A Very British Jihad

In April 2003, the Stevens Report provided the first official acknowledgement of collusion between loyalist armed groups and British security forces in the murders of nationalists in Northern Ireland. This book argues that such collusion and associated conspiracies have been a central feature of the British response to the conflict in Ireland for more than thirty years. This response amounts to a Holy War, or jihad, in the name of Protestantism and the British monarchy.

What is Jihad and why was Islam forced to resort to defending itself in its early history? Why have mistaken notions about jihad taken root in the minds of some Muslim groups and what part have Muslim clerics and Christian priests played in this process? Is it legitimate for a Muslim to revolt against a government that maintains law and order and permits religious freedom? These questions, which have become the focus of worldwide attention today, were answered over one hundred years ago with God-given guidance and understanding by the man who claimed to be the Promised Messiah.

Based on seven years of original research, this book contains one of the most detailed and comprehensive assessments of 'home-grown' Islamist terrorism (HGIT) in the US and UK to date. Beginning with an examination of the development of militant networks during the 1980s and 1990s, it traces the origins of HGIT and highlights the significance of these early experiences in different countries for shaping the future trajectory of the threat. The book also examines the range of motivations for violent jihad in the West, suggesting a composite theoretical model that specifies three 'necessary' conditions for involvement and challenges popular explanations for differential rates of terrorism which emphasize socioeconomic factors.The book analyzes the background and operational activities of nearly 800 American and British jihadis who mobilized between 1980 and September 11th 2013, including factors such as mental health, education, processes of radicalization, leadership, use of the Internet, sources of funding and links to foreign terrorist organizations. This analysis is then complemented with an examination of how these individuals have been dealt with by the respective security services.From the first proponents of 'global jihad' to the recent wave of volunteers inspired by events in the Middle East, this book provides an extensive yet lucid analysis of one of the greatest security concerns facing America and Great Britain today. 'Home-Grown' Jihad challenges existing studies on a number of key issues and expands our understanding of HGIT. It will be invaluable to academics, practitioners and policymakers alike.

What are the motives behind Osama bin Laden's and Al-Qaeda's jihad against America and the West? Innumerable attempts have been made in recent years to explain that mysterious worldview. In Landscapes of the Jihad, Faisal Devji focuses on the ethical content of this jihad as opposed to its purported political intent. Al-Qaeda differs radically from such groups as Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiyah, which aim to establish fundamentalist Islamic states. In fact, Devji contends, Al-Qaeda, with its decentralized structure and emphasis on moral rather than political action, actually has more in common with multinational corporations, antiglobalization activists, and environmentalist and social justice organizations. Bin Laden and his lieutenants view their cause as a response to the oppressive conditions faced by the Muslim world rather than an Islamist attempt to build states. Al-Qaeda culls diverse symbols and fragments from Islam's past in order to legitimize its global war against the "metaphysical evil" emanating from the West. The most salient example of this assemblage, Devji argues, is the concept of jihad itself, which Al-Qaeda defines as an "individual duty" incumbent on all Muslims, like prayer. Although medieval Islamic thought provides precedent for this interpretation, Al-Qaeda has deftly separated the stipulation from its institutional moorings and turned jihad into a weapon of spiritual conflict. Al-Qaeda and its jihad, Devji suggests, are only the most visible manifestations of wider changes in the Muslim world. Such changes include the fragmentation of traditional as well as fundamentalist forms of authority. In the author's view, Al-Qaeda represents a new way of organizing Muslim belief and practice within a global landscape and does not require ideological or institutional unity. Offering a compelling explanation for the central purpose of Al-Qaeda's jihad against the West, the meaning of its strategies and tactics, and its moral and aesthetic dimensions, Landscapes of the Jihad is at once a sophisticated work of historical and cultural analysis and an invaluable guide to the world's most prominent terrorist movement.

The definitive account of the career and legacy of the most influential Western exponent of violent jihad. Anwar al-Awlaki was, according to one of his followers, “the main man who translated jihad into English.” By the time he was killed by an American drone strike in 2011, he had become a spiritual leader for thousands of extremists, especially in the United States and Britain, where he aimed to make violent Islamism “as American as apple pie and as British as afternoon tea.” Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens draws on extensive research among al-Awlaki’s former colleagues, friends, and followers, including interviews with convicted terrorists, to explain how he established his network and why his message resonated with disaffected Muslims in the West. A native of New Mexico, al-Awlaki rose to prominence in 2001 as the imam of a Virginia mosque attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers. After leaving for Britain in 2002, he began delivering popular lectures and sermons that were increasingly radical and anti-Western. In 2004 he moved to Yemen, where he eventually joined al-Qaeda and oversaw numerous major international terrorist plots. Through live video broadcasts to Western mosques and universities, YouTube, magazines, and other media, he soon became the world’s foremost English-speaking recruiter for violent Islamism. One measure of his success is that he has been linked to about a quarter of Islamists convicted of terrorism-related offenses in the United States since 2007. Despite the extreme nature of these activities, Meleagrou-Hitchens argues that al-Awlaki’s strategy and tactics are best understood through traditional social-movement theory. With clarity and verve, he shows how violent fundamentalists are born.

The suicide bombings carried out in London in 2005 by British Muslims revealed an enormous fifth column of Islamist terrorists and their sympathizers. Under the noses of British intelligence, London has become the European hub for the promotion, recruitment and financing of Islamic terror and extremism - so much so that it has been mockingly dubbed Londonistan. In this ground-breaking book Melanie Phillips pieces together the story of how Londonistan developed as a result of the collapse of traditional English identity and accommodation of a particularly virulent form of multiculturalism. Londonistan has become a country within the country and not only threatens Britain but its special relationship with the U.S. as well.