Fire and the Sword Volume 1

While “Islamism” or “Islamist groups” are concepts that frequently evoke much passion and controversy, they are often both misunderstood and used in a sensationalized manner. Students and the public should have a strong understanding of these concepts because many of the world’s most intractable contemporary conflicts involve Islamism and Islamic groups. An accurate understanding of Islamism, thus, is essential to informed decision-making on crucial issues of national security, world peace, global security, and international justice. This guide is indispensable to understanding Islamism and the various types of Islamic groups that are active throughout the world. This work provides clear and concise notions of Islamism for the general reader. For example, it succinctly explains that Islamism is neither synonymous with the religion of Islam nor synonymous with Fundamentalist Islam. Islamism, instead, is a political ideology based on a strict and puritanical interpretation of I