title: Wahhabism

text: On the other hand, according to authors at Global Security and Library of Congress the term is now commonplace and used even by Wahhabi scholars in the Najd, a region often called the "heartland" of Wahhabism. Journalist Karen House calls 'Salafi' "a more politically correct term" for 'Wahhabi'. In any case, according to Lacey, none of the other terms have caught on, and so like the Christian Quakers, Wahhabis have "remained known by the name first assigned to them by their detractors". However, the confusion is further aggravated due to the common practice of various authoritarian governments broadly using the label "Wahhabi extremists" for all opposition, legitimate and illegitimate, to justify massive repressions on any dissident.


title: Wahhabism

text: "Salafiyya movement" (term derived from ""Salaf al-Salih"", meaning "pious predecessors of the first three generations") refers to a wide range of reform movements within Sunni Islam across the world, that campaigns for the return of "pure" Islam, revival of the prophetic "Sunnah", and the practices of the early generations of Islamic scholars. According to Saudi scholar Abd al-Aziz Bin Baz:


title: Wahhabism

text: The Salafi call is the call to what God have sent by His Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings be upon him, it is the call to adhere to the Quran and the Sunnah, this call to Salafism is the call to follow the practices that the Messenger used to follow in Mecca, then Medina. From teaching dawa to Muslims, to directing people to do good, teaching them what God sent by His Prophet on the oneness of God (monotheism), loyalty to him, and faith in His Messenger Muhammad, may peace and blessings be upon him.


title: Wahhabism

text: Many scholars and critics distinguish between Wahhabi and Salafi. According to analyst Christopher M. Blanchard, Wahhabism refers to "a conservative Islamic creed centered in and emanating from Saudi Arabia", while "Salafiyya" is "a more general puritanical Islamic movement that has developed independently at various times and in various places in the Islamic world". However, many view Wahhabism as the Salafism native to Arabia. Ahmad Moussalli tends to agree Wahhabism is a subset of Salafism, saying "As a rule, all Wahhabis are salafists, but not all salafists are Wahhabis." Quintan Wiktorowicz aserts modern Salafists consider the 18th-century scholar Muhammed bin 'Abd al-Wahhab and many of his students to have been Salafis.


title: Wahhabism

text: According to Joas Wagemakers, associate professor of Islamic and Arabic Studies at Utrecht University, Salafism consists of broad movements of Muslims across the world who aspire to live according to the precedents of the "Salaf al-Salih"; whereas "Wahhabism" – a term rejected by its adherents – refers to the specific brand of reformation ("islah") campaign that was initiated by the 18th-century scholar Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab and evolved through his subsequent disciples in the central Arabian region of Najd. Despite their relations with Wahhabi Muslims of Najd; other Salafis have often differed theologically with the Wahhabis and hence do not identify with them. These included significant contentions with Wahhabis over their unduly harsh enforcement of their beliefs, their lack of tolerance towards other Muslims and their deficient commitment to their stated opposition to "taqlid" and advocacy of "ijtihad".


title: Wahhabism

text: In doctrines of "'Aqida" (creed), Wahhabis and Salafis resemble each other; particularly in their focus on "Tawhid". However, the "Muwahidun" movement historically were concerned primarily about "Tawhid al-Rububiyya" (Oneness of Lordship) and "Tawhid al-Uloohiyya" (Oneness of Worship) while the "Salafiyya" movement placed an additional emphasis on "Tawhid al-Asma wa Sifat" (Oneness of Divine Names and Attributes); with a literal understanding of God's Names and Attributes.


title: Wahhabism

text: The Wahhabi mission started as a revivalist and reform movement in the remote, arid region of Najd during the 18th century. During this era, numerous pre-Islamic beliefs and customs were practiced by the Arabian Bedouin. These included various folklores associated with ancestral worship, belief in cult of saints, animist practices, solar myths, fetishism, etc. which had become popular amongst the nomadic tribes of central Arabia. Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab, the leader of the "Muwahhidun", advocated the purging of practices such as veneration of stones, trees, and caves; praying to saints; and pilgrimages to their tombs and shrines that were prevalent amongst the people of Najd, but which he considered idolatrous impurities and innovations in Islam ("bid'ah"). His movement emphasized adherence to the Quran and "hadith", and advocated the use of "ijtihad". Eventually, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab formed a pact with a local leader, Muhammad bin Saud, offering political obedience and promising that protection and propagation of the Wahhabi movement meant "power and glory" and rule of "lands and men".


title: Wahhabism

text: It was common for the 18th and 19th century European historians, scholars, travellers and diplomats to compare the Wahhabi movement with various Euro-American socio-political movements in the Age of Revolutions. Calvinist scholar John Ludwig Burckhardt, author of the well-received works “"Travels in Arabia"” (1829) and “"Notes on the Bedouins and Wahábys"” (1830), described the "Muwahhidun" as Arabian locals who resisted Turkish hegemony and its “Napoleonic” tactics. Historian Loius Alexander Corancez in his book “"Histoire des Wahabis"” described the movement as an Asiatic revolution that sought a powerful revival of Arab civilisation by establishing a new order in Arabia and cleansing all the irrational elements and superstitions which had been normalised through Sufi excesses from Turkish and foreign influences. Scottish historian Mark Napier attributed the successes of Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab’s revolution to assistance from “frequent interpositions of Heaven".


title: Wahhabism

text: With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, Wahhabis were able spread their political power and consolidate their rule over the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. After the discovery of petroleum near the Persian Gulf in 1939, Saudi Arabia had access to oil export revenues, revenue that grew to billions of dollars. This moneyspent on books, media, schools, universities, mosques, scholarships, fellowships, lucrative jobs for journalists, academics and Islamic scholarsgave Wahhabi ideals a "preeminent position of strength" in Islam around the world. However, in the last couple of decades of the twentieth century several crises worked to erode Wahhabi "credibility" in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Muslim worldthe Iranian revolution of 1979; Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979); November 1979 seizure of the Grand Mosque by militants; the deployment of US troops in Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq; and the September 11, 2001 al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington. In each case the Wahhabi "ulama" were called on to support the dynasty's efforts to suppress religious dissent from Jihadists and in each case it did;exposing its dependence on the Saudi dynasty and its often unpopular policies.


title: Wahhabism

text: The patronym of Wahhabism, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd-al Wahhab, was born around 1702–03 in the small oasis town of 'Uyayna in the Najd region, in what is now central Saudi Arabia. As part of his scholarly training, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab travelled in his youth to various Islamic centres in Arabia and Iraq, seeking knowledge. He travelled to Mecca and Medina to perform "Hajj" and studied under notable hadith scholars. After completing his studies, he travelled to Iraq and returned to his hometown in 1740. During these travels, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab had studied various religious disciplines such as "Fiqh", theology, philosophy and Sufism. Exposure to various rituals and practices centered on the cult of saints would lead Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab to grow critical of various superstitious practices and accretions common among Sufis, by the time of his return to 'Uyaynah. Following the death of his father, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab publicly began his religious preaching.


title: Wahhabism

text: When Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab began preaching his "dawah" in the regions of Central Arabia, where various beliefs and practices related to veneration of Muslim saints and superstitions were prevalent among Muslims, he was initially rejected and called a "deviant". Later, however, his call to "dawah" became increasingly popular. Realising the significance of efficient and charismatic religious preaching ("da'wa"), Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab called upon his students to master the path of reasoning and proselytising over warfare to convince other Muslims of their reformist ideals. Thus, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab carried out his reforms in a manner that reflected the socio-political values of the Arabian Bedouins to accommodate local sentiments.


title: Wahhabism

text: According to Islamic beliefs, any act or statement that involves worship to any being other than God and associates other creatures with God's power is tantamount to idolatry ("shirk"). The core of the controversy between Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab and his adversaries was over the scope of these acts. According to Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab, those who made acts of devotion such as seeking aid ("istigatha") from objects, tombs of dead Muslim saints ("Awliyaa"), etc. were heretics guilty of "bidʻah" (religious innovation) and "shirk" (polytheism). Reviving Ibn Taymiyya's approach to "takfīr" (excommunication), Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab declared those who adhered to these practices to be either infidels ("kuffār") or false Muslims ("munāfiḳūn"), and therefore deemed them worthy of death for their perceived apostasy ("ridda"). Those Muslims that he accused to be heretics or infidels would not be killed outright; first, they would be given a chance to repent. If they repented their repentance was accepted, but if they didn't repent after the clarification of proofs they were executed under the Islamic death penalty as apostates ("murtaddin").


title: Wahhabism

text: Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab was a major proponent of the "'Udhr bil Jahl" (excuse of ignorance) doctrine, wherein any person unaware of core Islamic teachings had to be excused until clarification. As per this doctrine, those who fell into beliefs of "shirk" (polytheism) or "kufr" (disbelief) are to be excommunicated only if they have direct access to Scriptural evidences and get the opportunity to understand their mistakes and retract. Hence he asserted that education and dialogue was the path forward and forbade his followers from engaging in reckless accusations against their opponents. Following this principle, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab delegated the affairs of his enemies to God and in various instances, withheld from fighting them.


title: Wahhabism

text: The doctrines of Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab were criticized by a number of Islamic scholars during his lifetime, accusing him of disregarding Islamic history, monuments, traditions and the sanctity of Muslim life. His critics were mainly "ulama" from his homeland, the Najd region of central Arabia, which was directly affected by the growth of the Wahhabi movement, based in the cities of Basra, Mecca, and Medina. His beliefs on the superiority of direct understanding of Scriptures ("Ijtihad") and rebuke of "Taqlid" (blindfollowing past legal works) also made him a target of the religious establishment. For his part, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab criticised the nepotism and corruption prevalent in the clerical class.


title: Wahhabism

text: The early opponents of Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab classified his doctrine as a "Kharijite sectarian heresy". By contrast, Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab profoundly despised the "decorous, arty tobacco-smoking, music happy, drum pounding, Egyptian and Ottoman nobility who traveled across Arabia to pray at Mecca each year", and intended to either subjugate them to his doctrine or overthrow them. He further rejected and condemned allegations charged against him by various critics; such as the claim of "Takfir" (excommunication) on those who opposed him or did not emigrate to the lands controlled by "Muwahhidun". Responding to the accusations brought against him, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab asserted:"as for the lie and slander, like their saying that we make generalized "takfīr", and that we make emigration obligatory towards us. .. All of this is from lying and slander by which they hinder the people from the religion of Allāh and His Messenger. And when it is the case that we do not make "takfir" of those who worship the idol which is on the grave of 'Abd al-Qadir, or the idol upon the grave of Ahmad al-Badawi; and their likes – due to their ignorance and an absence of one to caution them – how could we then make "takfir" of those who does not commit "shirk", when they do not migrate to us, nor make "takfir" of us, nor fight us?"


title: Wahhabism

text: With the support of the ruler of the townUthman ibn Mu'ammarIbn 'Abd al-Wahhab carried out some of his religious reforms in 'Uyayna, including the demolition of the tomb of Zayd ibn al-Khattab, one of the "Sahaba" (companions) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the stoning to death of an adulterous woman after her self-confession. However, a more powerful chief (Sulaiman ibn Muhammad ibn Ghurayr) pressured Uthman ibn Mu'ammar to expel him from 'Uyayna.


title: Wahhabism

text: The ruler of a nearby town, Muhammad ibn Saud, invited Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab to join him, and in 1744 a pact was made between the two. Ibn Saud would protect and propagate the doctrines of the Wahhabi mission, while Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab "would support the ruler, supplying him with 'glory and power'". Whoever championed his message, Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab promised, "will, by means of it, rule the lands and men". Ibn Saud would abandon non-"shari'i" practices such as taxations of local harvests, and in return God might compensate him with booty from conquest and "sharia" compliant taxes that would exceed what he gave up. The alliance between the Wahhabi mission and Al Saud family has "endured for more than two and half centuries", surviving defeat and collapse. The two families have intermarried multiple times over the years, and in today's Saudi Arabia the minister of religion is always a member of the Al ash-Sheikh family, i.e. a descendant of Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab.


title: Wahhabism

text: According to Natana J. DeLong-Bas, Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab was restrained in urging fighting with perceived unbelievers, preferring to preach and persuade rather than attack. Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab followed a non-interference policy in Ibn Saud's state consolidation project. While Ibn Saud was in charge of political and military issues, he promised to uphold Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab's religious teachings. However, the military campaigns of Ibn Saud weren't necessarily met with approval by Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab. Delineating the specific roles of "Amir" (political leader) and "Imam" (religious leader), Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab stipulated that only the "imam" (religious leader) could declare the military campaign as "jihad" after meeting the legal religious stipulations. Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab had only authorized "jihad" when the Wahhabi community were attacked first, as a defensive measure. His main objective was religious reformation of Muslim beliefs and practices through a gradual educational process. With those who differed with his reformist ideals, Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab called for dialogue and sending invitations to religious discussions and debates, rather than a "convert or die" approach. Military resort was a last-case option; and when engaged in rarely, it abided by the strict Islamic legal codes.


title: Wahhabism

text: Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and his supporters held that they were the victims of aggressive warfare; accusing their opponents of starting the pronouncements of "Takfir" (excommunication) and maintained that the military operations of Emirate of Dirʿiyya were strictly defensive. The memory of the unprovoked military offensive launched by Dahhām ibn Dawwās (fl. 1187/1773), the powerful chieftain of Riyadh, on Diriyya in 1746 was deeply engrained in the Wahhabi tradition and it was the standard claim of the movement that their enemies were the first to pronounce "Takfir" and initiate warfare. Prominent Qadi of Emirate of Najd (Second Saudi state) and grandson of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, Abd al-Rahman ibn Hassan Aal al-Shaykh, (1196–1285 A.H / 1782–1868 C.E) describes the chieftain Dahhām as the first person who launched an unprovoked military attack on the Wahhābīs, aided by the forces of the strongest town in the region. Early Wahhabi chronicler Ibn Ghannām states in his book "Tarikh an-Najd" (History of Najd) that Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb did not order the use of violence until his enemies excommunicated him and deemed his blood licit:"He gave no order to spill blood or to fight against the majority of the heretics and the misguided until they started ruling that he and his followers were to be killed and excommunicated."


title: Wahhabism

text: Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab consistently elucidated through his writings that his Jihad was only defensive and was intended to safeguard the community from external attacks; with the ultimate objective of restoring peace and defend the Islamic faith. Killings on non-combatant civilians were strictly prohibited and all expansionist wars intended for wealth or power were condemned. However, after the death of Muhammad ibn Saud in 1765, his son and successor, Abdulaziz bin Muhammad, began military exploits to extend Saudi power and expand their wealth, abandoning the educational programmes of the reform movement and setting aside Islamic religious constraints on war. Due to disagreements, Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab would resign his position as "imam" and retire from overt political and financial career in 1773. He abstained from legitimising Saudi military campaigns; dedicating the rest of his life for educational efforts and in asceticism.


title: Wahhabism

text: After Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's death, Abdulaziz continued with his expansionist vision beyond the confines of Najd. Conquest expanded through the Arabian Peninsula until it conquered Mecca and Medina in the early 19th century. It was during this time that the Saudi political leadership began to emphasise the doctrine of offensive Jihad by reviving the "fatwas" of the medieval Hanbalite theologian Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328 C.E/ 728 A.H). Ibn Taymiyya had declared self-professed Muslims who do not strictly adhere to Islamic law or practised various acts of saint-veneration such as beseeching favours from the dead to be non-Muslims. More significantly, Ibn Taymiyya pronounced "Takfir" (excommunication) on regimes that didnt implement Shari'a (Islamic laws) and called for Muslims to unseat such rulers through armed Jihad. These "fatwas" were readily incorporated by Wahhabi clerics to justify Saudi military campaigns into Hejaz against the Sharifs of Mecca. One of their most noteworthy and controversial attacks was on the Shia-majority city of Karbala in 1802. According to Wahhabi chronicler 'Uthman b. 'Abdullah b. Bishr; the Saudi armies killed many of its inhabitants, plundered its wealth and distributed amongst the populace. By 1805, the Saudi armies had taken control of Mecca and Medina.


title: Wahhabism

text: As early as the 19th century, the newly ascending Ottoman-Saudi conflict had pointed to a clash between two national identities. In addition to doctrinal differences, Wahhabi resentment of Ottoman Empire was also based on pan-Arab sentiments and reflected concerns over the contemporary state of affairs wherein Arabs held no political sovereignty. Wahhabi poetry and sources demonstrated great contempt for the Turkish identity of the Ottoman Empire. While justifying their wars under religious banner, another major objective was to replace Turkish hegemony with the rule the Arabs. During this period, the British Empire had also come into conflict with the Wahhabis. British commercial interests in the Gulf region were being challenged by "pirate" tribes who had sworn allegiance to the Emirate of Dirʿiyya. The early 19th century was also marked by the emergence of British naval hegemony in the Gulf region. The ideals of the "Muwahhidun" provided theological inspiration for various Arabian sultanates for declaring armed "Jihad" against the rising colonial encroachment. Numerous naval attacks against the British Royal navy were successfully conducted by Wahhabi armadas stationed in the Gulf.


title: Wahhabism

text: The anti-Wahhabi propaganda of British had also affected Ottoman authorities; perceiving them as a rising challenge to their hegemony. The Ottoman Empire, suspicious of the ambitious Muhammad Ali of Egypt, instructed him to fight the Wahhabis, as the defeat of either would be beneficial to them. Tensions between Muhammad Ali and his troops also prompted him to send them to Arabia and fight against the Emirate of Diriyah where many were massacred. This led to the Ottoman-Saudi War. Ottoman Egypt, led by Ibrahim Pasha, was eventually successful in defeating the Saudis in a campaign starting from 1811. In 1818 they defeated Al Saud, leveling the capital Diriyah, slaughtering its inhabitants, executing the Al-Saud emir and exiling the emirate's political and religious leadership, and unsuccessfully attempted to stamp out not just the House of Saud but the Wahhabi mission as well.


title: Wahhabism

text: The British Empire welcomed Ibrahim Pasha's destruction of Diriyah with the goal of promoting trade interests in the region. Captain George Forster Sadleir, an officer of the British Army in India was dispatched from Bombay to consult with Ibrahim Pasha in Diriyah. The fall of Emirate of Dirʿiyya also enabled the British empire to launch their Persian Gulf campaign of 1819. A major military expedition was sent to fight Diriyah-allied Qawasim dynasty and their domain Ras al Khaimah was destroyed in 1819. The General Maritime treaty was concluded in 1820 with the local chieftains, which would eventually transform them into a protectorate of Trucial States; heralding a century of British supremacy in the Gulf.


title: Wahhabism

text: A second, smaller Saudi state, the Emirate of Nejd, lasted from 1824 to 1891. Its borders being within Najd; Wahhabism was protected from further Ottoman or Egyptian campaigns by Najd's isolation, lack of valuable resources, and that era's limited communication and transportation. By the 1880s, at least amongst the townsmen if not Arabian Bedouins, Wahhabism had become the predominant religious culture of the regions in Najd.


title: Wahhabism

text: Unlike early leaders like Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his son 'Abdullah who had advocated dialogue and education as the most effective approach to reformation; the later scholars of the "Muwahhidun" preferred a militant approach. Following the Ottoman destruction of Diriyah and suppression of reformist trends regarded as a threat to the religious establishment, the later "Muwahhidun" launched a decades long insurgency in Central Arabia and became radicalised. Absence of capable scholarship after the death of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab in 1792, also marked this shift. In this era, the "Muwahhidun" revived many ideas of the medieval theologian Ibn Taymiyya, including doctrines such as "Al-Wala wal Bara" (loyalty and disassociation) which conceptualised a binary division of world into believers and non-believers. Whilst this phrase was absent in the 18th century Wahhabi literature, it became a central feature of the 19th century Wahhabi dogma.


title: Wahhabism

text: Thus, during much of the second half of the 19th century, there was a strong aversion to mixing with "idolaters" (including most of the inhabitants of the Muslim world) in Wahhabi lands. At the very least, voluntary contact was considered sinful by Wahhabi clerics, and if one enjoyed the company of idolaters, and "approved of their religion", it was considered an act of unbelief. Travel outside the pale of Najd to the Ottoman lands "was tightly controlled, if not prohibited altogether". Over the course of their history, the "Muwahhidun" became more accommodating towards the outside world. In the late 1800s, Wahhabis found other Muslims with similar beliefsfirst with "Ahl-i Hadith" in South Asia, and later with Islamic revivalists in Arab states (one being Mahmud Sahiri al-Alusi in Baghdad).


title: Wahhabism

text: Around this period, many remote tribes of Central Arabia re-introduced the practice of idolatry and superstitious folk rituals. During his official visit to Arabia in 1865, British Lieutenant General Lewis Pelly noted that most of the Central Arabian tribes were ignorant of basic Islamic tenets and were practising animism. Finnish explorer George August Wallin who travelled Northern Arabia during the 1840s writes in his "Notes" (1848): "most of the tribes which were not forced to adopt the reformed doctrines of the Wahhâbiyé (Wahábiyeh) sect during the period of its ascendant power in Arabia... are, in general, grossly ignorant in the religion they profess, and I scarcely remember ever meeting with a single individual... who observed any of the rites of Islâm whatever, or possessed the last notion of its fundamental and leading dogmas; while the reverse might, to a certain degree, be said of those Bedooins who are, or formerly were, Wahhâbiyé (Wahábiyeh)."


title: Wahhabism

text: In 1901, 'Abd Al-aziz Ibn Saud, a fifth generation descendant of Muhammad ibn Saud, began a military campaign that led to the conquest of much of the Arabian peninsula and the founding of present-day Saudi Arabia, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. During this period, the Wahhabi scholars began allying with the cause of the Sunni reformist "ulema" of the Arab East, such as Jamal al-Din Qasimi, Tahir al Jaza'iri, Khayr al-Din Alusi, etc. who were major figures of the early "Salafiyya" movement. The revivalists and Wahhabis shared a common interest in Ibn Taymiyya's thought, the permissibility of "ijtihad", and the need to purify worship practices of innovation. In the 1920s, Sayyid Rashid Rida (d. 1935 C.E/ 1354 A.H), a pioneer Arab Salafist whose periodical "al-Manar" was widely read in the Muslim world, published an "anthology of Wahhabi treatises", and a work praising the Ibn Saud as "the savior of the "Haramayn" [the two holy cities] and a practitioner of authentic Islamic rule".


title: Wahhabism

text: The core feature of Rida's treatises was the call for revival of the pristine Islamic beliefs and practices of the "Salaf" and glorification of the early generations of Muslims, and condemnation of every subsequent ritual accretion as "bid'ah" (religious heresy). Reviving the fundamentalist teachings of classical Hanbali theologians Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim, Rida also advocated the political restoration of an Islamic Caliphate that would unite the Muslim Ummah as necessary for maintaining a virtous Islamic society. Rashid Rida's campaigns for pan-Islamist revival through Ibn Taymiyya's doctrines would grant Wahhabism mainstream acceptance amongst the cosmopolitan Arab elite, once dominated by Ottomanism.


title: Wahhabism

text: Under the reign of Abdulaziz, "political considerations trumped" doctrinal idealism favored by pious Wahhabis. His political and military success gave the Wahhabi ulama control over religious institutions with jurisdiction over considerable territory, and in later years Wahhabi ideas formed the basis of the rules and laws concerning social affairs, and shaped the kingdom's judicial and educational policies. But protests from Wahhabi "ulama" were overridden when it came to consolidating power in Hijaz and al-Hasa, maintaining a positive relationship with the British government, adopting modern technology, establishing a simple governmental administrative framework, or signing an oil concession with the U.S. The Wahhabi ulama also issued a fatwa affirming that "only the ruler could declare a jihad" (a violation of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's teaching, according to DeLong-Bas).


title: Wahhabism

text: As the realm of Wahhabism expanded under Ibn Saud into Shiite areas (al-Hasa, conquered in 1913) and Hejaz (conquered in 1924–25), radical factions amongst Wahhabis such as the "Ikhwan" pressed for forced conversion of Shia and an eradication of (what they saw as) idolatry. Ibn Saud sought "a more relaxed approach". In al-Hasa, efforts to stop the observance of Shia religious holidays and replace teaching and preaching duties of Shia clerics with Wahhabi, lasted only a year. In Mecca and Jeddah (in Hejaz) prohibition of tobacco, alcohol, playing cards and listening to music on the phonograph was looser than in Najd. Over the objections of some of his clergymen, Ibn Saud permitted both the driving of automobiles and the attendance of Shia at hajj. Enforcement of the commanding right and forbidding wrong, such as enforcing prayer observance, Islamic sex-segregation guidelines, etc. developed a prominent place during the Third Saudi emirate, and in 1926 a formal committee for enforcement was founded in Mecca.


title: Wahhabism

text: While Wahhabi warriors swore loyalty to monarchs of Al Saud, there was one major rebellion. King Abd al-Azez put down rebelling "Ikhwan"nomadic tribesmen turned Wahhabi warriors who opposed his "introducing such innovations as telephones, automobiles, and the telegraph" and his "sending his son to a country of unbelievers (Egypt)". Britain had warned Abd al-aziz when the "Ikhwan" attacked the British protectorates of Transjordan, Iraq and Kuwait, as a continuation of jihad to expand the Wahhabist realm.


title: Wahhabism

text: "Ikhwan" consisted of Bedouin tribesmen who believed they were entitled to free-lance "Jihad", raiding, etc. without permission of the "Amir" and they had conflicts with both Wahhabi "ulema" and Saudi rulers. They also objected to Saudi taxations on nomadic tribes. After their raids against Saudi townsmen, Ibn Saud went for a final showdown against the "Ikhwan" with the backing of the Wahhabi "ulema" in 1929. The Ikhwan was decisively defeated and sought the backing of foreign rulers of Kuwait and British Empire. In January 1930, the main body of "Ikhwan" surrendered to the British near the Saudi-Kuwaiti border. The Wahhabi movement was perceived as an endeavour led by the settled populations of the Arabian Peninsula against the nomadic domination of trade-routes, taxes as well as their "jahiliyya" customs. Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab had criticized the nomadic tribes and the Wahhabi chroniclers praised Saudi rulers for taming the Bedouins.


title: Wahhabism

text: In a bid "to join the Muslim mainstream and to erase the reputation of extreme sectarianism associated with the "Ikhwan"", in 1926 Ibn Saud convened a Muslim congress of representatives of Muslim governments and popular associations. By 1932, 'Abd al-Azeez and his armies were able to efficiently quell all rebellions and establish unchallenged authority in most regions of the Peninsula such as Hejaz, Nejd and Asir. After holding a special meeting of the members of "Majlis al-Shura" ( consultation council), 'Abd al-Azeez ibn Saud issued the decree ""On the merger of the parts of the Arabian kingdom"" on 18 September 1932; which announced the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the fourth and current iteration of the Third Saudi State. Upon his death in 1953, Ibn Saud had implemented various modernisation reforms and technological innovations across the country; tempering the 19th century Wahhabi zeal. Acknowledging the political realities of the 20th century, a relenting Wahhabi scholarly establishment opened up to the outside world and attained religious acceptance amongst the wider Muslim community. Wahhabi "ulama" gained control over education, law, public morality and religious institutions in the 20th century; while incorporating new material and technological developments such as the import of modern communications; for the political consolidation of the Al-Saud dynasty and strengthening Saudi Arabia, the country that advocated Wahhabi doctrines as state policy.


title: Wahhabism

text: A major current in regional politics at that time was secular nationalism, which, with Gamal Abdel Nasser, was sweeping the Arab world. To combat it, Wahhabi missionary outreach worked closely with Saudi foreign policy initiatives. In May 1962, a conference in Mecca organized by Saudis discussed ways to combat secularism and socialism. In its wake, the World Muslim League was established. To propagate Islam and "repel inimical trends and dogmas", the League opened branch offices around the globe. It developed closer association between Wahhabis and leading Salafis, and made common cause with the Islamic revivalist Muslim Brotherhood, "Ahl-i Hadith" and the Jamaat-i Islami, combating Sufism and "innovative" popular religious practices and rejecting the West and Western "ways which were so deleterious of Muslim piety and values".


title: Wahhabism

text: Missionaries were sent to West Africa, where the League funded schools, distributed religious literature, and gave scholarships to attend Saudi religious universities. One result was the Izala Society which fought Sufism in Nigeria, Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. In South Asia, Muslim scholar Syed Abul A'la Maududi (1903–1979 C.E) the leader of the Jamaat e Islami, became the most decisive Islamist ally of Wahhabi scholars. The ideology of Maududi shared many core aspects of Wahhabi beliefs; and the militant Islamist advocacy of JI and the pious lifestyle of its rank and file resulted in their association with Wahhabism by the Pakistani public. With the support of the Saudi scholars and through his relations with the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic revivalist groups in the Arab world, Maududi emerged as one of the most reputed Pakistani Islamic scholars. By his death in 1979, Maududi had been the first recipient of the King Faisal Award and revered as a "Mujaddid" (reviver) of Islam in the twentieth century.


title: Wahhabism

text: Through the support of various Islamist groups, Saudis were able to strengthen their power and bolster conservative religious support across the Muslim world. With the consolidation of their rule, Saudi authorities demolished numerous shrines and structures associated with Islamic history. During this era, Saudi government offered asylum to the Muslim Brotherhood ideologues fleeing from the persecution of Jamal 'Abd al-Nasar. They were able to successfully popularise their revolutionary ideas in Saudi Arabia. The "infiltration of the transnationalist revival movement" in the form of thousands of pious, Islamist Arab Muslim Brotherhood refugees from Egypt following Nasser's clampdown on the Brotherhood (and also from similar nationalist clampdowns in Iraq and Syria) helped staff the new school system and educational curriculum of the (mostly illiterate) Kingdom. The Brotherhood's revolutionary Islamist ideology differed from the more conservative Wahhabism which preached loyal obedience to the king. The Brotherhood dealt in what one author (Robert Lacey) called "change-promoting concepts" like social justice and anticolonialism, and gave "a radical, but still apparently safe, religious twist" to the Wahhabi values Saudi students "had absorbed in childhood". With the Brotherhood's "hands-on, radical Islam", jihad became a "practical possibility today", not just part of history.


title: Wahhabism

text: The Brotherhood were ordered by the Saudi clergy and government not to attempt to proselytize or otherwise get involved in religious doctrinal matters within the Kingdom, but nonetheless "took control of Saudi Arabia's intellectual life" by publishing books and participating in discussion circles and salons held by princes. In time they took leading roles in key governmental ministries, and had influence on education curriculum. An Islamic university in Medina created in 1961 to trainmostly non-Saudiproselytizers to Wahhabism became "a haven" for Muslim Brother refugees from Egypt. The Brothers' ideas eventually spread throughout the kingdom and had great effect on Wahhabismalthough observers differ as to whether this was by "undermining" it or "blending" with it.


title: Wahhabism

text: In the 1950s and 1960s within Saudi Arabia, the Wahhabi "ulama" maintained their hold on "shari'i" courts, and presided over the creation of Islamic universities and a public school system which gave students "a heavy dose of religious instruction". Outside of Saudi the Wahhabi "ulama" became "less combative" toward the rest of the Muslim world. In confronting the challenge of the West, Wahhabi doctrine "served well" for many Muslims as a "platform" and "gained converts beyond the peninsula".


title: Wahhabism

text: A number of reasons have been given for this success: the growth in popularity and strength of both Arab nationalism (although Wahhabis opposed any form of nationalism as an ideology, Saudis were Arabs, and their enemy the Ottoman caliphate was ethnically Turkish), and Islamic reform (specifically reform by following the example of those first three generations of Muslims known as the "Salaf"); the destruction of the Ottoman Empire which sponsored their most effective critics; the destruction of another rival, the Khilafa in Hejaz, in 1925. Not least in importance was the money Saudi Arabia earned from exporting oil.


title: Wahhabism

text: The pumping and export of oil from Saudi Arabia started during World War II, and its earnings helped fund religious activities in the 1950s and 60s. But it was the 1973 oil crisis and quadrupling in the price of oil that both increased the kingdom's wealth astronomically and enhanced its prestige by demonstrating its international power as a leader of OPEC. With the help of funding from Saudi petroleum exports (and other factors), the movement underwent "explosive growth" beginning in the 1970s and now has worldwide influence. The US State Department has estimated that from about 1976 to 2016 state and private entities in Riyadh have directed at least $10bn (£6bn) to select charitable foundations toward the erosion of local Islamic practices by Wahhabism. By 1980, Saudi Arabia was earning every three days the income from oil it had taken a year to earn before the embargo. Tens of billions of US dollars of this money were spent on books, media, schools, scholarships for students (from primary to post-graduate), fellowships and subsidies to reward journalists, academics and Islamic scholars, the building of hundreds of Islamic centers and universities, and over one thousand schools and one thousand mosques. During this time, Wahhabism attained what anti-Islamist analyst Gilles Kepel called a "preeminent position of strength in the global expression of Islam".


title: Wahhabism

text: The February 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran challenged Saudi Wahhabism in a number of ways on a number of fronts. It was a revolution of Shia Muslims, not Sunnis, and Wahhabism held that Shias were not truly Muslims. Nonetheless, its massive popularity in Iran and its overthrow of a pro-American secular monarchy generated enormous enthusiasm among pious Sunnis, not just Shia Muslims around the world. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, preached that monarchy was against Islam and America was Islam's enemy, and called for the overthrow of al-Saud family. (In 1987 public address Khomeini declared that "these vile and ungodly Wahhabis are like daggers which have always pierced the heart of the Muslims from the back", and announced that Mecca was in the hands of "a band of heretics".) All this spurred Saudi Arabiaa kingdom allied with Americato "redouble their efforts to counter Iran and spread Wahhabism around the world", and reversed any moves by Saudi leaders to distance itself from Wahhabism or "soften" its ideology.


title: Wahhabism

text: In 1979, 400–500 Islamist insurgents, using smuggled weapons and supplies, took over the Grand mosque in Mecca, called for an overthrow of the monarchy, denounced the Wahhabi ulama as royal puppets, and announced the arrival of the "Mahdi" of "end time". The insurgents deviated from Wahhabi doctrine in significant details, but were also associated with leading Wahhabi ulama (Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz knew the insurgent's leader, Juhayman al-Otaybi).


title: Wahhabism

text: Their seizure of Islam's holiest site, the taking hostage of hundreds of hajj pilgrims, and the deaths of hundreds of militants, security forces and hostages caught in crossfire during the two-week-long retaking of the mosque, all shocked the Islamic world and did not enhance the prestige of Al Saud as "custodians" of the mosque.


title: Wahhabism

text: The incident also damaged the prestige of the Wahhabi establishment. Saudi leadership sought and received Wahhabi fatawa to approve the military removal of the insurgents and after that to execute them, but Wahhabi clerics also fell under suspicion for involvement with the insurgents.


title: Wahhabism

text: In part as a consequence, Sahwa clerics influenced by Brethren's ideas were given freer rein. Their ideology was also thought more likely to compete with the recent Islamic revolutionism/third-worldism of the Iranian Revolution.


title: Wahhabism

text: Although the insurgents were motivated by religious puritanism, the incident was not followed by a crackdown on other religious purists, but by giving greater power to the ulama and religious conservatives to more strictly enforce Islamic codes in myriad waysfrom the banning of women's images in the media to adding even more hours of Islamic studies in school and giving more power and money to the religious police to enforce conservative rules of behaviour.


title: Wahhabism

text: The "apex of cooperation" between Wahhabis and Muslim revivalist groups was the Afghan jihad. In December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Shortly thereafter, Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, a Muslim Brother cleric with ties to Saudi religious institutions, issued a fatwa declaring defensive jihad in Afghanistan against the atheist Soviet Union, "fard ayn", a personal (or individual) obligation for all Muslims. The edict was supported by Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti (highest religious scholar), Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz, among others. During this period, Saudi government funded militant Islamic groups, including Salafi as well as various Deobandi organisations.


title: Wahhabism

text: Between 1982 and 1992 an estimated 35,000 individual Muslim volunteers went to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets and their Afghan regime. Thousands more attended frontier schools teeming with former and future fighters. Somewhere between 12,000 and 25,000 of these volunteers came from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and the other conservative Gulf monarchies also provided considerable financial support to the jihad$600million a year by 1982. By 1989, Soviet troops had withdrawn and within a few years the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul had collapsed.


title: Wahhabism

text: This Saudi/Wahhabi religious triumph further stood out in the Muslim world because many Muslim-majority states (and the PLO) were allied with the Soviet Union and did not support the Afghan jihad. But many jihad volunteers (most famously Osama bin Laden) returning home to Saudi Arabia and elsewhere were often radicalized by Islamic militants who were "much more extreme than their Saudi sponsors".


title: Wahhabism

text: In August 1990 Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait. Concerned that Saddam Hussein might push south and seize its own oil fields, Saudis requested military support from the US and allowed tens of thousands of US troops to be based in the Kingdom to fight Iraq. But what "amounted to seeking infidels' assistance against a Muslim power" was difficult to justify in terms of Wahhabi doctrine.


title: Wahhabism

text: Again Saudi authorities sought and received a fatwa from leading Wahhabi ulama supporting their action. The fatwa failed to persuade many conservative Muslims and ulama who strongly opposed US presence, including the Muslim Brotherhood-supported Sahwah ("Awakening") movement that began pushing for political change in the kingdom. Outside the kingdom, Islamist revival groups that had long received aid from Saudi and had ties with Wahhabis (Arab jihadists, Pakistani and Afghan Islamists) supported Iraq, not Saudi. During this time and later, many in the Wahhabi/Salafi movement (such as Osama bin Laden) not only no longer looked to the Saudi monarch as an emir of Islam, but supported his overthrow, focusing on jihad against the US and (what they believe are) other enemies of Islam. (This movement is sometimes called neo-Wahhabi or neo-salafi.)


title: Wahhabism

text: Attacking Saudi's putative ally (killing almost three thousand people and causing at least $10billion in property and infrastructure damage) was assumed by many, at least outside the kingdom, to be "an expression of Wahhabism" since the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and most of the hijackers were Saudi nationals. A backlash in the formerly hospitable US against the kingdom focused on its official religion, which some came to consider "a doctrine of terrorism and hate". In the West, with the end of the Cold War and the obsoleted anti-communist alliance with conservative, religious Saudi Arabia; the September 11, 2001 attacks created enormous distrust towards the kingdom and especially its official religion.


title: Wahhabism

text: Inside the kingdom, Crown Prince Abdullah addressed the country's religious, tribal, business and media leadership following the attacks in a series of televised gatherings calling for a strategy to correct what had gone wrong. According to Robert Lacey, the gatherings and later articles and replies by a top cleric, Abdullah Turki, and two top Al Saud princes, Prince Turki Al-Faisal and Prince Talal bin Abdul Aziz, served as an occasion to sort out who had the ultimate power in the kingdom: not the ulama, but rather the Al Saud dynasty. They declared that Muslim rulers were meant to exercise power, while religious scholars were meant to advise.


title: Wahhabism

text: In 2003–2004, Saudi Arabia saw a wave of al-Qaeda-related suicide bombings, attacks on Non-Muslim foreigners (about 80% of those employed in the Saudi private sector are foreign workers and constitute about 30% of the country's population), and gun battles between Saudi security forces and militants. One reaction to the attacks was a trimming back of the Wahhabi establishment's domination of religion and society. "National Dialogues" were held that included "Shiites, Sufis, liberal reformers, and professional women". In 2008, then-prince Salman ibn 'Abd al-Aziz asserted:"there is no such thing as Wahhabism. They attack us using this term. We are Sunni Muslims who respect the four schools of thought. We follow Islam's Prophet (Muhammad, peace be upon him), and not anyone else... Imam Muhammad bin Abdel-Wahab was a prominent jurist and a man of knowledge, but he did not introduce anything new. The first Saudi state did not establish a new school of thought... The Islamic thought, which rules in Saudi Arabia, stands against extremism... We have grown tired of being described as Wahhabis. This is incorrect and unacceptable."


title: Wahhabism

text: In 2009, as part of what some called an effort to "take on the "ulama" and reform the clerical establishment", King 'Abdullah issued a decree that only "officially approved" religious scholars would be allowed to issue "fatwas" in Saudi Arabia. The king also expanded the Council of Senior Scholars (containing officially approved religious scholars) to include scholars from Sunni schools of Islamic jurisprudence other than the Hanbali "madh'hab"Shafi'i, Hanafi and Maliki schools. Relations with the Muslim Brotherhood have since deteriorated steadily. After 9/11, the then interior minister Prince Nayef blamed the Brotherhood for extremism in the kingdom, and he declared it guilty of "betrayal of pledges and ingratitude" and "the source of all problems in the Islamic world", after it was elected to power in Egypt. In March 2014 the Saudi government designated the Brotherhood as a "terrorist organization".


title: Wahhabism

text: In April 2016, Saudi Arabia stripped its religious police, who enforce Islamic law on the society and are known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, from their power to follow, chase, stop, question, verify identification, or arrest any suspected persons when carrying out duties. They were told to report suspicious behaviour to regular police and anti-drug units, who would decide whether to take the matter further.


title: Wahhabism

text: Reformist actions on religious policy taken by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in 2017 have led some to question the future of Wahhabi conservatism. In an October 2017 interview with "The Guardian" newspaper, MbS stated


title: Wahhabism

text: What happened in the last 30 years is not Saudi Arabia. What happened in the region in the last 30 years is not the Middle East. After the Iranian revolution in 1979, people wanted to copy this model in different countries, one of them is Saudi Arabia. We didn't know how to deal with it. And the problem spread all over the world. Now is the time to get rid of it.MBS has ruled in favor of allowing women to drive and enter sport stadiums, eventually reopening cinemas. According to Kamel Daoud, MBS is "above all... putting pressure on the clergy and announcing the review and certification of the great canons of Muslim orthodoxy, including the hadiths, the collection of the Prophet Muhammad's sayings". By 2021, the waning power of the religious clerics brought forth by new social, religious, economic, political changes and a new educational policy asserting a "Saudi national identity" that emphasize non-Islamic components; have led to what has been described by some as the "post-Wahhabi era" of Saudi Arabia.


title: Wahhabism

text: The 2016 international conference on Sunni Islam in Grozny (a Sufi conference funded by the government of the United Arab Emirates) where "200 Muslim scholars from Egypt, Russia, Syria, Sudan, Jordan, and Europe reject[ed] Saudi Arabia's doctrine", has been described by the "Huffington Post" as a "frontal assault on Wahhabism" (as well as an assault on other conservative "interpretations of Islam, such as Salafism and Deobandism").


title: Wahhabism

text: In a landmark interview in May 2021 explaining Vision 2030, MBS defended Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab and signalled future religious reforms, stating:"If Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdulwahhab were with us today and he found us committed blindly to his texts and closing our minds to interpretation and jurisprudence while deifying and sanctifying him he would be the first to object to this. There are no fixed schools of thought and there is no infallible person. We should engage in continuous interpretation of Quranic texts and the same goes for the sunnah of the Prophet..."


title: Wahhabism

text: Defending Saudi policies against extremist groups, MBS stated that extremist thinking is contrary to Islamic religion and culture, and that progress cannot be made in an extremist culture. MBS defined moderation as abiding by "the Qur'an, Sunnah, and basic governance system" and its implementation in a broad sense that is tolerant of various schools of thought. In addition, the Crown Prince defended the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia, stating: ".. Saudi constitution, which is the Quran, the Sunnah, and our basic governance system.. will continue to be so forever. ... So, ultimately our reference is the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet(peace be upon him) ... Our role is to make sure all the laws passed in Saudi Arabia reflect the following: One, that they do not violate the Quran and the Sunnah.. that they preserve the security and interests of citizens, and that they help in the development and prosperity of the country."MBS' pronouncements rejecting Saudi Arabia as a "Wahhabi state", promotion of "ijtihad", and encouraging tolerance to other schools (while re-affirming the non-existence of a "Wahhabi school") was received with praise across the Arab media and liberal columnists. It also echoed the calls of Egyptian President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi for a "religious revolution" in 2018. Suggesting a possible coordination between the two nations on religious reforms, few days after the interview of MBS, Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb called for a "religious renewal", stating: "Constant renewal ensures that Islam remain a vital and dynamic religion that spreads justice and equality among people. The call to sanctify the jurisprudential heritage and treat it as equal to the Islamic shari'a [itself] leads to stagnation... due to elements that insist on adhering, in a literal manner, to old rulings which were considered innovative in their day."


title: Wahhabism

text: A widely circulated but discredited apocryphal description of the founding of Wahhabism known as "Memoirs of Mr. Hempher, The British Spy to the Middle East" (other titles have been used) alleges that a British agent named Hempher was responsible for the creation of Wahhabism. The book has been criticized as "an Anglophobic variation on "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion"".


title: Wahhabism

text: The Wahhabi movement was part of the overall current of various Islamic revivalist trends in the 18th century. It would be influenced by and in turn, influence many other Islamic reform-revivalist movements across the globe. "Ahl-i-Hadith" movement of subcontinent was a Sunni revivalist movement inspired by the thoughts of Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, al-Shawkani, and Syed Ahmad Barelvi. They fully condemn "taqlid" and advocate for "ijtihad" based on scriptures. Founded in the mid-19th century in Bhopal, it places great emphasis on hadith studies and condemns imitation to the canonical law schools. They identify with the early school of "Ahl al-Hadith". During the late 19th century, Wahhabi scholars would establish contacts with "Ahl-i-Hadith" and many Wahhabi students would study under the "Ahl-i-Hadith" "ulama", and later became prominent scholars in the Arabian Wahhabi establishment.


title: Wahhabism

text: Both the Wahhabis and "Ahl-i-Hadith" shared a common creed, opposed Sufi practices such as visiting shrines, seeking aid ("istigatha") from dead "'Awliya" (Islamic saints), etc. Both the movements revived the teachings of the medieval Sunni theologian and jurist, Ibn Taymiyya, whom they considered as ""Shaykh al-Islam"". With the resources of Muslim principality of Bhopal at his disposal, "Muhaddith" Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan became a strong advocate the "Ahl-i-Hadith" cause in India. Suffering from the instabilities of 19th-century Arabia, many Wahhabi "ulema" would make their way to India and study under "Ahl-i-Hadith" patronage. Prominent Saudi scholars like Hamad Ibn 'Atiq would make correspondence with Siddiq Hasan Khan; requesting him to send various classical works, due to scarcity of classical treatises amongst the 19th-century Najdi scholars. He would send his eldest son, Sa'd ibn Atiq, to India to study under Siddiq Hasan Khan as well as Sayyid Nazir Hussain for over nine years. Sa'd Ibn Atiq would become a major scholarly authority in the Third Saudi State. He was appointed by Ibn Saud as the "qadi" of Riyadh as well as the "Imam" of Grand Mosque of Riyad giving him great influence in the educational system. Amongst his students was Abd al Aziz Ibn Baz, who was highly influenced by the Indian "Ahl-i-Hadith". Another son of Sa'd Ibn Atiq as well as other prominent Najdi scholars from Aal Ash-Shaykh would study with the Indian "Ahl-i-Hadith" during the 19th and early 20th centuries.


title: Wahhabism

text: In 1931, an Indian "Ahl-i-Hadith" scholar, Shaykh Ahmad ibn Muhammad Al Dehlawi, founded the "Dar-ul-Hadith" institute, which would later be attached to the Islamic University of Medina. It would encourage the study of "Hadith" across Hejaz and also pave the way for Albani and his "Muhaddith" factions in the 1960s, with the support of Ibn Baz, culminating in the consolidation of the contemporary "Salafi Manhaj". Ibn Baz, who was highly influenced by "Ahl-i-Hadith", shared the passion for revival of Hadith sciences. After the establishment of third Saudi state and oil boom, the Saudi Sheikhs would repay their debts by supporting "Ahl-i-Hadith" through finances as well as mass publications. Mufti Muhammad ibn Ibrahim's teachers also included students of "Ahl-i-Hadith" scholars and he too made efforts to support the Indian "Ahl-i-Hadith" cause. After Mufti Muhammad, Ibn Baz as the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia would highly support the movement. Prominent "Ahl-i-Hadith" scholars such as Shaykh Abdul Ghaffar Khan would be appointed to teach in Saudi Universities. His famous students included Safar al Hawali and Muqbil bin Hadi al Wadi. With Saudi patronage, a vast "Ahl-i-Hadith" network was developed. "Ahl-i-Hadith" seminaries underwent a phenomenal increase from 134 in 1988 to 310 in 2000 (131 percent) and currently number around 500. According to Pakistani estimates 34,000 students studied under "Ahl-i-Hadith" madrassas in 2006 compared to 18,800 in 1996 (as opposed to 200,000 Deobandi students and 190,000 Barelvi students in 2006). "Ahl-i-Hadith" has had remarkable success in converting Muslims from other schools of thought.


title: Wahhabism

text: During the early 19th century, Egyptian Muslim scholar Abd al Rahman al Jabarti had defended the Wahhabi movement. From the 19th century, prominent Arab "Salafiyya" reformers would maintain correspondence with Wahhabis and defend them against Sufi attacks. These included Shihab al Din al Alusi, Abd al Hamid al Zahrawi, Abd al Qadir al Jabarti, Abd al Hakim al Afghani, Nu'man Khayr al-Din Al-Alusi, Mahmud Shukri Al Alusi and his disciple Muhammad Bahjat Al-Athari, Jamal al Din al Qasimi, , Muhibb al Din al Khatib, Muhammad Hamid al Fiqi and most notably, Muhammad Rasheed Rida who was considered as the "leader of Salafis". All these scholars would correspond with Arabian and Indian "Ahl-i-Hadith" scholars and champion the reformist thought. They shared a common interest in opposing various Sufi practices, denouncing blind following and reviving correct theology and Hadith sciences. They also opened Zahiriyya library, Salafiyya library, "Al Manar" Library, etc., propagating Salafi thought as well as promoting scholars like Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Hazm. Rashid Rida would succeed in his efforts to rehabilitate Wahhabis in the Islamic World and would attain the friendship of many Najdi scholars. With the support of the Third Saudi State by the 1920s, a concept of ""Salafiyya"" emerged on a global scale claiming heritage to the thought of 18th-century Islamic reform movements and the pious predecessors ("Salaf"). Many of Rida's disciples would be assigned to various posts in Saudi Arabia and some of them would remain in Saudi Arabia. Others would spread the "Salafi da'wa" to their respective countries. Prominent amongst these disciples were the Syrian Muhammad Bahjat al-Bitar (1894–1976), Egyptian Muhammad Hamid al-Fiqi (1892–1959) and the Moroccan Taqi al-Din al-Hilali(1894–1987).


title: Wahhabism

text: The Syrian-Albanian Islamic scholar Al-Albani (), an avid reader of "Al-Manar" and also student of Muhammad Bahjat al-Bitar (disciple of Rida and Al-Qasimi), was an adherent to the "Salafiyya" methodology. Encouraged by their call for hadith re-evaluation and revival, he would invest himself in Hadith studies, becoming a renowned "Muhaddith". He followed in the footsteps of the ancient "Ahl al-Hadith" school and took the call of Ahl-i-Hadith. In the 1960s, he would teach in Saudi Arabia making a profound influence therein. By the 1970s, Albani's thoughts would gain popularity and the notion of ""Salafi Manhaj"" was consolidated.


title: Wahhabism

text: As a religious revivalist movement that works to bring Muslims back from what it considers as foreign accretions that have corrupted Islam, and believes that Islam is a complete way of life which has prescriptions for all aspects of life, Wahhabism is quite strict in what it considers Islamic behavior. The "Muwahhidun" movement has been described by "The Economist" as the "strictest form of Sunni Islam". On the other hand, religious critics assert that Wahhabism is not strict, castigating it as a distorted version of Islam that deviates from traditional Shari'a law, and argue that their practices are neither typical nor mired in the roots of Islam. Unlike other schools of Sunnism, Wahhabis admonishes to ground Islamic principles solely on the "Qur'an" and "Hadith", rejecting much material derived within Islamic culture.


title: Wahhabism

text: This does not mean, however, that all adherents agree on what is required or forbidden, or that rules have not varied by area or changed over time. In Saudi Arabia, the strict religious atmosphere of Wahhabi doctrines were visible as late as the 1990s; such as the conformity in dress, public deportment, public prayers. Its presence was visible by the wide freedom of action of the "religious police", clerics in mosques, teachers in schools, and "Qadis" (i.e. judges who are religious legal scholars) in Saudi courts.


title: Wahhabism

text: Wahhabism is noted for its policy of "compelling its own followers and other Muslims strictly to observe the religious duties of Islam, such as the five prayers", and for "enforcement of public morals to a degree not found elsewhere". According to the American journalist Lawrence Wright, due to Wahhabi emphasis on the "purification of Islam"; the teaching becomes very repressive to the followers.


title: Wahhabism

text: While other Muslims might urge salat prayer, modest dress, and abstention from alcohol, for Wahhabis, prayer "that is punctual, ritually correct, and communally performed not only is urged but publicly required of men." Not only is modest dress prescribed, but the type of clothing that should be worn, especially by women (a black abaya, covering all but the eyes and hands) is specified. Not only is wine forbidden, but so are "all intoxicating drinks and other stimulants, including tobacco".


title: Wahhabism

text: Following the preaching and practice of ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab that coercion should be used to enforce following of "sharia" (Islamic law), an official committee was empowered to "Command the Good and Forbid the Evil" (the so-called "religious police") in Saudi Arabiathe one country founded with the help of Wahhabi warriors and whose scholars and pious citizens dominated many aspects of the Kingdom's life. Committee "field officers" enforce strict closing of shops at prayer time, segregation of the sexes, prohibition of the sale and consumption of alcohol, driving of motor vehicles by women, and other social restrictions.


title: Wahhabism

text: A large number of practices was reported to be forbidden by Saudi Wahhabi officials, preachers or religious police. Practices that have been forbidden as Bid'a (innovation) or shirk (polytheism) and sometimes "punished by flogging" during Wahhabi history include performing or listening to music; dancing; fortune telling; amulets; non-religious television programs; smoking; playing backgammon, chess, or cards; drawing human or animal figures; acting in a play or writing fiction; dissecting cadavers, even in criminal investigations and for the purposes of medical research; recorded music played over telephones on hold; or the sending of flowers to friends or relatives who are in the hospital.


title: Wahhabism

text: Common Muslim practices Wahhabis believe are contrary to Islam include listening to music in praise of Muhammad, praying to God while visiting tombs (including the tomb of Muhammad), celebrating mawlid (birthday of the Prophet), the use of ornamentation on or in mosques, all of which is considered orthodoxy in the rest of the Islamic world. Until 2018, driving of motor vehicles by women was allowed in every country except the Wahhabi-dominated Saudi Arabia. Certain forms of Dream interpretation, practiced by the famously strict Taliban, is sometimes discouraged by Wahhabis.


title: Wahhabism

text: Wahhabism also emphasizes ""Thaqafah Islamiyyah"" or Islamic culture and the importance of avoiding non-Islamic cultural practices and non-Muslim friendship no matter how innocent these may appear, on the grounds that the "Sunnah" forbids imitating non-Muslims. Foreign practices sometimes punished and sometimes simply condemned by Wahhabi preachers as un-Islamic, include celebrating foreign days (such as Valentine's Day or Mothers Day) shaving, cutting or trimming of beards, giving of flowers, standing up in honor of someone, celebrating birthdays (including the Prophet's), keeping or petting dogs. Some Wahhabi activists have warned against taking non-Muslims as friends, smiling at or wishing them well on their holidays.


title: Wahhabism

text: Wahhabis are not in unanimous agreement on what is forbidden as sin. Some Wahhabi preachers or activists go further than the official Saudi Arabian Council of Senior Scholars in forbidding (what they believe to be) sin. Juhayman al Utaybi declared football forbidden for a variety of reasons including it is a non-Muslim, foreign practice, because of the revealing uniforms and because of the foreign non-Muslim language used in matches. In response, the Saudi Grand Mufti rebuked such "fatwas" and called on the religious police to prosecute its author.


title: Wahhabism

text: According to senior Saudi scholars, Islam forbids the traveling or working outside the home by a woman without their husband's permissionpermission which may be revoked at any timeon the grounds that the different physiological structures and biological functions of the two sexes mean that each is assigned a distinctive role to play in the family. Sexual intercourse out of wedlock may be punished with flogging, although sex out of wedlock was permissible with a female slave until the practice of Islamic slavery was banned in 1962 (Prince Bandar bin Sultan was the product of "a brief encounter" between his father Prince Sultan bin Abdul Azizthe Saudi defense minister for many yearsand "his slave, a black servingwoman").


title: Wahhabism

text: Despite this strictness, throughout these years senior Saudi scholars in the kingdom made exceptions in ruling on what is "haram" (forbidden). Foreign non-Muslim troops are forbidden in Arabia, except when the king needed them to confront Saddam Hussein in 1990; gender mixing of men and women is forbidden, and fraternization with non-Muslims is discouraged, but not at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Movie theaters and driving by women are forbidden, except at the ARAMCO compound in eastern Saudi, populated by workers for the company that provides almost all the government's revenue. The exceptions made at KAUST were also in effect at ARAMCO.


title: Wahhabism

text: More general rules of permissiveness changed over time. Abdulaziz Ibn Saud imposed Wahhabi doctrines and practices "in a progressively gentler form" as his early 20th-century conquests expanded his state into urban areas, especially the Hejaz. After vigorous debate Wahhabi religious authorities in Saudi Arabia allowed the use of paper money (in 1951), the abolition of slavery (in 1962), education of females (1964), and use of television (1965). Music, the sound of which once might have led to summary execution, is now commonly heard on Saudi radios. Minarets for mosques and use of funeral markers, which were once forbidden, are now allowed. Prayer attendance, which was once enforced by flogging, is no longer.


title: Wahhabism

text: The uniformity of dress among men and women in Saudi Arabia (compared to other Muslim countries in the Middle East) has been called by Arthur G Sharp as a "striking example of Wahhabism's outward influence on Saudi society", and an example of the Wahhabi belief that "outward appearances and expressions are directly connected to one's inward state."


title: Wahhabism

text: A "badge" of a particularly pious Wahhabi man is a robe too short to cover the ankle, an untrimmed beard, and no cord ("Agal") to hold the head scarf in place. The warriors of the Wahhabi Ikhwan religious militia wore a white turban in place of an "agal".


title: Wahhabism

text: Wahhabi mission, or "Da'wah Wahhabiyya", is the idea of spreading Wahhabism throughout the world. Tens of billions of dollars have been spent by the Saudi government and charities on mosques, schools, education materials, scholarships, throughout the world to promote the Wahhabi influences. Tens of thousands of volunteers and several billion dollars also went in support of the jihad against the atheist communist regime governing Afghanistan.


title: Wahhabism

text: The Wahhabi movement, while predominant across Saudi Arabia, was established from the Najd region, and it is there that its conservative practices have the strongest support, more so than in regions in the kingdom to the east or west of it. Cyril Glasse credits the softening of some Wahhabi doctrines and practices outside of the Najd region on the conquest of the Hejaz region "with its more cosmopolitan traditions and the traffic of pilgrims which the new rulers could not afford to alienate". Aside from Saudi Arabia, the only other country whose native population is predominantly Wahhabi is the adjacent gulf monarchy of Qatar.


title: Wahhabism

text: The "boundaries" of Wahhabism have been called "difficult to pinpoint", but in contemporary usage, the terms ""Wahhabi"" and ""Salafi"" are sometimes used interchangeably, and they are considered to be movements with different roots that have merged since the 1960s. However, Wahhabism is generally recognised as form of Salafism", contextualised as an ultra-conservative, Saudi brand of the wider movement. Muhammad Iqbal, praised the 18th-century Najdi reform movement as "the first throb of life in modern Islam" which revolted against the rigidity of the "ulema". Noting its inspiration on the 19th-century religious reformers, Iqbal stated that "to the inspiration of this movement are traceable, directly or indirectly, nearly all the great modern movements of Muslim Asia and Africa".


title: Wahhabism

text: Adherents to the Wahhabi movement identify as Sunni Muslims. The primary Wahhabi doctrine is affirmation of the uniqueness and unity of God ("Tawhid"), and opposition to "shirk" (violation of tawhid"the one unforgivable sin", according to Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab). They call for adherence to the beliefs and practices of the "Salaf al-Salih" (exemplary early Muslims). They strongly oppose what they consider to be heterodox doctrines, particularly those held by the Sufi and Shiite traditions, such as beliefs and practices associated with the veneration of Prophets and saints. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab associated such practices with the culture of "Taqlid" (imitation to established customs) adored by pagan-cults of the "Jahiliyya" period. The movement emphasized reliance on the literal meaning of the "Quran" and "hadith", rejecting rationalistic theology ("kalam"). Adherents of Wahhabism are favourable to derivation of new legal rulings (ijtihad) so long as it is true to the essence of the Quran, Sunnah and understanding of the "salaf", and they do not regard this as "bid'ah" (innovation).


title: Wahhabism

text: The movement is heavily influenced by the works of thirteenth-century Hanbali theologian Ibn Taymiyya who rejected "Kalam" theology; and his disciple Ibn Qayyim who elaborated Ibn Taymiyya's ideals. Ibn Taymiyya's priority of ethics and worship over metaphysics, in particular, is readily accepted by Wahhäbis. Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab was a dedicated reader and student of Ibn Taymiyya's works, such as "Al-Aqidah Al-Wasitiyya", "Al-Siyasa Al-Shar'iyya", "Minhaj al-Sunna" and his various treatises attacking the cult of saints and certain forms of Sufism. Expressing great respect and admiration for Ibn Taymiyya; Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab wrote:"I know of no one, who stands ahead of Ibn Taymiyya, after the Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal in the science of interpretation and the hadith"


title: Wahhabism

text: In theology, Wahhabism is closely aligned with the Athari (traditionalist) school which represents the prevalent theological position of the Hanbali legal school. Athari theology is characterized by reliance on the zahir (apparent or literal) meaning of the "Qur'an" and "hadith", and opposition to rational argumentation in matters of "'Aqidah" (creed) favored by Ash'arite and Maturidite theologies. However, Wahhabis diverged in some points of theology from other Athari movements. Muhammad Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab did not view the issue of God's Attributes and Names as a part of "Tawhīd" (monotheism), rather he viewed it in the broader context of "aqāʾid" (theology). While his treatises strongly emphasised "Tawhid al-ulūhiyya" (monotheism in Worship), Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab did not give prominence to the theology of God's Names and Attributes that was central to Ibn Taymiyya and the Salafi movement. Following this approach, the early Wahhabi scholars had not elucidated the details of Athari theology such as Divine Attributes and other creedal doctrines. Influenced by the scholars of the Salafiyya movement, the later Wahhabis would revive Athari theological polemics beginning from the mid-twentieth century; which lead to charges of anthropomorphism against them by opponents such as Al-Kawthari. By contrast, the creedal treatises of early Wahhabis were mostly restricted to upholding Tawhid and condemning various practices of saint veneration which they considered as shirk (polytheism). They also staunchly opposed "Taqlid" and advocated for "Ijtihad".


title: Wahhabism

text: Hammad Ibn 'Atiq (d. 1883/ 1301 A.H) was one of the first Wahhabi scholars who seriously concerned himself with the question of God's Names and Attributes; a topic largely neglected by the previous Wahhabi scholars whose primary focus was limited to condemning idolatry and necrolatry. Ibn 'Atiq established correspondence with Athari scholars like Sīddïq Hasān Khán, an influential scholar of the "Ahl al-Hadith" movement in the Islamic principality of Bhopal. In his letters, Ibn 'Atiq praised "Nayl al-Maram", Khan's Salafi commentary on "Qur'an", which was published via prints in Cairo. He solicited Khan to accept his son as his disciple and requested Khan to produce and send more commentaries on the various treatises of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim. Khan accepted his request and embarked on a detailed study of the treatises of both the scholars. Hammad's son Sa'd ibn Atiq would study under Khan and various traditionalist theologians in India. Thus, various Wahhabi scholars began making efforts to appropriate Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's legacy into mainstream Sunni Islam by appropriating them to the broader traditionalist scholarship active across the Indian subcontinent, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, etc.


title: Wahhabism

text: The Hanafite scholar Ibn Abi al-Izz's "sharh" (explanation) on Al-Tahawi's creedal treatise "Al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya" proved popular with the later adherents of the "Muwahidun" movement; who regarded it as a true representation of the work, free from Maturidi influences and as a standard theological reference for the Athari creed. A number of Salafi and Wahhabi scholars have produced super-commentaries and annotations on the "sharh", including Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz, Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani, Saleh Al-Fawzan, etc. and is taught as a standard text at the Islamic University of Madinah.


title: Wahhabism

text: David Commins describes the "pivotal idea" in Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's teaching as being that "Muslims who disagreed with his definition of monotheism were not ... misguided Muslims, but outside the pale of Islam altogether." This put Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's teaching at odds with that of those Muslims who argued that the ""shahada"" (i.e., the testimony of faith; "There is no god but God, Muhammad is his messenger") alone made one a Muslim, and that shortcomings in that person's behavior and performance of other obligatory rituals rendered them "a sinner", but "not an unbeliever."


title: Wahhabism

text: "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab did not accept that view. He argued that the criterion for one's standing as either a Muslim or an unbeliever was correct worship as an expression of belief in one God ... any act or statement that indicates devotion to a being other than God is to associate another creature with God's power, and that is tantamount to idolatry ("shirk"). Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab included in the category of such acts popular religious practices that made holy men into intercessors with God. That was the core of the controversy between him and his adversaries, including his own brother."In Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's major work, a small book called "Kitab al-Tawhid", he states that "'Ibādah" (Worship) in Islam consists of conventional acts of devotion such as the five daily prayers ("salat"); fasting for the holy month of Ramadan (Sawm); Dua (supplication); Istia'dha (seeking protection or refuge); Isti'âna (seeking help), and Istigātha to Allah (seeking benefits and calling upon Allah alone). Directing these deeds beyond Allahsuch as through "du'a" or "Istigāthā" to the dead – are acts of "shirk" and in violation of the tenets of "Tawhid" (monotheism). Based on the doctrine of "Tawhid" espoused in "Kitab al-Tawhid", the followers of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab referred themselves by the designation ""Al-Muwahhidun"" (Unitarians).


title: Wahhabism

text: The essence of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's justification for fighting his opponents in Arabia can be summed up as his belief that the original pagans fought by Prophet Muhammad "affirmed that God is the creator, the sustainer and the master of all affairs; they gave alms, they performed pilgrimage and they avoided forbidden things from fear of God". What made them pagans whose blood could be shed and wealth plundered was that they performed sacrifices, vows and supplications to other beings. According to Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, someone who perform such things even if their lives are otherwise exemplary; is not a Muslim but an unbeliever. Once such people have received the call to "true Islam", understood it and then rejected it, their blood and treasure are forfeit. Clarifying his stance on "Takfir", Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab states:"As for "takfir", I only make "takfir" of whoever knows the religion of the Messenger and thereafter insults it, forbids people from it, and manifests enmity towards whoever practices it. This is who I make "takfir" of. And most of the ummah, and all praise is for God, is not like this... We do not make takfeer except on those matters which all of the "ūlemá" have reached a consensus on."The disagreement between Wahhabis and their opponents over the definition of worship ("'Ibadah") and monotheism ("Tawhid") has remained much the same since 1740, according to David Commins: "One of the peculiar features of the debate between Wahhabis and their adversaries is its apparently static nature... the main points in the debate [have] stay[ed] the same [since 1740]." According to another source, Wahhabi jurists were unique for their literal interpretation of the "Qur'an" and "Sunnah" which tended to re-inforce local practices of the region of Najd. Whether the teachings of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab included the need for social renewal and "plans for socio-religious reform of society" in the Arabian Peninsula, rather than simply a return to "ritual correctness and moral purity", is disputed.


title: Wahhabism

text: According to Jeffrey R. Halverson, the "Muwahidun" movement was characterised by a strong opposition to mysticism. Although this feature is typically attributed to the influence of the classical theologian Ibn Taymiyya, Jeffry Halverson states that Ibn Taymiyyah only opposed what he saw as Sufi excesses and never mysticism in itself, being himself a member of the "Qadiriyyah" Sufi order. DeLong-Bas writes that Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab did not denounce Sufism or Sufis as a group, but rather attacked specific practices which he saw as inconsistent with the "Qur'an" and "hadith".


title: Wahhabism

text: When he was asked on a religious matter, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab praised the pious Sufis, stating:"Let it be known — may Allah guide you — that Allah Most High sent Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) with guidance, which is known as the beneficial knowledge, and true religion, which are virtuous actions... among those who affiliate themselves to religion, there are those who focus on knowledge and "fiqh" and speak regarding it, such as the jurists, and those who focus on worship and the quest for the hereafter, such as the Sufis."


title: Wahhabism

text: Scholars like Esther Peskes point to the cordial relations between the "Muwahidun" movement and the Sufi Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Idris and his followers in Mecca during the beginning of the 19th century; to aver that notions of absolute incompatibility between Sufism and Wahhabism are misleading. The early Wahhabi historiography had documented no mention that suggested any direct confrontations between Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and contemporary Sufis nor did it indicate that his activism was directed specifically against Sufism. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's reforms were not aimed against socio-religious orientations such as Sufism; but were directed against the status quo prevalent in Islamic societies. Thus his efforts attempted a general transformation of Islamic societies, including Sufis and non-Sufis; the elite as well as the commoners. This resulted in the widespread desecralization of the public sphere that heralded the advent of a new socio-political model in Arabia.


title: Wahhabism

text: Explaining the stance of early Wahhabis on "Tasawwuf", Abdullah Aal al-Shaykh (d. 1829 C.E/1244 A.H), son of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab writes:"My father and I do not deny or criticise the science of Sufism, but on the contrary we support it because it purifies the external and the internal of the hidden sins which are related to the heart and the outward form. Even though the individual might externally be on the right way, internally he might be on the wrong way. Sufism is necessary to correct it."


title: Wahhabism

text: Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab considered some beliefs and practices of the Shia to violate the doctrine of monotheism. DeLong-Bas maintains that when Ibn Abd al-Wahhab denounced the "Rafidah", he was not using a derogatory name for Shia but denouncing "an extremist sect" within Shiism who call themselves "Rafidah". He criticized them for assigning greater authority to their current leaders than to Muhammad in interpreting the "Qur'an" and "sharia", and for denying the validity of the consensus ("'Ijma") of the early Muslim community. In his treatise ""Risalah fi al-radd ala al-Rafidah"" (Treatise/Letter on the Denial/Rejection Pertaining to the Rafidah), Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab addressed thirty-two topics on points of both theology and law refuting the "Raafida". In doing so, Ibn Abdul Wahhab spoke as a scholar who had studied Shi'i scholarly works, outlining a broad and systematic perspective of the Shi'i worldview and theology. He also believed that the Shia doctrine of infallibility of the imams constituted associationism with God. However, at no point did Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab "suggest that violence of any sort should be used against the Rafidah or Shi'is". Rather, he implored his followers to peacefully clarify their own legal teachings. He instructed that this procedure of education and debate should be carried out with the support of truthful "ulama", "hadith" transmitters, and righteous people employing logic, rhetoric, examination of the primary texts and scholarly debates.


title: Wahhabism

text: Although Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his son and successor 'Abdullah categorised various Shi'ite sects like "Raafida", Zaydis, etc. as heretics and criticized many of their tenets, they had regarded them as Muslims. Abdullah's son, Sulayman (d. 1818) would articulate a new doctrine of "Takfir" which set the foundations for the excommunication of Shi'ites outside the pale of Islam. Sulayman's doctrines were revived by later scholars of the "Muwahhidun" like 'Abd al-Latif ibn 'Abd al-Rahman (1810–1876) during the Ottoman annexation of Al-Hasa in 1871. Al-Hasa was a Shi'ite majority area, and Ottoman invasion was assisted by the British. The Ottoman invasion had become a major danger to the Emirate of Nejd. From 1871, 'Abd al-Latif began to write tracts harshly condemning the Ottomans, Shi'ites and British as polytheists and called upon Muslims to boycott them. Integrating the concept of "Hijra" into his discourse of "Takfir", 'Abd al-Latif also forbade Muslims to travel or stay in the lands of Ottomans, "Rafidis", British, etc. 'Abd al-Latif viewed the Shi'ite sects of his time as idolators and placed them outside the pale of Islam.


title: Wahhabism

text: The Wahhabi scholars upheld the right of qualified scholars to perform "Ijtihad" on legal questions and condemned "Taqleed" of "Mujtahids". This stance pitted them against the Ottoman Sufi "ulema" who shunned "Ijtihad" and obligated "Taqleed". The Arab "Salafiyya" reformers of 19th and 20th centuries would defend the Wahhabis on the "Ijtihad" issue as well as join forces with Wahhabis to condemn various Sufi practices and orders ("tariqats") which they considered to be reprehensible "Bid'ah" (innovations). Prominent amongst those "Salafiyya" "ulema" who backed Wahhabism included Khayr al-Din al-Alusi, Tahir al-Jaza'iri, Muhammad Rashid Rida, Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi, Mahmud Shukri Al-Alusi, etc.


title: Wahhabism

text: Condemning the doctrine of blind-following ("Taqlid") prevalent amongst the masses and obliging them to directly engage with the Scriptures; Sulāyman ibn Ābd-Allah Aal-Shaykh ( 1785–1818 C.E / 1199–1233 A.H) wrote:"... what the believer must do, if the Book of Allah and the "Sunnah" of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) have reached him and he understands them with regard to any matter, is to act in accordance with them, no matter who he may be disagreeing with. This is what our Lord and our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) have enjoined upon us, and all the scholars are unanimously agreed on that, apart from the ignorant blind followers and the hard-hearted. Such people are not scholars." The Wahhabis furthermore rejected the idea of closure of "Ijtihad" as an innovated principle. Although they professed adherence to Hanbali school, they refrained from taking its precepts as final. Since the issue of "Ijtihad" and "Taqlid" was amongst their principle concerns, Wahhabis developed a set of juristic procedures to solve legal questions. These included referencing "Qur'an" and "Hadith" as the primary sources of legislation. In case the solution was not accessible from the Scriptures, the principle of "'Ijma" (consensus) was employed. "Ijma" was restricted to Ahl al-Sunnah and consisted of consensus of "Companions of the Prophet", " Salaf as-Salih" and the consensus of scholars. If any Hanbali interpretations were proven wrong through these principles, they must be abandoned. Defending their pro-Ijtihad stance, Wahhabis quoted Qur'anic verses which implied that only Qur'an and Hadith constituted the bases of sharia (Islamic law).


title: Wahhabism

text: Prominent Wahhabi "Qadi" of the Second Saudi State, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Hasan Aal-Al Shaykh (1196–1285 A.H / 1782–1868 C.E) strongly condemned the practice of "Taqlid" as a form of "shirk" (polytheism) in his treatises, writing:".. One who asks for a religious verdict concerning an issue, he should examine the sayings and opinions of the "Imams" and scholars and take only what complies with Allah's Rulings and the teachings of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Allah, the Almighty says, {"O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger.. and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority. (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger..."}. (Surah An-Nisa': 59) Thus, it is forbidden to prefer the opinion of any of Allah's creatures over the "Sunnah" of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and this is because to do so is an act of "Shirk" (polytheism); since it constitutes obedience to other than Allah (Glorified be He)."


title: Wahhabism

text: The Wahhabis also advocated a principle in Islamic legal theory often referred to as "the rule against "Ijtihad" reversal". This principle allows overturning a scholar's "fatwa" (legal judgement) when he bases it on personal "Ijtihad" (personal legal reasoning), rather than a clear textual source from "Qur'an" and "Hadith". In effect, this allowed the Wahhabi "qadis" to remain autonomous. Opponents of Wahhabi movement harshly rebuked them for advocating "Ijtihad" and not recognising the finality of "mad'habs" (law schools).


title: Wahhabism

text: Since the Arabian Peninsula was never occupied by colonial powers, it wasn't directly challenged by Western modernity until the mid-twentieth century, unlike the rest of the Islamic World. While the Saudi ruling class spearheaded modernization drive across the Kingdom; response of the religious establishment to the drastic influx of modernity was varied, ranging from scholars who rejected modern influences to tech-savvy clerics who eagerly embrace modern technology and social media. Various preachers harmonise pious lifestyle with modern culture while simultaneously engaging with Muslims of diverse backgrounds across the globe through social media networks. Assisted by scholarly guidance from a wide range of Islamic revivalists across the World like Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi, Abul A'la Maududi, etc., the Islamic University of Medina was established in 1961 to promote a pan-Islamic response to contemporary challenges and modern ideologies. To intellectually counter the ideological spread Western liberalism, socialism and secular nationalism; numerous works of classical scholars like Ibn Kathir, Ibn Qudama, Ibn Hazm, Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim, etc. were mass-distributed through Saudi publishing centres and during Pilgrimages.


title: Wahhabism

text: On the other hand, some influential Wahhabi clerics had also been noteworthy for issuing various archaic "fatawa" such as declaring "that the sun orbited the Earth", and forbidding "women from riding bicycles on the grounds that they were "the devil's horses", and "from watching TV without veiling, just in case the presenters could see them through the screen". The most senior cleric in Saudi Arabia as of early 2022, Saleh Al-Fawzan, once issued a "fatwa" forbidding "all-you-can-eat buffets, because paying for a meal without knowing what you'll be eating is akin to gambling". Despite this, the contemporary Wahhabi religious framework has largely been able to maintain Saudi Arabia's global image as a pious society which is also aptly capable of addressing modern challenges.


title: Wahhabism

text: To resolve the novel issues of the 20th century, King 'Abd al-Azeez ibn Saud appointed Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Aal Al-Shaykh (d. 1969) as the Grand Mufti in 1953 to head "Dar al-Ifta", the legal body tasked with crafting Wahhabi juristic response to the novel problems faced by Arabian Muslims. In 1971, "Dar al-Ifta" was re-organized to include a larger number of elder scholars to boost its intellectual output. Dar al-Ifta headed by the Saudi Grand Mufti, consists of two agencies: i) Board of Senior Ulema (BSU) ii) Permanent Committee for Scientific Research and Legal Opinions (C.R.L.O) Wahhabi scholars advocated a positive approach to embracing technology, political affairs, etc. while maintaining a traditional stance on social issues. Contemporary "fatwas" also demonstrate a receptive outlook on visual media, medical field, economic affairs, etc. "Dar al-Ifta" became an influential institution in Arabian society and it sought a balanced approach to modernity; positioning itself between religious idealism and varying societal, economic and material demands. As a result, some scholars like Fandy Mamoun have stated that "In Saudi Arabia, different times and different places exist at once. Saudi Arabia is both a pre-modern and a post-modern society." The legal approach is characterized by taking from all law schools ("Madhabs") through Scriptural precedents to sustain a legal system compatible with modernity.


title: Wahhabism

text: In opposition to the "Taqlid" doctrine, Wahhabi scholars advocated the proof-evaluation theory which believes in the continuous appearance of absolute "Mujtahids" ("Mujtahid Mutlaq") and claims an "'Ijma" (scholarly consensus) that the doors of "Ijtihad" remain always open. This juristic approach had enabled flexibility in response of Wahhabi legal bodies to modernity. These include the encouragement of mass-media like television, internet, etc. to promote virtue. Internet would be made publicly accessible to Saudi citizens as early as 1997. In 2000 "fatwa" on the internet, Grand Mufti ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Āal al-Shaykh explains: "In my opinion, the Internet is both a blessing and a curse at one and the same time. It is a blessing as long as it used for doing God's will, commanding good and forbidding wrong. However, it is liable to be evil when it aggravates God.. I call our leaders.. to impose Internet studies primarily in schools and among society."


title: Wahhabism

text: In the financial sector, Wahhabi approach is based on Islamic economics. Islamic banking system is encouraged and digital transactions like credit cards have been sanctioned. Employing the results from observatories to sight the monthly Crescent moon is today permitted and preferred by the clerics. In the medical field, various "fatwas" legalising novel procedures like corneal transplant, autopsies, organ donations, etc. have been issued. In marital and gender-related issues, divorce is encouraged for incompitable marriages. On the issues of birth control, abortions and family planning, the legal bodies are conservative and generally prohibit them, viewing them as a contrary to Qur'anic commandments and Islamic principles to raise Muslim population. However, family planning measures are permitted in certain scenarios, wherein the legal principles of necessity are applicable. Board of Senior Ulema (BSU) states in a 1976 "Fatwa":"Birth control and contraception, due to fear of want ("khishyat al-imlāq") are prohibited, since God guaranties the sustenance of His creatures. However, if birth control comes to avoid harm to the woman... or in cases in which both spouses agree that it is in their best welfare to prevent or postpone a pregnancy, then birth control is permitted."


title: Wahhabism

text: Wahhabi approach to "Fiqh" radically challenged prevalent conventions of school "Taqlid" and was based on Ibn Taymiyya's broader theological call for a return to the values of the "Salaf al-Salih". Of the four major sources in Sunni "Fiqh"the "Qur'an", the "Sunna", "'Ijma" (juristic consensus) and "Qiyas" (analogical reasoning)Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's writings emphasized the "Qur'an" and "Sunna". He used "'ijma" only "in conjunction with its corroboration of the "Qur'an" and "hadith"" (and giving preference to the "ijma" of Muhammad's companions rather than the "ijma" of legal specialists after his time), and "qiyas" only in cases of extreme necessity. He rejected deference to past juridical opinion ("taqlid") in favor of independent reasoning ("ijtihad"), and opposed using local customs. He urged his followers to "return to the primary sources" of Islam in order "to determine how the "Qur'an" and Muhammad dealt with specific situations" without being beholden to the interpretations of previous Islamic scholarship, while engaging in "Ijtihad".


title: Wahhabism

text: Historically, many established figures from Hanbalite and Shafiite schools were noteworthy for their denunciation of "Taqlid" since the classical period. Influenced by these scholars, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, fervently denounced "Taqlid" and upheld that the Gates of "Ijtihad" remained open. According to Edward Mortimer, it was imitation of past judicial opinion in the face of clear contradictory evidence from "hadith" or "Qur'anic" text that Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab condemned. According to Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his followers, God's commandments to obey Him alone and follow the Prophetic teachings, necessitated a complete adherence to "Qur'an" and "Hadith". This entailed a rejection of all interpretations offered by the four legal schools – including the "Muwahhidun"'s own Hanbali school – wherein they contradict the two primary sources.


title: Wahhabism

text: Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab asserted that every Muslim laymen, even one without modest educational credentials, could interpret the "Qur'an" and the "Sunnah". Regional rivals castigated him as a self-taught "ignorant" since "knowledge could come only from being taught by shaykhs" and not by treating the Scriptures as one's teacher. Although the issue of "ijtihad" and rejection of "taqlid" were central themes of his doctrines, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab did not lay down his approach to "Usul-al Fiqh" (Principles of Jurisprudence) comprehensively. Rather, that was left to his son-in-law and pupil Hamad ibn Nasir ibn Mu'ammar (d. 1225 A.H/1811 C.E), who would explicate a clarified Wahhabi position on "Usul al-Fiqh", after Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab. Moreover, in his writings, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab relied primarily only on "hadith" (Prophetic traditions) rather than opinions of early Hanbali jurists. This stance arose uncertainty over his formal affiliation to the Hanbali "mad'hab" and would lead many local Hanbalite detractors to accuse him of undermining classical "Fiqh" in general. Despite their conceptual doctrine based on repudiation of "Taqlid" (emulating legal precedent) to a legal school and jettisoning the juristic super-structure that developed after the Islamic fourth century; in-order to lower clerical resistance to their campaign; Wahhabis sustained the local juristic tradition of Najd, which was based on Hanbalism.