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183 pages

English

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This is a pioneering critical intervention into the study of terrorism, language and political thought. Challenging the commonly held idea that ‘suicide-bombings’ are motivated by a nihilistic hatred of life, this book argues that it is more helpful to examine such violent agency through the concept of ‘sacrifice’.

Through a unique look at the way ‘sacrifice’ is used in the Arabic language, this book offers penetrating insights into jihadi thought. How does it compare to western political theorists such as Machiavelli and von Clausewitz, Hannah Arendt, Julia Kristeva and Judith Butler?

Concluding that the heedless certainty of such violence undermines attempts to redress political grievances, Al-Qaeda and Sacrifice goes beyond simplistic or apologetic explanations of terrorism and allows the authentic jihadi voice to speak for itself.
Introduction

1. From the Vantage Point of Sacrificial Violence: Al-Qaeda’s Worldview in Context

2. The Meanings of Sacrifice in Islam

3. Etymological Reflections on Sacrifice

4. Comparative Political Thought on War, Sacrifices, and Politics

5. The Limits of Sacrificial Subjectivity for Politics

6. Conclusion: Sacrificial Subjectivity for Acephalic Politics

Notes

Index

Sujets

Political Science

Terrorism

Informations

Publié par	Pluto Press
Date de parution	06 septembre 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781849647502
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1850€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Al-Qaeda and Sacrifice

First published 2012 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Distributed in the United States of America exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Copyright © Melissa Finn 2012
The right of Melissa Finn to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 3263 5 Hardback ISBN 978 0 7453 3262 8 Paperback ISBN 978 1 8496 4749 6 PDF eBook ISBN 978 1 8496 4751 9 Kindle eBook ISBN 978 1 8496 4750 2 EPUB eBook
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services Ltd
Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Simultaneously printed digitally by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, UK and Edwards Bros in the United States of America
To Firas, Jubran and Omar Mansour with love and gratitude.
Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements
Foreword

1 Introduction
Premise and Approach of Book
Ideology, Network or Franchise: What is al-Qaeda?
Breakdown of Chapters
2 From the Vantage Point of Sacrificial Violence: al-Qaeda’s Worldview in Context
Sacrifice in the Western and Islamist Traditions: A Comparison
Grappling with al-Qaeda
Putting al-Qaeda in Context
3 The Meanings of Sacrifice in Islam
Etymological Reflections on Sacrifice
Tadhiya
Fida’
Qurban
Dhabh
Ishtishhad/Shahadah
Futuwwah
Irhab
The Islamic Understanding of Sacrifice
Fee sabil’illah : Condition of Martyrdom
Tradition of Jihad
Islamic Political Theory: The Promise of Politics and the Obligations of Political Agency
Trivariate Ethical Paradigm
Just War Tradition in Islam
Conclusion
4 Comparative Political Thought on War and Sacrifices, and Politics
Introduction
Al-Qaeda’s Political Vision
Understanding Sacrificial Subjectivity
Jihadi Sacrifice in Light of Western Thought
Investigating the Parameters of Sacrficial Subjectivity
Intentionality of the Sacrifice
Duty of Sacrifice
Redemption, Retribution: An Eye for an Eye (Life for Life)
The Objects of Sacrifice: The Expendability of Victims
Sacrifice for God Alone
Martyrdom Operations as Sacrilisation, Desacrilisation and Collective Expiation
Principles of Sacrificial Subjectivity for War
The Sacrificial Subject and the Imperative of Hatred
The Sacrifice of Religion through Co-Existence and Dialogue
Eliminating the Enemy
Sacrificial Subjectivity for Politics, or the Management of Savagery for Political Ends
Conclusion
5 The Limits of Sacrificial Subjectivity for Politics
Introduction
Heedless Certainty
Rejection of Democracy
Autoimmunity Destroys Plurality
6 Conclusion: Sacrificial Subjectivity for Acephalic Politics

Notes
Bibliography
Index
Preface and Acknowledgements

The inspiration for this book truly began when I watched Marie Fatayi-Williams plead on 11 July, 2005, for knowledge of the whereabouts of her son Anthony, who had been missing for four days and who was ultimately found to have been killed in the Tavistock Square bus bombing on 7 July, 2005, in London. In July 2005, Anthony Fatayi-Williams (the son of a Christian mother and Muslim father) was 26 years of age and so was I. He was my peer. Marie’s impromtu speech reminded all who witnessed it of the near universal pain of mothers around the world whose children are the unwilling victims of state and non-state terrorism, but whose pain would never have such a platform to be heard. Her words, her expression, her grief and her intensity have been with me for seven years as reference points for clarity of mind on a topic that so regularly clouds it. I frequently return to that image of Marie, standing bravely before the media in the face of her immense loss, for inspiration to write on such difficult subjects as war and terrorism. She implored people provoked by political grievance to find alternative outlets to express and give voice to their anger.

Terrorism is not the way, terrorism is not the way. It doesn’t beget peace. We can’t deliver peace by terrorism, never can we deliver peace by killing people. Throughout history, those people who have changed the world have done so without violence, they have [won] people to their cause through peaceful protest. Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, their discipline, their self-sacrifice, their conviction made people turn towards them, to follow them.
Marie later explained how developing an international organisation for peace in her son’s name was central to keeping Anthony’s memory alive. Marie wrote a short piece on forgiveness and an excerpt from this writing is a haunting summary of one of the main purposes behind this book: mediation and dialogue.

We need to ask the question why. Only then will we be able to start the dialogue and start to create peace. The love I may have for these people is similar to the love that the late John Paul II had for his potential assassin – Mohammed Ali Ag a – correctional love. If I were to meet anyone like the bombers, I’d say, please can we talk? I am searching for a reason. If you don’t know what makes the other person tick, how can you start to heal? Islam doesn’t preach, "Kill, and God will bless you", and those who say it does are distorting the word of the Holy Koran. But, even if people claim this, then rather than just condemning them, we should be asking where is this thinking coming from?
The idea of the importance of sacrifice to martyrdom operations (and of the failure of "suicide bombing" to be analytically interesting or explain "where this thinking is coming from") came to me one day in a mini epiphany at a University of Waterloo library in March of 2007 (it had come to others many years before). Since that day, I have spent countless hours in conversation with my husband (my sounding board) on martyrdom in the Muslim world. His insights and clarifications on many key issues improved the book significantly. I am grateful for his support of this effort and for sustaining the mental drain of writing with fabulous food that drew fabulous company.
I would never have finished this work as quickly or as efficiently without the encouragement of my family including Michael, Holly and Sandy Finn, Helen Smith, Terry Fairhurst, Debra Kelly, the Smith and Finn extended families, Kamal Mansour, and the Mansour extended family, as well as meaningful exchanges with friends Zara Haque, Mateen Rokhsefat, Noreen Kassem, Roshan Jahangeer, Diane Fereig, Mahdi Tourage, Hena Tyyebi, Sylvia and Rick Holly, Arshavez Mozafari, Ilham and Shawn Thompson, Tacita Bastien and Charlene Smith. Many thanks to Deborah Shewell and Henry and Jack Gardner for their help and support.
Al-Qaeda and Sacrifice is based on my doctoral dissertation on the sacrificial subject. My Ph.D supervisor, Elizabeth Dauphinée, was a dedicated and conscientious interlocutor. She read through the work in its many drafts with a fine-toothed comb and I am deeply indebted to her for her effort. Many of the right turns I took in writing this book were because of her unflagging direction and high standards. The "spark" for my direction in terrorism studies came from the mentorship of Engin F. Isin in the Fall of 2005. Engin provided the research assistantship that allowed me to dive headfirst into Islamic political philosophy. I am very grateful to Shannon Bell for her enthusiasm for my work and for dropping thought-provoking ideas at critical junctures. This book was vastly improved by my various dialogues with people – through questions that were answered, ideas that were exchanged, and clarifications that were made – including, but not limited to: Shannon Bell, Wanda Krause, Jasser Auda, Adel Fakih, Abdullah Hojaij, Jim Keeley, David Mutimer, Walid El-Khachab, Richard Jackson, Christina Hellmich, Ahmed Elewa, Chris Anzalone, Yasir Qadhi, Stefanos Kourkoulakos, and Anna Agathangelou. Ahmed Elewa, Adel Fakih and Abdullah Hojaij kindly proofread through the sections on Arabic etymology and corrected a few of my mistakes. Walid El-Khachab also proofread the etymology section and encouraged me to analyse " irhab ". Thank you to Yasir Qadhi for backing this work with such a moving foreword. Christina Hellmich provided me with much food for thought and critical review in the final stages of manuscript preparation.
The substantive comments I received from anonymous reviewers during the manuscript proposal stage helped me to streamline the content and clarify my approach. I have learned a lot about the subject matter of this book from the courses I have taught at Wilfrid Laurier University and York University, and from my amazing students whom I cherish. I was nurtured throughout the 2011–12 academic year by the administrative faculty and staff in Department of Political Science and the Department of Global Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. In particular, I am grateful to Dejan Guzina, Sherry Palmer, Heather Vogel, Alistair Edgar, John Boye Ejobowah and Nancy Forde for their kindness.
From the bottom of my heart, I thank my editors at Pluto Press, David Shulman and Roger van Zwanenberg, for believing in the project and backing its radical – yet critically important –premises.
I have relied significantly on the innovation and scholarship of Roxanne L. Euben in constructing this work of comparative theory. All faults in this writing project, as well as the limitations in my approach are my own respo