A member of a Muslim sect founded by Abdul Wahhab (1703–1792), known for its strict observance of the Koran and flourishing mainly in Arabia.
Wahhabism Wah·ha'bism (-bĭz'əm) n.
|
Results for Wahhabi
|
On this page:
|
A member of a Muslim sect founded by Abdul Wahhab (1703–1792), known for its strict observance of the Koran and flourishing mainly in Arabia.
Wahhabism Wah·ha'bism (-bĭz'əm) n.For more information on Wahhabi, visit Britannica.com.
Driven from Medina for his preaching, the founder of the Wahhabi sect went into the NE Nejd and converted the Saud tribe. The Saudi sheik, convinced that it was his religious mission to wage holy war (jihad) against all other forms of Islam, began the conquest of his neighbors in c.1763. By 1811 the Wahhabis ruled all Arabia, except Yemen, from their capital at Riyadh. The Ottoman sultan, nominally suzerain over Arabia, had vainly sent out expeditions to crush them. Only when the sultan called on Muhammad Ali of Egypt for aid did he meet success; by 1818 the Wahhabis were driven into the desert.
In the Nejd the Wahhabis collected their power again and from 1821 to 1833 gained control over the Persian Gulf coast of Arabia. The domain thereafter steadily weakened; Riyadh was lost in 1884, and in 1889 the Saud family fled for refuge into the neighboring state of Kuwait. The Wahhabi movement was to enjoy its third triumph when Ibn Saud advanced from his capture of Riyadh in 1902 to the reconstitution in 1932 of nearly all his ancestral domain under the name Saudi Arabia, where it remains dominant. Wahhabism served as an inspiration to other Islamic reform movements from India and Sumatra to North Africa and the Sudan, and during the 20th cent. has influenced the Taliban of Aghanistan and Islamist movements elsewhere.
Adherents of the puritanical reform movement that arose in Arabia in the eighteenth century under Mohammad ibn 'Abd-al-Wahhab (1703-1787).
Wahhabism (Arabic: Al-Wahhābīyya الوهابية, Wahabism) is a branch of
Sunni Islam practised by those who follow the teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, after whom the movement is named. Ibn Abdul Wahhab, who
reintroduced Islamic law to the Arabian peninsula, was influenced by the writings of scholars
such as Ibn Taymiyya. This theology is the dominant form found in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, as well as
some pockets of Somalia, Algeria, Palestine and Mauritania.
The term "Wahhabi" (Wahhābīya) is considered derogatory and rarely used by the people it is used to describe, who preferred to be called "unitarians". [1] [2] Most use Wahhabism and Salafism interchangeably. [3] Others consider Wahhabism to be an ultra-conservative form of Salafism.[4][5] Ingrid Mattson, a professor of Islamic Studies from Hartford Seminary, calls Wahhabism a reform movement, rather than a sect.[6]
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 Muhammad 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.
Ibn Abdul-Wahhab went so far as to declare jihad against all other Muslims who practiced so-called acts of polytheism. Ibn Abdul-Wahhab's views were opposed to those of the mainstream Muslim scholars of Mecca and Medina of that time. For example, he called intermediation of Muhammad an act of polytheism.
Wahhabis see their role as restoring Islam from what they perceive to be polytheism, innovation, superstition, deviance, heresy and idolatry. There are many practices that they believe are contrary to Islam, such as:
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."[8]
In 1924 the al-Saud dynasty, who were influenced by the teachings of Abdul Wahhab, conquered the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina. 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 1932. Especially following the Arab Oil Embargo in the mid 1970s, 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.[citation needed]
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. Its alliance with the House of Saud became strained after the September 11, 2001 attacks and suicide bombings in Riyadh in May, 2003.[9][10]
Some[attribution needed] argue that Hassan al-Banna, the Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, was influenced by the Wahhabis, although he was a traditional Sunni. The Muslim Brotherhood claimed to be purifying and restoring Islam, a theme which ran through Abdul Wahhab's preaching, but its goal was to unify Muslims of different madhhabs 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 Muslim Brotherhood and other ideas they believe contravene Salafist theology.[11]
There are also those who argue that Saudi promotion of Wahhabism as part of a Sunni-Shi'a rivalry contributed to the development of the religious ideology of Al-Qaeda [Quist, B. Wayne and Drake, David F., "Winning the War on Terror: A Triumph of American Values," iUniverse, 2005]. Mattson points out that [many] Saudi scholars of Wahhabism have denounced terrorism.[12]
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Join the WikiAnswers Q&A community. Post a question or answer questions about "wahhabism" at WikiAnswers.
Copyrights:
![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more | |
![]() | Islamic Dictionary. Copyright © 2002 yourDictionary.com. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Wahhabism". Read more |
Mentioned In: