Global Jihad and America questions the assumption if Islamist terrorism, or "Global Jihad," poses the biggest threat to modern civilization in the East and West. It explores if Islamic and Western civilizations, being "incompatible" to each other, are destined to be at loggerheads. Consequently, the book argues that state-sponsored terrorism and proxy wars--not terrorist acts by "non-state actors"--will pose the biggest security threat to the world.
This study does not suggest that the world has already reached the cul-de-sac of its destiny with no point of return. Both America and the Muslim World can play important roles to avert the catastrophe. Meanwhile, the gap between the needy and the rich and powerful is widening. Throughout history, sections of the rich and powerful have manipulated wars in the name of peace and justice, religion and freedom. So the big question now is: with America and its allies waging a "war on terror and extremism" and their Muslim adversaries defending honor and religion, is a disaster looming?
Hashmi, Taj: - "Taj Hashmi was born in 1948 in Assam, India. He has an M.A. and a B.A. (Hons) in Islamic History and Culture from Dhaka University and a PhD in Modern South Asian History from the University of Western Australia. Taj Hashmi teaches security studies at Austin Peay State University at Clarksville, Tennessee. Prior to this, he taught Islamic and Modern South Asian History and Cultural Anthropology at various universities in Bangladesh, Australia, Singapore, and Canada, including the Curtin University (1987-1988), Dhaka University (1972-1981), National University of Singapore (1989-1998), and the University of British Columbia (2003-2004). Hashmi has also worked for four years as a professor of Security Studies at the US Department of Defense, College of Security Studies at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii. Hashmi is fluent in several South Asian and Islamic languages. He is a regular commentator on current affairs and global conflicts in the print and electronic media. He is a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (since 1997). He was a visiting fellow at the Centre of International Studies, Oxford University, and a fellow at the National Centre for South Asian Studies, Monash University, Australia. Hashmi is on the editorial board of two international journals, the Contemporary South Asia and the Journal of South Asian Studies. He is a regular reviewer of manuscripts for several publishers, including SAGE and Routledge. Hashmi has authored scores of academic and popular essays and articles on various aspects of history, society, religion, politics, culture, and security issues in South Asia, Middle East, the Asia-Pacific, and North America. His major publications are:
- Women and Islam in Bangladesh: Beyond Subjection and Tyranny (2000). - Pakistan as a Peasant Utopia: The Communalization of Class Politics in East Bengal, 1920-1947 (1992). - Colonial Bengal (in Bengali) (1985). - Islam, Muslims and the Modern State (coedited) (1994 and 1996). His Women and Islam in Bangladesh was a bestseller in Asian Studies and was awarded the Justice Ibrahim Gold Medal (Bangladesh) in 2001."
