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ABSTRACT
9/11 continues to influence a new generation of jihadists who were not even born or were very young children in 2001. The attack gave the al-Qaeda brand a lustre that would not be dimmed until the deaths of Osama Bin Laden and most recently Ayman Al Zawahiri. Drawing on interviews with three jihadists who acted in the name of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), this article demonstrates that post 9/11 terrorists do not observe al-Qaeda or ISIS mimicking tribal patterns, but—consciously or not— they adopt tribal motifs. The article highlights the ideological path that these jihadists took and examines their tribal system’s desire to be accepted—or seek some accommodation—with terrorist organizations that behave like tribes. Through an examination of these cases involving converts to radical Islam in the United States, this article seeks to shed light on tribal motifs which serve as a contemporary factor for radicalization.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 This study is based on interviews of cooperating jihadists and structured on a theoretical framework published in Jeffrey Kaplan and Christopher Costa, ‘On Tribalism, Auxiliaries, Affiliates and Autonomous Cell Terrorism,” Terrorism and Political Violence 26, no. 1 (2014): 13–44. See also, Jeffrey Kaplan and Christopher P Costa, “The Islamic State and the New Tribalism,” Terrorism and Political Violence 27, no. 5 (2015): 926–969. Taken together, these two studies provide a body of work on tribalism as a factor in radicalization. The author especially wants to express gratitude for the unnamed professionals from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, NYPD, and agents from the FBI for access to former terrorists, Najibullah Zazi, Zarein Ahmedzay and “Mo.” Lastly, the author wants to thank Dr. Jeffrey Kaplan for his invaluable comments, suggestions and partnership in our work on tribalism and terrorism.
2 For a more comprehensive treatment of terrorist motivations, see Anne Speckhard, Talking to Terrorists: Understanding the Psycho-Social Motivations of Militant jihadi terrorists, Mass Hostage Takers, Suicide Bombers & Martyrs (Mclean, Virginia: Advances Press, 2012), 29. Speckhard sites “fictive kin” as a driver for political violence in several terrorist cases.
3 The author prepared questions for directly interviewing Najibullah Zazi on June 27, 2012, and Zarein Ahmedzay on June 19, 2014, while both individuals were cooperating with the US government while in federal custody.
4 The Qu’ran can be found in English on the website: https://www.alislam.org/quran/search2/showChapter.php?ch=61. Ahmedzay noted that his two favorite verses were: 61:2: “Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth glorifies Allah; and He is the Mighty, the Wise; and 61:3. Oh ye who believe! Why do you say what you do not which you do not do [?]” These verses in Ahmedzay’s view were about taking action to please God. Like any religious texts, much is left up to individual interpretations, however, the author’s take away from the discussion with Ahmedzay was that to be a good Muslim he had to take some kind of action to please God, and waging jihad was the chosen path for the three friends for pleasing God, justifying violence in their minds, but it seems that Adis Medunjanin exercised the strongest influence on the subject of Islam, though as we tease out through our interviews, there were the standard online jihadist trope that contributed to their increasing radicalization over time.
5 Takfir involves a three-step process of identifying the person deemed to be kafir [non-Muslim], warning him or her to change their behavior, and in the end killing them if they do not conform. The ideas are drawn from the early writings of Ibn Taymiyya and the contemporary writings of Sayyid Qutb. Camilla Adang et al., Accusations of unbelief in Islam: a diachronic perspective on Takfīr (Leiden: Brill, 2016).
6 For more, see, Raffaelo Pantucci’s, “A Typology of Lone Wolves: Preliminary Analysis of Lone Wolf Terrorists”, The International Centre for the Study of Radicalsation and Political Violence, March 2011, http://icsr.info/2011/04/a-typology-of-lone-wolves-preliminary-analysis-of-lone-islamist- terrorists/
7 Christopher Costa directly interviewed Mo on July 15, 2012 while he was in federal custody and cooperating with the US government.
8 Ali tells her story in Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Infidel (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008).
9 See, for example, Richard Engle, Ben Plesser, and Tracy O’Connor, “American ISIS Defector: I’ve Let My Nation Down.”
10 See, for example, Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchen’s, Anwar al-Awlaki’s Jihad, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2020). Jarret M. Brachman and Alix N. Levine, “You Too Can Be Awlaki!,” Fletcher Forum 35, no. 1 (2011): 25-45.
11 See David Ronfeldt, ‘‘Today’s Wars Are Less About Ideas Than Extreme Tribalism,’’ The Christian Science Monitor, March 27, 2006. In fact, the author convincingly writes that al-Qaeda members and affiliates are ‘‘extreme tribalists who dream of making the West start over at a razed, tribal level.’’
12 Mo was likely to have been referencing Qutb’s Milestones, which is widely available on line. See https://www.kalamullah.com/Books/Milestones%20Special%20Edition.pdf. For a scholarly take on his writings, see Sayyid Quṭb and Albert Bergesen. The Sayyid Qutb Reader: Selected Writings on Politics, Religion, and Society (New York: Routledge, 2008). https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1253796&t=1602762093636.
13 See, for example, Erin Mcclam, “Rising Star of ISIS has Chechen background and Fierce Reputation,” NBC, July 2, 2014, https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/rising-star-isis-has-chechen-background-fierce-reputation-n146466.
14 See, for example, “Open Letter from National Security Professionals to Western Governments: Unless We Act Now, the Islamic State Will Rise Again,” https://thesoufancenter.org/open-letter-from-national-security-professionals-to-western-governments-unless-we-act-now-the-islamic-state-will-rise-again/.