Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam [Paperback]

An excellent book offering the reader a deep insight into the world of political islam. At points the book can be slightly heavy going but only due to the detailed wealth of knowledge it delivers. If you are looking for a book for studing the Middle East or just to gain a real understanding of the region and the religion then this book is definately for you. I enjoyed it very much and despite having read extensively on the subject I learnt something new on every page. Well researched and a very informative writer Kepel, professor of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques and a CNRS luminary, adds an optimistic veiw. Even despite the inclusion of Osama bin Laden and the recent attacks he presents this as a last ditch attempt of a dying phenomenon. He claims the movement peaked in the 1970's and 80's and that we are entering an inevitable post-islamic era. This upbeat angle will please many of its US readers. Definately recommended

Gilles Kepel is excellent. In this work he manages to scrutinize the both broad and complicated problem of political Islam without ever wandering off track. His view of islam appears to be neutral. He communicates the central problems of political islam, and more importantly, the central differences between the broad political movements and the violent extremes in an absolutely sober tone. I strongly recommend this book for serious students of the subject, i.e. university students or the like. This is not to be read as an introduction to the subject - its closer to being a conclusion.

In this interesting and detailed work, the renowned French expert on radical Islam, Gilles Kepel, attempts to document the brief history of "political Islam"; those within the Islamic faith who believe all states should be governed according to Shari'ah (Islamic law), with a view to the restoration of the Caliphate (Islamic pope). In other words, those who have come to be known as extremists, radicals or terrorists. The first half of the book deals with Islamism's rise and history, the second half deals with its demise.

The ideological movement began to grow when one of its key exponents, Sayyed Qutb, was hanged in Egypt on August 29th 1966. Although the execution of the Muslim Brotherhood's most important thinker was soon forgotten, by the end of the next decade his writings had become a potent force in Egypt and elsewhere. This rise came along with one of the key events in modern Middle Eastern history: the Saudi oil-embargo of the West following the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

With the price of oil rising rapidly giving the Saudis colossal revenues, the puritanical Wahabbi state set about spreading its influence, building thousands of mosques and distributing thousands of free copies of the Koran. From the rice fields of Indonesia, to the plains of Africa to the high rise housing projects of European cities, the same Korans and the same cassettes were available from one end of the Islamic world to the other.

Along with the Saudi rise were the teachings of several other ideologues in key geographical locations: Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, Mawlani Mawdudi in Pakistan and the popular figure in Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim.

Kepel deftly shows how the ideologues' disciples went about changing societies, implying interesting insights about the Muslim mindset along the way. The strongest parts of this book are the descriptions of the inner-workings of the Muslim states, as the leaders devised a precarious game establishing councils of clerics (ulema), in a bid for credibility, but also to keep a close eye on them seeing as the first threat to any regime would come from the religious councils (keep your friends close and your enemies closer?). Also of central importance to the Islamists are the universities; always targeted for the purposes of controlling consensus and eventually public opinion (something we in the West would do well to pay closer attention to).

Extracting and looking at Political Islamism in isolation (of the theological aspects) allows Kepel to get on with charting the relationships between the radicals, the populous and leaderships. This is, in essence, a kind of sociological macro and micro-economic look at radical Islam; no small feat, but Kepel pulls this off coolly and convincingly. For this alone the book merits serious study.

But there are downsides and they are numerous. These downsides are Kepel's spin on many areas and his overall conclusions. Quite amazingly, they would appear to be because they are outside Kepel's immediate sphere of study. I wasn't able to think of a better reason to explain this contrast.

The central thesis of Political Islam's demise, after an initial surge, looks more and more implausible with each emerging story of al Qaeda's expansion; whether to Yemen, or through Central Africa, Pakistan to Central Asia and Western China. The recent coup in Kyrgyzstan leading to fertile ground for the likes of al Qaeda to flourish (if they hadn't actually created the unrest in the first place); then there's his descriptions of Turkey, or with the ailing health of Egypt's dictator Hosni Mubarak, it's time to re-read our books about the '56 Suez war to know how valuable a target that country will be.

And Iran is another chapter altogether...

There are lesser errors as well. Kepel describes Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist proxy in Lebanon, as 'almost a charity now'. The 2006 Israel/Hezbollah war put such baseless assessments to rest. Former Pakistani leader General Pervez Musharaf is labelled 'progressive', which Ahmed Rashid convincingly contests and a whole lot more.

But the single biggest howler must be awarded to Kepel's patronage and idolising of Tariq Ramadan, a young Muslim 'intellectual' who has long been exposed for saying one thing in French (or English) and quite another in Arabic. Banned from the US for having ties to terror organisations, he is also the grandson of the Muslim Brotherhood founder, Hassan al-Banna. From all accounts, it seems Ramadan's ultimate aims are no different to his ideological and biological predecessor.

Kepel believes Ramadan's carefully crafted writings and hails him as the leader of this 'emerging post-Islamist movement'.

Despite the wildly varying quality of Kepel's writing, the strengths of his research merit a read and do contribute, if you can get passed the insultingly baseless analysis.

As other reviewers have noted this is not an introduction. This is a book more suited to those with a basic knowledge of Islam, and a good grounding in the history of the regions and terrorist groups.