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Unlike
ISIS, Al-Qaeda Says It Cares about 'Social Justice' in America
by Raymond Ibrahim
PJ Media
July 23, 2016
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Originally published on July 13 under the title "Once
Again, Al-Qaeda Brands Itself as Social Justice Warriors."
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The
"social justice" Al-Qaeda has in store for the world's
aggrieved would be a mixed bag.
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After the Orlando massacre, when an armed Muslim murdered 49 people in
a gay nightclub, al-Qaeda published a guide urging more such "lone
wolf" attacks – with the added caveat that jihadists should
exclusively target mainstream white Americans.
According to the jihadi group's online publication "Inspire
guide: Orlando operation," killing homosexuals is "the most
binding duty."
However, would-be jihadis are advised to "avoid targeting places
and crowds where minorities are generally found in America," and
instead to target "areas where the Anglo-Saxon community is
generally concentrated."
In response, several pundits warned that al-Qaeda is shifting gears,
somehow trying to portray itself as a "social justice warrior."
In fact, al-Qaeda has long presented itself to the West in this
manner.
Al-Qaeda has long presented itself
as seeking social justice for Western minorities.
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These latest instructions are hardly new. Further, they help explain
the real differences between al-Qaeda and ISIS, and which stage of jihad
they see themselves in.
Although The
Al Qaeda Reader documents al-Qaeda's dual
approach -- preach unrelenting jihad to Muslims, whine about
grievances to Westerners -- a nearly decade-old
communique from al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is sufficient to
understand the strategy behind these latest instructions.
In that letter, Zawahiri spoke to the many
"under-privileged" of the world:
That's why I want blacks in America,
people of color, American Indians, Hispanics, and all the weak and
oppressed in North and South America, in Africa and Asia, and all over
the world, to know that when we wage jihad in Allah's path, we aren't
waging jihad to lift oppression from Muslims only; we are waging jihad to
lift oppression from all mankind, because Allah has ordered us
never to accept oppression, whatever it may be ... This is why I want
every oppressed one on the face of the earth to know that our victory
over America and the Crusading West -- with Allah's permission -- is a
victory for them, because they shall be freed from the most powerful
tyrannical force in the history of mankind.
American blacks, however, were Zawahiri's primary targets. Zawahiri
praised and quoted from the convert to Islam, Malcolm X: "Anytime
you beg another man to set you free, you will never be free. Freedom is
something you have to do for yourself. The price of freedom is
death."
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Al-Qaeda
leader Ayman al-Zawahiri (left) is fond of quoting Malcolm X.
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The al-Qaeda leader also appealed to another potentially sympathetic
population -- environmentalists: "[The U.S.] went out and ruined for
the entire world, the atmosphere and climate with the gases emitted by
its factories."
Years earlier, Osama bin Laden himself complained about the U.S. not
signing the Kyoto protocols: "You [the U.S.] have destroyed nature
with your industrial waste and gases more than any other nation in
history."
What does this ostensibly disparate group of people --
"third-worlders," environmentalists, and disaffected American
blacks -- have in common? They all harbor anti-Western sentiments that
can be appealed to for purposes of exonerating al-Qaeda's jihad.
Now, al-Qaeda is again reaffirming that killing homosexuals is
"the most binding duty," but it's still best to continue
targeting non-minorities in America -- "Anglo-Saxons" --
because they are so easy to demonize.
Zawahiri used the same strategy in Egypt in 2014. During a
particularly brutal period of Christian persecution -- dozens of churches
were burned -- he counseled
Egypt's Muslims to stop attacking Coptic Christians. The al-Qaeda leader,
who on numerous occasions had exhibited his antipathy for Christians,
made clear that his directive was purely for PR purposes; he was
concerned about jihad's image in the West.
While agreeing to the most draconian of Sharia's tenets, al-Qaeda also
knows that many of these -- for example, the destruction of churches and
subjugation of "infidel" Christians -- need to be curtailed or
hidden from the Western world. Otherwise, al-Qaeda's efforts at
portraying jihadis as "freedom fighters" resisting an
oppressive West risk being undermined.
Unlike al-Qaeda, ISIS is
indifferent to Western opinion.
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On the other hand, ISIS represents the unapologetic jihad, indifferent
to Western opinion.
By widely broadcasting its savage triumphalism in the name of Islam,
ISIS forfeits the "social warrior" card and instead plays the
"strength" card. In this manner ISIS has inspired hundreds of
millions of Muslims, according to some disturbing
polls.
Al-Qaeda was born at a time when deceiving the West about the aims of
the jihad was deemed necessary; ISIS was born at a time when deceiving an
already passive West is no longer deemed important.
Time will tell which strategy works better.
Raymond Ibrahim is a Judith
Friedman Rosen fellow at the Middle East Forum and a Shillman fellow at
the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
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