Filed under: Thoughts of the Week
Akeidah - binding of Isaac
Al-Qaeda (also al-Qaida or al-Qa’ida or al-Qa’idah) (Arabic: القاعدة al-qāʕida, translation: The Base)
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaida#The_Name_Al-Qaeda
The name of the organization comes from the Arabic noun qā’idah, which means “foundation, basis” and can also refer to a military “base”. The initial al- is the Arabic definite article “the”, hence “the base”.
Osama bin Laden explained the origin of the term in a videotaped interview with al Jazeera journalist Tayseer Alouni in October 2001:
| “ | The name ‘al-Qaeda’ was established a long time ago by mere chance. The late Abu Ebeida El-Banashiri established the training camps for our mujahedeen against Russia’s terrorism. We used to call the training camp al-Qaeda. The name stayed.[22] |
The binding of Isaac, Akeidah, and the term that became used often after 9/11, al-Qaeda, sound very similar to these ears. The bounds of a son being sacrificed in war may form a network of sons fighting for a cause worldwide. The stones that served as an altar may also found a base. Mount Moriah, the place of the altar according to legend, is also the site of the contested Temple Mount, where Akeidah and al-Qaeda might meet again to sacrifice others for their causes.
Let us hope that in a safe world both the non-rational sacrifice of sons and the need for armed struggle to shake loose injustice will both become stories and legends and not evident in our daily lives.
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