Alms for Jihad
Encyclopedia
Alms for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World is a 2006 book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...

 co-written by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 authors J. Millard Burr, a former USAID relief coordinator in Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

 and Historian Robert O. Collins http://www.meforum.org/article/936.

Chapters

  1. The third pillar of Islam: zakat;
  2. Saudi Arabia and its Islamic charities;
  3. The banks;
  4. Afghanistan beginnings;
  5. Islamic charities and the revolutionary Sudan;
  6. Islam at war in the Balkans;
  7. The Central Asian crescent and Russia;
  8. From Afghanistan to Southeast Asia;
  9. The Holy Land;
  10. The Islamization of Europe;
  11. Islamic charities in North America.

Controversy

In August 2007, the publisher, Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...

, removed the work from circulation under pressure from a libel action lawsuit filed against them in the British legal system by wealthy Saudi Khalid Salim A. Bin Mahfouz
Khalid bin Mahfouz
Khalid bin Mahfouz was a wealthy Saudi Arabian businessman residing in Ireland. He was accused of supporting al-Qaeda.As of 2002, he was believed to be confined in a hospital in Taif by Saudi authorities...

 because the book accused him of funding al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...

.
Mahfouz had previously also forced the censorship of four other books:
  • June 2006: "The Forbidden Truth" / "La Vérité Interdite" by Jean-Charles Brisard
    Jean-Charles Brisard
    Jean-Charles Brisard is an international expert and consultant on international terrorism. He authored the first and most exhaustive study ever written on the financial network of the Bin Laden organization, "The economic environment of Osama Ben Laden"...

     and Guillaume Dasquié
    Guillaume Dasquié
    Guillaume Dasquié is a French journalist and writer who specialises in matters of intelligence and terrorism.Dasquié graduated in Law in Paris in 1990...

  • April 2006: Funding Evil; How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It
    Funding Evil
    Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It is a book written by counterterrorism researcher Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, director of the and the Economic Warfare Institute...

    , by Rachel Ehrenfeld
    Rachel Ehrenfeld
    Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld is an expert on terrorism and corruption-related topics. These include terror financing, economic warfare, and narco-terrorism. She has lectured on these issues in many countries, and has advised banking communities, law enforcement agencies, and governments.Dr. Ehrenfeld...

  • July 2004: "Terrorism financing: roots and trends of Saudi terrorism financing; prepared by JCB Consulting"


Within hours, Alms for Jihad became one of the 100 most sought after titles on Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...

 and eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...

 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...

 sent a letter to libraries asking them to remove copies from circulation. CUP subsequently sent out copies of an "errata" sheet. The American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....

 issued a recommendation to libraries still holding Alms for Jihad: "Given the intense interest in the book, and the desire of readers to learn about the controversy first hand, we recommend that U.S. libraries keep the book available for their users."

The decision did not have the support of the book's authors and was criticised by some who claimed it was incompatible with freedom of speech and with freedom of the press and that it indicated that English libel laws were excessively strict. In a New York Times Book Review (7 October 2007), United States Congressman
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 Frank R. Wolf described Cambridge's settlement as "basically a book burning."

CUP pointed out that, at that time, it had already sold most of its copies of the book. Kevin Taylor, intellectual property director at Cambridge University Press, stated that the book cited sources, "whose falsity had been established to the satisfaction of the English courts" in previous cases.

External links

  • Official page at Cambridge University Press
    Cambridge University Press
    Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...

  • Introduction to the book
  • Mark Steyn
    Mark Steyn
    Mark Steyn is a Canadian-born writer, conservative-leaning political commentator, and cultural critic. He has written five books, including America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It, a New York Times bestseller...

    , "The vanishing jihad exposés", The Orange County Register
    The Orange County Register
    The Orange County Register is a daily newspaper published in Santa Ana, California. The Register is the flagship publication of Freedom Communications, Inc., which publishes 28 daily newspapers, 23 weekly newspapers, Coast magazine, and several related Internet sites.The Register is notable for its...

    , August 5, 2007
  • Rachel Ehrenfeld
    Rachel Ehrenfeld
    Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld is an expert on terrorism and corruption-related topics. These include terror financing, economic warfare, and narco-terrorism. She has lectured on these issues in many countries, and has advised banking communities, law enforcement agencies, and governments.Dr. Ehrenfeld...

    , "Saudis sue for secrecy", New York Post
    New York Post
    The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

    , August 8, 2007
  • Get the ebook http://defendingfreespeech.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/alms-for-jihad-charity-and-terrorism-in-the-islamic-wolrd/, Click here to download the book in PDF
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