The terms Wahhabi or Salafi are seen as interchangeable and frequently misunderstood by outsiders. However, as Madawi al-Rasheed explains in a fascinating exploration of Saudi Arabia in the twenty-first century, even Saudis do not agree on their meaning. Under the influence of mass education, printing, new communication technology, and global media, they are forming their own conclusions and debating religion and politics in traditional and novel venues, often violating official taboos and the conservative values of the Saudi society. Drawing on classical religious sources, contemporary readings and interviews, Al-Rasheed presents an ethnography of consent and contest, exploring the fluidity of the boundaries between the religious and political. Bridging the gap between text and context, the author also examines how states and citizens manipulate religious discourse for purely political ends, and how this manipulation generates unpredictable reactions whose control escapes those who initiated them.
Author(s): Madawi Al-Rasheed
Series: Cambridge Middle East Studies
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 332
Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 4
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Glossary......Page 10
Foreign words and phrases......Page 14
Introduction: debating religion and politics in the twenty-first century......Page 25
Wahhabiyya and Salafiyya......Page 26
Wahhabiyya in the eyes of others......Page 31
The focus of the book......Page 36
The chapters......Page 41
1 Consenting subjects: official Wahhabi religio-political discourse......Page 46
Genealogies and geographies of people of knowledge......Page 51
Hijra......Page 58
Takfir......Page 61
Jihad......Page 66
Political innovations......Page 69
Engaging with modernity......Page 78
2 Re-enchanting politics: Sahwis from contestation to co-optation......Page 83
The meaning of Sahwa: re-enchanting politics......Page 89
One Sahwi group among others......Page 96
11 September: an accused and divided Sahwa......Page 101
Sahwa: from contestation to co-optation......Page 105
The domestic political front......Page 106
The regional and international front......Page 115
A triumphant or bitter and twisted Sahwa?......Page 119
3 Struggling in the way of God abroad: from localism to transnationalism......Page 126
A critical year: 1979......Page 128
Phase 1 (the 1980s): early transnational encounters......Page 130
Phase 2 (the 1990s): from excommunicating society to excommunicating rulers......Page 136
London: contesting Wahhabi religio-political discourse......Page 144
Transnationalisation in peaceful contexts......Page 150
4 Struggling in the way of God at home: the politics and poetics of jihad......Page 158
Taking Sahwa to its logical conclusion: qa'idun vs. mujahidun......Page 161
The struggle in the way of God in the Arabian Peninsula......Page 173
Jihadis and Sahwis: ‘the years of deceit’......Page 177
The poetics of jihad: body and soul......Page 180
Celebrations of life and death: jihad as performance......Page 182
Gendered jihad: women, honour and shame......Page 187
Repentance: violence to renounce violence......Page 192
Jihad: self-annihilation, purposeful behaviour or agent of modernity?......Page 196
5 Debating Salafis: Lewis Atiyat Allah and the jihad obligation......Page 199
The first conversion: from Sahwi Islamism to liberalism......Page 202
The second conversion: back to Sahwa......Page 205
The final confirmation: Lewis the Jihadi......Page 207
Lewis Atiyat Allah and Abu Yasir: from Buraydah to Manhattan......Page 209
Abu Yasir’s point of view......Page 210
Lewis’s point of view......Page 211
Lewis and violence in Saudi Arabia......Page 213
Lewis and his enemies: the jihad obligation explained......Page 215
Lewis comes home to bilad al-haramayn......Page 217
The ultimate defilement of bilad al-haramayn: ‘when a hypocrite becomes ruler’......Page 219
The sultan’s 'ulama: ‘cursed by God and cursed by cursers’......Page 221
Preparing for chaos: an Imam elected by an alternative council......Page 223
Lewis: between admiration and detraction......Page 224
Lewis in his own eyes......Page 226
Evaluating Lewis: popularity against anonymity......Page 227
Searching for meaning: Lewis’s message......Page 230
6 Searching for the unmediated word of God......Page 235
The pillars of Saudi authoritarianism......Page 237
Liberating history from Wahhabi domination......Page 238
Liberating theology from Wahhabi domination......Page 244
Liberating politics from Wahhabi interpretations......Page 247
Rounds of petitions......Page 254
Breaking chains: the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia......Page 261
Conclusion......Page 278
INTRODUCTION: DEBATING RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY......Page 287
1 CONSENTING SUBJECTS: OFFICIAL WAHHABI RELIGIO-POLITICAL DISCOURSE......Page 291
2 RE-ENCHANTING POLITICS: SAHWIS FROM CONTESTATION TO CO-OPTATION......Page 297
3 STRUGGLING IN THE WAY OF GOD ABROAD: FROM LOCALISM TO TRANSNATIONALISM......Page 301
4 STRUGGLING IN THE WAY OF GOD AT HOME: THE POLITICS AND POETICS OF JIHAD......Page 304
5 DEBATING SALAFIS: LEWIS ATIYAT ALLAH AND THE JIHAD OBLIGATION......Page 309
6 SEARCHING FOR THE UNMEDIATED WORD OF GOD......Page 311
CONCLUSION......Page 315
Bibliography......Page 316
SOURCES IN ARABIC......Page 321
INTERNET WRITERS......Page 324
INTERNET WEBSITES......Page 325
SATELLITE CHANNELS......Page 326
Index of personal names......Page 327
Index of place names......Page 330
General index......Page 331
Cambridge Middle East Studies 25......Page 333
