An insight into the Philosophical Dynamics of Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda, headed long by Osama bin Laden (OBL), has convincingly emerged as the most powerful and ideologically motivated organization with objectives to politically spread worldwide itself and its ideological stance in the post-cold war period. Though it was nurtured by the West through CIA and ISI, and fostered by Arab volunteers to stem out the Soviet military presence in Afghanistan, it later turned its guns towards the US and US-backed regimes in the Muslim countries on the pretext they were serving the cause of infidels who deserved elimination. The infiltration of Takfiri doctrine, once formulated by Ibn Taymiyya, during Mongol invasion of Mesopotamia, made the Salafism-inspired militant activists of AQ to indulge into and justify their terrorist activities against non-combatant civilians. An attempt has been made here to trace the roots and dynamics of the philosophical thought that gradually drove AQ to what it is now known as the most dreadful outfit, both for the West and the Muslim world.