The Dark Algorithm (Paperback)

Know Your Real Enemy is a thought-provoking exploration of the unseen conflict between humanity and Satan (Iblīs) as described in the Qur'an and the authentic Sunnah.

Rather than treating temptation as isolated incidents, Dr. Ashi Ezz presents a unified framework that reveals the recurring patterns behind deception, moral decline, and spiritual resilience. Drawing on systems thinking, psychology, cybersecurity, and behavioral science as explanatory metaphors, the book maps the progression from a single whisper to personal habits, cultural norms, and societal transformation while remaining firmly grounded in the Qur'an and authentic Islamic sources.

Organized into twenty-one episodes, the book examines themes such as whispers (waswasa), beautification (tazyīn), fear, procrastination, rationalization, addiction, misinformation, and the gradual normalization of corruption. Each chapter concludes with practical insights and a Qur'an-based response designed to help readers recognize, interrupt, and overcome these patterns in everyday life.

Accessible to both general readers and serious students of Islam, Know Your Real Enemy offers a fresh perspective on one of the Qur'an's most enduring themes: understanding the enemy in order to strengthen the heart, protect faith, and live with greater awareness and purpose.

Dr. Ashi Ezz holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, with a major in risk management. His research and writing are built around a long-term question: how can transformation be improved and resilience strengthened across individuals, organisations, and communities?His books form a deliberately developed body of work under Redefining the Art of Resilience: Through the Lens of Dr. Ashi Ezz, with each work adding another layer to the investigation.The journey begins with the individual in The Bridge from Cringe to Prestige, examining struggle, confidence, and personal transformation through the Comprehensive Inner Transformation Framework (CITF). Recognising that spiritual and religious traditions contain a rich body of accumulated knowledge about confronting adversity, disciplining the self, finding meaning through hardship, and sustaining hope, Dr. Ashi extended his investigation into Islamic sources.Muhammad: Lasting Resilience Model examines resilience through the life of Prophet Muhammad, while Messages from Quran explores resilience principles within the Qur'an through the Divine Resilience Model (DRM). These investigations contributed to the development of Ashi's Quantum Resilience Model (AQRM), his attempt to conceptualise resilience as a multidimensional and quantifiable system that can be assessed, monitored, and strengthened across individual, community, and organisational settings.In the Shades of His Names and The Ashrafiya Hymn deepen that exploration through reflection on the Divine Names and the character and life of Prophet Muhammad. The investigation then moves deeper into the human system itself. Whose Am I? examines why knowledge and intelligence alone often fail to produce lasting change, exploring the interactions between behaviour, repetition, environment, choice, and identity.In The Dark Algorithm, Dr. Ashi investigates the inverse problem: how human and social systems become progressively corrupted, and how seemingly small vulnerabilities and compromises can propagate through behaviour, identity, culture, institutions, and ultimately wider society.Across this growing body of work, Dr. Ashi approaches resilience not simply as the ability to recover from adversity, but as a dynamic human and systemic capability that can be understood, cultivated, measured, monitored, protected, and continuously improved.His work integrates risk thinking, systems engineering, behavioural inquiry, professional experience, resilience research, and published Islamic sources. His Islamic works are applied explorations through a systems and resilience lens, not works of religious scholarship, jurisprudence, or religious ruling.At the centre of his work is a simple ambition: to better understand the systems that help people, organisations, and communities withstand challenge, transform through adversity, and build the capacity to thrive.