Original em inglês: Studying the Islamic Way of War Tradução: Frank Herles Matos Na conferência inaugural da Associação para Estudos do Oriente Médio e África (ASMEA) em abril passado, o Ten. Cel. Joseph Myers (EUA), levantou um ponto interessante que merece ser aprofundado. É difícel entender como até hoje a maioria das instituições militares ocidentais valorizam tanto textos … [Read more...]
Search Results for: taqiyya
Grin and curse them
by Mindy Belz World Magazine In July I wrote a column about the widespread use of taqiyya, or the Muslim art of deception, after an Iranian told me, "A Muslim cannot be a real Muslim if he does not use taqiyya." That helped to explain a lot about the perpetual seesaw the West confronts in dealing with, say, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ("I want to wipe Israel off the … [Read more...]
An Analysis of Al-Qa’ida’s Worldview
Reciprocal Treatment or Religious Obligation? By analyzing what al-Qa'ida preaches to Muslims regarding Islam's relationship to the non-Muslim world at large, and what it states to the West are its reasons for battling it, this essay seeks to highlight the many disparities behind al-Qa'ida's words. Juxtaposed in themes, the following excerpts are all derived from Usama bin … [Read more...]
Islam’s Doctrines of Deception
Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst Polish To better understand Islam, one must appreciate the thoroughly legalistic nature of the religion. According to sharia (Islamic law) every conceivable human act is categorised as being either forbidden, discouraged, permissible, recommended, or obligatory. "Common sense" or "universal opinion" has little to do with Islam's notions of … [Read more...]
Osama Bin Laden as Robin Hood?
American Thinker Are Osama bin Laden and other "salafi" Muslims being true to Islam's tenets or are they simply "freedom fighters" articulating their grievances against Western imperialism through an Islamic paradigm? The debate in the Islamic world over this question has profound consequences for the war on terror. That same debate is underway in the English speaking … [Read more...]
Studying the Islamic Way of War
National Review Online Translations of this item: Italian Portuguese At the inaugural conference for the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) back in April, presenter LTC Joseph Myers made an interesting point that deserves further elaboration. Though military studies have traditionally valued and absorbed the texts of classical war doctrine … [Read more...]
Osama Bin Laden: Man of Love?
Middle East Strategy at Harvard In many ways, Michael Scheuer is the paradigmatic case of an otherwise knowledgeable and experienced Western adult who takes Al Qaeda's word at face value. According to his book, Imperial Hubris, his credentials and thus authority to speak about Al Qaeda and its goals are impressive: "For the past seventeen years, my career has focused … [Read more...]
Know Your Enemy
American Thinker Barack Obama's National Security Advisor Richard Danzig recently made a fool of himself by claiming thatWinnie the Pooh is a "fundamental text on national security." His flippancy only emphasizes the fact that doctrinal writings influence the conduct of war. To anticipate the enemy's thinking, you have to know the foundational texts in which his mind has been … [Read more...]
Islam’s War Doctrines Ignored
Middle East Strategy at Harvard At the recent inaugural conference for the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA), presenter LTC Joseph Myers made an interesting point that deserves further elaboration: that, though military studies have traditionally valued and absorbed the texts of classical war doctrine—such as Clausewitz's On War, Sun Tzu's The Art … [Read more...]
Jihadi Studies as Trivia
Middle East Strategy at Harvard A new article by Thomas Hegghammer in the Times Literary Supplement, entitled "Jihadi studies: the obstacles to understanding radical Islam and the opportunities to know it better," lives up to its title—not so much by delineating what these obstacles are, but rather by being representative of them. Regrettably, the author evokes the same old … [Read more...]