Knowing the Enemy : Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror

by Mary Habeck

• ISBN13: 9780300113068
• ISBN10: 0300113064
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2006-01-04
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

After September 11, Americans agonized over why nineteen men hated the United States enough to kill three thousand civilians in an unprovoked assault. Analysts have offered a wide variety of explanations for the attack, but the one voice missing is that of the terrorists themselves. This penetrating book is the first to present the inner logic of al-Qa'ida and like-minded extremist groups by which they justify September 11 and other terrorist attacks. Mary Habeck explains that these extremist groups belong to a new movementknown as jihadismwith a specific ideology based on the thought of Muhammad ibn Abd al- Wahhab, Hasan al-Banna, and Sayyid Qutb. Jihadist ideology contains new definitions of the unity of God and of jihad, which allow members to call for the destruction of democracy and the United States and to murder innocent men, women, and children. Habeck also suggests how the United States might defeat the jihadis, using their own ideology against them.

Author Biography

MARY HABECK is associate professor, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. She is coeditor of Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War and The Great War and the Twentieth Century, both published by Yale University Press.
 

Table of Contents

1 Why They Did It	1	(16)
2 Historical Context	17	(24)
3 The Qur'an Is Our Constitution	41	(16)
4 Our 'Aqida	57	(26)
5 The Clash of Civilizations, Part I: The American Campaign to Suppress Islam	83	(24)
6 The Clash of Civilizations, Part II: Jihad on the Path of God	107	(28)
7 From Mecca to Medina: Following the Method of Muhammad	135	(26)
8 Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror	161	(18)
NOTES	179	(54)
GLOSSARY	233	(4)
INDEX	237