97. Resistance and Reform -Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab of Arabia- Part 3
By Prof DrNazeer Ahmed
Concord, CA
Ibn al Arabi, a sage and one of the great masters of tasawwuf, articulated the position of the Sufis in his treatise Risalat al Ahadiya. In common terminology it came incorrectly to be known as Wahdat al Wajud (Unity of Being). Summarily, this position holds that through observation of the Shariah, constant remembrance of God, self-cleansing, strenuous spiritual exercises and selfless service, the individual soul is lost (fana) and becomes a vehicle for the Will of God. Ibn al Arabi spoke of “Union with God”. One can easily see how this position can be misunderstood. And misunderstood it was through the centuries. Many a Sufi went to the gallows at the hands of the less informed and the less initiated. The best-known example is ShaykhHallaj ibn Mansoor who was tortured and hanged in Baghdad in 922 for saying “An al Haq” (I am the Truth). To guard against error, and to clarify the Sufi position on Tawhid, Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi (d. 1625), the great mujaddid from India, presented the idea of Wahdat ash Shahada (Unity of Witness). In this position, the human soul does not seek “union” with God but only becomes a witness to Divine Unity.
Between these two poles, representing the positions taken by the Wahhabis and the Sufis, lies the vast spectrum of Islamic thought. Whether or not they are aware of it, most Muslims alive today have absorbed elements of Wahhabi and Sufi thinking, along with the assumptions made by al Ashari and the positions elucidated by Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi. The debate between the Wahhabi and Sufi schools of thought continues, however, often with great intensity and occasional animosity. Both sides quote from the Qur’an and the Hadith of the Prophet to support their positions.
The contribution of Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab was that he reasserted the pristine and uncompromising Islam, characteristic of the desert dweller. He provided a counterbalance to the excesses of esoteric doctrines and reasserted the central importance of Tawhid. History and geography were on the side of the Shaykh. Several factors helped the Wahhabi movement in its initial growth. The location of the Najd in the harsh and empty womb of the Arabian Desert protected it from changes sweeping across the world. The good fortune of the Shaykh in forming an alliance with the Saud family and the political consolidation of Saudi Arabia in the 20th century to include the cities of Mecca and Madina were also important factors. Muslims have always looked to Mecca and Madina as a source for the purity of faith. The Wahhabi movement, centered in these two pre-eminent cities, enjoyed an acceptance among Muslims that would have been impossible if it was based elsewhere.
The failure of the Wahhabi movement, however, was its extreme rigidity and its compulsive character. Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab waged a jihad against fellow Muslims in Najd who did not agree with his views. His example, and the logic of compulsion, made the Arab Bedouins carry the Wahhabi jihad into British Iraq after the First World War, and it had to be put down by Emir Abdul Aziz. The Shaykh overlooked the important contributions made by the Sufis in India, Pakistan, southeastern Europe, Central Asia, Indonesia and Africa. It was the Sufis who won the contest for the soul of Asia from the Mongols and the Crusaders. They were also the decisive element in some of the most important battles of the world, such as the Battle of al Qasr al Kabir (1578).
As the 20th century wore on, the Wahhabi movement itself had to be compromised, and its strictures modified, to suit the inexorable onslaught of an increasingly global civilization. Some teachings of Shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab proved to be unworkable as technology pulled the desert of Arabia into its universal fold. For instance, in his book Kitab at Tawhid, the Shaykh condemned the making of pictures. With the advent of television, however, pictures became an indispensable tool for communication, and the Shaykh’s position was abandoned in Arabia as well as in other parts of the Islamic world. Similarly, the Shaykh considered it bida’a to build tombs. As a result of this stricture, all the graves in Jannat ulBaqi in Madina, where lay buried many of the Companions of the Prophet, were leveled. The tomb of the Prophet was spared only after intense lobbying by Muslims around the world. For these and other similar acts, the Wahhabi movement has opened itself to the charge that it has deliberately destroyed Islamic history and has obliterated traditional culture. Must religion necessarily destroy history and culture to express itself in human affairs? Conversely, is not religion itself compromised when it is stripped of history and culture? More importantly, isn’t a religion stripped of its spiritual content, a husk without a kernel? The Wahhabi movement offers no guidance in these matters.
The stark simplicity of the Shaykh’s message, and its lasting impact on Muslims, guarantees him a place in Islamic history. Thanks to the legacy of the Shaykh, the term “Wahhabi” became a part of languages spoken by Muslims and it came to personify excessive doctrinal rigidity and puritanical leanings. The excesses of the Wahhabi movement are conspicuous precisely because of its global reach. They would not be noticeable if it was only a local or regional movement. Some of the rigid positions espoused by this movement are evident in the teachings of the Shaykh. Some were evolved by his followers, as often happens when ideas find their expression in the matrix of human affairs.
The vision of the Shaykh, like the vision of his contemporaries Shah Waliullah and ShehuUthmandanFuduye, was turned inwards, towards a reform of Muslim practices. In the context of their times, perhaps it could not be otherwise. None of them, however, offered comprehensive guidance on how Muslims can relate to an overbearing and expansive European (and now global) civilization. This work was left to thinkers of the 20th century.
(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)
Back to Pakistanlink Homepage
