Muslims often say “sabeel Allah fi-al-sayf,” “the path of God is by the sword,” and this path, which once led to the gates of Vienna, or to Spain, or to France, or Asia, now seems to be leading to Africa. Mali, Morocco, Algeria, Sudan, Libya, Nigeria and Egypt are all experiencing terrific violence at the hands of forces claiming to be carrying the banner of Islam…..

The radical British Muslim preacher Anjem Choudary was secretly filmed poking fun at fellow Muslims who work in 9-to-5 jobs by pointing out that several revered Islamic figures hardly work one or two days a year. According to “The Sun”, Choudary urged his followers to learn from the example of Muslim leaders like himself, saying: "Claim your Jihad Seeker's Allowance," a reference to the fact that he lives on generous state benefits.....

Many of us have wondered what makes a perfectly normal looking person take a life (or lives) and sometimes his own. Secure in a rather convoluted and perverse knowledge that his act is sure to place him in the good books of the Almighty or find him pleasurably loitering in the gardens of paradise. Sociologists, psychologists and political scientists have often come up with various explanations.....

Ten million dollars does not seem to buy much in this bustling Pakistani city. That is the sum the US is offering for help in convicting Hafiz Saeed, perhaps the country’s best-known extremist leader. Yet Saeed lives an open, and apparently fearless, life in a middle-class neighbourhood here....

It is foolhardy to imagine that the TTP is the only form of militant-extremism in the country. In fact, there are three kinds of elements operating inside the country: (a) friendly Ahle Hadith militants like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)/ Jamaat ud Dawah (JuD) network, (b) mildly-uncontrolled Deobandi militants like the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), and (c) friendly-and-controlled Deobandi outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and the Lal Masjid gang....

The intelligence agencies of Pakistan have contributed largely to the shaping of the current situation of Karachi. There was a time when, to achieve their goals, these establishments armed the linguistic groups providing them with appropriate ‘facilities’ and even used the communal madrasas and religious centres of Karachi to organise killings and bloodshed in Pakistan....

Terrorism is an extreme form of criminality and one doesn’t talk to criminals. But some political leaders in Pakistan are shamelessly calling on the state to surrender to the very criminals who have killed thousands of Pakistanis in suicide bombings, beheaded soldiers and bombed schools. It is all in the hope of an elusive peace that can never be achieved by legitimising violence....

The fact that these questions were discussed exclusively by pro-Moscow specialists, known for their anti-Islamic and anti-Caucasian rhetoric, means that even this category of people in Russia have started to realize what has been obvious since 2005—namely, that the radicalization of youth and the spread of jihadist ideas is taking place throughout the territory of the Russian Federation, not only within the North Caucasus…..

A few days before I visited Frontier Region (FR) Bannu, where the last of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s derelict roads meet the tribal areas of North Waziristan, and the endless blue sky and abundant fields dramatically transform into a dull beige panorama, a girl’s arms were broken for dancing at a wedding. A grainy Cellphone video of that dance, shot by a guest at the wedding, made its way through dozens of phones and computers to her brother and father. By the next day, seven people had been killed, including men from the host family....

The Mumbai attacks propelled Lashkar-e-Taiba to notoriety. But since then, Mr. Saeed’s provocations toward India have been largely verbal. Last week he stirred anger there by suggesting that Bollywood’s highest-paid actor, Shah Rukh Khan, a Muslim, should move to Pakistan. In the interview, he said he prized talking over fighting in Kashmir. “The militant struggle helped grab the world’s attention,” he said. “But now the political movement is stronger, and it should be at the forefront of the struggle.”...

Documents recovered from abandoned Islamist buildings, hospital records, and interviews suggest the 10-month occupation was not a descent into anarchy but a lucidly planned, and often terrifying, attempt at realising a vision of a more just, pure, and orderly society....

Mr. Azhar’s hold has stilled, but “Having no alternative ideology like Marxism or Liberalism or even language-symbols which may challenge the feudal stranglehold,” the social scientist Tahir Kamran has explained, “Deobandi militancy remains one of the few ways to counter it.” The jihadists Mr. Azhar recruited are now drawn to new battles — in Afghanistan, and against the Pakistani state....

“Islam was whatever they said it was,” he said. “They did not respect the holy book. They respected nothing but their own desires.” For hundreds of years, Timbuktu was one of the world’s most important centres of Islamic learning. The city has dozens of mosques, and it is famous for the ancient, handwritten manuscripts that city residents have collected for generations, preserving them against waves of invaders and creating a priceless trove of knowledge...

Last week, Cairo witnessed the first appearance groups describing themselves as the Black Bloc. Decked in black and wearing masks, they clashed with police forces at Qasr al-Aini Street on Thursday. They said they would fight with the police if it targeted protesters. Previously unknown, the Black Bloc's goals remain unclear and its members generally avoid media contact....

Coded language is unfortunately not a new phenomenon here in America. In fact, since this past presidential election it has almost become common place. Between Mitt Romney’s comments that Palestinian culture is to blame for its economic hardships, to Newt Gingrich calling Obama the “food stamp President”, race-baiting has just become another weapon in the politician’s arsenal. Just as ugly terms like Welfare Queen trigger certain images in the collective brain, so too does Islamist....