|
GSPC is a French acronym for Groupement salafiste pour la prédication et le combat. The Arabic name is al-Jama'a as-salafiyya li-d-da'wa wa-l-qital.
Da'wa means call, appeal, summons and similar concepts, including propaganda. Not preaching specifically, though related conceptually. The translation as "preaching" comes from prédication, as prédicateur means "preacher" in French. Of course, the English word "preach" was borrowed from Old French prechier, which comes from the Late Latin predicare. Predicare, from Latin prć - "forth" plus dicare - "to proclaim, to say", means "to proclaim publicly, announce," so the Arabic, French and English words are all related conceptually. The German word for preacher, Prediger, was also borrowed from Latin via French.
Qital does mean combat or fighting. GSPC is also called the "Salafist Group for Call and Combat" in English.
The name "call and combat" reflects the crusader mentality of Salafists, which is basically "convert or die."
|