Background
Information on Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab
Wahhabi Islam was
founded in the province of Najd, located in central Arabia, by
Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1702-3 to 1791-2) in the eighteenth
century during a time of renewal and reform in the Muslim world.
A theologian and legal scholar, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab was a
man of intense religious conviction.
It was his adamant belief in tawhid, or
monotheism, that led him to dedicate his life to the reformation
of the Muslim faith. He
wrote extensively on the themes of Islamic law, education,
missionary work, jihad, and women and gender and traveled
throughout Arabia spreading these ideas.
Ibn Abd al-Wahhab was
most troubled by what he saw as the corrupting outside
influences on Islam. He
dedicated his life to the eradication of foreign and
superstitious practices adopted by many Muslims such as praying
to saints, the wearing of charms, and pilgrimages to shrines and
tombs. Ibn Abd
al-Wahhab did not see the solution to this problem as being the
violent subjugation of those who had gone astray or the
overthrow of political powers, however.
He knew change would be a gradual process and would best
be accomplished through education and the thoughtful exploration
of Islam.
Above all else, Ibn Abd
al-Wahhab wrote, followers had to make the idea of one God the
center of their life; only this could lead to the
reestablishment of a just, stable, and powerful society.
He also stressed the Understanding of the Quran’s
message over simply memorizing its texts. He believed in gaining insight into the legal and theological
principles embodied in the hadith (the collected sayings
and deeds of the Prophet Muhhamad) for the purpose of applying
them to other materials and situations.
He advocated the rights of women, and, finally called for
a limitation of the use of jihad and discouraged violence in
favor of education and debate.
Wahhabi Islam:
From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad
By Natana J. DeLong-Bas
 Book
Description
Before 9/11,
few Westerners had heard of Wahhabism. Today, it is a household
word. Frequently mentioned in association with Osama bin Laden,
Wahhabism is portrayed by the media and public officials as an
intolerant, puritanical, militant interpretation of Islam that
calls for the wholesale destruction of the West in a jihad of
global proportions. In the first study ever undertaken of the
writings of Wahhabism's founder, Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab
(1702-1791), Natana DeLong-Bas shatters these stereotypes and
misconceptions. [more]
Click
here
for ordering information.
Natana
J. DeLong-Bas is a senior research assistant at the Center
for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University,
Washington, DC. She
is the author of Notable Muslims:
A Biographical Dictionary (2004) and co-author of Women
in Muslim Family Law, revised edition, with John L. Esposito
(2001). She has
served as editor for and contributor to The Oxford Dictionary
of Islam (OUP, 2003), and contributor to The Encyclopedia
of the Qur’an (2004) and The Encyclopedia of the
Islamic World (OUP, 2004). She is a frequent public speaker on Islam, Wahhabism and
Saudi Arabia.
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