Jihadi

Jihadi: Path to Heaven is a novel describing the life of Zabiullah Omarkhel who was born in Afghanistan just prior to the Soviet/Afghan War. The book begins with his birth in the small village of Koh-e Dalan Sang nestled in the Panjshir Valley, and tells the story of his childhood and early schooling in the village's maktab (primary school). It continues with his education at a madrassa (secondary school) in the province's capital city, Bazarak, where he is introduced to the teachings and ideology of an ultra-conservative version of Sunni Islam that will eventually give rise to the Taliban. The continuing excesses and horrors of the Soviet occupation subsequently drive him into the hands of an even more radical group of mujahideen, the Soldiers of the Levant. Eventually, he ends up at an al-Qaeda training camp in Herat, Afghanistan, and from there is persuaded to engage in Holy Jihad against the cursed infidels who continue to defile his land and threaten Islam itself.