Found While Looking for Something Else

"The countries where Mohammedanism prevails are full of religious associations, more or less wrapped in secrecy, which are also political, and which may prove troublesome at some future time." - Catholic Encyclopædia (1911)

And so they might. The 94 year old article "Mohammedan Confraternities" can be found here. Al Q'aeda is apparently only the latest incarnation of an old spirit. "One of the more recent associations, and a very aggressive one, is that of the Senoussiya, founded by an Algerian, Sheikh Senoussi (d. 1859). In contrast to the exclusive spirit of the other orders, this one has opened its doors to all of them, allowing them to keep their own names, doctrines, usages, and privileges. The rallying principle of this combination is hatred of Christians; it isolates them in anticipation of the uprising which, on the appointed day of the Lord, will drive them out of "the Land of Islam" (dar el Islam, as opposed to dar el harb. "Land of the Infidels", or literally, "Land of the Holy War").

Nihil sub sole novum, nec valet quisquam dicere: Ecce hoc recens est; Iam enim præcessit in sæculis quæ fuerunt ante nos.