From Oxford University Press
Advance praise for Wahhabi Islam ..

“Natana DeLong-Bas has written a comprehensive and original, analysis of the writings of the influential Arabian religious reformer Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab.  She provides a convincing reinterpretation of this controversial thinker’s beliefs, especially in regard to the status of women.  DeLong-Bas sets out the religious foundations of the early Saudi kingdom while arguing that Osama bin Laden and other violent current-day Islamic extremists differ sharply from Ibn Abd al-Wahhab in their views of many aspects of the Muslim faith.”  -- William Ochsenwald, co-author of The Middle East:  A History

“Natana DeLong-Bas has written a groundbreaking book that sets the standard for understanding the thought of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and its connection to the global jihad signaled by the 9/11 attacks.  Her findings with respect to this teachings on issues of violence, holy war, women, religious tolerance, and reform fly in the face of past scholarship and of the militants who preach and practice a theology of hate in the name of Wahhabism.  Wahhabi Islam is must reading for policymakers, scholars, the media, and the general public.” -- John L. Esposito, author of Unholy War:  Terror in the Name of Islam and What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam

“Natana DeLong-Bas’s extensive study of Wahhabism’s founding father rejects the conventional idea that the movement is a radical departure from the mainstream of Islam.  Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab emerges as an original thinker whose views on jihad and women in particular are not extreme or fanatical but scholarly and moderate.  By amassing so much evidence for her original interpretation of a rich intellectual vision at the core of Wahhabism, DeLong-Bas opens the way for historians to reconsider and revise the standard, perhaps mistaken, notions about it.” -- David Commins, author of Islamic Reform:  Politics and Social Change in the Late Ottoman Syria

Wahhabi Islam and Terrorism:  One and the Same?
The Origins, the Teachings, and the Distortion of a Misunderstood Faith

The September 11^th attacks on New York and Washington, DC and the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq by the United States brought about an unprecedented level of attention and scrutiny of Wahhabi Islam.  Because fifteen of the nineteen September 11^th hijackers hailed from Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of both Wahhabism and Osama bin Laden, Wahhabism instantaneously became synonymous with terrorism.  In the years since the attacks, the Western media has portrayed Wahhabist belief as predominantly anti-modern, fundamentalist, militant if not terrorist, and oppressive to women.

But has this sect always held these views?

Wahhabi Islam:  From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad (Oxford University Press, June 2004) by Natana J. DeLong-Bas is a probing look into the life and teachings of Wahhabi Islam’s founder, Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab.  DeLong-Bas gives readers the only available look at Wahhabism that is grounded in the writings of its founder.  Through careful analysis of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s words and deeds, she shatters stereotypes of Wahhabism that pervade the media.  DeLong-Bas traces the development and distortion of Wahhabi Islam from its early followers to Osama bin Laden.

Essential for students and scholars of Islam as well as for those interested in the background of this ostensibly dangerous modern ideology, Wahhabi Islam is controversial but impossible to ignore.

Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad
By Natana J. DeLong-Bas

Book Description
Before 9/11, few Westerners had heard of Wahhabism. Today, it is a household word. Frequently mentioned in association with Osama bin Laden, Wahhabism is portrayed by the media and public officials as an intolerant, puritanical, militant interpretation of Islam that calls for the wholesale destruction of the West in a jihad of global proportions. In the first study ever undertaken of the writings of Wahhabism's founder, Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1702-1791), Natana DeLong-Bas shatters these stereotypes and misconceptions. [more]

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Natana J. DeLong-Bas is a senior research assistant at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, Washington, DC.  She is the author of Notable Muslims:  A Biographical Dictionary (2004) and co-author of Women in Muslim Family Law, revised edition, with John L. Esposito (2001).  She has served as editor for and contributor to The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (OUP, 2003), and contributor to The Encyclopedia of the Qur’an (2004) and The Encyclopedia of the Islamic World (OUP, 2004).  She is a frequent public speaker on Islam, Wahhabism and Saudi Arabia.