From Muhammad to Bin Laden analyzes the ideological, religious, and cultural foundations of one of the most inconceivable phenomena in contemporary world politics. Bukay analyzes the homicide bombings and atrocities perpetuated by worldwide jihad. He also uses information from primary sources to suggest how to cope with this lethal phenomenon.

The book explores the meaning and interpretation of the seemingly benign concept of da’wah, the expansion of the Islamic community. Da’wah provides the religious and ideological justification for the lethal phenomenon of worldwide jihad; it describes the incentive and motivational drive that support the emergence and the operation of the fundamentalist Islamic movement. Bukay locates the dimensions of the phenomenon of jihad as well as the reasons, motivations, and aspects of the behavior of fundamentalist groups. The importance of this work lies in its skillful combination of historical perspectives and contemporary dynamics, religious and anthropological aspects of the phenomena, and its use of research tools of both the humanities and social sciences.

By exploring the religious and cultural foundations of homicide bombers’ activities, Bukay explains the essence of jihad, how it is connected to the da’wah, and together, how da’wah and jihad serve as the platform of the current worldwide terrorist activities. Bukay quotes religious edicts and declarations of classical and modern Islamic texts, as well as contemporary Islamic fanatic movements from Ibn Hanbal in the eighth century to Sayyid Qutb in the mid-twentieth century. He also aims to bring to the world’s consciousness the aims and objectives of fundamentalist Islam. The volume concludes by challenging the free world to wake up before the bells of another world war start to ring. From Muhammad to Bin Laden will interest scholars, policymakers, and lay readers. Its importance is transparent, particularly in light of the current developments in the Middle East.

David Bukay is professor of political science at the University of Haifa. His main fields are: international terrorism and Islamic fanaticism, Arab-Islamic political culture, and Inter-Arab relations and the Arab Israeli conflict. He is the author of Yasser Arafat and the Politics of Paranoia (2005), Arab-Islamic Political Culture: A Key Source to Understanding Arab Politics and Arab-Israeli Conflict (2003), Total Terrorism in the Name of Allah: The Emergence of the New Islamic Fundamentalists (2002), and editor of Muhammad’s Monsters (2004).

"Essential reading for any who would understand the underlying religious sentiments affecting Middle East politics, society and religion. It considers the foundations of homicide bombings and jihad, using information from primary sources to also offer suggestions on overcoming violent messages in faith. The underlying interpretation of the Islamic foundation idea of da'wah, the expansion of the Islamic community, is explored on both a religious and a cultural level, making this a top pick for any college-level collection strong in Middle Eastern history, culture and spirituality."
--Midwest Book Review

"Thorough and penetrating...Bukay's assertions are very convincing...his well-known mastery of contemporary Middle East politics, including the Arab-Israeli Conflict, the Palestinian issue...and his mastery in integrating them to social science theories, have combined to make him...an expert on Islamic studies and international terrorism."
--Gabriel Ben Dor, professor and head, School of Political Science, the University of Haifa

"Dr. Bukay's consummate mastery of the original sources of Islam and of contemporary publications of the Muslim world in Arabic makes him eminently qualified to speak authoritatively and convincingly...The phenomenon of Islamic terrorism is one of the most salient phenomena of international life in today's world and deserves the scholarly treatment that Dr. Bukay has brought to bear on the subject."
--Shlomo Sharan, professor emeritus, School of Education, Tel-Aviv University

"[Bukay] has written an especially important, erudite and lucid book. Ina world of dense academic publications ridden with silly and irrelevant scholarship, this is a stark and distinguished exception."
--Louis Rene Beres, professor, Purdue University

"This is an important and timely scholarly work.... Dr. Bukay has gathered extensive source-materials on Islam and woven them into a lucid narrative with great historical force. This book is compelling in its scope, argumentation, and relevance, and will be a major addition to the emerging literature on a critical global topic."
--Mordechai Nisan, Political Science Department, The Hebrew University

"In these days of popular and politically correct writing, it is at a premium to find a scholar willing to work painstakingly on the details and yet willing not to flinch from the important conclusions to which he finds his research clearly pointing."
--Christopher Barder, associate editor, Nativ Online

"Dr. Bukay has written a masterly and academically brilliant book based on Koranic and other Islamic teachings which should become required reading for all...if we are to understand the whys and wherefores of fundamentalist behavior.... This book...should reach a wide readership as possible."
--Monty Reitzik, professor emeritus, University of British Columbia

This book...suggests a wide-ranging discussion of Jihad, d'wa and tolerance in Islamic sources and thereafter, and calls our attention to the usage that is made of that working to carry different meanings than in Western tradition. In so doing, he clarifies and removes ambiguities from Muslim parlance and reveals the full extent of those lethal terms that are sometimes couched in gentle words to lure the uninitiated to falling into their traps."
-- Raphael Israeli, Professor of Islamic History, The Hebrew University

"[D]escribes the evolution of the concept of jihad from the days of Muhammad in Mecca to the actions of Osama bin-Laden in the present day. This description is accompanied by a rich range of sources-from Quranic verses, hadith (Islamic traditions) and classical writings to the contemporaneous words of Islamic leaders and thinkers......An outstanding feature of this book is its reader-friendly language and content. It is not an ivory tower tome accessible to only a limited number of scholars. Bukay's work is never dull. It is easy to read and explains Islamic terms and ideas in a way that even the novice can comprehend. Moreover, the book's extensive bibliography will be immensely useful to those who wish to learn more about Islamic thought but do not read Arabic, since it contains a long list of English translations of both modern and classical works."
--Shammai Fishman, A. L. Motzkin Association for Promoting Arabic Language Studies in Israel