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Brynjar Lia

Architect of Global Jihad: The Life of Al Qaeda Strategist Abu Mus'ab Al-Suri Hardcover – January 31, 2008

by Brynjar Lia (Author)

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Despite his alleged capture in Pakistan in late 2005, Abu Mus'ab al-Suri, a Syrian originally known as Mustafa Sethmarian Nasar, remains a potent political and ideological figure. One of the foremost theoreticians of the global jihadist movement, al-Suri trained a generation of young jihadis at al-Qaeda's Afghan camps and helped to establish the organization's vast European networks. Having gained extensive military experience fighting in the Syrian Islamist insurgency of the early 1980s, he helped to shape al-Qaeda's global strategy in a series of writings, including his influential Global Islamic Call. In that 1,600 page book, al-Suri outlined a broad strategy for al-Qaeda's younger generation to follow and described practical ways to implement the theories and tactics of jihadi guerrilla warfare.

Architect of Global Jihad is a biography of this powerful, charismatic, and prophetic individual. Examining not only the life of Al-Suri but also the world that gave rise to him, Brynjar Lia reveals al-Suri's skill for maximizing the political impact of jihadi violence. Lia provides the first and only English translation of two key chapters from al-Suri's Global Islamic Call and exposes his methods for building successful, autonomous cells for "individualized terrorism." Al-Suri's words have inspired thousands of today's militants, making Lia's carefully researched, detailed portrait required reading for students and specialists of Islamist movements and the study of contemporary forms of terrorism.

Print length

256 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Columbia University Press
Publication date

January 31, 2008
Dimensions

5.75 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

023170030X
ISBN-13

978-0231700306
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Brynjar Lia's book is an innovative, well-sourced, and thorough account of the life and work of Abu Mus'ab al-Suri. Lia's book digs behind the myths and public speculation around al-Suri and gives a comprehensive picture of the man and his works. It is crucial to an understanding of international jihadi ideology and needs to be widely studied.

(Jeevan Deol, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London)

Brynjar Lia's masterfully-researched work remains the only known contribution to the terrorism studies field that parses the history and thought of al-Suri, a formidable ideologue by virtue of his pragmatism, rational approach to history, and realistic, 'egalitarian' view of the future of jihad. Far beyond its utility as an historical analysis, Lia's work is extraordinarily timely as he extracts the finer points of al-Suri's now widely-circulated theories that may have informed the conduct of the London and Madrid attacks.

(Jeffrey Cozzens, Intelligence and Terrorism Analysis Group at Applied Marine Technology, Inc.)

A genuinely important and path-breaking book.

(Peter Hart Globe & Mail)

An authoritative volume on a man who is possibly the most important jihadi theoretician alive.

(Steven Brooke The American Interest 1900-01-00)

Illuminating.

(Ahmed Rashid New York Review of Books)

A fascinating study.

(Malise Ruthven New York Review of Books)

A brilliant, well-researched work.

(Lester W. Grau The Journal of Military History 1900-01-00)

Lia's book should be essential reading.

(Marisa Urgo Political Studies Review)

This valuable biography of Abu Mus'ab al-Suri... contributes to the understanding of jihadi strategic thought, an area where incisive and thorough scholarship has been lacking.

(Daveed Gartenstein-Ross Middle East Quarterly 1900-01-00)

Review

Brynjar Lia has written an impressively authoritative biography of one of contemporary jihad's most important and influential thinkers. In Architect of Global Jihad, Lia charts the rise and consequences of Abu Mus'ab al-Suri's prominence in al-Qaeda and how his worldview continues to shape and define the movement's strategy and tactics. This work is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand al-Qaeda's violent struggle and its likely future trajectory.

(Bruce Hoffman, professor, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, and senior fellow, Combating Terrorism Center, U.S. Military Academy)

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Columbia University Press (January 31, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 023170030X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0231700306
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.71 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,014,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #619 in Syria History
- #2,331 in Historical Middle East Biographies
- #2,851 in Political Freedom (Books)

Customer Reviews:
13 ratings

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Brynjar Lia

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I am professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oslo. My current research interests are jihadism and militant Islamist movements in the Middle East.

My disciplinary background is contemporary history, languages (Arabic and Russian) and Middle East studies. Since 2014 I have been a faculty member of Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages and I am also director of Centre for Islamic and Middle East Studies at the University of Oslo.

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Ismail Kamdar

A detailed and through history of a relatively unknown Jihadi

Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2019

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The author went into great detail in researching and compiling this detailed account of the life, teachings, and writings of a relatively unknown Jihadi author. It is a fascinating read for anybody who is interested in the development of extremist ideology.

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sfwal

" This excellent research by Lia enables us to know our enemy

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2015

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Sun Tzu said "know your enemy and know yourself and you need not fear the outcome of a thousand battles." This excellent research by Lia enables us to know our enemy. It was rather chilling as I read yesterday about the call to global jihad and the targets jihadis should attack, today I saw the news of the multiple attacks in Paris killing many. If more attention was paid to this man's work, some lives probably could have been saved, as he was talking about "lone wolf" attacks in the 90's. It shows there is no such thing as "lone wolf." There is a shared ideology an operational method.

One person found this helpful

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LVT06

Blueprint of a Terrorist Organization

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2008

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A well-written, finely researched book on a critical but otherwise unnoticed player in international terrorism. What is most interesting is Al-Suri's diverse history of terror cell membership and the resulting network of international links he maintained. This book is more than a biography. By reviewing Al-Suri's life, from his ideology, travel and marital choice, the book outlines a blueprint of "serious" terrorists that has been closely mirrored by many other hardcore jihadists in Al-Qa'ida and other groups. Most interesting is Al-Suri's shift from gun-toting combatant to ideological propagandist and his lasting influences. Though Bin Laden is "the face" of modern terrorism, this book leads the reader to question if the most dangerous players have yet to be identified.

7 people found this helpful

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Benjamin Willard

Key insights

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2008

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Required reading for anyone wanting to better understand the past organizations and efforts of the jihadists and an insight into possible future organizational structure for the terrorist networks. The translations of key sections of the "Global Islamic Resistance Call" of Al-Suri's 1,600 page book shows his well thought out, objective case for his idea of a global Islamic resistance design, or for that matter anyone wishing to cause chaos in today's world. You have to understand the enemy to defeat him because a leaderless resistance would be one of the longest, hardest battle this nation, or any others confronted with this threat, will have to fight. A fight that will take an unfailing determination and focus. A fight of generations to discredit the jihadist propaganda and let the true voices of the areas afflicted with this disease to be heard.

11 people found this helpful

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Susan S.

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2015

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was a gift for someone else

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Must read

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2008

In a fascinating tale of a fascinating individual this book delves deep into the soul of the Jihadist, learning about him, showing us his seminal work, which was 1,600 pages, and shedding lihgt on the man who theorized the global Jihad that threatens so many people today. This was not the Marx of Islamism or the Lenin. This was the Trotsky, the man who understood 'War Islamism' and how individualized Islamic cells of only a few men could spread havoc and take the war to the enemy on ground of the Islamists own choosing. Although Abu Mus'ab al-Suri, whose middle name was Sethmarriam, was not a latter day Sun Tzu or Clauswitz, her might have been. Alleged to have been killed in the snowy hills of the Pashtun, his wareabouts are actually unknown.

A fascinating book about Islamist history, about the birth and making of the Islamist and the strategy of Islamism. He was truly an architect of the international terrorist revolution.

Seth J. Frantzman

11 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Adorno

The Theorist of Leaderless Jihad

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 27, 2008

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Al-Suri is (was?)a Syrian opponent of the Assad regime. Going into exile he began a journey that saw him with the Afghan-Arabs in Peshawar in the 1980s, in Madrid and London in the 1990s back to Afghanistan in the years before 2001. Reported to have been arrested in Pakistan in 2005 with $5m bounty on his head. Although some have accused him of being behind the Madrid bombings his significance is primarily as a writer and theorist. In voluminous writings and lectures he unsparingly analysed the failures of jihadi groups and sought to develop strategies to overcome these failings.

Lia's book traces Al-Suri's journey and ideas based on his own writings, court documents and media reports. The book includes a 150 page extract from Al Suri's magnum opus The Global Islamic Resistance Call.

In the last couple of years Al Suri has attracted a lot of attention in the US counterterrorism/security/strategy community because his ideas about successful strategy for jihadis fit with the kind of model that Marc Sageman writes about in Leaderless Jihad - that is small groups operating autonomously. The extent to which the Al Suri model is actually being consciously applied to open to question.

One of the most interesting things about this book is that it gives a picture of the jihadi movement in the 1990s that isn't focused on Bin Laden. To an extent the story of the exiles is reminiscent of communist groups before the Russian Revolution with their personal feuds, factional differences and conflicting strategies. Interestingly Al Suri was one of those who was against 9/11 because he felt that Afghanistan was a good approximation of an Islamic state that would be threatened by the American response

2 people found this helpful

HM

Brynjar Lia is one of the best al-Qaeda`s scholars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 26, 2014

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Brynjar Lia is one of the best al-Qaeda`s scholars!

This is a great study of the organization.

Highly recommended, for students and scholars!

One person found this helpful

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