Posted on 09/28/2006 8:53:07 PM PDT by Dajjal
Very interesting, Sayyid Qutb and his "Milestones" (cliff notes). Thanks for the ping Dajjal.
http://www.routledge.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?sku=&isbn=9780415954259&parent_id=&pc=/
The Sayyid Qutb Reader
edited by Albert J. Bergesen
432 pp.
0415954258 (PB: $29.95)
041595424x (HB: $90.00)
Amazon says the publication date is March 31, but Routledge.com says it will be June 30.
Wow! Thanks for the heads-up. I'll have to get that.
http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521615518
Martyrdom in Islam
by David Cook
224 pp.
0521615518 (PB: $27.00)
0521850401 (HB: $75.00)
Series: Themes in Islamic History, No. 4
Cambridge University Press
Due Feb., 2007
"In recent times Islamic martyrdom has become associated with suicide missions conducted by extremists. However, as David Cook demonstrates, this type of martyrdom is very different from the classical definition which condemned suicide and stipulated that anyone who died a believer could be considered a martyr. Ideas about martyrdom have evolved to suit prevailing circumstances, and it is the evolution of these interpretations that Cook charts in this fascinating history. The book covers the earliest sources on martyrdom including those from the Jewish and Christian traditions, discussions about what constituted martyrdom, and differences in attitudes between Sunnis and Shi'ites. A concluding section discusses martyrdom in today's radical environment. There is no other book which considers the topic so systematically, and which draws so widely on the literary sources. This will be essential reading for students of Islamic history, and for those looking for an informed account of this controversial topic."
Contents
Preface; 1. Martyrs in religion; 2. Martyrdom in the genesis of Islam; 3. Legal definitions, boundaries and rewards of the martyr; 4. Sectarian Islam: Sunni, Shi`ite and Sufi martyrdom; 5. Martyrs: warriors and missionaries in Medieval Islam; 6. Martyrs of love and epic heroes; 7. Patterns of prognostication, narrative and expiation; 8. Martyrdom in contemporary radical Islam; 9. Conclusions; Glossary; Chronology; Appendices; Bibliography.
To quote Admiral Tom Moorer's comment after I gave him a copy of the parallel "Unlimited Warfare" to read and he read it:
"It's not like the didn't tell us what they intend to do."
Knowing the Enemy
Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror * Mary Habeck
After September 11, Americans agonized over why nineteen men hated the United States enough to kill three thousand civilians in an unprovoked assault. Analysts have offered a wide variety of explanations for the attack, but the one voice missing is that of the terrorists themselves. This penetrating book is the first to present the inner logic of al-Qa’ida and like-minded extremist groups by which they justify September 11 and other terrorist attacks.
Mary Habeck explains that these extremist groups belong to a new movement—known as jihadism—with a specific ideology based on the thought of Muhammad ibn Abd al- Wahhab, Hasan al-Banna, and Sayyid Qutb. Jihadist ideology contains new definitions of the unity of God and of jihad, which allow members to call for the destruction of democracy and the United States and to murder innocent men, women, and children. Habeck also suggests how the United States might defeat the jihadis, using their own ideology against them.
MARY HABECK is associate professor, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. She is coeditor of Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War and The Great War and the Twentieth Century, both published by Yale University Press.
To save anyone the trouble of looking it up, all Muslims believe that the soul is not judged immediately after death. They believe that after death, souls go into a big waiting-room called Barzakh ("the veil") where they wait and wait and wait until Judgment Day at the end of time.
Souls in Barzakh can watch what is happening to their friends and relatives down on earth, but they cannot communicate or help them or interact. All they can do is see how the long-term effects of their actions play out, for better or worse, and contemplate all the good and bad choices they had made throughout their lives. Until the actual Day of Judgment, no soul can be absolutely certain of how the scales will tip when his life is weighed. The Qur'an says that sometimes one small sin will tip the scales and send the soul to Hell. So the souls in Barzakh can simply fret and fret and fret for ages.
However, there is one simple way of avoiding Barzakh -- become a martyr. The newspapers always talk about the promise of the "72 virgins," but no Western sources I've seen have ever emphasized the relief the suicide jihadists must feel having "confidence" that they will not have to stew in Barzakh for years, but will immediately enter Paradise, "no questions asked." Martyrdom trumps any number of personal sins a soul may have.
Personally, I think that avoiding Barzakh is a much bigger selling-point than the virgins, and am astonished that none of the "experts" on Islam (like Pipes or Spencer or Lewis) ever mention it.
< fog lifting moment >
:-o
Nuh uh.
< /qutbian reasoning >
Learn something new every day.
Lawrence Wright, writes about it in his book "The Looming Tower.
Highly recomend this book.
Why would anyone want to follow Muhammad and emulate his life? But that's what Muslims are commanded to do by the Koran. They are so mislead and stupid that they believe Muhammad lead a life worth emulating
Thanks for the link! I'll read it later tonight.
It’s obvious where your sonconscious resides. Only someone subconsciously rooted in Jahiliyya would take such an angle to attack a piece of work that fends off any other angle of approach. You can’t hate or deny the message, so you (take the low road) hate & attack the messenger at such a lowly, base level (author)... How Sad...
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