God's Terrorists

by Charles Allen

  shirk the act of associating anything with God, a sin in the eyes of Wahhabis.

  shura religious council.

  Sikh ‘disciple’, thus follower of the Sikh religion originating from the teachings of Guru Nanak.

  sowar Indian cavalry trooper.

  station in British India, the area where British officials lived and worked.

  subedar most senior officer rank held by Indian in Indian Army infantry; the cavalry equivalent is rissaldar.

  Sufi form of Islamic mysticism seen by many Sunni reformers as heretical.

  sunnah ’custom’; precedents provided by the practices of the Prophet and his immediate successors as laid down in the Hadith, regarded by strict Muslims as no less binding than the Quran; see Sunni.

  Sunni ’of the sunnah’, the mainstream group of Islam, which accepts the authority of the sunnah and of the line of caliphs who came after the Prophet.

  talib-ul-ulm ’seeker of knowledge’, thus religious student; plural taliban; thus Taliban, a fighting movement formed originally from religious students by Mullah Muhammad Omar of Kandahar in 1996 to bring sharia to Afghanistan.

  talwar curved fighting sword.

  taqlid following past interpretations of sharia as interpreted by the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence.

  tariq path, thus Tariqa-i-Muhammadia, ‘Path of Muhammad’, the name given by Syed Ahmad to his revivalist movement.

  tawhid the doctrine of God’s oneness, absolute monotheism or unitarianism, the central pillar of Wahhabism.

  thana police post.

  tserai land granted to a holy man or his followers in perpetuity.

  ulema, ulama those learned in the ways of Islam, thus the collective body of Islamic scholars and others recognised as part of the Islamic religious hier archy, including judges, teachers and religious administrators; singular alim.

  ulm, ulum Islamic learning.

  umma world community of Islam.

  wadi dry water-course (Arabia).

  Wahhabi follower of the Arab reformer and revolutionary Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (c. 1700-92), who called for a return to the pure Islam of the Salafi and waged violent jihad against those he and his followers regarded as idolaters, polytheists and apostates; thus Wahhabism, the form of Islamic fundamentalism now dominant in Saudi Arabia; see Al-muwahhidun.

  wali friend of God, honorific title usually used by Sufis, thus Wali of Swat.

  wazir vizier, chief minister, counsellor; also name of member of Waziri Pathan tribe.

  zai son, thus Yusufzai - sons of Joseph, a major Pathan tribe.

  zakat tithe all Muslims pay as religious tax; one of the Five Pillars of Islam.

  zamin land; thus zamindar - landowner.

  zan women, thus zanana - women’s quarters.

  zar gold.

  Bibliography

  Key sources in English include the reports of various British political officers such as Francis Warden of the East India Company based at Bushire and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf, and the later compilations of a number of government officials in India including J. H. Reily, John Colvin, Dr H. W. Bellew, T. E. Ravenshaw, James O’Kinealy, Edward Rehatsek and Sir William Hunter. As might be expected, their writings show pronounced anti-Wahhabi and pro-British bias.

  Exactly the same in reverse applies to the writings of Qeyamuddin Ahmad, Balkhi Fasihuddin, Burhanuddin Qasmi, Taufiq Ahmad Nizami and other historians in post-Independence India and Pakistan writing in English, who have portrayed the Wahhabis in India either as nationalist freedom fighters or as jihadis and martyrs. Of the above, the research work of Professor Qeyamuddin Ahmad, late Professor of History at Patna University and author of The Wahhabi Movement in India, stands in a class of its own and I have drawn heavily on the material he has uncovered, particularly relating to letters and reports contained in Government files in Patna and Allahabad. An important source for the early life and teachings of Syed Ahmad is Shah Ismail Shaheed’s Taqwiyat-ul- Iman (Strengthening of the Faith), recently published by Dar-us-Salaam Publications with a preface by Ghulam Rasool Mehr.

  Among more modern and more objective authorities consulted were Francis Robinson and John Voll, writing on Muslim history in South Asia; Barbara Metcalf, on the Deobandi movement in India; Natana J. DeLong-Bas, on the origins of Wahhabi theology; and Yoginder Sikand, Aziz Ahmad, Akbar S. Ahmed and Tariq Rahman, on Islam in South Asia. I have also drawn on the essayists edited by Ali Rahnema and published under the title Pioneers of Islamic Revival.

  As to recent history, I have listed only a handful of titles which I have found especially useful, most particularly Ahmed Rashid’s authoritative study of the Taliban movement. The world wide web has also provided a rich source of ideas, if often of dubious provenance. Even the most cursory surf will show how widespread and fierce is the debate within the Muslim umma over such issues as Wahhabism, jihad, and the responsibilities of the good Muslim. Faced with a multiplicity of conflicting interpretations, the best a modern historian can do is to be aware of where his sources are coming from, and of his own prejudices and preconceptions. The reader should be aware that my deficiencies in Arabic, Persian and Urdu have meant that a number of important original sources remain unexamined.

  Arabia and the Middle East: primary and historical sources (pre-1947)

  H. J. Brydges, An Account of the Transactions of His Majesty’s Mission to the Court of Persia in the Years 1807–11, to which is Appended a Brief History of the Wahauby, Vol. II, 1834

  J. L. Burckhardt, Travels in Arabia, 1829

  —— Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys, 1830

  Sir Richard Burton, A Pilgrimage to Al Medina and Mecca, 1893

  Louis Alexandre Olivier de Corancez, Histoire des Wahabis depuis leur origine jusqu’à la fin de 1809, 1810, republished as History of the Wahabis, trans. R. M. Burrell, 1994

  Giovanni Finati, Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Giovanni Finati who under the assumed name of Mahomet made the campaigns against the Wahabees for the recovery of Mecca and Medina, edited by W. J. Bankes, 1830

  A. B. Kemball, Observations on the Past Policy of the British Government towards Arab Tribes of the Persian Gulf, Punjab Index 687, 1845

  —— Chronological table of events connected with . . . the Wahabee tribe 1795–1844, Punjab Index 689, c. 1854

  R. H. Kiernan, The Unveiling of Arabia, 1937

  T. E. Lawrence, Reconstruction of Arabia, Report to the British Cabinet, 1919

  —— Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1927

  —— Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1927

  —— Revolt in the Desert, 1927

  —— The Letters of T. E. Lawrence, 1938

  J. G. Lorimer, Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, 1913

  W. W. Loring, A Confederate Soldier in Egypt, 1884

  V. van den Meulen, The Wells of Ibn Saud, 1957

  C. C. R. Murphy, Soldiers of the Prophet, 1921

  C. C. R. Murphy, Soldiers of the Prophet, 1921

  William G. Palgrave, Central and Eastern Arabia, 1865

  Lewis Pelly, Report on a Journey to the Wahabee Capital of Riyadh in Central Arabia, 1865, reprinted 1978

  Harry St John Philby, Operations of the Nejd Mission Oct.–Nov. 1917, 1918

  —— Report of a Trip to Southern Nejd and Dawasir, 1918

  —— The Heart of Arabia, 1922

  —— ‘The Triumph of the Wahhabis’, in Journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, Vol. XIII (iv), 1926

  —— Arabia of the Wahhabis, 1928

  —— Arabian Days, 1948

  —— Letters 1908–1961, St Anthony’s College, Oxford

  ‘Phoenix’ (probably H. St J. Philby), ‘A Brief Outline of the Wahhabi Movement’, in Journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs,Vol. XVII (iv), 1930

  Sheikh Hafiz Wahba, ‘Wahhabism in Arabia, Present and Past’, in Journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, Vol. XVI (iv), 1929

  Francis Warden, Historical Sketch of the Wahabee tribe of Arabs 1795 to 1818, with
continuation [1819–1853] by Lieutenants S. Hennell, A. B. Kemball and H. F. Disbrowe, Punjab Index 699, c. 1853

  Arabia and the Middle East: secondary and modern sources (post-1940)

  Ishrat Ansari, ‘Muslim Religious Leaders in India’s Freedom Struggle’, AIM Journal, August 1997.

  Hamid Algar, Wahhabism: a Critical Essay, 2002

  N. N. E. Bray, A Paladin of Arabia, 1936

  Anthony Cave-Brown, Treason in the Blood: St John Philby, Kim Philby and the Spy Case of the Century, 1994

  Natana J. Delong-Bas, Wahhabi Islam: from Revival and Reform to Global Jihad, 2004

  Dore Gold, Saudi Support for International Terrorism, testimony presented to the US Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, 31 July 2003

  Philip Graves, The Life of Sir Percy Cox, 1941

  E. and I. Karsh, Empires in the Sand: the Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East 1789–1923, 2001

  Elie Kedouri, In the Anglo-Arab Labyrinth, 1976

  Bernard Lewis, The Middle East, 1995

  Middle East Media Research Institute, Special Despatch Series No. 526: Saudi Arabia, 20 June 2003

  Elizabeth Monroe, Philby of Arabia, 1978, reprinted 1998

  Fergus Nicoll, The Sword of the Prophet: the Mahdi of Sudan and the death of General Gordon, 2004

  John Sabini, Armies in the Sand: the Struggle for Mecca and Medina, 1981

  U. M. Salih, The Political Thought of Ibn Taymiyya, 1990

  Robert Spencer, ‘The People of Saudi Arabia: Allies against Terrorism?’, in FrontPageMagazine.com, 15/7/03

  Ted Thornton, History of the Middle East Database,www.nmhschool.org/thornton/mehistory/database

  Charles Tripp, ‘Sayyid Qutb: The Political Vision’, in Ali Rehnema, Pioneers of Islamic Revival, 1994

  John Voll, ‘Muhammad Hayya Al-Sindi and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab: an Analysis of an Intellectual Group in Eighteenth Century Madina’, in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 38, No. 1, 1975

  H. V. F. Winstone, Captain Shakespear: a Portrait, 1976

  —— The Illicit Adventure: the Story of Political and Military Intelligence in the Middle East from 1898 to 1926, 1982

  India, Afghanistan and Central Asia: primary and historical sources (pre-1947)

  James Abbott, ‘First Expedition against Black Mountain, Huzara in 1853’, OIOC Eur. Mss. C.210

  —— ‘The Chiefs of Huzara’, 1850, OIOC Eur. Mss. C.120

  John Adye, Sitana: A Mountain Campaign on the Borders of Afghanistan in 1863, 1867

  Sayyid Ahmad of Barelli [Syed Ahmad], ‘Khutbehs and correspondence, some in Arabic, compiled for James O’Kinealy’, undated, OIOC Mss. Or. 6635

  Shaik Hedayut Ali, A Few Words relative to the Late Mutiny of the BengalArmy, and the Rebellion in the Bengal Presidency,1858

  Mir Shahmat Ali, ‘Translation of the Taqwiyat ul-Iman [Strengthening of the Faith], preceded by a Notice of the Author, Maulavi Ismail Ali’, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, XIII, 1852

  Muhamad Ali, ‘Makkhzan-I-Ahmadi, a biography of Sayyid Ahmad Shahid’, undated, OIOC Mss. Or. 6650

  Anon, Arrah: the Siege, Defence and Victory of, in July 1857, by One of the Garrison, 1897

  John F. Baddeley, The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus, 1908

  J. R. Becher, Memorandum on the Hazara District during the Mutiny in India, 1858

  H. W. Bellew, A General Report on the Yusufzais, 1864

  —— An Enquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan, 1891

  —— (as ‘A Punjab Official’), Our Punjab Frontier, with a Concise Account of the Various Tribes by which the North-West Frontier of British India is Inhabited, 1868

  Govt of Bengal, Correspondence connected with the removal of Mr W. Tayler from the Commissionership of Patna and the arrest and trial of Lootf Ali Khan, a Banker in Patna, 1858

  H. P. Blavatsky, ‘The Akhood of Swat, the founder of many mystical societies,’in The New York Echo, 1878

  R. V. Boyle, Brief Narrative of the Defence of the Arrah Garrison, 1858

  Sir Owen Tudor Burne Collection, ‘Papers relating to assassination of Lord Mayo’, OIOC Mss. Eur. D.951/15–16

  Neville Chamberlain Papers, OIOC Mss. Eur. C203

  Hugh Chichester Letters, OIOC Mss. Eur. Photo 271

  Winston Churchill, The Story of the Malakand Field Force: an Episode of Frontier War, 1898

  —— Young Winston’s Wars: the original despatches of Winston S. Churchill, ed. F. Woods, 1972

  John Russell Colvin, Report to The Government of Bengal on the Disturbances at Bararasat, 1831

  —— (as ‘J. R. C.’), ‘Notice of the Peculiar Tenets Held by the Followers of Syed Ahmad, taken chiefly from the Sirat-ul-Mustaqim, written by Moulavi Mohammaed Ismail’, in Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, I, 1832

  Sydney Cotton, Nine Years in the North-West Frontier of India, 1868

  Lord Dalhousie, Minutes on Wahabees, 1852

  —— ‘Correspondence’, BL Mss. Add. 48590, 57411–12

  Algernon Durand, The Making of a Frontier, 1899

  Lady Edwardes, Memorials of the Life and Letters of Sir H. B. Edwardes, 1886

  Sir Herbert Edwardes, A Year on the Punjab Frontier, 1851

  —— The Life of Sir Henry Lawrence, 1872

  R. M. Edwards, ‘Mutiny Diary’, OIOC Mss. Eur. C148/1–2

  P. C. Elliot-Lockhart and A. E. Murray, A Narrative of the Operations of the Malakand and Buner Field Forces, 1897–98, 1898

  Mountstuart Elphinstone, An Account of the Kingdom of Kabul, 1815

  George Elsmie, Notes on some of the Characteristics of Crime and Criminals in the Peshawar Division of the Punjab, 1872 to 1877, 1884

  G. W. Forrest, Life of Field-Marshal Sir Neville Chamberlain, 1909

  Alexander Gardner, Soldier and Traveller: Memoirs of Alexander Gardner, Colonel of Artillery in the Service of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, ed. H. Pearse, 1898

  Govt of India, Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India, c. 1900

  Sir Frederick James Halliday, Minute: The Mutinies as they affected the Lower Provinces under the Government of Bengal, 1858

  W. W. Hunter, Our Indian Mussulmans: are they Bound in Conscience to Rebel against the Queen? 1876

  —— A Life of the Earl of Mayo, 1875

  H. D. Hutchinson, The Campaign in Tirah 1897–98, 1898

  Hugh R. James, Report on the Settlement of the Peshawur District, 1864

  Lionel James (Reuters), The Indian Frontier War, being an account of the Mohmund and Tiral Expeditions 1897, 1898

  Sir Charles Patton Keyes Collection, ‘Letters 1860–63’, OIOC Mss. Eur/D1048/7; ‘Military papers 1860–69’, OIOC, Mss. Eur/D1048/3

  Amir Khan, The Great Wahabee Case, being a full report of the proceedings in the matters of Ameer Khan and Hashmadad Khan before the Honourable Mr Justice Norman in the High Court Calcutta, 1870

  M. A. Khan, Selections from British Government Records relating to Wahabee trials, 1961

  Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, The Causes of the Indian Revolt, Written by Syed Ahmed Khan Bahadur, CSI, in Urdoo in the Year 1858 and Translated into English by his Two European Friends, 1873

  Syud Emdad Ali Khan, Translation of an epitome of the history of the Wahabees, edited by Moulvee Syud Emdad Ali Khan, Bahadur, Judge of Small Causes Court, Tirhoot, 1871

  James O’Kinealy, ‘The Wahhabis in India’, in The Calcutta Review, Vols C and CI, 1895

  Edward Lockwood, The Early Days of Marlborough College, with a Chapter on Patna during the Mutiny, 1893

  H. B. Lumsden, ‘Report on the Yoozoofzaee District’, in Punjab Papers, 1953

  G. B. Malleson, History of the Indian Mutiny, 1878

  Frank Martin, Under the Absolute Amir, 1907

  H. Mason, Report on the Black Mountains, 1888

  —— ‘The Hindustani Fanatics’, in Journal of the United Services Institution of India, 1890

  L. A. Mendes, Report of Proceedings in the Matters of Amir Khan and Heshmetdad Khan, 1870

/>   C. T. Metcalfe, Two Native Narratives of the Mutiny in Delhi, 1898

  H. W. Mills, ‘The Pathan Revolt in North-West India, 1897’, 1898

  —— The Tirah Campaign, 1898

  H. L. Nevill, Campaigns on the North-West Frontier, 1912

  Sir Michael O’Dwyer, India as I Knew it, 1925

  Edward A. Oliver, Across the Border: or Pathan and Biloch, 1890

  W. H. Paget, Records of Expeditions Against Tribes of the North West Frontier since the Annexation of the Punjab, 1874, revised and updated 1884.

  Pakistan Government Secretariat, Selections from Bengal Government Records on Wahhabi Trials, 1863–1870, 1961

  E. Gambier Parry, Reynell Taylor, 1888

  Pearse Collection, ‘Concerning the suppression of the revolt in 1852 in Kagan’,1852, OIOC Mss. Eur. E. 417/10

  Theodore L. Pennell, Among the Wild Tribes of the Afghan Frontier, 1912

  Pioneer Press, The Risings on the North-West Frontier, 1897–98, 1898

  Govt of the Punjab, Report on Hindustani Fanatics of Sittana, 1864

  —— Report showing the Relations of the British Government with the Tribes on the North-West Frontier of the Punjab, 1865

  —— Mutiny Records: Correspondence and Records, Part II, 1911

  —— Gazetteer of the Delhi District, 1883–84

  —— Gazetteer of the Hazara District, 1907

  —— Gazetteer of the North-West Frontier Province, 1931

  —— Gazetteers of the Peshawar District, 1898, 1910, 1933

  —— Selections from the Punjab Government Records, Vols 7–8, 1912

  —— Papers connected with the Trial of Moulvie Ahmedoolah of Patna, and others, for Conspiracy and Treason 1864–65, 1866, Punjab Index 538, undated

  —— Report on the Yoozoofzaee District by Lt H. B. Lumsden, 1853, Punjab Index, 1954

  Abdur Rahman [Abd al-Rahman Khan], The Life of Abdur Rahman: Amir of Afghanistan, 1900

  Charles Raikes, Notes on the Northwest Provinces of India, 1852

  —— Notes on the Revolt in the Northwest Provinces of India, 1857

  T. E. Ravenshaw, Patna Magistrate’s Report, 19 August 1852

  —— Historical Memorandum on the sect of the Wahabees, c. 1864