Historical Figures Codexery

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab

Reformer and founder of the Wahhabi movement

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab was an Arab Muslim scholar and theologian from Najd in the Arabian Peninsula who founded the movement known as Wahhabism.[1][2] He formed a religio-political pact with Muhammad bin Saud in 1744 that created the first Saudi state and established a power-sharing arrangement still present in Saudi Arabia.[3][4]

Quick Facts

Religion
Islam
Born
1703 (1115 A.H)
Birthplace
'Uyayna, Najd
Died
1792, 1703 (1206 AH)
Place of death
Diriyah, Emirate of Diriyah
Denomination
Salafism
Jurisprudence
Hanbali, Ahl al-Ḥadīth/Independent
Main interests
Aqidah (Islamic theology)

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Ibn Abd al-Wahhab was born in 1703 into the Banu Tamim clan in the village of 'Uyayna in central Arabia.[5] His early education under his father consisted of memorizing the Quran and studying Hanbali jurisprudence.[6] He traveled to Mecca, Medina, Basra, Baghdad, Kurdistan, Hamadan, Isfahan, Damascus, and Cairo for religious training.[7][8][9][10] He returned to Najd and began preaching against practices like venerating tombs and seeking intercession from saints, which he considered idolatry.[11][12]

After being expelled from 'Uyayna, he settled in Diriyah under the protection of Muhammad bin Saud.[13]

What the cited sources add

The Middle East Quarterly article states that for nearly 300 years the Al Saud has controlled the state while the Al ash-Sheikh, descendants of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, has controlled religious institutions.[2] The same source notes that Grand Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Al ash-Sheikh greatly influenced King Faysal's concept of Saudi Arabia's role as guardian of Islam's holiest sites.[2] A Huffington Post article describes Ibn Abd al-Wahhab as having a "Jacobin-like hatred" for what he saw as deviationism in Islam.[14] The same article reports that he denounced all Muslims who honored the dead, saints, or angels.[14]

It also states that his followers demolished historical monuments and all tombs and shrines in their midst.[14] The Huffington Post article further claims that Ibn Saud and Ibn Abd al-Wahhab reintroduced the idea of martyrdom in the name of jihad.[14]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Laoust, "Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb", Brill Publishers, 2012; Ḍayf, "History of Arabic Literature", Dār al-Maʿārif, 1960–1995, p. Vol. 5, p. 47; Mouline, "The Clerics of Islam: Religious Authority and Political Power in Saudi Arabia", Yale University Press, 2014, p. 62; Haykel 2013; N. Stearns, "The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World", Oxford University Press, 2008; "Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Muhammad (d. 1791 )", Oxford Islamic Studies Online; E. Campo, "Encyclopedia of Islam", Facts on File Inc., 1986, p. 246 (original not read by us en.wikipedia.org
  2. Nawaf E. Obaid, "The Power of Saudi Arabia's Islamic Leaders", Middle East Quarterly, September 1999, p. 51–58. facts only, no text reused. meforum.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brown 2009; Laoust, "Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb", Brill Publishers, 2012; Khatab 2011; Traboulsi, "An Early Refutation of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb's Reformist Views", Die Welt des Islams, January 2002, p. 373–415; Esposito 2004; Hourani 1992: 257–58.; Esposito 2004; Haykel 2013; Nawaf E. Obaid, "The Power of Saudi Arabia's Islamic Leaders", Middle East Quarterly, September 1999, p. 51–58; Haykel 2013; Bokhari Senzai 2013; Nawaf E. Obaid, "The Power of Saudi Arabia's Islamic Leaders", Middle East Quarterly, September 1999, p. 51–58 en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ibnsaud.info 2008 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Laoust, "Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb", Brill Publishers, 2012; Philby 1930: 8.; Glassé 2003: 470.; Shahi, "The Politics of Truth Management in Saudi Arabia", Routledge, 2013, p. 46; Mouline, "The Clerics of Islam: Religious Authority and Political Power in Saudi Arabia", Yale University Press, 2014, p. 62; "Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Muhammad (d. 1791 )", Oxford Islamic Studies Online; N. Stearns, "The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World", Oxford University Press, 2008; Haykel 2013; Philby 1930: 8.; EI1: 1086.; Shahi, "The Politics of Tru en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Laoust, "Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb", Brill Publishers, 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Laoust, "Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb", Brill Publishers, 2012; Laoust, "Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb", Brill Publishers, 2012; Laoust, "Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb", Brill Publishers, 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ibn Ghannam: 75–76.; ibn Bishr: 7–8.; Laoust, "Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb", Brill Publishers, 2012; Laoust, "Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb", Brill Publishers, 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Laoust, "Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb", Brill Publishers, 2012; Laoust, "Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb", Brill Publishers, 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Commins 2015b, p. ; Laoust, "Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb", Brill Publishers, 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Haj, "Reordering Islamic Orthodoxy: Muhammad ibn 'Abdul Wahhab", The Muslim World, April 1997, p. 338; "The Encyclopaedia of Islam", E. J. Brill, 1986, p. 678; J. Delong-Bas, "Wahhabi Islam:From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad", Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 84; Commins 2015b, p. ; Nakissa, "Reconceptualizing the Global Transformation of Islam in the Colonial Period: Early Islamic Reform in British-Ruled India and Egypt", Arabica, 29 June 2022, p. 216; Samin, "Poetry, Magic, and the Formation of Wahhabism", Journal of en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Saeed 2013; Weismann, "Taste of Modernity: Sufism, Salafiyya, and Arabism in Late Ottoman Damascus", Brill, 2001, p. 268; Riexinger, "The Presence of the Prophet in Early Modern and Contemporary Islam", Brill, 2022, p. 55; Martin, "Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World", Macmillan Reference USA, 2004, p. 727; Martin, "Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World", Gale, 2016, p. 1236 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Delong-Bas 2004 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  14. Crooke, "You Can't Understand ISIS If You Don't Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia", The Huffington Post, 30 March 2017. facts only, no text reused. huffingtonpost.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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