Salafi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea
{{Short description|2016 book by Shiraz Maher}}{{Infobox book
| image = Salafi-Jihadism.jpg
| author = Shiraz Maher
| pub_date = 2015
| publisher = C. Hurst & Co.
}}
Salafi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea is a 2016 book by British policy analyst Shiraz Maher.
Salafi-Jihadism focuses on the religious basis of jihadism.{{cite news |last1=Waterbury |first1=John |title=Salafi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea (book review) |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2017-08-15/salafi-jihadism-history-idea |access-date=29 April 2019 |publisher=Foreign Affairs |date=September 2017}} According to Maher, Salafi jihadism is based on five doctrines of faith: jihad in the sense of holy war, tawhid, (the oneness of God), hakimiyya (meaning true Islamic government), al-wala wal-bara (loyalty to divine truth and rejection of untruth and polytheism), and takfir (the naming of disbelievers).
The Guardian newspaper describes Salafi-Jihadism as one of "the best books to understand modern terrorism," describing it as providing "insight into the theological frameworks adopted by many proponents of terror today without falling into arcane arguments about Islamic law."{{cite news |last1=Overton |first1=Ian |title=After Sri Lanka: the best books to understand modern terrorism |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/25/rising-rage-iain-overton-picks-books-to-help-us-understand-modern-terrorism |publisher=The Guardian |date=25 April 2019}}
Synopsis
According to Maher, the key to understanding Salafi-jihadism is to understand how this ideology interprets the five ideological pillars of the faith.{{cite news |last1=Orton |first1=Kyle |title=The Intellectual Roots of ISIS |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-intellectual-roots-of-isis-1471260593 |access-date=1 May 2019 |publisher=Wall Street Journal |date=15 August 2016}}
Maher traces the origins of this particular strain of Islam to the medieval scholar Ibn Taymiyyah and the 18th century scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab.{{cite news |last1=Holland |first1=Tom |title=How Islamic is Islamic State? Shiraz Maher’s new book investigates |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2016/06/how-islamic-islamic-state-shiraz-mahers-new-book-investigates |access-date=1 May 2019 |publisher=The New Statesman |date=23 June 2016}}
===Jihad===
Jihad is understood as the means by which the millenarian vision of Salafi-jihad will be realized. Military jihad, a holy war, will overturn existing governments and create a worldwide a global Islamic utopia.