HISTORY IN THE NEWS:
History never dies. It is reborn every minute of every day.
TIMELINE FOR THE HISTORY OF AL QAEDA
The Hanbali Reform Movement of early Arabia.
780-855- Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, sounder of the Hanbali code of Sharia law. He holds that a decision in Sharia must be referred directly to the Quran and the sunna- not to the legal framework that had grown up around them. In other words, he held that the law itself had already been written in the words of the Quran.
-in subsequent centuries, the Hanbali Code loses strength everywhere except at Najd in central Arabia.
1042-1147-North Africa and Spain- Almoravids impose Islamic rule over an area comprising modern Morocco, Mauretainia, northern Mali, western Algeria and Spain.
Ibn Taimiya Revives the Hanbali Code in the Middle Ages.
1300- (crica) in a revival, Ahmad Ibn Taimiya upholds the Hanbali Code as a means of reform and of condemning the cults of tombs and saints, and urging the continual interpretation (itijihad) of law in light of the Quran. He sees the Shia, with all their excess ritual, as the enemy within. He upheld the Sunni Caliphs over the Shia Imams because be believed that seizing and weilding secular power was all that mattered in a leader- and the Caliphs had done that most effecrively.
1328- death of Ibn Taimiya.
1250-1517- The Mameluke Caliphs of Cairo adopt the Hanbali Code.
The Wahhabi Movement of the 18th Century.
1703- Abdul al-Wahhab is born at Najd, a main centre of Hanbali Islam in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula.
1725 (circa) -Al-Wahhab (1703-1787) founds Muwahidun (unitarian) movement- an attempt to purify Islam of medieval superstition, to stop the translation of Sharia into jurisprudence and to get rid of the cult of saints. The Muwahidun follow the Hanbali school as taught by Tarq al Din ibn Taimiya (qv). Wahhab's oponnents call his followers 'Wahhabis', the name that stuck.
-Wahhab makes attendance at public prayer obligatory, forbids the building of minarets,
Ibn Saud, Wahhabism and the Origins of the House of Saud
-having failed to spread his movement, Al Wahhab allies himself with a tribal chieftain, Mohammed Ib Saud.
1726-65- Mohammed Ibn Saud, ruler of the Diraiya Emirate embraces Wahhabism, has his subjects convert on pain of death.
1745- Muhammad Ibn Saud becomes ruler of Najd, the central plateau and oasis region of Arania, founds the House of Saud.
-in alliance with followers of Saud, Wahabbis mount a campaign against idolatry, corruption and adultery. On the authority of the Hadith, they ban dancing, music and poetry, silk, gold, ornaments and jewelery.
1766-1803- Mohammed's son, Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, continues to uphold Wahhabism.
1773- Abdul Aziz ibn Saud takes Riyadh.
1802- in a campaign against the Shia, the Wahhabis attack the Shia holy city of Karbala.
1810- the Whhabi Ibn Sauds ruule most of Arabia.
1803-1814 Saud Ibn Abdul Aziz of the House of Saud tries to spread Wahhabism to the frontiers of Syria and Iraq.
The Ottoman Sultan sends the Egyptian Pasha to Crush Wahhabism.
-the Ottoman Sultan is outrages by what he sees as descecration of the holy pplaces of Arabi by the Sauds and their Wahhabism.
1814-18- Sent by hte sultan, Muhammad Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, crushes the Wahhabist movement and executes Abdullah Ibn Saud.
Salafism
1838-97- Jamal al-din Afghani. Helps develop Salafism- an Islamic ideology based on the example of the salaf- the ancestors of early Islam. He promotes the Pan-Islam movement in an attempt to revive a mythical 'pure' Islam free of ethnic and political rivalries.
1849-1905- Muhammad Abdu- a follower of Afghani (b. 1838) emphasized the influence of the Salaf on Sharia law.
1865-1935- Muhammad Rashid Rida, follower of Abdu (b. 1849) researched what Mohammed and 'the pious ancestors' had done and taught so that it could be applied to contemporary conditions. He preferred the Salaf to the four Sunni legal schools.
19th century in Mali-
-French colonial advance provokes the Fula and Toucouleur (Tukolor ) jihads which spread across region. Various theocratic states formed.
Fall and Revival of Wahhabism
1881- House of Saud expelled from the Riyadh region. But it revivies under Abdul Rahman Ibn Al Saud and spreads Wahhabism
1891- Abdul Rahman Ibn Al Saud of the House of Saud is overthrown at Diraiya by the House Of Rashid which has Ottoman backing.
-the Deobandi and Ahl-i-Hadith movements rise in northern India- in an attempt to rally and purify Islam against British and western colonial forces. Both are opposed to the Shia.
1894- Mali- Tuareg rebels declare a jihad against the French following their occupation of the city of Tombouctou in January
1902 -Abdul Aziz ibn Abdul Rahman al Saud re-conquers the Najd from the Ottomans, reviviing Wahhabism militarily and politically through the Ikhwan Wahhabist movement. Wahabbis mount new attacks on hypocrites, laxity, non-blievers. The criteria for belief is strict adherecne to the Sharia.
1905-6- Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdul Rahman takes east central Arabia.
1913- Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, commander of the Whhabist Ikhwan army invades the Shia region of Al-Hasa and attempts to impose Wahhabism.
Mohammed Qutb
1906-66- Sayyid Mohammed Qutb. Muslim ideologue. Born in Asyut, Egypt. Trained as a teacher in Cairo.
1920s- Salafis teach that since Mohammed was chosen by the community, leadership of Islam cannot be hereditary.
1925- Ibn Saud's Ikhwan Wahhabists destroy the Jannat al Baghi cemetery in Medina, a Shia holy place where the daughter of the Prophet and the 3nd, 4th, 5th and 6th Shia imams are buried.
1926- The Ikhwan resorts to the systematic killing of Shia.
1927- May 20- British lay down treaty of Jeddah giving the Hijaz and Jajd to Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud. The Ikhwan, sends a Wahhabi recolt against Ibn Saud for using telephone,s radios, cars etc.
The Muslim Brotherhood and the Saudi Domestication of Wahhabism.
1928- Muslim Brotherhood founded by Hassan al Banna in Egypt for moral and social reform.
1930s- House of Saud becomes rich on oil wealth, moderates its belief in Wahhabism; the pogroms against the Shia are stopped; instead the Shia suffer discrimination and marginalization.
1932- the vast desert region whose heart is the Najd bcomes the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
-in Mecca, the Supreme Religious Council continues to be the official head of Wahabbism.
1939- Muslim brother hood becomes a political movement in response to the Arab uprising against the British in Palestine (1936) and Egyptian protest against the the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty (1936). The brotherhood declares that the Quran and the Hadith are sufficient as a social political code for any time and place.
1940- the Muslim brotherhood has 500 branches each with a mosque and social services.
1948- Qutb is sent to university in Colorado, USA by his ministry. He is appalled at what he sees as America's decadence and depravity.
1948-49- members of the Muslim Brotherhood fight in the Palestine War, recruiting Egyptian officers and gaining military experience. The Brotherhood turns against Egypt which is blames for the 1948-49 war.
1948- Egypt declares martial law and bans the Brotherhood.
-Egyptian premier, Fahmi Nokrashi Pasha, is assassinated by the Brotherhood.
1949- Hassan a Banna, leader of the Egyptian Brotherhood is assassinated.
1950- with the lifting of martial law, the Brotherhood enters mainstream Egyptian politics.
1951- Qutb returns to Egypt but his anti-American views get him expelled from the education ministry. He joins the Muslim Brootherhood. In his writings he says that America should be placed under a sentence of death.
1952- the Brotherhood supports Egypt in rejecting the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and participates in the Cairo riots.
1952- the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) overthrows the regime in Egypt.
Egypt bans the Muslim Brotherhood.
1954- Egypt's RCC bans the Muslim Brotherhood. Qutb and other members are held in a concentration camp. He writes his defining work, Maalim Fi Al Tariq- "Signposts on the Road"- which divides all social systems into "The Order of Islam" and "The Order of Ignorance." The book remains a text book for radical Islam.
23rd Oct.- after Brotherhood members attempt to assassinate President Nasser, the plotters are hanged, many are imprisoned or driven into exile in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
1957- birth of Osama Bin laden, son of a bricklayer from South Yemen. Bin Laden's father settles in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and becomes a wealthy construction magnate.
Qutb Becomes Leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.
1964- Qutb and cohorts are released from detainment in Egypt. "Signposts on the Road" is smuggled out of Egypt. Though he is non-violent, the Muslim Brotherhood promotes him into the leadership to avenge their persecution in Egypt.
-Nasser tries to include the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab Socialist Union to combat Communism.
-repeated attempts by the Brotherhood to assassinate Nasser.
1966-Sayyid Muhammed Qutb is put on trial in Egypt. He states that the nations of the Middle East are a western fabrication and that actually Islam has no nations, only a Community of Believers.
-Sayyid Muhammed Qutb and other Brotherhood leaders are executed.
Muslim Brotherhood gains from 1967 War with Israel.
1967- Egypt decisively defeated in war with Israel.
1968- popular feeling that Egypt had received divine retribution for Arab Socialism causes Nasser to grant a general amnesty to the Muslim Brotherhood.
-new Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, attempts to integrate the Brotherhood into the mainstrem.
1975 (circa) Saalafis active in Kuwait where they want a republican, democratic regime.
Egypt's Sadat Bans the Muslim Brotherhood causing it to Radicalize.
1976- fearing the expanding power of the Brotherhood, President Sadat bans it from Egyptian elections. 15 Brotherhood members are elected as members of other parties causing a radical wing to split off in protest.
-the Muslim Brotherhood radicalizes and turns against Sadat's modernization and pro-Israel and pro-West policies.
Uprising against Saudis; beginning of Careers of Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri.
1978- Ayman Zawahiri graduates as as a surgeon from Cairo's University's medical school.
-Bin Laden graduates with a degree in civil engineering from King Abdul Aziz University in Saudi Arabia.
1979- armed uprising against rulers of Saudi Arabia at the Grand Mosque- assisted by Salafis from Kuwait. The young engineering graduate, Bin laden, regards them as true Muslims. Salafis have since become active in Kuwait politics.
1979- Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Begin sign the Egyptian-Istaeli peace Treaty. But his new peace costs Egypt membership in the Arab League.
-due to the unpopularity of the treaty at home, Sadat becomes increasingly autocratic.
Abdullah Azzam's 'Bureau of Serice' in Pakistan for Afghan Jihad- antecedent to Al Qaeda.
1980- Abdullah Azzam founds Maktab al Khidmat (Bureau of Service) in Peshawar, Pakistan.
-Pakistani ISI and American CIA camps along the Afghan-Pakistan border join in training non-Afhgan Mujehadeen to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. They use US army training manuals translated into Urdu, Arabic and Persian, stressing nationalism and Islam.
-Bin Laden visits Peshawar and lobbies family and friends to support the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan.
-Osama Bin Laden goes back to Saudi Arabia, raises large sums from family connections and returns to Pakistan with members of the family business, the Saudi Binlandin Group.
Bin laden leads non-Afghan Mujehadeen in Afghan war against the Soviets.
-Bin laden becomes leader of the non-Afghan Mujehadeen, working alongside the CIA and the ISI.
1980s- Somalia fights Islamic fundamentalists in its north and the Patriotic Front in the south.
Zawahiri arrested in Assassination of Sadat.
1981- Oct 6- a radical wing of the Muslim Brotherhood assassinates President Sadat. Ayman al Zawahiri is among those jailed in the plot.
1984- Egyptian President Mubarak maintains elections ban on Muslim Brotherhood. Muslim Brotherhood members get elected as members of the Neo-Wafd party.
-the Muslim Brotherhood, uses highly educated members to dominate syndicates of lawyers, doctors, journalists and engineers.
-Zawahiri is released from prison in Egypt.
Bin Laden Works for Pak-Afghan Bureau of Service.
-in Pakistan, Bin Laden comes under the influence of Abdulla Azzam, head of the jihadi Bureau of Service. He vets non-Afghan volunteers, supervises road construction and refurbishing caves for storage. He also engages in guerilla sorties.
1986- Bureau of Service sets up a branch in the US at the farooq Mosque in Brooklyn.
-Bin laden oversees construction of a sophsiticated tunnel complex for storage, supplies and refuge at Khost on the Afghan-Pakistan border. The complex is near Tora Bora.
Zawahiri joins the Anti-Soviet Afghan Struggle.
-Zawahiri travels to Pakistan to join the medical corps of the Mujehadeen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. He is stationed in peshawar where he sets up a branch of Islamic Jihad.
1987- The Muslim Brotherhood gains singificant power in the Egyptian parliament by allying itself with socialist parties. Brotherhood deputies demand an end to the Israeli-Egyptian treaty, to all ties with the United States and the application of Sharia law.
1988- Bin Laden and Azzam make 'MAK' or The Service Bureau offical. Bin Laden wants to advance non-military operations world-wide- while Azzam prefers a military strategy.
Al Qaeda is new name for the Service Bureau upon murder of Azzam and victory in Afghanistan.
1989- February- Bin Laden declares withdrawal of Soviets from Afghanistan a victory for the Jihad.
November- Azzam assassinated; Pakistan's ISI is a suspect. Bin Laden, assisted by Muhammad Atef and Abu Ubaidah al Banshiri, takes over, renaming Maktab al Khidmat 'Al Qaeda'- 'The Base', with a plan to expand the Soviet Jihad into an international Jihad from headquarters in Peshawar. The prime target is US interests world-wide with Al Qaeda launching its own attacks or sponsoring similar outfits to attack Al Qaeda targets.
Al Mohammed, trained as a US commando at Fort Bragg, leaves the US and joins Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan and pakistan.
Bin Laden abandons Afghan Civil war for Saudi Arabia.
-Bin Laden resturns to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, discouraged by the inter-ethnic Afghan civil war.
1990- When Iraq invades Kuwait, Bin Laden offers to set up a citizen militia to defend Saudi Arabia but the kingdom rejects his offer.
Bin Laden Repudiates US bases in Saudi Arabia for First Gulf War.
1991 -the US responds to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait by setting up military bases to protect Saudi Arabia's oil fields at Hama. Bin Laden swears to avenge what he sees as US violation and occupation of Saudi Arabia.
-Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood supports Saddam Hussein.
Bin Laden Sets up Al Qaeda in Sudan; active also in Mogadishu and the Balkans.
1991-1996- Bin Laden, based in Sudan, sets up a series of corporate entities, running Al Qaeda as if it were a corporation. It is ruled by a Shura or Council of Twelve, with four executive committees: military (commanded by Muhammed Atef) business, Islamic Studies , Media, and Public Relations.
-Al Qaeda begins launching international operations from Sudan.
1992-93- Bin Laden intervenes in civil war in Somalia. His lieuenant, Atef, trains Somai tribes opposed to UN intervention.
-Ban Laden accused by US of complicity in American defeat in Mogadishu.
-the Deobandi movement, originally a Sunni anti-colonial force born in British India, has spread from Bagladesh to Pakistan and southern Afghanistan. Deobandi teaching leads to the formation if the Taliban.
1993- Al Qaeda has about 1,000 members, mostly Afghan veteran Jihadis.
It supports 5,000 Arab fighters defending Muslims in the Balkans during the Bosnian Civil War (1992-1995)
First World Trade Centre Attack Fails. Al Qaeda spreads globally.
-Al Qaeda-linked bomb blast at World Trade Centre, New York.
-Al Qaeda has agents in Albania, Britain, Pakistan, Holland, Malasia, Lebanon, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Enirates.
-Al Qaeda forms loose associations with similar outfits in Ageria, Chechnya, Egypt, Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa, Lebanon, Libya, the Phulippines, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Yemen, Syria and Tunisia.
1994- Al Zawahiri joins Bin Laden in Khartoum Sudan, becomes his mentor.
-Saudi government revokes Bin Laden's citizenship and freezes his assets of $20-25 million
-attempt on Bin Laden's life. He founds the Committee for Advice and Reform. The CAR is intended to promote preaceful reform in Saudi Arabia.
1995- finally allowed to campaign openly in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood runs 150 candidates, all of whom lose.
-Islamabad- truck bombing kills 18- Egypt holds Zawahiri responsible.
-CIA sets up a "Bin Laden station".
Bin Laden Expelled from Sudan. Zawahiri heads Egyptian wing of Al Qaeda.
-1996- Sudan expels Bin Laden for his verbal attacks on the king of Saudi Arabia and puts him under surveillance in order that Sudan be removed from the U.S. list of terror states.
-botched Egyptian operations by the EIJ (Egyptian islamic Jihad, led by Ayman al Zawahiri), the Egyptian wing of Al Qaeda, get the EIJ expelled from Sudan.
Al Qaeda Returns to Afghanistan. Victorious Taliban Gives protection to Al Qaeda.
1996- Bin Laden moves Al Qaeda headquarters from Somalia to Jalalabad, Afghanistan, though Jalalabad is still outside Taliban control.
-Shalh Kaled first suggests an attack on New York's World Trade towers to Bin Laden.
Sept. -- Taliban takes Kabul and Jalalbad in civil war. Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban, gives protection and freedom of action to Bin Laden and Al Qaeda after Bin Laden swears loyalty; but also to accommodate, former anti-Soviet Jihadists who had been expelled from their home countries and unemployed Jihadists from the recent Bosnian, Kashmir and Chechen wars. A veteran Al Qaeda unit fights alongside the Taliban.
-Al Qaeda's 3,000 fighters are known as the Taliban's 55th Brigade. Al Qaeda has 45,000 adherents in 60 countries.
-Al Qaeda announces plans to expel foreigners from Islamic lands.
1997- Zawahiri joins Bin Laden in Afghanistan.
Al Qaeda Bombs US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam.
1998- August- Al Qaeda bombs US embassies inNairobi and Dar As Salaam, killing 227.
-Wshington places Bin Laden on its 10 most wanted list with a $5 million rewaerd on his head. and demands the Taliban hand him over. Mullah Omae refuses.
Union Of Islamic Courts in Somalia.
Bin Laden Releases Fatwa against Americans and Jews.
-Bin Laden releases a Fatwa calling for attacks on US citizens. Zawahiri joins his Islamic Jihad with Bin Laden's World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Crusaders and Jews. Zawahiri is in charge of ideology. Charter members are Abu Yasser Rafia Ahmad Taha, Mir Hamza and Faz ul Rahman. Among ists grievances are the UN sanctions against Iraq, US military bases in Saudi Arabia, the existence of Israel and its domination of the Palestinians. Its aims are the killing of any American or Israeli, the liberation of Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque and the Holy Mosque in Mecca andto overthrow all the regimes in Muslim countries that supported western interests.
-Nov. 4- a US grand jury returns a 238 count indictment for murder and other charges against Bin Laden and Zawahiri.
-Bin Laden gives the go-ahead to Sheikh Khaled to organize abd lauch the attack on the WTC in New York.
1999- 20 members of the Muslim Brotherhood arrested for plotting to overthrow the government and ifiltrating professional syndicates.
-9/11 plans finalized by the Al Qaeda military committee.
Early Stages of 9/11 Attacks.
-a group of highly educated, disciplined Islamists living in Hamburg and with experience of the West travel to to Afhganistan to meet Bin Laden to plan the attack on the the WTC.
Al Qaeda Bombs USS Cole in Yemen.
2000- October- Al Qaeda bombs the USS Cole, docked in Aden, Yemen. US holds Bin Laden responsible.
-the Muslim Brotherhood wins 17 seats in the Egyptian parliament.
Dec. -the US has the UN Security Council demand that the Taliban hand over Bin Laden on pain of an arms embargo on Afghanistan. Mullah Omar refuses.
2001- Feb.- public trial in US of 4 conspirators in bombing of Kenyan and Ethiopian embassies enlarges Bin Laden's following in the Muslim World.
-Al Qaeda 9/11 hijackers begin arriving in the US
-the hijack leader, Mohammed Atta meets Binalshibh in Spain to work out final details of WTC attack.
Al Qaeda Executes 9/11 Attack on World Trade Towers.
2001- Sept 11- Al Qaeda operatives fly two passenger planes into the twin towers of the World Trade centre in Manhattan, killing about 3,000. A third plane is crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth crashes in a field in Pennsylvania, killing all aboard.
-the US names Osama Bin Laden and Zawahiri as conspirators in the 9/11 plots. In vain, the US demands that Mullah Omar hand over Bin Laden.
Oct 7- Bin Laden and Al Zawahiri release a 20 minute statement claiming responsibility for the 9/11 attacks.
Nov. Mohammed Atef, Al Qaeda military commander killed by drone strike in Afghanistan.
Dec.12 - Zacarias Musawi, a Moroccan born French citizen is the first suspect to be charged in the 9/11 attacks.
Execution of Daniel Pearl.
2002- Feb 1- Wall Street Journalist Reporter Daniel Pearl decapitated in Karachi by a Pakistani Al-Qaeda-linked organization led byAhmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.
March 2-- Abu Zubaydah, Al Qaeda's chief field and recruitment officer and Bin Laden's number 3 man, is arrested in Pakistan.
April 11- 18 are killed in attack outside a Tunisian synagogue when Al Qaeda explodes an oil tanker.
June 11- Jose Padilla is arrested landing in US from Pakistan and accused of hatching a 'dirty bomb' plot.
Sept 11- Ramzi Bimalshibh, a high-ranking Al Qaeda member and one of the 9/11 plotters is arrested in Karachi.
The Bali Night Club Bombing and US and Allied Invasion of Afghanistan.
Oct 12- Indonesia's Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiya carries out massive attack on a Bali nightclub killing 202.
Nov.- US and NATO invasion of Afghanistan. Taliban driven from Kabul. US discovers video tape in which Bin Laden names 9 of the 9/11 hijackers during a meeeting with radical Jeddah cleric Khalid Harbi.
-Bin Ladin escapes to Tora Bora and tribal area of Waziristan.
Nov. 28 -Al Qaeda claims responsibility for an attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombassa, Kenya, killing 16
9/11 Planner Sheikh Khaled Arrested
2003- March 1- Khaled Sheikh Mohammed- Bin Laden's architect of 9/11 is arrested in a CIA-Pakistani operation in Islamabad.
-Mounir Moutassadek is found guilty by a German court in Hamburg of helping to to mount the 9/11 attacks. He gets 12 years.
Al Qaeda-linked Attacks in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Istanbul
May 12- at least 34 killed in an Al Qaeda attack on foreign luxury compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
May 16- Salafiya Jihadia, an al-Qaeda-linked Moroccan cell, kills 45 in suicide bombings on international targets in Casablanca, Morocco.
June 27 -Ali Abdul Rahman al Gamdi arrested in Riyadh suicide attacks.
Dec. 15- 23 killed in suicide attacks on two Istanbul synagogues.
Dec 20- 27 killed in double suicide bombing on the British Consulate and a British bank in Istanbul.
Abu Musab al Zarqawi prepares to lead Al Qaeda in Iraq.
2004- Feb 9- US discovers plot for Al Qaeda entry into Iraq by Abu Musab al Zarqawi and plans to turn Sunni and Shia against one another.
The Madrid Train Bombings.
March 11- Madrid train bombings by a group linked or sympathetic to Al Qaeda kill 191.
April 15- A Bin laden tape offers a truce to all European countries that withdraw from the US's alleged war against Muslims.
May 17- head of the Iraqi Governing Council killed in Al Qaeda attack. US traces Zarqawi to a number of attacks incuding beheading of a US hostage.
Al Qaeda Attacks and Hostage Beheading in Saudi Arabia.
May 30- 22 killed by Al Qaeda-linked group in foreigners' compound at Khobar, Saudi Arabia before the compound is stormed by Saudi commandos.
June 18- US hostage Paul Johnson beheaded by Al Qaeda group in Saudi Arabia. Abdul Aziz al Muqin, head of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, killed by security forces.
July 30-2004 -capture of Ahmed Khalfin Ghalani, Al Qaeda operative linked to 1998 Kenya US embassy bombing.
Sept 26- Amjad Farooqi, wanted in connection to AlQaeda murder of Daniel Pearl, killed in shoot-out with Pakistani Police. Farooqi is closely linked to Aby Faraj Al Libbi, Al Qaeda chief for Pakistan.
Sept 29- 2004- A Yemeni court senteces two Al Qaeda operatives, Al-Bashiri and Al Badawi to death for the attack on the USS Cole. Four others get prison sentences.
Zarqawi's Allegiance to Bin laden.
-Oct- Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, leader of "Monotheism and Jihad" swears allegiance to Osama Bin Laden.
Oct 29- days prior to US elections, Bin aden realeases video tape warning of more attacks on th US.
2005- 14 April -Kamil Bourgass, Al Qaeda suspect found guilty of murdering a police officer and threatening to spead ricin in Birtain, gets 17 year sentence.
April 22- Al Qaeda suspects go on trial in Madrid court for helping to plan 9/11 bombings.
May 4- Faraj Al Libbi, Al Qaeda's number three after Zawahiri and head of operations in Pakistan is arrested by pakistani police.
July 7, 2005 London Underground Bombings.
July 7- Al-Qaeda inspired group brings off London underground bombings, killing 56.
July 21- four more London underground bombings fail to detonate. Within days, four suspects are identified and arrested.
Sharm-al-Sheikh Bombings
July 23- 61 killed in AlQaeda-linked bombings in the Egyptian Red Sea rfesort of Sharm al-Sheikh. One suspect is killed by police in a shootout with Islamists.
August 19- rockets are fired at the Jordanian port city of Aqaba and at the nearby Israeli port city of Eliat.
Sept. 26- Madrid Court sentences 18 men to prison terms for planning the 9/11 attacks.
Nov. 2005- Hamza Rabia, Al Qaeda International Operations commander killed by drone attack in North Waziristan.
2006- January 19- Bin Laden releases tape offering US the choice of a truce or new attacks.
Sacred Shia Al Askiriya Mosque blown up by Al Qaeda to iginite Sectarian war in Iraq
February- Al Qaeda in Iraq operatives blow up the Al Askiriya Mosque in Samarra, sacred to Iraqi Shia, deliberately setting off an ethnic bloodbath between Sunni and Shia Muslims.
May 3- Zakarais Moussaoui is sentenced to life in US court. He is the sold person charged in the 9/11 attacks.
Zarqawi killed in targeted US air attack near Baghdad.
June 7- Al Qaeda in iraq leader Al Zarqawi is killed in a targeted US air strike northeast of Baghdad.
July 12- British-Pakistani terrorists arrested for plan to bomb 12 airliners during an Atlantic crossing.
Sept 3- Al Qaeda in Iraq's number 2 man, Jama Al Saedi is captured by Iraqi authorities. Al Saedi planned the bombing of the Al Askiriya shrine.
Zawahiri announces creation of Al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM) from merger.
Sept 14- Ayman Al Zawahiri announces the merger of the Algerian militant group, the GSPC with Al Qaeda, creating Al Qaeda in the Maghredb (AQIM)
2007: AQIM in the Sahel.
February- news reports point to Al Qaeda training camps in the Sahel from Senegal to Ethiopia with plans to attack targets in Europe.
Feb 13- GSPC claims responsibility for car bombings in Boumerdas and Tizi Ouzou, on the Berber region of Kabylia in eastern Algeria. (This was a center of resistance during the Algerian war).
2007- March 15- Mohammed Sheikh Khaled admits to planning the 9/11 attacks and 30 others at a hearing at Guantanamo Bay.
March 27- at a hearing at Gunatanamo Bay, Australian convert to Islam David Hicks, confesses to support for terrorist operations.
April 27- high Al Qaeda operative, Al Hadi Al Iraqi, is captured bu the US on his way to take over Al Qaeda operations in Iraq.
Life Sentences for the London undergorund bombers.
July 11- four men arrested in the July 21 2005 London underground bombings receive life sentences.
Sept. 7-8- 50 die in two conseutive bombings in Algeria. Al Qaeda in the Maghreb claims responsibility.
Oct 18- Pakistan PPP parry leader Benazir Bhotto survivies bombing attack as she arrives in Karachi, returning from exile.
Three get life in Madrid train bombings.
Oct 31- Madrid Court sentences three men to life in the Madrid train bombings.
Dec. 12- suicide bombings on Algeria's supreme court and on an Algiers UN agency kill 40.
Dec. 27- Benazir Bhutto is killed in a bombing attack on her motorcade while campainging in Islamabad, Pakistan. Pakistani authorities say Waziristan Al Qaeda leader Baitullah Mehsud is responsible.
2008- Jan. 29- Abu Haith Al Libi, Al Qaeda military commander killed in drone strike in North Waziristan.
March 31- at Guantanamo Bay, Al Qaeda operative Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is charged with crimes in the 1998 Kenya Embassy bombing.
Khaled, architect of 9/11 in trial in US.
June 6- Mohammed Sheikh Khaled, self-confessed planner of the 9/11 attacks, tells a US tribunal at Gunatanmo Bay that he wants to die as a martyr.
July 6- Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni and Osama Bin Laden's former driver, is convicted of war crimes at a tribunal in Gunatanamo Bay.
-July 28- Abu Khebab al Masri, Al Qaeda expert on weapons of mass destruction killed in drone strike.
-Fall- Najibullah Zazi and three others receive al Qaeda training in Afghanistan; will soon plot to attack subway stations in New York City.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula arises from merger.
2009- Jan-March- the Yemeni and Saudi affiliates of Al Qaeda merge into Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, affiliated by the Yemen-based US-Muslim preacher, Al Awlaki.
Somalia
2009 January - Ethiopia completes the withdrawal of its troops. Fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked radical Islamist al-Shabab militia take control of the town of Baidoa, formerly a key stronghold of the transitional government.
March 19- Osama Bin Laden releases tape in which he urges Islamists to overthrow President Ahmed.
Al Qaeda in the Maghreb.
2009 May - Algeria begins sending military equipment to Mali in preparation for a joint operation against Al Qaeda in the Maghreb
2010 Jul 24, French-backed Mauritanian military operations against al Qaeda fighters in the Sahara desert wound up after four days of hunting Islamists deep inside Mali.
2010- Sep 17, The Mauritanian army launched an offensive against the North African branch of al-Qaida in neighboring Mali. At least 12 militants died and five Mauritanians were killed in the operation, which was launched inside northern Mali with permission
-Sept. -Najiibullah Zazi arrested for attempting to bomb subway stataions in new York City.
Conviction of would-be London Airline bombers
-Sept- conviction by a London court of the three Al Qaeda-linked bombers who conspired to blow transatlantic passenger jets out of the air using smuggled liquid explosives.
- Sept- Drone missile strike in Pakistan kills Ilyas Kashmiri, Al Qaeda military commander and head of the Al Qaeda-affiliated Kashmir insurgent group. Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami.
Taliban Severs Ties with Al Qaeda.
-Taliban has severed its last ties with al Qaeda. 100 Al Qaeda fighter remain in Afghanistan.
Dec. 4- Osama Bin Laden believed to be in Ghazni province, Afghanistan.
Dec 8- Salh al Somali, coordinatior of Al Qaeda in Afhganistan and Pakistan witg Al Qaeda abroad is killed in a drone strike.
Arrest of Yemen-trained Northwest Airlines 'Underwear Bomber'
Dec 25- Umar Farouk Abdulmatallab, the "Underwear Bomber", arrested for attempting to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253. He had been trained in Yemen by 'Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsuala."
2010- January- according to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Al Qaeda is planning to destabilize Pakistan and ingite a nuclear war between Pakistan and India.
Al Baghdadi, head of Al Qaeda in Iraq killed near Tikrit.
April 18- leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Omar al Baghdadi, killed outside Tikrit.
Failed Times Square bombing.
May- Faisal Sahazad is arrested in a failed attempt to bomb Times Square using a van packed with explosives.
Aug 12- Osama Bin Laden's former cook and driver, Ibrahim al Qosi, is sentenced to 14 years in prison for providing material support to terrorism. A plea bargain is pending.
2011 Suicide Attacks in Iraq.
January 2011 Iraq suicide attacks were a series of three consecutive suicide bombings in Iraq which left at least 133 dead.
April 26, 2011: NATO reveals that Abu Hafs al-Najdi, also known as Abdul Ghani, a regional commander in Afghanistan in charge of suicide bombings and cash flow, was killed by an airstrike earlier in the month.
April 25, 2011: The Al unnah Al Nawabiah Mosque in Montreal was among nine houses of prayer or Islamic institutes worldwide considered by the U.S. military to be places where "known al-Qaeda members were recruited, facilitated or trained," according to leaked classified American intelligence documents.
US Special Forces Kill Osama Bin Laden.
April 26, 2011: NATO reveals that Abu Hafs al-Najdi, also known as Abdul Ghani, a regional commander in Afghanistan in charge of suicide bombings and cash flow, was killed by an airstrike earlier in the month.
May 1, 2011: Osama Bin Laden, head of Al Qaeda is killed when CIA paramilitaries and a Navy SEAL team attack his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Al Qaeda Offensive in Mali
June 30: Armed Islamists destroy ancient tombs of Muslim saints that offend their puritan views in the desert city of Timbuktu and threaten to wipe out every religious shrine there. They impose sharia, the strict and often brutal Islamic law.
-summer of 2012, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar Dine, another radical Islamist group, took advantage of the instability and an increasingly weak military in Mali and captured Timbuktu, Kidal, and Gao, cities in the north. They implemented and brutally enforced Shariah, or Islamic law.
Al Qaeda offshoot Kills US Ambassador in Bengazi, Libya.
September 2012- militants armed with antiaircraft weapons and rocket-propelled grenades fired upon the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing U.S. ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other embassy officials. U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton said the U.S. believed that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a group closely linked to al-Qaeda, orchestrated the attack.
Somalia- Al Shebab
2013- June 28: UN reports that the Al-Shabaab spiritual leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys has turned himself in to pro-government officials in the central town of Adado. Local elders assert that he and his militia are stationed in the central Galmudug region, having fled from their own comrades in Al-Shabaab-controlled territory after a bout of infighting. According to the Shabelle Media Network, legislators and elders flew in to the town in an attempt to persuade Aweys to negotiate with the government. However, the elders indicate that their efforts were unsuccessful
thanks to BBC Timelines and:
-http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/05/02/f-al-qaeda-timeline.html
- Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/al-qaeda-terrorism.html#ixzz2Rg9JhBiu
History never dies. It is reborn every minute of every day.
TIMELINE FOR THE HISTORY OF AL QAEDA
The Hanbali Reform Movement of early Arabia.
780-855- Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, sounder of the Hanbali code of Sharia law. He holds that a decision in Sharia must be referred directly to the Quran and the sunna- not to the legal framework that had grown up around them. In other words, he held that the law itself had already been written in the words of the Quran.
-in subsequent centuries, the Hanbali Code loses strength everywhere except at Najd in central Arabia.
1042-1147-North Africa and Spain- Almoravids impose Islamic rule over an area comprising modern Morocco, Mauretainia, northern Mali, western Algeria and Spain.
Ibn Taimiya Revives the Hanbali Code in the Middle Ages.
1300- (crica) in a revival, Ahmad Ibn Taimiya upholds the Hanbali Code as a means of reform and of condemning the cults of tombs and saints, and urging the continual interpretation (itijihad) of law in light of the Quran. He sees the Shia, with all their excess ritual, as the enemy within. He upheld the Sunni Caliphs over the Shia Imams because be believed that seizing and weilding secular power was all that mattered in a leader- and the Caliphs had done that most effecrively.
1328- death of Ibn Taimiya.
1250-1517- The Mameluke Caliphs of Cairo adopt the Hanbali Code.
The Wahhabi Movement of the 18th Century.
1703- Abdul al-Wahhab is born at Najd, a main centre of Hanbali Islam in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula.
1725 (circa) -Al-Wahhab (1703-1787) founds Muwahidun (unitarian) movement- an attempt to purify Islam of medieval superstition, to stop the translation of Sharia into jurisprudence and to get rid of the cult of saints. The Muwahidun follow the Hanbali school as taught by Tarq al Din ibn Taimiya (qv). Wahhab's oponnents call his followers 'Wahhabis', the name that stuck.
-Wahhab makes attendance at public prayer obligatory, forbids the building of minarets,
Ibn Saud, Wahhabism and the Origins of the House of Saud
-having failed to spread his movement, Al Wahhab allies himself with a tribal chieftain, Mohammed Ib Saud.
1726-65- Mohammed Ibn Saud, ruler of the Diraiya Emirate embraces Wahhabism, has his subjects convert on pain of death.
1745- Muhammad Ibn Saud becomes ruler of Najd, the central plateau and oasis region of Arania, founds the House of Saud.
-in alliance with followers of Saud, Wahabbis mount a campaign against idolatry, corruption and adultery. On the authority of the Hadith, they ban dancing, music and poetry, silk, gold, ornaments and jewelery.
1766-1803- Mohammed's son, Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, continues to uphold Wahhabism.
1773- Abdul Aziz ibn Saud takes Riyadh.
1802- in a campaign against the Shia, the Wahhabis attack the Shia holy city of Karbala.
1810- the Whhabi Ibn Sauds ruule most of Arabia.
1803-1814 Saud Ibn Abdul Aziz of the House of Saud tries to spread Wahhabism to the frontiers of Syria and Iraq.
The Ottoman Sultan sends the Egyptian Pasha to Crush Wahhabism.
-the Ottoman Sultan is outrages by what he sees as descecration of the holy pplaces of Arabi by the Sauds and their Wahhabism.
1814-18- Sent by hte sultan, Muhammad Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, crushes the Wahhabist movement and executes Abdullah Ibn Saud.
Salafism
1838-97- Jamal al-din Afghani. Helps develop Salafism- an Islamic ideology based on the example of the salaf- the ancestors of early Islam. He promotes the Pan-Islam movement in an attempt to revive a mythical 'pure' Islam free of ethnic and political rivalries.
1849-1905- Muhammad Abdu- a follower of Afghani (b. 1838) emphasized the influence of the Salaf on Sharia law.
1865-1935- Muhammad Rashid Rida, follower of Abdu (b. 1849) researched what Mohammed and 'the pious ancestors' had done and taught so that it could be applied to contemporary conditions. He preferred the Salaf to the four Sunni legal schools.
19th century in Mali-
-French colonial advance provokes the Fula and Toucouleur (Tukolor ) jihads which spread across region. Various theocratic states formed.
Fall and Revival of Wahhabism
1881- House of Saud expelled from the Riyadh region. But it revivies under Abdul Rahman Ibn Al Saud and spreads Wahhabism
1891- Abdul Rahman Ibn Al Saud of the House of Saud is overthrown at Diraiya by the House Of Rashid which has Ottoman backing.
-the Deobandi and Ahl-i-Hadith movements rise in northern India- in an attempt to rally and purify Islam against British and western colonial forces. Both are opposed to the Shia.
1894- Mali- Tuareg rebels declare a jihad against the French following their occupation of the city of Tombouctou in January
1902 -Abdul Aziz ibn Abdul Rahman al Saud re-conquers the Najd from the Ottomans, reviviing Wahhabism militarily and politically through the Ikhwan Wahhabist movement. Wahabbis mount new attacks on hypocrites, laxity, non-blievers. The criteria for belief is strict adherecne to the Sharia.
1905-6- Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdul Rahman takes east central Arabia.
1913- Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, commander of the Whhabist Ikhwan army invades the Shia region of Al-Hasa and attempts to impose Wahhabism.
Mohammed Qutb
1906-66- Sayyid Mohammed Qutb. Muslim ideologue. Born in Asyut, Egypt. Trained as a teacher in Cairo.
1920s- Salafis teach that since Mohammed was chosen by the community, leadership of Islam cannot be hereditary.
1925- Ibn Saud's Ikhwan Wahhabists destroy the Jannat al Baghi cemetery in Medina, a Shia holy place where the daughter of the Prophet and the 3nd, 4th, 5th and 6th Shia imams are buried.
1926- The Ikhwan resorts to the systematic killing of Shia.
1927- May 20- British lay down treaty of Jeddah giving the Hijaz and Jajd to Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud. The Ikhwan, sends a Wahhabi recolt against Ibn Saud for using telephone,s radios, cars etc.
The Muslim Brotherhood and the Saudi Domestication of Wahhabism.
1928- Muslim Brotherhood founded by Hassan al Banna in Egypt for moral and social reform.
1930s- House of Saud becomes rich on oil wealth, moderates its belief in Wahhabism; the pogroms against the Shia are stopped; instead the Shia suffer discrimination and marginalization.
1932- the vast desert region whose heart is the Najd bcomes the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
-in Mecca, the Supreme Religious Council continues to be the official head of Wahabbism.
1939- Muslim brother hood becomes a political movement in response to the Arab uprising against the British in Palestine (1936) and Egyptian protest against the the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty (1936). The brotherhood declares that the Quran and the Hadith are sufficient as a social political code for any time and place.
1940- the Muslim brotherhood has 500 branches each with a mosque and social services.
1948- Qutb is sent to university in Colorado, USA by his ministry. He is appalled at what he sees as America's decadence and depravity.
1948-49- members of the Muslim Brotherhood fight in the Palestine War, recruiting Egyptian officers and gaining military experience. The Brotherhood turns against Egypt which is blames for the 1948-49 war.
1948- Egypt declares martial law and bans the Brotherhood.
-Egyptian premier, Fahmi Nokrashi Pasha, is assassinated by the Brotherhood.
1949- Hassan a Banna, leader of the Egyptian Brotherhood is assassinated.
1950- with the lifting of martial law, the Brotherhood enters mainstream Egyptian politics.
1951- Qutb returns to Egypt but his anti-American views get him expelled from the education ministry. He joins the Muslim Brootherhood. In his writings he says that America should be placed under a sentence of death.
1952- the Brotherhood supports Egypt in rejecting the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and participates in the Cairo riots.
1952- the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) overthrows the regime in Egypt.
Egypt bans the Muslim Brotherhood.
1954- Egypt's RCC bans the Muslim Brotherhood. Qutb and other members are held in a concentration camp. He writes his defining work, Maalim Fi Al Tariq- "Signposts on the Road"- which divides all social systems into "The Order of Islam" and "The Order of Ignorance." The book remains a text book for radical Islam.
23rd Oct.- after Brotherhood members attempt to assassinate President Nasser, the plotters are hanged, many are imprisoned or driven into exile in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
1957- birth of Osama Bin laden, son of a bricklayer from South Yemen. Bin Laden's father settles in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and becomes a wealthy construction magnate.
Qutb Becomes Leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.
1964- Qutb and cohorts are released from detainment in Egypt. "Signposts on the Road" is smuggled out of Egypt. Though he is non-violent, the Muslim Brotherhood promotes him into the leadership to avenge their persecution in Egypt.
-Nasser tries to include the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab Socialist Union to combat Communism.
-repeated attempts by the Brotherhood to assassinate Nasser.
1966-Sayyid Muhammed Qutb is put on trial in Egypt. He states that the nations of the Middle East are a western fabrication and that actually Islam has no nations, only a Community of Believers.
-Sayyid Muhammed Qutb and other Brotherhood leaders are executed.
Muslim Brotherhood gains from 1967 War with Israel.
1967- Egypt decisively defeated in war with Israel.
1968- popular feeling that Egypt had received divine retribution for Arab Socialism causes Nasser to grant a general amnesty to the Muslim Brotherhood.
-new Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, attempts to integrate the Brotherhood into the mainstrem.
1975 (circa) Saalafis active in Kuwait where they want a republican, democratic regime.
Egypt's Sadat Bans the Muslim Brotherhood causing it to Radicalize.
1976- fearing the expanding power of the Brotherhood, President Sadat bans it from Egyptian elections. 15 Brotherhood members are elected as members of other parties causing a radical wing to split off in protest.
-the Muslim Brotherhood radicalizes and turns against Sadat's modernization and pro-Israel and pro-West policies.
Uprising against Saudis; beginning of Careers of Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri.
1978- Ayman Zawahiri graduates as as a surgeon from Cairo's University's medical school.
-Bin Laden graduates with a degree in civil engineering from King Abdul Aziz University in Saudi Arabia.
1979- armed uprising against rulers of Saudi Arabia at the Grand Mosque- assisted by Salafis from Kuwait. The young engineering graduate, Bin laden, regards them as true Muslims. Salafis have since become active in Kuwait politics.
1979- Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Begin sign the Egyptian-Istaeli peace Treaty. But his new peace costs Egypt membership in the Arab League.
-due to the unpopularity of the treaty at home, Sadat becomes increasingly autocratic.
Abdullah Azzam's 'Bureau of Serice' in Pakistan for Afghan Jihad- antecedent to Al Qaeda.
1980- Abdullah Azzam founds Maktab al Khidmat (Bureau of Service) in Peshawar, Pakistan.
-Pakistani ISI and American CIA camps along the Afghan-Pakistan border join in training non-Afhgan Mujehadeen to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. They use US army training manuals translated into Urdu, Arabic and Persian, stressing nationalism and Islam.
-Bin Laden visits Peshawar and lobbies family and friends to support the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan.
-Osama Bin Laden goes back to Saudi Arabia, raises large sums from family connections and returns to Pakistan with members of the family business, the Saudi Binlandin Group.
Bin laden leads non-Afghan Mujehadeen in Afghan war against the Soviets.
-Bin laden becomes leader of the non-Afghan Mujehadeen, working alongside the CIA and the ISI.
1980s- Somalia fights Islamic fundamentalists in its north and the Patriotic Front in the south.
Zawahiri arrested in Assassination of Sadat.
1981- Oct 6- a radical wing of the Muslim Brotherhood assassinates President Sadat. Ayman al Zawahiri is among those jailed in the plot.
1984- Egyptian President Mubarak maintains elections ban on Muslim Brotherhood. Muslim Brotherhood members get elected as members of the Neo-Wafd party.
-the Muslim Brotherhood, uses highly educated members to dominate syndicates of lawyers, doctors, journalists and engineers.
-Zawahiri is released from prison in Egypt.
Bin Laden Works for Pak-Afghan Bureau of Service.
-in Pakistan, Bin Laden comes under the influence of Abdulla Azzam, head of the jihadi Bureau of Service. He vets non-Afghan volunteers, supervises road construction and refurbishing caves for storage. He also engages in guerilla sorties.
1986- Bureau of Service sets up a branch in the US at the farooq Mosque in Brooklyn.
-Bin laden oversees construction of a sophsiticated tunnel complex for storage, supplies and refuge at Khost on the Afghan-Pakistan border. The complex is near Tora Bora.
Zawahiri joins the Anti-Soviet Afghan Struggle.
-Zawahiri travels to Pakistan to join the medical corps of the Mujehadeen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. He is stationed in peshawar where he sets up a branch of Islamic Jihad.
1987- The Muslim Brotherhood gains singificant power in the Egyptian parliament by allying itself with socialist parties. Brotherhood deputies demand an end to the Israeli-Egyptian treaty, to all ties with the United States and the application of Sharia law.
1988- Bin Laden and Azzam make 'MAK' or The Service Bureau offical. Bin Laden wants to advance non-military operations world-wide- while Azzam prefers a military strategy.
Al Qaeda is new name for the Service Bureau upon murder of Azzam and victory in Afghanistan.
1989- February- Bin Laden declares withdrawal of Soviets from Afghanistan a victory for the Jihad.
November- Azzam assassinated; Pakistan's ISI is a suspect. Bin Laden, assisted by Muhammad Atef and Abu Ubaidah al Banshiri, takes over, renaming Maktab al Khidmat 'Al Qaeda'- 'The Base', with a plan to expand the Soviet Jihad into an international Jihad from headquarters in Peshawar. The prime target is US interests world-wide with Al Qaeda launching its own attacks or sponsoring similar outfits to attack Al Qaeda targets.
Al Mohammed, trained as a US commando at Fort Bragg, leaves the US and joins Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan and pakistan.
Bin Laden abandons Afghan Civil war for Saudi Arabia.
-Bin Laden resturns to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, discouraged by the inter-ethnic Afghan civil war.
1990- When Iraq invades Kuwait, Bin Laden offers to set up a citizen militia to defend Saudi Arabia but the kingdom rejects his offer.
Bin Laden Repudiates US bases in Saudi Arabia for First Gulf War.
1991 -the US responds to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait by setting up military bases to protect Saudi Arabia's oil fields at Hama. Bin Laden swears to avenge what he sees as US violation and occupation of Saudi Arabia.
-Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood supports Saddam Hussein.
Bin Laden Sets up Al Qaeda in Sudan; active also in Mogadishu and the Balkans.
1991-1996- Bin Laden, based in Sudan, sets up a series of corporate entities, running Al Qaeda as if it were a corporation. It is ruled by a Shura or Council of Twelve, with four executive committees: military (commanded by Muhammed Atef) business, Islamic Studies , Media, and Public Relations.
-Al Qaeda begins launching international operations from Sudan.
1992-93- Bin Laden intervenes in civil war in Somalia. His lieuenant, Atef, trains Somai tribes opposed to UN intervention.
-Ban Laden accused by US of complicity in American defeat in Mogadishu.
-the Deobandi movement, originally a Sunni anti-colonial force born in British India, has spread from Bagladesh to Pakistan and southern Afghanistan. Deobandi teaching leads to the formation if the Taliban.
1993- Al Qaeda has about 1,000 members, mostly Afghan veteran Jihadis.
It supports 5,000 Arab fighters defending Muslims in the Balkans during the Bosnian Civil War (1992-1995)
First World Trade Centre Attack Fails. Al Qaeda spreads globally.
-Al Qaeda-linked bomb blast at World Trade Centre, New York.
-Al Qaeda has agents in Albania, Britain, Pakistan, Holland, Malasia, Lebanon, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Enirates.
-Al Qaeda forms loose associations with similar outfits in Ageria, Chechnya, Egypt, Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa, Lebanon, Libya, the Phulippines, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Yemen, Syria and Tunisia.
1994- Al Zawahiri joins Bin Laden in Khartoum Sudan, becomes his mentor.
-Saudi government revokes Bin Laden's citizenship and freezes his assets of $20-25 million
-attempt on Bin Laden's life. He founds the Committee for Advice and Reform. The CAR is intended to promote preaceful reform in Saudi Arabia.
1995- finally allowed to campaign openly in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood runs 150 candidates, all of whom lose.
-Islamabad- truck bombing kills 18- Egypt holds Zawahiri responsible.
-CIA sets up a "Bin Laden station".
Bin Laden Expelled from Sudan. Zawahiri heads Egyptian wing of Al Qaeda.
-1996- Sudan expels Bin Laden for his verbal attacks on the king of Saudi Arabia and puts him under surveillance in order that Sudan be removed from the U.S. list of terror states.
-botched Egyptian operations by the EIJ (Egyptian islamic Jihad, led by Ayman al Zawahiri), the Egyptian wing of Al Qaeda, get the EIJ expelled from Sudan.
Al Qaeda Returns to Afghanistan. Victorious Taliban Gives protection to Al Qaeda.
1996- Bin Laden moves Al Qaeda headquarters from Somalia to Jalalabad, Afghanistan, though Jalalabad is still outside Taliban control.
-Shalh Kaled first suggests an attack on New York's World Trade towers to Bin Laden.
Sept. -- Taliban takes Kabul and Jalalbad in civil war. Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban, gives protection and freedom of action to Bin Laden and Al Qaeda after Bin Laden swears loyalty; but also to accommodate, former anti-Soviet Jihadists who had been expelled from their home countries and unemployed Jihadists from the recent Bosnian, Kashmir and Chechen wars. A veteran Al Qaeda unit fights alongside the Taliban.
-Al Qaeda's 3,000 fighters are known as the Taliban's 55th Brigade. Al Qaeda has 45,000 adherents in 60 countries.
-Al Qaeda announces plans to expel foreigners from Islamic lands.
1997- Zawahiri joins Bin Laden in Afghanistan.
Al Qaeda Bombs US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam.
1998- August- Al Qaeda bombs US embassies inNairobi and Dar As Salaam, killing 227.
-Wshington places Bin Laden on its 10 most wanted list with a $5 million rewaerd on his head. and demands the Taliban hand him over. Mullah Omae refuses.
Union Of Islamic Courts in Somalia.
1998-2000 four sharia courts in Somalia bond together.
2000- the Union of Islamic Courts. Is founded in Somalia.
Bin Laden Releases Fatwa against Americans and Jews.
-Bin Laden releases a Fatwa calling for attacks on US citizens. Zawahiri joins his Islamic Jihad with Bin Laden's World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Crusaders and Jews. Zawahiri is in charge of ideology. Charter members are Abu Yasser Rafia Ahmad Taha, Mir Hamza and Faz ul Rahman. Among ists grievances are the UN sanctions against Iraq, US military bases in Saudi Arabia, the existence of Israel and its domination of the Palestinians. Its aims are the killing of any American or Israeli, the liberation of Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque and the Holy Mosque in Mecca andto overthrow all the regimes in Muslim countries that supported western interests.
-Nov. 4- a US grand jury returns a 238 count indictment for murder and other charges against Bin Laden and Zawahiri.
-Bin Laden gives the go-ahead to Sheikh Khaled to organize abd lauch the attack on the WTC in New York.
1999- 20 members of the Muslim Brotherhood arrested for plotting to overthrow the government and ifiltrating professional syndicates.
-9/11 plans finalized by the Al Qaeda military committee.
Early Stages of 9/11 Attacks.
-a group of highly educated, disciplined Islamists living in Hamburg and with experience of the West travel to to Afhganistan to meet Bin Laden to plan the attack on the the WTC.
Al Qaeda Bombs USS Cole in Yemen.
2000- October- Al Qaeda bombs the USS Cole, docked in Aden, Yemen. US holds Bin Laden responsible.
-the Muslim Brotherhood wins 17 seats in the Egyptian parliament.
Dec. -the US has the UN Security Council demand that the Taliban hand over Bin Laden on pain of an arms embargo on Afghanistan. Mullah Omar refuses.
2001- Feb.- public trial in US of 4 conspirators in bombing of Kenyan and Ethiopian embassies enlarges Bin Laden's following in the Muslim World.
-Al Qaeda 9/11 hijackers begin arriving in the US
-the hijack leader, Mohammed Atta meets Binalshibh in Spain to work out final details of WTC attack.
Al Qaeda Executes 9/11 Attack on World Trade Towers.
2001- Sept 11- Al Qaeda operatives fly two passenger planes into the twin towers of the World Trade centre in Manhattan, killing about 3,000. A third plane is crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth crashes in a field in Pennsylvania, killing all aboard.
-the US names Osama Bin Laden and Zawahiri as conspirators in the 9/11 plots. In vain, the US demands that Mullah Omar hand over Bin Laden.
Oct 7- Bin Laden and Al Zawahiri release a 20 minute statement claiming responsibility for the 9/11 attacks.
Nov. Mohammed Atef, Al Qaeda military commander killed by drone strike in Afghanistan.
Dec.12 - Zacarias Musawi, a Moroccan born French citizen is the first suspect to be charged in the 9/11 attacks.
Execution of Daniel Pearl.
2002- Feb 1- Wall Street Journalist Reporter Daniel Pearl decapitated in Karachi by a Pakistani Al-Qaeda-linked organization led byAhmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.
March 2-- Abu Zubaydah, Al Qaeda's chief field and recruitment officer and Bin Laden's number 3 man, is arrested in Pakistan.
April 11- 18 are killed in attack outside a Tunisian synagogue when Al Qaeda explodes an oil tanker.
June 11- Jose Padilla is arrested landing in US from Pakistan and accused of hatching a 'dirty bomb' plot.
Sept 11- Ramzi Bimalshibh, a high-ranking Al Qaeda member and one of the 9/11 plotters is arrested in Karachi.
The Bali Night Club Bombing and US and Allied Invasion of Afghanistan.
Oct 12- Indonesia's Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiya carries out massive attack on a Bali nightclub killing 202.
Nov.- US and NATO invasion of Afghanistan. Taliban driven from Kabul. US discovers video tape in which Bin Laden names 9 of the 9/11 hijackers during a meeeting with radical Jeddah cleric Khalid Harbi.
-Bin Ladin escapes to Tora Bora and tribal area of Waziristan.
Nov. 28 -Al Qaeda claims responsibility for an attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombassa, Kenya, killing 16
9/11 Planner Sheikh Khaled Arrested
2003- March 1- Khaled Sheikh Mohammed- Bin Laden's architect of 9/11 is arrested in a CIA-Pakistani operation in Islamabad.
-Mounir Moutassadek is found guilty by a German court in Hamburg of helping to to mount the 9/11 attacks. He gets 12 years.
Al Qaeda-linked Attacks in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Istanbul
May 12- at least 34 killed in an Al Qaeda attack on foreign luxury compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
May 16- Salafiya Jihadia, an al-Qaeda-linked Moroccan cell, kills 45 in suicide bombings on international targets in Casablanca, Morocco.
June 27 -Ali Abdul Rahman al Gamdi arrested in Riyadh suicide attacks.
Dec. 15- 23 killed in suicide attacks on two Istanbul synagogues.
Dec 20- 27 killed in double suicide bombing on the British Consulate and a British bank in Istanbul.
Abu Musab al Zarqawi prepares to lead Al Qaeda in Iraq.
2004- Feb 9- US discovers plot for Al Qaeda entry into Iraq by Abu Musab al Zarqawi and plans to turn Sunni and Shia against one another.
The Madrid Train Bombings.
March 11- Madrid train bombings by a group linked or sympathetic to Al Qaeda kill 191.
April 15- A Bin laden tape offers a truce to all European countries that withdraw from the US's alleged war against Muslims.
May 17- head of the Iraqi Governing Council killed in Al Qaeda attack. US traces Zarqawi to a number of attacks incuding beheading of a US hostage.
Al Qaeda Attacks and Hostage Beheading in Saudi Arabia.
May 30- 22 killed by Al Qaeda-linked group in foreigners' compound at Khobar, Saudi Arabia before the compound is stormed by Saudi commandos.
June 18- US hostage Paul Johnson beheaded by Al Qaeda group in Saudi Arabia. Abdul Aziz al Muqin, head of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, killed by security forces.
July 30-2004 -capture of Ahmed Khalfin Ghalani, Al Qaeda operative linked to 1998 Kenya US embassy bombing.
Sept 26- Amjad Farooqi, wanted in connection to AlQaeda murder of Daniel Pearl, killed in shoot-out with Pakistani Police. Farooqi is closely linked to Aby Faraj Al Libbi, Al Qaeda chief for Pakistan.
Sept 29- 2004- A Yemeni court senteces two Al Qaeda operatives, Al-Bashiri and Al Badawi to death for the attack on the USS Cole. Four others get prison sentences.
Zarqawi's Allegiance to Bin laden.
-Oct- Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, leader of "Monotheism and Jihad" swears allegiance to Osama Bin Laden.
Oct 29- days prior to US elections, Bin aden realeases video tape warning of more attacks on th US.
2005- 14 April -Kamil Bourgass, Al Qaeda suspect found guilty of murdering a police officer and threatening to spead ricin in Birtain, gets 17 year sentence.
April 22- Al Qaeda suspects go on trial in Madrid court for helping to plan 9/11 bombings.
May 4- Faraj Al Libbi, Al Qaeda's number three after Zawahiri and head of operations in Pakistan is arrested by pakistani police.
July 7, 2005 London Underground Bombings.
July 7- Al-Qaeda inspired group brings off London underground bombings, killing 56.
July 21- four more London underground bombings fail to detonate. Within days, four suspects are identified and arrested.
Sharm-al-Sheikh Bombings
July 23- 61 killed in AlQaeda-linked bombings in the Egyptian Red Sea rfesort of Sharm al-Sheikh. One suspect is killed by police in a shootout with Islamists.
August 19- rockets are fired at the Jordanian port city of Aqaba and at the nearby Israeli port city of Eliat.
Sept. 26- Madrid Court sentences 18 men to prison terms for planning the 9/11 attacks.
Nov. 2005- Hamza Rabia, Al Qaeda International Operations commander killed by drone attack in North Waziristan.
2006- January 19- Bin Laden releases tape offering US the choice of a truce or new attacks.
Sacred Shia Al Askiriya Mosque blown up by Al Qaeda to iginite Sectarian war in Iraq
February- Al Qaeda in Iraq operatives blow up the Al Askiriya Mosque in Samarra, sacred to Iraqi Shia, deliberately setting off an ethnic bloodbath between Sunni and Shia Muslims.
May 3- Zakarais Moussaoui is sentenced to life in US court. He is the sold person charged in the 9/11 attacks.
Zarqawi killed in targeted US air attack near Baghdad.
June 7- Al Qaeda in iraq leader Al Zarqawi is killed in a targeted US air strike northeast of Baghdad.
July 12- British-Pakistani terrorists arrested for plan to bomb 12 airliners during an Atlantic crossing.
Sept 3- Al Qaeda in Iraq's number 2 man, Jama Al Saedi is captured by Iraqi authorities. Al Saedi planned the bombing of the Al Askiriya shrine.
Zawahiri announces creation of Al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM) from merger.
Sept 14- Ayman Al Zawahiri announces the merger of the Algerian militant group, the GSPC with Al Qaeda, creating Al Qaeda in the Maghredb (AQIM)
2007: AQIM in the Sahel.
February- news reports point to Al Qaeda training camps in the Sahel from Senegal to Ethiopia with plans to attack targets in Europe.
Feb 13- GSPC claims responsibility for car bombings in Boumerdas and Tizi Ouzou, on the Berber region of Kabylia in eastern Algeria. (This was a center of resistance during the Algerian war).
2007- March 15- Mohammed Sheikh Khaled admits to planning the 9/11 attacks and 30 others at a hearing at Guantanamo Bay.
March 27- at a hearing at Gunatanamo Bay, Australian convert to Islam David Hicks, confesses to support for terrorist operations.
April 27- high Al Qaeda operative, Al Hadi Al Iraqi, is captured bu the US on his way to take over Al Qaeda operations in Iraq.
Life Sentences for the London undergorund bombers.
July 11- four men arrested in the July 21 2005 London underground bombings receive life sentences.
Sept. 7-8- 50 die in two conseutive bombings in Algeria. Al Qaeda in the Maghreb claims responsibility.
Oct 18- Pakistan PPP parry leader Benazir Bhotto survivies bombing attack as she arrives in Karachi, returning from exile.
Three get life in Madrid train bombings.
Oct 31- Madrid Court sentences three men to life in the Madrid train bombings.
Dec. 12- suicide bombings on Algeria's supreme court and on an Algiers UN agency kill 40.
Dec. 27- Benazir Bhutto is killed in a bombing attack on her motorcade while campainging in Islamabad, Pakistan. Pakistani authorities say Waziristan Al Qaeda leader Baitullah Mehsud is responsible.
2008- Jan. 29- Abu Haith Al Libi, Al Qaeda military commander killed in drone strike in North Waziristan.
March 31- at Guantanamo Bay, Al Qaeda operative Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is charged with crimes in the 1998 Kenya Embassy bombing.
Khaled, architect of 9/11 in trial in US.
June 6- Mohammed Sheikh Khaled, self-confessed planner of the 9/11 attacks, tells a US tribunal at Gunatanmo Bay that he wants to die as a martyr.
July 6- Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni and Osama Bin Laden's former driver, is convicted of war crimes at a tribunal in Gunatanamo Bay.
-July 28- Abu Khebab al Masri, Al Qaeda expert on weapons of mass destruction killed in drone strike.
-Fall- Najibullah Zazi and three others receive al Qaeda training in Afghanistan; will soon plot to attack subway stations in New York City.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula arises from merger.
2009- Jan-March- the Yemeni and Saudi affiliates of Al Qaeda merge into Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, affiliated by the Yemen-based US-Muslim preacher, Al Awlaki.
Somalia
2009 January - Ethiopia completes the withdrawal of its troops. Fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked radical Islamist al-Shabab militia take control of the town of Baidoa, formerly a key stronghold of the transitional government.
March 19- Osama Bin Laden releases tape in which he urges Islamists to overthrow President Ahmed.
Al Qaeda in the Maghreb.
2009 May - Algeria begins sending military equipment to Mali in preparation for a joint operation against Al Qaeda in the Maghreb
2010 Jul 24, French-backed Mauritanian military operations against al Qaeda fighters in the Sahara desert wound up after four days of hunting Islamists deep inside Mali.
2010- Sep 17, The Mauritanian army launched an offensive against the North African branch of al-Qaida in neighboring Mali. At least 12 militants died and five Mauritanians were killed in the operation, which was launched inside northern Mali with permission
-Sept. -Najiibullah Zazi arrested for attempting to bomb subway stataions in new York City.
Conviction of would-be London Airline bombers
-Sept- conviction by a London court of the three Al Qaeda-linked bombers who conspired to blow transatlantic passenger jets out of the air using smuggled liquid explosives.
- Sept- Drone missile strike in Pakistan kills Ilyas Kashmiri, Al Qaeda military commander and head of the Al Qaeda-affiliated Kashmir insurgent group. Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami.
Taliban Severs Ties with Al Qaeda.
-Taliban has severed its last ties with al Qaeda. 100 Al Qaeda fighter remain in Afghanistan.
Dec. 4- Osama Bin Laden believed to be in Ghazni province, Afghanistan.
Dec 8- Salh al Somali, coordinatior of Al Qaeda in Afhganistan and Pakistan witg Al Qaeda abroad is killed in a drone strike.
Arrest of Yemen-trained Northwest Airlines 'Underwear Bomber'
Dec 25- Umar Farouk Abdulmatallab, the "Underwear Bomber", arrested for attempting to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253. He had been trained in Yemen by 'Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsuala."
2010- January- according to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Al Qaeda is planning to destabilize Pakistan and ingite a nuclear war between Pakistan and India.
Al Baghdadi, head of Al Qaeda in Iraq killed near Tikrit.
April 18- leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Omar al Baghdadi, killed outside Tikrit.
Failed Times Square bombing.
May- Faisal Sahazad is arrested in a failed attempt to bomb Times Square using a van packed with explosives.
Aug 12- Osama Bin Laden's former cook and driver, Ibrahim al Qosi, is sentenced to 14 years in prison for providing material support to terrorism. A plea bargain is pending.
2011 Suicide Attacks in Iraq.
January 2011 Iraq suicide attacks were a series of three consecutive suicide bombings in Iraq which left at least 133 dead.
April 26, 2011: NATO reveals that Abu Hafs al-Najdi, also known as Abdul Ghani, a regional commander in Afghanistan in charge of suicide bombings and cash flow, was killed by an airstrike earlier in the month.
April 25, 2011: The Al unnah Al Nawabiah Mosque in Montreal was among nine houses of prayer or Islamic institutes worldwide considered by the U.S. military to be places where "known al-Qaeda members were recruited, facilitated or trained," according to leaked classified American intelligence documents.
US Special Forces Kill Osama Bin Laden.
April 26, 2011: NATO reveals that Abu Hafs al-Najdi, also known as Abdul Ghani, a regional commander in Afghanistan in charge of suicide bombings and cash flow, was killed by an airstrike earlier in the month.
May 1, 2011: Osama Bin Laden, head of Al Qaeda is killed when CIA paramilitaries and a Navy SEAL team attack his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Al Qaeda Offensive in Mali
June 30: Armed Islamists destroy ancient tombs of Muslim saints that offend their puritan views in the desert city of Timbuktu and threaten to wipe out every religious shrine there. They impose sharia, the strict and often brutal Islamic law.
-summer of 2012, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar Dine, another radical Islamist group, took advantage of the instability and an increasingly weak military in Mali and captured Timbuktu, Kidal, and Gao, cities in the north. They implemented and brutally enforced Shariah, or Islamic law.
Al Qaeda offshoot Kills US Ambassador in Bengazi, Libya.
September 2012- militants armed with antiaircraft weapons and rocket-propelled grenades fired upon the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing U.S. ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other embassy officials. U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton said the U.S. believed that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a group closely linked to al-Qaeda, orchestrated the attack.
Somalia- Al Shebab
2013- June 28: UN reports that the Al-Shabaab spiritual leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys has turned himself in to pro-government officials in the central town of Adado. Local elders assert that he and his militia are stationed in the central Galmudug region, having fled from their own comrades in Al-Shabaab-controlled territory after a bout of infighting. According to the Shabelle Media Network, legislators and elders flew in to the town in an attempt to persuade Aweys to negotiate with the government. However, the elders indicate that their efforts were unsuccessful
thanks to BBC Timelines and:
-http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/05/02/f-al-qaeda-timeline.html
- Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/al-qaeda-terrorism.html#ixzz2Rg9JhBiu
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