New from J.M. Berger: The Enduring Legacy of Awlaki's 'Constants on the Path of Jihad'

I have a new piece in The Sentinel, the journal published by West Point's Combating Terrorism Center.

A U.S. drone killed Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi on Sept. 30, 2011, but his greatest contribution to Al Qaeda's cause lives on. Awlaki's six-hour audio lecture "Constants on the Path of Jihad" may be the single most influential work of jihadist incitement in the English language.

"Constants" is not Awlaki's original work. The jihadist tract was written in Arabic after September 11 by ideologue Yusuf al-Uyayri, a veteran of the jihad against the Soviet Union who joined al-Qa'ida and later founded al-Qai'da in the Arabian Peninsula.

Al-Uyayri was the author of several influential works on jihad that have been widely distributed online before he was killed by Saudi security forces in 2003. However, Awlaki's translation of "Constants" into English has become a classic of radicalization in the West, not just because of Awlaki's formidable language skills, but also his creative interpretation of the original text with expanded religious stories and real-life examples.

Read the full article at the CTC Sentinel

For more about Awlaki and other American jihadists, check out J.M. Berger's new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, on sale everywhere.

Labels: Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaeda-In-The-Arabian-Peninsula, American-Al-Qaeda, American-Jihadists, American-Terrorists, Anwar-Awlaki

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