Global Jihad: temi, piste di diffusione e il fenomeno del reducismo ...

example—is Bin Laden's group al-Qa’ida (The base). This group developed from the
civilian and social infrastructure of the Afghan groups that fought against the Soviet
Union in 1980-89, called "Maktab al-Khidamat” (The Office for Services). This office—
established by Dr. Abdallah Azzam, a Palestinian who moved to Afghanistan from
Jordan in 1980—gave the Afghan groups of mujaheddin a religious, cultural, and
social basis for their struggle. In April 1988, Azzam published an article in the
magazine Al-Jihad—the central organ of the Afghan groups, one that he founded and
edited—called "The Solid Base" (Al-Qa’idah al-Sulbah), 43 which laid the groundwork
for the new group al-Qa’ida. Toward the end of his article, Azzam left a kind of a
prophecy, one which seems to have come true in the years that followed:
“Now America is trying to grab the fruits of this great jihad and to rule without
recourse to Allah’s book. Accordingly, the solid base (Al-Qa’idah al-Sulbah) has to face
international pressures and temptations from all over the world. But they refused to
bow their heads before the storm. They decided to continue their march along a path
of sweat, tears, and blood.
Similarly, in an important book he first published in 1984, 44 Azzam wrote:
It is about time to think about a state that would be a solid base for the distribution of
the [Islamic] creed, and a fortress to protect the preachers from the hell of the
Jahiliyyah [the pre-Islamic period].
This description readily fits the Afghanistan and parts of Iraq of recent years—the
solid base for those fighting against the West.
Azzam’s implicit theme was the establishment of an Islamic army, with the Afghani
struggle against the Soviets as its modern model and the fight of Muhammad the
Prophet and his companions, its old one. The idea was to create a pioneering
generation of fighters who would prepare themselves for a constant struggle against
the West and its allies in the Muslim World. His model was not the Muslim world
43 Al-Jihad 41 (April 1988), p. 46.
44 Aayat al-Rahman fi Jihad al-Afghan [The divine miracles in the Afghan Jihad] (several editions since 1984 and a
revised edition in 1988). Available on-line in: http://www.tawhed.ws/a?i=77
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