Revival and Reform in the 18 th and 19 th Centuries

1. Revival and Reform in the 18th and 19th Centuries

2. Context of Revival and Reform • Gunpowder Empires • Late Sunni Tradition: knot of… • The 4 Sunni schools of law… or else. • Speculative theology • Sufi brotherhoods (and often the theosophical Sufism of Ibn Arabi), acceptance of popular ritual • Hejaz as Crucible of reformist thought?

3. Movements of Revival and Reform 18th century sees series of (Salafi?) movements in peripheral areas: • Notion that community had gone astray • Questioning Late Sunni Tradition in order to regain primordial purity of Islam • Shirk had led people from tawhid • Taqlid not acceptable • Elite vs. Masses: confidence in masses • Political/Military vs. other Muslims Ex. Wahhabi movement in Arabia, Sokoto Caliphate in Hausaland, Futa Jallan (d. 1751) in Senegal

5. Wahhabi Movement - Emergence Arabia on the Eve of the movement: • Alois Musil: non-Islamic religion prevelant; Bedouins sacrifice camels at graves of ancestors, area around the grave of Zayd b. al-Khattab exempt from taxes • Dates are really only crop, with some wheat and millet… all depends on irrigation … drought is catastrophic • Settled – Sown continuum • Hierarchy of tribes, with Sulubba at the bottom (crafts, repairs) • Mecca and Medina are centers of Ottoman Late Sunni Tradition

8. Muhammad b. Abd al-Wahhab • b. 1703-4 in Uyayna to family of Hanbalis scholars • Married at age 12, had over 20 wives  form alliances • His father had written a treatise against the veneration of saints… inspired by Ibn Taymiyya • Travels to Mecca Medina and Basra, and the Hejaz, where he studies with scholars who (like Muhammad b. Hayat al-Sindi d. 1165/1751) inspire him with idea of returning to Tawhid and using hadith to do so • In 1740 becomes judge in Uyayna; where the amir of the city sees the shaykh’s teachings as a basis for political power, amir has some sacred trees chopped down, but angers peoples and has to flee the city; angers Shiite in al-Hisa’ • In Dir’iyya he meets Muhammad b. Saud in 1744…. • Alliance formed between the Shaykh the Imam

9. Wahhabi Ideology • Jahiliyya vs. Tawhid (no saints or idolatry) / Sunna vs. Taqlid (go back to Hadiths) • Manifestations of Pure Tawhid: • Practice and rejection of cultural accretion: Anti saints, cults and dhikr, but not against Sufism per se • Intention: Anti- riya’ • Social: Abolishes hierachical practices such as handkissing • Moral revival: Condemns greed and usury, encourages morals and kindness • Sunna: • rejection of loyalty to a school of law ijtihad • rejection of foreign sciences in Islamic thought • Anti Shiite (ex. refutations written by his son Abdallah) • Political link to Sauds: linked to and loyal to amir, who is responsible for caring for community and setting up proper Islamic society, Saudi amir is called “imām” • It is interesting that he is rejecting staples of Ottoman nobility (booze, tabacoo, zikr, silk)

10. History of Wahhabi Movement After Ibn Abd al-Wahhab: • 1801 Wahhabi troops attack Kerbala • 1803 Wahhabis capture Mecca and Medina • 1812 Ibrahim Pasha sent to crush Wahhabis in Nejd, 1818 he captures Diriyya and has grandsons of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab imprisoned or killed Saudi/Wahhabi State… Round Two! • 1902 Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud (d. 1953) takes Riyadh • Creation of Ikhwan and Hijras c. 1912 • 1924 Ikhwan attack Mecca and Medina, massacre at Taif, Ibn Saud enters Mecca as a pilgrim upon its surrender • 1932 kingdom of Najd and Hijaz declared • 1933 Aramco formed, first serious oil pumped in 1948… in early 50’s Saudis get 50% of revenue Making Peace with the World vs. Auto-Immune Disorder of Fundamentalism: • 1920 Ikhwan attack Kuwait, Brits drive them back with bombs • 1929 Ibn Saud fights war with Ikhwan at Battle of Sibla, Ibn Saud crushes the Ikhwan and destroys their camps… Ikhwan at an end • Problem of settling Bedouins and paying them stipends to prevent further attacks and raiding, this of course gets easier in the 1940’s when real oil revenue starts coming in. • But it’s not gone! Haram takeover in 1979 by Juhaiman al-Utayba

11. Usman don Fodio and the Sokoto Caliphate • Rejects of elitism of Muslim scholars • Rejects pantheistic worship: trees etc. • 1804-08 ‘Jihad’ against those who refuse to purify their Islam… book “Revival of the Sunna and Extinguishing Bid’a” • Establishes Sokoto State: has total of 13 wives… anti-racism and tribalism • Makes ‘Islam’ a widely practiced religion amongst the Hausa and Fulani

12. Shah Wali Allah of Delhi • d. 1762 • Studied in the Hejaz with same teachers as Ibn Abd al-Wahhab • Intellectual reformist • Ijtihad and hadith for scholars, Hanafi madhhb for masses • Re-Sunni-ization • Sought political unity in India • Supported Sober Sufism (Qadiri order) • Compromised on popular rituals • Well spring of Reformist thought in India