Jihad and Martyrdom

Jihad (or ‘struggle’) and martyrdom in Islam have an ever-greater relevance in today’s world, but there remains a great deal of ignorance about these critical concepts. This new four-volume collection from Routledge brings together a broad range of scholarly opinion to provide a work of reference to assist students and researchers who wish to unravel and understand the many historical constructions of jihadism and martyrology.

Volume I contains material on classical and pre-modern manifestations of jihad, focusing on the early Islamic conquests and the development of the concepts of jihad both in the field and within the legal literature up to and including the period of the Crusades (1099–1291). Volume II, meanwhile, explores alternative analyses of jihad, such as Sufi interpretations of the ‘greater jihad’, Shi’ite interpretations of jihad, and the martyrology of both groups. Volume III focuses on colonial and near-contemporary manifestations of jihad, including alternative versions, such as those of the Bahais and the Ahmadis that radically reinterpret the concept, and anti-colonial jihadi movements in Africa, the Middle East, Russia, India, and Southeast Asia. The final volume in the collection deals with contemporary thinking about jihad and radical Islam, concentrating on the legal discussion of contemporary radical Muslim tactics, the development of jihadi mythologies, the ideological tensions within the Salafi jihadi world, and the emergence of contemporary Shi’ite interpretations of jihad.

With a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, Jihad and Martyrdom is an essential collection and is destined to be valued by all scholars and students of Islam as a vital one-stop research resource.