Wahhabism: Difference between revisions

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{{Sunni Islam|Movements}}

<br />{{•}} '''WAHHABIYYA''', a term used to denote (a) the doctrine and (b) the followers of Krishna. cAbd al-Wahhab. Brill Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed

<br />{{•}} '''Wahhābīyah''' An eighteenth-century religious revival (tajdīd) and reform (islāh) movement founded in Nejd in Saudi Arabia by the scholar and jurist Muḥammad Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb (1702/3–1791/2). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World

<br />{{•}} '''Wahhābī''' ISLAMIC MOVEMENT Wahhābī, also spelled Wahābī, any member of the Muslim reform movement founded by Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb in the 18th century in Najd, central Arabia, and adopted in 1744 by the Saʿūdī family. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

<br />{{•}} '''Wahhābīya''' An ultra-conservative, puritanical Muslim movement adhering to the Ḥanbalite law, although it regards itself as ghair muqallidīn, non-adherent to parties, but defending truth. (The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, Oxford)

The term Wahhabi(sm) is often used [[polemic]]ally and adherents commonly reject its use, preferring to be called ''[[Salafi movement|Salafi]]'' or ''muwahhid'',<ref name="Wiktorowicz, Quintan 2006 p.235"/><ref>{{harvnb|DeLong-Bas|2004|pp=[https://archive.org/details/wahhabiislamfrom0000delo/page/123 123–124]}}. "''Wahhabism'' has become [...] a blanket term for any Islamic movement that has an apparent tendency toward misogyny, militantism, extremism, or strict and literal interpretation of the Quran and hadith."</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Commins|2009|p=ix}}. "Thus, the mission's devotees contend that 'Wahhabism' is a misnomer for their efforts to revive correct Islamic belief and practice. Instead of the Wahhabi label, they prefer either ''Salafi'', one who follows the ways of the first Muslim ancestors (''salaf''), or ''muwahhid'', one who professes God's unity."</ref> claiming to emphasize the principle of ''[[tawhid]]''<ref name="GlasseIsl"/> (the "uniqueness" and "unity" of [[God in Islam|God]]).<ref name="Esposito333">{{harvnb|Esposito|2003|p=333}}</ref> The term has also been described as a [[Anti-Sunnism|Sunniphobic]] slur.<ref>{{harvnb|Commins|2006|pp=vi, 137, 192}}. "A neutral observer could define the Wahhabi mission as the religious reform movement associated with the teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792). He and his followers believe that they have a religious obligation to spread the call (in Arabic, da’wa) for a restoration of pure monotheistic worship. Thus, the mission’s devotees contend that ‘Wahhabism’ is a misnomer for their efforts to revive correct Islamic belief and practice. Instead of the Wahhabi label, they prefer either salafi, one who follows the ways of the first Muslim ancestors (salaf), or muwahhid, one who professes God’s unity." .. "In political terms, Alusi toed a fine line when we recall that he wrote his work before the demise of the Ottoman Empire was on the horizon. We find no such restraint to embrace Saudi Arabia as a political cause in the post-Ottoman writings of his colleague in the religious reform movement, Rashid Rida. This Syrian-born figure is much better known than Alusi and had far-reaching influence on the Muslim world through his monthly periodical, al-Manar (‘The Lighthouse’), which came out in 1898 and continued until Rida’s death in 1935. He had left his native Syria (in present-day Lebanon) in 1897 and moved to Egypt in order to join the circle of the celebrated Egyptian reformer-scholar Muhammad Abduh. They collaborated on the first Muslim periodical to achieve a pan-Islamic reach, with readers in Indonesia and the Muslim communities in the Americas. Rida’s political involvements in the Arab East are far too complex for a thorough treatment here, but several incidents in his career illustrate the tendency for Ottoman religious reformers to re-evaluate Wahhabism. For one thing, conservative ulama put him in the same category as others seeking to eliminate popular religious practices and beliefs and tarred him with the Wahhabi label. These ulama opposed the Ottoman constitutional movement and accused the constitutionalists like Rida of being Wahhabis. When Rida visited Damascus a few months after the July 1908 constitutional restoration, two conservative sheikhs interrupted his public lecture at the city’s ancient Umayyad mosque and ‘Wahhabi-baited’ him. The authorities made matters worse by arresting one of the rabble-rousing sheikhs, whose allies then drummed up protesting crowds at other mosques. The rowdy mob frightened Rida into fleeing Damascus the next day and with the Wahhabi tag attached to his local comrades in religious reform, they retreated to their homes for several weeks before venturing out.".. "In Russia and Central Asia, public figures and the media see Wahhabism as the inspiration for religious revival and Islamic political movements. During the Soviet era, official apprehensions emerged about an ‘Islamic threat’ posed by Sufi orders as nests of secret conspiracies against the communist system. In the post-Soviet era, Sufism has assumed a positive connotation as a moderate form of Islam opposed to Wahhabism, which has become a sort of bogeyman in public discourse. Pejorative use of the term cropped up in the late Soviet era, when members of the official religious establishment castigated proponents of expunging ritual of non-scriptural elements for ‘importing’ Wahhabism, thus implying that it is alien to the region’s heritage.Many Russians believe that after the Afghan war, Wahhabis infiltrated Central Asia to spread their version of Islam. Thus, in 1998, political leaders of Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan declared their readiness to confront ‘a threat of aggressive fundamentalism, aggressive extremism and above all Wahhabism. This is what we have currently in Afghanistan and in troubled Tajikistan.’The government of Uzbekistan tags unsanctioned religious activity with the Wahhabi label. The problem with this outlook is that it conflates differences among a variety of Muslim religious movements, which include militant and reformist political tendencies alongside utterly apolitical ones. Thus, a leading Tajik modernist who favours a blend of democracy and Islam has been branded a Wahhabi even though he has ties to Sufi circles. An even more egregious instance of Wahhabi-phobia is the warning from a government minister in Kyrgyzstan about Wahhabi agitators from Shiite Iran.The Russian media circulates stories about ‘Wahhabi’ villages in rebellious regions of Daghestan, where the inhabitants reportedly abide by a Taliban-style regime with a ban on television and compulsory veiling of women. When a journalist visited this village, he discovered religious pluralism: some women did veil while others did not; some men wore beards as a sign of piety while others were clean shaven; he even found some television viewers."</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Daly Metcalf|first=Barbara|jstor=j.ctt7zvmm2|title=Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860-1900|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1982|pages=271–272, 279 |quote="Given the animosity between the pro-Wahhabi Ahl-i Hadith and the Deobandists, it is ironic that an early twentieth century treatise by an Indian Muslim attacking the Deobandists labelled them Wahhabis"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=H. Cordesman|first=Anthony |date=31 December 2002|title=Saudi Arabia Enters The 21st Century: IV. Opposition and Islamic Extremism Final Review|url=https://www.csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/legacy_files/files/media/csis/pubs/s21_04.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiFp7-1rbzuAhXUV3wKHcKTAu8QFjAFegQICxAB&usg=AOvVaw1Rp_wrGdqoASa8cDzjUiXq|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223180655/https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/legacy_files/files/media/csis/pubs/s21_04.pdf|archive-date=23 December 2020|website=Center for Strategic and International Studies|pages=8–9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Reem|first=Abu|date=1 April 2007|title=The Wahhabi Myth: Debunking the Bogeyman |url=https://muslimmatters.org/2007/04/01/the-wahhabi-myth-debunking-the-bogeyman/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129021851/https://muslimmatters.org/2007/04/01/the-wahhabi-myth-debunking-the-bogeyman/ |archive-date=29 November 2020|website=Muslim Matters}}</ref> It follows the theology of [[Ibn Taymiyyah]] and the [[Hanbali]] [[Madhhab|school of jurisprudence]],{{sfn|Haykel|2013|page=231}} although a small minority of Hanbali leaders renounced ibn Abd al-Wahhab's views due to Ottoman influence.<ref name="Wahhabi" />