The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam From the Extremists (37 page)

CHAPTER 3: THE RISE OF THE EARLY PURITANS

1. Several writers have noticed the literalist and extremist nature of ‘Abd al- Wahhab’s writings. For instance, see Hamid Algar,
   Wahhabism: A Critical Essay
   (Oneonta, NY: Islamic Publications International, 2002); Henry Bayman,
   The Se- cret of Islam: Love and Law in the Religious Ethics
   (Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2003). Recently, an apologetic work has tried to defend the founder of Wahhabism against the charges of rigidity, literalism, and extremism: see Natana Delong-Bas,
   Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad
   (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). This is not the place to discuss the glaring omis- sions, mistakes, and misrepresentations that plague this book. I would be remiss, however, not to note my strong disagreement with most of what is printed in this curious work.
   

2. Amin al-Rihani,
   Tarikh Najd wa Mulhaqatih
   (Beirut: Dar al-Rihani, 1973): 35–36.
   

3. The connection between Wahhabism and Bedouin life is clear in a work like John Lewis Burckhardt,
   al-Badw wa al-Wahhabiyya
   [Notes on the Bedouins and Wahhabis], trans. Muhammad al-Asyuti (Beirut: Dar Swidan, 1995), hereinafter Burckhardt,
   Notes;
   al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Kuthayri,
   al-Salafiyya bayn Ahl al- Sunna wa al-‘Imamiyya
   (Beirut: al-Ghadir li’l Tiba’a, 1997), 509, discusses the connections between Bedouin life and Wahhabism, and describes Wahhabism as a Bedouin creed.
   

4. The massacre of Muslim jurists by Wahhabis is described in Ibrahim al-Rawi al-Rifa’i,
   Risalat al-‘Awraq al-Baghdadiyya fi al-Hawadith al-Najdiyya
   (Baghdad: Matba’at al-Najah, 1927): 3–4.
   

5. ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “al-Risalah al-Ula,” in
   Majmu‘at al-Tawhid
   (Damascus: al- Maktab al-Islami, 1962), 34–35; ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “Kashf al-Shubuhat: al- Risalah al-Thalitha,” in
   Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
   104; also see ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “Bayan al-Najah wa al-Fakak: al-Risalah al-Thaniya ‘Ashra” (collected by Hamad al-Najdi), in
   Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
   356–57.
   

6. ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “al-Risalah al-Thaniya,” in
   Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
   4–6; ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “Asbab Najat al-Sul: al-Risalah Thamina,” in
   Majmu‘at al- Tawhid,
   208–12; ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “Bayan al-Najah wa al-Fakak: al-Risalah al- Thaniya ‘Ashra,” (collected by Hamad al-Najdi), in
   Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
   382– 83; ‘Abd al-Rahman bin ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “Bayan al-Mahajja: al-Risalah al- Thalitha ‘Ashra,” in
   Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
   453.
   

7. See the treatise written by Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab’s son, who was a devout follower of his father: ‘Abd al-Rahman b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “Bayan al- Mahajja: al-Risalah al-Thalitha ‘Ashra,” in
   Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
   466–93.
   

8. For an example of a list containing acts the commission of which would make a Muslim an infidel, see ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “Bayan al-Najah wa al-Fakak min Muwalat al-Murtaddin wa Ahl al-Shirk: al-Risalah al-Thaniya ‘Ashra” (col- lected by Hamad b. ‘Atiq al-Najdi), in
   Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
   413–16. Also see Aziz Al-Azmeh,
   Mohammed Bin Abdel-Wahhab
   (Beirut: Riad El-Rayyes Books, 2000), 77–89.
   

9. In the Islamic faith, the belief in the Trinity is a form of associating partners with God.
   

10. See ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “al-Risalah al-Ula,” in
    Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
    30–31, 68; ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “Bayan al-Najah wa al-Fakak: al-Risalah al-Thaniya ‘Ashra” (collected by Hamad al-Najdi), in
    Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
    394, 400, 421– 23, 433.
    

11. See ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “al-Risalah al-Ula,” in
    Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
    30–31, 68; ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “Bayan al-Najah wa al-Fakak: al-Risalah al-Thaniya ‘Ashra” (collected by Hamad al-Najdi), in
    Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
    394, 400, 421– 23, 433. Also see ‘Abd al-Wahhab,
    Mu’allafat al-Shaykh al-Imam Muhammad bin ‘Abd al-Wahhab
    (Riyadh: al-Maktaba al-Su’udiyya, n.d.), 1:281–310.
    

12. ‘Abd al-Wahhab,
    Mu’allafat al-Shaykh al-Imam Muhammad bin ‘Abd al- Wahhab
    (Riyadh: al-Maktaba al-Su’udiyya, n.d.), 1:312–29.
    

13. Muhammad bin ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “Awthaq al-‘Ura: al-Risalah al-Sadisa,” in
    

    Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
    171.
    

14. See Sayyid Qutb,
    Milestones on the Road
    (Bloomington, IN: American Trust Publications, 1991); Ahmad S. Mousalli,
    Radical Islamic Fundamentalism: The Ideological and Political Discourse of Sayyid Qutb
    (Syracuse: Syracuse Uni- versity Press, 1993).
    

15. ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “Bayan al-Najah wa al-Fakak: al-Risalah al-Thaniya ‘Ashra,” (collected by Hamad al-Najdi), in
    Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
    358–68, 375, 412.
    

16. For instance, this is obvious in the Saudi-sanctioned history of the Wahhabi movement: Munir al-‘Ujlani,
    Tarikh al-Bilad al-‘Arabiyya al-Su’udiyya
    —the copy available to me does not provide a publisher or place and date of publication.
    

17. Al-Rihani,
    Tarikh Najd,
    229–43. Hamid Algar,
    Wahhabism,
    37–40, argues that the claim that the Wahhabis were inspired by Arab nationalism is anachro- nistic. I disagree because it is clear that Arab nationalism was on the rise in the nineteenth century.
    

18. Several Shi’i scholars have noticed the inconsistencies of Wahhabism and written treatises on the subject, but very few Sunni scholars have done the same. One very notable example is Muhammad al-Ghazali in his
    al-Sunnah al- Nabawiyya Bayn Ahl al-Fiqh wa Ahl al-Hadith
    (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 1989). In this book, al-Ghazali, a prominent Egyptian jurist, spoke about a Bedouin form of Islam that was camouflaging itself as the only true form of Islam and was threat- ening to take over the Muslim world. For political reasons, al-Ghazali did not ex- plicitly mention Wahhabi Islam. Al-Ghazali is discussed in considerable detail later in this chapter.
    

19. The Najdi influence on Wahhabism is apparent in a pro-Wahhabi text such as Rashid Rida, ed.,
    Majmu’at al-Hadith al-Najdiyya
    (Qatar: Matabi’ al-‘Uruba, 1963). Also see Mohamed Al-Freih, “Historical Background of the Emergence of Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab and His Movement” (Ph.D. diss., University of California at Los Angeles, 1990), on the tribal nature of Arabia and the competi- tion between Hijaz and Najd, and ‘Abd al-Wahhab’s role in this competition; see esp. p. 350.
    

20. In Sunni Islam, the expression “Rightly Guided Caliphs” refers to the four Companions who ruled the Muslim nation after the death of the Prophet Muham- mad. In consecutive order they are: Abu Bakr (d. 13/634), ‘Umar (d. 23/644), ‘Uthman (d. 35/656), and ‘Ali (d. 40/661). In addition, many Muslims consider the Umayyad Caliph ‘Umar bin ‘Abd al-‘Aziz (d. 101/720) to be the fifth Rightly Guided Caliph, although he was not a Companion of the Prophet. These leaders are referred to as the “Rightly Guided” as an expression of the deep respect and honor in which they are held. Sunni Muslims believe that these four caliphs were
    

    able to establish a just and equitable polity similar to the polity established by the Prophet in Medina.
    

21. See ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “al-Risalah al-Ula,” in
    Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
    36, 70– 72; ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “Kashf al-Shubuhat: al-Risalah al-Thalitha,” in
    Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
    117–18; ‘Abd al-Wahhab, “Bayan al-Najah wa al-Fakak: al-Risalah al-Thaniya ‘Ashra” (collected by Hamad al-Najdi), in
    Majmu‘at al-Tawhid,
    403–
    

    9. The same arguments by ‘Abd al-Wahhab are collected in Husayn Ghannam,
    

    Tarikh Najd
    (Riyadh: Matabi’ al-Safahat al-Dhahabiyya, 1381): 40–43.
    

22. On the Abu Bakr precedent and its historical origins, see Abou El Fadl,
    Re- bellion and Violence in Islamic Law
    (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 34–61.
    

23. Among the cruel acts committed by the Wahhabis was the butchering of the children of Muslims whom they considered to be infidels. See al-Rifa’i,
    Risalat al- Awraq al-Baghdadiyya,
    3.
    

24. Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah b. Humaydi al-Najdi,
    al-Suhub al-Wabila ‘ala Dara’ih al-Hanabila
    (Beirut: Maktabat al-Imam Ahmad, 1989), 275. The same claims are made by al-Sayyid Ahmad bin Zini Dahlan,
    Khulasat al-Kalam fi Bayan ‘Umara’ al-Balad al-Haram
    (Cairo: Maktabat al-Kulliyyat al-Azhariyya, 1977): 229–30.
    

25. Sulayman b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab,
    al-Sawa‘iq al-Ilahiyya,
    60–61, 120. Ibn Hu- maydi reports the stories of some jurists who were assassinated by the followers of ‘Abd al-Wahhab; see Ibn Humaydi,
    al-Suhub al-Wabila,
    276–80, 402, 405.
    

26. Sulayman b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab,
    al-Sawa‘iq al-Ilahiyya,
    9, 34–35. Dawud al- Musawi al-Baghdadi,
    Kitab Ashad al-Jihad fi Ibtal Da’wa al-Ijtihad
    (Cairo: al- Babi al-Halabi, n.d.), 40–41, describes ‘Abd al-Wahhab as an ill-educated man who empowered ignorant people to pontificate about Islamic law. On Muham- mad b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab’s education, see Michael Cook, “On the Origins of Wah- habism,”
    Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
    3, no. 2 (1992).
    

27. See, in support of his argument that ‘Abd al-Wahhab’s behavior was un- precedented, Sulayman b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab,
    al-Sawa‘iq al-Ilahiyya,
    21, 25, 30– 32, 38.
    

28. Sulayman b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab,
    al-Sawa‘iq al-Ilahiyya,
    16, 72; Ibn Humaydi,
    

    al-Suhub al-Wabila,
    275.
    

29. Addressing the Wahhabis, Sulayman states: “
    Wa taj‘alun mizan kufr al-nass mukhalafatakum wa mizan al-Islam muwafaqatakum
    ” (“You [Wahhabis] make the measure of people’s faith their agreement with you and the measure of their disbelief, their disagreement with you.”). Sulayman b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab,
    al- Sawa‘iq al-Ilahiyya
    , 54; also see 14, 42.
    

30. Al-‘Ujlani,
    Tarikh al-Bilad al-‘Arabiyya al-Su’udiyya,
    vol. 1, pt. 2, 279–81.
    

31. Dahlan,
    Khulasat al-Kalam,
    230. This practice is vividly and painfully de- scribed in a letter signed in 1792 by a group of Shafi’i, Maliki, Hanafi, and Han- bali jurists sent to the Ottoman authorities pleading for help against Wahhabi atrocities. That letter is reproduced as the first of two historical documents in al- ‘Ujlani,
    Tarikh al-Bilad al-‘Arabiyya al-Su’udiyya,
    vol. 1, pt. 2, letters “dhal” to “Ghin.”
    

32. See the treatise by the
    mufti
    of Mecca at the time, Ahmad bin Zini Dahlan,
    al-Dawla al-‘Uthmaniyya min Kitab al-Futuhat al-Islamiyya
    (Istanbul: Hakikat Kitabevi, 1986), 2: 229–40. For a description of the atrocities, also see Algar,
    Wahhabism,
    24–26.
    

33. Sulayman bin ‘Abd al-Wahhab,
    al-Sawa‘iq al-Ilahiyya,
    17–19, 62–64, 70– 71, 74–75, 80–82, 92, 100–102, 110–12. For Rashid Rida’s view on the merit of the first three centuries of Islam, see Muhammad Rashid Rida,
    Majallat al-Manar
    (Mansura, Egypt: Dar al-Wafa’, 1327), 28:502–4 (hereinafter Rida,
    al-Manar
    ). Rida’s assessment of the merits of the first three centuries was similar to ‘Abd al- Wahhab’s.
    

34. Sulayman b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab,
    al-Sawa‘iq al-Ilahiyya,
    48–49.
    

35. Sulayman b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab,
    al-Sawa‘iq al-Ilahiyya,
    121–42.
    

36. Burckhardt,
    Notes,
    250.
    

37. The treatise is reproduced in Husayn Ibn Ghannam,
    Rawdat al-Afkar wa al-Afham Li Murtad Hal al-Imam wa Ti’dad Ghazawat Dhwi al-Islam
    (Riyadh: al-Maktaba al-Ahliyya, 1949), 1:111–13.
    

38. Muhammad Amin Ibn ‘Abidin,
    Hashiyat Radd al-Muhtar
    (Cairo: Mustafa al-Babi, 1966), 6:413; Ahmad al-Sawi,
    Hashiyat al-‘Allamah al-Sawi ‘ala Tafsir al-Jalalayn
    (Beirut: Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi, n.d.), 3:307–8. Also see Ahmad Dallal, “The Origins and Objectives of Islamic Revivalist Thought, 1750–1850,”
    Journal of the American Oriental Society
    113, no. 3 (1993): 341–59; al-Rihani,
    Tarikh Najd,
    43–44. The same accusation of being the Khawarij of modern Islam is made in Sulayman b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab,
    al-Sawa‘iq al-Ilahiyya,
    10, 28, 50–51; Yusuf b. Ahmad al-Dijjawi, “Tawhid al-Uluhiyya wa Tawhid al-Rububiyya,”
    Nurr al-Islam
    (also known as
    Majallat al-Azhar: The Azhar University Journal
    ) 1, no. 4 (1933): 320, 329; al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Kuthayri,
    al-Salafiyya bayn Ahl al-Sunna wa al-‘Imamiyya
    (Beirut: al-Ghadir li’l Tiba’a, 1997), 345–52.
    

39. See Dallal, “The Origins and Objectives of Islamic Revivalist Thought, 1750–1850,” 341–59.
    

40. D. Van der Meulen,
    The Wells of Ibn Sa ‘ud
    (London: Kegan Paul Interna- tional Publications, 2000), 35–36.
    

41. Al-Freih, “Historical Background,” 339–51.
    

42. On the saga of British involvement in Arabia and British support of Al Sa‘ud, see Efram Karsh and Inari Karsh,
    Empires of Sand: The Struggle for Mas- tery in the Middle East, 1789–1923
    (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999), esp. pp. 171–98.
    

43. On the intimate alliance between Al Sa‘ud and the British, see Algar,
    Wah- habism,
    37–45; James Wynbrandt,
    A Brief History of Saudi Arabia
    (New York: Checkmark Books, 2004), 176–93; and Nasir al-Faraj,
    Qiyam al-‘Arsh al-Su’udi: Dirasa Tarikhiyya li’l-‘Ilaqat al-Su’udiyya al-Britaniyya
    (London: Al-Safa Pub- lishers, n.d.).
    

44. Gerald de Gaury,
    Rulers of Mecca
    (London: Harrap, 1951), 275. The au- thor argues that Ibn Sa‘ud’s alliance with the Wahhabis was forged out of convic- tion.
    

45. On the destruction of the intellectual diversity in the two holy sites, see Algar,
    Wahhabism,
    44.
    

46. On the atrocities committed in Karbala, see Algar,
    Wahhabism,
    24.
    

47. For heart-wrenching descriptions of the Wahhabi atrocities committed in Karbala and other places, see al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Kuthayri,
    al-Salafiyya bayn Ahl al-Sunna wa al-‘Imamiyya
    (Beirut: al-Ghadir li’l Tiba’a, 1997), 327–39.
    

48. Ahmad bin Zini Dahlan,
    Futuhat al-Islamiyya ba’d Mudiy al-Futuhat al- Nabawiyya
    (Beirut: Dar Sadir, 1997), 2:234–45. Algar,
    Wahhabism,
    42; Van der Meulen,
    The Wells of Ibn Sa‘ud,
    33–34; Geoff Simons,
    Saudi Arabia: The Shape of a Client Feudalism
    (Palgrave, UK: Macmillan, 1998), 151–73. For historical surveys on these and subsequent events, see Joseph Kostiner,
    The Making of Saudi Arabia: From Chieftaincy to Monarchical State
    (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 62–70, 100–117; Joseph A. Kechichian,
    Succession in Saudi Arabia
    (New York: Palgrave Press, 2001), 161–68; Richard Harlakenden Sanger,
    The Arabian Peninsula
    (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1954), 27–35.