Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab

Makers of the Muslim World

by Michael Crawford

Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792) aroused great controversy in his lifetime. More than two centuries after his death he still elicits strong views. For some he is the model of a pious religious activist who fought to establish a regime of Islamic godliness in the least promising of environments. For others, especially Muslims associated with mystic orders or who belong to the Shi‘i branch of Islam, he is a hate figure. Few would contest that he shaped the Muslim world.

For over two hundred and fifty years the Wahhabi religious movement has rested on the twin pillars of a clear, compelling credo and an indissoluble alliance with temporal power in Arabia. Absolutist, uncompromising theology and political and religious ambition combined to make it the dominant force there, turning its champions, the Al Sa‘ud clan, from petty rulers of a middle-sized settlement with a talent for balancing interests, into the guardians of Islam’s Holy Places, disposing of the earth’s greatest identified oil reserves. This thought-provoking and incisive biography, which charts the relationship between religious doctrine, political power and events on the ground, is ideal for readers interested in uncovering the life and convictions of the man who founded the Wahhabi movement and a dynastic alliance between his clerical descendants and Saudi princes that has lasted to the present day.

Genres: Islam, History, Religion, Middle East, Biography

160 pages, Hardcover

First published December 16, 2014

Reviews

[Anonimo2000 · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتاب غير مشهور لكن ممتاز، متوازن ونقدي بدون شيطنة وموضوعي بدون تغاضي عن الجوانب غير المضيئة. أتمنى لو يترجم.

[Imran Helal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nicely summed up.

[Faheem · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short and readable biography is a useful account that emphasizes the historical context from which Ibn 'Abd Al-Wahhab emerges. What emerges is a sympathetic, rigorous and plausible account of austere, powerful man tinged with undisputable heroism. Being used to accounts that are either hagiographies or treatments that veer between vitriol and contempt, this emphasizes the Najdi context which begins to make sense of many of concerns of the Wahabi movement. What emerges is a flawed and limited man but one who has an undeniable powerful, even boundless vision - a vision whose pungence and potency retains its resonance over 250 years later.

This is an essential biography for those interested in Wahhabism, and the central if elusive man behind the movement.