world into dar el Islam (abode of Islam) and dar el Harb (abode of war). The dar el-Islam denotes those places in the world where Islamic law is enforced, while dar el Harb refers to areas in which all other forms of law prevail. From the documents written by al-Zawahiri, I found several critical conditions that inform the jurisprudence of jihadist ideology concerning its proclaimed war against democracy and the act of martyrdom.
To begin, al-Zawahiri draws upon a centuries-old ideological definition of jihad as a call to action on behalf of the Islamic community via fatah or, more literally, expansion of the Islamic state by "opening up" non-Muslims lands to Islam by means of conquest. Thus, for radical jihadists, jihad is not a personal struggle with internal demons, but rather is external violent aggression against non-Muslims. Working from this definition, al-Zawahiri draws upon select Quranic verses and 13th-century Islamic scholars to argue that violent jihad is a duty of all Muslims, thus making it a sixth pillar of the Islamic faith. He further contends that istishhad (or engaging in suicide killings) when used for violent jihad is not actually suicide but rather an exemplary act of devotion and acknowledgment of God.
As for democracy, al-Zawahiri is extremely clear. Democracy is an apostate religion that competes with Islam and therefore must be destroyed. According to him and the jihadist ideology, democracy is the deification of humankind because democracy is based upon human-made laws and social order, not the implementation of sharia (Islamic) law, which is the law of God. For him, Islam is not merely about spirituality, but is an entire means of ordering social, political, economic and religious affairs. As such, religion is an all-encompassing social structure. Furthermore, perhaps the most distressing element of jihadist ideology is that because democracy allows for pluralism, in its varied forms, including equality among all people and gender, it must be destroyed. He makes no mention of struggling to break free from the historical shackles of colonial imperialism; of striving to better the political, economic, social and health needs of Muslims; or responding to U.S. or Western foreign policy. Rather, his jihadist struggle is for Islamic totalitarianism, as we see manifest in the practices of the Taliban and the anti-democratic actions of the current Iranian regime.
Undeniably, this ideology is frightening in its singular and absolutist perspective. Its binary construction of humankind into those who adhere to sharia law versus those who do not leaves little room for alternative realities.
Yet it is critical that we realize that this ideology is not shared by the vast majority of Muslims, but is subscribed to by only a small percentage of the followers of Islam who are striving to impose their version of Islam and their will on others. As we stand to confront the challenge of this radical belief system, it is essential that we continue to uphold the values and trademarks of our democratic society, most notably openness, civility and a respect for pluralism.
Randall G. Rogan is a professor in the Department of Communication at Wake Forest University.
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