God's Terrorists The Wahhabi Cult and the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad

by Allen, Charles

• ISBN13: 9780306815706
• ISBN10: 0306815702
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-09-04
• Publisher: Da Capo Press

Summary

What are the roots of today's militant fundamentalism in the Muslim world? In this insightful and wide-ranging history, Charles Allen finds an answer in an eighteenth-century reform movement of Muhammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab and his followers-the Wahhabi-who sought the restoration of Islamic purity and declared violent jihad on all who opposed them. The Wahhabi teaching spread rapidly-first throughout the Arabian Peninsula, then to the Indian subcontinent, where a more militant expression of Wahhabism flourished. The ranks of today's Taliban and al-Qaeda are filled with young men trained in Wahhabi theology. God's Terrorists sheds much-needed light on the origins of modern terrorism and shows how this dangerous ideology lives on today.

Author Biography

Charles Allen is an acknowledged authority on British Indian and South Asian history. His most recent books include Soldier Sahibs and The Buddha and the Sahibs. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

Maps	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Introduction: 'Am I not a Pakhtun?'	p. 1
Death of a Commissioner	p. 23
The Puritan of the Desert	p. 42
The False Dawn of the Imam-Mahdi	p. 69
The Call of the Imam-Mahdi	p. 92
The Early Summer of 1857	p. 118
The Late Summer of 1857	p. 139
The Ambeyla Disaster	p. 161
The Wahabees on Trial	p. 185
The Frontier Ablaze	p. 212
The Brotherhood	p. 234
The Coming Together	p. 260
The Unholy Alliance	p. 289
Leading Muslim personalities	p. 298
The roots of the Al-Saud - Al-Wahhab family alliance	p. 304
The 'Wahhabi' family tree in India	p. 306
Glossary	p. 308
Bibliography	p. 320
Index	p. 332
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