Jihadi Politics

Reviewed by: Anis Ahmad, Riphah International University, Pakistan

Published by – London: Hurst and Company, 2022, 557pp. ISBN: 978-1787387027.

The politicization of the concept of jihad as an integral part of global Islamophobia is an undeniable reality. Reports, research works and news coverage re-enforce the already existing perceptions about jihad as terrorism, violence, extremism, and brutality whenever they use the word jihad, jihadis, or Muslim militants, terrorists, and similar words.

Very little has been done in Western academia to objectively look into the concept of jihad particularly as it is exposited in the Qur’ān and the Sunnah. On the other hand, Muslim intellectuals have often apologetically reacted and tried to interpret jihad as an act of retaliation or self-defence.