Everything about Wahhabism totally explained
Wahhabism (
Arabic:
Al-Wahhābīyya الوهابية) or
Wahabism is a name sometimes applied to the conservative 18th century reformist call of
Sunni Islam attributed to
Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, an Islamic scholar from what is today known as Saudi Arabia, who became known for advocating a return to the practices of the first three generations of Islamic history. Wahhabism formed the creed upon which the kingdom of
Saudi Arabia was founded and is the dominant form of Islam found in
Saudi Arabia, and
Qatar, as well as some pockets of
Somalia,
Algeria and
Mauritania. It is now often referred to as a "sect" of Islam, though its supporters reject such designations.
The primary doctrine of Wahhabism is
Tawhid, or the uniqueness and unity of God. Ibn Abdul Wahhab was influenced by the writings of scholars such as
Ibn Taymiyya and rejected medieval interpretations of Islam, relying on
Quran and
hadith.
The terms "Wahhabism" and "
Salafism" are often used interchangeably, but Wahhabism has also been called "a particular orientation within Salafism," an orientation some consider ultra-conservative.
History
Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab
Basra (in southern
Iraq) and is reported to have developed his reformist ideas there. He is reported to have studied in
Mecca and
Medina while there to perform
Hajj before returning to his home town of Uyayna in
1740.
After his return to
'Uyayna, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab began to attract followers there, including the ruler of the town, Uthman ibn Mu'ammar. With Ibn Mu'ammar's support, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab began to implement some of his ideas such as leveling the grave of
Zayd ibn al-Khattab, a companion of the Muslim prophet
Muhammad, and ordering that an adulteress be stoned to death. These actions were disapproved of by Sulaiman ibn Muhammad ibn Ghurayr of the tribe of
Bani Khalid, the chief of
Al-Hasa and
Qatif, who held substantial influence in Najd and ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab was expelled from 'Uyayna.
Ibn Abd al-Wahhab was invited to settle in neighboring
Dir'iyya by its ruler
Muhammad ibn Saud in
1740 (1157
AH), two of whose brothers had been students of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab. Upon arriving in Diriyya, a pact was made between Ibn Saud and Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, by which Ibn Saud pledged to implement and enforce Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's teachings, while Ibn Saud and his family would remain the temporal
imams ("leaders") of the movement.
Beginning in the last years of the 18th century Ibn Saud and his heirs would spend the next 140 years mounting various military campaigns to seize control of
Arabia and its outlying regions, before being attacked and defeated by Ottoman forces.
One of their most famous and controversial attacks was of
Karbala in 1217/
1802. There, according to a Wahhabi chronicler `Uthman b. `Abdullah b. Bishr, Wahhabis "scaled the walls, entered the city ... and killed the majority of its people in the markets and in their homes." They "destroyed the dome placed over the grave of
al-Husayn" and took as booty "whatever they found inside the dome and its surroundings. .... the grille surrounding the tomb which was encrusted with emeralds, rubies, and other jewels. .... different types of property, weapons, clothing, carpets, gold, silver, precious copies of the Qur'an."
In the early
20th Century, the Wahhabist-oriented Al-Saud dynasty conquered and unified the various provinces on the Arabian peninsula, founding the modern day
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. This provided the movement with a state. Vast wealth from oil discovered in the following decades, coupled with
Saudi control of the holy cities of
Mecca and
Medina, have since provided a base and funding for
Salafi missionary activity.
Beliefs
Wahhabi theology treats the
Qur'an and
Hadith as fundamental texts, interpreted upon the understanding of the first three generations of Islam and further explained by many various commentaries including that of
Ibn-Abd-al-Wahhab. His book
Kitab al-Tawhid ("Book of Monotheism"), and the works of the earlier scholar
Ibn Taymiyya are fundamental to Wahabism.
Like most scholars in
Najd at the time, Ibn Abd-al-Wahhab was a follower of
Ibn Hanbal's school of
jurisprudence but "was opposed to any of the schools (
Madh'hab) being taken as an absolute and unquestioned authority," and condemned
taqlid.
Wahhabism also denounces the practice of blind adherence to the interpretations of scholars and the blind acceptance of practices that were passed on within the family or tribe. Ibn Abd al-Wahhab believed in the responsibility of the individual Muslim to learn and obey the divine commands as they were revealed in the Quran and the
Sunnah.
Criticism and controversy
Enjoining virtue and prohibiting vice
Wahhabism is noted not just for urging Muslims to follow the religious duties of Islam, such as
salah, but compelling them to do so.
Non-Muslims
It is reported that some Wahhabist books and pamphlets teach that Muslims should reject absolutely any non-Muslim ideas and practices, including political ones. A study by the NGO
Freedom House claimed to find Wahhabi publications in a number of
mosques in the United States preaching that Muslims shouldn't only "always oppose" infidels "in every way," but "hate them for their religion ... for Allah's sake," that
democracy "is responsible for all the horrible wars of the 20th century," and that
Shia and other non-Wahhabi Muslims were
infidels.
The Saudi government responded with criticism of Freedom House, saying it has "worked diligently during the last five years to overhaul its education system" but "[o]verhauling an educational system is a massive undertaking... As with previous reports, Freedom House continues to exhibit a disregard for presenting an accurate picture of the reality that exists in Saudi Arabia." The group
rightweb.org also has criticized Freedomhouse as being funded by
conservative foundations, quoting two academics expressing "concern that the Freedom House indicators are biased in the direction of U.S. foreign policy preferences." The
Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) has criticized the study for citing documents from only a few mosques, and argues that most mosques in the US are not under Wahhabi influence. ISPU comments on the study were not entirely negative however, and concluded:
American-Muslim leaders must thoroughly scrutinize this study. Despite its limitations, the study highlights an ugly undercurrent in modern Islamic discourse that American-Muslims must openly confront. However, in the vigor to expose strains of extremism, we must not forget that open discussion is the best tool to debunk the extremist literature rather than a suppression of First Amendment rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
Wahhabism and Salafism
Among those who criticize the use of the term Wahhabi is
social scientist Quintan Wiktorowicz. In a footnote of his report,
Anatomy of the Salafi Movement, he comments:
Opponents of Salafism frequently affix the “Wahhabi” designator to denote foreign influence. It is intended to signify followers of Abd al-Wahhab and is most frequently used in countries where Salafis are a small minority of the Muslim community but have made recent inroads in “converting” the local population to the movement ideology. In these countries, local religious authorities have responded to the growing influence of Salafi thought by describing Salafis as Wahhabis, a term that for most non-Salafis conjures up images of Saudi Arabia. The foreign nature of the “Wahhabis” is juxtaposed to locally authentic forms of indigenous Islam. In this manner, opponents of Salafism inject nationalism into religious discourse by raising the specter of foreign influence. The Salafi movement itself, however, never uses this term. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find individuals who refer to themselves as Wahhabis or organizations that use “Wahhabi” in their title or refer to their ideology in this manner (unless they're speaking to a Western audience that's unfamiliar with Islamic terminology, and even then usage is limited and often appears as “Salafi/Wahhabi”).
Osama Bin Laden
What connection, if any, there's between Wahhabism and so-called jihadi salafis is hotly disputed. Among others, Daniel Pipes claims there's "a direct line between the Wahhabis and
Osama bin Laden." Natana De Long Bas, however, argues
The militant Islam of Osama bin Laden doesn't have its origins in the teachings of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and isn't representative of Wahhabi Islam as it's practiced in contemporary Saudi Arabia, yet for the media it has come to define Wahhabi Islam in the contemporary era. However "unrepresentative" bin Laden's global jihad of Islam in general and Wahhabi Islam in particular, its prominence in headline news has taken Wahhabi Islam across the spectrum from revival and reform to global jihad.”
International influence
According to Western observers like
Gilles Kepel, Wahhabism gained considerable influence in the Muslim world following a tripling in the price of oil in the mid-1970s. Having the world's largest reserves of oil but a relatively small population, Saudi Arabia was in a position to spend tens of billions of dollars throughout the Muslim world promoting Islam, and in particular Wahhabism, which was sometimes referred to as "petro-Islam".
Its largess funded an estimated "90% of the expenses of the entire faith," throughout the Muslim world, according to journalist Dawood al-Shirian. It extended to young and old, from children's
maddrassas to high level scholarship.
"Books, scholarships, fellowships, mosques" (for example, "more than 1500
mosques were built from Saudi public funds over the last 50 years") were paid for. It rewarded journalists and academics who followed it; built satellite campuses around Egypt for
Al Azhar, the oldest and very influential Islamic university.
The financial power of Wahhabist advocates, according to observers like Dawood al-Shirian and
Lee Kuan Yew, has done much to overwhelm less strict local interpretations of Islam and has caused the Saudi interpretation to be perceived as the "gold standard" of religion in many Muslims' minds.
Explanation for influence
Khaled Abou El Fadl has attributed the appeal of Wahhabism to Muslims as stemming from
Arab nationalism, which was attracted by the Wahhabi attack on the Ottoman Empire;
reformism, which was attracted to a return to al-salaf al-salih;
Wahhabi control of the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, which gave Wahhabis great influence on Muslim culture and thinking;
the discovery of Persian Gulf oil fields, which after 1975 allowed Wahhabis to promote their interpretations of Islam using billions from oil export revenue. Further Information
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