Warrant for Terror: The Fatwas of Radical Islam, and the Duty of Jihad

If you are sick of instant experts offering sound-bite style insight into the phenomenon of Radical Islam, then Warrant for Terror is the right medicine for you. Through an exhaustive yet refreshingly readable analysis of fatwas―Muslim religious injunctions―Shmuel Bar takes us deep into the minds of both those who issue calls for jihad and those who heed them. As a tool to understand the logic, the rationale, and the motivation of the enemy in the war on terror, this book is sure to be assigned in counter-terror training courses around the world. Thankfully, the rest of us can read it, too. — Robert Satloff, Executive Director, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Shmuel Bar has written one of the most important and compelling books in recent years. If you want to understand Islamic terrorism and jihad, this is the book to read. He has written an absolutely brilliant page-turning analysis of the dynamics underlying radical Jihad today―and for policymakers, analysts and the public, Warrant for Terror will provide you insights that few other books even dare try. This is one of the best books I have ever read on the dynamics of jihad and fatwas. Read it to be educated and to truly understand. Ignore it at your peril. Dr. Bar has performed a wonderful public service by compiling and analyzing the fatwas for us. This book is a bench mark in the literature on Jihad. — Steven Emerson, Executive Director, The Investigative Project on Terrorism

Non-Muslims rarely pay attention to the religious struggle within Islam. They must, urgently. Radical clerics, wielding the deadly accusation of apostacy, have silenced most mainstream Muslim clerics and regimes in the Muslim world on the issues of jihad and terrorism. We are at serious risk of having hundreds of millions of religiously-driven enemies and deferential followers. — R. James Woolsey, former Director of the CIA; Chairman, Woolsey Partners LLC

Bar has crafted an important book. This short volume is a must-read for anyone disturbed by the government and media’s failure to truly elucidate the underpinnings of the terrorism threat that’s here to stay. ― The Miami Herald

Shmuel Bar offers a much needed account of the religious logic that inspires and justifies Islamic radicalism and its terrorist manifestations. His sections on the extremists legal justifications for attacking Americans, fellow Muslims, and particularly Israel are enlightening and useful for anyone who has wondered how religious thinking can be used to support terrorism. ― Salt Lake Tribune

Warrant for Terror offers many insights. ― The Bookwatch

Shmuel Bar offers a much-needed account of the religious logic that inspires and justifies Islamic radicalism and its terrorist manifestations…His conclusion, that the war of ideas within the Muslim world is primarily a religious war, should be taken seriously. ― The Dallas Morning News

Since the author of this hard-hitting book is Israeli, some may dismiss it out of hand, as politically motivated. However, the depth of research, drawn from Arabic sources, should cause every reader to pay attention. It is invaluable for understanding the reasons for radical Islamism in the 21st century. ― Middle East Journal

This is an important book, its limpid prose matching the authority Bar brings to a subject about which we cannot afford to be ignorant. ― Literary Review

It is invaluable for understanding the reasons for radical Islamism in the 21st century. Bar drives home the point that only Muslims can turn the tide….Warrant for Terror is a compelling book. — Warren Larson ― Middle East Journal