A Blog about Middle Eastern & North African Politics, Society and Culture
Prince Turki al-Faisal reflects on the return of the Taliban and his role in decades of warfare, in an exclusive interview with New Lines The past has a rude way… Continue reading "Ex-Saudi Intelligence Head Weighs In on Afghanistan"
‘I know nothing comparable to it except the Lord of the Rings’ was the verdict of Arthur C. Clarke when he read Frank Herbert’s classic science-fiction saga, Dune. Tolkien’s vision… Continue reading "On Frank Herbert’s Dune"
On September 11 the world changed. Four passenger planes were hijacked by al-Qaeda. Two crashed into the world trade centre in New York city indelibly imprinting itself into the consciousness… Continue reading "9/11 and the War on Terror"
Obaidullah Baheer is a lecturer of transitional justice at the American University in Afghanistan, Kabul. He holds a postgraduate degree in International Relations from the University of New South Wales,… Continue reading "Bin Laden: The Road to 9/11"
It began with a chance encounter with a man offering me something ‘extra’ after an awards night out. During a series of meetings, he told me an extraordinary story of… Continue reading "The Back Story on Modern Slavery"
At this crucial point in the history of Afghanistan new myths are being made and shattered by many sides even as the Taliban are hoisting their flag in the capital.… Continue reading "Profile: Muhammad Ismail Khan (b.1946)"
With additional material “Did you have any trouble getting here?” asked the balding man with the bullish neck, grey beard, and high-pitched voice. “Just a little bit,” I answered politely,… Continue reading "Jailing Jihadists in the West"
Inspector Hyder lit a cigarette, he knew it was illegal to smoke in private property other than one’s own, but he smoked anyway. It was one of those idiosyncratic rules… Continue reading "Exodus of Smoke"
At dawn the view of Damascus was glorious. I loved to watch the sun rise whilst Kurdish pigeon fanciers flew their little flecks of silver over the green minarets that… Continue reading "Little Flecks of Silver"
Whenever I walk towards the Brick Lane Mosque in the east end of London I always look at it as a continuation of a Dicken’s novel; from the Artful Dodger… Continue reading "I, Relic: the story of my grandfather and the Bengalis of the East End"
Muhammad al-Rifai was an unassuming figure who ended up as the nominal leader of the Muslim world. Opportunities to meet a caliph are pretty rare. Yet in London in the… Continue reading "The Caliph of Lisson Green"
I was part panel that discussed how journalists in the West should approach Islamism. The Panel: Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi @ajaltamimi, Janina Findeisen@j_findeisen, Kevin B. Lee @alsolikelife, Tam Hussein, @tamhussein and… Continue reading "Investigating Islamism"
On the 26th-28th June clashes broke out between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and a faction led by the al-Qaeda affiliated Hurras al-Din (HaD). Although an informal agreement ended the violence… Continue reading "Into the heart of Jihadism"
In some ways you could forgive politicians and doctors even, who were blindsided by the Covid-19. Most of us were like that, it’s just the flu’s ugly sister, nothing to… Continue reading "The Pandemic Century: one hundred years of panic, hysteria and hubris- Book Review"
The Covid pandemic has been characterised by one prominent analyst as an ideological one; one which is illustrative of how liberal democracies and autocratic states deal with such a grave and… Continue reading "After the Pandemic: Democracy in an Age of Big Tech"
The Caravan: Abdallah Azzam and the Rise of Global Jihad by Thomas Hegghammer is a biography on Abdallah Azzam and no doubt going to be the standard work on the… Continue reading "The Caravan: Abdallah Azzam and the Rise of Global Jihad- Book Review"
When Kabul fell in 1992, Abdullah Anas recalls in his memoirs, To The Mountain: My Life in Jihad from Algeria to Afghanistan, that he encouraged Osama bin Laden to join… Continue reading "Night Letters: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the Afghan Islamists who Changed the World- Book Review"
“What do you reckon that is?” Abu Imad said, tapping the scope. He looked at me, rubbing his bushy beard thoughtfully. He wanted me to make the two-meter journey to… Continue reading "The American"
Somewhere along the line Abdelhamid Abaaoud, not an educated man, conflated the myth of the Afghan Jihad with reality. This conflation had disastrous consequences. Abaaoud and his friends joined a… Continue reading "From Afghanistan to Abaaoud"
On the face of it, Loss Sings claims to be fifteen translations of al-Khansā, a much celebrated Arabian poet of the seventh century whose threnodic poems commemorate the loss of her… Continue reading "‘Loss Sings’: Translating Grief"
Abstract Dr. Abdullah Azzam is widely seen both by security analysts and Jihadists as the father of Global Jihad. Dr. Thomas Hegghammer for example, who is soon to publish an… Continue reading "Jihad according to Abdullah Azzam"
Abstract Dr. Abdullah Azzam has been seen as the father of global jihad both by analysts and indeed al-Qaeda itself. Al-Qaeda and Jihadis of all varieties claim him to be… Continue reading "When Abdullah Azzam met Ahmed Shah Massoud"
Abstract Here is an interview of Abu Abdel Aziz Barbaros or Barbarossa (named after his red beard and Khayreddine, the naval commander and greek privateer of the Ottoman empire). He… Continue reading "The Bosnian Jihad: An interview with Abu Abdel Aziz Barbaros"
Writing about and covering Muslim jihadi militancy for more than half a decade now, I realise that Westerners, analysts, journalists or otherwise find Arab names extremely difficult to grasp. One… Continue reading "The Problem with Abu Bakr, Osama Bin Laden and Zarqawi: An explanation of Arabic names"
For the forthcoming book, To the Mountains: My Life in Jihad, from Algeria to Afghanistan by Abdullah Anas and Tam Hussein, (Hurst), 2019, I thought I would add materials that are useful… Continue reading "An Interview with Umm Mohammed: The Wife of Bin Laden’s Spiritual Mentor Abdullah Azzam"
Abstract: The recent arrest of Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, the two British Jihadists part of the notorious Beatles, has again raised the debate as to what should be… Continue reading "Dealing with Syria’s Foreign Fighters: A Liberal Conundrum – an Update"
The trial of Rahmat Akilov, the lone wolf terrorist who killed five pedestrians in Stockholm’s equivalent of Oxford Street, last April have just begun. Whilst the trial is expected to… Continue reading "Rahmat Akilov’s Trial Raises Important Dilemmas for Swedish Policy Makers"
Abstract: For Muslims in the West especially those who become militant, the question of authority or the lack of it, is an important question. I will use the story of… Continue reading "Problems in the Caliphate: The Issue of Authority "
Youssef Rakha is the author of The Book of the Sultan’s Seal: Strange Incidents from History in the City of Mars. Cairo where Rakha lives and works, is at the heart… Continue reading "An Interview with Youssef Rakha: Author of The Book of the Sultan’s Seal"
Cultural historians have often focused attention on Islam’s achievements in architecture, craftsmanship and calligraphy. However, except for poetry scant attention has been given to Islamic culture’s contribution to performance art:… Continue reading "A Glimpse into Performance Art in the Muslim World: A Clash of the Profane and the Sacred"
There are things All the Battles by Maan Abu Taleb is not. It is not a cliched story based on a Rocky film. It is not an Arab version of… Continue reading "Review: All the Battles my Maan Abu Taleb"
Raqqah has fallen. There are many jihadists who will look at this loss with a sense of bitterness. Some foreign fighters are pragmatic. Is the Jihad over? “It goes on”… Continue reading "Into the Heart of Darkness: Working Notes on Three ISIS Jihadists."
One of the most interesting books this summer may be a rather innocuous book by Anne Wolf, a leading Tunisia and North Africa specialist. In Political Islam in Tunisia: A… Continue reading "Political Islam in Tunisia: a History of Ennahda and the Tunisian Exception"
Sitting across Mahdi al-Harati in the hotel lobby it is difficult to see why anyone would want this quiet Libyan dead. His insulin rests on the low table alongside his… Continue reading "Mahdi al-Harati: A Libyan Garibaldi?"
The 9/11 attacks gave birth to a Manichean world which is, as I write this, being played out in Syria and Iraq amongst other places. With this world in mind… Continue reading "Review: Unwinnable: Britain’s War in Afghanistan 2001-2014 by Theo Farrel"
I entered Najiyeh, a small town of no consequence, without their permission. The town claimed to be an ISIS principality. The claim seemed ridiculous but as we drove in to… Continue reading "Paradise Lost: The Rise and Fall of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi"
What follows is Part II of an interview about the Sharia with Al-Maqalaat by Tam Hussein @tamhussein. Part I can be found here The Dawn of Islamic Theocracy: Monumental Sacrifice… Continue reading "Fading contrasts in the future of global Jihadism: Military strength driven by perceptive tolerance"
The Afghan Jihad: An Annotated Interview with Musa al-Qarni about Abdullah Azzam and Ahmed Shah Massoud and the tension with the ‘Afghan Arabs’ In my research into the Arab Afghans… Continue reading "Musa al-Qarni on the Afghan Jihad"
After the death of the Prophet Muhammed the early Muslim community became acutely aware of the need to preserve their Prophet’s legacy. This idea of preserving revelation became even more… Continue reading "When Arabic and Hebrew Irregulars Worked Together"
In an important new book Durham University fellow Christopher M. Davidson, author of many books on the Gulf, sets out to explain why despite all the modernising forces that… Continue reading "A Crisis Waiting to Happen: Book Review of Christopher M. Davidson’s ‘After the Sheikhs’"
By @tamhussein Recently, Anjem Choudhary, 49, and Mizanur Rahman, 33, were imprisoned for their active support of the Islamic State. Choudhary’s imprisonment ends, for a small period at least, his… Continue reading "Prison Radicalisation: Dealing with Muslim Inmates with Terror Convictions"
An interview about the Sharia with Al-Maqalaat @AMaqal by Tam Hussein @tamhussein Background Context of this discourse began when the interviewer tweeted an interesting article, Stoning and Hand Cutting- Understanding the… Continue reading "The Dawn of Islamic Theocracy: Monumental Sacrifices for Consistent Stability"
By Tam Hussein @tamhussein The Arabs at War in Afghanistan questions the foundational myths of the Afghan Jihad which touched a generation of Muslim men growing up in the 90s.… Continue reading "The Arabs at War in Afghanistan: From the Cradle of the Jalalabad School of Jihad to Syria and Iraq"
Here begins a series of interviews and dialogues with al-Maqālāt who describes himself as “an independent media outlet”. He tweets under @Al_Maqal_Ps. The reader will find that the interviewees attitudes… Continue reading "The Human Nature of Jihadism- an interview with al-Maqālāt"
Strange as it might seem, growing up, I used to think that young Cassius Clay — or Muhammad Ali — was Bengali. It made perfect sense in my 8-year-old imagination.… Continue reading "Between Muhammad Ali and Me"
Ba- Dal- Lām. Tinker with these Arabic trilateral roots and it will reveal many secrets. Those who believe language is a construct of the mind must look at Ba-Da-La; no… Continue reading "Abdal"
