Posted on 08/17/2002 2:30:22 AM PDT by ramdalesh
"What is Al Queda?" I asked after the September 11 attacks. Who are these people and why do they go by Al Queda? So I turned to my resounces.
"How does one translate the term Al Queda?" I asked a muslim scholar and student of Arabic.
"Al Queda or Al Quaid can be translated as meaning, foundation or fundamentals. In this case the terrorist organization Al Queda literally means The Fundamentalists."
"It is upsetting to many Arabs and Muslims that they should go by that because the term "Al Quaid" comes from introductory lessons in Koranic Arabic. It means literally, fundamental teaching. Students of Arabic will hear the phrase Al Quaid in the context of, "The foundation of Arabic is alef-bet, or first (al quaid) one must learn how to read simple Arabic words before you can learn proper grammar, or the foundation (Al Quaid) for mathematics is arithmetic...etc. The Foundation (Al Quaid) for Islam is Koran."
This is the problem with the phrase Al Queda. Islam is not just a religion but it is also 1420 years of political philosophy. Prior to September 11, liberal revolutions in the Islamic world threatened disassemble the political infrastructure in there. Al Queda has, through terrorism created a firewall of prejudice against the religion and the people in that region, and simultaneously ensured the people remain at the mercy of their leaders.
The terrorism of Osama Bin Ladin's Al Queda network accomplished only one thing, and that is what it set out to do. Any Islamic intellectual movement that speaks of injustices in the Arab world, and any effort in the body of Islam to incorporate the ideals of Democracy and the Islamic faith was utterly silenced.
This investigation has changed my view of the September 11 attacks. It seems that the cry for democracy and freedom in the Islamic world grew so loud that the religious extremists who control the Islamic state were desperate to maintain their position of power, for fear of having to sacrifice the Idealogical purity of the Shariat in the Islamic world and succumb to the outcry for democracy among the citizens of Islamic nations. By attacking a United States symbol of democracy and freedom the Mullahs and other religious leaders and dictators who supported Al Queda show that the Idealogical foundations of Islamic Political Policy are no longer relevant to the needs of the people. In this way Islamic Conservatism is upheld in the Islamic state. In this way the voice of a people who cry for Democracy on the other-side of an Iron Curtain is silenced by their own leaders. In this way America is used as a pawn by the rulers in Islamic countries in order to silence and control a growing trend toward freedom and democracy in Moslem countries.
Suicide bombers do not speak for the educated. But the September 11 attacks, appeal to the emotions of the free world outside of Islam and successfully stirred a frenzy of prejudice among people who had never otherwise had contact with Muslims. It is a demonstration to muslims that they will never have the freedom that Americans have. September 11 never succeeded in demoralizing the United States. What it did was prolong the suffering of Moslem people and secured the Islamic welfare state by creating a buffer against reform.
This should be considered in the war against terror..
Suicide bombers are not Al Queda. Rather they are Al Isfallah Safidin.
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