Jihadi Salafist Expert Speaks in the City Room About Al-Qaeda and ISIS

On November 18, Dr. Mary Habeck, one of America’s leading experts on the global war on terror, spoke at The King’s College to a packed audience in the City Room. Dr. Habeck is the author of Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror (Yale University Press), and she delivered a lecture entitled “Understanding Al Qaeda and ISIS.”

Dr. Habeck presented an analysis of the theological motives behind contemporary jihad.  Whereas many academics have interpreted contemporary terrorism in sociological and political terms (as a response to poverty or imperialism or globalization), Dr. Habeck argued that there are powerful theological motives that drive Al Qaeda and ISIS.  These terrorists are part of a theological tradition (jihadi salafism) that has roots in theologians such as  Ibn Taymiyya, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, and Sayyid Qutb.  These thinkers reinterpret traditional Muslim concepts in a way that has made them a lethal force in the contemporary world.

Whereas traditionalist Muslims identify Muslim praxis with the five pillars of Islam (prayer, charity, fasting, pilgrimage, and the profession of faith), jihadi salafists are committed to world conquest.   For most Muslims, the  Caliphate was a form of government appropriate to the medieval world.  For Al Qaeda and ISIS, the only correct form of governance is a caliphate ruled by a caliph and governed by shari‘a. For most Muslims, jihad, which means struggle,  is an internal struggle against sin.  For Al Qaeda and ISIS, it is an individual duty to engage in armed conflict with those who resist the establishment of the caliphate.  Jihadis seek to convert traditionalist Muslims to join them in their battle against the West.

Although fewer than one percent of the world’s Muslims are part of Al Qaeda and ISIS, they have bases in thirteen countries in the Middle East and Africa, and they are positioned to wreak havoc on the West if they are not understood and disrupted.  Dr. Habeck compares ISIS to ebola, a disease that incites urgent and decisive action on the part of world leaders.  Al Qaeda is more like cancer. It grows slowly and discreetly, and therefore, in the long run,  may be a more formidable adversary.

Dr. Habeck received her PhD from Yale University and served on the faculties of Yale, Georgetown, and Johns Hopkins Universitities.  She has also been an American Enterprise Institute scholar.

For more than 75 years, The King’s College has educated young leaders to integrate their faith, ethics, and morality seamlessly into their lives and careers. The only traditional Christian liberal arts college or university located in the heart of New York City, King’s prepares students for principled leadership around the world. Visit tkc.edu for more information or request a personalized visit by calling 888-969-7200