Wahhabism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement

An essential history of Wahhābism from its founding to the Islamic State. The book covers the emergence of Wahhābism in the mid-eighteenth century, its teachings that professed most Muslims were polytheists, and its call for jihād against those who venerated saints at tombs and gravesites. It traces the movement from its origins in the 1740s through its development and spread across the Arabian Peninsula under the Āl Suʿūd dynasty, its suppression in 1818, and its influence on modern militant ideologies such as al-Qāʿida and the Islamic State. Drawing from primary sources, it examines the religious thought of Ibn Taymiyya and the evolution of Wahhābī doctrine over generations.