Osama's Jihad


Book Description

It is an empowering novel; it is a conversation starter. It addresses both Homophobia and Islamophobia, it sheds light on both matters through the eyes of the main character, Osama, living in two different worlds. It is a story of unconditional love; it is about the ties that bind a family together. The story offers an insight into the lives of average Muslim families, living in the West, with strong ties to the Middle East. It’s not what you think. It’s not what you’re expecting. It’s not a defense, a diatribe, or an endorsement. Osama’s Jihad, instead, is an extraordinary novel that takes you from New York City to Cairo to Makkah and back again, as our protagonist, Osama, grows from childhood to manhood through a series of dizzying experiences. After the death of his beloved father, the adult Osama is adrift in guilt, recriminations, and self-doubt. Despite their strong and devoted relationship, an incident in the family years before had uprooted the adolescent Osama, his mother, and sister from New York to Cairo. Osama finds a passionate and all-encompassing love in neighbor Nora, but shocking revelations about her lead to anguish, scarring, and possibly permanent ruin. It is clear that Osama needs to acknowledge his past and accept his own culpability as well as find a road to his future. We identify with him as his vulnerability and self-loathing threaten to overtake his desire to live and to see his son grow to manhood. Indeed, Osama is living his jihad, the spiritual struggle within that every human must confront and triumph over. Osama’s Jihad is a story with universal relevance, that is unique in its ability to cross between post terrorism irrationality and the unifying powers of love, understanding, and acceptance. It bridges cultures, nationalism, and religions in a way unlike anything you’ve read before. " It’s not very often that I come across a story that touches my heart so deeply that it resonates with my every emotion. To say that I fell in love with the story and its characters from the very beginning would not come close to accurately depicting the intensity of my admiration for it. It is my strong belief that Hani Selim has impressively found a way to create a story encompassing so many important topics affecting the world today. He has accomplished this in a selfless effort to magnify humanity. I am not an Arab, I am not a Muslim and I am not a Homosexual. I am a mother. As a mother, it pains me to think of all the hatred that some children have to face because of such classifications. To be a supporter of this book and its continued production, would be a step in the right direction on the path to a better world. I know that whoever reads this novel will walk away with an increased knowledge of what it feels like to be a person placed in such categories. They will be exposed to the struggles one must face in an effort to secure basic freedoms deserved by all human beings. This novel will pull at your heart strings and dig deep within your soul to distinguish a new sense of empathy. It really is a story that has ‘something for everyone’, but in the end it all comes down to love. I predict a definite “best-seller”




Osama


Book Description

How is it possible for one middle-aged Saudi millionaire to threaten the world's only superpower? This is the question at the center of Jonathan Randal's riveting, timely account of Osama bin Laden's life and role in the rise of terrorism in the Middle East. Randal traces the current sources of Osama's money and tells us why the Iraq war has played into the hands of the terrorists, while also providing essential insight and background on the history of American involvement in the Middle East. With his long-maintained sources in the Middle East and his intimate understanding of the region, Randal gives us a clearer explanation than any we have had of the whys and wherefores of the world's most prominent and feared terrorist.




Jihad


Book Description

There is no denying the fact that when Bin Laden speaks, the people across the world, particularly the Western media, usually ask Is he really alive? Where is he? What did he say? A curiosity to know more about him yet remains.The present book aims at ca




Through Our Enemies' Eyes


Book Description

This seminal work on modern terrorism is the one book to read in order to truly understand the reasons why radical Muslims such as Osama bin Laden and his followers have declared war on America and the West. In order to win the war against terrorism, argues Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA's Bin Laden Unit, we must first stop dismissing militant Muslims as "extremists" or "religious fanatics." Formulating a successful military strategy requires that we see the enemy as they perceive themselve--highly trained and motivated soldiers who believe their cause is righteous. This revised paperback edition provides a more extensive study of Osama bin Laden and the sources of his thought. Scheuer has added a good deal of bin Laden's words, focusing on those issues that have been most misunderstood or ignored and therefore are most in need of exposition. These include bin Laden's personality; his early years as a nonviolent Saudi dissident and reformer; the causes motivating al Qaeda and its allies, especially their perception that U.S. foreign policy threatens Islam's survival; bin Laden's long history of interest in and support for the Palestinian cause against Israel; his evolutionary growth as an Islamic hero and leader between 1996 and 2001; and the profound impact the Afghan-Soviet War had and continues to have on bin Laden, al Qaeda, and worldwide Sunni Islamic militancy. Only by understanding these words can the West appreciate the threat it faces and formulate a strategy to defeat it.




In the Name of Osama Bin Laden


Book Description

"A must read for all who continue to grapple with the twin legacy of hatred and hope from September 11. . . "* International terrorism expert Roland Jacquard's In the Name of Osama bin Laden presents a dramatic portrait of the world's most wanted terrorist and his extensive brotherhood--the network of people who operate "in his name." Published originally in France the very week of September 11, as events in the United States shook the world, the book has become an international bestseller. Jacquard details how bin Laden became an international emblem of fundamentalist, pan-Islamic, anti-U.S. fervor and the leader of a brotherhood so passionate that devotees who have never met him will act autonomously in his name. The author explains the global character of bin Laden's organization, elaborating the extent of his sphere of influence in Europe and Asia. Jacquard reveals the construction of bin Laden's networks--including a profile of his inner circle--and their collaboration with overlapping webs of banking, drug trafficking, religious, and terrorist organizations. He considers the brotherhood's access to biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons and warns that, with or without bin Laden, this global terrorist force will remain a threat. Now in English, this edition has been substantially updated in light of recent world events and expanded to include previously unpublished materials, featuring a new introduction and afterword. New documents include an April 2001 interview by the author with bin Laden; a September 24 proclamation by bin Laden to Muslims in Pakistan; and a key page from Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri's book justifying eternal jihad, which was smuggled out of Afghanistan in October 2001.




Messages to the World


Book Description

Despite the saturation of global media coverage, Osama bin Laden's own writings have been curiously absent from analysis of the "war on terror." Over the last ten years, bin Laden has issued a series of carefully tailored public statements, from interviews with Western and Arabic journalists to faxes and video recordings. These texts supply evidence crucial to an understanding of the bizarre mix of Quranic scholarship, CIA training, punctual interventions in Gulf politics and messianic anti-imperialism that has formed the programmatic core of Al Qaeda. In bringing together the various statements issued under bin Laden's name since 1994, this volume forms part of a growing discourse that seeks to demythologize the terrorist network. Newly translated from the Arabic, annotated with a critical introduction by Islamic scholar Bruce Lawrence, this collection places the statements in their religious, historical and political context. It shows how bin Laden's views draw on and differ from other strands of radical Islamic thought; it also demonstrates how his arguments vary in degrees of consistency, and how his evasions concerning the true nature and extent of his own group, and over his own role in terrorist attacks, have contributed to the perpetuation of his personal mythology.




Holy War, Inc.


Book Description

On September 11, 2001, the world in which we live was changed forever. The twin towers of the World Trade Center came crashing down, one side of the Pentagon burst into flame, and more than six thousand men, women, and children lost their lives in the most deadly terrorist attack on American soil. As shocking as it was, it had been long in the making: The assault was the most sophisticated and horrifying in a series of operations masterminded by Osama bin Laden and his Jihad group -- an organization that CNN's terrorism analyst Peter Bergen calls Holy War, Inc. One of only a handful of Western journalists to have interviewed the world's most wanted man face to face, Peter Bergen has produced the definitive book on the Jihadist network that operates globally and in secrecy. In the course of four years of investigative reporting, he has interviewed scores of insiders -- from bin Laden associates and family members to Taliban leaders to CIA officials -- and traveled to Afghanistan, Yemen, Egypt, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom to learn the truth about bin Laden's al Queda organization and his mission. Immense in scope and unnerving in its findings, Holy War, Inc. reveals: How bin Laden lives, travels, and communicates with his "cells." How his role in the crushing defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan made him a hero to Muslims all over the world -- and equipped him to endure a long and bloody siege. How the CIA ended up funding -- to the tune of three billion dollars -- radical, anti-American Afghan groups allied to bin Laden. How the attacks that foreshadowed the destruction of the World Trade Center -- among them the bombings of the American embassies in Africa and the warship USS Cole in Yemen -- were planned and executed. The dimensions of bin Laden's personal fortune, and why freezing his assets is both futile and nearly impossible. The ideology of bin Laden's number two, the man who has influenced him most profoundly in his holy war -- the Egyptian Ayman al Zawahiri. What we can expect from Islamist extremists in the future. Above all, Peter Bergen helps us to see bin Laden's organization in a radically new light: as a veritable corporation that has exploited twenty-first-century communications and weapons technologies in the service of a medieval reading of the Koran and holy war. Holy War, Inc. is essential reading for anyone trying to understand tomorrow's terrorist threats and the militant Islamist movements that could determine the fate of governments -- and human lives -- the world over. Both author and publisher will donate a portion of the proceeds from this book to United Way's September 11th Fund for the relief of victims of the World Trade Center attacks.




Osama's Wake


Book Description

The National Security Strategy (NSS) of the United States inadequately defines the threat which on September 11, 2001, propelled the United States towards a Global War on Terrorism and redirected the nation's security efforts. Most critics of the NSS point out the futility of waging war on terrorism, since it is a time-worn means to an end. If the nation is to have a strategy to combat an enemy, it has to define who, or what, the enemy is. The War on Terrorism should not be an infinite struggle against any entity willing to use terrorist means; and attempting to scope the threat to groups with global reach is not a discriminating factor in today's globalized and interconnected world. The enemy must be defined not just by their methodology but also by their ideology and politics.




The Al Qaeda Reader


Book Description

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.




Landscapes of the Jihad


Book Description

What are the motives behind Osama bin Laden's and Al-Qaeda's jihad against America and the West? Innumerable attempts have been made in recent years to explain that mysterious worldview. In Landscapes of the Jihad, Faisal Devji focuses on the ethical content of this jihad as opposed to its purported political intent. Al-Qaeda differs radically from such groups as Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiyah, which aim to establish fundamentalist Islamic states. In fact, Devji contends, Al-Qaeda, with its decentralized structure and emphasis on moral rather than political action, actually has more in common with multinational corporations, antiglobalization activists, and environmentalist and social justice organizations. Bin Laden and his lieutenants view their cause as a response to the oppressive conditions faced by the Muslim world rather than an Islamist attempt to build states. Al-Qaeda culls diverse symbols and fragments from Islam's past in order to legitimize its global war against the "metaphysical evil" emanating from the West. The most salient example of this assemblage, Devji argues, is the concept of jihad itself, which Al-Qaeda defines as an "individual duty" incumbent on all Muslims, like prayer. Although medieval Islamic thought provides precedent for this interpretation, Al-Qaeda has deftly separated the stipulation from its institutional moorings and turned jihad into a weapon of spiritual conflict. Al-Qaeda and its jihad, Devji suggests, are only the most visible manifestations of wider changes in the Muslim world. Such changes include the fragmentation of traditional as well as fundamentalist forms of authority. In the author's view, Al-Qaeda represents a new way of organizing Muslim belief and practice within a global landscape and does not require ideological or institutional unity. Offering a compelling explanation for the central purpose of Al-Qaeda's jihad against the West, the meaning of its strategies and tactics, and its moral and aesthetic dimensions, Landscapes of the Jihad is at once a sophisticated work of historical and cultural analysis and an invaluable guide to the world's most prominent terrorist movement.