Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam

The interesting thesis of Kepel is not the success, but rather the failure of, jihadist Islam. Kepel explains in a straightforward manner how political Islam has failed and jihadistic efforts are an indication of how poorly jihad has fared. He is not claiming that jihad is not deadly, a threat, or will not sustain itself over the long term but it has tried and been found wanting.

The seeds of the destructing of jihad are found in the phenomenon itself. Kepel writes: 'Paradoxically, the Islamist experience itself has produced some of the conditions that have led to its own obsolescence. In the ranks of veiled female militants demanding application of the Sharia we see, in many cases, the first generation of women to speak in public show more outside their homes and beyond their domestic role' (p. 13).

By inference, the real challenge to Western democracies is not jihad, but sharia, which is more insidious and the West, consider Eurabia for example, has no in-built defense against an enemy that implodes Western liberties from within. show less

Not an easy book to read, but a very good history of the current political Islamic movement.

Un livre que j'ai trouvé très intéressant pour se faire une idée sur l'évolution de l'islamisme, ses succès, ses échecs, sa radicalisation et son avenir.Pas toujours très facile de tout suivre, parmi la multitude de noms, d'organisations, de dates, mais on arrive à retirer des choses claires malgré tout car la mise en parallèle des différents pays permet de se situer. Le seul petit reproche, c'est les allers et retours dans les dates, mais rien de bien méchant. L'ensemble est très bien organisé, mais attention, ce n'est pas un petit livre pour se faire une idée, c'est un livre complet pour qui veut vraiment se documenter, et qui encourage à consulter d'autres ouvrages, parmi les dizaines cités d'ailleurs dans les notes show more accompagnatrices. show less