Book Review: How to Win a Cosmic War

by Kakofonous

How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror by Reza Aslan

Random House, 228 pages.

The man arrested for Friday's attempted attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 does not seem to be, at first glance, the terrorist type. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is the son of a powerful Nigerian businessman and has studied at top-notch institutions including University College London. Reza Aslan's arguments in How to Win a Cosmic War shed some light on why a man described by one of his former teachers as a “personable boy” and a “model pupil” could have turned to violent extremism.

The reasons behind the turn from this prosperous background to terrorism and extremist ideology, he says, are grounded in the search for identity among the second and third-generation Muslim immigrants to Europe that comprise the majority of recruits to Jihadist organizations. They begin to identify themselves with something larger than a national affiliation: a highly individualistic interpretation of Islam that declares all established schools of Quranic interpretation, and adherents of those schools, to be kafir. The term has been translated as “infidel,” though Aslan prefers “apostate.” The power of Islam in the hands of al-Qaeda is that bin Laden, having cast aside more than a thousand years of Islamic scholarship, has proclaimed jihad to be the ultimate goal of the Muslim: without subscribing to the idea of jihad as defined by al-Qaeda, one cannot be a true Muslim—one is merely a kafir.

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The traditional English translation of jihad as “holy war” severely limits its meaning. A more accurate rendering of the Arabic would be “great effort” or “great struggle.”* The primary meaning of the term in Islamic theology is an internal struggle to better oneself and to remain on the moral path; this is known as the greater jihad. Its secondary meaning (the lesser jihad) is external: it refers to the self-defense of Muslims against outside attack and oppression. Moreover, jihad is regulated by Islamic law which limits it solely to fighting against those who initially attacked; thus, violence committed against non-combatants is strictly forbidden.* The jihad of bin Laden, which is justified by claims of injustice committed against Muslims in virtually any part of the world, none of whom al-Qaeda could be legitimately claimed to be defending, and which results in injury and death to innocents, cannot be considered jihad by any reasonable definition.

Aslan stresses repeatedly that the typical recruit to al-Qaeda and similar organizations is middle-class and well-educated. Abdulmutallab more than adequately fits this description: he is part of a prominent banking family in Nigeria and has been educated at one of the best schools in West Africa, the British School of Lomé, and University College London. Yet there is one important difference between Abdulmutallab and the “Joe Jihadist” Aslan describes in Cosmic War: Aslan's description specifically rules out any sophisticated knowledge of Islam on the part of the Jihadist. He examines the emergence of Global Jihadism as a social, rather than strictly religious phenomenon—religion is primarily used as a means to a greater, political end. There is no basis in Islam for the actions or ideology of al-Qaeda. Bin Laden has no respect for the rich history of Islamic scholarship, while Abdulmutallab was specifically cited as a stand-out student of Islam. Since Global Jihadism rests upon declaring all other interpretations of Islam invalid, it is difficult to understand how an excellent student of the religion could have turned to such an unfounded theology as al-Qaeda's, the organization he professed to be collaborating with.

One possible explanation for this discrepancy is simple: some will simply take up extremism. It is irrelevant that Abdulmutallab was a star student of Islam; religious fervor may simply have overcome his educational background. Even during his years at elementary and high school, he was cited as preaching to his classmates. Perhaps he was discouraged that they did not share his religious zeal and found comfort with others who did. He might have been introduced to organizations like al-Qaeda that promote an Islam that is not constrained by scholarship or rules.

Regardless of the motivation behind this particular attempted attack, How to Win a Cosmic War deftly explores some of the complex issues surrounding modern extremism. In 173 pages, Aslan takes the reader through some of the major currents in Global Jihadist thought, examines the sociological and cultural motivation behind the movement, and lays out key goals for national and international governments in the years to come.

* Osman, Fathi. Jihad: A Struggle for Moral Development and Human Rights.