A Quietist Jihadi: The Ideology and Influence of Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi
Cambridge University Press, 9/13/2012
EAN 9781107606562, ISBN10: 110760656X
Paperback, 314 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm
Language: English
Since 9/11, the Jordanian Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi (b. West Bank, 1959) has emerged as one of the most important radical Muslim thinkers alive today. While al-Maqdisi may not be a household name in the West, his influence amongst like-minded Muslims stretches across the world from Jordan - where he lives today - to Southeast Asia. His writings and teachings on Salafi Islam have inspired terrorists from Europe to the Middle East, including Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of al-Qa'ida in Iraq, and Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden's successor as the head of al-Qa'ida Central. This groundbreaking book, which is the first comprehensive assessment of al-Maqdisi, his life, ideology, and influence, is based on his extensive writings and those of other jihadis, as well as on interviews that the author conducted with (former) jihadis, including al-Maqdisi himself. It is a serious and intense work of scholarship that uses this considerable archive to explain and interpret al-Maqdisi's particular brand of Salafism. More broadly, the book offers an alternative, insider perspective on the rise of radical Islam, with a particular focus on Salafi opposition movements in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Introduction
Part I. Al-Maqdisi's Life and his Place in the Jihadi Ideological Spectrum, 1859–2009
1. Wavering between quietism and jihadism
2. Al-Maqdisi's quietist jihadi-salafi 'Aqīda
3. Al-Maqdisi's quietist jihadi-salafi Manha
Part II. Al-Maqdisi's Influence on the Saudi Islamic Opposition, 1989–2005
4. Saudi Arabia's post-Gulf War opposition
5. Al-Qa 'ida on the Arabian peninsula
Part III. Al-Maqdisi's Influence on the Development of al-WalÄ wa-l-BarÄÂ, 1984–2009
6. The revival of al-Isti ÄÂna bi-l-KuffÄÂr
7. 'Salafising' jihad
Part IV. Al-Maqdisi's Influence on the Jordanian Jihadi-Salafi Community, 1992–2009
8. Guidance to the seekers
9. The leader of the Jordanian jihadi-salafi community?
Conclusion.