Followers of Muhammad b. ’Abd al-Wahhab, often considered to be Islam’s Martin Luther, shaped the political and religious identity of the Saudi state while also enabling the significant worldwide expansion of Salafist Islam. Studies of the movement he inspired, however, have often been limited by scholars’ insufficient access to key sources within Saudi Arabia. Nabil Mouline was granted rare interviews and admittance to important Saudi archives in preparation for this groundbreaking book, the first in-depth study of the Wahhabi religious movement from its founding to the modern day. Gleaning information from both written and oral sources and employing a multidisciplinary approach that combines history, sociology, and Islamic studies, Mouline presents a new reading of this movement that transcends the usual resort to polemics.

Followers of Muhammad b. ’Abd al-Wahhab, often considered to be Islam’s Martin Luther, shaped the political and religious identity of the Saudi state while also enabling the significant worldwide expansion of Salafist Islam. Studies of the movement he inspired, however, have often been limited by scholars’ insufficient access to key sources within Saudi Arabia. Nabil Mouline was granted rare interviews and admittance to important Saudi archives in preparation for this groundbreaking book, the first in-depth study of the Wahhabi religious movement from its founding to the modern day. Gleaning information from both written and oral sources and employing a multidisciplinary approach that combines history, sociology, and Islamic studies, Mouline presents a new reading of this movement that transcends the usual resort to polemics.

The Saudi "ulama" are known for their strong opposition to Shi'a theology, Shi'a communities in Saudi Arabia, and external Shi'a influences such as Iran and Hezbollah. Their potent hostility, combined with the influence of the 'ulama' within the Saudi state and the Muslim world, has led some commentators to blame the Saudi 'ulama' for what they see as growing sectarian conflict in the Middle East. However, there is very little understanding of what reasoning lies behind the positions of the 'ulama' and there is a significant gap in the literature dealing with the polemics directed at the Shi'a by the Saudi religious establishment. In Saudi Clerics and Shi'a Islam, Raihan Ismail looks at the discourse of the Saudi "ulama" regarding Shiism and Shi'a communities, analysing their sermons, lectures, publications and religious rulings. The book finds that the attitudes of the "ulama" are not only governed by their theological convictions regarding Shiism, but are motivated by political events involving the Shi'a within the Saudi state and abroad. It also discovers that political events affect the intensity and frequency of the rhetoric of the ulama at any given time.

Explores multiple pathways of cleric radicalization to explain why some Muslim clerics turn to militant jihadism.

This book attempts the first major study of the Jakhanke people. The Jakhanke have since the thirteenth century been a specialist group of Muslim clerics and teachers, living among the Serakhulle, from whom they sprang, and the Manding, whose language they speak. Despite the nineteenth-century ambience of militancy, they maintained their tradition of consistent pacifism and political neutrality which is unique in Muslim Black Africa. Their manuscripts and clan histories survive today in precious family collections and libraries. The author has drawn on these histories, present-day interviews, travellers' observations and colonial reports to weave a fascinating, comprehensive study of the Jakhanke for the first time in any language. The author traces the details of their wanderings and analyzes important themes such as their system of education, their function as dream-interpreters and amulet-makers and finally, the dark side of the coin, the dependence of their way of life on the institution of slavery. Includes photos and maps.

A prominent Muslim cleric reflects on his experiences as a Muslim in the United States and what it means to be Arab, Muslim, and American in the post-September 11 world, arguing that Islam and America have great benefits to offer each other. 35,000 first printing.