David Commins examines the debate on the nature of Wahhabism and offers original findings on Wahhabism’s ascendence in Saudi Arabia and spread throughout other parts of the Muslim world such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. He discusses the development of links to Arab and South Asian religious reform movements in the late nineteenth century and how they contributed to an alliance with modern revivalist organisations such as The Muslim Brothers in the late twentieth century. After Wahhabism’s most zealous impulses were suppressed in the 1920s by King Abdul Aziz, it became part of the modern kingdom’s bureaucratic apparatus. Commins argues that Wahhabi clerics used government bodies to consolidate authority – especially in law and education. Commins assesses the challenges that Wahhabism faces from the popularity of modern Islamic revivalism that has fuelled radical militants such as Osama Bin Laden who call for the overthrow of the Saudi classes which have always enjoyed the blessing of the Wahhabi establishment. The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia is essential reading for anyone interested in the Middle East and Islamic radicalism today.

The Mission and the Kingdom: Wahhabi Power Behind the Saudi Throne by David Commins (2016-09-30) PDF

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