Thursday, August 31, 2006

Book Review: Journey of the Jihadist

Although I promised not long ago (see my post entitled "Pro-Family" under August archives) that I wouldn't make movie reviews a part of this blog, I never made any such promise when it comes to books. I'm a voracious reader and since I'm free to post pretty much whatever I want, you're stuck with book reviews when they're worth mentioning.

I just finished Fawaz Gerges' book, Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy and I can unequivocally draw the following conclusion: as with biographies, if you're looking for the truth about a topic, one must seek out source materials to avoid individual biases.

Jihadist was an effort by Gerges to interview key figures of Muslim militancy, and he used his Lebanese background to gain access to people that an otherwise Christian Western journalist might not achieve. It is a pity that his conclusions are colored by his early experiences in Lebanon.

Gerges recounts growing up in Lebanon and how idyllic his youth was, until things began to change in the 1970s. Gerges takes great pains to illustrate for us that Islam is not an inherently violent religion, using first-person accounts with Muslims as his evidence of that theory. The problem with using personal experience to make a generalization is one of sample size; I am certain that there were many good Germans who helped Jews escape or hide in Germany in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and yet, this doesn't negate the evil of the Nazi regime nor the complicity of most Germans. Likewise, there are accounts of white Southerners who assisted in freeing black slaves in the United States during the Civil War; this doesn't invalidate the proper generalization that the South was engaged in the vile and despicable institution of slavery.

There are a couple of points worthy of sharing... and commentary. First, as I mentioned to Samuel one day, Gerges completely missed the date on The Battle of Mogadishu (which he places in August 1993; in fact it was October of that year).

Let's go to the text, shall we? Regarding the Beruit bombing in 1983 that killed our Marines (page 87): "Telephone calls by an unknown group called Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility: 'We are the soldiers of God,' said a voice in classical Arabic on behalf of the mysterious group. 'We are neither Iranians, Syrians, nor Palestinians, but Muslims who follow the precepts of the Qur'an.'" (emphasis mine)

Is Jihad a personal duty of every Muslim? According to a militant named Abu-Jandal who fought in Bosnia (page 115-116): "By the time he departed from Bosnia a few months later, he viewed jihad as a permanent and personal duty, a pillar of Islam: 'There is a dilemma and a misunderstanding that most Muslims face. It can be summed up in that jihad has become merely a matter of thought for them, and they forgot that jihad is something that God has prescribed to us as a religious duty, like prayers, fasting, alms-giving, and pilgrimages.'" (emphasis mine) Got that? Jihad is as necessary as praying, according to God.

Later (page 126) Abu-Jandal recounts how they would offer condolences to friends who got married, because they couldn't run off and fight any more. Says Gerges: "The context of this notion is the Qur'anic verse in which Allah says that one cannot be a true Muslim unless one holds Allah and his messenger Mohammed in higher esteem than one's loved ones and one's material possessions." Which sounds a little bit like "Thou shall love the Lord your God above all" except Christians and Jews generally don't use this verse as justification for killing others.

In all, Gerges paints an almost schizophrenic analysis of militant Islam. He closes the book on a low note - after the invasion of Iraq, we've reached a low point of relations between Islam and the West, and he recounts this for us in his conversation with a militant named Kamal, who was very active in the early years of militancy in Egypt. According to Kamal (page 236): "Muslims feel they are facing an existential threat, a 'new Christian crusade allied with Jewish fundamentalism' whose goal is to neutralize Islam by discrediting 'positive Islamic values like jihad, fighting, martyrdom, and the idea that all Muslims belong to one ummah. The new crusade is targeting traditional Islam,' he said." (emphasis mine again)

Jihadist is an interesting, if just a fairly well-thought out book, whose inability to decisively summarize the nature of the conflict betrays a certain moral confusion of the author. Sadly, rather than focus on the problems inherent in Islam, most of the book portrays militancy as merely an effect of Western foreign policy.

But there's a good lesson to take away. We must look at the world as it is, and not as we remember it, or as we wish it to be.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

A.H.,

I'm happy to see that you research the facts of the book instead of taking it as gospel. More people should do that, especially christians that like to read books, but never read the Word itself. Check out the Islam book I referred to "Mom", I found it to be quite interesting.

jw

Michael Tams said...

Thanks, J, I'll do that. "Crisis of Islam", right?

BTW, what are you doing this Sunday at 3:00ish? Just curious.

-AH

Anonymous said...

No "Crisis of Islam", I thought it was weak. Yes, "Antichrist, Islams Coming Messiah" by Joel Richardson.

Sunday, 3 ish? 4 ish here. Good memory, I'll be watching the Pack get there rear ends handed to them by those SORRY Bears. Looks like I'm gonna have to dwell on yesteryear for awhile, again.

Anonymous said...

"Crisis In Islam" starts out with a review of history, which I found helpful.

On a different note, I can't believe that my son came home from school today and said that as they were discussing fast food in health class, they were told that religion had nothing to do with current events re: terrorism and etc. Apparently they hate us for the invasion of fast food restaurants. I'm appalled.

Yes, we decided to let him attend the public high school-he wanted to share the high school experience with his friends. My husband thinks it will be good for him.

Oh and if Mr. Light Bulb happens to peruse this post - He brought home a fund raiser for the band too. Apparently only football and dance related activities are covered by the freshman fund raiser. It's only his second day of school. I'm having a cow.

Michael Tams said...

J,

You guys had your time, until last year your boys have owned the Bears since the early 90s. Enjoy the game. Wait, I take that back. I hope you don't enjoy the game (no hard feelings, bro).

-AH

Michael Tams said...

Mom,

Well, that's an interesting theory. McDonalds is the real villian, then? If only the genius health teacher who espoused this hypothesis would come forward! Please, contact the State Department! If only Condi knew, we could be at peace! Oh, the humanity!

BTW, I'm sure it'll be good for your son. He'll see what his competition is going to be like and breathe a sigh of relief.

-AH

Anonymous said...

Mom,
your son came home with a fund raiser!!!! NO WAY!!

My kids are always coming home with "Fund Raisers", and then I look at my property tax bill and see a "school tax" of $2700, and ask my self how much more "Fund Raising" shall my family do???

Get used to it!! Bottomless Pit!

Raise More Funds!!!!!!! How about raising me some FUNDS!!!

Oops sorry, hot button.

JW

Anonymous said...

Having checked the title again, it is "The Crisis of Islam" by Lewis.
Sorry about that, it's been a long week.