by Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n
National Review Online<\/em><\/p>\n I<\/span>s the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Masri, dead? Iraqi authorities just proclaimed that he was recently killed due to infighting. But al Qaeda-related websites beg to differ: \u201c[H]e is still fighting the enemies of Allah.\u201d And the U.S. is unsure: \u201cI [Lieutenant-Colonel Garver] hope it\u2019s true; we\u2019re checking, but we\u2019re going to be doubly sure before we can confirm anything.\u201d The most important question, however, isn\u2019t being much addressed: Would the death of al-Masri \u2014 or any other Islamist leader \u2014 make any difference, at all?<\/p>\n One is reminded of all the hubbub surrounding the killing of al-Masri\u2019s infamous predecessor \u2014 the head-chopping Abu Musab al-Zarqawi \u2014 nearly one year ago. Then, almost every major politician, including President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, and Iraq\u2019s Prime Minister Maliki, gave some sort of victory speech, some highly triumphant, others more cautious.<\/p>\n But if Zarqawi\u2019s death did not hinder al Qaeda\u2019s highly influential presence in Iraq \u2014 estimated to have grown since then \u2014 will al-Masri\u2019s? Indeed, would the death of Aymin al-Zawahiri or Osama bin Laden himself have any tangible affects on the growth, spread, and goals of radical Islam? Recent history provides a lucid answer to these questions.<\/p>\n Consider the progress of the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest and oldest Islamic fundamentalist organization today, which Aymin al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda\u2019s number two man, joined when he was fourteen years old. Founded in Egypt by Hassan al-Banna in 1928, it originally boasted only six members. In the following decades, in part thanks to the radical writings of one of its premiere ideologues, Sayyid Qutb \u2014 whom al Qaeda quotes liberally in their many writings \u2014 the Brotherhood, though constantly clashing with Egypt\u2019s government, grew steadily.<\/p>\n As leaders, both Banna and Qutb were eventually targeted and killed by Egypt\u2019s government \u2014 the former assassinated and the latter executed. Far from dying out, however, the Brotherhood continued thriving underground for many more decades. Then, to the world\u2019s surprise, the partially banned, constantly harassed Brotherhood managed to win 88 out of 454 seats in Egypt\u2019s 2005 parliamentary elections \u2014 making them the largest opposition bloc in the government.<\/p>\n After two of its most prominent leaders were killed, after thousands of its members have been harassed, jailed, and sometimes tortured, today the Brotherhood is stronger, more influential, and securer than at any other time in its turbulent history.<\/p>\n Palestine\u2019s Hamas, itself an offshoot of the Brotherhood, is another case in point. Founded in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Hamas has since been labeled a terrorist organization by several nations, including the U.S., most notably for its many suicide-operations against Israel. Due to Yassin\u2019s figurehead status in Hamas, the Israeli government targeted him for assassination: on March 22, 2004, while the quadriplegic Yassin was being wheeled out of a mosque after morning prayers, an Israeli helicopter launched two Hellfire missiles at him, killing him instantly.<\/p>\n The result? Far from waning or demoralizing, Hamas, like the Brotherhood before them and also to international consternation, went on to win a major landslide election in the January 2006 Palestinian elections, thereby officially representing the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n Then there is the Ayatollah Khomeini \u2014 the original poster-boy of radical Islam. Overthrowing a secular government and coming to power in Iran\u2019s Islamic revolution of 1979, Khomeini transformed Iran into a theocratic state \u2014 precisely what al Qaeda yearns to see happen in the rest of the Islamic world. From influencing the American hostage crisis to issuing a fatwa condemning a novelist to death to taunting the U.S., which he termed \u201cthe Great Satan\u201d \u2014 for one decade he was the West\u2019s bane.<\/p>\n Today, nearly 20 years after the death of the Iranian cleric, not much has changed in Iran. Sharia law still governs; Sharia-endorsed enmity towards the West still thrives. In fact, the only real difference is that the Islamic theocracy\u2019s aspiration for nuclear armaments is nearly realized.<\/p>\n T<\/span>here are countless other examples from both past and present history where popular Islamist leaders were either killed or died naturally and the only thing that changed is that the movement they led grew and consolidated more power.<\/p>\n Indeed, the Muslim prophet Muhammad himself was harassed, attacked, and targeted for killing by his non-Muslim neighbors \u2014 sometimes in self-defense \u2014 and today, 1,400 years after his death, the movement he started claims over one billion adherents.<\/p>\n Aymin al-Zawahiri summarizes this phenomenon well. Asked in one of his most recent interviews about the status of bin Laden and the Taliban\u2019s one-eyed Mullah Omar, he confidently replied:<\/p>\n Jihad in the path of Allah is greater than any individual or organization. It is a struggle between Truth and Falsehood, until Allah Almighty inherits the earth and those who live in it. Mullah Muhammad Omar and Sheikh Osama bin Laden\u2014may Allah protect them from all evil\u2014are merely two soldiers of Islam in the journey of jihad, while the struggle between Truth and Falsehood transcends time (from The Al-Qaeda Reader, 182).<\/p>\n According to this statement, which itself is grounded in the Koran, Islamic militants are not the\u00a0cause<\/i>\u00a0of the war. They are but a symptom of a much greater cause \u2014 the \u201cstruggle between Truth [Islam] and Falsehood [non-Islam]\u201d that \u201ctranscends time.\u201d The problem, then, is not men like Khomeini, Banna, Qutb, and Yassin \u2014 nor is it even bin Laden, Zawahiri, or al-Masri: individually killing them off is only treating the symptom, not curing the malady. The root cause is the violent and fascist ideology that motivates them.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, this ideology is grounded in a religion and a God replete with eternal damnations and rewards, and thus not easily discredited. None of the aforementioned men initiated the many commands that create strife between Muslims and non-Muslims; they only upheld them. Immutable verses from the Koran, as well as countless statements from and examples by Muhammad, are the ultimate source of this animosity:<\/p>\n \u201cFight them [infidels] until there in no more seduction and all religion belongs to Allah alone\u201d (Koran 8:39).<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you encounter infidels, strike off their heads\u201d (Koran 47:4).<\/p>\n \u201cI [Muhammad] have been made victorious through terror\u201d (Bukhari B52N220).<\/p>\n No \u201cradical\u201d Muslim fabricated these verses and others like them. These are understood to be the everlasting words of Allah and his prophet.<\/p>\n Even the reckless strikes of 9\/11 \u2014 where mostly civilians, including women and children, were killed \u2014 are justified for al Qaeda through Islam. While it is true that Islam is generally against the killing of non-combatants such as women and children, there are certain exceptions to this generalization, and al Qaeda often cites them to validate 9\/11. For instance, Muhammad authorized his followers to use catapults during their siege of the town of Taif in 630 A.D., though he was aware that women and children were sheltered there. Also, when asked if it was permissible to launch night raids or set fire to the fortifications of the infidels if women and children were among them, the prophet is said to have responded, \u201cThey are from among them\u201d (Muslim B19N4321).<\/p>\n The West\u2019s plight vis-\u00e0-vis radical Islam is therefore akin to Hercules\u2019s epic encounter with the multiheaded Hydra-monster. Every time the mythical strongman lopped off one of the monster\u2019s heads, two new ones grew in its place. To slay the beast once and for all, Hercules figured out that he could cauterize the stumps with fire, thereby preventing any more heads from sprouting out.<\/p>\n Similarly, while the West continues lopping off radicalized \u201cmonster-heads,\u201d it is imperative to at least acknowledge the malady \u2014 radical Islam \u2014 in order to ultimately prevail. Victory can only come when the violent ideologies of radical Islam have been cauterized.<\/p>\n But, alas, the Hydra-monster is myth; radical Islam is stark reality.<\/p>\n Raymond Ibrahim is a research librarian at the Library of Congress. His new book,\u00a0<\/i>The Al Qaeda Reader,\u00a0which translates Osama bin Laden’s communiqu<\/i><\/span>\u00e9s,will be available in April 2007<\/i>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Radical Islam will ensure the constant replacement of whatever terrorists we kill. by Raymond Ibrahim National Review Online Is the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Masri, dead? Iraqi authorities just proclaimed that he was recently killed due to infighting. But al Qaeda-related websites beg to differ: \u201c[H]e is still fighting the enemies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[227,758],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1qo","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3075,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/bin-laden-and-the-eternal-hydra-of-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":5480,"position":0},"title":"Bin Laden and the Eternal Hydra of War","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Hudson New York As we ponder the significance of Osama bin Laden's death, it is well to reflect that Islamists are not the\u00a0cause\u00a0of hostilities; they are but\u00a0symptoms\u00a0of a much greater cause. Individually killing them off \u2014 which is nice \u2014 is like a doctor temporarily treating a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Islam"","block_context":{"text":"Islam","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/islam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1081,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/muslim-brotherhood-seeks-mastership-of-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":5480,"position":1},"title":"Muslim Brotherhood Seeks ‘Mastership of World’","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Jihad Watch Although many Muslim leaders openly articulate their efforts as part of a larger picture \u2014 one that culminates in the\u00a0resurrection of a caliphate\u00a0adversarial by nature to all things non-Muslim \u2014 many Western leaders see only the moment, either out of context or, worse, in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Muslim Brotherhood"","block_context":{"text":"Muslim Brotherhood","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/muslim-brotherhood\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5465,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wanted\/","url_meta":{"origin":5480,"position":2},"title":"Wanted","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Coptic minorities fleeing religious persecution in Egypt by Raymond Ibrahim Private Papers Lest you think that the U.S. court system has made humanitarian considerations its first priority, as evidenced by the recent court ruling to release from military custody Ali Saleh al Marri \u2014 an al-Qaeda sleeper agent who was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3086,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/was-osama-bin-laden-the-chicken-or-the-egg\/","url_meta":{"origin":5480,"position":3},"title":"Was Osama Bin Laden the Chicken or the Egg?","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim PJ Media To posit the significance of Osama bin Laden's demise, we must first decide which came first \u2014 the chicken or the egg? Quaint as it is, this question is fundamentally an inquiry into the nature of cause and effect. In our context, did Osama bin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2431,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/mubarak-deceived-israel-as-muhammad-deceived-infidels\/","url_meta":{"origin":5480,"position":4},"title":"Mubarak Deceived Israel as Muhammad Deceived Infidels?","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Hudson New York In light of ousted president Hosni Mubarak's ongoing trial, Western readers may be surprised to learn who some of Mubarak's staunchest defenders are: Salafi Muslims, that is, those Muslims who practice the 7th-century Islam of Muhammad, often referred to as \"radicals.\" Sheikh Mahmoud Amer,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egypt"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/egypt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2532,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/al-qaedas-zawahiri-bigger-threat-than-osama\/","url_meta":{"origin":5480,"position":5},"title":"Al Qaeda’s Zawahiri, Bigger Threat Than Osama?","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Bloomberg Now that Ayman Zawahiri has assumed leadership of al Qaeda, it is important to end the widespread perception that he is a dour intellectual who is disconnected from young, would-be jihadists. 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