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Top(?) 50 Books on Terrorism
September 5, 2008 | Posted by Carlos - 8:18am | 8 Comments
Joshua Sinai has published a review essay of the top 50 books on terrorism. Certainly, Joshua would probably agree with Carlos that the headline is hyperbole. There are certainly some good books on the list (Carlos has read 15 on the list, and has skimmed through pieces of 8-9 more), though perhaps many more to take issue with.
Most problematically, there is Sinai's assertion that reading the Qur'an is the starting point to understanding radical Islam. Now, Carlos has read the English translation of same, and it certainly is someone that anyone should read. But to say one can find radical Islam in the Qur'an is like saying you can "find" White Supremacy/Christian Identity within the Bible. This isn't a case of "going to the source," you really have to know what you're looking for.
Consider "Christian Identity," a strain of White supremacist thought that argues that Caucasians are the true chosen people of God. This is based (in part) on an interpretation that "Adam" is a term to mean fair-skinned, ruddy, to show color in the face (to be able to blush, hence, to be pale skinned). Most Biblical scholars point out the wordplay between the Hebrew adam (man) and adamah (earth). The tie is between Adam and the earth (ashes to ashes, dust to dust) and not to the color of his skin. But who gets that from reading Genesis?
If anything, radical interpreters/writers are better lenses into radical Islam, and Carlos' "favorite" is Sayyid Qutb. His work, Milestones has already been reviewed here. Carlos is also working his way through Qutb's magnum opus, the multi-volume In the Shade of the Qur'an, which is a detailed analysis (through Qutb's rather twisted lens) of each sura of the Qur'an. This attempt, readers should understand, means that at the end of it Carlos is going to have a very BAD Quranic education, but might have a deeper understanding of radical strains of Quranic thought.
All in all, Sinai's list is an interesting point for debate, and it's inspired Carlos to put a list of his own, which he'll get to in another post.
Most problematically, there is Sinai's assertion that reading the Qur'an is the starting point to understanding radical Islam. Now, Carlos has read the English translation of same, and it certainly is someone that anyone should read. But to say one can find radical Islam in the Qur'an is like saying you can "find" White Supremacy/Christian Identity within the Bible. This isn't a case of "going to the source," you really have to know what you're looking for.
Consider "Christian Identity," a strain of White supremacist thought that argues that Caucasians are the true chosen people of God. This is based (in part) on an interpretation that "Adam" is a term to mean fair-skinned, ruddy, to show color in the face (to be able to blush, hence, to be pale skinned). Most Biblical scholars point out the wordplay between the Hebrew adam (man) and adamah (earth). The tie is between Adam and the earth (ashes to ashes, dust to dust) and not to the color of his skin. But who gets that from reading Genesis?
If anything, radical interpreters/writers are better lenses into radical Islam, and Carlos' "favorite" is Sayyid Qutb. His work, Milestones has already been reviewed here. Carlos is also working his way through Qutb's magnum opus, the multi-volume In the Shade of the Qur'an, which is a detailed analysis (through Qutb's rather twisted lens) of each sura of the Qur'an. This attempt, readers should understand, means that at the end of it Carlos is going to have a very BAD Quranic education, but might have a deeper understanding of radical strains of Quranic thought.
All in all, Sinai's list is an interesting point for debate, and it's inspired Carlos to put a list of his own, which he'll get to in another post.
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