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History’s Out of the Ordinary Radicals

Khalid Elhassan June 29, 2020 33 min

Lebensborn - Schutzstaffel — Kidnapping of Polish children for the Lebensborn association. Wikimedia

22. Al Qaeda’s Modern Forerunner

Ayman al Zawahiri, right, with Osama bin Laden. The Daily Beast

Egyptian Islamic Jihad was founded a decade before Al Qaeda. In many ways, Islamic Jihad inspired the more famous terrorist organization, furnishing it with both a theological basis for its ideology, as well as providing it with key staffers. Indeed, Ayman al Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden’s deputy and second in command – and successor after 2011 – got his start as a terrorist in Islamic Jihad.

The group was founded in the late 1970s, and within a short time catapulted itself to international fame with a stunning assassination that was filmed and aired live on TV. Its target: Egyptian president Anwar Sadat was killed during the country’s October 6^th national celebration.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.