Introduction
Terrorist organizations threaten citizens of all communities, nations’ infrastructure, and security to obtain political security and economic gains. Leaders of terrorist groups use threats of violence to propagate their political and religious beliefs by directing targets with objectives and goals in mind. On the other hand, leaders are undoubtedly driven by a core task to propel their people from their current state or situation to a better one. Al Qaeda is an infamous militant Sunni Islamist terrorist group founded in 1988 by the Soviet-Afghan War veterans led by Osama bin Laden. Al Qaeda’s main inspiration came from foreign invasions of Islamic nations and corrupt leaders. Most causes of attacks by Al Qaeda are based on their need to defend and protect Islamic states against invasion and interruption of their affairs by Westerners. This paper is aimed to address the inspiration of Al Qaeda, how this inspiration acts as a catalytic means of recruitment, and the means of communication used by Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda seeks to free Islamic states from foreign invasion and corrupt leaders and spread Sharia Laws worldwide.
The Inspiration of Al Qaeda
Foreign invasion is the primary inspiration and grievance that has caused the evolvement and garnering of many supporters of Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda has inspired its members and followers by spreading strategic messages against injustices inflicted on Islamic nations by Westerners (Houck et al., 2017). Al Qaeda mostly dwells on the message that the West has infiltrated the Muslim world, and they believe in having the right to defend their nations (History.com Editors, 2018). They assert that millions of innocent Muslim women and children have lost their lives due to infiltration and sanctions of the West that support the dictatorial regime (Mapping Militant Organizations, 2019). Osama bin Laden stated his inspiration through a media message to his followers to justify Al Qaeda’s terrorist attacks as mere attempts to defend Muslims from unjust invasion and prosecution by Western nations such as the United States (U.S.).
Another inspiration that guides Al Qaeda is from the writings of the Quran and Muhammad’s history of his soldiers who fought a glorious war in Islam to defend their beliefs. Osama bin Laden spearheaded such inspirations to inspire other terrorists to engage in a defensive war against the West, just like Muhammad fought to save Islam (History.com Editors, 2018). Further, Osama bin Laden propelled inspirational messages for an offensive war which he promised to last until the world could appreciate Islam (History.com Editors, 2018). These inspirations lay solely on the foundational fact that Al Qaeda tried to defend itself from its Western invaders and fulfill duties asserted by Muhammad and Islam (Ibrahimi, 2018). Al Qaeda’s inspirations help to radicalize and recruit people who religiously seek isolation alongside individuals who share similar ideas.
Al Qaeda is inspired to spread Sharia laws worldwide and promote ideologies that prevent persecution of innocent citizens in Islamic nations. Ideology implies a cumulative sociopolitical program comprising group, personal, and socio-theoretical concepts, aims, and assertions (Cohen et al., 2018). Al Qaeda is more ideologically lethal than an organization, but the ideology has kept expanding despite losing leaders like Osama bin Laden. The U.S. is a democratic nation, but it disregards Islamic ideals and authorizes invasions of Islamic nations (Connah, 2021). Islam does not support noncombatant murder, particularly of children, women, rabbis, and monks. Islamic teachings propose immunity unless circumstances force them to be directly involved in the war. According to Al Qaeda’s statement in 2002, the group perceives all Westerners (Americans) as the major facilitators of suffering and atrocities inflicted on citizens in Islamic nations. More so, Al Qaeda’s ideologies ascertain that all Americans are responsible for the imprisonment and persecution of Iraqi children and the destruction of households in Palestine.
Al Qaeda exploits neo-colonialism and colonialism stigma to showcase the Westerners as a threat to Islam and Muslims, justifying the “Jihad” Holy War response. Islam’s translation of “Jihad” means striving and is religiously split into greater and lesser Jihad (Ibrahimi 2018). Greater Jihad signifies an individual’s struggle against wrong temptation and action, while lesser Jihad implies defending Islam from external corruption (History.com Editors, 2018). For this reason, Al Qaeda’s ideology is to fight against corrupt Western leaders in Islamic states and the wrong-doing the Westerners cause to innocent people such as children.
Means of Communication Used By the Al Qaeda
Al Qaeda uses social media to attract new members and spread its ideologies. This group uses social media as a channel for communication that shapes its narrative. Social media was used to propagate Al Qaeda’s radical ideology, which promotes violence and hates against Westerners, Christians, and Jews, and to recruit individuals to participate in their terrorist actions (Mapping Militant Organizations, 2019). Al Qaeda finds its inspiration from a sense of Western oppression via social media. According to Al Qaeda’s narrative, the West’s invasion of Islamic states inflicts persecution on innocent individuals, termed evil (History.com Editors, 2018). This grievance is a recruiting factor for new members and spurs the group to act as a whole.
The world has seen advancement in communication technology that has streamlined the flow of information today. Al Qaeda has embraced these technological advancements through the internet and media due to the rise in global security awareness, strict security measures, and favorable anonymity to spread their propaganda worldwide (Schumpe et al., 2020). Al Qaeda prevents interception of their communications through a steganography technological approach. Krishnan et al., (2017) define steganography as the concealment of a message, image, or file within another message, file, or image. Al Qaeda focuses on youths’ susceptibility to adapt to extremist ideas, such as economic and sociopolitical struggles and marginalization differences (Pandian et al., 2020). Social media is cheaper than previously deployed in facilitating anonymous donations. Al Qaeda utilized the internet’s anonymity and persona’s fiction to monitor activities on social media through specific targeting and delivering extremist ideologies to misguide their members. According to Ibrahimi (2018), Al Qaeda called for Jihad globally after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan. More than forty affiliated organizations had spread Al Qaeda’s propaganda over five thousand platforms, such as YouTube and websites, by 2005.
Individual-Level Psychological Concepts and Group-Level Drivers for Political Violence in the Form of Terrorism
Psychological explanations of terrorism consider different types of individuals and groups. It attempts to understand why humans resort to terrorist and violent actions and why groups of people continue garnering in violent acts. Terrorists are belligerent, with objectives and goals to achieve (Mostofa, 2019). However, when the outcomes do not favor their expectations, they take actions that make things happen in their favor by threatening the public. Pressure gradually rises on other individuals to become members and part of that terrorist group.
Psychoanalysis gives a precise understanding of terrorism through two main domains. These domains include social context and group dynamics of terrorism and the knowledge of people’s psychopathology of the terrorist (Mostofa, 2019). In the context of social and group dynamics, an individual’s psychological factors of terrorism include the need for belonging, identity, and perceived injustices. The domain of understanding an individual’s psychopathology reveals that terrorist violence is not impulsive action. Instead, it is a deliberate act of violence perpetuated on noncombatant citizens to defend the ideologies of a particular group.
Depending on the individual level, several causes of terrorism might escalate to the group level. Based on individual levels, the causes of terrorist violence are psychological, rational, and cultural. Rational causes could imply that terrorists believe that their actions have positive benefits that weigh out in some sense. Psychological causes result from the person’s unhappiness or dismay in their life (Cohen et al., 2018). Cultural causes include experiencing a perception of others as outcasts and a wish to diminish their existence. On the contrary, group level of terrorism is politically directed and driven at a group of society, government, mostly grieving for their social movement or an event of society.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Al Qaeda is a global terrorist group that propels extremist ideologies and propaganda about the oppression of Islamic countries by Western nations such as the U.S. Al Qaeda was formed in 1988 after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The inspiration for the formation of Al Qaeda includes countering the invasion of Islamic nations by Western countries, the writings of the Quran and the history of Muhammad’s soldiers’ glorious war, and spreading Sharia laws globally. Al Qaeda has embraced technological advances, and they use social media like YouTube and their steganography websites to monitor and facilitate communication and recruitment. Individual-level psychological concepts and group-level drivers for political violence in the form of terrorism explain why people resort to terrorist actions. Psychological factors at the individual level include rational and cultural values. At the same time, group-level terrorist actions are attributed to the similar trait of being belligerent with objectives and goals to achieve.
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