Synopses & Reviews
What do our enemies believe? What motivates their war against the West? What is their vision of the ideal Islamic society? Surprisingly, more than five years after 9/11, there is very little understanding of these questions.
Despite our tendency to dismiss Islamic extremism as profoundly irrational, al-Qaeda is not without a coherent body of beliefs. Like other totalitarian movements, the movements leaders have rationalized their brutality in a number of published treatises. Now, for the first time, The Al Qaeda Reader gathers together the essential texts and documents that trace the origin, history, and evolution of the ideas of al-Qaeda founders Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden.
This extraordinary collection of the key texts of the al-Qaeda movement—including incendiary materials never before translated into English—lays bare the minds, motives, messages, and ultimate goals of an enemy bent on total victory. Al-Qaedas chilling ideology calls for a relentless jihad against non-Muslim “infidels,” repudiates democracy in favor of Islamic law, stresses the importance of martyrdom, and mocks the notion of “moderate” Islam.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of these works is how grounded they are in the traditional sources of Islamic theology: the Koran and the teachings of the Prophet. The founders of al-Qaeda use these sources as powerful weapons of persuasion, reminding followers (and would-be recruits) that Muhammad and his warriors spread Islam through the power of the sword and that the Koran is not merely allegory or history but literal truth that commands all Muslims to action.
In addition to laying bare al-Qaedas ultimate motives, The Al Qaeda Reader includes the organizations propagandist speeches, which are directed primarily at Americans, Europeans, and Iraqis. Here, al-Qaedas many "official" accusations against the West are meticulously delineated, from standard complaints such as the Palestinian issue and Iraq to wholly unexpected ones concerning the U.S.s exploitation of women and the environment.
Taken together, the Theology and Propaganda sections of this volume reveal the most comprehensive picture of al-Qaeda to date. They also highlight the double-speak of bin Laden and Zawahiri, who often say one thing to Muslims in their religious treatises ("We must hate and fight the West because Islam commands it") and another in their propaganda directed at the West ("The West is the aggressor and we are fighting back merely in self-defense").
Westerners from across the political spectrum will be fascinated and enlightened by The Al Qaeda Readers insights into the nature of Islamic texts and the ways in which al-Qaeda has used these texts to manufacture hatred against our civilization and our way of life.
Synopsis
Since 9/11, statements and writings of Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders published in the Western press have offered chilling glimpses of the organization and the beliefs fueling its war on the West. THE AL QAEDA READER presents a deeper, and much more frightening, portrait.
As an assistant in the African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress, Raymond Ibrahim had unparalleled access to writings by Bin Laden and his cohorts. He found striking differences in both tone and content between statements published in English and those written in Arabic and distributed in the Muslim world. Ibrahim's translations of these documents trace the origins and evolution of Al Qaeda and reveal an ideology that calls for a relentless jihad against non-Muslim infidels, repudiates democracy in favor of Islamic law, stresses the importance of martyrdom, and mocks the notion of moderate Islam.
The most stunning aspect of these translations is how grounded they are in the traditional sources of Islamic teachings: the Koran and the teachings of the Prophet. The members of Al Qaeda use these as powerful weapons of persuasion, reminding followers (and would-be recruits) that Muhammad and his warriors spread Islam through the power of the sword and that the Koranis not merely allegory or history but literal Truth which commands all Muslims to action. Westerners from across the political spectrum will be fascinated and enlightened by THE AL QAEDA READER's insights into the nature of Islamic texts and the ways in which Al Qaeda has used these texts to manufacture hatred against our civilization and our way of life.
Synopsis
What do our enemies believe? What motivates their war against the West? What is their vision of the ideal Islamic society? Surprisingly, more than five years after 9/11, there is very little understanding of these questions.
Despite our tendency to dismiss Islamic extremism as profoundly irrational, al-Qaeda is not without a coherent body of beliefs. Like other totalitarian movements, the movements leaders have rationalized their brutality in a number of published treatises. Now, for the first time, The Al Qaeda Reader gathers together the essential texts and documents that trace the origin, history, and evolution of the ideas of al-Qaeda founders Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden.
This extraordinary collection of the key texts of the al-Qaeda movementincluding incendiary materials never before translated into Englishlays bare the minds, motives, messages, and ultimate goals of an enemy bent on total victory. Al-Qaedas chilling ideology calls for a relentless jihad against non-Muslim “infidels,” repudiates democracy in favor of Islamic law, stresses the importance of martyrdom, and mocks the notion of “moderate” Islam.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of these works is how grounded they are in the traditional sources of Islamic theology: the Koran and the teachings of the Prophet. The founders of al-Qaeda use these sources as powerful weapons of persuasion, reminding followers (and would-be recruits) that Muhammad and his warriors spread Islam through the power of the sword and that the Koran is not merely allegory or history but literal truth that commands all Muslims to action.
In addition to laying bare al-Qaedas ultimate motives, The Al Qaeda Reader includes the organizations propagandist speeches, which are directed primarily at Americans, Europeans, and Iraqis. Here, al-Qaedas many "official" accusations against the West are meticulously delineated, from standard complaints such as the Palestinian issue and Iraq to wholly unexpected ones concerning the U.S.s exploitation of women and the environment.
Taken together, the Theology and Propaganda sections of this volume reveal the most comprehensive picture of al-Qaeda to date. They also highlight the double-speak of bin Laden and Zawahiri, who often say one thing to Muslims in their religious treatises ("We must hate and fight the West because Islam commands it") and another in their propaganda directed at the West ("The West is the aggressor and we are fighting back merely in self-defense").
Westerners from across the political spectrum will be fascinated and enlightened by The Al Qaeda Readers insights into the nature of Islamic texts and the ways in which al-Qaeda has used these texts to manufacture hatred against our civilization and our way of life.
About the Author
Raymond Ibrahim is a historian of the Middle East and Islam. He works for the Near East section of the African and Middle Eastern division of the Library of Congress, where he discovered many of the never-before-translated Arabic texts that make up the bulk of The Al-Qaeda Reader.