Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- 1. Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Wahhāb and His Discontents -- 2. The Doctrine of Ibn ʻAbd al-Wahhāb I: The Taymiyyan Background -- 3. The Doctrine of Ibn ʻAbd al-Wahhāb II: The Key Components -- 4. The Warpath of Early Wahhābism: The First Saudi State (1741-1818) -- 5. The Reassertion of Enmity: The Second Saudi State (1823-1887) -- 6. The Persistence of Enmity: The Rashīdī Interregnum (1887-1902) -- 7. The Decline of Enmity: The Rise of the Third Saudi State (1902-1932) -- Conclusion: The Fall and Rise of Militant Wahhābism -- Appendix -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index.

"In the mid-eighteenth century, a controversial Islamic movement arose in the central Arabian region of Najd that forever changed the political landscape of the Arabian Peninsula and the history of Islamic thought. Its founder, Muhammad ibn ʻAbd al-Wahhab, taught that most professed Muslims were polytheists due to their veneration of Islamic saints at tombs and gravesites. He preached that true Muslims, those who worship God alone, must show hatred and enmity toward these polytheists and fight them in jihad. Cole Bunzel tells the story of Wahhabism from its emergence in the 1740s to its taming and coopting by the modern Saudi state in the 1920s, and shows how its legacy endures in the ideologies of al-Qaʻida and the Islamic State. Drawing on a wealth of primary source materials, Bunzel traces the origins of Wahhabi doctrine to the religious thought of medieval theologian Ibn Taymiyya and examines its development through several generations of Wahhabi scholars. While widely seen as heretical and schismatic, the movement nonetheless flourished in central Arabia, spreading across the peninsula under the political authority of the Al Suʻud dynasty until the invading Egyptian army crushed it in 1818. The militant Wahhabi ethos, however, persisted well into the early twentieth century, when the Saudi kingdom used Wahhabism to bolster its legitimacy. This incisive history is the definitive account of a militant Islamic movement founded on enmity toward non-Wahhabi Muslims and that is still with us today in the violent doctrines of Sunni jihadis"-- Provided by publisher.

"An essential history of Wahhābism from its founding to the Islamic State. In the mid-eighteenth century, a controversial Islamic movement arose in the central Arabian region of Najd that forever changed the political landscape of the Arabian Peninsula and the history of Islamic thought. Its founder, Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Wahhāb, taught that most professed Muslims were polytheists due to their veneration of Islamic saints at tombs and gravesites. He preached that true Muslims, those who worship God alone, must show hatred and enmity toward these polytheists and fight them in jihād. Cole Bunzel tells the story of Wahhābism from its emergence in the 1740s to its taming and coopting by the modern Saudi state in the 1920s, and shows how its legacy endures in the ideologies of al-Qāʻida and the Islamic State.Drawing on a wealth of primary source materials, Bunzel traces the origins of Wahhābīdoctrine to the religious thought of medieval theologian Ibn Taymiyya and examines its development through several generations of Wahhābīscholars. While widely seen as heretical and schismatic, the movement nonetheless flourished in central Arabia, spreading across the peninsula under the political authority of the Āl Suʻūd dynasty until the invading Egyptian army crushed it in 1818. The militant Wahhābīethos, however, persisted well into the early twentieth century, when the Saudi kingdom used Wahhābism to bolster its legitimacy.This incisive history is the definitive account of a militant Islamic movement founded on enmity toward non-WahhābīMuslims and that is still with us today in the violent doctrines of Sunni jihādīs"-- Provided by publisher.