Flash Points

Translation / Interpretation / Caption Text / Source

Arabic translation:

To those against whom war is made, permission is given (to fight), because they are wronged; and verily, Allah is most powerful for their aid

Curator's Note: This is Quranic text from Chapter 22 "al-Hajj," verse 39

According to Steven Wachlin this poster's iconography references three contemporary geopolitical flashpoints of militant Islam:

(Left side) the defeat of the USSR in Afganistan

(Right side) The crushing of the 1982 uprising of the Muslim Brotherhood in the city of Hama (Syria)

(Center) The breaking of the Israeli/Zionist occupation of Jerusalem and its restoration to Islamic control

Acquired by SW at Al Najah University, 1986