Islamic nuclear proliferation could threaten Hindu and Jewish civilizations too

Evidence

Although Americans and Britons shared a trepidation regarding a global Islamic movement that never emerged, the British continually fretted about local uprisings. The event that most inculcated this fear and until 1857 served as the primary justification for it was the “Wahhabi movement.” As Hardy put it, “In thinking about Muslims after 1857, the so-called Wahhabis were for the British the great unthinkable that was always thought.” British belief in Indian-based Wahhabis originated in the 1820s, as Saiyid Ahmad Shahid and his followers moved to the northwest territories to launch a jihad against the Sikhs who ruled there. Their Tariqah-i Muhammadi may have shared a notion of jihad with Arabia’s Wahhabis, but its efforts at reform drew much more from Sufi traditions. Saiyad Ahmad’s jihad failed but some of his followers remained on the frontier into at least the 1870s. British concerns loomed more menacingly than the actual threat, the mujahidin numbering perhaps 600 in 1852. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 141 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Sanctions and withdrawal from the Iran deal incentivize nuclear proliferation; Civilization-level nuclear proliferation could produce stability rather than chaos — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 888; Evenly matched rival states with WMDs pose civilization-scale escalation risk — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 608 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• A feared Muslim conspiracy can dwarf the actual threat it purports to describe. #complicates (0.76) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 141