Radical Islam Rising

Although the West denounces the spread of radical Islam in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and elsewhere in the Muslim world, it tends to overlook the development of Islamic extremism in its own societies. Over the past several decades, groups like al-Qaeda have been supported by thousands of citizens of the United States, the United Kingdom, and other Western democracies. Rejecting their national identity, they have heeded international calls to "jihad" and formed extremist groups to fight their own countries. This groundbreaking book represents one of the first systematic attempts to explain why Westerners join radical Islamic groups. Quintan Wiktorowicz details the mechanisms that attract potential recruits, the instruments of persuasion that convince them that radical groups represent "real Islam," and the socialization process that prods them to engage in risky extremism. Throughout, he traces the subtle process that can turn seemingly unreligious people into supporters of religious violence. The author's invaluable insights are based upon nearly unprecedented access to a radical Islamic group in the West. His extraordinary fieldwork forms the basis of a detailed case study of al-Muhajiroun, a transnational movement based in London that supports Bin Laden and other Islamic terrorists. Through its rich empirical detail, this book explains why ordinary people join extremist movements.

This unique book represents one of the first systematic attempts to explain why thousands of Westerners heed international calls to _jihad_ and join radical Islamic groups. Drawing on his unprecedented access to a radical Islamic group, Quintan Wiktorowicz details the subtle process that can turn seemingly unreligious people into supporters of religious violence. The author's extraordinary fieldwork forms the basis of a detailed case study of al-Muhajiroun, a transnational movement based in London that supports Bin Laden and other Islamic terrorists. Through its rich empirical detail, the case study explains the larger question of why ordinary people join extremist movements.

Quintan Wiktorowicz, a well-known expert on Islamic movements, has taught at Dartmouth College, Rhodes College, and Shippensburg University. He has conducted research on both moderate and radical Islamic movements in Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, and Europe. He is the author of The Management of Islamic Activism: Salafis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and State Power in Jordan, Global Jihad: Understanding September 11 and the editor of Islamic Activism: A Social Movement Theory Approach.