History & Doctrines of the Wahhabis by Abdullah

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The English version of this important Arabic pamphlet on the Wahhabi Movement was published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1874. Considering its importance as a source material on this movement, the Society decided to reprint this pamphlet and requested Professor Amalendu De, President of the Society, to write an introduction. I am of opinion that this work would be very much useful to those who are engaged in studying the history and doctrines of the Wahhabis.

This important tract written in Arabic in April, 1803 on the History and Doctrines of the Wahhabis by Abd Allah, grandson of Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792), a noted Hanbali theologian and founder of Wahhabism at Najd at al-Uyayna, ""an oasis which at that time was enjoying some prosperity"" was preserved in original form ""among the Government Dihli MSS (Arabic MSS, No. 686)."" The English translation of this document by J. O' Kinealy, C.S.S., Calcutta was published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1874.2 Abd Allah wrote this tract on the occasion of the conquest of Mecca in which he took part in 1803. It is not known whether this Arabic version was widely circulated in India since the beginning of the 19th century. The Tarikha-i- Muhammadia (or Path of Muhammad) movement, popularly called Indian Wahhabi Movement (1818-1871), was launched by Syed Ahmad Brelwi (1786-1831) and Shah Ismail (1782- 1831) in 1818. Shah Ismail was a grandson of Shah Waliullah (1706-1763) of Delhi. Syed Ahmad was a student of Shah Waliullah's son Abdul Aziz. Shah Ismail also got his lessons as a student of his father Abdul Aziz. Both Syed Ahmad and Shah Ismail were influenced by the teachings of Shah Waliullah. The Tarikha-i-Muhammadia movement organized by them during the period 1818-1822 was not in any way connected with the Wahhabi Movement at Najd initiated by Abd al-Wahhab. ""Syed Ahmad and Shah Ismail visited Mecca and Medina in 1822-1823. At that time the Wahhabi movement lost much of its vigour in the Arabian Peninsula. Titu Mir (1782-1831), a leader of the Wahhabi movement in Bengal, was also in Mecca at that time and he became acquainted with Syed Ahmad. Being influenced by him Titu Mir accepted his discipleship. Before them Haji Shariat Ullah (1781- 1840), founder of the Farazi movement in Bengal, was in Mecca. He went there in 1799 and studied there for about twenty years. Acquiring great knowledge in Islamic theology, Shariat Ullah came back to Bengal in 1818 and organized the Farazi movement in the Eastern parts of Bengal. Shariat Ullah witnessed the influence of Wahhabism in the Arab land. The descendants of Abd al-Wahhab were then pursuing his path for the spread of his teachings. The very core of Abd al-Wahhab's ""teachings was made up of a concept of tawhid and its opposite shirk, on which he based a radical criticism of his contemporaries religious behaviour."" In fact, ""this doctrine of tawhid formed the fundament on which he based the rules for correct behaviour in belief."" Abd al-Wahhab wanted to combat those ""who did not act according to the rules of tawhid."" He also ""argued that the rules of tawhid as prescribed by God had become corrupted during the course of history, from the time of the Revelation until the 12th century of the Hidjra due to negligence by generations of religious scholars who had thus wrongly guided the 'amma' and he asserted that only the direct approach of the Kur'an and the Sunna could again reveal its true meaning."" Itis 10 to be noted here that in this matter, Abd al-Wahhab ""saw himself not bound to any scholarly tradition but independently revealing the lost meaning of tawhid in an age of djahiliyva to which everybody except himself had fallen victim.""

Book's Contents and Sample Pages