Al-Qaeda

al-Qaeda  or  ; alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida (, al-qāʿidah, "the base") is a global Islamist jihadist multinational organization network that was founded around August 1988 and late 1989.p75 It works as a network, as a stateless army,. "al-Qaeda's global network, as we know it today, was created while it was based in Khartoum, from December 1991 till May 1996. To coordinate its overt and covert operations as al-Qaeda's ambitions and resources increased, it developed a decentralised, regional structure. [...] As a global multinational, al-Qaeda makes its constituent nationalities and ethnic groups, of which there are several dozen, responsible for a particular geographic region. Though its modus operandi is cellular, familial relationships play a key role." See also:
  and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad on all fronts. Most of the world thinks it is a terrorist organization.2010 Amil Khan, The Long Struggle, p 88

Members of al-Qaeda have performed many acts of terrorism. Most of these have been done against the United States and Shias. Some of its most well-known attacks have been the September 11 attacks, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and the attack on the U.S. Navy ship USS Cole in 2000. al-Qaeda has done suicide attacks and simultaneous (at the same time) bombings of different targets.

Among al-Qaeda's goals is for other countries to stop influencing Muslim countries and for a new Islamic caliphate to be made. There have been reports that al-Qaeda believes that Christian and Jewish Islamophobia is trying to destroy IslamFu'ad Husayn 'al-Zarqawi ... "The Second Generation of al-Qa’ida, Part Fourteen," al-Quds al-Arabi, July 13, 2005 and that the killing of bystanders and civilians is religiously justified in jihad.

There have been guesses that there are 500–1,000 operatives in Afghanistan and around 5,000 worldwide. However, there is no confirmation of this.

The group is diverse in its beliefs even though the group calls itself Salafi, it has many members who are Hanafi, Shafi`i, Maliki, Wahhabi, and Sufi as the former leader of the group Osama bin Laden was accepting of members as long as they were Muslims in his eyes. A few exceptions include followers of Shiism who curse and reject the companions of Muhammad (exceptions were made for those few who did not reject and curse the companions), and followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

History
In June 2001, al-Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which had been associated with each other for many years, merged into 'Qaeda al-Jihad'.Lawrence Wright 2002. The New Yorker. The man behind Bin Laden 

"...the members of Islamic Jihad and its guiding figure Ayman al-Zawahiri have provided the backbone of [al-Qaeda's] leadership. According to officials in the C.I.A. and the F.B.I., Zawahiri has been responsible for much of the planning of the terrorist operations against the United States".

Death of Osama Bin Laden and current leadership
Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri was the highest-ranking surviving member of al-Qaeda's leadership after Osama bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011.

Death of Abu Yahya al-Libi
Senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed in a drone strike on June 5, 2012.al-Qaeda commander Abu Yahya al-Libi killed - US officials. BBC News Asia al-Qaeda commander Abu Yahya al-Libi killed - US officials - BBC News He ranked second to Ayman al-Zawahiri at the time. The strike was carried out in the northwest tribal area of Waziristan. The Pakistan Government has protested to the U.S. about the strike.

References

Other websites
 Council on Foreign Relations al-Qaeda 


Category:1980s establishments

Category:Rebel militia groups
Category:Shiaphobia
Category:Sunni organizations
Category:Islamist militant groups
Category:Jihadist groups