Al-Qaeda is a term used by Islamic radicals to describe the terrorist organization to which they belong. The term is not used to describe a single group or even a combination of multiple groups. Al-Qaeda is made up of several major bases in Afghanistan, Islamic political parties, and also has many remote locations around the world and some control of other independent Islamic terrorist groups that it uses to strengthen itself (Gunaratna 54; Burke 1). plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The terrorist group's goal is deeply rooted in the spread of Islam, the installation of Sharia law, and the creation of Islamic states. They want to free the world from secularist and Western influences supported by non-Muslims and even moderate Muslims. The men involved in the organization believe they are engaged in a jihad. Jihad is a term to which two meanings can be attributed: that there is an internal spiritual struggle or that there is a physical struggle against the enemies of Islam. Al-Qaeda members believe they are fighting a “minor jihad” or war against the enemies of Islam (Gunaratna 84-85). September 11, 2001, this day will live in infamy in the eyes of the American people. On this day, four terrorist attacks orchestrated by al-Qaeda killed 2,996 people and caused more than $10 billion in damage. Four planes had been hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists. Two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, New York. The Towers and several surrounding buildings collapsed, killing thousands of people. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington DC. Fortunately, the plane crashed into a wing of the building that was unoccupied at the time and under renovation. The fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers attempted to regain control from the hijackers (Kleinfield, 2001). This attack was used to justify the “War on Terror,” an ongoing military campaign against terrorist organizations that is led by the United States, the United Kingdom and their allies. Due to the September 11 attacks, the United States deployed troops to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Yemen. On May 2, 2011, nearly a decade after the attacks, the United States achieved a major goal in its “War on Terror.” A Navy SEAL team infiltrated Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan, effectively killing him (CNN, 2014). This, however, has not yet led to a complete military retreat in the Middle East. The United States is still fighting al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. Al-Qaeda still represents a major international terrorist threat and is growing in power. One of the main reasons why al-Qaeda was seen as such a threat to world peace is the way it targeted civilians in the September 11 attacks. “The doctrine published by Al Qaeda holds that there are no innocent civilians in Western society, and this principle leads to the most serious of international crimes. In war, the principle of distinction requires that civilians should never be singled out as targets” (Wedgewood 329). But this is exactly what al-Qaeda did when planning the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. The hijackings were timed so that most civilians were in the area. On January 7, 2015, twelve people were killed in a shooting at the headquarters of the Parisian satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, for having published cartoons or comicssatirical on the prophet Muhammad. The suspects are said to be linked to al-Qaeda after one of the suspects told a witness: “You can tell the media it's al-Qaeda in Yemen” (Hinnant et al, 2015). This led to a three-day manhunt for the shooters, the Chérif brothers and Said Kouachi. After the suspects fled the scene, five more victims were killed in a roadside shootout on Thursday, January 18, and also in two clashes with police on Friday, January 9. Heavily armed elite police forces stormed the countryside and cities surrounding Paris in search of the brothers. The search ended when police cornered the brothers in the sleepy rural town of Dammartin-en-Goëlle near Charles de Gaulle Airport (Andrews et al, 2015). Many have called this event the French 9/11; however, this is a bit much. The shooting put France in the spotlight because the attackers were French citizens and had been arrested in the past on suspicion of terrorism. Both brothers had been to Yemen to train with al-Qaeda and then returned to France. The French are known for their hatred towards Arab peoples. France has had problems integrating Arab immigrants into its society, and many Arab immigrants live in slums, unable to create a better life for themselves. For the French, even Arabs born in France are not French. This trend has caused a lot of tension between French and Arab people living side by side in France (Bilefsky and De La Baume, 2015; Higgins and Bilefsky, 2015). The attack on Charlie Hebdo will be remembered as one of the most horrific events in France's journalistic and modern history. The Charlie Hebdo attack on journalists is the deadliest attack on journalists since 2009, when thirty journalists were killed in the Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines (Ingraham, 2015). France itself has not seen a terrorist attack of this scale for half a century. It is the worst terrorist attack in France in the last fifty years and leads many to question the country's national security. If the brothers had previously been arrested on charges of association with terrorist organizations, why were they not monitored more carefully? Al-Qaeda did not release an official statement on the attack but tweeted that the attack was "inspiring." An al-Qaeda member, claiming to represent the group, contacted the New York Times and claimed that the attacks had indeed been organized by al-Qaeda in Yemen. The statement read: “The target was France in particular due to its apparent role in the war against Islam and oppressed nations,” in reference to tensions between the French and Arab peoples (Hinnan et al, 2015). To understand the way State actors interact with each other, there are sets of theories that attempt to explain state behavior. In this essay, international secularist and feminist theories will be used to analyze reactions to al-Qaeda, terrorism, and the marginalization of Muslims in the international system. Secularism offers a different explanation for current international difficulties than previously thought. Secularism recognizes the religious revival that is occurring in modern society. The religious revival was not foreseen by academic scholars and does not fit into any traditional or existing theory of international relations. “Conventional conceptions of international relations, focused on material capabilities and strategic interaction, exclude from the outset the possibility that religion could be a fundamental organizing force in the international system” (Hurd 1). TheThe problem with this way of thinking about the international system, Hurd argues, is that although it is widely accepted in Western countries that religion and state are in theory separate, this is not the case in many developing countries. been developing in the Middle East. The classical theories of international relations, Liberalism, Realism and Constructivism, assume that religion is a private affair after the signing of the Peace of Westphalia. While operating under this assumption, realists, liberalists, and constructivists, to a lesser extent, believe that religion is irrelevant to state behavior. The influence of religion is largely ignored until “when faced with something inevitably religious, like the Iranian revolution or the Taliban, they [the foreign policy elites] start talking about religious bigotry and bigotry, which suddenly explains everything. After shaking their heads at the fanatics for a few days, they return to their usual secular analyses” (Hurd 4). Secularism offers an alternative vision of international affairs in which the dominant religions of a state's culture are present in their decision-making and legislative practices. When examining cases of terrorism committed by members of al-Qaeda, such as Charlie Hebdo and 9/11, it becomes increasingly clear that religion plays an important role in domestic and international affairs, even if traditional international theories tend to reject the concept. Members of al-Qaeda are overzealous Islamic militants. These men founded and participate in al-Qaeda in an attempt to forcibly spread and install their version of Islamic values. The presence of such an aggressive religious state has negative consequences for the entire world. Western, secular states are subject to aggression by overly religious autocracies and are at risk of terrorist attacks orchestrated by fanatics. States heavily influenced by religion, such as Islam, tend to be autocracies. However, an autocracy does not have to have a strong religious influence. It can be seen that many weaker countries in the Middle East, and elsewhere, are easily manipulated by the religious fanatics residing within their borders. These religious fanatics settle within the borders of these weaker states for several reasons. First, the regime in power does not necessarily have the power to control epidemics of religious fanaticism, nor does it always care about guaranteeing basic human rights. Second, because there is such a weak or apathetic government, poverty is widespread. Widespread poverty, neglect of human rights, and lack of oversight lead to the emergence and rapid growth of terrorist organizations within a state's borders because citizens residing within the state are more likely to turn to other organizations non-governmental organizations, such as al-Qaeda, for the necessities and security that their official government has failed to provide. To address the problem of religious revival, secularists would examine the situation in terms of one of two trajectories. The secularist trajectory and the Judeo-Christian secularist trajectory are the two branches of secularist theory. Secularists see religion and religious fanatics as "an adversary and obstacle to modern politics." Secular Judeo-Christians see religion as “a source of unity and identity that generates conflict in modern international politics” (Hurd 23). A Judeo-Christian secularist would have a more positive view of religion in general, as opposed to a secularist who would defend religion in general. abolition of religion especially in the field of politics. The secular Judeo-Christian believes that the conflict in the Middle East is caused by theethnic conflict and the lack of Christian values ​​in the region. Combining secularism and religion seems contradictory; however, as can be seen in the United States, “Christian values” have always played a role in representative politics due to a representative's personal philosophies and the philosophies of his or her constituents. These “Christian values” that countries adopt under the guise of Westernization cause conflicts and tensions among non-Western Islamic states. This tension causes Islamic terrorists stationed in the Middle East to preemptively strike Western countries. A secularist finds fault with religious influences in politics, regardless of denomination. He or she would recognize that the central issue causing conflict in the Middle East and the growing threat of terrorism is in direct relation to the religious revival throughout the world. A secularist advocates for a state free from religious influence, which is probably not seen in today's world even with the secularist politics of France. France has a policy of secularism, which means that church and state are completely separate. The government does not even collect data on people's religious preferences (Khosrokhavar 2015). However, if you ask Muslims living within France's borders, the policy is not being enforced to the extent the government would like it to be. In the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo shooting, the New York Times published an article by Farahad Khosrokhavar entitled “The Mill of Muslim Radicalism in France”. As previously stated, the French are known to have racist tendencies towards Arabs and Muslims You could compare French prejudice against Muslims to American prejudice against African Americans. Muslims represent only 7-10% of the French population, but about 50% of the French prison population. Even in prison, many Muslims do they feel persecuted. Khosrokhavar interviewed a French Muslim who said: “Look how a Catholic or a Jew is treated and look how we are treated. They have their weekly prayers in this prison. Their rabbi can go to all the cells; our Muslim minister cannot. There is kosher food, but no halal meat. This is a bit of a misunderstanding. Muslim ministers are admitted to French prisons but often do not visit them; and halal meat is becoming more and more available, but France's secularist policies and anti-Muslim prejudices mean that young people on the streets and in prisons feel the need for retaliation. Another young Muslim interviewed by Khosrokhavar said: “If you are Muslim and ask to participate in Friday prayers, they take your name and hand it over to the Renseignements Généraux. (The French equivalent of the FBI.) If I try to bring my prayer rug into the yard, they forbid me. If I grow a beard, the guards call me Bin Laden, smiling and mocking me. They hate Islam. But Islam can take revenge." This mistreatment of Muslim men in a secular society, such as France, transforms even moderate or non-practicing Muslims into violent, revenge-seeking extremists who then go after international terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda. The Charlie Hebdo shooting and even the Boston Marathon bombings in New York in 2013 are perfect examples of domestic politics influencing the international scene. These events were both carried out by homegrown Islamic extremists who believed their respective countries were persecuting Muslims at home and abroad. Feminism is a movement created to ensure gender equality and equality for women.