Introduction. The prayer hall putsch ; Salafi-jihadism : typologies and definitions ; Intellectual history -- Jihad. The obligation of fighting. The virtues of jihad ; Authorising defensive declarations of jihad ; Applying jihad in Salafi thought. Attacking the far enemy as a defensive measure ; The rules of qitāl ; Qiṣāṣ : the law of equal retaliation ; Vicarious liability ; Human shields (tatarrus) -- Takfīr. Establishing disbelief. The foundations of takfīr ; The emergence of takfīr as a tool for intra-Muslim violence ; The postponers emerge ; Praxis in action. The roots of modern takfīr ; The tyrants (ṭawāghīt) ; Criminal transgressors and oppressors (mujrimūn and zalimūn) ; Heretics (mushrikūn and rawāfiḍ) -- Al-walāʼ wa-l-barāʼ. The making of love and hate. Al-walāʼ wa-l-barāʼ ; Understanding al-walāʼ wa-l-barāʼ and its linguistic dimensions ; The emergence and development of al-walāʼ wa-l-barāʼ as a political concept in the first and second Saudi states ; The development of al-walāʼ wa-l-barāʼ as a theoretical doctrine of dissent ; Al-walāʼ wa-l-barāʼ as social empowerment. Manifestations of al-walāʼ wa-l-barāʼ as a means of rebellion, separation and confrontation ; Akhaff al-ḍararayn as a means of derogation from the prohibition of istiʻāna bi-l-kuffār ; Resistance to akhaff al-ḍararayn and the rise of popular dissent ; Contemporary Salafi-jihadi interpretations of al-walāʼ wa-l-barāʼ -- Tawḥīd. Realising monotheism ; Tawḥīd in Salafi thought ; Tawḥīd al-ulūhiyya : Islam as a living ideal ; Political applications of tawḥīd ; Holy war and the essence of monotheism. Jihad as the means of realising tawḥīd -- Ḥākimiyya. The dawn of modern political Islam. The birth of an idea : from reform to governance ; The fear of secularism ; Transposing Maududi's thought to the Arab world ; Arab discourse on ḥākimiyya shifts from inclusive to aggressive : the fight against domestic tyranny ; Ḥākimiyya as temporal empowerment ; Securing God's rights. The revival of ḥākimiyya discourse in Saudi Arabia ; Intra-Salafi debates on obedience, jihad and iṣlāḥ ; Tawḥīd al-ḥākimiyya as a Salafi-jihadi neologism.

"No topic has captured the public imagination of late quite so dramatically as the specter of global jihadism. While much has been said about the way jihadists behave, their ideology remains poorly understood. As the Levant has imploded and millenarian radicals claim to have revived a Caliphate based on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, the need for a nuanced and accurate understanding of jihadist beliefs has never been greater. Shiraz Maher charts the intellectual underpinnings of Salafi-jihadism from its origins in the mountains of the Hindu Kush to the jihadist insurgencies of the 1990s and the 9/11 Wars. What emerges is the story of a pragmatic but resilient warrior doctrine that often struggles--as so many utopian ideologies do--to consolidate the idealism of theory with the reality of practice. His ground-breaking introduction to Salafi-jihadism recalibrates our understanding of the ideas underpinning one of the most destructive political philosophies of our time by assessing classical works from Islamic antiquity alongside those of contemporary ideologues. Packed with refreshing and provocative insights, Maher's book explains how war and insecurity engendered one of the most significant socio-religious movements of the modern era."--Dust jacket.