Inside Jihad

This is an insider analysis of the phenomenon of Jihad and Radical Islam by an ex-Islamic Extremist and an associate of the second in command (after Bin Laden) of Al-Qaeda.

Between 1994 and 2000, Omar Nasiri worked as a secret agent for Europe's top foreign intelligence services-including France's DGSE (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure), and Britain's MI5 and MI6. From the netherworld of Islamist cells in Belgium, to the training camps of Afghanistan, to the radical mosques of London, he risked his life to defeat the emerging global network that the West would come to know as Al Qaeda. Now, for the first time, Nasiri shares the story of his life-a life balanced precariously between the world of Islamic jihadists and the spies who pursue them. As an Arab and a Muslim, he was able to infiltrate the rigidly controlled Afghan training camps, where he encountered men who would later be known as the most-wanted terrorists on earth: Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, Abu Zubayda, and Abu Khabab al-Masri. Sent back to Europe with instructions to form a sleeper cell, Nasiri became a conduit for messages going back and forth between Al Qaeda's top recruiter in Pakistan and London's radical cleric Abu Qatada.

Why has radical Islam become such a deadly threat, and why does it dominate the Muslim world? Dr. Tawfik Hamid answers these and other questions about this evil movement clearly and accessibly in his groundbreaking work. Dr. Hamid knows about radical Islam firsthand. In the early 1980s, he was recruited into Jamaa Islamiya, a terror group led at the time by Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the man who went on to replace Osama bin Laden as leader of al-Qaeda. Eventually and miraculously, Dr. Hamid recognized the insidious nature of violent jihad and rejected its distortions of the Quran, the holy book of the Muslim faith. Ever since, he has pursued the reformation of Islam. He has written new interpretations of the Quran's key texts and has shared his message in many mosques. Inside Jihad reveals Dr. Hamid's deep insights about and passionate opposition to the Islamic terror movement drawn from his direct personal experiences. As a medical doctor and an expert on the psychology of the jihadist mindset, he explains the roles that sex, fear, petrodollars and the hijab for women have played in its proliferation. And he details his bold plan for Islamic reformation that would eventually change the jihadists minds and end their reign of terror.

"How radical Islam works, why it should terrify us, how to defeat it"--Cover.

A world-renowned professor of Islamic studies, Amina Wadud has long been at the forefront of what she calls the 'gender jihad,' the struggle for justice for women within the global Islamic community. In 2005, she made international headlines when she helped to promote new traditions by leading the Muslim Friday prayer in New York City, provoking a firestorm of media controversy and kindling charges of blasphemy among conservative Muslims worldwide. In this provocative book, "Inside the Gender Jihad", Wadud brings a wealth of experience from the trenches of the jihad to make a passionate argument for gender inclusiveness in the Muslim world. Knitting together scrupulous scholarship with lessons drawn from her own experiences as a woman, she explores the array of issues facing Muslim women today, including social status, education, sexuality, and leadership. A major contribution to the debate on women and Islam, Amina Wadud's vision for changing the status of women within Islam is both revolutionary and urgent.

The New York Times best seller Inside the Revolution takes you inside the winner-take-all battle for the hearts, minds, and souls of the people of the Middle East. It includes never-before-seen profiles of the Radicals, the Reformers, and the Revivalists. It explains the implications of each movement and the importance of each leader, not only through the lenses of politics and economics, but through the third lens of Scripture as well. Today, wars and revolutions define the modern Middle East, and many believe the worst is yet to come.

Jihad is one of the most loaded and misunderstood terms in the news today. Contrary to popular understanding, the term does not mean "holy war." Nor does it simply refer to the inner spiritual struggle. This book, judiciously balanced, accessibly written, and highly relevant to today's events, unravels the tangled historical, intellectual, and political meanings of jihad. Looking closely at a range of sources from sacred Islamic texts to modern interpretations, [This book] opens a critically important perspective on the role of Islam in the contemporary world. [The author] also describes some of the conflicts that occur in radical groups and shows how the more mainstream supporters of these groups have come to understand and justify violence.-Back cover.

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.