The Al Qaeda Reader: The Essential Texts of Osama Bin Laden's Terrorist Organization

Book Overview

What do our enemies believe? What motivates their war against the West? What is their vision of the ideal Islamic society? Surprisingly, more than five years after 9/11, there is very little... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 076792262X
• ISBN13: 9780767922623
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Al Qaeda, in its own words...

To the very considerable extent that the confict between the West and al Qaeda is a war of ideas, 2007's "The Al Qaeda Reader" is essential for understanding al Qaeda's point of view. Raymond Ibrahim has done American readers a great service in translating and editing a selection of al Qaeda documents on theology and propaganda. As Ibrahim notes in his introduction, "This volume of translations, taken as a whole, proves once and for all that, despite the propaganda of al-Qaeda and its sympathizers, radical Islam's war with the West is not finite and limited to political grievances - real or imagined - but is existential, transcending time and space and deeply rooted in faith." "The Al Qaeda Reader" is divided into sections, beginning with a glossary of Arabic terms and important figures in Islam, then plunges into four documents on al-Qaeda's version of Islamic theology. These four documents make very clear that al Qaeda has no interest, indeed, cannot conceive of a live-and-let-live accomodation with the West. Al Qaeda instead offers the West three choices: Convert to Islam, agree to live under Islamic authority, or die. Al Qaeda believes that Islam demands offensive jihad of all its adherents, and this belief justifies all its tactics, whether suicide bombers or the slaughter of innocent non-combatants. Further, al Qaeda has no use for democracy, which it sees as a direct contravention of the authority of Allah and of the Sharia. The second part of the book is a selection of propaganda statements made by al Qaeda leaders, including Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden. Its principal value is to show the extent to which Al Qaeda leaders are capable of spinning a potent combination of half-truths and fantasy in dealing with the West and with its own followers. In al Qaeda's world, a vast, vague but evil conspiracy of Zionists, the West, and apostate Islamic rulers threatens to overwhelm the world, held back only by the heroism of a few true Islamists. An inability to defeat the West in a head-to-head military manner is buried beneath the glorification of acts of terrorism and a stunning series of lies about the nature of recent events in Palestine, Afganistan, and Iraq. The selections demonstrate how closely al Qaeda follows the Western media and how adept it has become in spinning events for the benefit of Western media. Al Qaeda has convinced itself that a handful of Mujahedin not only defeated the Soviet Union in Afghanistan but destroyed the Soviet Union as well. Al Qaeda is similarly convinced, in spite of its failures in Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and elswhere, that the complete defeat of the West is just a matter of time. It no doubt counts on the inability of the West to recognized the implacable nature of its foe to contribute to that anticipated event. This volume is very highly recommended to students of and participants in the global war on terrorism, who must understand the nature of al Qaeda if useful counte

Required reading

As Sun Tzu in his 'Art of War' said: to win a war, know your enemy. To win the 'war on terror', this book would be on my list of required reading. Some generals during the Vietnam war didn't know about the tunnel warfare or choose to ignore them as insignificant, Hitler's Mein-Kamph and Mao's Red book were ignored as rubbish. Unfortunately, in the same vein, the 1400 year history of Muslim onslaught, starting from Mecca-Medina in Saudi-Arabia and spreading to all corners of the world, is not studied. The experience of peoples who fought against the Muslim onslaught for centuries and are still fighting, is not utilized and learned from. e.g. there are many Indian authors who have written a number of well researched books that are ignored. Through sources such as this book and others, one would discover a lot of important information. e.g. in no particular order: 1) Same or similar strategies and tactics were used over and over again for 1400 years. 2) One would be surprised and find a simple and straightforward Muslim declaration that 'war is deception'. Considering this, everything we hear or read becomes suspect, specially: treaties, promises, safe-passages, proclamations of being brothers-in-arms, excuses for non-performance and such. 3) Everything is part of war: One would be surprised to see how various distinct elements of life are fused tightly together in Islam : religion, war to convert every non-Muslim to Islam (jihad), politics, finance, business, law etc. 4) Our practices such as: spending huge resources on trying to catch specific terrorists or getting into the cycle of tit-for-tat killing (10 terrorists for 10 innocent people killed by them) - these are exercises in futility. Such actions have not stopped the terrorist activities or changed their minds. One can come to this kind of awakenings only after 'knowing' the enemy. 1.e. the real responsibility lies with Umma (community, nation) and Ulema (learned ones, clergy). Absolutely nothing moves without express approval of (often a precedent is shown) Koran (the book) or Hadith (tradition & deeds of Muhammad) or sharia (Muslim law) and is sanctioned or quite often demanded (fatwa) by the Ulema (clergy). There is much more.. may be I should write a book :) So, get this book - and read it slowly over days.

Must Read this Al Qaeda!

Very well done, frightening stuff to learn about Al Qaeda. The author puts their own EVIL words into print where we infidels can see what they are really up to! If you want to see what they have said about their goal of world domination, and why they believe this is their mission, read this book.

Not to be missed!

I'm just blown away when somebody creates a product, in this case a book, that so perfectly fits the requirements of its time. I picture 302 million Americans turning to each other on 9/11/2001 and saying, "What?" "Al WHAT? The U.S. is the 'Great Satan'? What are these people talking about? What do they think we've done to them? What kind of religion encourages suicide & mass destruction? "The Koran says people of different religions can live together. It says suicide is forbidden. It says not to kill women and children in war. It talks about kindness, taking care of the poor, and always considering the ethics of one's behavior. How, then, do they justify committing suicide, blowing themselves up in the midst of crowds of women, children, innocent bystanders, and fellow Moslims in the process? "What in the WORLD is going on here?" This book homes in on the basic thinking of al Qaeda and the Jihadists--how they justify their actions according to the basic texts of their religion, even though many other Moslems disagree with their interpretation. What's fascinating is how logical they are. They are not irrational. Theirs is a very legalistic religion in which every possible human action is categorized according to the Koran and the Hadith--bad or good! We know from experience that basic humane attitudes tend to lose their power when excessively legalistic thinking takes over. What a relief to get some answers to the questions we've been asking ourselves and each other for the past 6 years.

A brave effort.

I'm not writing this review to comment on the believes and interpretations of Islam. That's a whole another topic for discussion. Nor does Raymond Ibrahim's collection represents every Muslim's believes and values. In my humble opinion, "The Al Qaeda Reader" should be appreciated and viewed from a completely different angle. First of all, I'm very pleased that the text has been presented "as is", without any alternations. Although I'm not sure how much originality has been lost in translation, the book gives us something raw and fresh to absorb and digest. Al Qaeda's careful manipulation of selected Islamic theologies is a sad truth, not only for the west, but also for those Muslims who would like to live a peaceful life. If a religious text tells you to kill someone, then it cannot be a treated as noble. Ancient Hindu traditions asked people to drink cow's Urine. According to medical definitions, Urine is a fluid produced by the kidneys. It consists of excess water and the toxic waste products from food. You are not supposed to consume it. My grandparents drank it. My father questioned it. I now ridicule it. Religious text and definitions should be interpreted and absorbed with sanity. Things written thousands of years ago cannot be applied to present times. "The Al Qaeda Reader" is a brave effort. Raymond Ibrahim's effort shouldn't be considered as an insult to Islam. The book's greatest value may be to encourage moderate Muslims to read it, and more importantly, make sure their children understand that Islam is much more peaceful than what is depicted by Al Qaeda and its cronies. N,Sivakumar Author of: America Misunderstood: What a Second Bush Victory Meant to the Rest of the World