Osama Bin Laden : Holy Warrior Or Treacherous Murderer?

At the point when 9/11 happened, I was an eighth grader in South Florida, and an amazingly naive nationalist. I observed with sickening apprehension as the second tower fell live on the TV in my show class. I needed activity! How set out the "scalawags" do such a marvel to my kindred Americans!

After his first visit to Afghanistan during the first few weeks of the Soviet Invasion, he became involved in supporting the mujahdeen, a ruling party in Afghanistan at the time. After this point, he became heavily involved in fighting jihad, or holy war, and began to build up his own military training camps (Frontline: A biography). Beginning in his childhood, Osama was inundated with a strict Islamic way of life. Looking at the people who played the biggest roles in his life at this time: his authoritarian father, Islamic scholars, movement leaders, and Afghani soldiers fighting jihad, the reasons for him being who he is become more apparent. He has been fighting holy wars since he was a teenager (Frontline: Edicts), and jihad has become a way of life for him.

Osama bin Laden's early life was marked by a series of influences that would shape his worldview toward radicalism. (PBS) As Osama grew up, he was influenced by the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. He fought alongside mujahideen fighters against the Soviet occupation, which was supported by the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. This period marked the beginning of his belief in violent jihad.

In other words some people believed he was fighting for the rights of his own country. Osama Bin Laden Fast Facts CNN News“1979 - Travels to Afghanistan to join the jihad (holy war) against the Soviet Union. He remains there for a decade, using construction equipment from his family's business to help the Muslim guerrilla forces build shelters, tunnels and roads through the rugged Afghan mountains, and at times taking part in battle.” Many people believe his acts of terrorism was to fight for the freedom of his countrey. This source stated how he helped people by building shelters and tunnels for his people.

E- Despite following Islamic religion, he formed Al Qaeda. He’d reward money to those that helped, and punish those that didn’t. The one that was a transactional leader, Osama Bin Laden could influence anyone with his cunning words.

The assassination of Osama Bin Laden was justified because he murdered thousands of innocent people, and trained and armed other terrorist organizations. However, some think that his assassination was not justified because he was killing for his religion.

Contrary to popular opinion claiming it to be righteous retribution for his acts of radical Islamist terror, the assassination of Osama bin Laden by the US government was unjustified because it was illegal under international law, morally wrong, and detrimental to national security.

Islam is the belief in one Allah and the belief in heaven or hell. A religious affiliation that follows these beliefs are AL-Qaeda and that affiliation was the one responsible for the attack on 9/11. AL-Qaeda wants to get rid of americans and all american influence out of muslim nations. AL-Qaeda feels it is the duty of Muslims around the world to wage holy war on the U.S., American citizens, and Jews. Muslims who do not heed this call are declared apostates (people who have forsaken their

Bin Laden openly perpetuates conflict between Islam and the West. “This battle is not between al-Qaeda and the U.S.,” the al-Qaeda leader said in October 2001, yet “this is a battle of Muslims against the global crusaders.” From Bin Laden’s perspective, this “clash of civilizations” between Americans and the West has been under way for centuries and it is just the most recent incarnation of the Christian Crusaders. In October 2001, the Arabic satellite news channel aired an interview in which Bin Laden expressed his views on Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” thesis. The following is a summary of bin Laden’s points in this interview:

Jihad – a dispute or war between followers of Islam faith and those who do not follow the Islam faith; a struggle within a Muslim between good and evil (Dictionary)

“Fight in the name of God and in the ‘path of god’. Combat those who disbelieve in God.” The quote above is an excerpt from Matthew Gordon’s book, “The Rise of Islam”. Throughout the course of history, many religions have had a profound effect on western civilization. During the early 5th century a religion arose that had an extremely important impact on western civilization. The Arabic prophet Muhammad founded the religion known today as Islam. Violence, diplomacy, Arabic tradition, and public law played a vital role in the rise and conquest of Islam. These four key elements that fostered the rise of Islam helped establish one of the largest religions in western civilization.

The concept of Jihad was not widely known in the western world before the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Since then, the word has been woven into what our media and government feed us along with notions of Terrorism, Suicide Bombings, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, and now, Jihad. Our society hears exhortations resounding from the Middle East calling the people to rise up in Jihad and beat back the imperialist Americans. Yet, if we try to peel back all of these complex layers of information we can we attempt to find out what Jihad really means. Webster’s Dictionary defines Jihad as “a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty or a crusade for a principle or belief” (1). Often, media depicts

In light of recent events in the global community, one word that is used frequently but rarely truly understood is the Islamic word Jihad. Jihad has become a very volatile word, so it is necessary that those who use it should understand exactly what it means, what it entails, and what significance it has in current global events.

453). A prime example of an Islamic Fundamentalist movement is al-Qaeda which was a new militant Islamic group when it emerged in 1988. It followed on from the spread of strong religious beliefs and codes that was common in Africa and the Middle- East (Garner, Ferdinand and Lawson, 2007, p. 150). Al-Qaeda was founded by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, its goal when established was to spread the word of God and to make his religion to most triumphant religion of all. A main characteristic of Islamic Fundamentalism is to create a theocracy which is a regime based on religious principles (Garner, Ferdinand and Lawson, 2007, p. 150). Al-Qaeda is most known for its attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in the USA in 2001, whom they openly claimed responsibility for and motivated the USA's war on terror (Goodwin, 2007, p. 432).

Jihad as a political word was first recorded during the struggle of the Meccan establishment by Prophet Mohammed. The early movement of Muslims, first under their Prophet and later his passing, advanced both religion and political dynamics. In addition to the five tenets of faith, the organizations of the community were centered on structure, movements, decision-making systems and political agendas. The five pillars of the faith are: witness, prayer, pilgrimage, alms, fasting. Jihad main interest is the global jihad and they were looking for pure jihad. They have continued to dominate the scene in South Asia and the Middle East, their influence has reduced in the western diaspora.