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Glite Dictionary
Maktab al-Khidamat

Maktab al-Khidamat

9.9
An organization that raised money and recruited foreign fighters for the Afghan war in the 1980s and helped start al-Qaeda
  • noun
translation icon : Maktab al-Khidamat
  • The Maktab al-Khidamat played a key role in recruiting fighters for the Afghan-Soviet war.

Examples

  • Intelligence reports detailed the global fundraising network managed by Maktab al-Khidamat.

  • Historians regard Maktab al-Khidamat as an important precursor to al-Qaeda.

  • The Maktab al-Khidamat was crucial in organizing foreign fighters.

  • Many consider Maktab al-Khidamat a precursor to al-Qaeda.

  • Historians regard Maktab al-Khidamat as an important precursor to al-Qaeda.

  • Intelligence reports detailed the global fundraising network managed by Maktab al-Khidamat.

  • The Maktab al-Khidamat played a key role in recruiting fighters for the Afghan-Soviet war.

Synonyms

MAK
vsMaktab al-Khidamat
  • NSFW
2 9.9

A violent group started by Osama bin Laden to fund and recruit fighters in Afghanistan in the 1980s

uses a neutral militant label rather than a criminal or terrorist term
Maktab al-Khidmat
vsMaktab al-Khidamat
9.9

An organization set up by Osama bin Laden in the 1980s to fund and recruit fighters for the Afghan war

is the same group but written with a different ending

Surface Forms

Maktab al-Khidamat singular

Morphology

Maktab + al-Khidamat

The phrase is compositionally analyzable as Arabic words meaning roughly 'office' (maktab) + 'the services' (al-khidamat), so a learner who knows the constituents could infer a literal sense like 'office of services' or an organizational title. However, the specific historical and militant meaning (a fundraising/recruiting organization and predecessor to al‑Qaeda) is not derivable from the literal parts, so the expression is only partially predictable to learners.

Etymology

Maktab al-Khidamat means 'office of services' in Arabic, with Maktab meaning 'office' and al-Khidamat meaning 'the services'. It began in the 1980s as offices that raised money and helped bring fighters from other countries to Afghanistan, so the name fits its role of providing services to those fighters.