The Global Spread Of Islamism And The Consequences For Terrorism

Michael Freeman highlights several key events of 1979 that caused the current wave of Islamist terrorism.

Michael Freeman highlights several key events of 1979 that caused the current wave of Islamist terrorism.

What is Islam s ultimate goal? Do all Muslims believe in Jihad? What are the goals of Islamic Jihad? How did we get such a whitewashed image of Islam? How is Islam a religion of peace? Is Islam compatible with democracy? Why is there so much resistance and revolt in the Islamic world? Why are they targeting Europe and the United States? Is it a war on terrorism or Islam? Why Muslims reject peace offers? Islam 9/11 and Global Terrorism is a brilliant exposition of a growing perception that post 9/11 more Muslims are taking to terrorism. It is a pioneering attempt to comprehensively examine this issue right from the theological origins of political Islam to Islamic faith, beliefs and tradition, from what motivates a terrorist, to the concept of Jihad versus the concept of tolerance. This book intelligently unscrambles the cross-currents of Muslim nations from the oratory of its manipulators to its actual reality. It also explores issues like historical roots of bitterness towards the West that seems to dominate these nations, and the reasons for the increasingly rigid rejection of modernity by many in the Muslim World. Nazrul Islam presents the tennets of Islam in a secular manner which unfortunately has not been very visible in the current debate over Islam and Terrorism. This is an essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the dynamics of this debate.

This book presents the first comprehensive survey of the multiple versions of Islam propagated across geographical, political, and cultural boundaries during the era of modern globalization. Showing how Islam was transformed through these globalizing transfers, it traces the origins, expansion and increasing diversification of Global Islam - from individual activists to organizations and then states - over the past 150 years. Historian Nile Green surveys not only the familiar venues of Islam in the Middle East and the West, but also Asia and Africa, explaining the doctrines of a wide variety of political and non-political versions of Islam across the spectrum from Salafism to Sufism. This Very Short Introduction will help readers to recognize and compare the various organizations competing to claim the authenticity and authority of representing the one true Islam.

A major feature of the rise of Islamism in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and parts of the West is the rapid growth of a starkly repressive version of Islamic shari'a law, often fueled by funds and support from Saudi Arabia. The central purpose of Islamists, including terrorists, is to impose such law in all Muslim lands, and then throughout the world in a new Caliphate. Despite its importance, this worldwide growth of extreme shari'a is under-documented and little understood. By a comparative study over the last twenty-five years of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Nigeria, Malaysia, and Indonesia, this book shows its terrible effects on human rights, especially the status of women and religious freedom, of Muslims as well as religious minorities, and on democracy itself. It also shows that such laws are a direct threat to the American interest of advancing democracy and human rights, that the United States lacks a policy for dealing with the spread of extreme shari'a, and concludes with policy recommendations for the United States regarding specific countries confronting extreme shari'a.

Of the intellectual underpinnings of the more radical elements of contemporary Islam.

Militant Islam provides a sociological framework for understanding the rise and character of recent Islamic militancy. It takes a systematic approach to the phenomenon and includes analysis of cases from around the world, comparisons with militancy in other religions, and their causes and consequences. The sociological concepts and theories examined in the book include those associated with social closure, social movements, nationalism, risk, fear and ‘de-civilising’. These are applied within three main themes; characteristics of militant Islam, multi-layered causes and the consequences of militancy, in particular Western reactions within the ‘war on terror’. Interrelationships between religious and secular behaviour, ‘terrorism’ and ‘counter-terrorism’, popular support and opposition are explored. Through the examination of examples from across Muslim societies and communities, the analysis challenges the popular tendency to concentrate upon ‘al-Qa’ida’ and the Middle East. This book will be of interest to students of Sociology, Political Science and International Relations, in particular those taking courses on Islam, religion, terrorism, political violence and related regional studies.

The Oklahoma City bombing, intentional crashing of airliners on September 11, 2001, and anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001 have made Americans acutely aware of the impacts of terrorism. These events and continued threats of terrorism have raised questions about the impact on the psychological health of the nation and how well the public health infrastructure is able to meet the psychological needs that will likely result. Preparing for the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism highlights some of the critical issues in responding to the psychological needs that result from terrorism and provides possible options for intervention. The committee offers an example for a public health strategy that may serve as a base from which plans to prevent and respond to the psychological consequences of a variety of terrorism events can be formulated. The report includes recommendations for the training and education of service providers, ensuring appropriate guidelines for the protection of service providers, and developing public health surveillance for preevent, event, and postevent factors related to psychological consequences.