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Maktab al-Khidamat: what Wikipedia removed

Maktab al-Khidamat, founded by Abdullah Azzam and Osama bin Laden, was the forerunner organization to al-Qaeda. Through October 2023 the opening described the split “between Azzam and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) led by Ayman al-Zawahiri” and named “those who opposed moving the jihad to Palestine, including bin Laden.” Today jihad appears zero times in the opening, though it survives twenty times in the article. A reader today learns MAK raised funds and recruited fighters against the Soviets, and not that its founders later split over whether to direct jihad against Muslim governments or toward Palestine.

The word “jihad” appeared 3 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2010. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 20. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.

The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot

Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”
word20052010201520206 October 20232025
jihad133220
terror057772

Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.

What was taken out

Section titled “What was taken out”
  • The organization’s full Arabic name and alternate title, reworded in the current opening.
  • The description of the split between Azzam and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, led by Ayman al-Zawahiri, dropped from the opening.
  • The detail that bin Laden was among those who opposed moving the jihad to Palestine, dropped from the opening.

How it opened then, and now

Section titled “How it opened then, and now”

2005 (revision 16551009):

The Maktab al-Khadamāt , also Maktab Khadamāt al-Mujāhidīn al-Arab ( Arabic : مكتب الخدمات or مكتب خدمات المجاهدين العرب, MAK ), also known as the Afghan Services Bureau , is reliably believed to have been founded in 1984 by Dr. Abdullah Azzam and Osama bin Laden to raise funds and recruit foreign mujahidin for the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan . MAK became the forerunner to Al Qaeda and was instrumental in creating the fundraising and recruitment network that benefited Al Qaeda during the 1990s. During the Soviet-Afghanistan war , MAK played a critical role, training over 10,000 mujahidin for the war and dispersing approximately $2 billion in donations sourced via a network of glob…

2025 (revision 1280936970):

1984–1989 organization fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan The Maktab al-Khidamat , also Maktab Khadamāt al-Mujāhidīn al-‘Arab ( Arabic : مكتب الخدمات or مكتب خدمات المجاهدين العرب, MAK ), also known as the Afghan Services Bureau , was founded in 1984 by Abdullah Azzam , Wa’el Hamza Julaidan , Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri to raise funds and recruit foreign mujahideen for the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan . MAK became the forerunner to al-Qaeda and was instrumental in creating the fundraising and recruitment network that benefited Al-Qaeda during the 1990s. ^ National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (2004). Monograph on Terrorist Financing – Staff Repo…

Section titled “Related”

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