The Encyclopedia of World Religions

. Q ,

The principal targets of al-Qaeda are the United States, its interests, and its allies. Notorious al-Qaeda attacks include the August 1998 truck bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the attacks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2003, as well as the attacks of September 11, 2001. It has alliances with other groups, such as the Jemaah Islamiyah, which carried out bomb ings in Bali in 2002 and Jakarta in 2003. The goals of al-Qaeda are often defined in neg ative terms. A statement issued by bin Laden in 2003 reads: “We—with God’s help—call on every Muslim . . . to comply with God’s order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it.” Understandably, this atti tude repels people in the United States and other Western countries. In traditionally Islamic coun tries, some people admire bin Laden for standing up to the United States, which they see as inappro priately interfering with their lives. Most Muslims, however, strongly disapprove of al-Qaeda’s tactics. Q source (New Testament) A document that scholars have hypothesized is a source used by the authors of the GOSPELS of Matthew and Luke. “Q” refers to the German word Quelle, “source.” The hypothesis that this source existed helps scholars explain the “synoptic problem” (described later). They use the first letter of a German word because German scholars first came up with the idea. The synoptic problem is this: Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called “synoptic Gospels” because, although their accounts of J ESUS ’ birth and RESURRECTION differ, they tell the story of Jesus

qabbalah See KABBALAH .

Qaeda, al- Arabic expression meaning “the base”; a loose organization founded in the early 1990s by Osama bin Laden (b. 1957) and other mujahideen who fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet invasion. It is best known for attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the United States on September 11, 2001. In 1979 the Soviet Union occupied Afghani stan. In response, fighters (mujahideen, people engaged in JIHAD ) came to the region and fought to expel the Soviets with the help of the United States. Among them was Osama bin Laden from Saudi Arabia, the son of a wealthy businessman. After the Soviets were expelled, bin Laden and his fellow mujahideen were dismayed at the influ ence the United States was exercising in the Middle East, especially on countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. They founded al-Qaeda to struggle against this influence by force. Some say they simply replaced the Soviet Union with the United States and its allies as the object of their antagonism. Originally based in the Sudan, al-Qaeda moved to Afghanistan in 1996, where it ran training camps for its members. Al-Qaeda is a loose connection of cells. Each cell is a small group of people, perhaps, three, joined together to accomplish a specific task. Because it is a secret organization, some details are not known. It seems certain, however, that al-Qaeda has asso ciates in as many as 60 countries around the world in such diverse places as the United States, Great Britain, and the Philippines.

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