Modern Islamist Movements: History, Religion, and Politics (26 page)

his Islamic worldview.4 The notion of tawhid also played a crucial role in the worldviews of subsequent Wahhabi movements. Both Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and the members of the Wahhabi movements maintained that falling short of tawhid in belief and/or practice could lead to chaos, immorality, greed, corruption, injustice, and the general deterioration of individuals and the societies within which they live.5 Conversely, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab believed that compliance with the principle of tawhid could lead to the establishment of morally upstanding, righteous, just, stable, and resilient societies.

He believed that tawhid was the central message of Islam for several reasons. First, the essential declaration which one must make in order to become a Muslim and which Muslims repeat throughout their lives, “There is no God but God and Muhammad is his Prophet,” constitutes an absolute and unquestionable statement about God’s oneness from a Muslim perspective. Second, according to Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and other Muslims, during the seventh century the Quranic revelations which Muhammad received (together with his other teachings) vociferously criticized aspects of seventh-century Arabian polytheism, Judaism, and Christianity which seemed to contradict the strict ideas pertaining to God’s oneness that Muhammad declared. According to Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and many other Muslims, seventh-century polytheism contradicted Islam’s declaration of God’s oneness in the sense that during Muhammad’s time Arabians may have worshipped 360 deities, physical representations of whom may have appeared in and around the Kaba, the large cubic structure in the middle of Mecca toward which Muslims face when they pray. According to the Quran and traditional Islamic interpretations of it, during Israelite history there were numerous occasions when the Israelites “lapsed” into idol-worship and thus contradicted God’s oneness. For Muslims, idol-worship constitutes one of several reprehensible forms of violating God’s oneness, in the sense that this form of worship constitutes an attempt either (a) to substitute a false God for God, or (b) to assign partners to God.

While Muslims know that Christians consider their religion monotheis- tic, Muslims believe that the Christian assertion about Jesus’ humanity and divinity, together with the Christian belief in the trinity (i.e., the notion of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), seriously undermines the strict Muslim conception of God’s oneness. Thus, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab believed that at one time or another in history, the Arabian polytheists, Jews, and Christians undermined tawhid and, as a result, either (a) allowed their own religions to be damaged by non-monotheistic beliefs, or (b) manifested very distorted notions of God and humans’ relationship to him. According to Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, there were times when adherents of these religions suffered chaos, immorality, greed, corruption, injustice, and general deterioration as a result of contradicting tawhid, and similarly negative consequences have befallen and will befall Muslims if they do not

adhere adamantly to the notion of tawhid. In this regard, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab believed that this message about Islam, which he believed was the true message of Islam, was both individual and societal in its character.

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Spreads His Message

Ibn Abd al-Wahhab imparted these and related ideas beginning in his hometown of al-Uyaynah in the Najd province of Saudi Arabia. During the early stage, he spread his ideas through preaching, persuasion, and discus- sion.6 While the townspeople of al-Uyaynah certainly viewed themselves as Muslims, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab attempted to indicate to them practices which he believed contradicted Islam as he understood it. He criticized such beliefs and practices as people visiting tombs for the purpose of receiving blessings from the dead, requesting that spirits of the dead or other entities intercede during prayer, and the use of magic, sorcery, amulets, and talismans. At the same time, he promoted the study of the Quran and Hadith.7

As Ibn Abd al-Wahhab preached his message, local leaders in al-Uyaynah perceived his ideas, which opposed some prevailing beliefs and practices of his time, as a challenge to their political, religious, and moral authority. Since these leaders viewed Ibn Abd al-Wahhab as a threat to their bases of power, they made him feel unwelcome in al-Uyaynah and virtually forced him to go on pilgrimage to Mecca.8 After making this pilgrimage, he went to Medina where he studied with Najdi Sheikh Abd Allah ibn Ibrahim ibn Sayf and the Indian Sheikh, Muhammad Hayat al-Sindi. These two intellectuals had an impact on several of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s ideas, which included: (a) the significance of the Hadith in legal and moral decision- making; (b) concentrating on the teachings of the Hadith instead of the chains of transmission of the Hadith; (c) criticizing the blind imitation and memorization of past scholarship; (d) developing rigorous interpretations that seem to adhere strongly to the “real meanings” of the Quran and Hadith; and (e) the necessity of religious, societal, and ethical change in compliance with the “true teachings” of the Quran and Hadith.9 Such ideas appear in many of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s works.

After his time in Medina, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab went to the city of Basra in what is modern-day southern Iraq. During his time in Basra, he studied with the influential Muslim scholar Muhammad al-Majmu)i.10 Al-Majmu)i affirmed Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s ideas about tawhid and his opposition to bid)a, which is typically defined as new ideas or “innovations” which are contradictory to Islam’s teachings.11 As the leaders of Basra began to perceive Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s teachings as potentially undermining their authority, they forcibly ejected him from the city.12 After that, he traveled to other towns and cities before returning to Huraymila in the Arabian peninsula

where he preached and wrote one of his most influential publications, Kitab al-Tawhid (The Book of God’s Oneness). This volume was distributed relatively widely in Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s home province of Najd.13

The responses which Ibn Abd al-Wahhab received to his message in Huraymila were mixed. On the one hand, two of the tribes in that city united with each other as a result of believing and practicing his message and used it as a basis for their union.14 On the other hand, a number of Huraymila’s religious and political leaders were so angry about Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab’s message opposing sex outside of marriage that a group of slaves (apparently under orders from at least one of their masters) attempted, unsuccessfully, to assassinate him.15

Then, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab returned to al-Uyaynah whose ruler at the time of his return was Uthman ibn Hamid ibn Muammar. After Ibn Muammar, in a sign of great hospitality and acceptance toward Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, offered his aunt’s hand to him in marriage, these two men formed a religious and political alliance, where Ibn Muammar would offer Ibn Abd al-Wahhab protection as he spread his message and, in return, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab offered Ibn Muammar support in his desire to expand his rule within and outside of the province of Najd.16 After the two men agreed on the terms of this alliance, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab continued to preach his message actively.17 One of several reasons that this religious and political alliance was important was because it was an antecedent to the even more powerful alliance which Ibn Abd al-Wahhab would later form with Muhammad ibn Saud, which helped create the foundation for the modern Saudi state.

A Holy Tree, a Monument, and an Adulteress

During the period of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s alliance with Ibn Muammar three events took place, which many associate with Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and which, in some measure, played a role in defining the Wahhabi movement. These events were (a) the cutting down of a holy tree; (b) the demolition of monument which was associated with a burial site; and (c) the stoning of an adulteress.18

The chopping of the sacred tree took place soon after the alliance between Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and Ibn Muammar was formed. During Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s life, there were several trees in al-Uyaynah upon which people hung various objects as a way of seeking the trees’ blessings or intercession on their behalf. It is possible that this ritual may have been in some way related to pre-Islamic belief and practice.

Ibn Abd al-Wahhab strongly opposed this intercessory tree-hanging ritual in that it violated the Islamic principle that only God had the power to bless people. At the same time, according to Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Islam taught

that the use of intercessors was absolutely forbidden; he believed Islam taught that people could express their concerns directly to God without intercession of any kind. Ibn Abd al-Wahhab asked a number of his followers to cut down the trees and chopped the one that was the most venerated himself with the hope that his and his followers’ actions would exhibit their deep-seated opposition to “superstitious” beliefs and practices, all of which, in their view, contradicted tawhid.19

The second well-known event that is associated with the period of Ibn

Abd al-Wahhab’s alliance with Ibn Muammar was the demolition of the monument over the burial place of Zayd ibn al-Khattab (a companion of Muhammad and the brother of the second Sunni caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab). It is conceivable that this tomb, like those of some other well-known people in the majority-Muslim world, was the object of sincere veneration by many Muslims who came there to receive a blessing from God through Zayd ibn al-Khattab or his gravesite.20 Tomb veneration was another ritual which Ibn Abd al-Wahhab viewed as directly contradicting the doctrine of tawhid, in that either the venerator sought the blessing of someone other than God (the dead individual or namely the gravesite) or the venerator was using the gravesite in a manner that contradicted Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s understanding of proper Islamic practice. In addition, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab believed that destruction of this burial monument (and others that were venerated by Muslims) was in full compliance with Muhammad’s teachings and examples.21

Before Ibn Abd al-Wahhab destroyed Zayd ibn al-Khattab’s tomb, he engaged in an extensive teaching and preaching mission where he explained his interpretation of Islam and what he interpreted as Islam’s prohibitions against the veneration of tombs. In the face of stiff opposition from locals and with 600 of Ibn Muammar’s soldiers protecting him, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab destroyed Zayd ibn al-Khattab’s tomb, which was venerated by many locals and may have provided them with a source of revenue as a result of visits from out-of-town pilgrims. One of the reasons that the destruction of this tomb was important historically is because it set an example of tomb destruction for future Wahhabis and also visually demonstrated Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s opposition to any tomb veneration including the kind that was devoted to the tombs of Muslims, no matter how famous.22

The third event that has played a defining role in the history of Wahhabism was the stoning of a woman during the life of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the events surrounding which seriously dismayed him.23 According to this story, a woman came to Ibn Abd al-Wahhab stating that she had committed zina), which refers to sex outside of heterosexual marriage and is one of four offenses that are punishable by death according to the Hadith.24 The Hadith states, “The Jew brought to the Prophet a man and a woman from amongst them who have committed illegal sexual intercourse (adultery). He ordered

both of them to be stoned (to death), near the place of offering the funeral prayers beside the mosque.”

In responding to this woman, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab told her to stop committing zina), while encouraging her to seek forgiveness from God for her past behavior.25 After this conversation, the woman continued to commit zina) on several occasions. After Ibn Abd al-Wahhab met the woman twice, admonishing her not to continue committing zina), ordering investigations into her mental health, and providing her with several opportunities to stop engaging in these acts, he agreed with the local ulema’s demands to stone her, in accordance with relevant stipulations in the Hadith.26 For many Wahhabis, the chopping of the sacred tree, the destruction of the monument at Zayd ibn al-Khattab’s tomb, and the stoning of the woman who committed zina) embody Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s commitment to Islam’s absolute requirements about ritual purity and his willingness to put these beliefs into practice, sometimes in dramatic ways. Muslims who support Ibn Abd al- Wahhab’s teachings believe that these and other beliefs and practices which Ibn Abd al-Wahhab represented were fully consistent with Muhammad’s own teachings, and comprise some of the essential teachings of Islam.

Opposition to Ibn Abd al-Wahhab

The ulema in al-Uyaynah began to become increasingly threatened by Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s message and its popularity. They believed that he could seriously undermine their power base. In addition, al-Uyaynah’s ulema resented both the fact that Ibn Abd al-Wahhab questioned the thorough- ness of their knowledge of the Quran and Hadith, and that he placed so much emphasis on Muslims learning these texts.27 The ulema’s power rested partly on the fact that they had almost exclusive control over interpreting these texts. As Ibn Abd al-Wahhab taught people the Quran and Hadith, he empowered them to interpret these texts and this was one factor that posed a danger to the ulema’s authority.28 While Ibn Abd al-Wahhab disagreed with the ulema’s desire to inhibit instruction in the Quran and Hadith and to maintain its almost exclusive interpretive control over those texts, he also pointedly criticized the individuals and communities who provided the ulema with financial support.29

While Ibn Abd al-Wahhab probably had a significant number of followers during this period, his opposition to al-Uyaynah’s ulema and its supporters engendered vehement opposition among his detractors.30 In this context, one of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s enemies was a powerful tribal leader by the name of Sulayman Ibn Muhammad, who held considerable authority over Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s protector, Ibn Muammar. Sulayman Ibn Muhammad threatened Ibn Muammar with a potentially devastating financial penalty if