Translator's note and acknowledgments -- Introduction -- The identity matrix of "Muslim-speak" -- From national struggle to the disillusionments of "recolonization" : the triple temporality of Islamism -- The Islamist field between national specificity and transnationalization -- Red Sea secrets or Islamism without colonization -- The brothers and the salafis : between modernization and literalism, with or without radicalization -- Islamic radicalization : between religious sectarianism and political counterviolence -- From Sayyid Qutb to Mohammed Atta : sectarianism or political counterviolence? -- From fears inherited to fears exploited : the war of representations -- Hard power and imposed reform : the illusions of the western response to Islamism -- Conclusion : against terrorism -- The absolute weapon? -- Appendix : the Islamists as seen by the West in 1992.