The Canons of Jihad: Terrorists' Strategy for Defeating America

by Jim Lacey (Editor)

Since the 9/11 attacks, scholars have struggled to help Westerners understand what motivates the jihadi movement. Noting that the best way to understand jihadists is to ignore statements they release to the West in favor of examining what they say to each other, Jim Lacey provides a definitive collection of writings that intellectually underpins the movement. Rather than guessing about terrorist motivations from a Western perspective, readers are offered essays including those by the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hasan al-Banna, and a leading early member, Sayed Qutb that define the movement through the eyes of the terrorists themselves. As jihadist cadres begin to rebuild, Lacey notes that they are turning once again to their original thinkers to justify their actions. This project is sponsored by the United States Joint Forces Command.

216 pages, Paperback

First published March 5, 2008

About the author

Jim Lacey is an analyst at the Institute for Defense Analyses and a professor of conflict and global issues at Johns Hopkins University. Lacey was an embedded journalist with Time magazine during the invasion of Iraq, where he traveled with the 101st Airborne Division. His opinion columns have been published in The Weekly Standard, The National Review, and The New York Post. Lacey is the author of Takedown, Fresh from the Fight, and Occupation of Iraq. He lives in Alexandria, VA.

Reviews

[Briayna Cuffie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scary. I’m glad I finally found a translation for some of the documents that I knew existed. To partner the phrasing of these extremist leaders/philosophers, with an already tattered/defeated person’s lack of sense of self, definitely makes for a growing population of terrorists. Some of the philosophers contradict each other in subtle ways.