The Shahids: Islam and Suicide Attacks [Hardcover]

Shaul Shay (Author), Aharon Ze'evi Farkash (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0765802503 | ISBN-13: 978-0765802507 | Publication Date: July 7, 2004

Suicide terror has become a fundamental strategic weapon in the confrontation between Fundamentalist Islam and its adversaries and now constitutes a threat to world welfare and security. The Shahids proposes that the nature of this terror changed after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11. In this first book to be published on the subject, the author offers both an interpretation and an overall picture of a worldwide phenomenon that is not yet fully recognied, even in Israel, which remains a central arena for the perpetration of suicide attacks by terror organiations.

The Shahids analyes the general phenomenon of Islamic suicide attacks, and provides the reader with tools, comparative analyses, and comprehensive information enabling enlightened examination about suicide attacks worldwide. After a review of the historical development of the religious and ideological values legitimating suicide attacks, the volume explores the ways in which all terror organiations are both alike and different. It focuses on the countries that support terror--Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia--discusses suicide attacks perpetrated by women and the suicide attackers' mothers, and shows how various countries have put an end to suicide attacks. It scrutinies testimony drawn from confiscated documents regarding the approach of terror leaders and the administrative support of various organiations for suicide attacks, while offering descriptions and direction on ways to contend with this challenge. It explores the possibilities and recommendations for an international struggle against suicide attacks through the implementation of recently published, innovative ideas proposed by UN Organiations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch.

The Shahids maps out the overall phenomenon of suicide attacks, as well as identifies various organiations and central key figures through comparative cross-sections.

This historical account of suicide attacks on "enemies of islam" compares the Hashashin (Assassins) Movement with present-day Muslim suicide bombings. Shai rightly points out that a suicide strategy against enemies is nothing new, even a history that goes back at least one thousand years. - M.A. Khan, Emory University

Shaul Shay is a research fellow at the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herliya, Israel, and heads the Israel Defense Forces' Department of History. Aharon Ze'evi Farkash is a major general and director of the Military Intelligence Department of IDF.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Shay's study on shahids (Islamic martyrs) is a timely investigation into this subject that should be widely read." --Salim Mansur, Middle East Quarterly

About the Author

Shaul Shay served twenty-seven years in the Israel Defense Forces as a paratrooper officer and in military intelligence, and also served as head of the Israel Defense Forces Military History Department for seven years. Currently, he is senior research fellow of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at the Interdisciplinary Center Hereliya (IDC), Israel. His many books include Islamic Terror Abductions in the Middle East andThe Axis of Evil: Iran, Hiballah, and the Palestinian Terror.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 246 pages
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers (July 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765802503
• ISBN-13: 978-0765802507
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,874,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be Widely Read, August 5, 2006

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This review is from: The Shahids: Islam and Suicide Attacks (Hardcover)

Since the early 1980s, as Salim Mansur wrote, the world has witnessed many instances of the grotesque instrument of suicide bombings, spreading death, destruction, and fear. It is, therefore, essential to understand the terrorist organizations that adopt this method of waging war. Shay's study on shahids (Islamic martyrs) is a timely investigation into this subject that should be widely read.

As Shay notes, suicide terror is not a new phenomenon, nor is it entirely located within the extremist culture of political Islam. Two of the most prominent individual victims of suicide bombings were Rajiv Gandhi, a former prime minister of India, killed in 1991 by a Tamil female bomber during a political rally in the midst of an election campaign, and similarly, Sri Lankan president Primadasa, assassinated in 1993.

Shay's book includes a useful historical survey of Islamic suicide bombings taking the readers all the way back to the eleventh century Hassan as-Sabah in his famous fortress, "Alamut," on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Sabah organized the secret order of the Hashshashin (Assassins), and his followers, for a while, terrorized centers of political authority across the Middle East in the midst of the Crusades. The Shahids also includes a compilation of recent suicide bombings for anyone wanting to review the record since 9-11. Although Israel has been the most often hit target of suicide bombers, most victims of suicide bombings these days are Iraqi Shi`ites.

The Tamil Tigers, waging war against Sri Lankan authorities to establish an independent Tamil entity on the island, were primarily responsible for being the first to employ suicide bombings as their weapon of terror. Other terrorist organizations such as the Workers' Party of Kurdistan (PKK) in Turkey, the Chechen rebels in Chechnya and Russia, and jihadi groups based in Pakistan responsible for terrorist strikes inside Jammu and Kashmir within India, adopted the Tamil innovation of suicide bombings to sow fear in the mistaken belief that their respective causes can succeed as a result.

Shay has filled an essential gap in our understanding of suicide bombings as a modern political phenomenon and, moreover, armed with religious justifications when it comes to Muslim terrorism. His book begs the question, however, in what manner will Muslims repudiate both the politics of jihadi terrorism and the use of Islam to justify a crime that no religion worth its name can legitimate or defend. But that is a book only to be written when Muslims will have recovered their faith tradition from the perversions it has been subjected to by men in religious garbs such as Ayatollah Khomeini or the blind sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman.