On November 20, 1979, at what was the beginning of a new century on the Islamic calendar, a gang of heavily-armed fundamentalists seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca, taking thousands of pilgrims hostage. They claimed that among their number was the Mahdi, the prophesied holy figure that would one day appear to defeat the forces of evil and inaugurate a reign of Islamic justice over the world. They easily rebuffed the first attempts to dislodge them and their successful resistance sparked off a crisis that threatened not only the existence of the Saudi monarchy but also the stability of the entire Muslim world.
Yaroslav Trofimov’s The Siege of Mecca tells the story that the Saudis have largely succeeded in suppressing: how disaffected Muslims came to believe that their corrupt governments ought to be overthrown and replaced by a purified desert creed; how they easily occupied the holiest site in the Muslim world and held out for weeks of bloody battle; and how, despite the death of the rebel forces, this siege contributed to the spread of Wahhabi ideas through the world since 1979.
This is a story that must be better known in the West because its lessons are still relevant today. The volatility of the “Muslim street”, where the flimsiest of rumors can spark anti-American mobs and murderous riots, remains as it was in 1979. The well-meaning but ultimately impotent and counter-productive attempts of the Carter regime seem mirrored by the Obama administration. The role of the Saudi government in spreading anti-Western varieties of Islam has accelerated after the siege as the rule of the corrupt princes sought to burnish their fundamentalist credentials.
There are lessons here to be learned and an interesting story to read.