Radical Islam: Ideology behind Global Terrorism

Terrorism itself is not an ideology. It is an insurrectional strategy that can be used by people of different political convictions. For a detailed discussion of the concept, see Laqueur Walter , The Age of Terrorism (London: Little Brown, 1987), pp. 3–11.

See Abrahamian Ervand , “Ali Shari'ati: Ideologue of the Iranina Revolution”, MERIP Reports, January 1982, pp. 25–28.

For a survey of Muslim revivalist thinkers, see Rahnema Ali (ed.), Pioneers of Islamic Revival (London: Zed Books, 1995).

For an analysis of the Islamic discourse in the Arab world, see Ismail Salwa , “Confronting the Other: Identity, Culture, Politics, and Conservative Islamism in Egypt”, International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 30, 1998, pp. 199–210.

For a critical assessment of Maududi's works, see Faksh Mahmud A. , The Future of Islam in the Middle East: Fundamentalism in Egypt, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1997), pp. 11–13. Also see, Emmanuel Sivan, Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991).

Qutb Sayyid , Islam and Universal Peace (Indianapolis: American Trust Publications, 1993), p. 10. Qutb was the leader of the Muslim Brethren, which split from President Nasser's secular socialist revolution in 1954. Consequently, he spent most of his remaining life in prison until he was executed in 1966. His brief stay in US in the 1940s seems to have sharpened his anti-Western militancy and his contempt for Muslim modernists.

Qutb Sayyid , The Religion of Islam (Kuwait: Holy Koran Publishing, 1988), pp. 9–10.

For an discussion of Faraj's ideas on holy war, see Jansen Johannes J.G. , The Neglected Duty, the Creed of Sadat's Assassins, and Islamic Resurgence in the Middle East (New York: Macmillan, 1986).

For the English text of bin Laden's fatwa originally published in al Quds al Arabi, see Lewis Bernard , “License to Kill: Usama bin Laden's Declaration of Jihad”, Foreign Affairs, vol. 77, no. 6 (November/December 1998), pp. 14–19.

The right to rebel against a ruler who compromises with Islam is justified by the Shiite traditional teachings, partly due to the injustice done to the House of Ali, the fourth Caliph, and partly, the spiritual political status of the Ulama. See Sivan Emmanuel , “Islamic Radicalism: Sunni and Shiite” in Sivan E. Friedman M. (eds.), Religious Radicalism and Politics in Middle East (New York State University, 1990), pp. 39–46.

See Rahman Fazlur , Islam (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1966), pp. 1–09–14.

See Doran Scott Michael , “Somebody Else's Civil War”, Foreign Affairs, vol. 81, no. 1 (January/February, 2002), pp. 23–24.

Tibi Bassam , The Challenge of Fundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Order (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), pp. 54–55.

Ahmad Akbar S. , Postmodernism and Islam (New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1993), pp. 42–43.

Rahman, Islam, p. 37.

For a critical assessment of Wahhabism, see Al-Azmeh Aziz , Islam and Modernities (London: Verso, 1993), pp. 104–20.

Ayubi Nazih N. , Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Arab World (London: Routledge, 1991), pp. 104–109.

See Esposito John L. , Islam and Politics (New York: Syracuse University Press, 1984), pp. 33–35; also see Youssef M. Choueiri, Islamic Fundamentalism (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990), pp. 53–68.

Holsinger Donald C. , “Islam and State Expansion in Algeria: Nineteenth Century Saharan Frontiers”, in Ruddy John (ed.), Islam and Secularism in North Africa (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994), pp. 6–10.

Toprak Binnaz , Islam and Political Development in Turkey (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1981), pp. 58–67.

Lewis Bernard , “The Return of Islam”, Commentary, vol. 61 (January 1976), pp. 44–46.

Colonel Gadhafi of Libya, for instance, often emphasized in his speeches, “any contribution to liberate the world from imperalism should be considered an integral part of jihad”. Quoted in Ronald Bruce St. John, Qaddafis's World Design: Libya's Foreign Policy, 1969–1987 (London: Saqi Books, 1987), p. 36. Also see, Jacques Waardenburg, “Islam as a Vehicle of Protest” in Ernest Gellner, Islamic Dilemmas. (Berlin: Mouton Publishers, 1985), pp. 24–26.

For a discussion of the struggle between the West and Islam over who will provide the definition to the post-Cold War world order, see Kelsay John , Islam and War: The Gulf War and Beyond (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1993), Chap. 5.

Laqeur , The Age of Terrorism, p. 15.

For a detailed account of such violent movements see Kostiner Joseph , “The Rise and Fall of Militant Opposition Movements in the Arabian Peninsula” in Kurz Anat (ed.), Contemporary Trends in World Terrorism (The Jafee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University: Mansell Publishing Limited, 1987), pp. 75–92.

The term fedayeen is used basically to describe various Palestinian guerrilla/commando groups that became part of the PLO in the mid-1960s. See Rubin Barry , “The Origin of the PLO's Terrorism”, in Rubin B. (ed.), Terrorism and Politics (London: Macmillan, 1991), pp. 148–49.

See O'Ballance Edger , Terrorism in the 1980s (London: Sterling, 1989), pp. 3–4.

See Pipes Daniel , “Terrorism: The Syrian Connection”, The National Interest (Spring 1989), pp. 20–28.

For details, see Simons Geoff , Libya: The Struggle for Survival (London: Macmillan, 1993), pp. 286–302. According to US intelligence reports, Libya committed 5 anti-Western terrorist acts and 46 against Arab and African targets between 1980–86, which provoked Washington to break off diplomatic relations in 1986 and attack Libyan cities killing 36 civilians including Gadhafi's adopted infant daughter. Two years later, his operatives were involved in the bombing of the Pan Am flight 103 which crashed over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. Milton Viorst, “The Colonel in His Labyrinth”, Foreign Affairs, vol. 78, no. 2 (March-April 1999), pp. 59–75.

Colvin Marie , “The Ambiguous Yasir Arafat”, The New York Times Magazine, December 18, 1988, pp. 60–64.

See Ranstorp Magnus , “Terrorism in the Name of Religion”, Journal of International Affairs, vol. 50, no. 1 (Summer 1996), pp. 49–55.

On the Shi'ite radical organization, see Shapiro Shimon , “The Origins of Hizballah”, Jerusalem Quarterly, vol. 46 (Spring 1988), pp. 115–30. For the Iranian connection, see O'Balance Edgar , Islamic Fundamentalist Terrorism, 1979–95: The Iranian Connection (London: Macmillan, 1997).

Mohapatra Aswini K. , “The Islamic Genie: Why Hamas Poses Threat to PLO”, The Statesman, 9 July 1993.

Mitchell Richard P. , The Society of the Muslim Brothers (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), pp. 4–8.

See Ansari Hamid , “The Egyptian Militants in Egyptian Politics”, International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol. 16 (March 1984), pp. 131–134. Also, see Gilles Kepel, Muslim Extremism in Egypt: The Prophet and the Pharaoh (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993).

On Egyptian state response to an escalation of jihadi activities, see Abdalia Ahmed , “Egypt's Islamists and the State: From Complicity to Confrontation”, Middle East Report, No. 183 (July-August 1993), pp. 28–31.

On the bloody conflict in Algeria, see Wills Michael , The Islamist Challenge: A Political History (Reading, England: Ithaca Press, 1996), Chap. 2.

Rodman Peter W. , “Don't Look for Moderates in the Islamist Revolution”, The Washington Post, 3 January 1995.

Cited in Rashid Ahmed , Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia (New York: I. B. Tauris, 2000), p. 166.

It is the biggest madrassa or Islamic school in Pakistan run by the leader of a breakaway faction of the JUI where Taliban leader Mullah Omar studied. Friedman Thomas L. , “Pakistan's Children are Schooled to Hate America”, International Herald Tribune, November 14, 2001.

Rahman , Islam, pp. 204–5.

Stern Jessica , “Pakistan's Jihad Culture”, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 79, no. 6 (November/December 2000).

Roy Oliver , The Failure of Political Islam (London: I.B. Tauris, 1994), p. 109.

See Al-Rasheed Madawi , “Saudi Arabia's Islamic Opposition”, Current History, vol. 95, no. 1 (January 1996), pp. 16–22.

On the link between the West Asian Islamic militants and Pakistan, see Ahmed Samina , “The (Un) holy Nexus?”, Newsline (Karachi), Vol. 10, no. 3 (September 1998), pp. 31–34.

Huband Mark , Warriors of the Prophet; The Struggle for Islam (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1998), pp. 2–3.

The sheikh was the chief theological guide of the Egypt-based Islamic Gama'a who established a small mosque in New Jersey from where he began to assemble the Islamic activists from several West Asian countries. For details, see Juergensmeyer Mark , Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religions Violence (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), pp. 66–68.

Bruce James , “Arab Volunteers of the Afghan War”, Jane's Intelligence Review, Vol. 7, no. 4 (April 1995), pp. 175–79.

Jansen Godfrey , “The Afghans—an Islamic Time Bomb”, Middle East International, 20 November 1992, p. 16.

Ignatius David , “Qaida Agents in the West Wait Quietly for Orders”, International Herald Tribune, November 19, 2001.