United Arab Emirates

Abstract

coreligionists abroad (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey) for humanitarian and military support. After 9/11, the official Bosnian religious agency cleared mosques of Salafi preachers. A security imperative to align with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union inclines Bosnians to see Turkey as a model for religious life rather than Saudi Arabia. Hira Amin traces the trajectory of Salafism in the United Kingdom, where graduates from the Islamic University of Madinah were pioneers. Competition with rival Muslim currents and splintering in Salafi ranks doomed any prospect for a pure, uniform Islam. Instead, British Muslims turned their energies to social and political issues such as mental health, Islamophobia, and the environment. From London to Jakarta, chapters in Wahhabism and the World show that Saudi Arabia’s support for Wahhabi and Salafi institutions has made a difference in other countries, be it in dress, scrupulous attention to ritual, or hardening attitudes toward fellow Muslims and non-Muslims, sometimes feeding extremism. The takeaway message is that religious landscapes in the Kingdom and in Muslim communities around the world are too complex to be captured in the phrase “exporting Wahhabism.” Because its chapters are models of clarity and concision, the volume is suitable for a broad audience, including advanced undergraduates, scholars, and policy-makers.