Who Is a Wahhabi?

Wahhabism (also called Salafism) is an austere form of Islam that insists on a literal interpretation of the Koran. Strict Wahhabis believe that all people (e.g., Jews, Christians and non-Wahhabi Muslims) who don’t practice their form of Islam are heathens and potential enemies. A book for Wahhabi madrassa ninth graders says: “The day of judgment will not arrive until Muslims fight Jews, and Muslims will kill Jews until the Jew hides behind a tree or a stone. Then the tree and the stone will say, ‘Oh Muslim, on, servant of God, this is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him.’”¹

• Invoking any prophet, saint or angel in prayer, other than Allah alone (this is considered polytheism)
• Grave worship, whether to 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 grave²

The term “Wahhabism” is a derogatory term to many Wahabi Muslims who prefer the monikers “Salafis,” al-Muwahhiddun ("the monotheists"), or al-Ikhwan ("the brethren").
Many non-Wahhabis argue that, rather than returning to the original version of the faith, Wahhabis have created their own innovations. Critics of Wahhabism say that its rigidity and obsession with control have helped to create a culture of political extremism exemplified by the work of Osama bin Laden and Wahhabists Mohammed Atta and his 18 co-hijackers of 9/11.

Wahhabism became the official Muslim faith of Saudi Arabia in 1744 through the marriage of the son of Muhammad ibn Saud (the founding ruler) with the daughter of Ibn Abd al Wahhab (mentioned above). “To this day, these families divide governance of the kingdom, with the descendants of Ibn al-Wahhab, known as ahl al-Shaykh, responsible for religious life and the Saudi royal family, or ahl al-Sa’ud, running the state. The two families continue to marry their descendants to one another. The supreme religious leader of Saudi Arabia is a member of the family of Ibn al-Wahhab.”³

Crown Prince Abdulla attending a gathering at the Royal Diwan (court) “Crown Prince Abdullah, widely recognized as the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, began running the country's daily affairs after his half brother, King Fahd, suffered a debilitating stroke in 1995. He inherited a country with growing unemployment, discontent from its populace due to falling living standards, and, most recently, an increasing and alarming level of terrorism. In response, he has largely balanced conservative and reform-minded pressures within the Saudi population and leadership by following a measured agenda focused on increasing political and civil liberties without upsetting the traditional Wahhabists. Known as a reformist himself, Abdullah also enjoys a reputation for being traditional, incorruptible, and honest.” Source: PBS: “The Saudi Question. A Photo Essay: A Country of Contrasts” at: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/saudi/photo2.html. Credit for photo: Anthony Makin.

Adherents of Wahhabism have “come to dominate Islam in the U.S.” where Shia and other non-Wahhabi Muslim community leaders estimate that 60 to 80 percent of 1,200 American mosques are under Wahhabi control.³ [This does not mean that 80% of American Muslims support Wahhabism.] The Saudi government provides an unknown amount of financial support to American Wahhabi mosques.

Of Wahhabis, with whom he was familiar, T.E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) in 1926 wrote this: “The Wahhabis, followers of a fanatical Moslem heresy, had imposed their strict rules on easy and civilized Kasim⁴. In Kasim there was but little coffee-hospitality, much prayer and fasting, no tobacco, no artistic dalliance with women, no silk clothes, no gold and silver head-ropes or ornaments. Everything was forcibly pious or forcibly puritanical.

“It was a natural phenomenon, this periodic rise at intervals of little more than a century, of ascetic creeds in Central Arabia. Always the [Wahhabis] found their neighbours’ beliefs cluttered with inessential things, which became impious in the hot imagination of their preachers. Again and again they had arisen, had taken possession, soul and body, of the tribes, and had dashed themselves to pieces on the urban Semites, merchants and concupiscent men of the world. About the comfortable possessions the new creeds ebbed and flowed like the tides or the changing seasons, each movement with the seeds of early death in its excess of rightness.”⁵

1. PBS Frontline: “Saudi Time bomb? Analysis Wahhabism.” See:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saudi/.

2.Wikepedia: “Wahhabism.” See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahabbi.

3. “Terrorism: Growing Wahhabi Influence in the United States.” Hearing before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security of the Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate, June 26, 2003, Serial No. J-108-21; p. 89. For full text, go to Government Printing Office at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/. Type in “Wahhabi: into homepage search engine.

4. Kasim is the “archipelago of watered and populous oases [in which lay] the true centre of Arabia, the preserve of its native spirit, and its most conscious individuality.” (p. 34)

5. T.E. Lawrence: Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph; 1926, Anchor Books, Fourth Edition 1991, p. 148.