ISIS is only the latest (and certainly most barbaric) interpretation of a current in Islamic thought known as Salafism—an originalist approach to Islamic law and creed that relies exclusively on a narrow reading of the Qur’an and the hadith. Although the ideology has local roots across the Middle East, it has catapulted to a position of great influence in recent decades through the role of Saudi Arabia, and its version of this ideology known as Wahhabism. While geopolitical forces were certainly at play in this process (one cannot overstate the importance of oil) it is ultimately the appeal of the ideology’s uniquely rigid doctrines and exclusivist truth claims that continue to attract followers. In Saudi Arabia, these ideas were first introduced by a man living at the end of the eighteenth century: Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab. We know little about him, but what little we do know is well presented in Michael Crawford’s short, satisfying book tracing his life and influence.
Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab was a preacher in the Najd region of present-day Saudi Arabia who advocated the idea of tawhid (divine unicity), which he promoted principally through his wide-ranging attacks on shirk, supposedly polytheistic derivations like shrine construction and visitation. There was nothing novel in this, as Michael Crawford reminds us. Instead, what set him apart was his “his single-minded focus on tawhid and drive as a radical activist to implement his credo through his role as guide to an expansionist Saudi state.” It is because of the pact that Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab made with Muhammad b. Sa‘ud (d. 1765), the ruler of what would become the first Saudi state, that the former gained lasting influence.
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