Twenty-First Century Jihad Law, Society and Military Action

by Stein, Ewan; Kendall, Elizabeth

• ISBN13: 9781780769165
• ISBN10: 1780769164
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-02-04
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris

Summary

The term 'jihad' has come to be used as a byword for fanaticism and Islam's allegedly implacable hostility towards the West. But, like other religious and political concepts, jihad has multiple resonances and associations, its meaning shifting over time and from place to place. Jihad has referred to movements of internal reform, spiritual struggle and self-defence as much as to 'holy war'. And among Muslim intellectuals, the meaning and significance of jihad remain subject to debate and controversy. With this in mind, Twenty-First Century Jihad examines the ways in which the concept of jihad has changed, from its roots in the Qur'an to its usage in current debate. This book explores familiar modern political angles, and touches on far less commonly analysed instances of jihad, incorporating issues of law, society, literature and military action. As this key concept is ever-more important for international politics and security studies, Twenty-First Century Jihad contains vital analysis for those researching the role of religion in the modern world.

Author Biography

Elisabeth Kendall is Senior Research Fellow in Arabic and Islamic Studies,Oxford University. She is the author of Literature, Journalism and the Avant-Garde: Intersection in Egypt (2006).

Ewan Stein is Lecturer in International Relations at the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of Representing Israel in Modern Egypt: Ideas, Intellectuals and Foreign Policy from Nasser to Mubarak (I.B.Tauris, 2012).

Table of Contents

Introduction; Elisabeth Kendall and Ewan Stein
PART I: JIHAD IN THE QUR'AN AND HADITH
1. Divine Authority and Territorial Entitlement in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an; Reuven Firestone
2. Early Competing Views on Jihad and Martyrdom: Reading the Musannafs of 'Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani and Ibn Abi Shayba; Asma Afsaruddin
3. Dying on God's Path: Definitions and Narrations of Martyrdom in Sunni Hadith Literature; Roberta Denaro
PART II: NON-VIOLENT PERSPECTIVES ON JIHAD
4. The Non-Military Aspects of Kitab al-Jihad: Islamic Jurisprudence and Peaceful Abidance in the Abode of War; Mustafa Raza Khan
5. Contesting Jihad: Responses to the Almoravid Intervention in Andalusia; Russell Hopley
6. The 'Greater' Jihad in Classical Islam: The Sufi Concept of Combating the Soul; Gavin Picken
7. Jihadist of the Pen in Victorian England: Voicing a Muslim Response to Western Misconceptions about Jihad; Eric Germain
PART III: CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON JIHAD
8. Rethinking Principles: Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Ayat al-Sayf; Sherman Jackson
9. Jihadi Revisions in Egypt: The End of Radicalism?; Ewan Stein
10. 'Jihad' as a Form of Struggle in the Resistance Against Apartheid in South Africa; Na'eem Jeenah
PART IV: JIHAD AS SOCIAL PRACTICE
11. Sectarian Violence as Jihad; Sami Zubaida 
12. A Plurality of Resistances: Women, Islam and War in Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories; Maria Holt
13. Martyrdom and Territorial Claims: The Place of the Corpse in Suicide Jihad; Brannon Wheeler
PART V: JIHAD IN CULTURAL AND LITERARY PRODUCTION
14. Poetry as a Propagandist Weapon of Jihad; Elisabeth Kendall
15. A Poetics of Sacrifice: A Study of the Function of Poetry in Early Modern Palestine; Rana Issa
16. Hollywood and Jihad: The Depiction of Radical Islamist Terrorism in American Movies and TV Series; Thomas Riegler