Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Wataƙila mafi shahararren kuma mafi tasiri kungiyar Salafi jihadi ita ce Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda ta samo asali ne daga Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK), ko "Ofishin Sabis", kungiyar musulmai da aka kafa a 1984 don tarawa da kuma karbar kudade da kuma daukar "mujahideen" na kasashen waje don yaki da Soviets a Afghanistan. An kafa shi ne a Peshawar, Pakistan, ta Osama bin Laden da Abdullah Yusuf Azzam. Kamar yadda ya zama a bayyane cewa jihadi ya tilasta wa sojojin Soviet su yi watsi da aikinsa a Afghanistan, wasu "mujahideen" sun yi kira da a fadada ayyukan su don hada da gwagwarmayar Islama a wasu sassan duniya, kuma bin Laden ya kafa Al Qaeda a ranar 11 ga Agusta, 1988. Membobin sun yi alƙawarin ("bayat") don bin shugabanninsu. Al-Qaeda ta jaddada jihadi a kan "abokin gaba mai nisa", wanda ke nufin Amurka. A shekarar 1996, ta sanar da jihad dinta don korar sojojin kasashen waje da bukatunsu daga abin da suka yi la'akari da ƙasashen Islama, kuma a 1998, ta ba da fatwa da ke kira ga Musulmai su kashe Amurkawa da abokansu a duk lokacin da kuma duk inda za su iya. Daga cikin manyan ayyukanta na tashin hankali sun kasance hare-haren bam na 1998 na ofisoshin jakadancin Amurka
a Dar es Salaam da Nairobi wanda ya kashe sama da mutane 200; da hare-haren 9/11 na 2001 wanda ya kashe kusan mutane 3000 kuma ya haifar da asarar biliyoyin daloli.