FREE DOWNLOAD Al Qaeda in Its Own Words
Despite the frequent appearances of Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri on television screens worldwide, Al Qaeda remains an elusive entity. As the world has grown increasingly familiar with the spectacle of Islamist terrorism, Al Qaeda’s essential worldview has remained bewilderingly opaque. To reveal its inner workings, Gilles Kepel and his collaborators, all scholars of Arabic and Islam, have collected and brilliantly annotated key texts of the major figures from whom the movement has drawn its beliefs and direction. The resulting volume offers an unprecedented glimpse into the assumptions of the salafist jihadists who have reshaped political life at the beginning of the third millennium. Excerpts from the work of Azzabdallah Azzam, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi—drawn from speeches, internet postings, and published writings—tell the story of Al Qaeda’s evolution, from its origins in the Afghan war through the war in Iraq. These texts reveal the rational, discursive mode used to persuade and to justify violent armed struggle in a universe defined by militant Islam. Substantial interpretive introductions to each leader’s work and extensive critical commentary provide unparalleled access to the intellectual and doctrinal context of Al Qaeda in which these radical ideas have taken shape. By viewing Al Qaeda from within, this indispensable volume reveals the terrorist network’s insidious role in the global web culture of today and the full dimensions of its frightening threat to world stability and security. Al Qaeda in Its Own Words
Scholarly yet accessible
Update 9/12/2012: This book is more relevant than ever, e.g. see this article on the murder of the US Ambassador to Libya. Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abdullah Azzam are two of the four al-Qaeda members whose writings are profiled in Al Qaeda in Its Own Words. Azzam in particular is worth knowing more about; he was the preeminent theoretician of global jihad, and the major ideological force behind al-Qaeda and related movements. He's not as well known as Osama bin Laden, but he's arguably more significant. English 384 pages
Gilles Kepel is Professor and Chair of Middle East Studies at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris.
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Most Americans may think they already know everything they need to know about Al Qaeda's founding figures, short of the survivors' physical location. Sooner or later, from natural or unnatural causes, Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri will die. Their positions, arguments, and references, however, will not. This book, and especially the information supplied in the notes, offers its readers a guided tour of Al Qaeda's intellectual and discursive world. It is a tour we all need to take, and the sooner the better.
Anne Sa'adah, Dartmouth College
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...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.
Publishers Weekly
“Despite all the political and popular attention that it has received in the last six years, Al Qaeda's essential worldview still remains largely unexplained. Written statements and television appearances by its leaders provide an occasional glimpse. This book is an incisive insight into the intellectual and discursive world of Al Qaeda that might just survive the lifetime of its present leadership. To reveal its inner workings, Gilles Kepel and his collaborators have collected and annotated key texts of the major figures from whom the movement has drawn its beliefs.
Azzabdallah Azzam, Businessworld
Impeccably researched and richly detailed...Al Qaeda in Its Own Words provides readers with some insight into and understanding of the theology and doctrine that forged al-Qaida and the rationale that has driven its global terror campaign for almost two decades...The collection of jihadist excerpts and extant commentary offers fascinating views of the personal motivations and historical influences that shaped bin Laden...A volume indispensable to a better understanding of the group's world view. Kepel's precise and brilliantly written introduction to the writings and statements, of bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abdallah Azzam and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, immediately articulates the difference between the tactic of terrorism (so much the focus of Western democracies war on terror) and al-Qaida's overarching doctrine as an organization that seeks to reshape the world in its own image.
Peter Khalil, The Australian
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Amazone
Very Informative
Very interesting book it is a series of translations of various type of communications from the top Al Qaeda leaders along with personal biographies on each of them. I found reading these communications helpful in giving me an idea of the rationalization of these murderous fanatics.
DennisMcG
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Valuable source of insight into al Qaeda's key players
Kepel and his colleagues provide a valuable source of insight into al Qaeda. The chapter on al-Zawahiri presented a much needed description and structure to his past influences and transformation to a Jihadist. I strongly recommend this book to those interested in the inner workings of terrorist organizations, particularly as a primary reference when researching the subject. For me this book valuable as an authoritative source for my book on...and my continued research of terrorist organizational and leadership behaviors.
Dr. Michael Toney
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Scared that I might be on a list for ordering this book but really it has some interesting write ups by infamous leaders such as Osama Bin Laden.
Sally Wilton, United Kingdom
English If you want to find out what 'the rules' or Al Qaida really means, the. This book is the right choice. As a knowledgeable Muslim with a lot of study of the Islamic history, I found the references and notes section very useful indeed as it furthered by understandings of the latent and searing resentment felt by Sunnis towards their present plight. Basically, it's everyone else's fault that they find their society struggling and decadent. Too much focus on history of a bygone era will naturally result in such a state of mind. What struck me that all the so called Ulema writing fatwas spearheading the Al-Qaida vanguard were iconoclasts, not Islamic academics. Some had had religious education but had severed their ties after going operational like tasting Jihad firsthand, and others who had had no religious education at all like Zarqawai. This text and their fatwas needs to be widely debated in the Islamic world as it has tapping holes and huge inconsistencies which can easily be pointed out by academia and intellectuals, but for some reason the novel task of countering such spurious fatwas has been left to Western academia again. Isn't it time we start filling holes created by our own instead of simply avoiding them? Ironically, this murjia or avoidance is exactly what Al-Qaida theologians seemed to be so pissed off with. I do find myself sympathising with them on murjia though....... English I read this book for the social science style analysis of Islamic fundamentalism. While the dogmatic diatribes were not very engaging, the authors notes on the texts were informative enough to make it worthwhile, especially references to the atrocities the Muslim world has seen in contemporary history, for examples, the civil war in Tajikistan, scapegoating in Burma, wars in Chechnya and Bosnia, massacres in Lebanon (1962?) and Jenin (2002)and the international sanctions around the first Iraq war that supposedly killed 500,000 of which most were children. An extremely sad story to say the least!
Since I was reading for the authors' comments, I think they could have added more in depth information instead of sending the reader to a reference work for bits of background that could be included in the text notes such as more details on the history and leadership of the Muslim brotherhood. In all, I think the book offers some perspective on contemporary issues in that part of the world through the ignorance of Islamic fundamentalism/ extremists. English :) English
Fascinating and dense. English Chaudhary Arshad English
