Al-Qaeda in Its Own Words

With this book, Kepel and Milelli, professors at the Institute for Political Studies in Paris, have produced a seminal study of al-Qaeda, introducing the key texts and figures inspiring this still shadowy movement. Al-Qaeda's roots can be traced to Palestinian scholar/activist Abdallah Azzam, ”the Imam of Jihad,” whose writings imbued messianic and militant elements into the struggle in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were profoundly influenced by Azzam's work and eventually established “martyrdom operations” as the vehicle to secure religious legitimacy for their political aims. Al-Qaeda's writings, mostly disseminated electronically, emphasize Islam's unending struggle to establish its domination over its eternal enemies: the unbelievers, the infidels, the apostates. Kepel and Milelli compellingly present the online texts that serve as al-Qaeda's “doctrine,” dissecting the discourse and identifying the images and rhetoric al-Qaeda depends upon. This view of al-Qaeda from within presents sobering evidence of the threat al-Qaeda poses and is an indispensable read. (Apr.)