al-Qaeda (Arabic: القاعدة, al-qāʿidah, the base) is an Islamist jihadist multinational organization that was founded around August 1988 and late 1989.p75 It works as a network, as a stateless army, and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad.
Most of the world thinks it is a terrorist organization.
Al-Qaeda | |
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القاعدة | |
Leaders | Osama bin Laden † (1988–2011) Ayman al-Zawahiri † (2011–2022) |
Dates of operation | 1988–present |
Group(s) | Al-Qaeda Central (1988–present) Al-Qaeda in Iraq (2004–2013, became Mujahideen Shura Council in January 2006) |
Active regions | Worldwide Predominantly in the Middle East |
Ideology | Salafist jihadism Wahhabism Qutbism Pan-Islamism Anti-Communism Anti-Zionism Antisemitism |
Allies | State allies:
Non-state allies:
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Opponents | State opponents
Non-State opponents
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Battles and wars | War on Terror In Afghanistan
In Tajikistan
In Chechnya
In Yemen
In the Maghreb
In Iraq
In Pakistan
In Somalia
In Syria
In Egypt
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Designated as a terrorist group by | Canada China France Iran Japan United Kingdom Russia United States United Arab Emirates |
Members of al-Qaeda have performed many acts of terrorism. Most of these have been done against the United States and Shias. Some of its most well-known attacks have been the September 11 attacks, the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and the attack on the U.S. Navy ship USS Cole in 2000. al-Qaeda has done suicide attacks and simultaneous (at the same time) bombings of different targets.
Among al-Qaeda's goals is for other countries to stop influencing Muslim countries and for a new Islamic caliphate to be made. There have been reports that al-Qaeda believes that Christian and Jewish Islamophobia is trying to destroy Islam and that the killing of bystanders and civilians is religiously justified in jihad.
There have been guesses that there are 500–1,000 operatives in Afghanistan and around 5,000 worldwide. However, there is no confirmation of this.
The group is diverse in its beliefs even though the group calls itself Salafi, it has many members who are Hanafi, Shafi`i, Maliki, Wahhabi, and Sufi as the former leader of the group Osama bin Laden was accepting of members as long as they were Muslims in his eyes. A few exceptions include followers of Shiism who curse and reject the companions of Muhammad (exceptions were made for those few who did not reject and curse the companions), and followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.
In June 2001, al-Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which had been associated with each other for many years, merged into 'Qaeda al-Jihad'.
Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri was the highest-ranking surviving member of al-Qaeda's leadership after Osama bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011.
Senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed in a drone strike on June 4, 2022. He ranked second to Ayman al-Zawahiri at the time. The strike was carried out in the northwest tribal area of Waziristan. The Pakistan Government has protested to the U.S. about the strike.
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