In “Job Opening: New Global Jihad Leader Wanted” by Raymond Ibrahim in National Review Online, May 2 (via RaymondIbrahim.com), Raymond discusses why the declarations that the jihad is over in the wake of bin Laden’s death are premature:
[…] Years ago, Ayman al-Zawahiri, now al-Qaeda’s undisputed leader, placed it all in context. After he was asked about the status of bin Laden and the Taliban’s Mullah Omar, he confidently replied:
Jihad in the path of Allah is greater than any individual or organization. It is a struggle between Truth and Falsehood, until Allah Almighty inherits the earth and those who live in it. Mullah Muhammad Omar and Sheikh Osama bin Laden””may Allah protect them from all evil””are merely two soldiers of Islam in the journey of jihad, while the struggle between Truth [Islam] and Falsehood [non-Islam] transcends time (The Al Qaeda Reader, p.182).
In short, bin Laden’s death, while intrinsically good, has no instrumental value against the jihad””a phenomenon that “transcends time” and “is greater than any individual.”