Machiavelli once said that "armed prophet’s win." Al-Quada has formally introduced itself to the mainstream world. On September 11, 2001 this group made a terrorist attack against the United States of America (USA) attacking key symbols of power and declaring full out war against the West. Al-Quada attacked the World Trade Centre (WTC), which symbolized America’s pre-eminent economic power. Al-Quada also attacked the Pentagon the key military structure and symbol of American might in the world. Al-Quada was almost successful in attacking the White House, but the plane was taken off course due to the valiant effort of its passengers. The real question is what would motivate Al-Quada to engage the west in a war. A brief historical account of Al-Quada will emerge. The analysis of Al-Quada will be discussed from a religious, political, military and ideological perspective. The paper will analyze Al-Quada to determine if this group is a millenarian movement. A millenarian movement is defined as "quest for total, imminent, ultimate, this-worldly, collective salvation."

Is Al-Quada a genuine messianic movement for the 21-century? Or is Al-Quada a political movement disguised as a millennial movement? There will be a political analysis of Al-Quada. Al-Quada will also be compared against material studied in class such as Dune and Cohn. Now let us begin our analysis of Al-Quada by introducing a brief historical background of this group. Al-Quada translation means "the base;

History

Al Quad serves as informal organization structure for extremists Arab Afghans along with thousands of new supporters in 55 countries." Al-Quada has military, political, religious components but there ideology is composed of six objectives. The first objective is "opposes all nations and institutions that are not governed in manner consistent with group’s own interest." The second objective is "opposed continued USA military presence." The third objective is "August 1996 Declaration of Jihad against USA and Saudi government." Jihad is defined as "strive, effort struggle to follow Islam can include defense of faith, armed struggle or holy war." The fourth objective of Al-Quada is "fatwah stating Muslims should kill Americans including civilians anywhere in the world they can be found." Fatwah is defined as "formal legal opinion or decision of a matter of Islamic law." The fifth objective is "the nuclear bomb of Islam, in which he stated that it is the duty of Muslims to prepare as much force as possible to attach the enemies of god." The last objective of Al-Quada is: "Stated objective to unite all Muslims and establish a government, which follows the rule of the Caliphs. To achieve this goal all Muslim governments viewed corrupt by western influence must be overthrown by force. Eventually Muslim state boundaries will be erased and replaced by unified government under the rule of the Caliphs." The first objective clearly focuses on any Muslim countries that don’t fit its strict interpretation of Islam. Al-Quada examples include countries like Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Afghanistan and Somalia. The second factor is opposition to USA foreign policy to military bases and assistance to key Middle East areas like Saudi Arabia and the Israelis. Al-Quada is totally anti-Semitic and anti-American in all maters. The third factor of Jihad against USA was officially declared attack on WTC on September 11, 2001. USA has been on a global War on Terrorism and Al-Quada is there number one enemy. Osama bin Laden is the "number one most wanted terrorist according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) the reward is $25 million." Al-Quada Jihad against the USA and Saudi Arabia has resulted in numerous terrorist attacks. Through an extreme version of Islamic fundamentalism this Jihad is rationalized. The fourth factor is interesting because other religious leaders other than Osama Bin Laden endorse this view in the Muslim society. The Al-Quada movement is tapping into the masses. The fatwah concept carries significance only if its followers are susceptible to religious indoctrination. Generally in warfare it is a convention to not attack civilians. Clearly Al-Quada believes attacking American civilians is justifiable. However, thru terrorism attacking civilians has significant leverage in creating a climate of fear that pays large dividends. The fifth objective includes obtaining a doomsday weapon like a nuclear warhead. If Al-Quada were to use this weapon against the USA it would certainly catalyze an apocalyptic movement of grand proportions. Millennial movements often have references to the end days. Acquisition and deployment of WMD (weapon of mass destruction) would wreak havoc on the stability of the international community. In the past the USSR and USA operated under mutual assured destruction concept. Unfortunately non-state actors like Al-Quada are actively motivated by such millennial apocalyptic concepts. Detonation of a nuclear weapon on USA or Israeli soil would certainly justify a response that could be the catalyst for a possible apocalypse. The sixth objective can be analyzed as creating a new Muslim world order. Currently the Middle East is divided into many competing states and interests. This consolidation of political, military and religious power would result in a new power that might significantly challenge the hegemony of the USA. From this perspective the rationale for a unified Muslim nation is logical from the Al-Quada perspective. Caliphs are defined as "for Sunni Muslims, successor of Muhammad as leader of Islamic community." By having the power concentrated in Caliphs this would result into the reuniting formally religion into all government decisions. Many great thinkers have quoted religion as an excellent mechanism to control the masses and Al-Quada is capitalizing on this concept.

What is the political rational behind Al-Quada? Terrorism is the primary vehicle of Al-Quada. Terrorism is defined as: "The calculated deployment of violence, or threat of violence by individuals, sub national groups, and state actors to attain political, social and economic objectives in violation of law, intended to create an overwhelming fear in a target group larger than the victims attacked or threatened is as old as civilization itself." This political and military strategy is extremely effective for Al-Quada. For example "the September 11 2001 brutal attacks on the USA unprecedented in scope and sophistication killing an estimated 7000 people and wounding many others represented the deadliest terrorist operations in the world’s history." Other terrorist acts include

"Attacks, WTC 1993 & 2001, Pentagon, USS Cole, 1998 US embassy in East Africa, Khobar towers in Saudi Arabia." Terrorism is an extremely effective tool that can be employed to achieve political objective. In this case Al-Quada has further polarized relations between the Western liberal democracies and Islamic fundamentalist and some mainstream Muslim countries. Samuel Huntington has a fascinating perspective on the vast differences of Islam versus the West. Huntington suggests that "Conflict along the fault line between Western and Islamic civilizations has been going on for 1300 years."

From the Crusades to the USA current War on Terrorism, wars have emerged between these two civilizations. Many western concepts are a direct threat to Islamic models of governance. For example "Western ideas of individualism, liberalism, constitutionalism, human rights, equality, liberty, the rule of law, democracy, free markets, the separation of church and state, often have little resonance in Islamic [and other]…cultures." This analysis proves extremely insightful into the world of Islamic cultures.

Islamic religion does have millenarian movements. Islamic fundamentalism, which is a critical component of Al-Quada, offers an excellent vehicle for creating a unique millennial movement with its own objectives. Every religious movement needs a leader so let us evaluate the history of Osama bin Laden. Osama was born 17 of 51 children in 1957 into the Bin Laden family. The "Bin Laden family in Saudi Arabia are to the Rockefellers was to the west." Osama was "educated in civil engineering or public management degree from King Abdul Aziz University 1980." Osama background was "good looking, charismatic, wealthy, womanizer drank excessive alcohol and engaged in bar room brawls." Osama’s upbringing sounds more like a western capitalist playboy versus follower of Islamic fundamentalism. Like any potential messiah figure in Cohn’s book they often are from upper or middle classes of society. The Bin Laden family construction corporation "SBC is worth $5 billion." Osama a millionaire was without a doubt was raised in the top tier of society. Bin Laden’s evolution from western playboy to religious leader was similar process to the many ascetics in Cohn. The trigger that started Bin Laden’s metamorphous was reading ancient readings of Islam and specific religious teachers. As his metamorphous continued it was catalyzed by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. This leads Osama to leave his life of luxury and enter the Jihad against the USSR. Like many ascetics in Cohn, Osama went thru a transformation living in the dessert and great suffering.

The Americans used Afghanistan as a proxy during the Cold War. The CIA is "partially to blame for blowback and following soviet with drawl that they were partially to blame for creating this new enemy." It is ironic Bin Laden’s group members were trained by the CIA to fight the Russians in a proxy war. Afghanistan is notoriously known for producing some of the most battle-hardened warriors in history. Like the desert planet of Dune provided a training ground for the Freemen, so did Afghanistan provide the brutal training ground of Al-Quada. Eventually the USSR was forced to withdraw from Afghanistan due to devastating losses. Religion and faith played a significant factor in the defeat of the Russians "Islamic fighters were told that if you have your faith you don’t need anything else to demolish all the superpowers. They were brought up to believe you could demolish both the USSR and USA and the entire world. And having driven USSR out of Afghanistan they felt they have the power to drive USA out of any Muslim land as well." In comparison to Dune it would be like the Freemen driving the Harkonens out of control of Arakis but not defeating the Emperor. This is similar to Paul Muadib being trained by the Lady Jessica in the Bene Gesserette way and by Gurney. Paul would pass on this secret knowledge of weirding way and martial combat to the Freemen. Osama was rumored to have had training from the Central Intelligence Agency. Osama like Paul passed on his knowledge and expertise to his followers to achieve their objectives. Bin Laden’s reputation during and after the war began to grow "word of his bravery, leadership, and devotion to Islam spread making him a hero to people." Hero worship often leads to legends, myths and martyrdom. Paul Muadib also capitalized on his hero worship as his victories on Arakis increased. Osama like Paul capitalized on his growing popularity to usher forward his political and religious objectives.

What is interesting is that Jihad in general has messianic qualities. For example " The clear disjunction between public life and the Islamic ideal contributed to the popular expectation of a future messianic figure, the Mahdi (guided one), who would come to deliver the community from oppression by the forces of evil and restore true Islam and the reign of justice on earth." Osama is the poster child for the Islamic Jihad against the Western nations. As long as Bin Laden evades capture by the USA his following continue to increase. If Bin Laden is killed then he becomes a martyr and his followers will create a veil of illusion to raise his stature to a messianic figure. Paul Muadib realized the power of martyrdom when Harkonnen Feyd Rautha challenged him to Kanly. If Paul died then he would become a martyr to the Freemen if he lived his legend would spread even further. Freemen myth is similar to extremist Islam with the prophecy of a messiah figure that will deliver the people and usher in a new golden age. Interesting note that "Mahdism has not been generally accepted in the Sunna and not a fundamental dogma of orthodox Islam." The fundamentalist form of Islam has messianic messages.

Jihad and fundamentalism act as catalyst to speed up the messianic movements. A real world example "exploiting brutal unrest and famine in Somalia bin Laden sought to establish Jihad in that country in an effort to expel western influence." This resulted in the Americans pulling out of Somalia after 18 USA soldiers were killed. 28,000 USA soldiers moved out of Somalia. This was a humiliating defeat for the USA military. Religious movements with military success often use messianic messages to continue their campaigns. This military victory reinforced their religious perspective that they could defeat the infidels. Bin Laden said:

"We believe that God used our holy war in Afghanistan to destroy the Russian Army and now we ask God to use us one more time to do the same to the USA and make it a shadow of itself. We also believe our war against the USA is much simpler than our war against USSR because some of our mujahideen who fought in Afghanistan also participated in Somalia and they were surprised at the collapse of the American morale. This convinced us that USA is a paper tiger."

Bin Laden clearly believes that his movement is pre determined cosmic plan to eventually victory against his enemies. This pre ordained belief is an integral part of millennial movements. Cohn describes how the Christians exterminated their enemies in the name of God and their millennial beliefs. Al-Quada is on a similar path; they believe that their movement will result in a unified Islamic world under the caliphs. Al-Quada is in a crisis situation, which is usually a parameter of millennial movements. Suffering is another integral component of millennial movements. Al-Quada has lost many followers in war to the Russians and Americans. In historical times it was often coined "war between the sons of light and sons of darkness." Al-Quada clearly perceives the Russians, Americans and certain Muslims as the sons of darkness. This Jihad can lead to antinomian behaviors. Antinomian is defined as "opposed to or denying the fixed meaning or universal applicability of moral law." Al-Quada does not engage in illicit sexuality. Al-Quada does engage in zealous aggression in the forms of terrorism. The prospect of using nuclear warheads is considered antinomian.

Another factor considering millennial movements is the division of power for multiple prophets. Sheikh Omar Rahman spiritual leader of Egyptian Al-Quada said "We have to be terrorists, the great Allah said, against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power including steeds of war, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah and your enemies." This quotation illustrates that the decentralized nature of Al-Quada has numerous religious power bases that increases the odds of survivability. Usually millennial movements have a timeline for events to occur. What is interesting about Al-Quada movement is there is no definitive timeline for the completion of their objectives. This strategic move allows them to continue their quest without the pressure of a precise deadline. Another variable contributing to this movement is the education and inculcation of hatred to western values in madras’s. Madras’s are schools that teach young boys and girls usually instructed by Islamic fundamentalist prophets. This type of religion abhors science, western values and bases itself on unique interpretations of the Koran. This education has planted the seed for another generation that can continue this religious extremist movement.

The Dune analogy can be further extrapolated against Al-Quada. The Americans can be parallel to the House of the Emperor. American military can be compared to the Emperors elite force Sardaukar. The Emperor could be seen as George W Bush. Multinational corporations can be viewed as Choam space consortium. The Harkonens can be likened to Israelis or Saudi Arabia. The planet Dune can be compared to the Middle East. The spice can be equated to the oil supplies in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Paul Muadib says, "The power to destroy a thing is the absolute control over it." This could refer to the ability to stop or divert the flow of oil or commerce in the global economy. Baron Harkonens could be equated to Ariel Sharon. Paul like Osama came from a royal family. Osama bin Laden could be a Count Fenring or Paul Muadib. The recent War on Terrorism and Jihad could be paralled to the continual strife between House Atredies and House Harkonen. The Freemen could be interpreted as Al-Quada. The successful attacks of the World Trade center and other activities could parallel the ongoing war.

The impending possible war between USA and Iraq could be seen as opening up the Buterian Jihad. The "Butererian Jihad is defined as the crusade against computers, thinking mentas and conscious robots." This is when all the Freemen from different tribes of Arakis unite and press forth into the universe to remake it into their image.

Even recent thinkers have argued against modernity, science and Western domination. A postmodern movement has been emerged from a thinker such as Nietzsche that challenge science, rationality and truth. These thinkers talk about the feminization of society and the collapse of society in the West. Nietzsche could argue that all millennial movements create their own cave with myths and illusions. They want to remake society and impose their myths and illusions onto the world. Nietzsche argued that the Nazis discovered the truth of nihilism and tried to make the world into its own image. Nietzsche may argue that Bin-Laden is attempting to change the current Middle East into his own cave. Al-Quada using military, political, religious and millenarian tactics could achieve this process of a new Islamic order. Nietzsche might not argue that Bin Laden was a superman but maybe a man with a strong will to power. Nietzsche would say Bin Laden would become a superman if he actually completed his objectives.

My own interpretation is that Osama bin Laden believes he is on a holy quest to change the Islamic order. Bin Laden is dangerous because of his intelligence, charisma, money, militarism, political savvy and religious beliefs. Bin Laden has started a movement that could precipitate a full scale war in the Middle East. This war could rally the entire Middle East to challenge the hegemony of the USA and her allies. Bin Laden can capitalize on the messianic elements in Islam using Islamic fundamentalism. If Bin Laden is not captured his legend and myths continue to grow and he will attract new followers. In time Bin Laden and his followers could claim that he is a Mahdi. If Bin Laden is killed he with become a martyr and could be elevated to a type of prophet of Mohamed. New messianic movements explode exponentially when the leader dies for example Jesus for the Christians. The madroses, fatwahs and general distrust of the west only add fuel to the fire in the Middle East. Al-Quada could be a serious problem if the Western liberal democracies do not eradicate this group. The Romans understood history that to even leave one ember in the fire would eventually result in the rebirth of the fire. This logic is why Romans often eliminated their enemies with extreme prejudice. Bin Laden may one day decide that he is a messiah figure. Bin Laden is like Paul Atredies he is not sure if he is the chosen on or a pseudo mahdi. Bin Laden could be interpreted also as Count Fenring because he has not officially declared himself a messiah figure. It will be interesting to watch what transpires in the years ahead. As the intelligence community analyzes Al-Quada and Bin Laden they all wonder what his next move is. I would have a job at the CIA or NSA(national security association) if I knew what Bin Laden was thinking.

Al-Quada is a military, political and religious group exploiting messianic triggers to achieve its objectives. My hypothesis is that Al-Quada is here to stay until either they achieve their objectives or are eliminated by the Americans. I think Bin Laden has convinced his followers that their movement is a millennial salvation. Bin Laden is like the prince in Machiavelli. I am not sure if he is bound by the same rules as his followers. Bin Laden is definitely attempting to remake the world into to his own myths and illusions. If Bin Laden is not a messianic figure but a terrorist, he has laid the foundations for a powerful millennial religious movement.

Millenarinism "Characteristics of Millennial Movement" International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences. Sills, David L. Macmillian Company & Free Press.

Usama bin Ladens al-Qaida: A profile of a terrorist Network Alexander, Yonah & Swetnam, Michael. Transnational Publishers, NY 2001

Unholy War. Oxford University Press, Esposito, John 2002

"Clash of Civilizations?" Foreign Affairs 1993 Huntington, Samuel P.

Osama bin Laden: A war against the west, Elaine Landau Published 21-century books 2002, Connecticut USA

Holy War Inc Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden. Bergin, Peter. The Free Press NY 2001

Dune Frank Herbert Chilton Printing Company 1965

Nietzsche Birth of Tragedy. 1956 First Anchor Publishing USA

Websites

Summary of Prince Machiavelli Outline of great books <http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/Outline_of_Great_Books_Volume_I/theprince_bej.html>(Nov,29,02)

Federal Bureau of Investigation "Most wanted terrorists" <http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/terrorists/terubl.htm> (Dec, 6, 2002)

Forbes Website " Faces in the News " Nov 26, 02 David Duckievec <http://www.forbes.com/2001/11/26/1126facesam2.html> (Dec, 6, 2002)