Ruthven investigates the hijackers' motives, particularly those of their leader, Mohammed Atta--a figure troubled, like many of his contemporaries, by the clash between Islamic and Western values, including unresolved conflicts over gender and sexuality. It would be a mistake, Ruthven insists, to treat these men as medieval fanatics: their attitude to modernity is dangerous and ambivalent.
In a challenging analysis, the author exposes the crucial importance of the Saudi Arabian connection: it is an authoritarian regime responsible for the massive sponsorship of "fundamentalism"; the birthplace of Osama bin Laden; and the home of fifteen of the hijackers. At the same time, Saudi Arabia remains America's closest ally in the Arab world, armed and tolerated for its oil. Though Ruthven rejects the thesis that the Western and Islamic worlds are heading inevitably for a clash between "civilizations," he concludes by suggesting that if left unchecked, pressures from religious fundamentalists (both Christian and Jewish) in the United States and Israel, added to the religious forces at work in the Muslim world, might wellc onspire to produce just such an outcome.
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"Malise Ruthven's excellent book is possibly the most balanced synthesis yet published on the rise of militant Islam. . .It is bubbling with ideas and is a perfect primer for anyone wishing a clear overview of the subject." –William Dalrymple, The Sunday Times
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