Shiraz Maher (PhD) is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR) at Kings College, University of London, and teaches at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.

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 Mohammed, 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 explains how war and insecurity engendered one of the most significant socio-religious movements of the modern era.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Note on Transliteration
Glossary
INTRODUCTION
1. Introduction
The Prayer Hall Putsch
Salafi-Jihadism: typologies and definitions
Intellectual history
JIHAD
2. The Obligation of Fighting
The virtues of jihad
Authorising defensive declarations of jihad
3. Applying Jihad in Salafi Thought
Attacking the far enemy as a defensive measure
The rules of qital
Qisas: the law of equal retaliation
Vicarious liability
Human shields (tatarrus)
TAKFIR
4. Establishing Disbelief
The foundations of takfir
The emergence of takfir as a tool for intra-Muslim violence
The postponers emerge
5. Praxis in Action
The roots of modern takfir
The tyrants (tawaghit)
Criminals transgressors and oppressors (mujrimun and zalimun)
Heretics (mushrikun and rawafid)
AL-WALA' WA-L-BARA'
6. The Making of Love and Hate
Al-wala' wa-l-bara'
Understanding al-wala' wa-l-bara' and its linguistic dimensions
The emergence and development of al-wala' wa-l-bara' as a
political concept in the first and second Saudi states
The development of al-wala' wa-l-bara' as a theoretical doctrine
of dissent
7. Al-Wala' wa-l-Bara' as Social Empowerment
Manifestations of al-wala' wa-l-bara' as a means of rebellion,
separation and confrontation
Akhaff al-dararayn as a means of derogation from the prohibition
of isti'ana bi-l-kuffar
Resistance to akhaff al-dararayn and the rise of popular dissent
Contemporary Salafi-Jihadi interpretations of al-wala' wa-l-bara'
TAWHIID
8. Realising Monotheism
Tawhid in Salafi thought
Tawhid al-uluhiyya: Islam as a living ideal
Political applications of tawhid
9. Holy War and the Essence of Monotheism
Jihad as the means of realising tawhid
HAKIMIYYA
10. 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 hakimiyya shifts from inclusive to aggressive:
the fight against domestic tyranny
Hakimiyya as temporal empowerment
11. Securing God's Rights
The revival of hakimiyya discourse in Saudi Arabia
Intra-Salafi debates on obedience, jihad and islah
Tawhid al-hakimiyya as a Salafi-Jihadi neologism
12. Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index