Product Description

The suicide attacks of 11 September 2001 originated deep within Islamist circles. One of the prime suspects behind the attack, the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, was heavily influenced by Egypt's radical movements and by Sayyid Qutb, a Muslim Brother who became a prime advocate of jihad and renewed Islamist thought in the 1950s. Widely considered the heir to this legacy, al-Zawahiri remains a driving force behind al-Qaeda itself. Gilles Kepel, one of the world's leading experts on Islamist movements, was amongst the first to identify Egypt as the cradle of contemporary Islamism. This seminal work, with a new introduction that puts it in perspective, gives a profoundly perceptive account of the foundations of today's radical Islamic organisations, and offers compelling insights into the structure, theory and tactics employed by the various groups as early as the 1970s in Egypt.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96160 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
'Broadly conceived and incisive.' New York Review of Books 'Kepel offers the interested observer a fascinating insight into the Islamist movement.' Financial Times 'An extremely thoughtful and balanced guide to a movement whose influence can no longer be ignored.' The Cambridge Review 'The best book so far published on Egypt's Islamic movements ... essential reading for anyone interested in the wider 'Islamic revival' The Middle East 'An excellent work: stimulating, rich in first-hand information, and replete with lessons.' Maxime Rodinson

The Cambridge Review
‘An extremely thoughtful and balanced guide to a movement whose influence can no longer be ignored.’

Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Terror in the Mind
‘This book gives the background necessary to understand the purpose and mindset of today’s religious radicals.’

Customer Reviews

Beginning to understand
I read this book to try to fill in gaps in what I knew was an imperfect understanding of radical Islam and also to try to answer a number of big questions. How could people who had never met me hate me and everything I represent enough to want to kill me? How can a religion which is supposed to be about spirituality be used to generate the levels of hatred clearly manifested by terrorist attacks? And more importantly, what can be done to act against this kind of philosophy and to change the conditions in which is flourishes?

In a structured and easily understandable style Gilles Kepel provides some of the answers, at least to how we have got here. For those with no direct knowledge and experience of either Egypt or Islam he provides sufficient detail to make sense of developments over the past few decades, and to understand the mind set of those whose exploits we hear described in the news everyday. His view is also non-judgemental and clearly comes from an academic rather than political standpoint providing illustration rather than justification for any side, and creating a balanced narrative of events. All in all - A good starting point for trying to understand this complex issue and one which leaves the reader with plenty of food for thought and sufficient knowledge to act as a foundation for seeking out further material.

Egypt as the cradle of Islamic Radicalism
Gilles Kepel's work was first published in 1984, and unfortunately it has only grown in importance as the national movement it describes has mushroomed into a global menace.

Kepel's book is focussed on the growth of Islamic movements in post-colonial Egypt, including the moderate Muslim Brotherhood, and the ways in which successive Egyptian leaders alternately repressed or co-opted them.

Kepel's book was probably one of the first to try to describe to a western audience the work of Sayyid Qutb, now widely considered the intellectual father of Islamic radicalism.

All in all, this is an essential book for people who want to learn about the political environment in which modern Islamic radicalism first took root.