Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy

by Fawaz A. Gerges

Book Overview

Renowned Middle Eastern expert Fawaz A. Gerges takes us into the mind-set of the jihadi--or holy warrior--that lies behind so many headlines yet remains nearly impenetrable to us. Using his firsthand knowledge of the "Arab street," he brings to life the stories of Kamal al-Said Habib, a founder of the Jihadist Movement, as well as dozens of other Islamic fundamentalists, as they struggle with the battle being waged for the soul of Islam.

Journey...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156031701
• ISBN13: 9780156031707
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: HarperOne
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.1" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Journey of the Jihadist

I thought that this was one of the best accounts of the history and current day events leading to today's conflict with people of Muslim background. The author is of Muslim descent, and is able to explain the events that have led up to the major conflict that we are involved in today. He presents the events and thought patterns of the Mulsim people that have triggered events throughout the 1970s and until today. He actually begins with 600 AD when the Muslim ruler failed to name a successor to the throne, thus handing leadership over to a group that doesn't have 'bloodrights to the throne' and the authority to rule. He explains the religious thoughts that prevail in the minds of people that follow Islam. The author is fair in his presentation of the material and provides a solid understanding of the timeline of events and what led up to them. I give this book five stars because I developed a much clearer understanding of the trouble that America has gotten themselves into and why. We are cowboys with white hats, but no brains underneath. At least not a brain that is willing to listen to the other side of the story.

A More Nuanced View...

2006's "Journey of the Jihadist" is Fawaz Gerges' investigation of Muslim militancy, a far more nuanced phenomenum than perhaps its most public face, the transnational terrorist movement al Qaeda. Gerges, a native of Lebanon now living in the United States, enjoyed remarkable access before and after 9/11 to a variety of prominent Islamists, who provide fascinating insight into Muslim militancy. The roots of Muslim militancy predate 9/11, the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, and even many of Israel's conflicts with its Arab neighbors. As Gerges notes, its origins lie in Muslim discontent with the failures of modern ideologies (Communism, Socialism, and nationalism) to provide effective and responsive government, especially in the Arab world. As far back as the 1950's, students and others discontented with the status quo turned to Muslim fundamentalism to renew Muslim life. This turn to fundamentalism was translated by the first generation of jihadists into unrest, terrorism, and rebellion, brutally suppressed by the governments of Egypt, Algeria, and other regimes which failed to implement the sharia as the basis of governance. A second generation of jihadists would arise in the ultimately successful struggle to drive the Russians out of Afghanistan, and a third generation has been inspired by the conflict engendered in the Global War on Terrorism. The jihadists thrive on a sense of the superiority of the Islamic relgion for resolving life's problems, but their militancy is fed by other themes. The jihadists cannot accept the presence of the Jewish State of Israel in the Middle East. The jihadists have a profound fear of the effects of Western-driven globalization, especially the political and sexual liberation of women. The jihadists are infuriated by the presence of U.S. and Western military forces in the Middle East, regardless of cause. Understanding Muslim militancy, as Gerges explores, is made more difficult for the Western observer by the addiction of the jihadists to a worldview of vast Jewish-Crusader-Apostate conspiracies, elaborate logic-proof confections of half-truths, lies, and fantasies of revenge for real and imagined wrongs. The inability to arrive at a common, fact-based appreciation of circumstances must make very unlikely any meaningful political dialogue in the near term. Gerges tends to stay in the background of his narrative, letting the jihadists speak for themselves. Far from being a monolithic movements, the jihadists have disagreed and continue to disagree among themselves over both means and ends. Equally interesting is the evoluation of thought among some radicals now grown older and wiser and more conscious of the limits of possible change. "Journey of the Jihadists" is very highly recommended for its insights into Muslim militancy, a much more nuanced phenomenum than simple terrorism.

Fascinating look at the internal divisions within political Islam

_Journey of the Jihadist_ by Fawaz A. Gerges is a fascinating look at the evolution of Islam in the last three decades. Having done extensive interviews with many Islamists and translated documents previously not available in the West, Gerges showed how that for the last thirty years "an internal struggle has been waged for the soul of Islam," a struggle that affects the very foundations of Muslim society and politics. The author believes that many in the West don't really comprehend the true relationship between religion and politics in the Middle East. Religion plays a huge role in Middle Eastern politics but often either as a tool or because it is the only outlet available for those unhappy with their governments (politicized religion has replaced secular nationalism as the dominant force in Muslim society). In many authoritarian regimes the only means of organizing and mobilizing activists who wish to change the political regime that governs their country is that centered on the mosque, as regional dictators have largely been successful in silencing their secular and non-religious opponents but would not dare to close down the mosques. Additionally, many of those who violently oppose a regime will couch their rhetoric and actions in religious terms in order to try and gain mass support, even though there might be many Muslims who come to regard the actions of ultramilitants as un-Islamic and even "nihilistic," having more in common with "more recent European, radical, ultraleftist, or Third Worldist movements" than with Islam. These ultraviolent groups wrote Gerges use religion only to serve their political goals, despite the fact that they don't act particularly religious at all. Islamists everywhere would like to replace what they see as an atheistic political and social order at home with an Islamic state, though they differ greatly on how this is to be achieved. Mainstream Islamists, which are the overwhelming majority, have accepted the rules of the political game, embraced democratic principles, and generally oppose violence. Two other groups though have not discarded violence, the militant Islamists and the jihadists. Both have a willingness to use all means, including terrorism, to overthrow existing regimes and replace them with theocratic ones, though generally jihadists have a less sophisticated perception of the religious nature of the struggle. Up until the end of the 1990s, many more Islamists were militant than were now, but as Gerges recounted with fascinating life stories and accounts of noted Islamists in Egypt and elsewhere, most came to reject violence. Some groups, such as Al-Jama'a al-Islamiya in Egypt (the largest Islamic group in the Arab world) and the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria came to understand their goals of creating an Islamic society failed when violence was used and instead have come to support democracy and have largely embraced "the culture of political realism and the art of the possible," ev

Nuanced look at militant Islam

Fawaz Gerges gives an intimate and nuanced look what constitutes as a Jihadist in today's post 9/11 world in this very anecdotal book. Gerges interviews a diverse cast of self proclaimed Jihadists from across the Arab world and mixes in a few personal tales from his childhood days in war torn Lebanon. As a result this book is relatively easy to read, flows well and is not as dry as other books on this subject that I've read. Gerges's principal thesis seems to be that the Jihadist movement is far from being monolithic, elements within the community will differ on a wide variety of subjects that will range from goals to methods. This book does an excellent job in showing the various insights of Muslims. What was most surprising to me was the views of some of the very anti-American Jihadists that were interviewed by Gerges and their opposition to Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda movement. While they detest American foreign policy in general and specifically our support for Israel, they also believe that Bin Laden's actions are largely un-Islamic and extremely counterproductive for the global Jihad movement. I especially found fascinating his interviews with members of Hezbollah just after 9/11. They go to great lengths to denounce the horrific attack and to distinguish their movement from Bin Laden's. What becomes apparent after reading this book is that there was an unique opportunity post-9/11 to engage some of the more moderate Jihadists and to quarantine the extreme sect represented by those like Bin Laden and Zawahiri. The war on terror cannot be won alone by smart bombs and soldiers. We need to find common ground and détente with the vast Muslim world that does not view world in the same nihilistic way as Bin Laden and his followers. However this opportunity was severely set back for the foreseeable future due to our invasion of Iraq, however well intentioned by the Bush administration, followed sheer incompetence and failure of the post war reconstruction and occupation which radicalized the Ummah (worldwide Muslim community) almost as much as the creation of Israel.

Scholarly, yet accessible.....

...approach to current affairs in the Middle East. Professor Gerges' latest effort provides additional information not covered in his earlier works. His writing style is scholarly, yet accessible, backed up by his vast experience traveling in the Middle East. Professor Gerges hails from Beruit, Lebanon and currently lives in the United States. He is objective while demonstrating his incredible knowledge of Middle East affairs, personalities and history. While reading many sections, I felt the writing "opening" my mind as opposed to "filling" it. The text goes deeper than the sound bites covered with traditional news reporting. The reader is given a more thorough understanding of the genesis of the Jihadist movement. The reader is shown there are layers of Islam that have not been presented to Western Audiences and can do much to affect Western views and prejudices. The format of the book is much easier to manage than the current offerings available on the subject. The book is divided into chapters that are easy to read without being superficial. Throughout the book, he provides embedded "foot notes" to help the reader understand foreign terms such as "Jihad". In some ways, the book reads more like a novel than work of non-fiction. Readers should find this approach both interesting and informative. The book does much to help, especially the Western reader, understand the components of history and current events that motivate some followers to choose the paths they walk. If you're looking for a more thoughtful and well-researched text on the subject of Islamic Extremism and the Jihadist movement, this publication will address your needs.