Incitement: Anwar Al-Awlaki's Western Jihad

348 Pages·2020·2.414 MB·English

by  Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens

INCITEMENT

I N C I T E M E N T
ANWAR AL-AWLAKI’S WESTERN JIHAD
Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
2020
Copyright © 2020 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
First printing
Cover design: Graciela Galup
Cover image: Getty Images
9780674246874 (EPUB)
9780674246881 (MOBI)
9780674246911 (PDF)
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Names: Meleagrou- Hitchens, Alexander, 1984– author.
Title: Incitement : Anwar al- Awlaki’s western jihad / Alexander Meleagrou- Hitchens.
Description: Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts : Harvard University Press, 2020. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019040018 | ISBN 9780674979505 (cloth)
Subjects: LCSH: Al- Awlaki, Anwar. | Terrorists— Biography. | Qaida (Organ ization) |
Jihad. | Terrorists— Recruiting. | Salafīyah.
Classification: LCC HV6430.A5 M45 2020 | DDC 363.325092 [B]— dc23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2019040018
For Lee- Anne, Leonidas, and Aristos

Contents
Note on Transliteration and Quotations ix
Introduction 1
Part One: The Making of a Global Jihadist Leader
1. From Amer i ca to Yemen 19
2. Awlaki and Activist Salafism 47
3. Awlaki and Salafi- Jihadism: Theory and Praxis 95
4. “And Inspire the Believers . . .” 134
Part Two: Awlaki’s Disciples
5. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab 165
6. Nidal Hasan 189
7. Zachary Adam Chesser 209
8. Awlaki and the Islamic State in the West 236
Conclusion 261
Glossary 277
Notes 281
Acknowl edgments 331
Index 333

Note on Transliteration and Quotations
Arabic words and names are presented in this book in italics in their
anglicized form and without diacritics. An exception is made when
citing other works, in which case the use of diacritics is preserved where
appropriate. In cases where Arabic words have come into common En-
glish usage, they are not italicized (for example, jihad). Additionally,
the plural forms of some Arabic terms have been rendered into En glish
plurals (for example, fatwas instead of fatawa).
All quotations, including online writings, are presented in the orig-
inal, including any grammatical or syntactic errors.
ix