Rating: 
Summary: DO NOT FEAR THE ISLAMIC TERRORISTS!
Review: Gilles Kepel's ultimate message in this book is clear: the Western democracies should not exaggerate the threat of Islamic terrorism because it is on the decline.
This, however, is far from certain.
Kepel bases his analysis , and his conclusion, on a very small amount of evidence gathered from a few Muslim countries. He has , as might be expected, no access to the internal debate of the various terror organisations that operate throughout the Muslim world.
Another problem is that Kepel does not seem to understand the importance of such traditions as " kitman" and " taqyyiah" in the Islamic culture which make it incumbent on the believer to hide his real beliefs and feelings whenever and wherever he senses that the general environment might be hostile to him.
The fact that Kepel, who seems to know a little bit of Arabic, has no knowledge of Persian, Turkish, Urdu and other major Islamic languages is a further handicap as the bulk of the ideological litrerature of terror is curently produced in those languages, and not in Arabic. MT
Rating: 
Summary: Fabulous book
Review: Having spend several years living and traveling in the Gulf during the 1970's I felt this book was extremely informative and thorough in its review and discussion of political islam. For anyone who really, really wants to know what is going on in that part of the world - this is the book to get.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous book
Review: Having spend several years living and traveling in the Gulf during the 1970's I felt this book was extremely informative and thorough in its review and discussion of political islam. For anyone who really, really wants to know what is going on in that part of the world - this is the book to get.
Rating:
Summary: Nonsense complete
Review: I have to agree with the writer who expresses incredulity at the levelof naivete in this book; I too was struck by it, and concerned by the notion that anyone could have absorbed as much information about Islam as Giles Kepel seems to have done without actually understanding the languages (lingua franca) of the Muslim masses.
It is truly appalling, in fact. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that the conclusions Keppel drew in this tome jibe with the reality, and if the man had done any reading whatever in the history of Islamic terror, which actually dates back to the time of Mohammed, one has to wonder what he did with that knowledge.
The fact is, for example, that something on the order of 15 to 20 million persons were massacred in cold blood during the 500-year reign of Islamic terror on the Indian subcontinent alone! That reign of terror began in the 8th century, and continues to this day, wherein Pakistan, Muslims routinely murder Christians and anyone perceived as an "apostate" with wild abandon, and no legal ramifications whatever. This is what we have to fear, and it is not only the radicals who are promoting such behavior. This is the heart of Islam, which at its core, hates anyone and everyone who is not Islamic, or Muslim.
Tant pis (the worse for us) that Kepel is such an educated dummy.
Rating: 
Summary: International Guide to Islamism
Review: Kepel is an ideal guide to Islamism as an international movment. Though somehwat controversial, Kepel has produced quality scholarship with an eye for detail for a long time and is well-known and widely recognized scholar in the field. Islamism has become over time a politically moribund ideology driven more by desperation and disillusionment than by anything resembling political success or ascendency. He covers all the major topics and personalities--not nearly enough for indepth study but that's not the purpose of his book--and has a talent for connecting the dots of the international scene, thereby demonstrating the geopolitical nature of the movement despite its diversty and diffuse organization. While some may be taken aback by his assertion of the 'failture' of Islamism in light of the extreme actions committed, he nonetheless makes a good case for argument not equivocating politcal failure with political impotence. Likely the best introduction to the topic available.
Rating:
Summary: International Guide to Islamism
Review: Kepel is an ideal guide to Islamism as an international movment. Though somehwat controversial, Kepel has produced quality scholarship with an eye for detail for a long time and is well-known and widely recognized scholar in the field. Islamism has become over time a politically moribund ideology driven more by desperation and disillusionment than by anything resembling political success or ascendency. He covers all the major topics and personalities--not nearly enough for indepth study but that's not the purpose of his book--and has a talent for connecting the dots of the international scene, thereby demonstrating the geopolitical nature of the movement despite its diversty and diffuse organization. While some may be taken aback by his assertion of the 'failture' of Islamism in light of the extreme actions committed, he nonetheless makes a good case for argument not equivocating politcal failure with political impotence. Likely the best introduction to the topic available.
Rating:
Summary: Consensus
Review: Kepel's book is considered an excellent source on political Islam by a variety of sources. The reviews are true. In this book, Kepel gives a thematic and historical explanation of Islamism. His writing also gives recent events in the Middle East a context and continuity that they deserve and is often ignored by our soundbyte media.
Rating:
Summary: Consensus
Review: Kepel's book is considered an excellent source on political Islam by a variety of sources. The reviews are true. In this book, Kepel gives a thematic and historical explanation of Islamism. His writing also gives recent events in the Middle East a context and continuity that they deserve and is often ignored by our soundbyte media.
Rating:
Summary: Good intro to Islamist movement
Review: Kepel's `Jihad' is an excellent introduction to modern Islamism. This is a great book if you want to know more about various Islamist movements such as: bin Laden's al-Qaeda, the civil war in Algeria, the Shi'ite revolution in Iran, the Taliban in Afganistan, and the various Islamist movements from Egypt to Malaysia. Kepel comes to an interesting and controversial conclusion. At a time when the US administration is making vast increases to the budget to fight the war on terror (against Muslim terrorists), Kepel writes that Islamism has seen its peak as a political movement and has been on the decline since the mid 1990's. He wrote in his conclusion: "In spite of what many hasty commentators contended in its (September 11th) immediate aftermath, the attack on the United States was a desperate symbol of isolation, fragmentation, and decline of the Islamist movement, not a sign of its strength and irrepressible might." My reaction to this conclusion (I read the conclusion before reading the entire book) was similar to what Walter Laqueur wrote in his article `A Failure of Intelligence', published in The Atlantic Monthly - March 2002: "However, the same conditions that gave birth to Islamism thirty years ago persist: economic stagnation or even negative growth, the unemployment of the young. So do resentment and free-floating rage. If Islamism is bankrupt, where is the ideology to replace it?" These are good observations, but they miss the point of Kepel's book. Kepel does not cover what he thinks will replace Islamism. Laqueur's arguments make me wonder if he even read the entire book. (Laqueur also finishes with some ridiculous statements about a lack of Middle Eastern self-criticism, which makes it sound like Laqueur has digested the ideas of the famous orientalist Bernard Lewis more than anything Kepel wrote.) Kepel is not making a sweeping statement about Islam and the West - that the tension is over and everyone will live happily ever after. Kepel realizes there will be violence in the name of Jihad. For example, his conclusion also stated: "This does not mean that we shall not see other outbursts of terrorism that claim the mantle of jihad. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular will be ripe for more violence." Kepel's book is more informed and specific than Laqueur acknowledges. It is about specific movements within the Islamic world, started by theorists such as Mawdudi from Pakistan or Qutb from Egypt. These movements seemed to be ready to take over the Middle East as recent as five years ago. Islamist movements succeeded in Iran and Afganistan, and in various other places in the Middle East. But since then the theories behind Islamism have not been as accepted. This is due to complex reasons, such as the increased power of the middle class in the various countries, which Kepel covers in detail.
If there is a fault in Kepel's `Jihad', it is that the text takes a while to get used to, since it was originally written in French. I found myself reading some paragraphs two or three times over - especially in the first half. I'm not sure if I got used to the text in the second half, or the writing improved. Also, he could have spent some pages on a definition of Islamism - what theorists such as Mawdudi and Qutb wanted. You would have to get that research from another book, such as Qutb's `Milestones'.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book, offers some unique analysis
Review: Kipel's book is both an authentic guide and a quick survey of the rise - and his assessment of the fall - of militant Islamic Jihad. Kipel traces the origins of Muslim radical movements in all of the Islamic countries and highlights the circumstances that diverted them from theological preaching to violent activity.
From the very beginning, Kipel offers a unique analysis saying that the events of 9/11 signaled the end of Islamic terrorism and not its climax since militant Muslim groups felt compelled to win some attention among fellow Muslims by embarking on a grandiose terror activity, but to no avail.
Kipel also tells of the reaction of the different regimes to these movements. At the time some rulers quenched Muslim radical groups and systematically destroyed them later, other sovereigns contained them or even used them to consolidate their rule.
The book has a peculiarly interesting entry about the Muslim community in Europe and describes its growth and eventual politicization.
Fitting this voluminous information into a single book, however, meant that Kipel had to sacrifice other pieces of info. When describing the relations of these movements with foreign - regional and international groups - the book only provides a quick narration of the CIA support of Muslim Mujahideen in their war in Afghanistan against the Soviets.
In other Muslim countries that witnessed a rise in militant Islamic activity, relations of these groups were put only in their domestic context.
The book also offers a unique analysis of the Islamic movement as it ties its dynamics, in a Marxist manner, to the relations between the different social classes and their socioeconomic circumstances, especially the always rising unemployment.
|
