Countering Al-Qaeda’s Single Narrative

Abstract

What form should a counter-narrative to al-Qaeda’s single narrative take? Its claim “Islam is under attack” successfully integrates multiple Muslim grievances into one meta-narrative. It has found credibility beyond an extremist fringe of Muslim societies and has been far more successful and attractive than any counter narrative that has been devised so far by Western counter-terrorist strategists. The question if al-Qaeda’s meta-narrative merely creates an external scapegoat for problems that are to a great extent internal to Arab and Muslim societies should be the subject of an intensive, if not heated discussion within the counter-narrative debate.

Keywords

• Al-Qaeda