The Brotherhood later spawned Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the terrorist organization responsible for the murder of Nasser's successor, Anwar Sadat, and linked to the 1993 bombings of the World Trade Center. In Egypt, Wahhabism took root in the Muslim Brotherhood, a largely nonviolent movement offering an alternative to the secular Arab nationalism of Gamal Abdel Nasser. In the turmoil of the postcolonial world and especially following the Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic revolution, Wahhabism spread farther afield and in its most militant form supported (or was appropriated by) the radical terrorist group Al Qaeda.
Despite its call for the restoration of an Islamic republic, the sect provided the theological underpinning and much of the muscle of the new kingdom of Saudi Arabia founded in 1932 by Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud. This mandate would find an echo in the radicalism of Osama bin Laden.įor most of its history Wahhabism remained isolated in Saudi Arabia. Their founder, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, declared a jihad against those who did not agree with his view of the faith. Calls to purify Islam of these idolatrous trappings brought Wahhabis into violent conflict with Islamic regimes. This commitment to turning back the clock has led both followers and critics of the movement to refer to it as Salafism, from the Arabic word salaf, meaning "predecessors" or "ancestors." Although not inherently violent, Wahhabi theology rejected any "modern" additions to Islamic faith, practice, or even culture. Contemporary Islamic extremism has its roots in Wahhabism, an eighteenth-century revival movement that sought to restore the faith to its original, pristine form. While nothing in the core teachings of Islam justifies the abuses of contemporary terrorist groups, Islam, like any other religion, has been used by followers to justify a range of violent actions. Muhammad also outlined what Christians would call a just-war theory, laying down strict prohibitions against killing noncombatants, especially women and children. For this reason, the Prophet insisted that the "greater jihad" be the personal struggle to live as a good Muslim. Contrary to popular belief, jihad does not mean " holy war." "Holy struggle" or "struggle for righteousness" better captures the meaning of the term. Following the battle of the Trenches before Medina, Muhammad articulated the concept of "lesser jihad," or defensive war, to protect the uma (community of believers).
Placed tight restrictions on any use of force. For these reasons many analysts prefer the terms Islamist terrorism or fundamentalist terrorism.Īs a proselytizing religion, Islam (like Christianity) has historically permitted use of violence to spread the faith. The cartoons reinforced the offensive stereotype that Islam is a violent religion that encourages terrorism.
The drawings produced little response when they first appeared in Denmark in the fall of 2005 but unleashed a firestorm of protest when republished by papers in Muslim countries in February 2006. The cartoons satirizing Islam included a sinister image of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a turban made to look like a bomb with a lit fuse. Critics correctly point out that although both Judaism and Christianity have motivated terrorist groups, these groups have seldom been labeled "Jewish terrorists" or "Christian terrorists." The 2006 controversy over cartoons published in a Danish newspaper and republished elsewhere in Europe underscores the sensitivity of this issue. It implies that as a religion Islam encourages violence and that Muslims may be especially susceptible to becoming terrorists. The term is both problematic and to many people offensive. Islamic terrorism is both a propaganda term and an analytical category to describe the work and beliefs of a loosely linked set of fundamentalist groups at war with westernized Arab regimes and the countries that support them.
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