Colonial fascination with a feared religious group can become a tool of alliance

Evidence

The Wahhabis evoked a potent cocktail of fascination, fear, sympathy, and respect in both Indian and British audiences. Historical analysis of these emotions complicates boundaries between different ideological positions. Colonial interest in the Wahhabis was sometimes little more than morbid fascination. An exhibition in an art show in South Kensington featured a signet ring, formerly belonging to Ahmadullah, one of the convicted Wahhabis, and on loan from William Tayler. Yet orientalist fascination with the Wahhabis inspired scholarship on Indian Muslims that ultimately paved the way for new British efforts to cultivate them as Indian allies. — Julia Stephens, The Phantom Wahhabi, 191

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ thread on how fear-driven cultural obsession migrates into policy and identity signaling.