Ibn Taymiyyah Influence

This paper will examine the nature of the religious and political bond in Saudi Arabia as being fixed within a complex set of historical events, which were influenced by a variety of prominent Islamic intellectuals and rulers. Specifically, this bond is rooted within the partnership of ibn Wahhab, a conservative Islamic thinker of the 18th century and the royal ruler of the time, ibn Saud. In order to fully comprehend this bond, it is imperative to begin this investigation by discussing the factors that lead to this partnership. The two factors that enabled this alliance are Salafism, and Ibn Taymiyyah; both acted as key influences upon ibn Wahhab’s conservative Islamic views. Namely, these two factors enabled for the formation of Wahhabism.

Ibn Taymiyyah lived in Damascus from 1263 to 1328 (Amore, 145). Ideologically, “Ibn Taymiyyah held firmly to the idea that the period of the Salaf was the pure and true time of Islamic thought” (Amore, 145). Accordingly, Taymiyyah was a “strict literalist of the Quran and Sunnah” (Amore, 146). An example of this is Taymiyyah’s call for Jihad against the Mongols because they did not rule by Shariah despite converting to Sunni Islam (Amore, 145). Further, Taymiyyah rejected Sufism and “stopped short of calling for the death of all Shi’is” (Amore, 146-147). Therefore, it is evident that Taymiyyah possessed a rather harsh and uncompromising stance in terms of the way in which he advocated that Islam is to be practiced. These strict principles came to be reflected in the beliefs and assertions of al-Wahhab over three hundred years

Al-Wahhab was born in 1703 into a family of Sunni Scholars within the Najd region of Arabia (Amore, 147). Interestingly, al-Wahhab’s family “followed the Hanbali school, the most strict of the four schools of Shariah law” (Amore, 147). Growing up, al-Wahhab admired figures such as ibn Taymiyyah for both his piety and status as a fighter (Amore, 147). As a result of these influences, al-Wahhab came to adopt rather extreme positions that “made him unpopular with many mainstream Sunni Muslims” and ulamas (Amore, 149-150). As a cleric, al-Wahhab caught the attention of ibn Saud, the royal ruler of the time. At first, ibn Saud wanted nothing to do with him, however, after a meeting they devised to form a governing partnership wherein Ibn Saud took on the role of political authority and al-Wahhab acted as the religious authority (Amore, 153). This partnership illustrates the intertwining of religion and politics within Saudi