Inside Jihadism: Understanding Jihadi Movements Worldwide

by Khosrokhavar,Farhad

• ISBN13: 9781594516160
• ISBN10: 1594516162
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2009-06-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Jihad is the most organized force against Western capitalism since the Soviet era. Yet jihadism is multifaceted and complex, much broader than Al-Quaeda alone. In the first wide-ranging introduction to today's rapidly growing jihadism, Khosrokhavar explains how two key movements variously influence jihadi activists. One, based in the Middle East, is more heavily influenced by Islamic religion and political thought. The other, composed of individuals growing up or living mostly in Europe and Western democracies including the United States, is motivated by secular as well as religious influences. Khosrokhavar interprets religious and lesser-known Arabic texts and the real world economic and political dynamics that make jihadism a growing threat to Western democracies. Interviews with imprisoned jihadists on what motivated their plots and actions help the readers understand reality as seen by jihadists. The author concludes with recommendations to safeguard democracies from future jihadism.

Author Biography

Farhad Khosrokhavar is Professor at the cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris and author of fourteen books translated into ten languages. Khosrokhavar continues his travels and work on Islam, Muslim radicalization, and postrevolutionary Iranian society. His most recent books in English include Suicide Bombers: Allah's New Martyrs (2005).

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Explanatory Approaches to Jihadism	p. 8
The Role of Social Networks and Group Dynamics	p. 9
Economic Issues and Jihadist Movements	p. 11
Culture and Religion	p. 12
Rational Choice Theory	p. 14
Notes	p. 15
Jihadist Ideology	p. 18
The Renewal of Jihadist Thought	p. 19
Martyrdom and Jihad	p. 41
Notes	p. 54
Jihadism: A Culture of Violence Turned into a Culture of Death	p. 59
Modern Forefathers of Jihadism	p. 61
The Centrality of Death in Jihadism	p. 64
Violence in the Jihadist Narrative	p. 73
The Jihadist View of History: The West's Permanent Fight against Islam	p. 79
Cultural and Political Domination by the West	p. 93
The West as the Perverse Culture of Humankind's Fight against Allah	p. 96
Notes	p. 98
The Jihadist View of Democracy	p. 103
The Negative Context of Democracy in the Muslim World	p. 103
Democracy as the New False Western Religion Imported into the Land of Islam	p. 109
Notes	p. 147
Fundamentalism in Islam	p. 152
Three Branches of Fundamentalism	p. 153
Islamic Fundamentalism and Hermeneutics	p. 157
Modernization and the Muslim World	p. 160
The Jihadist Critique of the Fundamentalist Ulama	p. 162
Shi'ite Hyper-Fundamentalists and Their Rejection of Democracy	p. 171
The Weakness of Secular Tendencies in Islam	p. 177
Fundamentalism and New Social Groups	p. 181
Notes	p. 182
The Transmission of Jihad to the West	p. 186
The Social Origins of Jihadists in the West	p. 186
Jihadist Neo-Umma or the Politics of Victimization	p. 190
The Role of Humiliation	p. 196
The Views of Muslim Prisoners in Europe	p. 200
Jihadist Born-Again Muslims and Converts	p. 204
Types of Jihadist Groups	p. 231
Types of Jihadist Individuals	p. 233
Women and Martyrdom	p. 237
The Evolution of Global Al Qaeda in the West	p. 242
Jihadists' Negative Attitude toward Recent Muslim Migrations to the West	p. 252
Notes	p. 258
Jihadist Intelligentsia around the World	p. 265
The Islamic Revolutionary Vanguard	p. 269
The Icons, the Popularizers, and the Local Charismatic Imams	p. 271
The Postmodern Jihadist Popularizer: The Case of Lewis Atiyat-Ollah	p. 274
New Warfare through Global Media: The Prominence of the Symbolic Dimension	p. 282
Notes	p. 289
Conclusion: Toward an Islam of Hope	p. 294
Perverse Modernization and the Foundations of Renewal	p. 297
The Success and Failure of Jihadism	p. 305
Notes	p. 312
Index	p. 315
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