Those of us who parse Islamist and Jihadi-Salafi texts “like Talmudic scholars poring over a manuscript” are familiar with Joas’ meticulous work on Maqdisi and others of his ilk. But since I’ve never seen Joas invited to give a single talk in this part of the world, I have the feeling that his work has not gotten the full airing it deserves outside the academy. So over Joas’ protests (sorry brah!), here’s a quick rundown of what he’s been up to since 2009:
- “Legitimizing Pragmatism: Hamas’ Framing Efforts from Militancy to Moderation and Back?” Terrorism and Political Violence, 22, no. 3 (2010): 358-378 (article on Hamas’ efforts to legitimize its changing policies vis-à-vis Israel over the years while staying true to their original rhetoric)
- “Protecting Jihad: The Sharia Council of the Minbar al-Tawhid wa-l-Jihad,” Middle East Policy, 18, no. 2 (2011): 148-162 (explains the rise of the now well-known Shari’a Council of the Minbar al-Tawhid wa-l-Jihad and puts it in context)
- “Reclaiming Scholarly Authority: Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi’s Critique of Jihadi Practices,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 34, no. 7 (2011): 523-539 (on al-Maqdisi’s supposed ideological revisionism and his criticism of other jihadis)
- “Al-Qa‘ida’s Editor: Abu Jandal al-Azdi’s Online Jihadi Activism,” Politics, Religion & Ideology, 12, no. 4 (2011): 355-369 (deals with the ideology of Abu Jandal al-Azdi, one of the chief ideologues of Saudi’s al-Qa’ida on the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and shows that Saudi AQAP was more of an anti-Saudi organisation than has been known until now)
- “The Enduring Legacy of the Second Saudi State: Quietist and Radical Wahhabi Contestations of al-Wala’ wa-l-Bara,’” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 44, no. 1 (2012): 93-110 (on the continuing importance of the Saudi civil war in the 19th century to the development of al-wala’ wa-l-bara’ concept)
- “An Inquiry into Ignorance: A Jihadi-Salafi Debate on Jahl as an Obstacle to Takfir,” in Nicolet Boekhoff-van der Voort, Kees Versteegh & Joas Wagemakers (eds.), The Transmission and Dynamics of the Textual Sources of Islam: Essays in Honour of Harald Motzki (Leiden: Brill, 2011): 301-327 (on avoiding takfir on the grounds that someone is ignorant he or she is sinning)
- ‘Seceders’ and ‘Postponers An Analysis of the ‘Khawarij’ and ‘Murji’a’ Labels in Polemical Debates between Quietist and Jihadi-Salafis,” in Jeevan Deol & Zaheer Kazmi (eds.), Contextualising Jihadi Thought (London: Hurst & Co., 2012): 145-164 (deals with the frequent accusations by Jihadi-Salafis that quietist Salafis are “neo-Murji’a” and, vice versa, the accusation by quietist Salafis that Jihadi-Salafis are “neo-Khawarij”)
So the next time someone in DC is organizing a conference on Jihadi ideology, spend a little coin and get the real deal. At the very least, we Rabbi-like parsers will finally be able to relieve our philological anxiety upon learning how to pronounce his first and last name.
