The Emporia Gazette

May 28, 2012

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How to Win A Cosmic War by Reza Aslan, Random House, $17.16.

By Ted Gentle

Special to The Gazette

Reza Aslan’s “How to Win A Cosmic War” is a history lesson first and foremost, one that spans the Great Jewish Revolt against the Romans, the Crusades, the Dreyfus affair in France, the creation of Israel and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. From this historical vantage point, Aslan lucidly explains the forces and motivations that led to the birth of Global Jihadism, the formation of al-Qaida, and the terrorist attacks on 9/11.

Aslan takes this approach to make two points. First, he seeks to explain that the motives of Global Jihadists are not expressly social, political or even religious in nature. Grievances such as “the suffering of the Palestinians, U.S. support for Arab dictators, the presence of foreign troops in Muslim lands,” although real, are viewed by Global Jihadists in terms that are largely symbolic. These earthly events, to members of this movement, merely represent physical actors in a war that is eternal and metaphysical.

In this sense, Global Jihadism differs from Islamist movements that seek to actualize their religious beliefs by establishing a political state. Global Jihadists understand, in Aslan’s view, that realizing such goals on a global scale is not possible and do not desire it. Instead, they use violent actions to reinforce their metaphysical belief that the universe consists of “black and white, good and evil, us and them.” Any individuals, including other Muslims, who reject their unorthodox view of Islam as perpetual warfare are seen as infidels or kafirs.

In light of this radical stance, Aslan asks how the United States should best confront this international plot. His second major point is that U.S. politicians must not use polarizing and “religiously charged” rhetoric that is similar to that of the Global Jihadists. Using George W. Bush as his primary example, he cites statements such as “either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists” and his use of the word “crusade” as utterances that reinforce the adversarial Jihadist worldview. Such statements, Aslan argues, reflect the value systems of figures such as Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri in a way that is highly dangerous.

Aslan concedes that “the U.S. military has had a fair measure of success rooting out and killing al-Qa’ida’s cosmic warriors.” He encourages, however, greater political involvement in the Middle East among Islamist parties as a more workable alternative to violence.

“It will also be the firm, patient, aggressive push for greater political participation by all parties in the region that ultimately defeats Global Jihadism,” he writes, “because it is precisely the absence of such participation, and the grievances that result, that fuels the movement’s fires and keeps it alive.”

How to Win A Cosmic War is a deeply felt work that poses sometimes controversial opinions and arguments. But for its detailed historical outline of various religious movements, its clear differentiation of Islamism from Global Jihadism, and its complex examination of the motives that drive both, the book is essential for any reader.

Only by understanding the philosophy of duality that inspires men like bin Laden will the United States be able to move beyond it. “E pluribus unum universitatum,” the book concludes. “Out of many, one world.”