Militant Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat

A top adviser at the Joint Intelligence Task Force for Combating Terrorism argues that winning the war against Militant Islamists requires a more nuanced understanding of their ideology. His book is among the first attempts to deconstruct and marginalize al-Qaida ideology using Islamic based arguments. By clearly defining the differences between Islam, Islamist, and Military Islamist, Aboul-Enein highlights how militant Islamist ideology takes fragments of Islamic history and theology and weaves them into a narrow, pseudo-intellectual ideology to justify their violence against Muslims and non-Muslims alike. In offering a comprehensive explanation of how Militant Islamists have hijacked the Islamic religion, Aboul-Enein provides a realistic description of the militant threat, which is different and distinct from Islamist political discourse and the wider religion of Islam.