The Mecca Uprising: An Insider’’s Account of Salafism and Insurrection in Saudi Arabia

On 20th November 1979, the Salafi Group, led by a charismatic figure named Juhaiman al-Utaibi, seized control of the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, the holiest site in the Muslim World. The Salafi Group was not trying to establish an Islamic state. Instead, its members believed they were players in a prophetic script about the End of Time. After a two-week siege, the Saudi government recaptured the mosque, threw the survivors into prison, and had them publicly executed.

The Mecca Uprisingoffers an insider’s account of the religious subculture that incubated the Mecca Uprising, written by a former member of the Salafi Group, Nasir al-Huzaimi. Huzaimi did not participate in the uprising, but he was arrested in a government sweep of Salafi Group members and spent six years in prison. In 2011, he published his memoir, Days with Juhaiman, offering the most detailed picture we have of the Salafi Group and Juhaiman. The Mecca Uprising had profound effects on Saudi Arabia and the Muslim world[DC1] [YG2] . The Saudi government headed off opposition from religious activists and made efforts to buttress the ruling family’s legitimacy as the guardians of Islam. Huzaimi’s memoir sheds light on the background of this religious and political landscape, and is the most detailed account we have of the Salafi Group and Juhaiman. The English edition is complete with an introduction and annotations prepared by expert David Commins to help readers understand the relevance of the Meccan Uprising [DC3] and how it fits into the history of the Islamic World.


[DC1]lower case? Muslim world



[YG2]changed to author’s suggestion





[DC3]Mecca Uprising

Nasir al-Huzaimi was around 20 years old when he joined the Salafi Group in 1976. He left the group shortly before the Mecca Uprising. He was arrested by the authorities and sentenced to prison. He later became a journalist in Saudi Arabia.
David Commins is Professor of History at Dickinson College. He is the author of The Mission and the Kingdom: Wahhabi Power Behind the Saudi Throne, Islam in Saudi Arabia and The Gulf States: A Modern History.