Why We Are Losing the Battle Against Islamic Extremism 

And How to Turn the Tide

by Dr. Azeem Ibrahim
On Sale: November 7, 2017

 

Piercing and hard-hitting, an international expert pin-points the menacing rise of a radical ideology that is fueling ISIS and terror cells world-wide.

More than fifteen years ago after the “War on Terror” was declared, many in the West now feel less secure than ever before. Many security experts believe global Jihad is on the rise throughout the West, and yet these same experts do not know how to stop the rising tide.

Military action abroad and police action at home have only attended to the symptoms of terrorism, not the cause. The root, according to Dr. Ibrahim, is actually the extreme ideology of Wahhabism—the puritanical, reactionary, isolationist, xenophobic, and bigoted sect of Sunni Islam that has been the ideological bedrock of the state of Saudi Arabia since its original rise in the eighteenth century.

Foreign policy, socioeconomic factors, alienation, and identity are often invoked in explaining the rise in radicalization, and while they do have a role to play, these are secondary factors. The primary cause is ideology, and Dr. Ibrahim places the origins of this radical extremism in historic context in a cogent manner, while also articulating specific policy goals and social action points going forward. Much of it hinges on altering decades of policies regarding Saudi Arabia.

In his groundbreaking Radical Origins, Dr. Ibrahim provides an accessible primer on radicalism, an understanding of jihadist history, and a way forward, debunking misconceptions about Islam and this jihadist offshoot along the way. This remarkable work culminates in a powerful body of evidence about how to contain, reduce, and stop the spread of radicalization once and for all.

Azeem Ibrahim is one of the most interesting, original and articulate writers on the challenge facing both Muslim communities and the world as a whole from Islamic Extremism.
Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG QC

Former UK Secretary of Defence and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs