Journey
of the Jihadist
Inside
Muslim Militancy
Fawaz A. Gerges
• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harvest Books; Reprint edition (March 5,
2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156031701
• ISBN-13: 978-0156031707
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,862
Review
on 08 April 2007 by Donald N. Anderson (a version of this review is on
Amazon.com under the title “Raw data about the violent sects of Islam”):
Fawaz
Gerges has written an easy to read description of his interviews with a number
of Salifi / Wahabbi Muslims particularly the Egyptian Islamacist Kamal el-Said
Habib.
These
interviews and impressions provide an revealing
glimpse into the minds of these potentially violent actors. I found the progression
of thought over the years as well as the internal differences of opinion inside
the Salifi sects
to be fascinating.
As
Gerges admits he initially did not understand the
extent to which these violent actors were driven by a detailed reading of the Qu’ran. I hope there are few Western people in 2007 who
still think these Jihadists are some crazy folks
perverting a great religion. Rather they are trying to discard 13 centuries of
revisionist scholarship and return this political religion to it’s roots.
Gerges generally stays away from moralizing and his few attempts
at evaluating policy prescriptions fall very flat. Never the less, this book is
quite valuable if you have never probed the mind of a terrorist.
A
further aspect is the extent of the support for terrorism within the Muslim
world. It has always been larger than most Westerners have been willing to
admit and is growing as they feel threatened by the West, Israel, and America
in general. At the same time each accommodation by a Western culture is
evaluated as weakness and an opportunity for more aggression.
This
is definitely not a stand alone book on Egyptian or any form of Middle Eastern
culture. For a more comprehensive history of recent Egyptian culture see Nonie
Darwish’s “Now they Call Me Infidel.” For a very insightful glimpse of recent
Lebanese culture and the civil war try Brigitte Gabriel’s “Because They Hate.”
“Journey
of the Jihadist” complements these books in both countries by focusing on the
potential terrorists, their similarities, and their differences.
When
Gerges discusses Iraq he identifies it’s utility to
the Jihadists in obtaining recruits, but does not show the fall of Saddam as
putting a significant funding source for terrorists out of business. He credits
Iraq with pulling al Qaeda back to center stage and attracting significant
funding for the terrorists. He fails to identify the role Iraq has in
attracting and exterminating the more violent elements in the Middle East. His
evaluation could be summed up by Ann Coulter’s phrase “Damn
that Bush! He's made people who hate our guts not like us.”
Gerges historic references are disappointing as he normally gives
the Jihadist version of the Crusades, the Lebanese civil war, and Jewish
history without providing context or correction of their extremely myopic
views. A reader unfamiliar with Middle Eastern history would come away
misinformed.