Drawing from a thorough research of Azzam’s writings and interviews with his family and friends, Hegghammer chronicles, in 17 chapters, Azzam’s life until his murder in Pakistan in 1989. More importantly, the 700-pages book analyses Azzam’s ideological contribution to jihadism both as an academic, on a theoretical level and as a fighter, on a practical level.

Hegghammer highlights the versatile personality of Abdallah Azzam. The author presents the various identities of Azzam as an academic, writer, Muslim Brother, teacher, ideologist and Palestinian. A part of the book focuses on Azzam’s activism relating to Islam and in other chapters he describes his ideology and how Azzam affected the spiritual part of salafism-jihadism. The book begins with the birth of Azzam in a village of al-Sila-Harithiyya in Palestine. An event that deeply affected his childhood was the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. This historical event had a crucial impact on Azzam’s future perspective. In his early adult life, Azzam focused on his studies on Islamic law and on making a family as per the Islamic law. Then, in the Arab-Israeli war in 1967, Azzam went to Jordan and participated in paramilitary operations against Israel. Later on, from 1970, Azzam focused on his academic future and studies. In the late 1970s, he visited several countries, not only in the Middle East but also in Europe and the USA. Azzam, like many other Islamists, was at first excited with the Iranian revolution, but its Shia-centric turn made him more skeptical.

The Khashoggi case has put a magnifying glass on the instability of relations among Middle East countries and especially on the turbulent relationship between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Turkey is in no position to take head on the Saudi kingdom regarding the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi; at the same time Erdogan cannot ignore such an overpublicized incident. Khashoggi may be the opportunity Erdogan was looking for in order to re-approach Saudi Arabia and the US, and establish Turkey as a strong middle power in the region. Only time will show if the rapprochement will be considered as a prudent diplomatic move by Erdogan.

Follow this link for our book review of Alison Pargeter, Return to the Shadows: The Muslim Brotherhood and An-Nahda since the Arab Spring (Saqi Books, 2016).

A lot of ink has been spilt on the role of political Islam in post-Arab Spring politics. In the beginning, there was an assumption of an almost teleological nature whereby the democratic renaissance of the region would at a minimum bring the forces of political Islam to the fore. There was even the potential for it to be rendered the single most important socio-political actor in part of the region. While the first premise has certainly proved true, Alison Pargeter’s book is a detailed, eloquent attempt at explaining the second: political Islam’s inability to ensconce itself in power, once in its antechamber.