The Al Qaeda Reader: The Essential Texts of Osama Bin Laden's Terrorist Organization Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Al Qaeda Reader: The Essential Texts of Osama Bin Laden's Terrorist Organization
Book Review: Al Qaeda, in its own words...
Summary: 5 Stars
To the very considerable extent that the confict between the West and al Qaeda is a war of ideas, 2007's "The Al Qaeda Reader" is essential for understanding al Qaeda's point of view. Raymond Ibrahim has done American readers a great service in translating and editing a selection of al Qaeda documents on theology and propaganda. As Ibrahim notes in his introduction, "This volume of translations, taken as a whole, proves once and for all that, despite the propaganda of al-Qaeda and its sympathizers, radical Islam's war with the West is not finite and limited to political grievances - real or imagined - but is existential, transcending time and space and deeply rooted in faith."
"The Al Qaeda Reader" is divided into sections, beginning with a glossary of Arabic terms and important figures in Islam, then plunges into four documents on al-Qaeda's version of Islamic theology. These four documents make very clear that al Qaeda has no interest, indeed, cannot conceive of a live-and-let-live accomodation with the West. Al Qaeda instead offers the West three choices: Convert to Islam, agree to live under Islamic authority, or die. Al Qaeda believes that Islam demands offensive jihad of all its adherents, and this belief justifies all its tactics, whether suicide bombers or the slaughter of innocent non-combatants. Further, al Qaeda has no use for democracy, which it sees as a direct contravention of the authority of Allah and of the Sharia.
The second part of the book is a selection of propaganda statements made by al Qaeda leaders, including Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden. Its principal value is to show the extent to which Al Qaeda leaders are capable of spinning a potent combination of half-truths and fantasy in dealing with the West and with its own followers. In al Qaeda's world, a vast, vague but evil conspiracy of Zionists, the West, and apostate Islamic rulers threatens to overwhelm the world, held back only by the heroism of a few true Islamists. An inability to defeat the West in a head-to-head military manner is buried beneath the glorification of acts of terrorism and a stunning series of lies about the nature of recent events in Palestine, Afganistan, and Iraq. The selections demonstrate how closely al Qaeda follows the Western media and how adept it has become in spinning events for the benefit of Western media.
Al Qaeda has convinced itself that a handful of Mujahedin not only defeated the Soviet Union in Afghanistan but destroyed the Soviet Union as well. Al Qaeda is similarly convinced, in spite of its failures in Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and elswhere, that the complete defeat of the West is just a matter of time. It no doubt counts on the inability of the West to recognized the implacable nature of its foe to contribute to that anticipated event.
This volume is very highly recommended to students of and participants in the global war on terrorism, who must understand the nature of al Qaeda if useful countermeasures are to be taken.
Book Review: Buy this Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I liked this book a lot. It can be a tough read because it is a series of direct translations and the grammar and vocabulary are difficult. But it is a fascinating insight into the minds of the leaders of Al Qaeda. Their arguments for what they are doing and why are very precise and well presented. I was surpised to realize that their justification for everything is entirely based on their reading of the Koran and supporting islamic doctorine and that their treatises as translated here are filled with supporting quotes and references to these materials.Book Review: Frightening !
Summary: 4 Stars
If there is anyone that thinks it is possible to negotiate with the likes of bin Laden, they need to read this collection of communiques. These stark documents illustrate the megalomaniac, and mentally unstable condition of the head of Al Quaida. Raymond Ibrahim presents some of the most frightening writing since Mein Kampf, and the Communist Manifesto. This is serious reading for anyone that wonders what Al Quaida is really up to.Book Review: If you want to know what they're spewing here it is
Summary: 4 Stars
Informative look at English translations of letters and essays written by Al Qaeda insiders to the Muslims at large explaining why it is their obligation as Muslims to kill Christians and Jews. Much repeating, but that's the way the original documents were written.Book Review: Important information to have
Summary: 4 Stars
It's important to read these books so that we understand just where our enemies are coming from, and this is exactly what this book does. It gives the reader al Qaeda in their own words. It shows what we are facing, and the book will take away any illusions the reader might have about the type of people these are. What shines through in each essay is that these are ideologues who have no doubt in their cause. This is fervent belief that will not allow for introspection or moral consideration that may contradict their dogma. With al Qaeda their is no negotaiting or compromise.
With that said reading this book also shows that this group is doomed to failure on the margins of any society because what comes through is the total lack of a coherent agend that is in any way based in reality. They believe they are instruments of God's will, and through his divine power their goals will be met. The problem is that their ideology requires this divine support because they lack a positive agenda that will appeal to the masses. Instead what they offer is a nihilistic agenda of perpetual violence. Their goal of installing a caliphate over the Muslim lands simply by attacking the "godless" regimes is unrealistic. The fact that even the majority of Muslims today would be forced to either convert to their ideas or be murdered doesn't provide them with huge base of support even among Muslims. In the end this group is very dangerous but ultimately impotent. They should be taken seriously, but we should recognize their limitations as well so we don't overblow the threat we face.
Now as to the book itself; it is well done and organized in a reader friendly way. I didn't read them in order, but instead found it more interesting to read the sections that dealt with Americans, Europeans or Muslims together rather than reading them in sequential order as they were laid out. The organization is such that this was easily done.
The only problem is exactly what one would expect coming into this work, and that is redundancy of the material. This problem was inivetable. This is a byproduct of studying ideologues. Some of the problems are where the reader is inundated with verse after verse of the Koran or Sunna that supposedly supports a certain postition of al Qaeda's, or when one reads an essay that sounds almost exactly like the previous one. It gets old, but this should be expected from any book like this one that deals with extremist groups of any kind. One might be better served going to the library and reading a good sampling of these essays rather than buying the book and reading it all. It depends on why you come to this book. With that said I do recommend reading this book.