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Raymond Ibrahim
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The Al Qaeda Reader Hardcover – August 7, 2007

by Raymond Ibrahim (Editor)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 73 ratings
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The global war on terror is not just a military conflict but a war of ideas. Indeed it is in some respects primarily an ideological struggle.  Yet it is a war we cannot win without a broader understanding of al-Qaeda's goals and motives.

What do our enemies believe?  What motivates their war against the West?  What is their vision of the ideal Islamic society?  Surprisingly, more than five years after 9/11, there is very little understanding of these questions. 

Despite our tendency to dismiss Islamic extremism as profoundly irrational, al-Qaeda is not without a coherent body of beliefs.  Like other totalitarian movements, the movement’s leaders have rationalized their brutality in a number of published treatises.  Now, for the first time, The Al Qaeda Reader gathers together the essential texts and documents that trace the origin, history, and evolution of the ideas of al-Qaeda founders Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden. 

This extraordinary collection of the key texts of the al-Qaeda movement—including incendiary materials never before translated into English—lays bare the minds, motives, messages, and ultimate goals of an enemy bent on total victory. Al-Qaeda’s chilling ideology calls for a relentless jihad against non-Muslim "infidels," repudiates democracy in favor of Islamic law, stresses the importance of martyrdom, and mocks the notion of "moderate" Islam.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of these works is how grounded they are in the traditional sources of Islamic theology: the Koran and the teachings of the Prophet. The founders of al-Qaeda use these sources as powerful weapons of persuasion, reminding followers (and would-be recruits) that Muhammad and his warriors spread Islam through the power of the sword and that the Koran is not merely allegory or history but literal truth that commands all Muslims to action.

In addition to laying bare al-Qaeda’s ultimate motives, The Al Qaeda Reader includes the organization’s propagandist speeches, which are directed primarily at Americans, Europeans, and Iraqis. Here, al-Qaeda’s many "official" accusations against the West are meticulously delineated, from standard complaints such as the Palestinian issue and Iraq to wholly unexpected ones concerning the U.S.’s exploitation of women and the environment.

Taken together, the Theology and Propaganda sections of this volume reveal the most comprehensive picture of al-Qaeda to date. They also highlight the double-speak of bin Laden and Zawahiri, who often say one thing to Muslims in their religious treatises ("We must hate and fight the West because Islam commands it") and another in their propaganda directed at the West ("The West is the aggressor and we are fighting back merely in self-defense").

Westerners from across the political spectrum will be fascinated and enlightened by The Al Qaeda Reader’s insights into the nature of Islamic texts and the ways in which al-Qaeda has used these texts to manufacture hatred against our civilization and our way of life.
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  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Doubleday
  4. Publication date
    August 7, 2007
  5. Dimensions
    5.77 x 1.03 x 7.93 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    038551655X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0385516556
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Raymond Ibrahim is a historian of the Middle East and Islam. He works for the Near East section of the African and Middle Eastern division of the Library of Congress, where he discovered many of the never-before-translated Arabic texts that make up the bulk of The Al-Qaeda Reader.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Al-Qaeda’s Declaration of War Against Americans

Praise be to Allah, who revealed the Book [Koran], controls the clouds, defeats factionalism, and says in His Book: “Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever you find them–seize them, besiege them, and be ready to ambush them” [9:5]. And prayers and peace be upon our Prophet,Muhammad bin Abdullah, who said: “I have been sent with the sword between my hands to ensure that no one but Allah is worshipped–Allah who put my livelihood under the shadow of my spear and who inflicts humiliation and scorn on those who disobey my commandments.”

Never since Allah made the Arabian Peninsula flat, created its desert, and encircled it with seas has it been stormed by any force like the Crusader hordes that have spread in it like locusts, consuming its wealth and polluting its fertility. All this is happening at a time in which nations are attacking Muslims in unison–as if fighting over a plate of food! In face of this critical situation and lack of support, we are all obliged to discuss current events, as well as reach an agreement on how [best] to settle the matter.

No one argues today about three well-established facts, known to everyone; we enumerate them as a reminder, so that the one remembering may remember.

1. For over seven years America has been occupying the lands of Islam in its holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula–plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead with which it fights the neighboring Muslim peoples.

While some people may have argued in the past over the realities of the occupation, all the people of the Peninsula now acknowledge it. There is no clearer evidence than America’s ceaseless aggression against the Iraqi people–all launched right from the Peninsula, though its rulers collectively refuse having their land used for this end. But they have been subdued.

2. Despite the awful devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people at the hands of the Crusader-Jewish alliance, and despite the astronomical number of deaths–which has exceeded 1 million–despite all this, the Americans attempt once again to repeat the horrific massacres, as if the protracted sanctions imposed after the brutal war, or the fragmentation and devastation, was not enough for them.

So now here they come [again] to annihilate what is left of this people and humiliate their Muslim neighbors. [6]

3. Now if the Americans’ purposes behind these wars are religious and economic, so too are they also to serve the Jews’ petty state [Israel], diverting attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and the murder of Muslims there. There is no better evidence of this than their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states of the region–such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan–into mini—paper states, whose disunion and weakness will guarantee Israel’s survival and the continuation of the brutal Crusader occupation of the Peninsula.

All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans are a clear declaration of war on Allah, His Messenger, and the Muslims. Ulema throughout Islamic history are unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty whenever the enemy tears into the lands of the Muslims. This was related by Imam bin Qudama in al-Mughni; Imam al-Kisa’i in al-Bada’i; al-Qurtubi in his commentary; and the Sheikh of Islam [Ibn Taymiyya] in his chronicles, where he states: “As for defensive warfare, this is the greatest way to defend sanctity and religion. This is an obligation consensually agreed to [by the ulema]. After faith, there is nothing more sacred than repulsing the enemy who attacks religion and life.”


On that basis, and in compliance with Allah’s order, we hereby issue the following decree to all Muslims:

The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies–civilians and military–is an individual obligation incumbent upon every Muslim who can do it and in any country–this until the Aqsa Mosque [Jerusalem] and the Holy Mosque [Mecca] are liberated from their grip, and until their armies withdraw from all the lands of Islam, defeated, shattered, and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the Word of the Most High–“[F]ight the pagans all together as they fight you all together” [9:36] and the Word of the Most High, “Fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and [all] religion belongs to Allah” [8:39].

And the Most High said: “And why should you not fight in the cause of Allah and on behalf of those oppressed men, women, and children who cry out, Lord! Rescue us from this town and its oppressors. Give us from Your Presence some protecting friend! Give us
from Your Presence some defender!” [4:75].

By Allah’s leave we call upon every Muslim who believes in Allah and wishes to be rewarded to comply with Allah’s order to kill the Americans and seize their money wherever and whenever they find them. We also call on Muslim ulema, leaders, youths, and soldiers to launch the raid on the Devil’s army–the Americans–and whoever allies with them from the supporters of Satan, and to rout those behind them so that they may learn [a lesson].

Allah Most High said: “O you who have believed! Respond to Allah and the Messenger whenever He calls you to that which gives you life. And know that Allah comes between a man and his heart, and that it is He to whom you shall [all] be gathered” [8:24].

Allah Most High said: “O you who have believed! What is the matter with you? When you are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, you cling so heavily to the earth! Do you prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life, in comparison to the Hereafter. Unless you go forth [and fight], He will punish you with a grievous torment, and put others in your place. But He you cannot harm in the least; for Allah has power over all things” [9:38—39].

Allah Most High said: “So do not lose heart, nor fall into despair. Have faith and you shall triumph” [3:139].


Sheikh Osama bin Muhammad bin Laden
Ayman al-Zawahiri, Commander of the Jihad Group in Egypt
Abu Yasir Rifa’i Ahmad Taha, Egyptian Islamic Group [7]
Sheikh Mir Hamza, Secretary of the Organization of Islamic ulema in Pakistan
Fazlur Rahman, Commander of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh


This statement is more commonly known as The World Islamic Front’s Declaration to
wage Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders, issued February 23, 1998, in the Arabic
newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Doubleday; 1st edition (August 7, 2007)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 038551655X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385516556
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.77 x 1.03 x 7.93 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 73 ratings

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Raymond Ibrahim

Raymond Ibrahim

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RAYMOND IBRAHIM is a widely published author and public speaker specializing in the Middle East and Islam.

His books include Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood against Islam (Bombardier, 2022); Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West (Da Capo, 2018); Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians (Regnery, 2013); and The Al Qaeda Reader (Doubleday, 2007).

Ibrahim’s writings, translations, and observations have appeared in a variety of publications, including the New York Times Syndicate, CNN, LA Times, Fox News, Financial Times, Jerusalem Post, United Press International, USA Today, Washington Post, Washington Times, and Weekly Standard; scholarly journals, including the Almanac of Islamism, Chronicle of Higher Education, Hoover Institution’s Strategika, Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst, Middle East Quarterly, and Middle East Review of International Affairs; and popular websites, including American Thinker, Bloomberg, Breitbart, Christian Post, Daily Caller, FrontPage Magazine, NewsMax, National Review Online, PJ Media, and World Magazine. He has contributed chapters to several anthologies, written forewords to books, and been translated into dozens of languages.

Among other media, he has appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, C-SPAN, PBS, Reuters, Al-Jazeera, and NPR; he has done hundreds of radio interviews and some of his YouTube videos (here and here for example) have received over a million views each.

Ibrahim guest lectures at universities, including the U.S. Army War College and the National Defense Intelligence College; has briefed governmental agencies, such as U.S. Strategic Command and the Defense Intelligence Agency; provides expert testimony for Islam-related lawsuits; and has testified before Congress regarding the conceptual failures that dominate American discourse concerning Islam and the worsening plight of Christian minorities throughout the Islamic world. He also regularly speaks at general venues, such as CPAC, and before international audiences, most recently, Germany’s Bundestag.

Ibrahim’s dual-background—born and raised in the U.S. by Egyptian parents born and raised in the Middle East—has provided him with unique advantages, from equal fluency in English and Arabic, to an equal understanding of the Western and Middle Eastern mindsets, positioning him to explain the latter to the former. His interest in Islamic civilization was first piqued when he began visiting the Middle East as a child in the 1970s. Interacting and conversing with the locals throughout the decades has provided him with an intimate appreciation for that part of the world, complementing his academic training.

After a brief athletic career—which included playing football and winning the 1993 NPC Los Angeles Bodybuilding Championship teenage division—Raymond went on to receive his B.A. and M.A. (both in History, focusing on the ancient and medieval Near East, with dual-minors in Philosophy and English) from California State University, Fresno. There he studied closely with noted military-historian Victor Davis Hanson. He also took graduate courses at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies—including classes on the history, politics, and economics of the Arab world—and studied Medieval Islam and Semitic languages at Catholic University of America. His M.A. thesis examined an early military encounter between Islam and Byzantium based on arcane Arabic and Greek texts.

Ibrahim’s resume includes serving as an Arabic language and regional specialist at the Near East Section of the Library of Congress, where he was often contacted by and provided information to defense and intelligence personnel involved in the fields of counterterrorism and area studies, as well as the Congressional Research Service; and serving as Associate Director of the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia think tank.

He also often functions as a journalist and has been a Media Fellow at the Hoover Institution and news analyst for a variety of media, for example, CBN News. His knowledge of Arabic and familiarity with Middle Eastern sources have enabled him to offer breaking news. Days before the Obama administration blamed an anti-Islamic movie for Muslim uprisings against a U.S. consul and an embassy in Libya and Egypt respectively, Ibrahim showed that the demonstrations were pre-planned and unrelated to the movie. Similarly, he was first to expose an Arabic-language Saudi fatwa that called for the destruction of any Christian church found on the Arabian Peninsula.

For over a decade since July, 2011, Ibrahim has been producing a monthly report, “Muslim Persecution of Christians,” dedicated to chronicling the abuses and slaughters Christians experience throughout the Islamic world. In certain respects, these monthly reports — there are nearly 140 of them, each averaging between 3,000-4,000 words — are the “live,” ongoing continuation of his 2013 book, Crucified Again.

Raymond Ibrahim is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Friedman Rosen Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
73 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Thomas W. Blakey
5.0 out of 5 stars Robert Burns and Al Qaeda
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2007
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To A Louse
Robert Burns

O wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae many a blunder free us,
An foolish notion:

Halfway effective propaganda is characterized by several things. It should contain as much truth (or believable lies) as possible. These act as that "spoon full of sugar" that "helps the medicine go down." It should also appeal to one's preconceived notions and prejudices, or create those prejudices and notions.

The Al Qaeda Reader demonstrates the truth of this. I believe this book accurately expresses what the radical Islamists believe (or, at least, claim to believe - true believers are not noted for being excessively in touch with reality). I do not agree with most of what is said in this book. Some of the facts in the book are accurate. Actually, enough of them are accurate to give the work credibility if you accept the Islamists' basic assumptions, which I don't. From the Al Qaeda viewpoint, the conclusions logically follow. The presentation is made (and made rather well) in a manner to appeal to those Moslems who feel victimized by events and/or by the west.

The mind set demonstrated in this book is one which should be familiar to anyone who has studied the history of any other organization, political, religious, or a combination of the two, which claims to have sole possession of THE TRUTH!!!! Change a few words and the book could be describing radical Christianity or Communism or lots of other organizations. In that respect, the book also demonstrates what I see as the weakness of Al Qaeda & etc. For every bin Laden, there is an Ibrahim, for every Torqemada there is a George, for every Stalin there is an Ivan who just wants a quiet life without all the brou-ha-ha of crusades or jihad or other vast, loud and dangerous causes.

Burns was right. The book allows us to "see oursels as ithers see us." If Al Qaeda's picture of us isn't pretty, the self portrait they present also lacks charm.
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Chace M. Erceg
5.0 out of 5 stars Most people here have already done longer and better reviews, and to be honest I can't be ...
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2015
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Raymond Ibrahim knows his stuff. Most people here have already done longer and better reviews, and to be honest I can't be bothered doing a long one. What really shone out for me was how knowledgeable Osama Bin Laden is about Islam. From my teens to only a few years ago, I was under the impression from the media, public academics etc., that he was just a idiot thug who knew nothing about Islam. It turns out that he was quite the scholar of Islam and knew the life of Mohammad intimately. For an example:

" 'Moderation'is demonstrated by our Prophet who did not remain more than three months in Medina without a raiding or sending a raiding party into the lands of the infidels to beat down their strongholds and seize they're possessions,their lives, and their women."

Not exactly a Jesus, Gandhi or Buddha this Muhammad was he? However it just irks so many people Muslims and non-Muslims alike that the example of Muhammad isn't one of peace and love but of conquest and subjugation. Well worth the buy this book. Great Translations not only of Osama but of Ayman al-Zawahiri (second in charge of Al-Quaeda and who is leading it today). If anyone ever tells you Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS etc., has nothing to do with Islam all they are affirming is that they themselves don't know anything about Islam.
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BeaRug58
4.0 out of 5 stars Frightening !
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2008
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If there is anyone that thinks it is possible to negotiate with the likes of bin Laden, they need to read this collection of communiques. These stark documents illustrate the megalomaniac, and mentally unstable condition of the head of Al Quaida. Raymond Ibrahim presents some of the most frightening writing since Mein Kampf, and the Communist Manifesto. This is serious reading for anyone that wonders what Al Quaida is really up to.
8 people found this helpful
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andy_c
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential for understanding terrorists' motivations and propaganda techniques
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2015
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This is an amazing book, consisting of the writings of Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri in two categories: translations of Arabic writings intended for audiences in the Islamic world, and English writings intended for Western audiences. The starkly different messages in the two different categories of writing illustrate the duplicity of these men.

In the writings intended for Western readers, the stated reason for their acts is retaliation against the alleged injustice of American foreign policy in the manner of "an eye for an eye". But the writings intended for the Islamic world paint an entirely different picture. In those, the religious obligations of hating the infidels and waging offensive jihad against them are stressed. One can reasonably assume that the messages intended for the West are mostly lies, albeit carefully and cleverly crafted ones.

There a collection of notes at the end of the book. When reading, I kept two bookmarks and followed along. These notes are a goldmine of information relating to Islamic history and theology, as well as explanations about the various Islamic scholars referenced by Bin Laden and Zawahiri. Raymond Ibrahim's knowledge of these subjects is superb and the notes greatly enhance the text.

This book is essential reading for everyone in the West.
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Top reviews from other countries

Peter Skovgaard
5.0 out of 5 stars and I can only recommend readers of this book to get a copy of ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 30, 2015
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This book gives you a unique insight of the mindset behind violent Jihad. It is well written by Raymond Ibrahim, and I can only recommend readers of this book to get a copy of Qur'an and Shafi'i School of Thought Shari'ah - "Reliance of the Traveller", in order to fully understand the concepts described in this book.
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D. Sherwood
3.0 out of 5 stars A heavy but necessary read if you want to understand what Al Qaeda was and how IS thinks
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2018
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A heavy read of the turgid, twisted and evil mindset that made Al Qaeda briefly a exceptionally feared and serious danger upon the world stage. The convluted justifications used by Osama bin Laden and his number 2 in order to justify their position is incredible but not unusual amongst tyranical despots.
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