Wow! eBook
God's Terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult and Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad
Author(s): Charles Allen (Author)
- Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
- Publication Date: 23 Feb. 2006
- Edition: First Edition
- Language: English
- Print length: 384 pages
- ISBN-10: 0316729973
- ISBN-13: 9780316729970
Book Description
The brutal assasination of Commissioner Frederick Mackeson on British Indias North-West Frontier in 1853 was a bloody and public declaration of a conflict that was to stretch well into the next one hundred and fifty years. The Wahhabi tribe, extreme Islamist fundamentalists, set out to restore purity to their faith by declaring violent jihad on all who opposed them. Their history has long been forgotten and yet their vicious brand of political ideology lives on. The Wahhabi deeply influenced not only the formation of modern Saudi Arabia, but Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Their teachings educate orphan boys in Afghanistan and press rifles into their hands, for the sake of jihad. The parallels between this pivotal terrorist network and our post-9/11 political climate are staggering. Charles Allen sheds lights on the historical roots of modern terrorism and shows how this dangerous nineteenth-century theology lives on today.
Editorial Reviews
Review
‘A story of intransigence, hatred of modernity, millennial dreams, bloody massacres and invariably disappointed hopes’ — INDEPENDENT
‘Allen is an engaging writer with a commanding knowledge . . . Compelling’ —
THE TIMES‘Allen marshals his formidable knowledge of British India to considerable effect. His book offers a valuable guide’ —
SCOTSMAN‘Charles Allen is a fine narrative historian whose work is always stimulating and readable . . . A fascinating new book’ —
SPECTATOR‘The book draws some interesting parallels between this religious network and the post 9/11 political world’ —
GLASGOW HERALDAbout the Author
Charles Allen is the author of a number of bestselling books about Indian and the colonial experience elsewhere. A traveller, historian and master storyteller he is one of the great chroniclers of India.
