Al-Qaeda violates Islamic principles as it scrambles for funds

KABUL -- Al-Qaeda has intensified its fundraising efforts in Afghanistan by illegally exploiting mineral resources, trafficking drugs and forcibly collecting "religious taxes," as its external revenue streams decline, analysts say.

Faced with dwindling financial support from abroad, "the network now relies on domestic financial sources in Afghanistan," political affairs expert Abdul Saboor Nikmal of Nimroz province told Salaam Times.

It has ramped up its efforts to squeeze funds out of the already-struggling Afghan population via duplicitous means.

In provinces where al-Qaeda operates, the group collects ushr -- a portion of agricultural produce traditionally given as charity -- and zakat, religious alms, directly from farmers and residents.

"The money gathered from ushr and zakat goes directly into the network's pocket," Nikmal said.

Such extortion, alongside the plundering of mines, represents "significant injustice" in a country already suffering from widespread poverty," he said.

Religious scholars condemn these practices as violations of Islamic law.

"The collection of ushr and zakat is permissible only with the consent of the people and by a legitimate Islamic government," Herat-based religious scholar Mawlawi Salahuddin Ejaz told Salaam Times.

"Collecting ushr through coercion is akin to theft and extortion, which is prohibited in Islam," he said.

"Ushr and zakat are collected to provide services within an Islamic society. What services does al-Qaeda provide to Afghans in return?" Ejaz asked.

"It is clear that the money taken from impoverished people is used to purchase weapons, which are then used to kill Muslims and other people in the world."

Kidnapping and exploitation

The scale of al-Qaeda's illegal operations is significant, with the group earning approximately $194.4 million from gold mines in Badakhshan and Takhar provinces over the past two years, Foreign Policy magazine reported in March.

Al-Qaeda also has engaged in kidnapping in a number of countries, as evidenced by the 2022 abduction of two Doctors Without Borders (MSF) foreign staff members in Yemen, sometimes for the purpose of extortion.

"Anyone who is familiar with the Qur'an and the traditions of the prophet Mohammad knows that kidnapping civilians and harming them is absolutely prohibited," the Christian Science Monitor reported in 2006.

"Those who do kidnap civilians defy the Islamic code of ethics," it said.

For al-Qaeda, advancing terrorism takes precedence over Islamic values, said civil society activist Sayed Ashraf Sadaat, who is based in Sweden.

"Al-Qaeda adheres to no Islamic principles," he told Salaam Times, adding that it merely "exploits the name of Islam to collect money in various ways, while Afghans suffer from poverty, unemployment and hunger."