What Al-Qaeda wants
<p><em>(Second in a series.)</em></p>
<p>In a <a href="http://esr.ibiblio.org/index.php?m=200206#48">The<br />
Mirage of Moderate Islam</a>, I have described the Koranic roots of<br />
Islamic fanaticism, and observed that Osama bin Laden&#8217;s terror war on<br />
the west is part of a recurring pattern of fundamentalist revival<br />
associated with jihad in Islamic history.</p>
<p>In this essay, I&#8217;ll get more specific about what Osama bin Laden is<br />
really after.  In the process, it will become clear why Arab-world<br />
governments are so frightened of him.</p>
<p>The first thing to understand is that Osama bin Laden is neither<br />
crazy nor stupid.  He is a very intelligent, educated, visionary man<br />
who is operating from deep within the Islamic worldview.  He&#8217;s trying<br />
to do on a global scale what the Ayatollah Khomeini did in Iran in<br />
1979; he&#8217;s bucking for the job of Caliph of Islam (&#8220;Khalifa&#8221; in<br />
Arabic).</p>
<p>The position of <a href="http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/politics/khalifa.html">Khalifa</a><br />
has been vacant since the last Padishah Emperor of the Ottoman Empire<br />
was deposed in 1924, when the British and French broke up the Empire<br />
after it picked the wrong side in World War One.  Before that, the<br />
Caliph was in theory both the supreme temporal and spiritual ruler<br />
of the Islamic world.</p>
<p>I say &#8220;in theory&#8221; because the Caliph&#8217;s actual authority varied<br />
considerably.  In the early centuries of Islam, during the initial<br />
expansionary phase of the Empire, it was absolute &#8212; in European<br />
terms, as though Charlemagne or Napoleon were also the Pope.  It<br />
tended to decrease over time as the increasing size of the Islamic<br />
empire led to political fragmentation.  Independent emirs swore<br />
nominal fealty to the Caliph and accepted his symbolic authority<br />
in religious matters, while otherwise behaving as sovereigns. An<br />
able Caliph backed by strong armies could buck this disintegrative<br />
trend and make the allegiance of the emirs more than nominal.  Eventually<br />
emperors of the Ottoman Turks collected this title, and gathered most<br />
of the Islamic world under their sway.  But the Ottoman Empire had been in<br />
decline for four centuries by 1924, and the title of Caliph had<br />
become almost meaningless.</p>
<p>One of the signature traits of Islamic revivalism is nostalgia for<br />
the halcyon days of Islamic expansion, when the Caliph was the<br />
undisputed Arm of Allah and there was plenty of plunder and rapine<br />
to go around as the armies of God smote the infidel and claimed<br />
new lands for the Dar-al-Islam.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s where we cue the ominous theme music. It is part of Islamic<br />
tradition that the title of Khalifa may be attained by conquest if the<br />
incumbent is not fulfilling his duties &#8212; or if there is no incumbent.<br />
Under shari&#8217;a law and hadith, the umma (the consultative assembly of<br />
the elders of Islam) is <em>required</em> to recognize as Khalifa<br />
anyone who is able to fulfill the duties of the position and<br />
demonstrates the sanction of Allah by mobilizing the Dar-al-Islam in<br />
successful jihad.  Jihad, here, is interpreted broadly; a war of<br />
consolidation that united a substantial portion of the Dar-al-Islam<br />
under a fundamentalist Islamic theocracy would do it. </p>
<p>In other words, since 1924 the position of Caliph has been waiting<br />
for a Man on Horseback.  Or, for you science-fiction fans out there, a<br />
Muad&#8217;Dib.  The Ayatollah Khomeini could never quite make this nut;<br />
first, because he was not a plausible warlord, and second because he&#8217;s<br />
part of the 10% Shi&#8217;a minority branch that disputes the Khalifal<br />
succession.  The next Caliph, if there is one, will have to belong to<br />
the 90% Sunni majority.</p>
<p>Osama bin Laden has behaved precisely as though he intends to fill<br />
that role.  And in doing so, he has frightened the crap out of the<br />
rulers of the Arab world.  Because he&#8217;s played his religious and<br />
propaganda cards very well in Islamic terms, barring the detail that<br />
he may well be dead and buried under rubble in an Afghan cave.</p>
<p>On 9/11, bin Laden took jihad to the symbolic heart of the West<br />
more effectively than any Islamic ruler has managed since the Siege of<br />
Vienna was broken in 1683.  By doing so he caught Arab rulers<br />
(especially the Saudis) in a neat theo-political trap.  They have been<br />
encouraging hatred of Israel and the West, and hyping the jihadist<br />
mythology of fundamentalist Islam, as a way of diverting popular anger<br />
that might otherwise focus on their own corrupt and repressive<br />
regimes.  But Bin Laden has trumped and beaten them at this game.  He<br />
has acted out the Koranic duty of jihad in a way they never dared &#8212;<br />
and in doing so, seized the religious high ground.</p>
<p>The sheikhs and ayatollahs now have a dilemma.  If they support<br />
jihadism, they must either start a war against the West they know they<br />
cannot win or cede their own legitimacy to the Caliph-claimant who is<br />
leading the jihad.  But if they come out against jihad, bin Laden or<br />
his successor can de-legitimitize them simply by pointing to the<br />
Koran.  The possibility that the semi-mythical &#8220;Arab street&#8221; would<br />
revolt behind local Khomeini-equivalents hot to join al-Qaeda&#8217;s jihad is<br />
quite real.</p>
<p>Let the last word go to the mentor of Osama bin Laden, Sheik<br />
Abdullah Azzam: &#8220;Jihad must not be abandoned until Allah alone is<br />
worshipped by mankind&#8230;Jihad and the rifle alone&#8230;no negotiations,<br />
no conferences and no dialogue.&#8221;  The Palestinians are, as usual,<br />
disposable pawns in a larger game.  The objective of al-Qaeda&#8217;s game<br />
is to follow the Koranic blueprint to its logical conclusion; global<br />
jihad, a second age of conversion by the sword, the destruction of the<br />
West, and the establishment of a global Islamic theocracy.</p>
<p>Osama bin Laden himself may be dead now.  Unfortunately, this<br />
doesn&#8217;t necessarily stop the game, because his body hasn&#8217;t been found.<br />
The Twelfth Imam of Shi&#8217;a disappeared under mysterious circumstances<br />
in 941CE; persons claiming to be him and calling the faithful to jihad<br />
emerged at intervals for a thousand years afterwards, the most recent<br />
one being the Mahdi who led an anti-British revolt in Egypt in 1899.<br />
If the jihadist tendency in Islam is not confronted and destroyed,<br />
Osama bin Laden could haunt the West for a thousand years.</p>
<p><em>(To be continued&#8230;)</em></p>
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