Thomas Hegghammer is a Norwegian academic who has studied jihadism since before 9/11. He is senior research fellow at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) and adjuct professor of political science at the University of Oslo. His latest book is The Caravan: Abdallah Azzam and the Rise of Global Jihad.
This book highlights the formation of the rebel leader and his group in Saudi Arabia in the late 70s. Their extremist ideology, with so called Mahdi on their side and against the non-Islamic political views of Saudi monarchy lend them by taking over the Masjid-Al-Haram and pilgrims as hostages. Masjid-Al-Haram means Scared Mosque, so basically there shouldn't be any bloodshed, war or un-Islamic doings but during this siege it was a war zone. Blood before and blood after the siege was the outcome with the smell of dead and blood soaked carpets that didn't go away for weeks. Bullet, blackness and rocket holes on Minarets and on the building structure gave vulnerable and inexperienced Saudis a new phase. As speaking of Juhayman al-Utaybi's name was taboo to be spoken in Saudi for months and years, this rebellion group probably the first ones who gave birth to other terrorists group in Middle-East and other nations later on. This is besides the PLO's doings in earlier years. Interestingly, this group is called rebellion/militant and not the terrorists!
This book is informative but short. To read in details as what took place in Mecca in 1979, read The Siege of Mecca by Yaroslav Trofimov.
To understand contemporary sunni islam, this book is essential. Without this book, a whole passage of incredibly serious events would have been whitewashed from history. The underlying critique is that this act of terrorism, explored in its imagined origins and played out through the chapters - explains the emergence of wahabbism, of which sunni extremism become contemporary terrorism.
On the downside, I'm not persuaded that the single event was the catalyst for Al-Qaida inspired terrorism, but I can see why this act was an existentialist threat to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The book would suggest this is why wahabism has been co-opted by the Kingdom's rulers. I think the author is more than capable of revisiting that analysis.
A real history piece behind the Grand siege of Mecca in November 1979. The turn of a new Islamic Calendar 1400 , provided the ludicrous reasons for the army of Juhayman to over take the Kaaba, declaring his closest associate Mohammed Al Qahtani to be the promised Mahdi. I was so spooked by this book as it demonstrates the apocalyptic cult to be the forefront of using violent methods to coerce the Muslim Ummah in pledging their allegiance to the false Messiah. An exemplar of how extremism existed within....
A fascinating book--one that gives insight into a strain of Islam that I was not aware of and a historical event that I wasn't aware of.
However, this book is definitely not for someone who doesn't have a basic understanding of Islam. The two authors are Islamic Studies experts, and the two articles in this book were adapted from articles published in academic papers and are written in a style that would put off the causal reader.