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Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy

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In `Journey to the Jihadist', Fawaz Gerges, a professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Sarah Lawrence College, provides extremely valuable insight into the mindset of Islamic jihadist. Or more correctly, make that plural `mindsets' because the central message of Gerges work is that even among jihadists opinions vary widely as to correct principles, strategies, and tactics.

Gerges starts out with some background to the modern jihad movement and its founder Sayyid Qutb who matriculated at Stanford and Colorado State College of Education for two years in the 1940s. Qutb was appalled by the empty materialism and especially the sexual license he perceived. He returned to play an instrumental role in radicalizing the Muslim Brotherhood. Try The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage) by Lawrence Wright for a more detailed consideration of Qutb's role in the radicalizing of Islam.

Gerges, who was raised as Greek Orthodox in Lebanon, traces the development of the jihad through three generations starting with Kamal el-Said Habib. Kamal played a role in the 1981 assassination of Anwar Sadat, but later forswore violence as means to Islamize society for political means. The second generation is represented by Osama bin Laden's personal bodyguard Abu-Jandal . Gerges identifies the third generation as uneducated youth being radicalized by the American occupation of Iraq.

Gerges attempts to demonstrate that many if not most jihadists rejected bin Laden's attack on the West, some for moral reasons, more because they viewed it an ill-advised assault on the world's superpower. Much of the antipathy toward bin Laden flows, of course from Shiites. Gerges suggests that bin Laden and Al Qaeda were faring very poorly after 9-11 and the US rout of the Taliban, but that the US invasion of Iraq has almost universally enraged Muslims.

While Gerges' book provides essential context and perspective it suffers from inadequate identification of his sources. His endnotes state that his main sources are interviews he conducted between 1990 and 2005. He also identifies printed interviews and books for each chapter. He chose not, however, to footnote his work so it is usually impossible to identify a source for particular statements. He states that he was unable to interview Abu-Jandal, but still freely quotes him. The book has a bit of a slapdash feel to it, especially in a late chapter discussing the British Muslims and the London bombings. Gerges also accepts exaggerated claims by Arab Afghans of their role in defeating the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

Despite these shortcomings, Gerges' book provides much-needed perspective on the varying shades of even radical Islam and how the American occupation of Iraq is pushing more and more Muslims toward jihad against `the far enemy' - the West in general and the US in particular. Highly recommended.

Fawaz Gerges gives an intimate and nuanced look what constitutes as a Jihadist in today's post 9/11 world in this very anecdotal book. Gerges interviews a diverse cast of self proclaimed Jihadists from across the Arab world and mixes in a few personal tales from his childhood days in war torn Lebanon. As a result this book is relatively easy to read, flows well and is not as dry as other books on this subject that I've read.

Gerges's principal thesis seems to be that the Jihadist movement is far from being monolithic, elements within the community will differ on a wide variety of subjects that will range from goals to methods. This book does an excellent job in showing the various insights of Muslims. What was most surprising to me was the views of some of the very anti-American Jihadists that were interviewed by Gerges and their opposition to Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda movement. While they detest American foreign policy in general and specifically our support for Israel, they also believe that Bin Laden's actions are largely un-Islamic and extremely counterproductive for the global Jihad movement. I especially found fascinating his interviews with members of Hezbollah just after 9/11. They go to great lengths to denounce the horrific attack and to distinguish their movement from Bin Laden's.

What becomes apparent after reading this book is that there was an unique opportunity post-9/11 to engage some of the more moderate Jihadists and to quarantine the extreme sect represented by those like Bin Laden and Zawahiri. The war on terror cannot be won alone by smart bombs and soldiers. We need to find common ground and détente with the vast Muslim world that does not view world in the same nihilistic way as Bin Laden and his followers. However this opportunity was severely set back for the foreseeable future due to our invasion of Iraq, however well intentioned by the Bush administration, followed sheer incompetence and failure of the post war reconstruction and occupation which radicalized the Ummah (worldwide Muslim community) almost as much as the creation of Israel.

_Journey of the Jihadist_ by Fawaz A. Gerges is a fascinating look at the evolution of Islam in the last three decades. Having done extensive interviews with many Islamists and translated documents previously not available in the West, Gerges showed how that for the last thirty years "an internal struggle has been waged for the soul of Islam," a struggle that affects the very foundations of Muslim society and politics.

The author believes that many in the West don't really comprehend the true relationship between religion and politics in the Middle East. Religion plays a huge role in Middle Eastern politics but often either as a tool or because it is the only outlet available for those unhappy with their governments (politicized religion has replaced secular nationalism as the dominant force in Muslim society). In many authoritarian regimes the only means of organizing and mobilizing activists who wish to change the political regime that governs their country is that centered on the mosque, as regional dictators have largely been successful in silencing their secular and non-religious opponents but would not dare to close down the mosques. Additionally, many of those who violently oppose a regime will couch their rhetoric and actions in religious terms in order to try and gain mass support, even though there might be many Muslims who come to regard the actions of ultramilitants as un-Islamic and even "nihilistic," having more in common with "more recent European, radical, ultraleftist, or Third Worldist movements" than with Islam. These ultraviolent groups wrote Gerges use religion only to serve their political goals, despite the fact that they don't act particularly religious at all.

Islamists everywhere would like to replace what they see as an atheistic political and social order at home with an Islamic state, though they differ greatly on how this is to be achieved. Mainstream Islamists, which are the overwhelming majority, have accepted the rules of the political game, embraced democratic principles, and generally oppose violence. Two other groups though have not discarded violence, the militant Islamists and the jihadists. Both have a willingness to use all means, including terrorism, to overthrow existing regimes and replace them with theocratic ones, though generally jihadists have a less sophisticated perception of the religious nature of the struggle.

Up until the end of the 1990s, many more Islamists were militant than were now, but as Gerges recounted with fascinating life stories and accounts of noted Islamists in Egypt and elsewhere, most came to reject violence. Some groups, such as Al-Jama'a al-Islamiya in Egypt (the largest Islamic group in the Arab world) and the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria came to understand their goals of creating an Islamic society failed when violence was used and instead have come to support democracy and have largely embraced "the culture of political realism and the art of the possible," even working with former political opponents to achieve their goals. Civil wars launched by Islamic groups against governments - notably in Egypt and Algeria - failed, as not only the government ruthlessly defeated them but the Islamists found that they lost the support of the average Muslim, who was repelled by their violence, particularly against women, children, tourists, and civilians in general. The majority of Islamists have focused on what the author termed evolution, not revolution, in trying to make an Islamic society (converting people on an individual basis rather than trying to convert everyone at once by controlling the government) and are what he terms the accommodationist camp.

However, not all Islamists came to embrace the new political realities of the Middle East and therein is the internal struggle, as the Islamists split into a majority group that has largely disavowed violence and an ultramilitant group, exemplified by Al Qaeda. This group he terms the confrontationist camp and quite the opposite of most Islamists has in fact become more violent.

Gerges' notes on Al Qaeda are fascinating. Most members of Al Qaeda were originally highly militarized, hardened veterans of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan - the Afghan Arabs - and they were he wrote "infused...with hubris," believing that if they could defeat one superpower they could defeat another. Several of the prominent Islamists he interviewed, particularly before the recent war in Iraq, were quite scornful of Al Qaeda, as among other things they regarded Al Qaeda as burdened by a cult of personality around bin Laden, creating an atmosphere which stifled internal debate, and a "catastrophic leadership" that was seriously detached from reality, one that had gravely underestimated the enemy (the U.S.), and that was both intellectually bankrupt and un-Islamic.

Al Qaeda seemed doomed following September 11 as the widespread Arab and Muslim revolt that bin Laden hoped for did not occur and the organization was on the run after the destruction of their hosts, the Taliban. Only a miracle would resurrect jihadism it seemed. Then, apparently, that miracle occurred; the invasion of Iraq, an event which served to militarize far more Muslims than the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan or perhaps even the earlier Soviet invasion, giving Al Qaeda a new lease on life and enormous credibility.

Or has that miracle occurred? While the war in Iraq has attracted militants from throughout the Muslim world and saved Al Qaeda from destruction, it has also alienated many Muslims as well; many have grown increasingly repulsed by the random kidnapping and beheading of civilians, of deliberately targeting Muslims civilians in general, and the targeting of neutral journalists and of aid workers. Even Al Qaeda was said to initially have been apprehensive of embracing Abu Musab Zarqawi, feeling he went too far in his indiscriminate slaughter of Muslim civilians and that his encouragement of a Shia-Sunni conflict was a dangerous distraction in the war against America.

There are indications that some Islamists that had formerly given up violence now see that conflict is inevitable with the West, but they nevertheless do not desire an open-ended conflict and firmly reject the "cult of death" that Al Qaeda seems to promote.

...approach to current affairs in the Middle East.

Professor Gerges' latest effort provides additional information not covered in his earlier works. His writing style is scholarly, yet accessible, backed up by his vast experience traveling in the Middle East. Professor Gerges hails from Beruit, Lebanon and currently lives in the United States. He is objective while demonstrating his incredible knowledge of Middle East affairs, personalities and history. While reading many sections, I felt the writing "opening" my mind as opposed to "filling" it.

The text goes deeper than the sound bites covered with traditional news reporting. The reader is given a more thorough understanding of the genesis of the Jihadist movement. The reader is shown there are layers of Islam that have not been presented to Western Audiences and can do much to affect Western views and prejudices.

The format of the book is much easier to manage than the current offerings available on the subject. The book is divided into chapters that are easy to read without being superficial. Throughout the book, he provides embedded "foot notes" to help the reader understand foreign terms such as "Jihad". In some ways, the book reads more like a novel than work of non-fiction. Readers should find this approach both interesting and informative.

The book does much to help, especially the Western reader, understand the components of history and current events that motivate some followers to choose the paths they walk. If you're looking for a more thoughtful and well-researched text on the subject of Islamic Extremism and the Jihadist movement, this publication will address your needs.

2006's "Journey of the Jihadist" is Fawaz Gerges' investigation of Muslim militancy, a far more nuanced phenomenum than perhaps its most public face, the transnational terrorist movement al Qaeda. Gerges, a native of Lebanon now living in the United States, enjoyed remarkable access before and after 9/11 to a variety of prominent Islamists, who provide fascinating insight into Muslim militancy.

The roots of Muslim militancy predate 9/11, the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, and even many of Israel's conflicts with its Arab neighbors. As Gerges notes, its origins lie in Muslim discontent with the failures of modern ideologies (Communism, Socialism, and nationalism) to provide effective and responsive government, especially in the Arab world. As far back as the 1950's, students and others discontented with the status quo turned to Muslim fundamentalism to renew Muslim life.

This turn to fundamentalism was translated by the first generation of jihadists into unrest, terrorism, and rebellion, brutally suppressed by the governments of Egypt, Algeria, and other regimes which failed to implement the sharia as the basis of governance. A second generation of jihadists would arise in the ultimately successful struggle to drive the Russians out of Afghanistan, and a third generation has been inspired by the conflict engendered in the Global War on Terrorism.

The jihadists thrive on a sense of the superiority of the Islamic relgion for resolving life's problems, but their militancy is fed by other themes. The jihadists cannot accept the presence of the Jewish State of Israel in the Middle East. The jihadists have a profound fear of the effects of Western-driven globalization, especially the political and sexual liberation of women. The jihadists are infuriated by the presence of U.S. and Western military forces in the Middle East, regardless of cause.

Understanding Muslim militancy, as Gerges explores, is made more difficult for the Western observer by the addiction of the jihadists to a worldview of vast Jewish-Crusader-Apostate conspiracies, elaborate logic-proof confections of half-truths, lies, and fantasies of revenge for real and imagined wrongs. The inability to arrive at a common, fact-based appreciation of circumstances must make very unlikely any meaningful political dialogue in the near term.

Gerges tends to stay in the background of his narrative, letting the jihadists speak for themselves. Far from being a monolithic movements, the jihadists have disagreed and continue to disagree among themselves over both means and ends. Equally interesting is the evoluation of thought among some radicals now grown older and wiser and more conscious of the limits of possible change.

"Journey of the Jihadists" is very highly recommended for its insights into Muslim militancy, a much more nuanced phenomenum than simple terrorism.

Dr. Gerges presents an interesting point of view about the Islamic Jihad that has been totally ignored by the news media in this country. He says that the mainstream of events going on in the Arab world is not a war against the West, but instead is a civil war or really many civil wars against the established governments in those countries.

It comes as no secret that the ruling bodies of most Arab countries are despotic. What the mainstream militants want is to overthrow those governments and take over themselves. When they get in charge, they want to impose a government of their own making, not liberal, not democratic, but with them in charge and with the intent of governing according to the shariah, or Qur'anic law.

The secular rulers in most Arab countries have failed to deliver jobs, social services, education or to make their countries safe from external threats. The militants want to take over, they are not talking about a democracy, and they are certainly not talking about women's rights or freedom of expression for everyone. The biggest goal is simply to throw out the bums that are in charge.

His reports on the situation in Iran and the Sudan are interesting in that they say that the public is fed up with the economic damage and sociopolitical upheaval inflicted by the mullahs and Islamists on their societies. The governments in turn are retrenching domestically and are mainly interested with political survival.

This is not to say that the U.S. is liked. Our unwavering support of Israel, our invasion of Iraq, and other foreign policy activities have made us stand out as an enemy.

Summary, it's a mess over there. This book doesn't offer any easy solutions, but it will help you understand what's happening in our world - at lease from Dr. Gerges viewpoint.

I thought that this was one of the best accounts of the history and current day events leading to today's conflict with people of Muslim background. The author is of Muslim descent, and is able to explain the events that have led up to the major conflict that we are involved in today. He presents the events and thought patterns of the Mulsim people that have triggered events throughout the 1970s and until today. He actually begins with 600 AD when the Muslim ruler failed to name a successor to the throne, thus handing leadership over to a group that doesn't have 'bloodrights to the throne' and the authority to rule. He explains the religious thoughts that prevail in the minds of people that follow Islam. The author is fair in his presentation of the material and provides a solid understanding of the timeline of events and what led up to them. I give this book five stars because I developed a much clearer understanding of the trouble that America has gotten themselves into and why. We are cowboys with white hats, but no brains underneath. At least not a brain that is willing to listen to the other side of the story.

Journey Of The Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy comes from a Middle Eastern scholar and media commentator who examines who jihadists are and what they are saying to the world. Gerges went to Cairo and began discussions with one of the movement's founders, then moving to speak with hundreds of other jihadists throughout the Arab world. His blend of history of extremist thinking to philosophies which drive modern lives makes for a journey which is critically important to understanding jihadism and its current logic and direction.

It has been a while ago that I read this book and I came away with a sense that there was something lacking in what was written by Fawaz A. Gerges. Even though a Lebanese Christian, he seems to be more closely in line with the Islamic view of the world and that is one of always having to spread their religion throughout the world and violence seems to be their favored tool to do so.

I almost stopped reading this book by Fawaz A. Gerge when I read this on pages 65 & 66: "Historically Muslim societies have been diverse, open, and tolerant. Christian and Jewish Communities survived and even thrived in the Muslim Middle East since the birth and expansion of Islam. Non-Muslims were never confined to ghettos, nor were they subjected to the brutal persecutions that their counterparts suffered in Europe. No forced conversions, no expulsions of the sort that followed the Catholic Reconquista of fifteenth and sixteenth-century Spain ever befell Christians and Jews in the Islamic world. There were no Islamic pogroms. There were no Muslim Crusades. The Holocaust occurred in the heart of Christian Europe, not in the house of Islam." My first though was that this man is ether delusional, naïve and knows nothing of history or is extremely biased. Does he not wonder why there are so few Christians in the region of their birth place today, has he not heard of the Jizya tax and the restrictions placed on other religions by the Muslims? He makes no mention of the fact that in Saudi Arabia there can be no religion but Islam and that is true today. If the Jews had not reclaimed their ancestral home land of Israel, how many of them would be left in the Middle East when the Koran says this?
Bukhari (52:177) - Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say."O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him."

Does he want people to believe that it was Christians responsible for the Holocaust when this is what Hitler believed: "You see, it's been our misfortune to have the wrong religion? Why didn't we have the religion of the Japanese, who regard sacrifice for the Fatherland as the highest good? The Mohammedan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?"

He mentions the Catholic Reconquista of fifteenth and sixteenth-century Spain but believes that thinking people will not ask just how Islam came to be in Spain in the first place? It was because they invaded the Christian Iberian Peninsula and conquered it using the sword, as anyone who reads history knows.

A point that seems to be continually missed or not brought up regarding the Crusades, which some seem to want to portray as being prompted by Christian imperialism, and nothing could be further from the truth, as the date of the Battle of Tours would explain and that occurred 100 years after Mohammad's death. The leader of the Islamic forces, Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, had bragged that he would stable his horses in what was then St. Peter's of the day in Rome and, if that doesn't sound like a crusade, I do not know what does. The sword was used to spread Islam into Europe. After taking basically all of the Middle East, they laid siege to Constantinople in 668, by 715 all of Spain was in Muslim hands, in 813 Muslims attack the Civi Vecchia near Rome, by 911 the Muslims control all of the passes in the Alps between France and Italy. To me, the strange thing is that Europe hadn't taken some type of defensive action long before the Crusades to these offensive actions against them. The last advance into Europe by the Islamic Ottoman Turks was at Vienna and culminated with the 1683 battle that saved Vienna and led to the West gradually retaking its lost territory. Today the Balkan States still pay the price for the Muslims having ever been there because of all of sporadic violence and continued unrest in the area.

The author did not want to delve into the Islamic conquest of the Sub-continent of India that is known to be the bloodiest conquest ever in which millions of Buddhist and Hindus were slaughtered to the point that even today there are hardly any Buddhist left in India and it is only because there were just too many Hindus for the Muslim to kill all of them that they survived. It is interesting that there had to have been Buddhist in Afghanistan for centuries to have carved the largest standing Buddha statues in the world until on Feb. 26, 2001, the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, declared that "these idols have been gods of the infidels" and ordered them destroyed. By early March, the statues were rubble. If Islam is so tolerant, then where are all of Buddhist today in the area that carved these statues?

To bring his contention up to date, somewhat, I offer this: I would hope that people would educate themselves on what Islam is all about by doing some reading on the subject. They could start by reading "THE SWORD OF THE PROPHET" by Serge Trefkovic. History certainly demonstrates what Islam's agenda is. Look at how many Christians & Jews are left in the Middle East at this time & this is where each of these faiths began. Learn what the Jizya Tax is & how much dignity & quality of life the Dhimmis (Infidels to the Muslims) have under Muslim rule. Something Fawaz A. Gerges should certainly have some knowledge of is that happened to the Armenians under his "peace loving and tolerant" Islamic Turks in 1915-1918 when 1,500,000 Armenians were killed.

He brings Ayatollah Khomeini into the discussion; as well he should, and quotes him but does not provide this quote that goes a long way to explain the Jihadist philosophy. "Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those [who say this] are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! Does this mean that Muslims should sit back until they are devoured by [the unbelievers]? Islam says: Kill them, put them to the sword and scatter [their armies]....Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for the Holy Warriors! There are hundreds of other [Qur'anic] psalms and Hadiths [sayings of the Prophet] urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all this mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim." This quote above, in its self, explains more regarding the Jihadist than the whole book that Dr.Gerges wrote.

Jesus taught, "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44). The Qur'an tells Muslims to be "ruthless to unbelievers" (48:29). When one commits violence in the name of Christianity, he is transgressing against Christ's teachings, but the jihadists make and sustain the case among their fellow Muslims that they are the believers who are being truly faithful to Islamic teaching. Christians do not go round the world killing people while quoting the Bible. Muslims very much do go round the world killing people while quoting the Koran.

Dr.Gerges does offer up great insight into the Islamic mind on Page 193 when he explains how Tripoli, that is an hour and one half journey from Beirut, and he said that it was once the richest and most renowned of Islamic cities called "the Jewel of the Arab East" until 1000 years ago when it was ransacked by Christian Crusaders and has never fully recovered from ".....its desecration at the hands of the Christians." He goes on to mention now beneath the dirt and rubble "Almost every street harbors some archeological gem; garbage infested alleyways open into beautifully decorated Ottoman-era mosque and palaces...." This, for me, lies at the heart of the problems with Islam, always having someone else to blame for their backward, depressive culture and not moving ahead. What if the Japanese had held this same view after WW ll? They picked up from almost total destruction and moved ahead and tried to learn from the past instead of blaming everything on the past. The same is true with Nazi Germany and how the German people recovered from the war. The same goes for the Chinese after the horrors inflicted on them by the Japanese during the 1930s & 40s, particularly "The Rape of Nanking", as it came to be called. Look at these poor ignorant people, the Muslims, that are still blaming the Crusades of 1,000 years ago for their plight and now wanting to use violence to make things right again.

Not far from Tripoli is Baalbek, that has the largest stone ever carved by any civilization and the largest stones ever moved and placed in a wall that has caused all to amaze at how this could have been done. It shows that these people now infected with this cult called Islam had ancestors that did some very amazing things and the same can be said of the Egyptians whose ancestors, before they became infected by this cult of Islam, did so many amazing things. Now they can do nothing of any value, let alone feed themselves.
According to the World Bank, the total exports of the Arab countries (other than fossil fuels) amount to less than those of Finland, a country of five million inhabitants. There are at least 50 Arabs to each Finn.

I offer this summation from a group of Islamic converts who know more about Islam than most and must have feared becoming apostates because they know that the penalty for that offense, according to Islam, is death:
"How can a "culture" that treats its women like animals, honor kills them, prescribes beating them, persecutes the followers of other religions, instructs murdering those who do not subscribe to it and allows having sex with children be equated to a culture that has given birth to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Do you know that Muslims have their own version of Human Rights where Muslims are deemed to be superior? "Islamic culture" is an oxymoron while "Islamic terrorism" is redundancy. Multiculturalism is stupidity. How can one equate the barbarity that is Islam to the enlightenment of the Western civilization? If all cultures were equal then why Islamic counties are cesspools of the world? Why people there live in such a misery? Far from it! Islam is insanity. All those who are infected by this insanity are sick and dangerous to the extent that they are infected. Criticism of Islam is not racism. Islam is a belief which is insidious and evil. Any sane person no matter what race or nationality must oppose it. Equating Islam to race is sheer stupidity and deception. Have you already forgotten Muriel Degauque, the Belgian woman who converted to Islam and became a terrorist suicide bomber? We must stop this lie. Muslims can be dangerous thanks to their faith and not their race.
Arabs and Pakistanis are not terrorists. Muslims are terrorists and they can be Arabs, Iranians, Pakistanis or Europeans and Americans. As soon as they leave their evil cult they prove to be wonderful people. Therefore it is clear that it is this evil doctrine that robs their humanity and reduces them into brainless killing zombies." faithfreedom.org

"As a man thinketh, so is he." The real problem of the Muslim world is not that of natural recourses or political systems. Ernest Renan, who started his study of Islam by praising its ability to manifest "what was divine in human nature," ended it-a quarter of a century and three long tours of the Muslim world later-by concluding that "Muslims are the first victims of Islam" and that, therefore, "to liberate the Muslim from his religion is the best service that one can render him." The West is yet to learn, fully, the lesson that my Balkan ancestors were forced to learn six centuries ago: that Islam is a collective psychosis seeking to become global, and any attempt to compromise with madness is to become part of the madness oneself. The quarrel is not of our choosing, and those who submit to that faith must solve the problem they set themselves."

The one thing that I agree with the author regarding is that the invasion of Iraq should not have taken place. After Sept. 11, 2001 something had to be done to show the Islamic world that these kinds of attacks would not be tolerated and that was demonstrated by the invasion of Afghanistan. The West needs to get totally out of this region and allow these people to self-destruct and that they shall do. What has been called the Arab Spring will soon turn into the Arab Winter and those that held out hope for a better future will be wishing that they had the despotic rulers of the past back instead of the Taliban like Islamic forces that will turn the whole region into another Afghanistan like area when it was ruled by the ignorant Taliban.

IMANA was named in a May 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document --titled "An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America" -- as one of the Brotherhood's like minded "organizations of our friends" who shared the common goal of destroying America and turning it into a Muslim nation. These "friends" -- which included also the Islamic Circle of North America, Muslim Youth of North America, the Muslim Students Association, the Muslim Arab Youth Association, the Islamic Association for Palestine, the United Association for Studies and Research, and the International Institute of Islamic Thought - were identified by the Brotherhood as groups that could help teach Muslims "that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands ... so that ... God's religion [Islam] is made victorious over all other religions."

If Dr.Gerges thinks that jihad is a new concept with Islam, he knows nothing about this vicious cult; but, then again, he must know this because he now lives in the west and not in the Islamic world: "Islam is convinced of the superiority of its culture; and obsessed with the inferiority of its power" and that "No Major Muslim group has ever renounced the doctrine of jihad of the sword."
Bukhari (52:220) - Allah's Apostle said... 'I have been made victorious with terror'
"Infidels (unbelievers) are the Muslim's undoubted enemies (Sura 4:101).
This ideal is instilled in the minds and hearts of Muslim children by their mothers
(Sura 9:5) "Muslims are to besiege them and lie in ambush everywhere" for them.
That's us they are to besiege because we do not believe in and follow the teachings of Mohammed.
"Seize them and put them to death wherever you find them, kill them wherever you find them, seek out the enemies of Islam relentlessly" (Sura 4:90)
"I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers, Smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger tips of them." (Koran 8:12)
"Take not Jews and Christians for friends. They are friends to one another. He who takes them for friends is one of them." Sura 5:51
"Believers, make war on the infidels who are your neighbors and let them find you rigorous." (Sura 9:123).
"Allah loves those who "fight for his cause" (Sura 61:3).
"If a Muslim does not go to war, Allah will punish him." (Sura 9:39)
"Muslims are to be "ruthless to unbelievers but love Muslims" (Sura 48:29).
"Kill any person you wish if it be a "just cause." (Sura 6:152)
`'I have been ordered to fight with people till they say; none has the right to be worshipped but Allah `' Hadith 4:196
"Mohammed also said, Know that paradise is under the shade of the swords.'' Hadith vol. 4:73

Gerges explores the mind of jihadists through interviews he had in Egypt and Lebanon between 1998 and 2006. He had access to papers previously unavailable to the West. He begins with the roots of jihadism in Egypt, how it morphed into global tactics, and then coalesced in Iraq and the Iraqi war. He also sheds light on divides within Islam about jihad ranging from moderate to radical. Overall very enlightening.