An Eye-Opening, Concise Look at the Source of the Current Wave of Terrorism, How it Spread, and Why the West Did Nothing. Lifting the mask of international terrorism, Terence Ward reveals a sinister truth. Far from being "the West's ally in the War on Terror," Saudi Arabia is in reality the largest exporter of Wahhabism-the severe, ultra-conservative sect of Islam that is both Saudi Arabia's official religion and the core ideology for international terror groups such as ISIS, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and Boko Haram. Over decades, the Saudi regime has engaged in a well-crafted mission to fund charities, mosques, and schools that promote their Wahhabi doctrine across the Middle East and beyond. Efforts to expand Saudi influence have now been focused on European cities as well. The front lines of the War of Terror aren't a world away; they are much closer than we can imagine. Terence Ward, who has spent much of his life in the Middle East, gives his unique insight into the culture of extremism, its rapid expansion, and how it can be stopped.
"There is no better primer for understanding the rise of jihadist violence than my friend Terence Ward's The Wahhabi Code: How the Saudis Export Extremism Globally. . . . His impeccable research destroys the prejudices and myths surrounding the distortion of Islam to benefit the Saudi royal family, western oil companies and arms dealers."
Charles Glass, New York Review of Books, author of Syria Burning and Tribes with Flags
"Terence Ward, an American long rooted in Italy, has written a precious book interpreting ISIS. . . . Through massive financing of mosques and madrasas, they are trying to attract traditional Islam to their radical vision, and on the other side, they have financed our politicians and the mass media to silently abide."
Franco Cardini, Middle East expert and author of Europe and Islam and Treasures of Florenc
"Ward's book is a compulsion of our time. I believe his experience living in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia, and his percipient observation of day-to-day life in each Muslim country, will help us to have a more insightful view of the Wahhabi question. His concern about its possible impact on the world's war and peace should be ours."
Goenawan Mohamad, founder of Tempo Magazine and author of In Other Words: Forty Years of E
