"Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam"

Paper Summary:

The book "Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam" by Gilles Kepel argues the recent history of Islam and what has caused splinter Muslims to declare a jihad (holy war) against the United States. The paper shows that Kepel sees the September 11 attacks on the United States as compelling evidence the Muslim jihad is losing ground and spells out the reasons for his belief in this persuasive volume. The paper also explains the different sections in the book.

From the Paper:

"The second section "Decline," begins with the 1991 Gulf War, and leads the reader to the current state of affairs in the Middle East and beyond. This section includes an analysis of terrorist leader Osama bin Ladin and his motives for declaring a holy war against the western world. The author believes the Gulf War built a rift between the fundamentalists and more modern Muslim thinkers, and local support is now greatly divided, especially in the Middle Eastern countries that benefit so much from western influence, such as Kuwait. He believes the movement did indeed bring about cohesiveness and a bond for about ten years, but that bond is now broken, and there is much dissention in the Muslim world regarding extremists and their tremendously conservative view of the Koran and its wisdom. Many scholars employ a far different view of the Koran, and refute its translation as a means to political conflict and destruction."

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