The English is crude and clunky, almost to the point of being laughable. The pictures look like bad Photoshop jobs.

But the contents of Inspire, a magazine bearing the signature of the propaganda arm of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, are no joke.

Headlines tease tutorials for would-be terrorists, including instructions to “make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom,” an article on “Mujahedeen 101” and a lesson in sending and receiving encrypted messages.

A PDF of the magazine — the first known English-language publication thought to be produced by the Yemen-based terrorist group — began circulating on the Internet on Wednesday. The magazine’s goal is to recruit disaffected Muslims in the United States, Canada, Britain and other English-speaking countries.

“They’re targeting a very small community and hoping that they will get the next Times Square bomber or the next Fort Hood murderer to come forward, be further radicalized and carry out an act of mass violence,” said Bruce Riedel, a Brookings Institution scholar who worked for the C.I.A. on counterterrorism efforts in the Middle East and South Asia.

The PDF widely distributed in the past 48 hours was only three pages long; a virus apparently corrupted the remaining 64 pages. Mr. Riedel said that could have been the work of hackers, possibly working for the United States government.

In many ways the magazine reads like a typical Western publication, using banner headlines to highlight exclusive interviews and encouraging readers to write in.

“Our intent is to give the most accurate presentation of Islam,” reads a letter from the editor. “Jihad has been deconstructed in our age and thus its revival in comprehension and endeavor is of utmost importance.”