Khaled Salah Revisits Islamist Youth Recruitment Through ‘When Wolves Tend the Sheep’

Writer Khaled Salah has revisited the role of ideological literature in recruiting young people into Islamist organizations, focusing on a book he recalls as influential across groups with differing beliefs and political positions.

In his commentary, Salah reflects on his former admiration for the striking title “When Wolves Tend the Sheep,” which he says gained prominence in Islamist circles during the 1980s and 1990s.

The book was written by Sheikh Rifai Sorour, whom Salah describes as one of the thinkers associated with political Islam at the time. Salah recalls the work as both influential and subtle in its approach.

According to Salah, the book became a fixture in the reading programs of almost all Islamist organizations, despite their differences over jurisprudence, ideology and politics.

His recollection provides the starting point for an examination of youth recruitment, drawing attention to how a shared text could reach readers across otherwise divided Islamist movements.