It would be impossible to be taken seriously as a reporter or expert on Russia, France, Germany, Latin America, or perhaps even China or Japan without knowing the requisite languages but for "Islam" no linguistic knowledge seems to be necessary since what one is dealing with is considered to be a psychological deformation, not a "real" culture or religion.
—Edward Said, Covering Islam
The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global by Fawaz Gerges is essential reading for anyone interested in the story behind Al Qaeda and the events that led up to the spectacular terrorist attacks on America in 2001. Gerges, an Egyptian Christian who teaches international affairs and Middle Eastern studies at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, gives an intimate portrait of the events and personalities that caused radical Islamists to abandon their traditional fight against al-Adou al-Qareeb, or the near enemy (autocratic Muslim regimes such as Egypt), and take on the far more dangerous foe, al-Adou al-Baeed, or the far enemy (the United States and the West).
In the process, Gerges offers a penetrating critique of the way terrorism and terrorists are portrayed in the Western media and, more generally, the shallow manner in which Muslim societies are seen through Western eyes. Through voluminous interviews with jihadis themselves, a close reading of Al Qaeda bigwig Ayman al-Zawahiri's self-serving memoirs and a careful examination of countless documents culled from captured Al Qaeda hard drives in Afghanistan, Gerges provides a detailed look into the inner workings of the jihad world—and acts as a counterweight to the sloppy scholarship that informs the prevailing ideas about the threats we face from Islamic terrorism. This book is a challenge to the U.S and the West in general to rise above platitudes and delve into real history with all of its complexity. It couldn't come at a more critical time.
The jihadist movement was born in the early 1970s as a reaction against the authoritarian regime in Egypt and was inspired by Sayyid Qutb, a radical Islamist who was executed by the Egyptian state in 1966 for opposing the Nasser government. Qutb and the jihadis who followed in his wake elevated the importance of jihad, or armed struggle, believing it to be equal with the five pillars of Islam. None other than Osama bin Laden himself believes that jihad is second only to faith as a Muslim ideal—a notion rejected by virtually every religious authority in the Islamic world.
Article comments
1 - ss
Nice review, and I plan to read this one. Also, thanks ti Blogcritics, I doubt I would have heard of this book at all if I hadn't heard of it here.
I read the other day that a man publishing a women's rights magazine in Afghanistan had been arrested. The article described sharia scholars who function as advisers to the Afghani Supreme Court.
It seems like Bush might be pushing the idea of 'spreading freedom' here in the States by showing elections and dictators on trial. Meanwhile in Afghanistan and SCIRI controlled Iraq he's letting the al-Qareeb take a leading role in the courts.
The worst case end result, if we play into the al-Baeed's hands by creating more virulently anti-West young Muslims, would be less freedom in the country we bled (and made others bleed with us) in, and more martyrs for the al-Baeed.
Although on the bright side, for us, we can still count on the al-Baeed to use their new found recruits and munitions to kill other Muslims instead of taking advantage of our tactical errors.
There doesn't appear to be much of a bright side for modern Muslims in all of this.
2 - Silvana
No offense, but Fawaz Gerges is a Lebanese Chrsitian from the North of Lebanon. Just wanted to correct this mis-information.
Thank you