Good books on radical Islam?

[Os Cangaceiros]

I'd like to know a little more about the history of radical Islamism in the modern era, does anyone have any good suggestions? I like solid history, well-researched with an annotated bibliography and all that good stuff, but I also kind of want a history aimed at & written for a popular audience.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I like books written by investigative reporters, too.

[Devrim]

I'd start with the Koran.

Devrim

[Os Cangaceiros]

I was under the impression that Islamists are more into the hadiths than the Koran, but I've never actually read the Koran.

[Devrim]

I'm not trying to be facetious. I think it's worth reading the Koran just to give a bit of general background. I think it's a book people should read anyway and very few in the West have.

Devrim

[Hrafn]

I entirely disagree with devrim. Do you have to read the Bible to understand Christian extremism? I don't think so.

[Devrim]

I entirely disagree with devrim. Do you have to read the Bible to understand Christian extremism? I don't think so.

No, you don't, but then I'd imagine that most people on here have been brought up in the Chritian world, and know a bit of the background anyway, yet perhaps wouldn't be so familiar with the Koran.

Plus it is one of the great pieces of world literature. People should read it anyway.

Devrim

[DOOM]

I entirely disagree with devrim. Do you have to read the Bible to understand Christian extremism? I don't think so.

Well you do have to. Christian extremism and Islamism are both ideologies, which take their holy books as the basis for their ideology.

Hamed Abdel-Samad, a german ex-islamist wrote a book on this topic, comparing Islamism to fascism. He argued that the roots of Islamism are coming from the history of Islam and the circumstances of its formation. However, I'm not so sure if he's using materialist analysis or if it's just some liberal-humanist rubbish.

[RA89]

Understanding Muhammed by Ali Sina.

[Brosa Luxemburg]

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but "The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia" by David Commins is absolutely fantastic and is a work of "solid history" (i'm a history major actually and prefer these works as well). Really interesting to see how religion (Wahhabism) and State (Saudi family) tied together to form the nation-state of Saudi Arabia.
Commins has other work on the Arab world and Islam, but I can't vouch for those personally.

[Red Terror Dr.]

Check out The End of Faith by Sam Harris

[Os Cangaceiros]

Check out The End of Faith by Sam Harris

That's not really the sort of thing I'm looking for. I'd prefer a (relatively) non-biased factual account of Islamist activist in the modern era, post-Sayyid Qutb. The activities of violent subcultural/political sects has always been a subject I've found fascinating so I thought it'd probably a subject I'd find interesting

I'm an atheist so I don't really need any convincing about how religion is bad or anything like that.

[Sasha]

Haven't read them but these are some promising looking results from browsing our political bookstores catalogue which picks I always very much trust;
http://www.sjakoo.nl/books/18563.htm
http://www.sjakoo.nl/books/19606.htm
http://www.sjakoo.nl/books/19988.htm
http://www.sjakoo.nl/books/19255.htm

[Creative Destruction]

I entirely disagree with devrim. Do you have to read the Bible to understand Christian extremism? I don't think so.

I think so, at least the pieces of scripture they refer to. It's good to have a background when you're confronting their ideas; whether they're taking it literally or what kind of contextual evidence they use to justify their positions. When you actually research Christian extremists, especially those in right-wing Catholicism, it's good to have your bearing so you're not lost in trying to decipher what they're saying. It's usually not enough to just say "Yeah, you're crazy... go suck on a tailpipe." If you have any interest in combating Christian extremism itself, you need some foundation to understand their ideas.

More over, if you don't, you can fall in the trap (as the New Atheists have) of wholesale rejection of people and their beliefs, in a condescending way. For example, there's a lot of people condemning "Islam" and "Muslims" for their advocacy of "covering up women." When you read the Koran, you see that the hijab is a very general guideline, just as "keeping modesty" is in Christian and Judaism. The full body coverings come out of pre-Islamic traditions have been ported over into what are now majority Islamic societies. Knowing this is valuable in distinguishing between most Muslims (who, for the most part, take liberal interpretations of the hijab) and extremist Muslims, who insist that the full body covering is Islamic law... despite the fact that strict guidelines are not found in the Koran. This becomes further complicated when you consider that there are Muslim intellectuals who say that the hijab was only supposed to apply to Mohammed's wives rather than women generally.

[Creative Destruction]

Check out The End of Faith by Sam Harris

No. Don't. Sam Harris is a racist clown who has added very little of value when it comes to religious discourse.

[Creative Destruction]

If you're interested in the motivations of extreme Islamists (at least some of them), get this book: http://www.amazon.com/Terrorists-Love-Stories-Islamic-Radicals/dp/1451672586

This is the NPR interview where I found out about the book, a couple years ago:

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/05/140947193/terrorists-in-love-the-psychology-of-extremism

[Sea]

No, you don't, but then I'd imagine that most people on here have been brought up in the Chritian world, and know a bit of the background anyway, yet perhaps wouldn't be so familiar with the Koran.Right. Because we're part of the Chritian world we know by experience that the shit that Christian extremists do is to a large degree arbitrary and relies off of selective readings with heavy amounts of confirmation bias. We also know that damn near all holy books are written in a way that is open to crazy amounts of interpretation. You wouldn't crack open a bible to learn about David Koresh or the Quakers, would you? Like in Christianity there are many competing and contradictory sects within Islam. The Koran is of course very helpful to understanding Islam in general, but unless you want to assert that the beliefs of radical Islamists are far more Koranic than any other Islamic trend it won't be very helpful in learning about radical Islam in particular.

[Rafiq]

The Koran is only useful in understanding the aroma of Islam - even then, it is immensely vague and alone may not be of great use.

In the end, Muslim identity, Muslim beliefs and Muslim practices will always be rooted in the complexity of Muslim communities. Understand them, and you will understand Islam (and perhaps radical Islam).

[RA89]

No. Don't. Sam Harris is a racist clown who has added very little of value when it comes to religious discourse.

Why do you say that?

[Creative Destruction]

Why do you say that?

He's written before about how all Muslims need to be profiled, even people who "look" like Muslims. That's one example of many, but he is a racist clown who needs to be summarily disregarded for his horrid opinions.