How to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom

Memri website

New Trend in Al-Qaeda's Recruitment Efforts: American Muslims Should Carry the Burden of Jihad in U.S.
By: Y. Carmon and H. Migron*

The second issue of Inspire, the English-language magazine of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), published October 10, 2010,[1] provides futher evidence of a striking new development: Al-Qaeda is striving to place the responsibility for jihad in America upon the Muslim community in the U.S. This is instead of having mujahideen come from other parts of the world to attack the U.S., and instead of recruiting American Muslims to fight on other jihadi fronts worldwide.

Following is an analysis of this new trend.
Jihad in America – The Responsibility of Its Muslim Community
Al-Qaeda's effort to recruit Americans for action in the U.S. takes place on two levels, and is directed at two distinct audiences.

A) The ideological level:
On this level, Al-Qaeda ideologues address the more educated circles in the American Muslim community, and attempt to undermine the efforts of moderate Islamic scholars to challenge jihadist and extremist notions. For example, the second issue of Inspire includes an article by Sheikh Anwar Al-Awlaki, the charismatic American-born jihadi leader and scholar who was the inspiration behind several terrorist attacks in America. The article is a detailed denunciation of the New Mardin Declaration – a fatwa published by a group of moderate Muslim scholars from around the world in attempt to delegitimize extremism and violent jihad and promote values of tolerance and coexistence between Muslims and non-Muslims.[2]

B) The practical level:
On this level, Al-Qaeda appeals to the less educated elements of the Muslim community, with an eye to recruiting them for hostile action inside the U.S. Several articles in the second issue of Inspire provide practical suggestions for attacks that do not require advanced weapons or special training abroad, such as driving a vehicle into a large crowd in an American city, shooting up a crowded restaurant in Washington, DC, or using "a pickup truck as a mowing machine, not to mow grass but mow down the enemies of Allah." The first issue of Inspire included similar advice, such as "how to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom." The magazine also encouraged Muslims in the U.S. to emulate the actions of Nidal Hasan, suspected of perpetrating the shooting at Fort Hood, and Faisal Shahzad of the attempted Times Square bombing.

The new trend of addressing Americans is reflected in the call made on Islamist websites to circulate the Inspire magazine on various English-language websites – not only on jihadist sites but on general ones, such as sports sites. The trend is also reflected in the statement that "the target audience" of Inspire magazine is "non-Arab Muslims" (meaning English-speaking Muslims of all nationalities).

This new development is not relevant to the U.S. alone, since English-speaking Muslim communities are found in many parts of the world. Moreover, in our assessment, magazines like Inspire will be published in additional Western languages, targeting Muslim communities in other countries.

*Y. Carmon is President of MEMRI; H. Migron is a research fellow at MEMRI.