Islamic Politics and Culture - Essay Example

Taliban). The vision and mission of Al Qaida is to help all Muslim population across the world, to recover from the oppression they faced from other religions. For example, Al Qaida believes that US intrusion in the Middle East and Afghanistan is causing problems to the Muslims in those regions. Therefore, they are fighting against America in these regions. Same way, Al Qaida believes that Indian Muslims, especially the Muslims in Kashmir are facing a lot of troubles from the Hindu community in India.

Therefore, they are helping the terrorist activities in India against the Hindus. They do believe that the destruction of Babri Masjid in India is a clear indication of how Muslims in India are suffering from the hands of the Hindus. In short, Al Qaida network is operating globally. Earlier Jihadi groups were particular in fighting against “colonial movements, derived from the desire of a particular section of the population, mainly ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities in a country, for self-determination.

Often, these conflicts take the tenor of separatist or irredentist movements with or without the use of violence” (TRAC). Earlier Jihadist groups were operating locally rather than globally. For example, Hamas was founded in 1987; but it is operating only in the Middle East, especially in the Palestine. The major aim of Hamas is to save Palestinians and liberate Palestine from the intrusions of Israel. They do have interests only in the Middle East and their main enemy is Israel only. On the other hand, for Al Qaida, America, India and Britain are the major enemies along with Israel.

Al Qaida has no problems in recognizing them as a terrorist organization whereas Hamas is not ready to accept the label of a terrorist organization even though countries such as U.S., Israel, Egypt, Australia and Canada are considering this organization as a terrorist organization. It is evident that religion and religious beliefs were the central points in the