Wahhabi

Wahhabi
Name	Wahhabi
Founder	Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab
Founded	18th century
Region	Najd, Arabian Peninsula
Theology	Salafism, Tawhid
Scriptures	Quran, Hadith
Institutions	First Saudi State, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Wahhabi. A Sunni Islamic movement originating in the 18th century Arabian Peninsula, advocating a puritanical restoration of monotheism and an emphasis on scriptural literalism. It emerged in central Najd under the leadership of a reformer allied with a tribal polity, producing a durable political-religious project that impacted the formation of a modern state and regional diplomacy. The movement's proponents promoted specific jurisprudential and ritual reforms that have shaped intra-Muslim debates and international relations.

Origins and founder

The movement began in the mid-18th century when Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab formed an alliance with the chieftain of Diriyah, Muhammad bin Saud, creating a politico-religious entity often associated with the First Saudi State. This partnership combined a doctrinal program with territorial expansion that confronted neighboring principalities such as Hejaz and engaged with Ottoman frontier authorities including the Ottoman Empire and regional rivals like the Emirate of Diriyah. Key early conflicts included campaigns against Sufi orders represented by leaders in Najaf, Karbala, and cities with significant shrine cults such as Mecca and Medina. The 19th-century sack of Karbilah and pressures from the Egyptian–Ottoman interventions reshaped the movement’s trajectory, later influencing the rise of the Second Saudi State and the eventual establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the 20th century under the House of Al Saud.

Doctrines and theology

Doctrinally, the movement emphasizes uncompromising Tawhid as articulated through scriptural primacy in the Quran and canonical Hadith collections like those compiled by Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim. It draws on Hanbali jurisprudential currents and shares affinities with strands of Salafism that valorize early Muslim exemplars, referencing authorities such as Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya. The movement rejects practices perceived as innovations (bid‘ah), including certain veneration forms associated with figures like Ali and shrines in Najaf and Karbala, opposing intercessionary rituals linked to families of the Prophet Muhammad such as the descendants known from Hashemite lineages. Theological disputes have engaged critics from Ash'ari and Maturidi schools in cities like Cairo and Istanbul, as well as reformers in Delhi and Damascus.

Practices and religious institutions

Religious practice promoted by the movement centers on ritual observance in mosques like the Grand Mosque (Mecca) and normative prayer forms modeled on early piety, with institutional endorsements from seminaries and foundations in Riyadh and other urban centers. Institutions such as the Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque and affiliated religious departments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have overseen education, cadet training, and publication, interacting with universities such as Al-Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University. Endowment structures and charitable trusts echo practices of historical waqf systems in cities like Cairo and Damascus, while religious policing and advisory councils have at times cooperated with state organs in policing public morality, paralleling administrative models seen in Ottoman provincial governance and later modernizing regimes.

Political influence and state relationships

The alliance with the House of Al Saud created a durable fusion of religious authority and political legitimacy that influenced the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The movement’s clerical establishment has intersected with Saudi foreign policy in dealings with actors such as United States–Saudi Arabia relations, regional organizations including the Gulf Cooperation Council, and conflicts involving Iran and Iraq. Its export of religious education and missionary activity has had implications for diplomatic ties with states such as Pakistan, Egypt, and Indonesia, and contributed to ideological currents among militants during episodes like the Soviet–Afghan War and subsequent insurgencies. Domestic governance adaptations have included partnerships with ministries and security institutions seen in reforms under rulers like King Abdulaziz and recent policymaking during the reigns of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Criticism and controversies

The movement has faced critique from scholars and religious authorities across the Muslim world, including figures associated with Al-Azhar in Cairo, clerics in Najaf, and reformers in Istanbul and Delhi, for perceived intolerance toward popular devotional practices and for doctrinal rigidity. Critics link some adherents’ rhetoric to sectarian disputes between Sunni and Shia Islam communities in locales such as Bahrain and Eastern Province (Saudi Arabia), and to contentious interpretations used by nonstate armed groups during periods of regional instability. Debates have arisen over censorship, heritage preservation after actions in historic sites like those in Mecca and Medina, and the role of state-sponsored religious education in shaping political culture and transnational networks involving charities and think tanks in cities such as London, Riyadh, and Dhaka.

Global spread and movements

Through missionary networks, educational scholarships, and oil-funded institutions, the movement’s doctrines have spread to regions including South Asia, Southeast Asia, West Africa, and Western diasporas in Europe and North America. Centers of learning and mosque projects in Karachi, Jakarta, Lagos, London, and New York City have sometimes reflected doctrinal affinities, while transnational Islamist currents have intersected with local reform movements associated with groups like Salafi-jihadism and conservative religious societies in Mauritania and Malaysia. Responses have varied from accommodation by national authorities in Jordan and Turkey to contestation by indigenous ulema in Indonesia and Senegal, producing a plural geography of influence across global Muslim communities.

Category:Islamic movements