Alms for jihad - J. Millard Burr

Giving to charity is incumbent upon every Muslim. Muslims have always donated to charitable endowments set up for the purposes of promoting Islam through the construction of mosques, schools, and hospitals. In recent years, there has been a dramatic proliferation of Islamic charities. While most of these are legitimate, there is now considerable evidence to show that others have more questionable intentions, and that funds have been diverted to support terrorist groups, such as al-Qaeda. The authors examine the contention through a detailed investigation of the charities involved, their financial intermediaries, and the terrorist organisations themselves. What they discover is that money from these charities has funded conflicts across the world, from the early days in Afghanistan, to subsequent terrorist activities in Asia, Africa, Palestine and, most recently, Europe and the United States. This ground-breaking book is the first to piece together the secret financial systems that support terror.