"This first-hand account of the Wahabi conquest of the Arabian peninsula was published by the Frenchman Louis Alexander Olivier de Corancez in 1810. He gives a unique contemporary account of the spread of this puritan sect, lead by Ibn Saud, which laid the foundations for Saudi Arabia. Including campaigns against Egypt and Syria, political negotiations with the Turkish empire, and piracy against English ships, this was one of the most turbulent periods of Arabian history, and one of the most crucial for modern students of the region." "Translated for the first time into English, this long-neglected book ranges widely through issues which remain relevant, and controversial, for many people in the Middle East today. His reflections on the nature of the Wahabis' form of patriarchal rule and the tensions between religious factions make this a pertinent and provocative book which allows the author to take his place in the first rank of European observers of the Middle East."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

At present, the world views Muslims as terrorists and Islam a religion of tyranny especially after 9/11. Thereafter, to my surprise the killing of Muslims right in the mosques and public places around the Muslim countries has become every day affair which I never heard in my life earlier. While so many sects like Wahabi, Qadiyani, Bahai, Ahmadi, Parvezi and many others emerged in the course of past two hundred years through the efforts of Britain. The most cruel and dangerous among them is Wahabi sect formed by Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab Najdi of Saudi Arabia, which declared whoever does not follow them among Muslims, taking their lives, property and their wives is permissible. King Abdul Azeez Ibn e Saud formed armed group by name “Ikhwan” who mercilessly killed thousands of Muslims in Najad. They killed even women, children and old at Taif and throw their dead bodies on the hills. They flattened the graves of the family of Holy Prophet and his companions in the grave yards of Makkah and Madinah. I got serious in finding out the cause of this bloody change and I happened to read the book “Tareekh Najad O Hijaz” written in Urdu language. The book also gives the details about Wahabism. So I translated this book in English and named it “History of Saudi Arabia and Wahabism”. The regime of Saudi Arabia is spending billions of dollars to spread Wahabism in Muslim countries as per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi_movement Holy Book Quran in the Verse 5:8 says in this regard: "O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for God Almighty Allah, as witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to piety: and fear Allah. For Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do" May God Almighty Guide Muslims towards Straight Path and Salvation. Amen.

Founded by Sayyid Ahmad (1786-1831) of Rae Bareli, the Wahhabi Movement in India was a vigorous movement for socio-religious reforms in Indo-Islamic society in the nineteenth century with strong political undercurrents. It stood for a strong affirmation of Tauhid (unity of God), the efficacy of ijtihad (the right of further interpretation of the Quran and the Sunnah, or of forming a new opinion by applying analogy) and the rejection of bid'at (innovation). It remained active for half a century. Sayyid Ahmad's writings show an awareness of the increasing British presence in the country and he regarded British India as a daru'l harb (abode of war). In 1826 he migrated and established an operational base in the independent tribal belt of the North Western Frontier area. After his death in the battle of Balakote, the Movement slackened for some time but his adherents particularly Wilayet Ali and Enayat Ali of Patna revived the work and broad-based its activities. The climax of the Movement was reached in the Ambeyla War (1863) during which the English army suffered serious losses at the hands of the Wahhabis. This led the Government to take stern measures to suppress the Movement. Investigations were launched, the leaders were arrested and sentenced to long-term imprisonments and their properties confiscated. That broke the back of the Movement but it continued to be a potential source of trouble to the government. The Movement does not fit in neatly in any one of the groups and categories into which the history of the early resistance to British rule has been divided by some of the writers on the subject. It cut across some of them time-wise and theme-wise. The existing studies on the subject do not offer a comprehensive profile of the Movement and fail to analyse its nature and the reasons for its failure politically. This well researched study drawing on a vast array of contemporary records, many of them for the first time, seeks to fill this gap and presents an integrated account of the rise and growth of the Movement, its operation over the entire area and period of its existence, its impact and reasons for its failure. Please note: This title is co-published with Manohar Publishers, New Delhi. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

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.

The Hanbali School of Law and Ibn Taymiyyah provides a valuable account of the development of Hanbalite jurisprudence, placing the theoretical and conceptual parameters of this tradition within the grasp of the interested reader. Studying the vibrant yet controversial interaction between Ibn Taymiyyah and the Hanbali School of law, this book assesses to what extent this relationship was a conflict or reconciliation. The author takes a detailed exploration of the following issues: the strength of contributions made to this School by earlier paragons associated with Ahmad Ibn Hanbal the contextual constructs which shaped the tradition’s development the methodology and literature synonyms within the classical School the manner by which Ibn Taymiyyah engaged with the Hanbali tradition the impact of his thought upon the later expression of the School’s legal doctrines and its theoretical principles the contribution made by this School in general to the synthesis of Islamic law. Giving background material to the Hanbali School of law, this book is a vital reference work for those with interests in Islamic law, the history of the Hanbalite tradition and its principle luminaries.

Amidst the roil of war and instability across the Middle East, the West is still searching for ways to understand the Islamic world. Stéphane Lacroix has now given us a penetrating look at the political dynamics of Saudi Arabia, one of the most opaque of Muslim countries and the place that gave birth to Osama bin Laden. The result is a history that has never been told before. Lacroix shows how thousands of Islamist militants from Egypt, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries, starting in the 1950s, escaped persecution and found refuge in Saudi Arabia, where they were integrated into the core of key state institutions and society. The transformative result was the Sahwa, or “Islamic Awakening,” an indigenous social movement that blended political activism with local religious ideas. Awakening Islam offers a pioneering analysis of how the movement became an essential element of Saudi society, and why, in the late 1980s, it turned against the very state that had nurtured it. Though the “Sahwa Insurrection” failed, it has bequeathed the world two very different, and very determined, heirs: the Islamo-liberals, who seek an Islamic constitutional monarchy through peaceful activism, and the neo-jihadis, supporters of bin Laden's violent campaign. Awakening Islam is built upon seldom-seen documents in Arabic, numerous travels through the country, and interviews with an unprecedented number of Saudi Islamists across the ranks of today’s movement. The result affords unique insight into a closed culture and its potent brand of Islam, which has been exported across the world and which remains dangerously misunderstood.