Al Qaeda -- Did This Name Come From A Science Fiction Novel?

An intriguing article from The Guardian (From August, 2002):

It has become synonymous with the terrorist attacks of September 11 - but what is the origin of the name al-Qaida? Giles Foden on how Bin Laden may have been inspired by Isaac Asimov's Foundation

In October last year, an item appeared on an authoritative Russian studies website that soon had the science-fiction community buzzing with speculative excitement. It asserted that Isaac Asimov's 1951 classic Foundation was translated into Arabic under the title "al-Qaida".

The Arabic word qaida - ordinarily meaning "base" or "foundation" - is also used for "groundwork" and "basis". It is employed in the sense of a military or naval base, and for chemical formulae and geometry: the base of a pyramid, for example. Lane, the best Arab-English lexicon, gives these senses: foundation, basis of a house; the supporting columns or poles of a structure; the lower parts of clouds extending across a horizon; a universal or general rule or canon. With the coming of the computer age, it has gained the further meaning of "database": qaida ma'lumat (information base).

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Johnson's Russia List Has more to say:

This peculiar coincidence would be of little interest if not for abundant parallels between the plot of Asimov's book and the events unfolding now. The central character of "The Foundation" named Seldon, the pioneer of a new scientific discipline called "psychohistory", predicts that the Galactic Empire is about to fall. While the process of disintegration cannot not be stopped, Seldon decides to send an expedition to a remote place on the outskirts of the Galaxy and establish The Foundation, which is to become the nucleus of the next Empire. Even though the Old Empire tries to destroy The Foundation with its superior military might, Seldon's plan eventually works despite many predicted difficulties and occasional random hiccups. Seldon does not live long enough to see the triumph of his cause, but he leaves videotaped messages at a machine timed to broadcast them to his followers and instruct them at the turning points of The Foundation's history, as his forecasts are coming true.

I think the public would be relieved to realize that the internationally feared Terrorist No. 1 is trying to mimic a scenario from his favorite science fiction novel. I also believe that the study of "The Foundation" (along with its sequels and prequels) can help the decision makers around the globe to better understand what they're up against and what the ultimate objectives of Osama bin Laden are, much in the same way a study of "Mein Kampf" would have benefited Adolf Hitler's counterparts a great deal if they bothered to read the book and paid attention to what it said.

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More Articles And Comments On This Story:
Isaac Asimov & the al-Qaida? -- The Alien Next Door
War Of the Worlds -- American Samizdat
Foundation Of the Foundation -- Enthusiasm

My Comment: 7 books were written by Isaac Asimov to cover the Foundation series. The order that they were written and the order that they should be read are:

Prelude to Foundation (1988). This is the first Foundation novel.
Forward the Foundation 2 (1993). The second Foundation novel.
Foundation 3 (1951). The third Foundation novel but most of the world knows this book as the first member of the "Foundation Trilogy". Actually, it is a collection of four short stories, originally published between 1942 and 1944, plus an introductory section written for the book in 1949.
Foundation and Empire 3 (1952). The fourth Foundation novel, made up of two short stories, originally published in 1945.
Second Foundation 3 (1953). The fifth Foundation novel, made up of two short stories, originally published in 1948 and 1949.
Foundation's Edge (1982). The sixth Foundation novel.
Foundation and Earth (1986). The seventh Foundation novel.

For those who wish to read the books,

Free Links To Download The Foundation Series:
Vivien23 -- All 7 books are here
Bookworm -- You will have to download a file that has a number of Asimov's works, but the bonus is that book #8, Foundations Fear, is part of the collection

My Comment: I looked but could not find an Arabic copy of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. Is this an urban legend .... i do not know .... but it would not surprise me if a young Osama Bin Ladin or Ayman al-Zawahiri read this book when they were teenagers.