Ebook: The Islam in Islamic Terrorism: The Importance of Beliefs, Ideas, and Ideology

Ibn Warraq addresses several misconceptions regarding the cause of Islamic terrorism. Many scholars refuse to take into account the beliefs of the terrorists, and many seem to think that “Islamic terrorism” has emerged only in the last forty years or so. Many analysts believe that the United States was targeted because of its foreign policy, while others opine that we have to dig out the root causes which are essentially socioeconomic, with poverty as the favorite explanation. Ibn Warraq, on the other hand, argues that we must take the beliefs of the jihadists seriously. The acts of ISIS or the Taliban or any other jihadist group are not random acts of violence by a mob of psychopathic, sexually frustrated, impoverished vandals, but carefully and strategically planned operations that are a part of a long campaign by educated, affluent Muslims who wish to bring about the establishment of an Islamic state based on the Shari‘a, the Islamic Holy Law derived from the Koran, the Sunna and the Hadith. Nor did Islamic terrorism emerge, ex nihilo, in the past forty years or so. From its foundation in the seventh century, violent movements have arisen seeking to revive true Islam, which its members felt had been neglected in Muslim societies, who were not living up to the ideals of the earliest Muslims. Thus, the answer to the cause of Islamic terrorism, according to Ibn Warraq, lies in Islamic theology (especially the concepts of jihad and Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong), and Islamic history, both of which he examines closely. This is borne out by what the Islamists themselves tell us, hence Ibn Warraq’s detailed examination of the writings of key Islamic thinkers of the past, such as Ibn Taymiyya, and modern activists, from Mawdudi to Khomeini.

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Review

Ibn Warraq exemplifies the rarely combined qualities of courage, integrity, and intelligence.

BERNARD LEWIS, Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University.

Ibn Warraq, one of the great heroes of our time

DOUGLAS MURRAY, The Spectator.

Ibn Warraq is a hero of mine, and it is shameful that he and his writings have not been recognized for their scholarship, courage, and relevance. Ever since Leon de Winter gave me Ibn Warraq s book Why I am Not a Muslim I have cherished it. It has had a profound influence on me, and gave me courage in my own work and activities. His subsequent books have defended Western civilization and have reminded us what we are fighting for. Ibn Warraq deserves our attention and thanks."

AYAAN HIRSI ALI, Activist and Author of Nomad: From America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations (2010) and Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now (2015)

--New English Review

Ibn Warraq, the celebrated apostate, author of Why I Am Not A Muslim and of scholarly works on the Koran, Muhammad, and early Islam, as well as polemical works in defense of the West, has now written The Islam in Islamic Terrorism, showing, in the words of the Islamic fundamentalists (or, more exactly, revivalists) themselves, what really motivates Islamic terrorists today, and what has motivated them since the time of the Kharijites in the first century of Islam: the belief in the need to recover the pristine Islam of the time of Muhammad, by removing all innovations (bid a), the further belief that it is the duty of Muslims to wage Jihad against all Unbelievers until Islam everywhere dominates, and to bring about the resurrection of the caliphate, and the imposition of Islamic Law, or Sharia, all over the globe.

Ibn Warraq s The Islam In Islamic Terrorism is a brilliant series of reported echoes down the corridors of Islam, where the same complaints about bid a, the same insistence on regulating every area of a Believer s life, the same refusal to allow freedom of religion or thought, the same duties of violent Jihad and Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong, the same demands for a return to the same pristine Islam of Muhammad, the same virulent antisemitism, the same quotes from the Koran and Hadith, the same hatred of Infidels, the same insistence that we love death more than you love life, the same call for bloodshed and Muslim martyrdom, the same dreary fanaticism, are thoroughly described and dissected, and above all the various violent manifestations of this revivalism over the centuries are linked to one another, as Ibn Warraq brings to bear the massive research he has been conducting over many years, in primary and secondary sources, and here deploys to splendid effect.

--Hugh Fitzgerald

--Jihad Watch

About the Author

Ibn Warraq is the highly acclaimed scholar of Islam and author of Why I Am Not a Muslim and Defending the West. He is also the editor of The Origins of the Koran, What the Koran Really Says, The Quest for the Historical Muhammad, Leaving Islam, and his latest with New English Review Press, Sir Walter Scott's Crusades and Other Fantasies. He is also a Senior Editor for the popular Anglo-American webmagazine, New English Review.