Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror and over 670,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
More Buying Choices
36 used & new from $2.53
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
or
Get a $0.10 Amazon.com Gift Card
Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside another edition of this book
Start reading Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror [Paperback]

Mary Habeck (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
List Price: $17.00
Price: $11.56 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $5.44 (32%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Only 1 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want it delivered Friday, September 3? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
11 new from $6.01 25 used from $2.53

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $9.99   -- --
Hardcover $28.00   $9.99 $0.44
Paperback $11.56   $6.01 $2.53
Audio, CD, Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged $13.59   $13.59 --

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Islamic Imperialism: A History by Efraim Karsh Paperback $11.56

Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror + Islamic Imperialism: A History
Price For Both: $23.12

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror by Mary Habeck Paperback

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Islamic Imperialism: A History by Efraim Karsh Paperback

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Islamic Imperialism: A History

Islamic Imperialism: A History

by Efraim Karsh
4.0 out of 5 stars (40)  $11.56
The Middle East

The Middle East

by CQ Press
4.0 out of 5 stars (3)  $46.95
The Canons of Jihad: Terrorists' Strategy for Defeating America

The Canons of Jihad: Terrorists' Strategy for Defeating America

by Jim Lacey
5.0 out of 5 stars (1)  $19.00
The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage)

The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage)

by Lawrence Wright
4.7 out of 5 stars (339)  $11.56
The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future

The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future

by Vali Nasr
4.5 out of 5 stars (98)  $10.17
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Yale historian Habeck takes Muslim terrorists at their word. They aren't envious of liberal democracy or the consumer society. Religion drives them--specifically, an exclusivist, triumphalist vision of Islam that Habeck calls jihadism to point up its holy-war-like character rather than its orthodoxy. The latter is problematic, for while jihadism is based on universally accepted Muslim principles and traditions, what it has forged out of them is highly controversial, not least because jihadists consider Muslims who disagree with them to be unbelievers as worthy of destruction as non-Muslims. Habeck traces the current of Islamic thought that eventuated in jihadism from an early-fourteenth-century scholar and the eighteenth-century founder of the harshly restrictive Islam predominant in Saudi Arabia to four twentieth--century figures who inspired a host of radical reactionary organizations, including Hamas and al-Qaeda. Habeck repeatedly reminds us that jihadists constitute a small minority, but she doesn't expound moderate Islam, much less Christianity or Judaism, to answer or refute jihadism. Her purpose is to reveal jihadism. So doing, in considerable detail and with admirable clarity, she contributes one of the most valuable books on the ongoing Middle East--and world--crisis. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"This important book provides the first clear analysis of the radical ideology propelling the terrorism of the Middle East. Habeck's explanation of Jihadism is set forth in a poised, authoritative voice-a model for a study of this kind."-Charles Hill, Distinguished Fellow, International Security Studies, Yale University (Charles Hill )

"Habeck has put together so many pieces from so many sources together in such a manner that no writer on this topic can afford to ignore this book. Making the case for the primacy of these ideas, not merely as products of impersonal socio-economic structures and international systemic factors, is not a minor undertaking. Knowing the Enemy constitutes an admirable effort to coherently portray the world view of Jihadists and identify their differences as well."-Ibrahim Karawan, Director, Middle East Center, University of Utah (Ibrahim Karawan )

"The book ... is admirably accessible also to the non-specialist .."-Richard John Neuhaus, First Things (Richard John Neuhaus ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Yale University Press (March 14, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0300122578
  • ISBN-13: 978-0300122572
  • Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #78,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #45 in  Books > History > World > 21st Century

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Mary R. Habeck
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Mary R. Habeck Page
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence:
Immediately after September 11, 2001, Americans agonized over the reason why nineteen men hated the United States enough to kill three thousand civilians in an unprovoked assault. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
other jihadis, many jihadis, jihadist groups, jihadist ideology, offensive jihad, defensive jihad, agent rulers
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Ibn Taymiyya, Middle East, Sayyid Qutb, Abu Hamza, Saudi Arabia, Bakri Mohammad, Muslim Brotherhood, Ottoman Empire, Masood Azhar, Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 22 books:
See all 22 books this book cites
 
1 book cites this book:

Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
Unholy War by John L. Esposito
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror
92% buy the item featured on this page:
Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror by Mary Habeck Paperback 4.5 out of 5 stars (31)
$11.56
The Islamist: Why I Became an Islamic Fundamentalist, What I Saw Inside, and Why I Left
2% buy
The Islamist: Why I Became an Islamic Fundamentalist, What I Saw Inside, and Why I Left by Ed Husain Paperback 4.6 out of 5 stars (5)
$10.88
Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
2% buy
Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid Hardcover 4.1 out of 5 stars (58)
$9.09
The Al Qaeda Reader
2% buy
The Al Qaeda Reader by Raymond Ibrahim Paperback 4.6 out of 5 stars (19)
$10.85
› Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(2)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
Agree with these tags?
See all 18 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

31 Reviews
5 star:
 (23)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (31 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
62 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Knowing Who Is and Who Isn't The Enemy, March 10, 2006
By Ralph White (New England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror (Hardcover)
As much as this book is about knowing the enemy, it is as much about knowing who isn't the enemy. If you came away from any of your previous readings with feelings of intolerance for Muslims in general, then Mary Habeck's arguments will appeal to you. As an Associate Professor at John's Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Habeck's ultimate focus is public policy and statecraft. For her the term "war on terror" fails to sufficiently describe our objectives. She prefers "war on jihadism" or "war on the khawarij." The Khawarij were a group which tried, unsuccessfully following the death of Muhammad, to hijack Islam and declare war on mainstream Muslims. The similarity between the khawarij and modern jihadis has already been commented on by Muslim scholars, to the irritation of the jihadis. This approach will also illuminate for mainstream Muslims that the U. S. and the other Western democracies are natural allies in saving their religion from its fanatics. But renaming the battle won't win it. Spreading democracy throughout the Islamic world, and defusing the Palestinian crisis are the principal prescriptions for defusing jihadism. The U. S. cannot go it alone, however, so we have to improve our diplomacy and better engage other democracies to support us in defeating jihadism.

The world of the jihadist is a very strange one, and Habeck instructs us without condescension or wonkism, and with a minimum of Arabic vocabulary. We learn, for instance, that it is intuitive to jihadists that the victory of the Afgan mujahidun "working entirely on their own" against Russian occupation caused the downfall of the Soviet Union. They believed that the United States would similarly collapse following 9/11. Moreover, they are stunned that we did not collapse, since it is a core tenet of thier belief.

This book is exceptionally well researched, and includes fifty pages of endnotes. It is readable and accessible to the open-minded and literate reader. It is a multidisciplinary study of a complex subject which has unfortunately lent itself to oversimplification. Whether this is your starting point in learning about "the enemy," or if you already have been exposed to other authors' treatments, this book is an absolute must read. If you intend to read only one book on Islam, this is your best choice. And don't just put it back on the shelf when you're done. Recommend it, and pass it along.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
59 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars It Was In the Cards......, February 24, 2006
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror (Hardcover)
Perhaps it wasn't inevitable that we would have to confront the radical idealogical jihadism that led to our being struck on 9/11, but funded by petrodollars and ignored by us for decades, this virulent form of fundamentalism has taken root and thrived and what might have been a lunatic sect out in the desert wastelands of Arabia is now a worldwide movement and our meeting it head on is no longer a question. It is necessary, therefore, to understand what these people believe, and Mary Habeck's thoroughly researched and annotated book will be helpful to you.

She begins her book with a simple proposition. Instead of theorizing why the jihadists are at war with us, with explanations that include social and economic deprivation, US foreign policy, the Arab/Israeli conflict and so on, she posits instead that we ought to learn what the jihadis themselves have to say on the subject. What do THEY think justifies their jihad?What support for their views do they find in the Qur'an and traditional Islam?

The answers she discovers are going to be an eye opener to many in the West employing the conventional wisdom espoused above.

First, this radical jihadism goes back 8 centuries to earlier fundamentalist thinkers who believed even back then that the followers of Islam had strayed from the righteous path and purification was in order. This thinking espoused initally by Ibn Taymiyya and then later Wahhab was picked up by the founders of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1920's and in the following decades by others to the present with Bin Laden, Zawahiri and Zarqawi. Violent jihadism pre-dates the founding of Israel and the US ever setting foot in the Middle East.

Second, believing they are the righteous and "true believers" intent on purifying Islam, establishing the Caliphate, and creating a worldwide Islamic paradise, justifies their killing anyone they consider "non-believers" which includes Muslims not adhering to Islam as the jihadis believe it. So, the murder of innocents, destruction of mosques, virtually any act of violence can be explained in their idealogy.

Third, there will be no compromise, meeting of minds, reasoning, or accomodation made with these folks. These are hard core idealogues, and their beliefs so severely narrow that any deviation from those beliefs would undermine their whole reason for being. Their way is the only way, and "infidels" are anyone not complying with that way, including Muslims.

Fourth, these are people who will never accept modernization in any form. They are anti-democratic, anti-pluralism, anti-anything but their form of "pure" Islam. They believe solely in a world ruled by Allah, through a Caliph, and under shari'a law. Anything less is rule by man and that is apostacy. Their dream is a totalitarian Islamic state. The best form of what they have in mind for the peoples of the world was Afghanistan under the Taliban. No other thought, idealogy, form of government, religious belief, or societal organization is permitted in their world view.

There is much much more and this book will provide you a very accessible grounding in the history and development of radical jihadi thought. We are in for some tough sledding in the next years, this is an unbending idealogy and it will have to be fought with every method and means at our disposal. But it is an idealogy that must fail in the end, for its severity leaves a great deal of humanity, including most of Islam as its sworn enemy. But oh, the damage and heartache that will be rendered before this chapter plays itself out.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Jihad Explained, May 30, 2006
This review is from: Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror (Hardcover)
As a former military intelligence officer who spent years reading a mountain of books by and about Marx, Engels, Lenin, Mao, Debray, et al, in order to understand how the enemy thought, I truly appreciate the work of Mary Habeck distilling the jihadist ideology into 243 pages. Having lived and worked daily with Muslims in Pakistan for more than a year and having read many books on Islam, I never found a single, satisfactory source on the subject of jihad that provided a concise historical prospective until I read "Knowing the Enemy." There's currently almost an unlimited number of books on the subjects of Islam and jihad, but Mary Habeck has condensed the essentials into one small volume that is brutally factual about the dark side of Islam without being inflammatory. This book should be a required high school and college history/political science text in the U.S. and Europe. I heartily recommend it to anyone who cares about the future of Western Civilization.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Islamic Revolution old and new and a wake up call to America
This book should be mandatory reading in every high school and college history department teaching middle eastern history. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Robert Shaines

1.0 out of 5 stars Attempts to explain Jihadists in a non-biased way, but fails.
In this novel, Habeck explains that Jihadists, basically Islamists who think it's their duty to spread Islam throughout the world with violence, are the reason why terrorism in... Read more
Published 6 months ago by C. Zhou

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book --- A must read to understand the extremist enemy!!!
A must read --- An ex-special forces guy that teaches anti-terrorism classes to the FBI and law enforcement suggested this book. After reading it I know why. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Stealth1

4.0 out of 5 stars Knowing the Enemy
Clear and concise summary of Jihadism in the Middle East. Backed up with many references. Helps understand the history, and relationship to the present Muslim world, of this... Read more
Published on April 20, 2008 by P Starr

5.0 out of 5 stars Most thorough and well written book on Jihad I have read
I came across this book while researching terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism. Of about 20 books I read for research, this book is by far the most thorough and well written. Read more
Published on February 7, 2008 by Jason Lindsay

1.0 out of 5 stars Knowing the ememy
Good information but it is the same information over and over again. It could have been two chapters instead of a book.
Published on November 5, 2007 by John K. Moss

5.0 out of 5 stars THE MIND BEHIND THE MADNESS
Knowing the Enemy

This is an Outstanding Book. As we in the West are beginning to realize, the war against Salafist Jihadists is.... all about ideology. Read more
Published on August 6, 2007 by WAYNE YUNGHANS

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book on the Subject in Existence
I would give it ten stars if I could.

This is a very clear, complete and concise treatment of Jihadist ideology. Read more
Published on July 29, 2007 by Montanero

4.0 out of 5 stars A concise history of jihadist ideology and practice.
Mary Habeck's "Knowing the Enemy" examines the ideological underpinnings of the modern jihadist movement. Read more
Published on May 23, 2007 by Stephen Triesch

5.0 out of 5 stars Should Be Required Reading
I bought this book because I wanted objective, unbiased information about Islam, and I was not disappointed. Read more
Published on May 16, 2007 by Reader from Connecticut

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   


Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:

















i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.