Since 9/11, the Jordanian Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi (b. West Bank, 1959) has emerged as one of the most important radical Muslim thinkers alive today. While al-Maqdisi may not be a household name in the West, his influence amongst like-minded Muslims stretches across the world from Jordan — where he lives today — to Southeast Asia. His writings and teachings on Salafi Islam have inspired terrorists from Europe to the Middle East. This groundbreaking book, which is the first comprehensive assessment of al-Maqdisi, his life, ideology and influence, is based on his extensive writings and interviews with the author. It is a serious and intense work of scholarship that uses this considerable archive to explain and interpret al-Maqdisi's particular brand of Salafism. More broadly, the book offers an alternative, insider perspective on the rise of radical Islam, with a particular focus on Salafi opposition movements in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
