What is al-Qaeda and what are their expressed reasons for their actions?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: The word al-Qaeda is an Arabic word meaning "the foundation." It is also the name of the terrorist group founded by Osama bin Laden. This network has been implicated in several bombings since 9/11. The al-Qaeda network issued a declaration of war against the United States in 1996 because of perceived grievances against the US, including the U.S. support for Saudi Arabia and Israel. In a 1998 "religious decree" known as a FATWA, bin Laden argued that Muslims had a duty to wage a holy war against U.S. citizens because the United States was responsible for maintaining the Saud royal family as rulers of Saudi Arabia and a state of Israel dominated by Jews. Destruction of the Saudi monarchy and the Jewish state of Israel would liberate from their control Islam's three holiest sites of Mecca, Madinah, and Jerusalem.

After U.S. Navy SEALS killed bin Laden in 2011, he was replaced by his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri. Al-Qaeda is not a single unified organization. In addition to the original organization responsible for the World Trade Center attack, al-Qaeda also encompasses local franchises concerned with country-specific issues, as well as imitators and emulators ideologically aligned with al-Qaeda but not financially tied to it.

Al-Qaeda's use of religion to justify attacks has posed challenges to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. For many Muslims, the challenge has been to express disagreement with the policies of governments in the United States and Europe yet disavow the use of terrorism. For many Americans and Europeans, the challenge has been to distinguish between the peaceful but unfamiliar principles and practices of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims and the misuse and abuse of Islam by a handful of terrorists.