Management of Savagery
Encyclopedia
Management of Savagery: The Most Critical Stage Through Which the Ummah Will Pass was uploaded to the Internet in 2004 by the al-Qaeda
terrorist organization. Its author Abu Bakr Naji is unidentified, and is known only for this piece plus some contributions to the al-Qaeda online magazine Sawt al-Jihad
. Some believe Naji's book has influenced al-Qaeda.
Management of Savagery has been translated into English and is available online. An overview is also available.
will reveal fundamental weaknesses in the abilities of superpowers to defeat committed Jihadists.
Naji uses the philosophy of Ibn Taymiyya, the influential 14th century theologian, and his book also displays a thoughtful understanding of western institutions and value systems, and the role and history of Islamist movements in Egypt, Afghanistan, and the Middle East, particularly the activities of Islamic Jihad in Egypt during the 1990s.
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
terrorist organization. Its author Abu Bakr Naji is unidentified, and is known only for this piece plus some contributions to the al-Qaeda online magazine Sawt al-Jihad
Voice of Jihad
Voice of Jihad was an online journal published by the Saudi branch of al Qaeda between 2004 and 2007.An April 27, 2005, edition of Voice of Jihad included an article asking sympathizers not to appropriate the term "Voice of Jihad" for their own publications.An issue was published in February 2007...
. Some believe Naji's book has influenced al-Qaeda.
Management of Savagery has been translated into English and is available online. An overview is also available.
Summary
Management of Savagery is an open and frank description of the need to create and manage nationalist and religious resentment and violence in order to create long-term propaganda opportunities for jihadist groups. Most notably, the author discusses the value of provoking military responses by superpowers in order to recruit and train guerilla fighters and to create martyrs. Naji suggests that a longlasting strategy of attritionAttrition warfare
Attrition warfare is a military strategy in which a belligerent side attempts to win a war by wearing down its enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and matériel....
will reveal fundamental weaknesses in the abilities of superpowers to defeat committed Jihadists.
Naji uses the philosophy of Ibn Taymiyya, the influential 14th century theologian, and his book also displays a thoughtful understanding of western institutions and value systems, and the role and history of Islamist movements in Egypt, Afghanistan, and the Middle East, particularly the activities of Islamic Jihad in Egypt during the 1990s.
External links
- Rising Leader for Next Phase of Al Qaeda's War NYTimes April 4, 2008