Waking up in a new world: Part VI

Editor's note: No, I will not do a table of contents. If you don't know how to scroll down to find the relevant section that you haven't read yet, you don't deserve to read this blog. Elitism? Maybe.

This post can either be considered a sign of laziness (Editor's view) or a sign of Wikipedia's usefulness (Author's view). It also provides a condundrum to the Editor, as the action of basically copy/pasting from another source brings up issues of copyright and fair use. Although Wikipedia is covered by a very generous license, they do provide a bit of disclaimer when it comes to a verbatim copy. Reading through the lawyerspeak, it does seem kosher to show the article as the Author intended, but I have my hand over the delete key just in case. I was going to suggest just providing the link to the source article, and nothing else, but the Author isn't one to pass up on a chance to bloviate, even with someone else's material. Without further ado....

[Author's note: I can empathize with the editor's reservations on this one. I, for one, do not enjoy posting other people's work in what I claim to be my own thoughts. But while researching Wahhabism, I came across the post at Wikipedia.com. The material was exactly what I wanted to write, I thought it summed up every point I wanted to make. Had I attempted to write my own version, I know I would simply be plagiarizing it, which I refused to do. I also know that Wikipedia.com is an evolving database. While simply linking to the text would have conveyed my message, that doesn't mean a month from now the entire entry won't be completely rewritten. I wanted it in the same form as when I read it.

Final Author's note: I spell checked this email before sending it to the editor for posting. While doing so I fixed his spelling error on the word condundrum. Good help can be hard to find.]

Final Editor's note: As someone becoming increasingly interested in the principles of economics, I believe this truism holds: You get what you pay for. And now, without ANY OTHER ado...

I was doing some research on the web for part six of my rant and came across this from Wikipedia.com. It explains it better than I ever could. See you in part seven.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi

Beliefs

Wahhabism accepts the Qur'an and hadith as basic texts. It also accepts various commentaries including Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's Kitab
al-Tawhid ("Book of Monotheism"), and the works of the earlier scholar Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328).

Wahhabis do not follow any specific maddhab (method or school of jurisprudence), but claim to interpret the words of the prophet
Muhammad directly, using the four maddhab for reference. However, they are often associated with the Hanbali maddhab. Wahhabis
hold that some Muslim groups such as Sufism and Shia Islam follow novel (and thus non-Islamic) practices.

Wahhabi theology advocates a puritanical and legalistic stance in matters of faith and religious practice.

Wahhabists see their role as a movement to restore Islam from what they perceive to be innovations, superstitions, deviances, heresies
and idolatries. There are many practices that they believe are contrary to Islam, such as:

The invoking of any prophet, saint or angel in prayer, other than God alone (Wahhabists believe these practices are polytheistic in
nature)
Supplications at graves, whether saints' graves, or the prophet's grave
Celebrating annual feasts for dead saints
Wearing of charms, and believing in their healing power
Practicing magic, or going to sorcerers or witches seeking healing
Innovation in matters of religion (e.g. new methods of worship)
Erecting elaborate monuments over any grave

Wahhabis ban pictures, some ban photographs (others do not), and celebrating Muhammad's birthday, among many other things, based
on their interpretation of the hadith. Many Wahhabi men grow their beards and wear their traditional dresses above their ankles.
Wahhabis in South Asia are called "Ahl ul Hadith".

Early history of Wahhabism

Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia began with Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, an Arabian cleric who had come to believe that Sunni Islam
had been corrupted by innovations (bidah) such as Sufism. He discovered the works of the early Muslim thinker Ibn Taymiyya and
started preaching a reformation of Islam based on Ibn Taymiyya's ideas. He was repudiated by his father and brother, who were both
clerics, and expelled from his home village in Najd, in central Arabia.

He then moved to the Najdi town of Diriya and formed an alliance with the Saudi chieftain Muhammad bin Saud. Bin Saud made
Wahhabism the official religion in the First Saudi State. Al Wahhab gave religious legitimacy to Ibn Saud's career of conquest. Ibn
Taymiyya had been controversial in his time because he held that some self-declared Muslims (such as the Mongol conquerors of the
Abbasid caliphate) were in fact unbelievers and that orthodox Muslims could conduct violent jihad against them. Bin Saud believed that
his campaign to restore a pristine Islam justified the conquest of the rest of Arabia.

In 1801, the Saudis attacked the Iraqi city of Kerbala and sacked the Shi'a shrine there. In 1803, Saudis conquered Mecca and Medina
and sacked or demolished various shrines and mosques. The Saudis held the two cities until 1817, until they were retaken by
Mohammed Ali Pasha, acting on behalf of the Ottomans. In 1818, the Ottoman forces invaded Najd, captured the Saudi capital of
Diriya and the Saudi emir Abdullah bin Saud. He and his chief lieutenants were taken to Istanbul and beheaded. However, this did not
destroy Wahhabism in Najd.

The House of Saud returned to power in the Second Saudi State in 1824. The state lasted until 1899, when it was overthrown by the
Emir of Hayel, Mohammed Ibn Rasheed. However, Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud reconquered Riyadh in 1902 and after a number of other
conquests, founded the modern Saudi state, Saudi Arabia in 1932.

Modern spread of Wahhabism

In 1924 the Wahhabi al-Saud dynasty, conquered Mecca and Medina, the Muslim holy cities. This gave them control of the Hajj, the
annual pilgrimage, and the opportunity to preach their version of Islam to the assembled pilgrims. However, Wahhabism was a minor
current within Islam until the discovery of oil in Arabia, in 1938. Vast oil revenues gave an immense impetus to the spread of
Wahhabism. Saudi laypeople, government officials and clerics have donated many tens of millions of dollars to create Wahhabi-oriented
religious schools, newspapers and outreach organizations.

Some Muslims believe that Saudi funding and Wahhabi proselytization have had a strong effect on world-wide Sunni Islam (they may
differ as to whether this is a good thing, or a bad one). Other Muslims say that while the Wahhabis have bought publicity and visibility, it
is not clear that they have convinced even a sizable minority of Muslims outside Saudi Arabia to adopt Wahhabi norms.