History, Science and Faith in Islam
95. Resistance and Reform -Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab of Arabia- Part 1
By Prof Dr Nazeer Ahmed
Concord, CA
Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab was one of those rare scholars whose ideas have continued to influence the Muslims for more than 200 years. Representing the puritanical stream in Islam, in the tradition of Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal (d. 855) and Shaykh Ibn Taimiyah (d. 1328), his followers continue to infuse a certain tension among Muslims, pulling them in the direction of a spartan faith, shorn of embellishments. Like the ideas of al Ashari (d. 935) in the 10th century, Wahhabi ideas have been amalgamated into modern Islamic thinking so much so that most living Muslims have consciously or unconsciously absorbed them as part of their heritage. Even those who do not agree with the positions taken by the Shaykh are forced into a continuing dialogue with his ideas. Modern Islam would not be the same without this scholar.
Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab was a contemporary of Shah Waliullah (d. 1763) of Delhi and Shehu Uthman dan Fuduye (d. 1817) of West Africa. He was born in the year1703 into the Banu Sinan tribe of Najd in Uiynah, located approximately 50 miles from Riyadh, capital of modern Saudi Arabia. He received his early education from his father Shaykh Abdul Wahhab bin Sulaiman, which included memorization of the Qur’an and a study of Sunnah and Fiqh. As a teenager, he performed the Hajj and stayed on in Mecca and Madina to study under reputed scholars of the age, Shaykh Abdulla bin Ibrahim of Najd and Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab Hayat of India. He studied the works of classical scholars and was influenced in particular by the writings of Ibn Taimiyah. After completing his studies, he traveled through Persia and Iraq, visiting Basra and Kufa. Returning home, he started teaching his austere vision of Islam. The hinterland of Arabia, inhabited mostly by Bedouins, had very little contact with the outside world. The Bedouins who roamed the vast desert practiced a folk Islam embellished with the talisman, tomb visitation and astrology. Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab found the atmosphere hostile to his teachings and had to flee his hometown.
Wandering from town to town in Najd, Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab found refuge in Uyainah whose Emir, Uthman bin Hamd, was receptive to his ideas. The Shaykh made many followers in Uyainah, but his growing popularity attracted the suspicion of neighboring emirs. Pressure was brought upon Emir Uthman to assassinate the Shaykh whose spartan vision of Islam was rapidly gaining converts in all areas of Najd. Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab escaped with his life and found refuge in Dariyah where his teachings found a responsive chord in Emir Muhammed bin Saud. There developed a remarkable friendship between Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab and Emir Muhammed bin Saud that was to have a profound impact on history. The Emir became a student and patron of the shaykh and the friendship was cemented with the marriage of a daughter of the Emir to the young shaykh.
The shaykh considered all practices which were not in strict conformance with a literal interpretation of the Qur’an and the Sunnah to be bida’a (innovation), and he considered it his duty to eradicate such practices with force, if necessary. The religious charisma of the learned shaykh and the military-political acumen of the Emir were a powerful combination. A jihad was declared against the neighboring emirs who would not subscribe to the strict interpretations of religion offered by the Shaykh. Thus, started the Wahhabi movement, which in time was to propel itself to Mecca and Madina, and spread from there over the Islamic world. In the process it thrust Saudi Arabia into modern history.
Consolidation of Wahhabi influence in the Najd continued throughout the 18th century. Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab wrote to renowned scholars of the day outlining his vision of Islam cleansed of the accretions that had crept in over the centuries. It was after the Shaykh passed away in 1787, however, that major opportunities for expansion beyond the borders of Najd presented themselves. In 1799, Napoleon landed his troops in Ottoman Egypt, quickly overran the Nile Delta and advanced into Syria. The British defeated the French armies but the incursion of a European power into the heartland of the Ottoman Empire required a partial withdrawal of garrisons in the outlying provinces for the defense of Anatolia proper. Specifically, Ottoman garrisons in Jeddah and Mecca in Arabia as well as in Kufa and Basra in Iraq were depleted. Sensing a military opportunity, Emir Abdul Aziz of Najd who had succeeded his father Emir Muhammed ibn Saud captured Karbala in Iraq in 1802. He followed up this victory with the capture of Mecca in 1803, bringing a major portion of Arabia, extending from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf, under Saudi control.
It was not long before the Ottomans responded. Not only was a loss of territory unacceptable to the Porte in Istanbul but also the puritanical Wahhabi vision ran counter to the Sufic Islam, which had taken root in the Empire. An expedition to Arabia was organized as soon as the threat from Napoleonic France receded. Muhammed Ali Pasha (d. 1849), an able Albanian soldier who had risen through the ranks in the Ottoman armies during the Napoleonic wars, now governed Egypt. During 1812-1813, Muhammed Ali recaptured Mecca from the Saudis. Resistance to further Ottoman advances to the interior, however, was fierce. It was not until 1818 that an Egyptian-Turkish force under Ibrahim Pasha, son of Khedive Muhammed Ali Pasha, succeeded in laying siege to Dariyah, the Saudi capital. The town was bombarded with cannon transported across the desert. Dariyah fell after a bitter fight.
The principal towns in Arabia were back in Ottoman hands, but the power of ideas cannot be stopped on the battlefield. The Wahhabi movement withdrew into the interior of Hejaz. The Saudis soon regrouped and founded a new capital in Riyadh. With increasing military pressure from the European powers, the Ottomans were content to maintain the status quo, with the towns under their military control while the Saudis controlled the hinterland. However, not everyone in the House of Saud subscribed to Wahhabi ideas. In 1891, Riyadh itself was wrested by a faction, which was opposed to the teachings of Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab. The uprising was brief, and in 1901, Emir Abdul Aziz al Saud recaptured Riyadh and established the modern Saudi dynasty.
Global changes soon appeared on the horizon. The First World War saw Britain, France and the United States arrayed against Germany, Austria and the Ottoman Empire. The Arabs under Sharif Hussain of Mecca rebelled against Ottoman authority. By 1918 both Hejaz and Iraq were in British hands. After the War, internal warfare continued between the Arab factions headed by Sharif Hussain of Mecca and Emir Abdul Aziz of Najd for the control of Hejaz. In 1923, with British support, Emir Abdul Aziz succeeded in driving out the Sharif and consolidated the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Control of Mecca and Madina gave the Wahhabi movement a global platform. No longer was it a movement confined to the desert of Arabia. The Hajj provided a mechanism for the spread of Wahhabi ideas to the far corners of the Islamic world much as it had enabled the Maliki School of jurisprudence to spread across North Africa, Spain and the Sudan a thousand years earlier. The Muslims, reeling under European colonialism and the dissolution of the Caliphate (1923), were only too eager to look to their pristine past for salvation and the puritanical Wahhabi ideas seem to provide the answers. The Wahhabi movement took root in India, Indonesia, Africa and the Middle East, often at the expense of the inclusive Islam that had grown out of Sufi movements.
The restless Bedouins, impelled by puritanical faith, were not content with the establishment of the Saudi Kingdom. They felt it was their duty to continue a jihad on neighboring territories to spread their ideas. But the world had changed since the halcyon days when Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab had taught in Dariyah. The British were now firmly in control of Iraq and would not tolerate raids into their territories. Emir Abdul Aziz tried to settle the restless Bedouins on agricultural land, but when that failed, he felt compelled to engage them in an armed struggle. In 1929, in a pitched battle at Sibilla, the Bedouins were defeated and the Wahhabi movement came under political control.
(The author is Director, World Organization for Resource Development and Education, Washington, DC; Director, American Institute of Islamic History and Culture, CA; Member, State Knowledge Commission, Bangalore; and Chairman, Delixus Group)
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