Militant Islamist ideology
Subtitle: understanding the global threat
By: Youssef H. Aboul-Enein.
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Annapolis, Md
Language: eng
Number of pages: 252
ISBN-13: 9781591140016
Subjects: Qaida (Organization); Jihad; Islamic fundamentalism; Terrorism -- Religious aspects -- Islam
Description: "CDR Aboul-Enein is an officer whom I and many deploying units have relied upon for years to explain the intricacies of militant Islam. His book captures and offers a rational way to understand this threat and how it can be addressed." Lt Gen Richard F. Natonski, Usmc, Commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Command.

"Terrorist organizations use a narrow and irreligious ideology to recruit undereducated and disenfranchised people to their cause. Understanding terrorist ideology is the first and may also be the most important step in ensuring national and international security against the threat that these organizations pose. Youssef Aboul-Enein's book is an excellent starting point in that connection. Militant Islamist Ideology deserves a wide readership among all those concerned with the problem of transnational terrorism, their ideology, and our efforts to combat those organizations that pose a serious threat to current and future generations of Muslims and non-Muslims alike."Brig Gen H.R. McMaster, USA, author of Dereliction of Duty.

"After decades of contention with militant Islamism, the secular world still remains ignorant of the mindset and motivation of its adversaries. Youssef Aboul-Enein, an expert on Islamic thought, aims to fill that void, and in this book he has drawn us a map of the intellectual domain of militant Islamism. He shows how the aberrant thinking of the militants is their greatest vulnerability. In the struggle to counter militancy, our weapon with the greatest unrealized potential is the truth."Christopher C. Straub, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Middle East).

"Youssef Aboul-Enein, a deep scholar of both Islam and militant Islamism, provides, in his new book, key insights that can enable Muslims to expose those noxious ideas for what they are and, thereby, undermine the foundation of militant Islamism." Jeffrey Nadaner, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stability Operations and Partnership Strategy.

CDR Youssef H. Aboul-Enein, USN, a top adviser at the Joint Intelligence Task Force for Combating Terrorism, argues that winning the war against Militant Islamists requires a more nuanced understanding of their ideology. His book is among the first attempts to deconstruct and marginalize al-Qaida ideology using Islamic-based arguments. By clearly defining the differences between Islam, Islamist, and Militant Islamist, Aboul-Enein highlights how Militant Islamist ideology takes fragments of Islamic history and theology and weaves them into a narrow, pseudo-intellectual ideology to justify their violence against Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

By offering a comprehensive explanation of how Militant Islamists have hijacked the Islamic religion, Aboul-Enein provides a realistic description of the militant threat, which is quite different and distinct from Islamist political discourse and the wider religion of Islam.

"Youssef Aboul-Enein is one of the foremost thinkers on radical Islamist ideology in the U.S. national security community. In his new book, Militant Islamist Ideology, he provides a comprehensive analysis of the origins and key themes of the ideology that animates contemporary radical Islamism. Drawing on a deep knowledge of Islamic history and intellectual debates, Aboul-Enein guides the reader through the key moments in the evolution of Islamic concepts of government and the state, and chronicles the ebbs and flows of Islamist ascendancy. He identifies the ideological vulnerabilities of militant Islamism, and his prescriptions for countering militant Islamist rhetoric should be required reading for anyone interested in the conflict of ideas within Islam."

Angel Rabasa, senior political scientist, Rand Corporation, author of The Muslim World After 9/11 --Book Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Precise definitions of the threat; title: A hidden center of gravity : militant Islamists cloaking themselves in Islam; title: What is not being taught in politicized madrassas : beginning to understand militant Islamist ideology; title: The Qur'an : how do militant Islamists abuse verses?; title: The term Jihad : various interpretations; title: Muhammad and the succession crisis; title: Islamic government : a highly debatable concept among Muslims; title: The 1925 caliphate debates; title: Countering militant Islamist rhetoric using Islam; title: Marginalizing al-Qaida : utilizing al-Qaida rhetoric and actions; title: Ibn Taymiyyah : unlocking the origins of current militant Islamist ideology (1263-1327); title: Ibn Abdul Wahhab (1703-1792): the founder of Wahhabism; title: Hassan al-Banna and the Egyptian Muslim brotherhood : the first Islamist political party; title: Sayyid Qutb : twentieth-century theoretician of militant Islamist ideology (1906-1966); title: Inside the Soviet-Afghan war (1979-1989) : a militant Islamist perspective; title: Usama Bin Laden : a quick exposé; title: A basic analytic primer on Shiism; title: Other major figures in the militant Islamist movement; title: Al-Qaida's wedge issues for the United States to consider; title: Mindsets that hamper America's capabilities.