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, Mu岣mmad ibn 士Abd al-Wahh膩b, 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 箩颈丑腻诲. Cole Bunzel tells the story of 奥补丑丑腻产颈蝉尘 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-Q膩士ida and the Islamic State.
Drawing on a wealth of primary source materials, Bunzel traces the origins of Wahh膩b墨 doctrine to the religious thought of medieval theologian Ibn Taymiyya and examines its development through several generations of Wahh膩b墨 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 膧l Su士奴d dynasty until the invading Egyptian army crushed it in 1818. The militant Wahh膩b墨 ethos, however, persisted well into the early twentieth century, when the Saudi kingdom used 奥补丑丑腻产颈蝉尘 to bolster its legitimacy.
This incisive history is the definitive account of a militant Islamic movement founded on enmity toward non-Wahh膩b墨 Muslims and that is still with us today in the violent doctrines of Sunni 箩颈丑腻诲墨s.
"Bunzel’s scholarship is groundbreaking. . . . It is essential that it reaches as wide an audience as possible."鈥擩ohn McHugo, History Today
"The amount of primary sources and manuscripts referenced in Cole Bunzel's new book is dizzying in the best way possible. The new standard for literature on Wahhabism! . . . A must read book."鈥擜aron Y. Zelin, Brandeis University
"The single most significant event in the publication history of the scholarship on 奥补丑丑腻产颈蝉尘—period. There’s no book that rivals it . . . in scope, erudition, and breadth. . . . It's one of these books that will set the agenda for future scholarship."鈥擮mar Anchassi, Islamicate Book Reviews
"Remarkably detailed, robust, and cohesive. . . . This is a worthwhile read for anyone with an interest in either Islamic history and/or the lasting impact of 奥补丑丑腻产颈蝉尘."鈥擳roy E. Spier, Reading Religion
"Telling this complicated story in accessible prose, 奥补丑丑腻产颈蝉尘 is a fine book worth reading by anyone interested in the history of ideas in Islam."鈥擬ustafa Akyol, Religion & Liberty
"Cole Bunzel’s 奥补丑丑腻产颈蝉尘 is a fine work of exacting scholarship, combining the best of the philological tradition in Islamic Studies with a gumshoe’s nose for locating evidence and reconstructing historical contexts. The book is an outstanding contribution to the study of 奥补丑丑腻产颈蝉尘, especially in its presentation and analysis of the movement’s doctrine and its evolution, and it sets a high bar for studies of 奥补丑丑腻产颈蝉尘 to come."鈥擠aniel Lav, Islamic Law and Society
"Through a reexamination and historical-doctrinal analysis of primary sources, Bunzel’s study provides important elements for the study of the discipline . . . and represents one of the primary texts on which to base a study on Wahhabism."鈥擟hristian Tratzi, Islamochristiana
"Bunzel’s study will be a standard reference for its richly descriptive documentation of Wahhabism over its first two centuries."鈥擯aul L. Heck, JAOS
"This is a first-class work of religious and especially doctrinal development. . . . A vast number of previously unknown or underutilized sources have been brought to bear on the phenomenon of 奥补丑丑腻产颈蝉尘 that need to be assimilated by anyone who is interested in contemporary Islamic thought."鈥擠avid Cook, Nova Religio
“Here for the first time we have an analysis of the origins and development of Wahh膩b墨 militancy that is philologically grounded, historically sophisticated, and comprehensive in its coverage of a mass of material, much of it new to the field. The result is a quantum leap in our knowledge and understanding.”—Michael Cook, Princeton University
“Superb. Bunzel’s book will stand as the authoritative account of 奥补丑丑腻产颈蝉尘’s first two centuries and will be the essential reference for scholars in Islamic studies and the history of Saudi Arabia.”—David Commins, author of The Mission and the Kingdom: Wahhabi Power behind the Saudi Throne
