Islamic Jihad Research Articles

Choices Facing the United States: Greater Israel or Global Israel?

Choices Facing the United States: Greater Israel or Global Israel? Daniel C. Kurtzer (bio) Zionism is, arguably, the most successful movement of national liberation in the last 100 years, and Israel is, inarguably, one of the most potent states globally in terms of security, economy, and society. Israel has absorbed millions of immigrants from diverse geographical and cultural milieus, built a thriving economy, developed a powerful army and achieved a remarkable degree of social cohesion, all this while living in a neighborhood in which all but two countries still consider themselves in a state of war with Israel. To be sure, there have been and continue to be problems that Israel has not been able to fix or to which Israeli policy has contributed. Chief among them are the unresolved issue of the territories that Israel occupied in 1967 (the so-called Palestine question), significant and growing inequalities in the distribution of wealth within Israeli society, endemic tensions between religious and secular Jews, and questions about the durability of Israel’s democracy raised by recent legislative initiatives designed to curb activities and funding of those on the political left. The United States has been a proud and significant supporter of Israel, providing significant resources to fund military and security requirements, participating in joint research and development in advanced defense and related technologies, and, for many years, providing an economic safety net that allowed Israel to take hard decisions related to economic development. The United States has been an active participant and advocate in promoting peace between Israel and its neighbors, has helped Israel build its international ties, and has defended Israel in international fora. The prognosis for Israel and for U.S.-Israeli ties is excellent, as the two countries continue to find ways to deepen and strengthen bilateral cooperation. However, there are some worrying signs ahead that should prompt significant attention to the fabric of the relationship. A look ahead at the [End Page 246] promise and problems would be facilitated by a deep look back at the first seventy years of Israeli sovereignty and of U.S.-Israeli relations. The conventional method for assessing the bilateral relationship between Israel and the United States has been to look at shared values and shared interests, including shared threat assessments. In the United States, Israel has been popularized as a liberal democracy, committed to openness and the advancement of rights and liberties. The United States and Israel have usually tended to share a similar appreciation of the threats that Israel faces—ranging from terrorism and violence emanating from within the occupied territories; terrorism and incessant missile fire from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and from Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza; and over-the-horizon threats from Iraq (before 2003) and more recently from Iran. While the mutual understanding of threats did not always result in a common policy approach, the two countries benefitted greatly from the intelligence sharing and overall strategic cooperation that was set in place to try to deal with the threats. More tangibly, the United States has made unprecedented long-term commitments to provide Israel with substantial amounts of security assistance plus additional aid that Congress continues to authorize for special purposes such as anti-missile development. The values aspect of this relationship has come under strain of late, as the attitudes of some American Jews have shifted. For example, large swaths of American Jewry associate with the conservative and reform religious movements; Israel’s religious affairs ministry, under the control of ultra-orthodox rabbis, has set standards for conversion, marriage, and recognition of Jewish identity that place many of these American Jews outside the pale. The dispute over prayer space at the Western Wall has exacerbated this split. As noted in several recent books, more American Jews have become critical of Israeli policy vis-à-vis the Palestinian issue, especially the continued building of settlements. For younger Jews, the Israel they have grown up with is the Israel of the Lebanon war and of occupation, unlike their parents who grew up with the mythic image of the Israel of Leon Uris’ Exodus. The United States and Israel also now differ fundamentally about several critical security issues and...

Terorisme: Perspektif Barat dan Islam

The issue of terrorism has tapped the border of human civilization. The West has a viewon terrorism following their own perceptions. Now the Western world is afraid of theirown shadows after the entry into force of the events of September 11, 2001 which haveembodied the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York. This black event has reallyshocked the Western world which so far they are proud that the United States is thegreat power of the world, has now been attacked so extreme. The problem that arisesnow in the Islamic world is that the West has misinterpreted what is said to be jihad.The enemy of Islam has labeled terrorism as a jihad in Islam, this is how the West triesto put Islam as a ferocious religion. The term jihad is what terrorism says for the West.In Islamic teachings jihad cases are something that is highly demanded and has nodirect connection with terrorism activities.

Idealism of Jihad and War from the Qurʾanic Perspective

Abstract There are various verses in the Qurʾan which apparently lead to the meaning of war. With regard to its intepretation of its related verses, there are mainly two different views. The first view argues that war in Islam will not happen but in a defensive manner. In other words, a war among Muslims would not happen unless they have been attacked and their reaction is in the form of counter attack in order to protect their dignity and life. The second view sees war in offensive manner. It is considered as a holy war (jihād) which is under the category of striving in the cause of Allah, and recommended to gain the status of martyrdom (syahīd). These different views create variant intepretations of the word jihād and war. The existance of certain groups related to terrorism such as Islamic State of Iraq and al-Syam (isis), al-Qaeda, Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyyah and others, abusing the name of Islam and using hostile approaches in order to achieve their aims, have clearly a negative impact on Islam. This article reviews the meaning of jihād and war in accordance to the Qurʾanic perspective in order to address this issue fairly. Relevant data have been taken from selected authoritative Qurʾanic exegesis pertaining to verses of jihād and war. It uses content analysis to analyse those related data.The article concludes that jihad in Islam is subject to sincere intention and a clear objective: it does not simply mean fighting. A war should be viewed from different aspects whether defensive or offensive because different backgounds will lead to the both. Both jihad and war are clearly different from terrorism, and both of them are associated with the meaning of fī sabīllah as commonly understood.

Reinterpretasi Konsep Fî Sabîl Al-Lâh Sebagai Ashnâf Zakat


 The term jihad fi sabîl al-Lâh is often used to refer to physical war in the path of God. The word, as it is derived from the Qs. al-Tawbah (9): 60, in fact connotes specific and general meanings. The specific meaning of it commonly found in classical ulema’s interpretation is related to the war. This interpretation is based on historical evidence and supported by the literal meaning of Qur’an and the hadith. But such a meaning is now criticized and regarded as going beyond the conceptual boundary of jihad in Islam.
 This article seeks to explore the general meaning of the term in the works of classical and contemporary Muslim scholars, aimed at offering a more contextual meaning. It shows that the term does not always necessarily mean the physical war in the name of God or religion, but it can be meant as education, human welfare, and social development.

Fundamentalist mindset

ABSTRACTFundamentalism has increasingly become a part of the political discourse in western countries and is to a large degree associated Islamic Jihadism. Fundamentalism has, however, been a concern in all religions, especially in Christianity where the term has its origin more than 100 years ago. Fundamentalism is also a concern in professional organisations and this paper starts with a discussion of the relation between fundaments and fundamentalist tendencies in psychoanalysis. This is then related to fundamentalism on a larger scale in religious and political contexts. A central question is how adherence to fundamentals, understood as basic principles for a profession or a religious-political movement, may develop into fundamentalism and how this again may develop into more violent forms. It is argued that fundamentalism develops in historical and societal contexts that involve oppression, atrocities and suffering that can set in motion unconscious processes and that these can attain expression and form in religious–political ideologies. These ideologies can give solutions by among others strengthening societal division and splitting and by identifying scapegoats. Psychoanalytic understanding of mass psychology and unconscious processes at group levels are developed to understand present Islamic and other forms of fundamentalist movements in the European context.

The United States and Israel

The United States and Israel

Global Terrorism and Islamic Radicalization: Analyses from Fethullah Gulen’s Perspective

Global Terrorism and Islamic Radicalization: Analyses from Fethullah Gulen’s Perspective Dr. Recep Dogan Abstract Terrorism and Islamic radicalization has become a major concern for every citizen of the world in this day and age. The acts of terror has perpetrated across the borders of nations and caused global unrest, fear and uncertainty. The recent terrorist attacks at Paris brought our attention once again to radical Islam and terrorism. People from different parts of life have become more curious as to whether Islam is the source of these violent attacks or is it the marginal groups who misinterpret it, in spite of the majority of Muslims who oppose them. Terrorism is a crime against humanity and it does not belong to any religion although Islam and terrorism have been used as synonymies by some scholars and media groups. The phrase „Islamic terror‟ is an insult to Muslims all over the world for they denounce all forms of terrorism and condemn it with a strong language. Indeed, some radical groups utilize this approach to encourage some ignorant youths to join them. It is imperative that we make a stand against all forms of terror by promoting the views of moderate Islamic scholars. In this essay, we examine terror, its definition and Islamic perspective on terror on the basis of primary sources; interpretation of Islam by radical groups and their contradictions; the status of terrorists in Islam; the notion of jihad in Islam and it‟s misinterpretation by extreme groups, Islamic radicalization and its analyses. We discuss these issues from the perspective of Fethullah Gulen, prominent contemporary scholar. The essay concludes with a need for moderate Muslim scholars who advocate universal human values, democracy and dialogue amongst different cultures, faiths and ethnic groups to promote world peace. Fethullah Gulen is an Islamic thinker, community leader and social advocate who dedicated his life to dialogue and mutual respect amongst different cultures and religions to promote world peace and universal human values. Due to his great effect on people, he was named as one of Time Magazine‟s 100 most influential people in the world in 2013 and was also recognized as a scholar who preaches a message of tolerance in global scale. The Economist described him as „a farm boy on the world stage‟. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jisc.v5n2a1

Ideology, Global Strategy, and Development of the Islamic State and its Influence on China's "One Belt, One Road" Initiative

The Islamic State is a Sunnite Islamic Jihad Salafist military organization. It originated from an Iraqi military branch loyal to al-Qaeda and has developed into a vital, regional military force in the area of Syria and Iraq since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011. The Islamic State is a new form of a religious, extremist organization whose existence and development are supported by the armed forces, the economic base, and other related factors. The ideology of the Islamic State was derived from Jihad Salafism in Islamic political thought. To achieve its political objectives, it tailors its global strategy to local circumstances. In the future, the political identity of the Islamic State will be shrinking, but its organizational identity will not disappear any time soon. The influence of the rise of the Islamic State on Chinese “One Belt, One Road” will probably center on national security, trade investment, and cooperation on energies. After five years of chaos in the Middle East, there is a growing desire for stability there. The Chinese word for crisis connotes both risk and opportunity. The current circumstances present more opportunities than risks for China to get involved in the Middle East.

Reading the Qur'ān: How Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Explain Sura al-Isra (17)

ABSTRACTSura 17, in particular verses 1-8. What is the meaning of verse 5 that says that the Jews corrupted the land—twice? Which land? Is it Medina or Jerusalem? Books about Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners and scholars revealed that this is form of prophecy. Fahmi ‘Aid Ramadhan al-Mashaira, a Hamas prisoner since 2002 said: ‘The Jews corrupted this land, the first time in Medina and al-Hijaz … the second time of their corruption is here in our land, in Palestine.’ Another Islamic Jihad version is that the first time was also in Palestine and not in Medina. This political interpretation of the Quran justifies the saber (patience) principle of the Islamic stream in Palestinian society. It is already written in the Quran as Sheikh Ahmad Yassin remarked in 1998. The Muslim Palestinian movements are Allah’s servants who will fulfill this prophecy. Verse 104, in the same chapter, refers to another prophecy about the Children of Israel. ‘Dwell in the land, and when there comes the promise of the Hereafter, We will bring you forth in [one] gathering.’ What promise? When? How do Muslim scholars deal with such contradictions between the verses? These are the aims of this paper.

Lone-wolf or terror organization members acting alone: new look at the last Israeli–Palestine incidents

ABSTRACTThe ‘sacrificial attacks’ in Jerusalem and throughout all of Israel, from July 2014 until August 2015, were the promo of the full-scale knife-attack that started from October 2015 until now. The uniqueness of this wave of terror is its length – over a year – and its use of the old-new ‘white weapons’ which, since October 2015, has included women and children. This research answers how and why these lone-wolf attacks started. The ‘lone-wolf’ attacks, as nicknamed in the Israeli and worldwide press, are, in reality, a continuation of the organized terror activities of the Palestinian liberation organizations especially the Islamic Jihad and Hamas. This is not a popular intifada drawing the masses, nor an armed intifada, but a wave of terror that includes a large number of initiated attacks by known anti-Israel Palestinians connected to terrorist organizations by their past activities or through relatives (prisoners or martyrs) or inspired by the Internet sites and social media. The Palestinian liberation organizations are all protecting al-Aqsa and supporting, without any restrictions, a continuation of the attacks against Israeli targets in Jerusalem and competing with each other.

THE CONCEPT OF JIHAD IN ISLAM

THE CONCEPT OF JIHAD IN ISLAM

The Concept of Jihad In Islam

The Concept of Jihad In Islam

Génesis del fundamentalismo islámico. Auge de los movimientos islamistas globales con los ejemplos de Egipto y Argelia de 1979 a 2001

Since the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan that same year, a new phenomenon in contemporary history, which is the rise of Islam, was developed. During the 90s, it became a movement of global range, expanding across the globe, with huge implications for security, politics and international relations. This article analyzes the reason or principles by which Islamist movements emerged, the reason for their radicalization, how their ideology affects international security, using in this case two clear examples, viz. Algeria in the Maghreb and Egypt in the Mashreq. It discusses the nearly 30 years of Islamist rise, its causes, political motivations, modus operandi, its involvement in the regional politics of the Middle East as well as its international expansion and proselytism, where a large and complex activity by these groups is located. Keywords: Islamism, Middle East, armed groups, armed Islamic group, Islamic Jihad.

The Desecularization of Conflict: The Role of Religion in Russia's Confrontation with Chechnya, 1785–Today

The post-Soviet Chechen independence movement was not an Islamic jihad, nor did religion play any significant role in the formation of the movement in its early stages of development. The grievance...

The Emergence of Ex-Jihadi Political Parties in Post-Mubarak Egypt

Following the overthrow of Husni Mubarak, al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya and members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad created two political parties. This article investigates these groups' organizational dynamics and internal dialogues in order to uncover the rationale of their political participation after the January 2011 uprising and its internal ideational legitimization. Based on interviews with leaders and members of these two groups and their political parties, this article argues that these formerly violent insurgent groups embraced nonviolent participation in democratic politics through an internal reassessment of the political opportunities afforded to them by Egypt's brief political opening.After decades of opposition to former president Husni Mubarak's authoritarian regime, two of Egypt's most famous armed Islamic movements, al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (the Islamic Group) and Egyptian Islamic Jihad (known officially as the Jihad Group, Jama'at al-Jihad), partially joined the political process in Egypt after the January 2011 uprising. Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, which led a low-level insurgency in the 1990s, created the Building and Development Party, while an agglomeration of individuals formerly affiliated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which carried out various assassinations before some of its members helped form al-Qa'ida, created the Safety and Development Party, later renamed the Islamic Party. While the study of the political inclusion of mainstream and armed Islamist movements has been widely covered in the literature, the transformation of a former jihadi organization into a political party is rare.The study of armed and mainstream Islamist movements' political participation has primarily explored groups' rationales for doing so and the ramifications of their ideological and behavioral evolution. This new case study in Egypt represents a third pattern, namely the participation of former militant groups in the political process after their partial or comprehensive rejection of armed violence. This development is a striking contrast with previous cases, which raises many questions regarding the groups' rationales, internal negotiations and legitimization, and impact on the construction of these groups' ideological outlook and political behavior.This article covers the two-year period from the January 2011 uprising to the aftermath of the July 2013 military coup. It does not endeavor to uncover the long-term ramifications of this unprecedented participation in the political process. Instead, this article investigates these groups' rationales for this shift and then explores the internal debates and decision-making processes that legitimized political participation in the eyes of these groups' members and followers.In this article, I argue that al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya and Egyptian Islamic Jihad joined the political process primarily because of their interpretations of the new political opportunities available to them, and that this decision was not preceded by an acceptance of democracy or party politics in Islam. This research then explores these groups' internal debates in order to demonstrate that this choice was not initially unanimous among either group's leaders or members. A comparison between al-Gama'a alIslamiyya and Egyptian Islamic Jihad shows that the former had institutional arrangements before 2011 that promoted debates within the organization. This facilitated the group's internal democratization, which led it to fully endorse the decision to create a political party. Conversely, the 2011 uprising caused prior divisions between Egyptian Islamic Jihad leaders and members to widen, preventing the group from endorsing a unified position over the legitimacy of the political process. Finally, this article analyzes the internal legitimization of political participation inside al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya and factions of Egyptian Islamic Jihad that endorsed the political process, arguing that these groups strived to reinterpret their original missions to demonstrate the continuity between their past commitments and the decision to create a political party after 2011. …

Palestinian public opinion and terrorism: A two-way street?

The study addressed the relationship between terror attacks and public opinion among potentially supportive communities. We investigated whether terror attacks by Palestinian groups predict and are predicted by Palestinian public opinion. We examined the relationship of public opinion to total terror attacks, suicide attacks, and attacks by different groups. Increases in attacks predicted subsequent increases in public support for violence. Suicide attacks did not have a unique effect on support for violence, but suicide attacks by Hamas predicted increased support. Furthermore, increased public support for violence predicted subsequent increases in attacks by Fatah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), as well as suicide attacks by Fatah and Hamas, but not PIJ. The findings suggest that effects of terrorism extend beyond targeted opponents to potentially supportive communities and that terrorism-using groups relying on public support may regulate their militant activities according to public opinion.

Terorisme sebagai Cabaran Ideologi Muslim Masa Kini: Satu Analisis dari Perspektif Falsafah

Terrorism is currently becoming an ideological challenge for Muslims in contemporary world. The rise of terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (IS) and others who claimed themselves as jihadist and propagates Islamic jihad similar to the idea of the medieval ‘Holy War’ not only target non-Muslims or kuffar, but also their Muslim brothers respectively. This act of terrorism raised dilemma among Muslim societies in general whether to support the extreme groups or to defy them as they portrayed themselves as representing the whole Muslims whereas in fact they only represent a group of disillusioned Muslims. This paper aims at analysing their ideological challenge from the philosophical point of view and Islamic ethics. Generally, this analysis emphasizes on the importance of Islamic ethics and law in order to achieve true understanding of jihad.

The Islamic Principles of Social Justice: Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Nonviolent Civil Disobedience

The idea of nonviolent civil disobedience is to act against injustice and unjust laws. This has been Mahatma Gandhi’s motivation, as well as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s. For an Islamic religious authority of Maulana Azad’s stature and caliber to embrace nonviolent activism for the sake of social justice, it is a significant change in the course of action in Islam against oppression. The concepts of justice/injustice, oppression, and social justice need to be examined in historical context, beginning with early Islamic history, followed by the period of British colonial rule and the Indian struggle against it as led by Mahatma Gandhi and Maulana Azad. This article analyzes the principles of Maulana Azad in the struggle against injustice, and how that compares to the principles and practices of Islamic militancy and jihadism. The latter are viewed as illegitimate, while Maulana Azad’s Islamic credentials render his acceptance of nonviolent civil disobedience as far more legitimate.

Rewriting the Just War Tradition: Just War in Classical Greek Political Thought and Practice

The just war tradition is the predominant western framework for thinking about the ethics of contemporary war. Political and military leaders frequently invoke its venerable lineage to lend ballast to their arguments for or against particular wars. How we understand the history of just war matters, then, for it subtends how that discourse is deployed today. Conventional accounts of the just war trace its origins to the writings of Saint Augustine in the 4th century CE. This discounts the possibility that just war ideas were in circulation prior to this, in the classical world. This article contests this omission. It contends that ideas homologous to a range of core jus ad bellum, jus in bello, and jus post bellum principles were evident in classical Greek political thought and practice. This finding challenges scholars to re-consider not only the common view that the just war is, at root, a Christian tradition, but also the relation between victory and just war, the nature of the ties binding just war and Islamic jihad, and an innovative approach to the comparative ethics of war.

Visual Representation, Propaganda and Cyberspace: The Case of the Palestinian Islamist Movements

AbstractThe article analyzes the changing position of the visual representation in the context of Islam from the starting point set up in the Qur'an and more specifically in the prophetic tradition to the theoretical positions of Islamic reformism and radicalism and the practice of Islamism movements. To understand this changing relationship is crucial for the research of ideology and propaganda of the contemporary Islamist movement. In the second part, the article illustrates this new position of images in the visual representations of Palestinian Islamist movements, specifically of Hamas — The Islamic Resistance Movement and its military wing the Brigades of the Martyr ‘Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine and its military wing the Phalanges of Jerusalem and finally the Popular Resistance Committees and its military wing the Victorious Salah al-Din Brigades.