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Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalist Movements in the Arab World, Iran, and Turkey

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"Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalist Movements in the Arab World, Iran and Turkey" by Ahmad S. Moussalli (1999). An A-Z listing of 1,300+ Islamic movements throughout the Arab world in 312 pages of text (with 89 pages of bibliography, all totaling 401 pages). Regarding Usama bin Laden, the author noted in part (pre 9/11): "He is one of the most internationally notorious fundamentalists" along with a full page of Usama's background. Besides posting the names of individuals and political/ religious groups, the author provides brief commentary regarding various Muslim concepts (with an Islamist emphasis), such as: apostasy/ridda; jihad/ struggle: [`radical fundamentalists cannot accept the argument that Islam launches jihad only for defensive purposes' (but the author does not explain the religious foundations of the fundamentalists, nor does he quote ayat from the Quran that the fundamentalists use to justify their extremism)]; or Jerusalem Day (something Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini started to support the Palestinian recapture of Jerusalem); Western civilization (al-Hadara al-Gharbiyya) versus Western colonization (al-Istimar al-Gharbi). This book is more of a short-worded dictionary rather than that of an expansively-worded encyclopedia. The typical subject is about 50-75 words long. [A fine companion book: "Guide to Islamist Movements" (2 vols.) by Barry Rubin (2009).]