the duty of every Muslim

> It is, therefore, the duty of every Muslim to
> expand the former at the expense of the latter.

one of the more appealing parts of bin laden’s messages to the islamic world (and i think sageman might talk about this in his book, will, which you referenced) is the idea of his fight being a form of defensive jihad.

the short version: military jihad (vs. a broader sense of jihad, meaning any kind of struggle) comes in two flavors, offensive and defensive.

offensive jihad is the jihad of the first couple of centuries of the middle east—islam, erupting out of the arabian peninsula, conquering by the sword, and as such a responsibility of the caliph to initiate. as there’s been no caliphate since the end of the ottoman empire, and a large number of muslims consider their governments apostate, there is no muslim authority in today’s world who, as a matter of general acceptance, could declare this sort of jihad. additionally, not every muslim is expected to participate—offensive jihad is fard kifaya, or a collective duty. if enough people do it, it counts as done.

defensive jihad, in contrast, is fard 7ayn, or the individual’s responsibility. when the caliphate/umma/muslim world is under attack by infidels, it is the repsonsibilty of every single individual muslim to repel invaders. (tying back into the idea of non-military jihad, defensive jihad can be used to describe a woman who defends herself from rape.) the logic of bin laden’s message is simple—a western/american presence in the middle east (particuarly in saudi arabia, the seat of islam) demands a response.

does every muslim believe this? no. particuarly with the american occupation of iraq, however, it’s an argument that some muslims find hard to counter on theological grounds.