The historical background of the emergence of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his movement
[Thesis]
M. A. Al-Freih
A. L. S. Marsot
University of California, Los Angeles
1990
471-471 p.
Ph.D.
University of California, Los Angeles
1990
Wahhabism was a revivalist movement that emerged in central Arabia around the middle of the twelfth/eighteenth century. Within a few decades it was able to establish a powerful state that controlled most of the Arabian Peninsula. The purpose of this study is to analyze the historical background which led to the emergence of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his movement. Wahhabism, combined both doctrine and reform. In doctrine, it championed that of al-Salaf, a doctrine that was formally adopted during the third century A.H. The Wahhabi connection with Hanbalism, the legal school followed by the vast majority of Najdis, is very critical. The founder of Hanbalism was a major force in the formulation of the doctrine of al-Salaf. Hanbalism was a legal and doctrinal school. In the doctrinal field, Wahhabism, therefore, affirms all that God used to describe himself with, rejecting any kind of metaphoric interpretation or anthromorphism. It also strongly insists on directing all kinds to worship to God alone. Due to internal and external factors, Najd was going through an intense sedentarization process during the few centuries that preceded the Wahhabi Movement. The increase in the sedentary population was accomplished by serious political and socio-economic problems that reached crisis proportions by the middle of the eighteenth century. Keenly aware of this situation, and strongly influenced by the revivalist movement in the Hijaz, which was seeking solid solutions to the deteriorating conditions in many Muslim societies, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab started his movement. The success of his movement in establishing a state along Islamic principles was due to the fact that he offered a comprehensive program that dealt successfully with the political and socio-economic crisis facing central Arabia at that time. In that, he was unrivaled by his contemporary reformers.