Trends, Terrorism, And TikTok In America

America is waking up to what India realised in June 2020. TikTok is much more than just a cringefest factory. It’s a threat to national security. 

How? Many Americans have been making TikTok reels fawning over a letter that was written in the aftermath of 9/11, the four coordinated Islamist suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. 

The author of the letter was the mastermind of 9/11, Osama Bin Laden. The immediate context of the letter going viral is Israel’s war on Hamas.

The reels in question ask that everyone should read the letter because it is ‘eye opening’, or it shows their ‘existential crisis’, or helps ‘it all make sense’ or shows why ‘he was right’. In case it needed spelling out, the people making these reels oppose Israel, to put it mildly. 

These 15-second viral clips, garnered about 12 million views before being removed. 

TikToks discussing the Bin Laden letter attempt to garner sympathy by emphasising various reasons mentioned in the letter. This narrative suggests a 'karma' perspective, blaming past actions of the USA for the 9/11 attacks that took over 3,000 lives.

However, these clips overlook the evidence in the letter itself, which clearly shows that the attacks were not driven by revenge or retribution but were motivated by the perpetrators' religious goals.

The letter begins with the following quote from Quran 22:39: "Permission to fight (against disbelievers) is given to those (believers) who are fought against, because they have been wronged and surely, Allah is able to give them (believers) victory."

At this juncture itself, it should be amply clear to a reader that the primary reasons for Al-Qaeda’s actions was not retribution for some crime, but simply a fight against ‘non-believers’, as preached by the Wahhabi-Jihadi thought process.

By now, readers should already see that Al-Qaeda wasn't seeking revenge for a particular crime; theirs was purely a fight against 'non-believers', driven by the Wahhabi-Jihadi ideology.

The Israel Argument

The reason that letter has gone viral now is that blaming America for 9/11 is making it easier for people to blame Israel for the Hamas terror attack of 7 October.

Blaming Israel is the only reason that Laden’s letter, written more than ten years go, has gone viral now. 

The letter not only states that ‘the creation and continuation of Israel is one of the greatest crimes’ and that the American people are the leaders of such crime, but also clearly and unequivocally states that it ‘is a crime which must be erased.’

‘Each and every person whose hands have become polluted in the contribution towards this crime must pay its price, and pay for it heavily.’

In its very first page, all moderate demands for a two-state solution are thus rejected. Furthermore, it maintains that the right for the Palestinian lands must be that of the superior ‘Islamic Ummah’, since Islam ‘believe[s] in all of the Prophets’, and is thus ‘the most worthy nation’.

Does tacit support of such arguments, from millions of users of TikTok not constitute a matter of concern for agencies responsible for national security in America?

Then, the letter goes on to make fleeting remarks on the ‘Indian oppression … in Kashmir’ and the oppression by Jews in Lebanon.

The truth of Kashmir is self-evident to anyone not biased or blind to facts. And on Lebanon, it is it is interesting to see jibes of oppression being hurled at a community, whose population share went from 0.5 per cent in 1932 to 0.11 per cent in 2023.

Frankly, had TikTok not been banned in India, a country where false news over legislations implemented in good faith have caused massive-scale riots, it would have only become a massive risk to national security, leading to instability and the formation of cults such as those that exist for Afzal Guru and Yakub Memon.

Back To The Letter

The letter then advises the Ummah that the only way to free itself is "to make Shariah the supreme law."

In line with the Wahhabi view, it tells Americans and all 'non-believers': "you corrupt our lands, and you besiege our sanctities."

Additionally, it blames American citizens for choosing corrupt governments, paying taxes, and supporting the army. According to Laden, they have a direct share in the actions of the USA, justifying his 'aggression against civilians.'

He criticises them for not ruling by the Shariah of Allah and opting to create their own laws, urging them to follow the former.

The letter recommends Americans to turn to Islam, calling it ‘the religion of Jihad … so that Allah’s word and religion reign supreme’, and makes a case for ‘the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with the religion he (Allah) sent down to his Prophet Muhammad.’ 

It promises ‘total equality’ to all under the religion ‘without regarding their colour, sex, or language.’

It goes on to condemn ‘acts of immorality’ that are regarded as ‘pillars of personal freedom’ in the USA.

I leave it to the many queer supporters of this letter to think which communities, that should have equal rights, is this directed at. 

It further condemns usury and surmises it as the reason due to which ‘the Jews have taken control of the economy.’ I request the readers to please refer to the speeches delivered by Hitler in his rise to power in Germany and compare if this is not the same argument that was made by him, when the Jews were led like silent lambs into Auschwitz.

Support for this letter, plain and simple, is not only support for terror but also tacit acceptance of partisan approaches (rather than the two-state solution) and of the contempt towards various communities such as the queer community and that of other religions.

In light of the above content, one must wonder on the extent to which the society is willing to go, in the name of free speech.

Is all free speech justified and whether, especially when exercised with the intention to spread viral misinformation, it should be left unhindered by the government?

In the present era, where a mere button click can rapidly disseminate content, platforms such as TikTok often serve as a fertile environment for social unrest, fueled by the dissemination of partial truths.

The measures implemented by the companies behind these apps are seldom robust enough to halt the harmful cycle before it inflicts damage, not just to individuals or communities, but to the interests of an entire nation in this particular instance.

And while this author has nothing to do with how American society handles its own security, I will leave you with a quote by Taylor Cladwell from his A Pillar of Iron: 

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.”