The origins of al Qaeda's ideology: implications for US strategy

Parameters, Spring, 2005 by Christopher Henzel

Al-Afghani's attempts to identify Western rationalism with primitive Islam, as well as his teaching on rebellion, brought condemnation from the Sunni clerical establishment. He failed to win a popular following for his ideas, and he was deported from Egypt by the pro-British regime of the Khedive Tawfiq. (7) But Al-Afghani's students had a lasting impact on the next generation of Muslim thinkers.

Sunni Reformers: 'Abduh and Ridha

Al-Afghani's leading student was Muhammed 'Abduh (1849-1905) He rose to become Grand Mufti of Egypt, making him the only prominent Salafist to have made a career among the clerical elite. 'Abduh was a modernist: like Al-Afghani, he contended that Islam, properly understood, was compatible with the rationalism of modern Europe. This proper understanding could be found in the supposedly pure religion practiced during the first few generations of Islam. 'Abduh coined the term "salafiah" to describe his teachings. Importantly, 'Abduh also taught that private judgment (ijtihad) was a valid means by which contemporary believers could understand "true" Islam in a modern light. (8)

'Abduh's followers took his ideas in two divergent directions after his death. Some used his teachings to advocate secularization in the Muslim world. They had much impact over the next 50 years, blunting Muslim resistance to Arab socialism and nationalism, but the logic of their views led many of them into outright secularism, taking them out of the debate among Sunni believers. (9)

The other current of 'Abduh's followers used many of his reforming ideas to move down the path that led to today's al Qaeda. 'Abduh's pupil and biographer, Mohammed Rashid Ridha (1865-1935) emphasized his master's teachings on the idea of a pure Islam of the aslaf, and on the idea that individuals and societies that adhere to "true" Islam will prosper in this world.

This was an especially attractive promise to Muslims living under European occupations. Ridha's circle viewed the early Muslims' conquests as God's reward for their pious obedience. If only Islam could be cleansed of its medieval encroachments and (in Ridha's version) the errors of both modern Westernizing philosophers and of Shias, then political success would follow. Ridha believed the establishment clergy incapable of leading the reform movement he desired. (10)

Al-Banna and the Muslim Brothers

The Egyptian Hassan Al-Banna (1906-1949) studied with Ridha's circle as a young man, and in 1928 he launched in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood, the first modern Islamic political movement. Al-Banna sought to unite and mobilize Muslims against the cultural and political domination of the West. However, the Brotherhood eventually reached an understanding with the regime of King Faruq, which saw the Brothers as a useful counter to nationalist movements. As a result, revolutionaries among the Salafists began to feel less and less comfortable with the Brotherhood.

Just as these differences within the Brotherhood were coming to the surface, Gamal Abdel Nasser and other military officers overthrew the Egyptian monarchy in 1952. The new socialist and nationalist military regime suppressed the Brotherhood in 1954, claiming it had plotted to assassinate Nasser.