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9780199326693

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An understanding of groups like Al-Qaeda has virtually been absent from the discourse as it has been explained away as pure 'evil'. Devji does the opposite. He begins by locating their (ostensible) appeal in their language for rights of the oppressed of the world, typically, and from there launches into an understanding of how Quranic verses, Islamic teachings and what they claim to be inspired by have been changed into a modern political message that has succeeded in destabilising the world as the West has known it, since 9/11.. . What makes the book readable is his meticulous research. . . Plenty of what Devji concludes may be controversial, but it is bound to stir the pot in a most interesting way. --Indian Express Devji (Landscapes of the Jihad) examines the vitality of militant movements, arguing that in a global society, organizations like al-Qaeda have gathered meaning and strength in an 'institutional vacuum.' Devji rejects the traditional scholarship that roots it in regional issues like the Palestinian cause and poverty and oppression. Most controversially, he equates militant Islam with 'the plethora of non-governmental agencies dedicated to humanitarian work.' He also concludes, more conventionally, that the U.S. response to militant Islam--the 'global war on terror. --Publishers Weekly The Terrorist in Search of Humanity is in many ways a sequel to Devji s equally provocative 2005 book, Landscapes of the Jihad. Al Qaeda's importance in the long run, Devji writes, lies not in its pioneering a new form of networked militancy... but instead in its fragmentation of traditional structures of Muslim authority within new global landscapes. . . . it is a measure of Devji s seriousness, and his unfailingly original turn of mind, that one waits impatiently for his next provocation. --The National (Abu Dhabi)

An understanding of groups like Al-Qaeda has virtually been absent from the discourse as it has been explained away as pure 'evil'. Devji does the opposite. He begins by locating their (ostensible) appeal in their language for rights of the oppressed of the world, typically, and from there launches into an understanding of how Quranic verses, Islamic teachings and what they claim to be inspired by have been changed into a modern political message that has succeeded in destabilising the world as the West has known it, since 9/11.. . What makes the book readable is his meticulous research. . . Plenty of what Devji concludes may be controversial, but it is bound to stir the pot in a most interesting way. --Indian Express Devji (Landscapes of the Jihad) examines the vitality of militant movements, arguing that in a global society, organizations like al-Qaeda have gathered meaning and strength in an 'institutional vacuum.' Devji rejects the traditional scholarship that roots it in regional issues like the Palestinian cause and poverty and oppression. Most controversially, he equates militant Islam with 'the plethora of non-governmental agencies dedicated to humanitarian work.' He also concludes, more conventionally, that the U.S. response to militant Islam--the 'global war on terror. --Publishers Weekly The Terrorist in Search of Humanity is in many ways a sequel to Devji s equally provocative 2005 book, Landscapes of the Jihad. Al Qaeda's importance in the long run, Devji writes, lies not in its pioneering a new form of networked militancy... but instead in its fragmentation of traditional structures of Muslim authority within new global landscapes. . . . it is a measure of Devji s seriousness, and his unfailingly original turn of mind, that one waits impatiently for his next provocation. --The National (Abu Dhabi)

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Faisal Devji is Reader in Modern South Asian History and Fellow of St. Antony's College, University of Oxford

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