Alms for jihad [Paperback]

J. Millard Burr and Robert O. Collins (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052167395X
• ISBN-13: 978-0521673952
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #464,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional work, May 31, 2007

By 

P. Willson (United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a literate, incredibly detailed, and exhaustively researched book on the origins, processes, players, goals, and strategies involved in misusing charitable funding sources for global political-religious Islamic terrorism. It is a thorough survey, not a casual overview. Often this type of book can be quite useful, but not something I would read cover-to cover -- more a worthwhile reference, a place to find tidbits of interest and to look up specifics.

This book is a surprisingly enjoyable read although hardly a unified narrative -- it provides a very good basic background of terms, culture, and practices if you have limited knowledge of the field, and is grounded, not the least bit shrill or polemical. I am indeed, reading it cover to cover, and it's almost a 'page-burner.'

We follow numerous trails of money, law enforcement interventions, and the feuds and family ties forged between jihadi power families and political-economic-religious leaders within and sometimes across countries and regions. At times it feels like we are watching the development of a new version of The Godfather.

Very highly recommended if you are interested in the topic of terrorist funding.

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Saudi Pressure, August 2, 2007

By 

Patrick M. Dailey "whatever" (Colo) - See all my reviews
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I am very, very disapointed that Amazon has chosen to give in to Saudi pressure by stopping the sale of this book.

Amazon and other corporate cowards are the entire point behind the book.

It can still be purchased on Alibris.

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alms for Jihad : Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World, May 23, 2006

By 

Michael Rubin "Middle East Quarterly" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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J. Millard Burr and Robert Collins look broadly at terrorism finance in "Alms for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World" (Cambridge University Press, 343 pages, $28). The two are well-matched to collaborate: Mr. Burr,a former USAID relief coordinator in Sudan, provides practitioner reality, while Mr. Collins, a well-published African historian, adds academic depth. They begin with an examination of zakat, Islamic alms. They explain the difference among zakat, religious gifts, and endowment, and show how they can all be used to similar ends.

Lay Muslims once looked at zakat as just another tax levied by their governments. However, the Muslim Brotherhood-run mosques began collecting alms to fund jihad. Messrs. Burr and Collins demonstrate this with a number of case studies covering Afghanistan, Sudan, the Balkans, Russia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Holy Land, Europe, and North America. Throughout, the Saudi royal family played a pernicious role, founding and promoting charities to spread militant Sunni Islam, not only as an inoculation against resurgent Shi'ism from revolutionary Iran, but also to radicalize the Muslims in Europe and America. Western bungling amplified the charities' success: Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika enabled Islamist charities to sink roots in Chechnya, while in the next decade, the Clinton administration delayed investigations into charities like the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation out of deference to its Saudi royal family patrons.

Messrs. Burr and Collins's examination of Islamic banking is rich with both historical background and contemporary detail, some of which may surprise: They show how groups like Palestinian Hamas, Algeria's Islamic Salvation Front, Tunisia's al-Nahda, and Egypt's Jama'at al-Islamiyya all held shares in the Saudi-based al-Taqwa bank. And though the authors do not discuss Turkey, the fact that Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey has quietly replaced every member of the Turkey's banking board with members drawn from Islamic banks is another cause for concern. Still, even though Islamist terrorists began targeting their Saudi patrons, Messrs. Burr and Collins demonstrate how there remains virtually no government oversight into charitable donations anywhere in the Muslim world.

While "Hamas" and "Alms for Jihad" detail the networks through which terrorist groups grow, Fawaz Gerges, a professor at Sarah Lawrence University, takes a more holistic approach in "Journey of the Jihadist" (Harcourt, 296 pages, $25). He seeks to "delve into the world of Islamic militancy," but his narrative falls flat. Based on interviews with a few Islamists, Mr. Gerges's account is all color and no substance. To conclude, he paraphrases an Egyptian Islamist who faults American policy for forcing a reaction from Islamists; this is the logical equivalent of exculpating rape because the victim wore a short skirt.

Messrs. Levitt, Burr, and Collins demonstrate that terrorism is not the spontaneous response to grievance. Never has the gap between reality and the conventional wisdom peddled by Middle Eastern studies doyens like Mr. Gerges appeared so great.

Michael Rubin
New York Sun