Al-Qaeda: Beginning of the End?

Author Lawrence Wright's 18-pager in the New Yorker is long, but well worth the read.  In a nutshell, the prime theorist of al-Qaeda's death cult jihad has published a book repudiating violence against innocent people, and thus repudiating 9/11.  The author, one Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad who is known widely by his underground name of Dr. Fadl, has directly challenged al-Qaeda number two Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, partly for personal reasons, but mainly philosophical.  Wright's piece shows currents gathering in the Islamic world, even in Egypt, running sharply against militant Islamism.  The Islamists were very popular after 9/11, but their endless refrain of killing innocents by the carload, including Muslims, has backfired with many.  Ex-CNN reporter Peter Bergen (who interviewed bin Laden about a decade ago), has co-authored a piece echoing Wright's themes, adding that a key factor in moderate Muslim disenchantment with al-Qaeda--and among disaffected radicals--is that terrorists using takfir (the practice of declaring persons unbelievers--see this reference link), so as to entitle them to decide who is a "true Muslim."  The authors note that among the place where sentiment is turning against al-Qaeda is in the Muslim areas of London.  If winning Afghanistan was the End of the Beginning, this might be the Beginning of the End.  Only the specter of WMD terror makes even a failing al-Qaeda potentially very dangerous still.