Category: Jihadology

Jihadology presents Books of 2011

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

NOTE: As with last year, over the next few days Jihadology.net will be posting lists of books, think tank reports, academic journal articles, and forthcoming books that have been published during 2011 and plan to be published in 2012. Below is a list of books that I have either read or am interested in reading that were published in the past year. They are in alphabetical order by author. If you have any other suggestions to the below books that deal with global jihadism or Islamic studies, please feel free to let me know in the comments section.
—

Angelika Neuwirth, Nicolai Sinai, and Michael Marx — The Qur’an in Context
Asad Q. Ahmed, Behnam Sadeghi, and Michael Bonner (ed) — The Islamic Scholarly Tradition
Assaf Moghadam and Brian Fishman (ed.) – Fault Lines in Global Jihad: Organizational, Strategic and Ideological Fissures
Camille Tawil – Brothers In Arms: The Story of al-Qa’ida and the Arab Jihadists
Carool Kersten — Cosmopolitans and Heretics: New Muslim Intellectuals and the Study of Islam
Chris Heffelfinger — Radical Islam in America: Salafism’s Journey from Arabia to the West
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross — Bin Laden’s Legacy
J.M. Berger – Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam
Jeffry R. Halverson, Steven R. Corman, and H. L. Goodall — Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism
Khaled Hroub – Political Islam: Context Versus Ideology
Michael Kemper and Stephan Conermann (ed.) — The Heritage of Soviet Oriental Studies
Michael Scheuer — Osama Bin Laden
Najam Haider — The Origins of the Shi’a: Identity, Ritual, and Sacred Space in Eighth-Century Kufa
Peter Bergen – The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and Al-Qaeda
Stéphane Lacroix – Awakening Islam: Religious Dissent in Contemporary Saudi Arabia
Susan A. Spectorsky — Women in Classical Islamic Law
Thomas Hegghammer and Stéphane Lacroix — The Meccan Rebellion: The Story of Juhayman al-‘Utaybi Revisited

No Updates Till This Weekend or Monday

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

I will be presenting a paper at the Revisioning Terrorism Conference at Purdue University, which runs tomorrow through Saturday and I will not have time to update the website. Sorry for any inconveniences. Hope everyone has a good second half of the week.

Jihadology Returns

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin


I am restarting Jihadology a little later than I had intended, but after completing Middlebury’s immersive and intensive language program I needed a break from doing much of anything. That said, if anyone has the opportunity to do Middlebury’s Arabic program, I highly recommend it. Also, I want to thank everyone that sent me an email over the summer saying they were looking forward to the return of Jihadology. Over the past few months jihādĩs have released 100s of new primary source materials. Unfortunately, I currently do not have the time to add all of them to the site, but I have them all saved in my personal archives so if there is anything anybody is interested in having please email me and I will be sure to add it to the website.
Fun fact: I broke the news that Ẓawāhirī was the new amīr of AQ in Arabic. I also, recently wrote a post at al-Wasat if you have yet to see it titled “What’s in a Name: The Death of the al-Qa’ida Brand?” And if you have library access the academic journal Terrorism and Political Violence published a book review I did on Nelly Lahoud’s excellent book The Jihadis’ Path to Self-Destruction. In the coming week or two I should be having a few new articles coming out as well. Be on the look out for those.
It’s good to be back!

Jihadology on Hiatus

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Since I started Jihadology almost thirteen months ago, it has always been a side project of mine that I do in my free time. Unfortunately, this summer, I will not have the free time to maintain the website. I will be continuing my Arabic language study at Middlebury College, where there is a language pledge. Meaning it is completely full immersion and therefore, I will not be allowed to speak, write, read, or listen to anything except for in Arabic. Therefore, I will be unable to update this website in English. In the course of thinking about how I could get around this,  I thought maybe I could continue this website in Arabic during the summer, but I do not believe it would be feasible since I will be extremely busy and I do not want to take away from my learning (which will hopefully allow for an even better website when I complete my study). Therefore, between June 7 and August 7 this website will go dark. Sorry for any inconveniences. I look forward, though, to the day when I return at the end of the summer and able to continue this website. I will still have access to email during the summer (since the program knows it is nearly impossible to completely shut out English language influences with todays technologies), so if you have any inquires, questions, or comments I will still be reading my emails: azelin [at] jihadology [dot] net. That said, my goal is to follow the spirit of the language pledge, which is why this website is going on hiatus.
Thank you for the continued support and I hope everyone has an enjoyable summer.

Jihadology presents its first podcast with J.M. Berger, the author of "Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam"

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin


Earlier this morning, I had the opportunity to talk with J.M. Berger the author of the recently released book Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam. We discussed a variety of topics:

  • The evolution of Americans involved in jihadism since the Soviet-Afghan war
  • The biggest names in the American jihādī movement that one should know, but are unknown to the vast majority of individuals
  • How Anwar al ‘Awlaqī has changed since the 1990s
  • What role Web 2.0 has had in changing the nature of how Americans interact with the jihādī movement
  • Whether there is a uniqueness to the Americans in AQ
  • How American jihādīs have reacted to the death of UBL
  • Trajectory of American jihadism in the next 5-10 years

Berger has been a journalist for more than 20 years. He also has written and produced multimedia content for National Public Radio, Public Radio International, the National Geographic Channel, and more. He has written for the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Examiner, and other major newspapers. Berger runs the terrorism news and analysis Web site, Intelwire.com.
Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam
Click the following link to listen to the interview: Jihadology presents its first podcast with J.M. Berger, the author of “Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam”

Jihadology presents Jihadist Works Related to the Recent Uprisings in the Arab World

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

NOTE: Those who have been following this site regularly have noticed that there have been many posts recently that have dealt with the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt as well as covering other countries to a lesser extent too. Since there have been so many I figured it might make it easier to centralize all the works in one post and update as time goes on. I hope this will be a useful tool for researchers and journalists.

January 13:
Statement from the Amīr of al-Qā’idah in the Islamic Maghreb Abū Muṣ’ab ‘Abd al-Wadūd [‘Abd al-Malik Drūkdīl]: “In Support of the Intifāḍah of our People in Tunisia”
Statement from the Amīr of al-Qā’idah in the Islamic Maghreb Abū Muṣ’ab ‘Abd al-Wadūd [‘Abd al-Malik Drūkdīl]: “A Call to Our Revenging People in Algeria”
January 19:
Fatwā from Shaykh Abū al-Mundhir al-Shanqīṭī of Minbar at-Tawḥīd wa’l-Jihād: “Question about How Things Happened in Tunisia”
Statement from Shaykh Abū Basīr al-Ṭarṭūsī: “Fall of the Idol Zayn, the Devil Named Zayn al ‘Ābidīn”
January 22:
Fatwā from Shaykh Abū al-Mundhir al-Shanqīṭī of Minbar at-Tawḥīd wa’l-Jihād: “Ruling on Suicide Bombers ‘Lighting Oneself on Fire’”
January 25:
Article from Shaykh Abū al-Mundhir al-Shanqīṭī at Minbar at-Tawḥīd wa’l-Jihād: “Revolution Against Mubarak”
January 27:
Fatwā from Shaykh Abū Dhar al-Shamhurī al-Yamānī of Minbar at-Tawḥīd wa’l-Jihād: “What is the Ruling for the Mujāhidīn Fighting Against the Yemenī Government and What is the Clear Path of Jihād in Yemen?”
Audio message from Shaykh Abū Basīr al-Ṭarṭūsī: “Speech in Egypt Via One of the Brothers in Egypt”
January 28:
Statement from al-Qā’idah in the Islamic Maghreb: “To Our People in Tunisia: The Tyrant has Fled but the Infidel and Tyrannical System Remains”
January 30:
Fatwā from Shaykh Abū al-Mundhir al-Shanqīṭī of Minbar at-Tawḥīd wa’l-Jihād: “What is the Ruling of Participating in the Revolution in Egypt Now?”
January 31:
Essay from Abū Sa’d al ‘Āmilī of ash-Shamūkh al-Islāmīyyah Arabic Forum: “Enter Upon the Door.. You are Defeated”
February 2:

Audio message from Shaykh Abū Hamzah al-Maṣrī: “About the Revolution in Egypt” (Part 1 and Part 2)

February 3:
Statement from the Egyptian Islamic Jihād: “For the Revolution of the Egyptian People”
February 4:
Audio message from Hānī al-Sibā’ī: “Sermon on the Occasion of the Approaching Departure of the Tyrant of Egypt”
February 6:
Statement from Shaykh Abū Basīr al-Ṭarṭūsī: “Oh People of Egypt Either Life of the Loved Ones or Death of the Martyrs”
Statement from Ma’sadat al-Mujāhidīn Fī Filisṭīn: “Statement of Support and a Message of Affirmation for the Brothers of Tawḥīd in Egypt”
February 7:
al-Nūr Media Foundation presents an essay from Abū ‘Abdullah al-Qaṣīmī: “Message to the Proud People of Syria”
Fatwā from Shaykh Abū al-Mundhir al-Shanqīṭī of Minbar at-Tawḥīd wa’l-Jihād: “Do we continue to demonstrate against Mubarak?”
Poem from Abū Muḥammad al-Maqdisī of Minbar at-Tawḥīd wa’l-Jihād: “Stability in Tyrants Even if You Hate Them”
February 8:
Statement from Shaykh Abū Basīr al-Ṭarṭūsī: “Betrayal of the Ikhwān [Muslim Brothers] for the Youth of the Square”
Fatwā from Shaykh Abū al-Mundhir al-Shanqīṭī of Minbar at-Tawḥīd wa’l-Jihād: “What is the Ruling Regarding the Agents of the Tyrant Mubarak?”
Article from Abū Muslim al-Jazā’irī of Minbar at-Tawḥīd wa’l-Jihād: “To Our Brothers and Families in Tunisia”
al-Fajr Media presents a statement from the Islamic State of Iraq [al-Qā’idah in Iraq]: “To Our Muslim Family in Beloved Egypt” (Arabic, English, and French)
Poem released from the ash-Shamūkh al-Islāmīyyah Arabic Forum by Abū Yūsuf al-’Urdunī: “Tremble Oh Egypt, Smash the Edifice of the Tyrant”
February 11:
Statement from Hānī al-Sibā’ī: “The Egyptian Army: Not a Wise Man Among You”
Statement from M’āssadah al-Mujāhidīn Fī Filisṭīn: “Congrats on the Fall of Mubarak: Not One of You Pray Fajr Prayer Except in Gaza, the Border Did Not Fall”
February 13:
Statement from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan: “Response Regarding the Victory of the Popular Uprising in Egypt”