Al-Qaeda in Yemen

Mohammed al-Amrani

Al-Qaeda made a mistake by trying to forge alliances with tribes in Yemen. Such
alliances are doomed to be short lived, cannot be maintained and easily compromised by
the tribesmen. Tribes in Yemen like tribes all over the Arab world[1] subscribe to
traditional Islamic faith and conventional customs and norms although most of them are
dubious, spurious and un-Islamic and often a complex mix of superstation, myth, fables
and nonsense. Most tribal chieftains[2] in Yemen are pragmatists to the bone and hold
their interest above all. The majority of them break their promises and alliances for selfinterest, while others buckle under the flare of the sword[3] or the glare of the gold. AlQaeda leaders in Yemen ought to realize that the United States, the West and the Yemeni
government need not work hard to create sahawat groups in Yemen[4].
Bribery combined with threats of air strikes will do the job well and tribal or marital ties
with al-Qaeda members will always remain secondary to tribes and subject to
compromise. When al-Harithi was killed by a U.S. done in 2006, his brother exclaimed
upon seeing his body: He chose his path. This attitude is precisely the attitude of the
mainstream in Yemen. The perception of Islam has long been disfigured in the minds of
Yemenis for centuries and installing Islamic perceptions back in their minds is an almost
losing cause. They also ought to realize that the death of civilians in air strikes or raids
will never mobilize the people or actuate them to support al-Qaeda simply because the
people in Yemen are too poor[5], too submissive and too frightened and the cruel and
despotic regime in Yemen knows that if were to wipe out one third of the population, the
rest wont budge.[6]
It is also futile to wait for the outcome of the countrys on-going power struggle. Internal
power struggle between President Saleh, General Ali Muhsen, and others though tacit, all
of them are consciously aware if one fails, the other would follow and all are aware that
other tribal sheiks, generals and businessmen are awaiting their downfall. The absence of
President Saleh will not make much of a difference either and Yemen will continue to
dwell in this abyss for a long time regardless of who might come to power.[7] The United
States[8], Europe and the Gulf countries want a strong man to keep Yemen intact and care
not about development, fighting corruption, press freedom or human rights despite the
outward simulacra.
Islams battle with the despots is imposed upon al-Qaeda and they have no choice but to
fight it. Tyrants have always repulsed people from religion and caused them to lose faith
in spiritual values: oppression is worse than killing. [Quran: 2: 191] However in the
case of Yemen, the best discourse al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula could undertake at
this phase is to accept talks or move elsewhere. Yemen is a lost cause at this stage and

will only waste resources and manpower and Sheik Osama bin Laden[9] and al-Qaedas
leaders in Yemen ought to realize that.

[1] The Bedouin are more tenacious in their refusal to acknowledge the truth and more
hypocritical. [Quran: 9: 97] Al-Qaeda leaders and operatives in Yemen and elsewhere ought to realize
that mankind as a whole and Muslims in particular are not ready for their ideology. Humanity has long
transgressed any bounds of return to faith and this material civilization has enslaved minds and souls and
produced massive comforts and mankind as a whole wont let go of it easily nor will they forsake those
who represent it. They have to understand that Islam has vanished from the face of the earth centuries ago,
that rendering man back to His Maker is an almost impossible. That mankind has lost faith and confidence
in religion and its usefulness. That this material civilization has produced massive means of comfort
making life on earth extremely alluring. The hurdles of faith are too many and mans inborn deposition and
longing for His Maker are not enough to render man back into His Maker.
[2][2] Tribes, tribesmen and tribal sheiks in Yemen are pragmatic, opportunistic, with elastic and dubious
faith. Their Islamic ideologies are fluid and easily compromised. Most sheiks, be them in Marib, Abyan
or Shabwa are businessmen, arms dealers or smugglers and would sell their own children to preserve their
power, prestige and business. Of all the mistakes and errors al-Qaeda[2] has made in the past, forging
alliances with tribes in Yemen will proof to be the most devastating to the network and its future. True a
few sheiks do harbor strong Islamic feelings yet their grievances and disgruntlements when closely
checked - stem from envy of other sheiks in their areas. Afghan veteran and once al-Qaeda member, Sheik
Tariq al-Fadhli has recently appealed to the west to help him against his old comrades of al-Qaeda. This is
not peculiar to him. Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Zindani is handcuffed and cannot do much. Invoking a tradition
by Prophet Muhammad (S), Sheik Osama bin Laden has often mentioned Yemen either at the outset or at
the end of his audio messages appealing to the Yemeni people for help. But it seems the sheik did not know
Yemen well. What might have been plausible ten years ago is no longer and Yemenis as a whole have
dramatically changed.
[3] Yes there are licenses in Islam and those who fear prosecution are entitled to keep to themselves;
however since when has a faith ever been built on the shoulders of those who live by the licenses? Islam
and secularism are two opposing systems of life. One from Allah (SW) and the other is man-made hence
cannot co-exist or live together. One has to prevail and if there is a truce, it would be for a short period.
Al-Qaeda is vehemently against any dialogue with the incumbent illegitimate political systems in the world
that calls itself Islamic and is consciously aware that such systems are not serious about dialogue as it
means to them a bid for a de-radicalization process of al-Qaeda operatives which is nave. If Islam was
destined to die, it would have died centuries ago. Today it is threatened and the Judeo-Christian onslaught
in cooperation with the political systems in the world that used to be Islamic is working hard deal the last
blow to Islam. But it is a delusion.
[4] wasnt for the geographical proximity of Yemen to the oil-rich Gulf states and wasnt for the
complacency of the Yemeni government in the US-led worldwide war and onslaught on Islam, it is likely
the US wouldnt have had any sort of diplomatic ties with Yemen.
[5] Poverty in Yemen is the result of many factors. Corruption and concentration of power and wealth in
the hands of a few are partially responsible. However Arab and Muslim rulers are consciously aware that
two factors rotten the human soul: abject poverty and filth wealth. In countries with limited resources, they
sought to impoverish their subjects and in nations with abundance, they sought to corrupt them by comfort.
Or as the popular Yemeni saying goes: Starve your dog and he shall follow you. By dumb vocation, spoil
your dog and he shall keep silent. Yemenis and the Arabs as a whole ought to realize that they are nothing
in the scale of humanity and have nothing to offer mankind. They ought to come to grips with the fact that

it was Islam that raised them out of the state of lethargy and tribal stagnation to the high marks of world
renown and empire and without Islam; theyre nothing but scattered, fragmented and weak pseudo-states.
They also ought to cease preaching Islam while it is absent in their midst. Mankind no longer listen to
abstract theories and ideologies they dont see adhered to in the shape of a community or society and Islam
has practically vanished from the face of the earth more than five centuries ago. It is obvious that the
societies that call themselvesI slamic are the worst type of societies on earth today in which injustices of
colossal proportions are apparent ranging from oppressing women, and the weak to the cruelest and most
brutal tyrants history has ever seen. In so-called Muslim communities, the judicial system is totally corrupt
and the majority of people are themselves decadent. Another fact which ought to be borne in mind is that
both the population and the ruling classes in Yemen and the Arab and Muslim world are intellectually,
scientifically and spiritually defeated before the west and western culture. Their rulers aree mere puppets
who worship and fear the west. Though most Yemenis are aware of their precarious state and conscious of
the immoral and spiritual decadence of the social, tribal and political figures in the country and though the
majority are repugnent to the disgrace and decadence of the elite be them the rulers, tribal sheiks, the
opposition leaders, businessmen or the clergy, they cannot make a change. Man does not change if he
knows, he only changes when he believes.
[6] This phenomenon of sycophancy is not peculiar to Yemen. It is an ever-recurring worldwide
phenomenon in the history of man and Muslims at large have been under material, and spiritual slavery for
more than four centuries now. Mankind of today is diseased, intoxicated, lost, confused, and suffer from a
serious malady of flagrant derision, vulgar mockery, and sarcasm of anything and everything.
[7] The rulers of Yemen are suffering from neurosis and some sort of psychosis apparent in their rhetoric
and actions. President Saleh has ruled by corruption and patronage and his successor will likely employ the
same methodology as it is the most effective to keep more than 20 million people helpless slaves.
[8] The west problem is not with extreme or moderate Islam, its problem, as Huntington said in his Clash
of Civilizations is with Islam itself.
[9] In the course of human history, a few men appeared who stood up against the entire world. Most of
them were messengers and prophets as the Quran teachers us. Seldom was there a man who was not a
messenger or prophet and endowed with like faith and today this rare phenomenon is repeated in the person
of Sheik Osama bin Laden. One man of all men standing against the entire world with a simple message:
worship none but your Maker. This message is now ridiculed, mocked, and shrugged off as has always
been the case with messengers and prophets. See if you wish: Osama, Obama and the Barbarians, for the
writer of this article.