Al-Who? What does the word “Al-Qaeda” mean?

In my quest for knowledge and truth I went on a fact seeking mission which I had done a couple of years earlier as well. I am talking about my search for the meaning of the word “Al-Qaeda”. If you do a Google search, you most likely will find something like this “terrorist network intensely opposed to the United States that dispenses money and logistical support and training to a wide variety of radical Islamic terrorist groups; has cells in more than 50 countries”, or this “a radical Sunni Muslim organization dedicated to the elimination of a Western presence in Arab countries and militantly opposed to Western foreign policy: founded by Osama bin Laden in 1988.”

So just to sum up, the meaning of the word Al-Qaeda is:

“Terrorist organization founded by Osama bin laden in 1988 with more than 50 countries that contain Terror cells”

At least this is the western interpretation and sadly enough the sources and meanings of the word that I found years ago have been replaced with the newer meaning (Long life propaganda!). But I did manage to get some other translations and sources to help me out.

In Arabic, "Al-Qaeda" has different meanings, among them “Base", "Ground", "Norm", "Rule", "Fundament", "Grammar". The exact meaning is dependent on the context in which it is used. It depends on the word which follows “Al-Qaeda” in the sentence. "Qawa´ad Askaria" is an Army Base, "Qawa´ad Lugha" stands for Grammar Rules (the Bases of Grammar).
"Qa´ada" is the infinitive of the verb "to sit". "Ma-Qa´ad" is a chair. "Al-Qaeda" is the base or fundament of something. "Ana raicha Al Qaeda" is colloquial for "I´m going to the toilet". A very common and widespread use of the word “Al-Qaeda” in different Arab countries in the public language is for the toilet bowl. This name comes from the Arabic verb “Qa´ada” which means “to sit”, pertinently, on the “Toilet Bowl”. In most Arab homes, there are two kinds of toilets: “Al-Qaeda” also called the "Hamam Franji" or foreign toilet, and "Hamam Arabi" or “Arab toilet” which is a hole in the ground. Lest we forget it, the potty used by small children is called "Ma Qa´adia" or "Little Qaeda".

Those who founded the glorious "International Islamic Terror, Al-Qaeda, probably knew too little about common use of Arabic language to know that by using this name for their organization, they risked becoming the laughing stock of everybody who speaks the Arabic "public" language.

So apparently the world wide terrorist group couldn’t get a cool terrorist name and decided for some potty talk slang instead? What is also noticeable is that the word Al-Qaeda has never been used until after September 11! I tried searching Google and Google news and internet archives but apparently the world wide terrorist group (yes please let it be noted that it has cells in more then 50 countries) did not have internet access until after the attacks (even though they were founded in 1988). So what kind of marketing did they do if it took them almost 14 years to get a bloody Internet connection? Were they not high tech enough? Did America Online not have service in that area? Well Mr. Rumsfeld said it was a very high tech cave indeed so why would they not have internet?




Here is another source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2004/oct/15/broadcasting.bbc

"Curtis points out that al-Qaida did not even have a name until early 2001, when the American government decided to prosecute Bin Laden in his absence and had to use anti-Mafia laws that required the existence of a named criminal organisation."

"Curtis also cites the Home Office’s own statistics for arrests and convictions of suspected terrorists since September 11 2001. Of the 664 people detained up to the end of last month, only 17 have been found guilty. Of these, the majority were Irish Republicans, Sikh militants or members of other groups with no connection to Islamist terrorism. Nobody has been convicted who is a proven member of al-Qaida. "

"Jonathan Eyal, director of the British military think tank The Royal United Services Institute: "In purely military terms, it has been an inconclusive war ... a rather haphazard operation. Al-Qaida managed the most spectacular attack, but clearly it is also being sustained by the way that we rather cavalierly stick the name al-Qaida on Iraq, Indonesia, the Philippines. There is a long tradition that if you divert all your resources to a threat, then you exaggerate it."

""Almost no one questions this myth about al-Qaida because so many people have got an interest in keeping it alive," says Curtis. He cites the suspiciously circular relationship between the security services and much of the media since September 2001: the way in which official briefings about terrorism, often unverified or unverifiable by journalists, have become dramatic press stories which - in a jittery media-driven democracy - have prompted further briefings and further stories. Few of these ominous announcements are retracted if they turn out to be baseless: "There is no fact-checking about al-Qaida."

" "This is a very rickety platform from which to build up a political career," says Eyal. He sees the war on terror as a hurried improvisation rather than some grand Straussian strategy: "In democracies, in order to galvanize the public for war, you have to make the enemy bigger, uglier and more menacing."


Because this is the second time I researched this word, I can see more clearly now the powers of the media and how they can change the definition of one word into another over time. If the media were alchemists then lead would have been turned to gold already. (Even though it is still lead you will think it is gold)

My last reference for this story is called “the emperor’s new clothes”.


“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” - Malcolm X

“He who follows the other swines will end up with a flu.” - Antony Geerts