Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad: Difference between revisions

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{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}
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{{Infobox book
{{Infobox book
| name = Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad
| name = Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad
| title_orig =  
| title_orig =  
| translator =  
| translator =
| image =  
| image =  
| caption =  
| caption =  
| author = [[Natana J. DeLong-Bas]]
| author = Natana J. DeLong-Bas
| illustrator =  
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =  
| cover_artist =
| country = [[United States]]
| country = [[United States]]
| language = [[English language|English]]
| language = [[English language|English]]
| series =  
| series =
| subject = [[Wahhabism]]
| subject = [[Wahhabism]]  
| genre =  
| genre =  
| publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
| publisher = Oxford University Press
| pub_date = {{Start date|2004|7|15|mf=y}}
| pub_date = 2004
| english_pub_date =  
| english_pub_date =  
| media_type =  
| media_type =  
| pages =  
| pages =  
| isbn = 0-19-516991-3
| isbn = 0-19-516991-3
| oclc =  
| oclc =
| dewey =  
| dewey =
| congress =  
| congress =
| preceded_by =  
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =}}
| followed_by =}}


'''''Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad''''' is 2004 a book by academic [[Natana J. DeLong-Bas]], published by [[Oxford University Press]]. It is based "on a close study of the 14 volumes" of collected works of [[Wahhabism]]'s founder, [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab]] and has been called "the first extensive explication of the theology" of Wahhabism.<ref name="ybarra">{{cite news|url=https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB109027620568967848  |title=Books. In the Prophet's Name  [Review] |first=Michael J. |last=Ybarra|publisher=wsj.com|date=July 20, 2004}}</ref>
'''''Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad''''', is a book by academic [[Natana J. DeLong-Bas]], published in 2004 by [[Oxford University Press]]. It is based "on a close study of the 14 volumes" of collected works<ref name=ybarra/> of Wahhabism's founder, [[Ibn Abd al-Wahhab]] and has been called "the first extensive explication of the theology" of [[Wahhabism]].<ref name=ybarra>{{cite news|url=https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB109027620568967848  |title=Books. In the Prophet's Name  [Review] |first=Michael J. |last=Ybarra|publisher=wsj.com|date=July 20, 2004}}</ref> The book "reveals" (according to its author), "a more moderate, sophisticated, and nuanced" interpretation of Islam than the "standard image" of Wahhabism.<ref name="DLB2004: 5">[[#DLB2004|DeLong-Bas, ''Wahhabi Islam'', 2004]]: 5</ref>


It is divided into sections: a brief religious biography and history of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, theology, Islamic law, women and Wahhabism, jihad and the evolution of Wahhabism.<ref name="B&N">{{cite web|title=Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad. Overview  [blurb]|url=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wahhabi-islam-natana-delong-bas/1117395956?ean=9780195333015|website=Barnes & Noble|quote=She focuses on four areas: theology, legal theory, proselytizing through education and jihad, and law on women.}}</ref>
The work is divided into sections: a brief religious biography and history of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, his "theology and world view", Islamic law, women and Wahhabism, ''jihad'' and the evolution of Wahhabism.<ref name=B&N>{{cite web|title=Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad. Overview  [blurb]|url=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wahhabi-islam-natana-delong-bas/1117395956?ean=9780195333015|website=Barnes & Noble|quote=She focuses on four areas: theology, legal theory, proselytizing through education and jihad, and law on women.}}</ref>


==Critical reception==
The work has been praised as a “monumental work ... lucid and carefully documented",<ref name=Long>{{cite journal|last1=Long|first1=David E|title=Saudi Arabia [review of ''Wahhabi Islam'' by Natana DeLong-Bas]|journal=Middle East Journal|date=2005|pages=316–19|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4330135|accessdate=2 July 2014}}</ref> "often fascinating", and presenting "a nuanced discussion of Wahhab's Quranic interpretation",<ref name=ybarra/>  
''Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad'' has been praised as a "monumental work ... lucid and carefully documented",<ref name=Long>{{cite journal|last1=Long|first1=David E|title=Saudi Arabia [review of ''Wahhabi Islam'' by Natana DeLong-Bas]|journal=Middle East Journal|date=2005|pages=316–19|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4330135|accessdate=2 July 2014}}</ref> "often fascinating", and presenting "a nuanced discussion of Wahhab's Quranic interpretation",<ref name=ybarra/> but also criticized as a "piece of scholarly trash"<ref name=Kearney/> and of "markedly inferior quality",<ref>{{cite journal|last= Schwartz |first=Stephen|title=[Review of] Wahhabi Islam: From Revival to Global Jihad by Natana J. Delong-Bas, New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 359 pp. $35.|journal=Middle East Quarterly|date=Winter 2005 |url=http://www.meforum.org/1517/wahhabi-islam-from-revival-to-global-jihad}}</ref> and guilty of "special pleading".<ref name="ybarra"/>
but also criticized as a "piece of scholarly trash"<ref name=Kearney/> and of “markedly inferior quality",<ref>{{cite journal
 
|last= Schwartz |first=Stephen
It has received positive reviews.<ref name="OUP">{{cite web|title=Wahhabi Islam From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad. Reviews and Awards|url=http://global.oup.com/academic/product/wahhabi-islam-9780195333015?cc=us&lang=en&#|website=Oxford University Press USA|accessdate=4 August 2014}}</ref> David E. Long of ''[[Middle East Journal]]'' who called it a "monumental work ... a lucid and carefully documented assessment of Wahhabism."<ref name="Long"/> Sara Powell of ''[[Washington Report on Middle East Affairs]]'' described it as "...a well-regarded, logically constructed, and considered --if perhaps somewhat sympathetic--analysis of Abd al-Wahhab's beliefs."<ref name="Powell">{{cite journal|last1=Powell|first1=Sara|title=Books [Review] Wahhabi Islam|journal=Washington Report on Middle East Affairs|date=May–June 2005|url=http://www.wrmea.org/wrmea-archives/274-washington-report-archives-2000-2005/may-june-2005/8513-book-and-video-reviews-wahabi-islam-a-women-in-struggle.html|accessdate=14 August 2014}}</ref> ''History'' magazine  called it "a ground-breaking study ... both controversial and informative"<ref name=OUP/>
|title=[Review of] Wahhabi Islam: From Revival to Global Jihad by Natana J. Delong-Bas, New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 359 pp. $35.
 
|journal=Middle East Quarterly|date=Winter 2005  
However, others have questioned the book and DeLong-Bas's views on Wahhabism. Author [[Stephen Suleyman Schwartz]] has called her an "apologist", criticizing her for among other things, receiving financial support from Saudi Arabia; not including as a source the correspondence of ibn Abd al-Wahhab, "which critics of Wahhabism and other Saudis consider key to understanding him"; and failing to mention the religious and/or governmental background of some Saudi Arabians mentioned in her acknowledgments.<ref name="Schwartz-thank">{{cite web|last1=Schwartz|first1=Stephen|title=Natana DeLong-Bas: American Professor, Wahhabi Apologist|url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/01/natana_delongbas_american_prof.html|website=Real Clear Politics|accessdate=9 June 2014|ref=January 19, 2007|quote=Her book seemed to have been rushed into print with official Saudi support: DeLong-Bas thanked such individuals as Faisal bin Salman, whose status as a Saudi prince she failed to mention; Abd Allah S. al-Uthaymin, son of a notoriously extreme member of the Wahhabi clerical class in the kingdom; and Fahd as-Semmari, director of the King Abd al-Aziz Foundation for Research and Archives in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. She also acknowledged the latter foundation for financial support.}}</ref>
|url=http://www.meforum.org/1517/wahhabi-islam-from-revival-to-global-jihad}}</ref>  
 
and guilty of "special pleading".<ref name=ybarra/>
Reviewer [[Michael J. Ybarra]], called the book "often fascinating", and providing "a nuanced discussion of Wahhab's Quranic interpretation", but also complained that she "seems to bend over backward to give Wahhab the benefit of the doubt while dismissing his critics as biased."<ref name="ybarra"/> He also notes that DeLong-Bas "doesn't say ... where on earth" the tolerant form of Wahhabism described by her "ever existed",<ref name=Kearney>{{cite news|last1=Kearney|first1=John|title=The real Wahhab.|url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2004/08/08/the_real_wahhab?pg=full|accessdate=13 August 2014|publisher=Boston.com|date=August 8, 2004}}</ref> and that "the voice of Wahhab himself is largely absent from this book" because the author rarely quotes him.<ref name="ybarra"/>
 
[[Khaled Abou El Fadl]], professor of law at University of California, Los Angeles who writes frequently on Islamic jurisprudence, expressed sorrow that Oxford University Press had published the book, stating "This doesn't qualify as scholarship -- it falls within the general phenomenon of Saudi apologetics."<ref name="Kearney"/>
 
She has also been criticized for depending  on the chronicles of supporters of ibn Abd al-Wahhab (primarily Ibn Bishr who is footnoted 45 times) for biographical information on ibn Abd al-Wahhab. Blogger Zubair Qamar compares it to using "[[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]'s admirers" as a source for a biography on the Führer, and describing the admirer's  as "the 'most accurate'" sources "because they were among the closest in 'proximity' to him."<ref name=zubair>{{cite web|last1=Qamar|first1=Zubair|title=Critical Book Review: Wahhabi Islam (by Natana DeLong-Bas)|url=http://zubairqamar.com/2014/03/08/critical-book-review-wahhabi-islam-by-natana-delong-bas/|website=AGAINST "ISLAMIC" TERRORISM & ISLAMOPHOBIA|accessdate=13 August 2014|ref=March 8, 2014}}</ref>


==Contents==
==Contents==