ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to explain the revival of jihad in the Arab and Muslim world since the 1980s in terms of a search in the history of Islam for an instrument to mobilise young Muslims. It then looks at the geographical distribution of Muslims worldwide, including in foreign diasporas, and notes that many of them feel disadvantaged and frustrated, comparing past glory with current misery. Ever since the creation of the Muslim Brotherhood in the late 1920s, Muslim secret organisations have attempted to turn their religion into an instrument of military mobilisation by re-interpreting the classic concept of jihad and declaring support for it mandatory for Muslims. More than one hundred militant and terrorist organisations, counting more than 200,000 members, have in recent years answered the call for waging jihad. The number of sympathisers and supporters of their struggle goes into the millions. Nevertheless, jihadism has not become a mass movement, although some 40,000 foreign fighters joined the so-called Islamic State (IS) in parts of Syria and Iraq. Despite the loss of IS’ short-lived caliphate (2014–2018), the spirit of jihadism seems unbreakable as long as Muslim governments and Western democracies cannot offer Muslims realistic and practical alternatives to jihad as a method to improve their position.
