 |
This school of law of Islam
is often referred to as Wahabi
or Wahhabi a term that many adherents
to this tradition do not use. Members
of this form of Islam call themselves
Muwahhidun ("Unitarians",
or "unifiers of Islamic practice").
They use the Salafi
Da'wa or Ahlul Sunna wal Jama'a. The
teachings of the reformer Abd Al-Wahhab
are more often referred to by adherents
as Salafi, that is, "following
the forefathers of Islam". Wahabi
or Salafi
belong to Sunni
Hanbali
school of law.
The basic text of this form of Islam
is the Kitab at-Tawhid (Arabic, "Book
of Unity"). Central to Mohammad
ibn Abd al Wahhab's message was the
essential oneness of God (Tawhid).
The movement is therefore known by
its adherents as ad dawa lil Tawhid
(the call to unity), and those who
follow the call are known as ahl at
Tawhid (the people of unity) or Muwahhidun
(unitarians). The word Wahabi was
originally used derogatorily by opponents,
but has today become commonplace and
is even used by some Najdi scholars
of the movement. Most Wahabi people
live in Saudi Arabia. Almost all people
in Mecca and Medina belong to this
school.
The Caliphate was brought into being
by the implementation of Islam for
about three decades. They called this
shortlived experiment Khilafat Rashidah,
the rightly-guided Caliphate, implying
thereby that the rulers that followed
were misguided. Some Muslim groups
seek the restoration of the Islamic
State i.e. the Khilafah, and by electing
a Khalifah (Caliph) and taking a bay'ah
on him that he will rule by the Word
of Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta'Ala) i.e.
he will implement Islamic laws in
the country where the Khilafah has
been established.
Wahabism is a reform movement that began
200 years ago to rid Islamic societies
of cultural practices and interpretation
that had been acquired over the centuries.
The followers of Abdul Wahab (1703-1792)
began as a movement to cleanse the
Arab bedouin from the influence of
Sufism. Wahabis are the followers
of Ibn 'Abd ul-Wahhab, who instituted
a great reform in the religion of
Islam in Arabia in the 18th century.
Mahommad ibn 'Abd ul-Wahhab was born
in 1691 (or 1703) at al-Hauta of the
Nejd in central Arabia, and was of
the tribe of the Bani Tamim. He studied
literature and jurisprudence of the
Hanafi school.
After making the pilgrimage with his
father, he spent some further time
in the study of law at Medina, and
resided for a while at Isfahan in
Iran, whence he returned to the Nejd
to undertake the work of a teacher.
Aroused by his studies and his observation
of the luxury in dress and habits,
the superstitious pilgrimages to shrines,
the use of omens and the worship given
to Mohammad and Muslim saints rather
than to God, he began a mission to
proclaim the simplicity of the early
religion founded on the Quran and
Sunna (i.e. the manner of life of
Mohammad.
To understand the significance of Mohammad
ibn Abd al Wahhab's ideas, they must
be considered in the context of Islamic
practice. There was a difference between
the established rituals clearly defined
in religious texts that all Muslims
perform and popular Islam. The latter
refers to local practice that is not
universal. The Shia
practice of visiting shrines is an
example of a popular practice. The
Shia continued to revere the Imams
even after their death and so visited
their graves to ask favors of the
Imams buried there. Over time, Shia
scholars rationalized the practice
and it became established. Some of
the Arab tribes came to attribute
the same sort of power that the Shia
recognized in the tomb of an Imam
to natural objects such as trees and
rocks.
Mohammad ibn Abd al Wahhab was concerned
with the way the people of Najd engaged
in practices he considered polytheistic,
such as praying to saints; making
pilgrimages to tombs and special mosques;
venerating trees, caves, and stones;
and using votive and sacrificial offerings.
He was also concerned by what he viewed
as a laxity in adhering to Islamic
law and in performing religious devotions,
such as indifference to the plight
of widows and orphans, adultery, lack
of attention to obligatory prayers,
and failure to allocate shares of
inheritance fairly to women. When
Mohammad ibn Abd al Wahhab began to
preach against these breaches of Islamic
laws, he characterized customary practices
as jahiliya, the same term used to
describe the ignorance of Arabs before
the Prophet.
Mohammad ibn Abd al Wahhab focused on
the Muslim principle that there is
only one God, and that God does not
share his power with anyone -- not
Imams, and certainly not trees or
rocks. From this unitarian principle,
his students began to refer to themselves
as Muwahhidun (unitarians). Their
detractors referred to them as "Wahabis"--or
"followers of Mohammad ibn Abd
al Wahhab," which had a pejorative
connotation. The idea of a unitary
God was not new. Mohammad ibn Abd
al Wahhab, however, attached political
importance to it. He directed his
attack against the Shia.
Mohammad ibn Abd al Wahhab's emphasis
on the oneness of God was asserted
in contradistinction to shirk, or
polytheism, defined as the act of
associating any person or object with
powers that should be attributed only
to God. He condemned specific acts
that he viewed as leading to shirk,
such as votive offerings, praying
at saints' tombs and at graves, and
any prayer ritual in which the suppliant
appeals to a third party for intercession
with God. Particularly objectionable
were certain religious festivals,
including celebrations of the Prophet's
birthday, Shia
mourning ceremonies, and Sufi
mysticism. Consequently, the Wahabis
forbid grave markers or tombs in burial
sites and the building of any shrines
that could become a locus of shirk.
His instructions in the matter of extending
his religious teaching by force were
strict. All unbelievers (i.e. Muslims
who did not accept his teaching were
to be put to death. Immediate entrance
into Paradise was promised to his
soldiers who fell in battle, and it
is said that each soldier was provided
with a written order from Ibn 'Abd
ul-Wahhab to the gate-keeper of heaven
to admit him forthwith. In this way
the new teaching was established in
the greater part of Arabia until its
power was broken by Mohammad Ali,
Ottoman governor of Egypt. Ibn'Abd
ul-Wahhab is said to have died in
1791.
The teaching of ul-Wahhab was founded
on that of Ibn Taimiyya (1263-1328),
who was of the school of Imam Ahmad
ibn Hanbal. Copies of some of Ibn
Taimiyya's works made by ul-Wahhab
are now extant in Europe, and show
a close study of the writer. Ibn Taimiyya,
although a Hanbali
by training, refused to be bound by
any of the four schools, and claimed
the power of a Mujtahid, i.e. of one
who can give independent decisions.
These decisions were based on the
Quran, which, like Ibn Hazm, he accepted
in a literal sense, on the Sunna and
Qiyds (analogy). He protested strongly
against all the innovations of later
times, and denounced as idolatry the
visiting of the sacred shrines and
the invocation of the saints or of
Mohammad himself. He was also a bitter
opponent of the Sufis of his day.
The Wahabis also believe in the literal
sense of the Quran and the necessity
of deducing one's duty from it apart
from the decisions of the four schools.
They also pointed to the abuses current
in their times as a reason for rejecting
the doctrines and practices founded
on Ijma, i.e. the universal consent
of the believer or their teachers.
They forbid the pilgrimage to tombs
and the invocation of saints. The
severe simplicity of the Wahabis
has been remarked by travellers in
central Arabia. They attack all luxury,
loose administration of justice, all
laxity against infidels, addiction
to wine, impurity and treachery.
Mohammad ibn Abd al Wahhab's mission
in his own district was not attended
by success, and for long he wandered
with his family through Arabia. Realizing
that he needed political support and
authority to effectively reverse the
status quo, Ibn Abdul-Wahhab presented
his program of reform to the governors
of the central Arabian city-states.
He began by approaching Othman ibn
Mu’amar, the governor of Uyayna, his
home state. Ibn Mu’amar was receptive
to Abdul-Wahhab’s ideas and allowed
him to preach within the city. As
word of the movement spread, however,
strong pressure to silence Ibn Abdul-Wahhab
came from powerful tribes in the region
who viewed change as a threat to their
decadent lifestyle. Fearing invasion,
Othman ibn Mu’amar felt compelled
to ask the reformer to leave Uyayna.
At last he settled in Dara'iyya, or Deraiya
(in the Nejd), where he succeeded
in converting the greatest notable,
Mohammad ibn Sa'ud, who married his
daugther, and so became the founder
of an hereditary Wahabi dynasty.
This gave the missionary the opportunity
of following the example of Mohammad
himself.
This association between the Al Saud
and the Al ash Shaykh, as Mohammad
ibn Abd al Wahhab and his descendants
came to be known, effectively converted
political loyalty into a religious
obligation. According to Mohammad
ibn Abd al Wahhab's teachings, a Muslim
must present a bayah, or oath of allegiance,
to a Muslim ruler during his lifetime
to ensure his redemption after death.
The ruler, conversely, is owed unquestioned
allegiance from his people so long
as he leads the community according
to the laws of God. The whole purpose
of the Muslim community is to become
the living embodiment of God's laws,
and it is the responsibility of the
legitimate ruler to ensure that people
know God's laws and live in conformity
to them.
Under 'Abd ul-Azlz they instituted a
form of Bedouin (Bedawi) commonwealth,
insisting on the observance of law,
the payment of tribute, militaiy conscription
for war against the infidel, internal
peace and the rigid administration
of justice in courts established for
the purpose. Wahabis consider Wahabism
to be the only true form of Islam.
They do not regard Shi'as as true
Muslims are particularly hostile to
Sufism.
It is clear that the claim of the Wahabis
to have returned to the earliest form
of Islam is largely justified. The
difference between ul-Wahhab's sect
and others is that the Wahabis rigidly
follow the same laws which the others
neglect or have ceased altogether
to observe. Even orthodox doctors
of Islam have confessed that in Ibn
'Abd ul-Wahhab's writings there is
nothing but what they themselves hold.
At the same time the fact that so
many of his followers were rough and
unthinking Bedouins has led to the
over-emphasis of minor points of practice,
so that they often appear to observers
to be characterized chiefly by a strictness
(real or feigned) in such matters
as the prohibition of silk for dress,
or the use of tobacco, or of the rosary
in prayer.
Imam Mohammad bin Abdul Wahhab died in
1792.
The Wahabi ulama reject reinterpretation
of Quran and Sunna in regard to issues
clearly settled by the early jurists.
By rejecting the validity of reinterpretation,
Wahabi doctrine is at odds with the
Muslim reformation movement of the
late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
This movement seeks to reinterpret
parts of the Quran and Sunna to conform
with standards set by the West, most
notably standards relating to gender
relations, family law, and participatory
democracy. However, ample scope for
reinterpretation remains for Wahabi
jurists in areas not decided by the
early jurists.
The 1920s marked the beginnings of modern
Arabia. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz understood the
potential advantages Western technology
offered; the importation of a fleet
of automobiles and, later, the building
of airstrips gave him the means of
reaching distant parts of his territory
in a fraction of the time required
previously. He also ordered the creation
of an extensive information network
based on the wireless telegraph, through
which he was able to extend his "eyes
and ears" across the country.
However, some of his followers were
less than enthusiastic, and their
leader spent much time and effort
explaining personally the value of
the telephone in particular. ‘Abd
al-‘Aziz finally overcame their opposition
by inviting skeptics to listen to
recitations from the Qur‘an being
read down the phone line.
Aware that the fledgling nation would
be ill-equipped to function in the
20th century without industrial modernization,
‘Abd al-‘Aziz was eager to embrace
technology; however, he was no less
aware that change had to be selective
and gradual if it was to be accepted
by the citizenry. Arabist and historian
Leslie McLoughlin pointed out that
"it was the insight of Ibn Sa‘ud
that slow change without disabling
disputes was better than speed of
change with great disruption."
Under Al Saud rule, governments, especially
during the Wahabi revival in the
1920s, have shown their capacity and
readiness to enforce compliance with
Islamic laws and interpretations of
Islamic values on themselves and others.
The literal interpretations of what
constitutes right behavior according
to the Quran and hadith have given
the Wahabis the sobriquet of "Muslim
Calvinists." To the Wahabis,
for example, performance of prayer
that is punctual, ritually correct,
and communally performed not only
is urged but publicly required of
men. Consumption of wine is forbidden
to the believer because wine is literally
forbidden in the Quran. Under the
Wahabis, however, the ban extended
to all intoxicating drinks and other
stimulants, including tobacco. Modest
dress is prescribed for both men and
women in accordance with the Quran,
but the Wahabis specify the type
of clothing that should be worn, especially
by women, and forbid the wearing of
silk and gold, although the latter
ban has been enforced only sporadically.
Music and dancing have also been forbidden
by the Wahabis at times, as have
loud laughter and demonstrative weeping,
particularly at funerals.
The Wahabi emphasis on conformity makes
of external appearance and behavior
a visible expression of inward faith.
Therefore, whether one conforms in
dress, in prayer, or in a host of
other activities becomes a public
statement of whether one is a true
Muslim. Because adherence to the true
faith is demonstrable in tangible
ways, the Muslim community can visibly
judge the quality of a person's faith
by observing that person's actions.
In this sense, public opinion becomes
a regulator of individual behavior.
Therefore, within the Wahabi community,
which is striving to be the collective
embodiment of God's laws, it is the
responsibility of each Muslim to look
after the behavior of his neighbor
and to admonish him if he goes astray.
Page last updated:
Friday, November 25, 2005 22:04:51 -0500 |
|
