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SAUDI ARABIA Force and Fanaticism: Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and Beyond, by Simon Ross Valentine. London: Hurst, 2015. 362 pages. $38.50.
Reviewed by Jörg Matthias Determann
Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which involved a number of Saudi nationals, books on the dominant form of Islam in Saudi Arabia have proliferated.1 While most writers stress the foundational role of the 18th century scholar Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, they vary in their conceptualization of this form as Wahhabism, Wahhabiyya, Salafism, the Hanbali school, or simply Islam. Many critics and opponents prefer the term "Wahhabism," considering it an extreme and intolerant sect. Simon Ross Valentine, who had previously written on the Ahmadiyya reform group with its center in South Asia,2 has sought to investigate whether the negative portrayals of Wahhabism are true. Like other European researchers, he first entered the Kingdom as a language teacher and travelled throughout the country. His book, Force and Fanaticism, is the product of almost three years of living and working in the Kingdom and extensive reading.
Interspersed with personal memories from his stays in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, Valentine's book characterizes Wahhabism, tells its history beginning with Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, and analyzes its influence in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. A first chapter on "Defining Wahhabism" describes it as "the most rigid and intolerant of Muslim sects"...