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Wahhabism (Arabic: Al-Wahhābīyya الوهابية, Wahabism, Wahabbism) is the name given to the branch of Islam practiced by those who follow the teachings of Muhammed Ibn Abdul Wahhab, after whom the movement is named. Ibn Abdul Wahhab, who reintroduced Shariah (Islamic) law to the Arabian peninsula, was influenced by the writings of scholars such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ibn Taymiyya. This theology is the dominant form found in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, as well as some pockets of Somalia, Algeria and Mauritania.

The term "Wahhabi" (Wahhābīya) is rarely used by the people it is used to describe. The currently preferred term is "Salafism" from Salaf as-Salih, the "pious predecessors" as earlier propagated mainly by Ibn Taymiyya, his students Ibn Al Qayyim al-Jawziyya, and later by Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahab and his followers.

According to John Esposito, "Wahabism" is among the most conservative forms of Islam. Others have described the doctrine as Islamofascist.

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 Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's. His book called Kitab al-Tawhid ("Book of Monotheism"), and the works of the earlier scholar Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328) are fundamental to Wahabism.

Ibn Abdul-Wahhab went so far as to declare Jihad against so-called Muslims who persisted in committing acts of polytheism such as grave worship .

Wahhabis see their role as restoring Islam from what they perceive to be polytheism and innovations, superstitions, deviances, heresies and idolatries. There are many practices that they believe are contrary to Islam, such as:

• Listening to certain types of music
• Drawings of human beings or other living things which contain a soul
• Praying while visiting tombs (praying to Prophet Mohammed's tomb is also considered polytheism)
• Blindly following any madhhabs (schools of thought) of Islamic jurisprudence in their legal expertise, "except for one who is under necessity and can not reach the Sunnah.
• Using non-literal explanations of God's attributes exclusively in preference to literal explanations.
• Celebrating the "mawlid" (birth of Prophet Muhammad)
• Innovations (bid'ah) in matters of religion (e.g. new supplementary methods of worship or laws not sanctioned by God or his prophet.)

Wahhabism also denounces "the practice of unthinking adherence to the interpretations of scholars and the blind acceptance of practices that were passed on within the family or tribe. Muhammad 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 in the hadith."

A Fading Definition

The term Wahhabi has been often conflated with a lot of other issues and pejoratives. Due to its different representations in different contexts, for the most part, it has lost any real, significant meaning. See this article on the "Wahhabi Myth" for a collection of different usages of this term.

Modern spread of Wahhabism

In 1924 the al-Saud dynasty (who were influenced by the teachings of Abdul Wahhab) conquered Mecca and Medina, the Muslim holy cities. This gave them control of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage, and the opportunity to preach their version of Islam to the assembled pilgrims. However, Wahhabism was a minor current within Islam until the discovery of oil in Arabia, in 1938. Vast oil revenues gave an immense impetus to the spread of conservative Islamic theology. Saudi laypeople, government officials and clerics have donated many tens of millions of US dollars to create religious schools, newspapers and outreach organizations.

This theology spread into Oman during the 18th century where it played a role in the internal disputes and succession struggles of the country. Ultimately however, its influence lessened over time despite early success.

Wahhabism is also thought to have had a large impact on the Qatar peninsula. It caught on with many of the tribes of the peninsula and was a motivating factor in the efforts of the Al Thani clan (the current ruling dynasty of Qatar) to resist attempted conquest by the Al Khalifa clan (the current ruling dynasty of Bahrain) who rejected Wahhabism. Wahhabism also set Qatar apart from the rest of the Persian Gulf States. This may have been part of the reason that Qatar did not join the United Arab Emirates as was suggested by the British at the time.

Salafism and Qutbism

Some argue that Hassan al-Banna, the Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, was influenced by the Wahhabis, although he was a Sufi. The Muslim Brotherhood claimed to be purifying and restoring Islam, a theme which ran through Abdul Wahhab's preaching, but its goal was not to call to pure Islamic Monotheism, but rather to unify Muslims of different madhhabs into its group to restore the Caliphate or Islamic law in Egypt. When the Muslim Brotherhood was banned in various Middle Eastern countries, Saudi Arabia gave refuge to Brotherhood exiles. However Salafis in Saudi Arabia reject the Sufism of the Muslim Brotherhood and other ideas they believe contravene Islamic theology.

Salafism As a Reform Movement

Ingrid Mattson, a professor of Islamic Studies from Hartford Seminary, told a CNN reporter when asked about Wahhabism, that,

This is not a sect. It is the name of a reform movement that began 200 years ago to rid Islamic societies of cultural practices and rigid interpretation that had (been) acquired over the centuries. Because the Wahhabi scholars became integrated into the Saudi state, there has been some difficulty keeping that particular interpretation of religion from being enforced too broadly on the population as a whole. However, the Saudi scholars who are Wahhabi have denounced terrorism (killing innocents) and denounced in particular the acts of September 11. Those statements are available publicly. The question has arisen because last week, there were a number of newspaper reports that were dealing with this. They raised the issue of the role of Saudi Arabia and the ideology there. Frankly, I think in a way it was reaction to the attempts of many people to look for the roots of terrorism in misguided foreign policy. It's not helpful, I believe, to create another broad category that becomes the scapegoat for terrorism.

See also

• Salafism
• House of Saud
• Al Thani
• Colonel Philby
• Ibn Abdul Wahhab
• Bin Baz
• ibn Uthaymeen
• Albani
• Hassan al Banna
• Syed Qutub
• Syed Maudoodi
• Stephen Schwartz
• Syed Ahmad Barelvi

References

1. John L. Esposito, What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam, p.50
2. Defeating Wahabbism, "It is a nihilistic, violent, Islamofascist movement that seeks not only to impose conformity on the world's Muslims, and to completely wipe out Shi'a Islam, but also to attack the world's Jews, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, and other worshippers." -- Stephen Schwartz, FrontPage Magazine, October 25, 2002; Schwartz is author of "The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa'ud from Tradition to Terror", Doubleday, ISBN-10: 0385506929, ISBN-13: 978-0385506922
3. In enemy territory? An interview with Christopher Hitchens: Islamofascism and the Left
4. Muhammad Nassir ad-Deen al-Albaanee in the Jumaad al-Oola issue of al-Muslimoon magazine, 1415 A.H
5. Cleveland, William L. A History of the Modern Middle East. Third Edition. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2004. Page.123.
6. http://muslimmatters.org/2007/04/01/the-wahhabi-myth-debunking-the-bogeyman/

• David Holden & Richard Johns, The House of Saud, Pan, 1982, 0-330-26834-1
• Hamid Algar, Wahhabism : A Critical Essay, Islamic Publications International, ISBN 1-889999-13-X
• Natana J. Delong-Bas, Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-516991-3
• Madawi Al-Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia, Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-521-64412-7
• Gerald De Gaury, Freya Stark, Arabia Phoenix, Kegan Paul International Limited, ISBN 0-7103-0677-6, ISBN-13, 9780710306777
• Haneef James Oliver, "The 'Wahhabi' Myth", T.R.O.I.D. Publications, February 2004, ISBN 0-9689058-5-4

External links

• IslamOnLine
• Full Text of Kitab Al Tawhid by Ibn Abdul Wahhab
• CalltoIslam.com
• Islamic Q&A website
• thewahhabimyth.com
• from spubs.com
• A BBC report on 18 November 2006 referred to the issue of Wahhabism in Bosnia, especially Sarajevo.
• Does Saudi Arabia Preach Intolerance in the UK and US?

Critical

• Hizmet Books
• Islamic Academy

1. BBC Today programme, 8.10am, 18 November 2006 - see also Spero News on the issue.

• Wahhabism