Osama bin Laden: Declaration of Jihad against Americans

Questions for Further Study

• 1.: In the early 1980s the United States seemed to be allied with Muslim forces in opposing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Yet in the 1990s the United States came to be regarded as the implacable enemy of Islam as conceived by people such as Osama bin Laden. Why did this realignment occur?
• 2.: Many people argue that the concept of “jihad” as practiced by terrorists such as Osama bin Laden is actually a corruption of the concept. What is jihad, and why do some people believe that Bin Laden's vision of jihad is not consistent with the principles of Islam?
• 3.: Compare this document with Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist. To what extent do the two documents express similar—or differing—visions of Islam and its place in the world?
• 4.: Following the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Osama bin Laden became a despised figure in the United States, and U.S. military action in Afghanistan was focused in part on capturing him. Do you believe that in the wake of Bin Laden’s death, the dynamic in the Middle East has changed? How serious a blow has this event been to Islamic militancy?
• 5.: Do you believe that Islamic extremism would diminish if the Western powers simply withdrew from the Middle East? Or do you believe that Islamic extremists would simply find another reason to wage jihad against the West?