Threats Posed to Europe by Al-Qaeda Militia Operating from Northern Africa - Research Proposal Example

Threats Posed to Europe by Al-Qaeda Militia Operating from Northern Africa In the study of terrorism activities, there have been several attempts to explain the ideologies and theories that militia groups use in the justification of their attacks. The literature available, however, has not been keen on developing theories that are specifically directed to terrorism studies; rather, they have borrowed a lot from other related fields of study and put the theological ideas as if they were initially coined in the study of terrorism activities.

Secondly, literature in this field has mainly dwelt on a single perspective or used a single theory to study terrorism that gives partial and incomplete information regarding terrorism. In studying the field of terrorism, and using my religious background of being partially a Muslim, I will attempt to view the problem of terrorism and the challenges it poses to European countries from two theories and perspectives learnt in my political science class as an undergraduate student. The first perspective is using the theory of anarchism as advanced by its greatest proponents Karl Heinzen and Johann Most, while the other perspective that will be used to look at terrorism is using the theory of Jihad, which is attributed to Muslim extremists.

This report seeks to provide an overview of ALQaeda, by outlining how plan their actions, and how the E.U can counter their plans The theory of anarchism, as brought forward by its proponents, has a wide range of issues within it that define and differentiate different types of anarchism such as individual anarchism, mutual anarchism and collective anarchism (Berkman 35). Anarchism boasts of being the first kind of revolutions that had no specific organisation or structure guiding them and they brought forward the main idea behind civil protests.

A large number of anarchists subscribe to the idea of revolutions that are not led by anyone and that are without order. Each individual taking part in the revolution acts according to his or her own will and to what he seems the right way to protest without being coerced from any quarters to act in a specific manner (Buckley 56). Some of the great proponents of anarchism, Karl Henzein and Johann Most, argued that the greatest form of self-sacrifice and the climax of the entire revolutionary struggle are attained when a person dies in the duty of fighting for revolutions.

Of more interest is dying through suicide, which is the most honourable way of self-sacrificing for the struggles and the highest form of any revolution (Buckley 21). These individuals also supported uses of bombs and other weapons of mass destruction that would be able to kill as many individuals as possible. This was the origin of suicide bombers in Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups that have become the most notorious terror groups in the world for the last two decades. Due to these theories, they were an enemy of the Western states that thought they were encouraging revolutions against the government and supporting terrorism activities; therefore, they spent most of their time in different states on the run (Casanova 85).

The second theory that terrorism can be analysed through is the ‘jihad’. This is a Muslim term that means a holy war or fighting in the ways of Allah. Jihad, according to the Islamic religion, can be understood to mean a holy internal way, that is, trying to follow the instructions of Allah; the other way Jihad can be understood and which the terrorists use as their interpretation is the physical war that is fought violently against the enemies of the Islamic religion or against Allah (Rawshandil and Chadha 13).

Terrorists, who are mainly from Islamic states in Northern Africa and in the Middle East, have always used Jihad as the reasoning behind their attacks in Europe, which is mainly dominated by Christians, as they have always viewed Christianity as against the Islamic religion (Bonner 24). Islamic religious scholars and teachers have not contributed to helping in clearing the real definition and meaning of the term ‘jihad’. They have interpreted it in different ways depending on their audiences to suit their own intentions or to please those listening to them, one of those groups being the Islamic terrorist groups such as the Al-Qaeda.

This has led to these terrorist groups being energised as they are supported by the most senior religious leaders (Joyner 10). According to non-Muslim scholars, the idea of jihad and Muslim extremism is mainly practised by the extreme Sunnis (Zemni 207). Some Middle Eastern scholars, however, argue that according to hadith specialists, the term ‘jihad’ refers to a violent or military way of fighting enemies of Allah (Piven 47). Works Cited Berkman, Alexander. The ABC of Anarchism. Mineola, N.

Y: Dover Publications, 2005. Print. Bonner, Michael D. Jihad in Islamic History: Doctrines and Practice. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006. Print. Buckley, Annie M. Anarchism. Edina, Minn: ABDO Pub, 2011. Print. Casanova, Julia?n. "Terror and Violence: the Dark Face of Spanish Anarchism." International Labor and Working-Class History (2005): 79–99. Print. Joyner, Christopher C. "Countering Nuclear Terrorism: A Conventional Response." European Journal of International Law 18 (2007): 225–251. Print. Piven, Jerry.

Terrorism, Jihad, and Sacred Vengeance. Gie?en: Psychoszial.-Verl, 2004. Print. Rawshandil, Jalil, and Sharon Chadha. Jihad and International Security. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Print. Zemni, Sami. "The Modernity of Islamism and Jihad Militancy." Studia Diplomatica. 2006, Print.