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on current events, new al-Qa’ida media releases, links to articles, books, nasheeds,
and offers a variety of links to other jihadist websites. The blog categories
include: “Afghanistan,” “Al-Hadith,” “Al-Quran,” “Announcements,” “Aqeedah
wal Eman,” “As-Sahab,” “As-Sirah wat Ta'rikh,” “Books,” “Boycott,”
“Chechnya,” “Da'wah,” “Documentary,” “Ibadah,” “Iraq,” “Jahiliyah,” “Jihad,”
“Muslimah,” “News,” “Pakistan,” “Palestine,” “Salaf as-Saleh,” “Ukuwah,” and
“Waziristan.” These categories reveal several things about the blog’s focus. First,
there is ample attention paid to the theological and religious dimensions, not just
political aspects, of the global jihadist movement. This focus also suggests that
the website administrators have some religious knowledge and prioritize
religion as an element equally important to the physical waging of violent jihad.
The categories also suggest that the administrators prioritize certain regions in
the global jihad, including: Afghanistan, Chechnya, Pakistan, Palestine, and
Waziristan. What is most revealing about this list is not what regions are
featured, but which ones are not. Specifically, there is no reference to Saudi
Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, or North Africa. Although there is no reason
given for the focus on some regions over others, it suggests that jihad is only of
interest to this website in particular countries.
The jihadist books featured on Alistishhad are divided into two sections, Thailanguage
and English-language. The Thai books are primarily hosted on the
website , which is the Society for Online Learning, a
Thai-language Islamic literature repository and web forum. None of the texts
would be considered among the preeminent jihadist texts. This focus on more
local Islamic literature contrasts from the Indonesian and Malaysian websites
reviewed in this chapter, most of which herald global jihadist literature written
originally by the chief jihadist thinkers in Arabic. The English language jihadist
texts, on the other hand, do include those authored by some of the most wellknown
jihadist writers, including Sheikh Bin Baz, Sayyid Qutb, Abdullah
Azzam, Sulayman ibn Nasr al-Ulwan, Aid al-Qarni, Nasr al-Deen al-Albani,
Hasan al-Banna, and others. None of the English language books deal with local
or regional issues, and the list of authors constitute a veritable “who’s who” list
of Arab jihadist thinkers.
This breakdown between English and Thai-language texts leads one to draw at
least two conclusions. First, there seems to be a relatively even split in the
website’s focus between local/regional jihadist issues and global jihadist issues,
although this divide does not extend to the action arena. Rather, the Thailanguage
focus on jihadist ideology seems almost entirely focused on the practice
and understanding of Islam, not the engagement of violent jihadist activities. The
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