Formulation of the claim
Discourses of the enemy, jihad, and al-Qaeda produce a violence that is endowed with sanctity and exceeds local boundaries to enter a global space.
Why do these elements come together?
These elements come together because they trace a single path that begins with the construction of the enemy within a long historical narrative, where the adversary is not presented merely as an immediate confrontation, but as an extension of a broader struggle carrying the meaning of humiliation and confrontation. From here, enmity acquires a symbolic form that allows it to operate within a discourse that goes beyond direct politics toward a more expansive narrative.
This path then moves to the redefinition of jihad as a sacred war that goes beyond defense, so that hostility becomes part of an expanded religious framework not limited to repelling aggression. This expansion is completed when al-Qaeda appears as an angry and opaque global movement, and bin Laden is presented as a global theological revolutionary, while the element of using religions to justify politics shows that this construction is inseparable from political instrumentalization and does not exempt militant Islam from criticism. In this way, the elements work together to show how violence is transformed into a sacred discourse that crosses borders.
The place of the collection in the book
This page comes within the sections of the book that follow the intertwining of historical narrative with religious and political instrumentalization. It is linked to the book’s argument that violence is not understood here as an isolated act, but as the result of constructing the adversary, redefining jihad, expanding the meaning of sacred war, and then tying all of that to a global discourse that takes on both a religious and a political form.
Elements of the collection
- Modern enmity is understood through a long historical narrative and a symbolic construction of the adversary
- Jihad is redefined as a sacred war that goes beyond defense
- Sacred war is not the monopoly of a single religion but reveals a broader triangle of violence and meaning
- al-Qaeda is presented as an angry and opaque global movement
- Bin Laden is presented as a global theological revolutionary
- Religions are used to justify politics, and the West does not exempt militant Islam from criticism
Brief evidence
This page shows how violence is reshaped when the adversary is cast as an absolute enemy, and jihad is redefined within the language of religious and political mobilization. At that point, violence is no longer merely local or circumstantial; it acquires a sacred meaning that allows it to cross borders. For this reason, these elements come together to explain how symbolic hostility turns into a project of combat with global reach. In this transformation, the political merges with the symbolic and the religious in a single structure.
Conclusion
This page brings together enmity, jihad, and al-Qaeda because it explains how violence is transformed from a symbolically constructed hostility into a religious and political mobilization that takes on a sacred and global form.