Within Islam, there are sects, namely Sunni and Shi’a, and within those sects are different schools of thought. Salafism (from the word salaf, meaning to “follow” or “precede”) is a movement, rooted in Sunni Islam, based on a literalist, fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. These Muslims rely solely on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions as guides for correct Islamic practice. Everything else, they deem impure innovation. Following the same ideology, but specific to Saudi Arabia, is Wahhabism. Wahhabism has a fairly negative connotation within the Western world; however, this sect was highly influential and continues to be esteemed by the royal Saudi family.
This orthodox reform movement was founded by Muhammad ibn Abdel Wahhab, a Salafi scholar, during the eighteenth century in response to “what he perceived as the moral decline of his society” (Blanchard). Abdel Wahhab impacted the Arabian Peninsula through a serious of reforms, aiming to return to and strengthen monotheistic belief and unity under Islam. Before the wide acceptance of his viewpoint, Abdel Wahhab was opposed not only by advocates of “Islamic ignorance”, or jahiliyah, but also scholars. “A major factor was misunderstanding created by defaming forces motivated by political objectives” (Islahi). All of this changed once he gained the support of Muhammad ibn Saud, the emir, or chief, of Dar’iyah, who was revered for his skills as a warrior.
Muhammad ibn Saud had begun his dynasty in 1726 when he ruled over Dara’iyah. He met Abdel Wahhab in 1740 (after Abdel Wahhab was expelled from Uyayna) and was impressed with his strict religious ideals. Although Saud took on a military role and Abdel Wahhab was responsible for strengthening the movem...
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...di government, though the funding of mosques, schools, and charitable organizations, have promoted terrorism and intolerance of other religions and cultures (Blanchard).
Relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia are complicated to say the least. Saudi Arabia is a major exporter of oil and in order to “protect a stable and cheap supply of oil” coming to the U.S. and our allies, military bases have been set up. Although the U.S. is there to aid Saudi Arabia, “the presence of bases fosters opposition to the regime they are there to protect”—classic catch-22 (Okruhlik).
The term Wahhabi is not commonly used among followers of this sect, but rather by their opponents, such as other Arabs and European scholars. “Members of the movement describe themselves as muwahhidun, […] which means Unitarians” (Islahi). The core of that word, wahid, means “one” (Kamrava).
Livingston, John W., and Al-Jabarti. "The Rise of Shaykh al-Balad 'Ali Bey al-Kabir: A Study in
The Muslim Empire began to expand vastly under the Umayyads, with the empire becoming so large many people were converting to Islam religion. The Umayyads were the second of the four major caliphates after the death of Muhammad. The Empire used many different ways to spread the Islamic civilization consisting of war, classes, and appeal. The Islamic civilization spread so strongly because of the way it allured the common man.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, no one imagined that the next great world power would emerge from Saudi Arabia. Especially, because ancient empires thought that the land was worthless but they didn’t know that it had great trade routes. Trade brought them in connection with other civilizations and that’s how the city of Mecca, located in Saudi Arabia became known. The city of Mecca was a mix of religious beliefs, they used to worship many gods and had their own rituals. The world of Islam took place in Mecca where Muhammad was born in 570 CE. He became known as “the Prophet,” he was meant to be God’s final prophet. The main two groups of Islam are the Shia and Sunni; which they were created after Muhammad’s death. The Islam religion as
The relations between the U.S and the Middle East are strained at best. The troops deployed in the area face constant threat of attack by a militant group. These broken relations between the U.S and the Middle East started over 50 years ago, with the Iran Hostage Crisis. Root causes of the crisis were many. One was U.S greed over oil in Iran. The second, the coup in Iran organized and funded by the CIA. The U.S dependence on foreign oil is another cause of the problems. Lastly, should the U.S stop moving into other countries sovereign lands and trying to “Prevent the evil of communism”, the nation would not have so many problems around the world. This worry was even shown in Iran (Kinzer, 10). While often blamed on radicals, the strained relations between the U.S and the Middle East are a direct result of a poor US foreign policy.
Prior to the introduction of Islam, the Arabian Peninsula was made of Tribes. Fighting between these tribes was common as resources were scarce. This created a culture based around continuous warfare. According to the text, “The widespread experience of Arabs in warfare was to be a significant factor in the early expansion of Islam” (Cleveland 7). Another factor, which helped in the spread of Islam, was simply timing. These empires emerged at a time when the rest of the world was relatively weak. The two prevailing Empires preceding the rise of Islam, the Byz...
Hilāl, ʻAlī Al-Dīn. Islamic Resurgence in the Arab World. New York, NY: Praeger, 1982. Print.
Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion alongside Judaism and Christianity. It is currently the second largest religion in the world today. Its beliefs come from the Qur'an which literally means "the recitation" which is believed to be a literal transcription of the word of God. Its main prophet is named Muhammad who began Islam by speaking with the angel Gabriel in a cave during his meditation and then acting as an instrument of God to help write the Qur’an. Muhammad then spread Islam to the scattered tribes of Arabia by becoming the leader of Yathrib and using his wonderful leadership abilities to then grow his influence over virtually all of Arabia. Muhammad is known by Muslims to be the seal of the profits because no profits after Muhammad should be considered legitimate. Muhammad also left behind the Hadith or “tradition” which is a collection of writings compiled of reports of Muhammad’s actions as leader of Yathrib. These reports are used as a more specific code of ethics in day to day life and from these reports the 5 Pillars of Islam are derived (Smith 160). Although Islam shares many similarities to Judaism and Christianity it is often viewed in the US with hate derived from preconceived notions following the attack on September 11th 2001. This paper seeks to provide an overview of Islam’s history as well as its two major sects and 5 main pillars to remove preconceived notions and provide a glance into the minds of the Islamic people.
Although the United Sates and Saudi Arabia present the United States and Saudi Arabia’s relationship as excellent, there are actually two nations who have bitter disagreements but who allies through oil. The only thing that has held this alliance together is the US dependence on Saudi oil. The United States has felt and still fells that it is a necessity to have bases present in the Middle East to protect oil, and silently to protect Israel. The relationship began in 1933 when Standard Oil of California signed an agreement with the Saudi government. In 1943 FDR affirmed that the defense of Saudi Arabia was a vital interest to the United States and moved troops into the region. Future presidents would emulate this declaration and mobilization of troops to Saudi Arabia. Again in 1945 Abd al Aziz, the Saudi king, and FDR would cement this alliance, on a US warship in the Suez Canal. Soon after, airfields were constructed at Dhahran and other spots over Saudi Arabia; beginning a long tradition of US military facilities in Saudi Arabia. Abd al Aziz was the first of his line of successors to meet with US presidents. The relationship was only strengthened with the onset on the Cold war, as the US used the bases in Saudi Arabia as potential air force launch sites to the USSR and constructed more military facilities. In 1941 Harry S. Truman made another assertion of Americas protection and alliance with Saudi Arabia to Abd Al Aziz. Truman stated that “support for Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity and political independence was a primary objective of the United States.” (Countrystudies.com) Another stipulation of this pact was that the US established a permanent military training mission in the Saudi Arabia. That mission lasted until 1992. Soon after the pact between Truman and Aziz was agreed upon the US-Saudi relationship would endure its first major disagreement. On May 14th, 1948 Israel was declared an independent state in the former Arab dominated Palestine. Israel’s independence was backed the United States. Saudi Arabia refused to acknowledge the country of Israel and to engage in any relations with them. The Saudis concerns of the Israel-US relationship were reinforced in the 1970’s and 1980’s when the US sold arms to Israel, but refused to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. In some cases congressional leaders refused to sell arms to Saudi Arabia on the grounds that Saudi Arabia might use them against Israel.
Over the course of the last century, the Islamic Republic of Iran (formerly known as Persia) has seen colonialism, the end of a dynasty, the installation of a government by a foreign power, and just over three decades ago, the popular uprising and a cleric-led revolution. These events preceded what could be considered the world’s first Islamic state, as politics and fundamentalist religion are inextricably linked in contemporary Iran. Looking at Iran from the mid 1940’s until the present day, one can trace the path that led to the rise of fundamental Islam in Iran in three distinct periods. The first is that which began with the rise of secular nationalism and the decline of Islam. In the second, the secular, western-friendly government eventually gave way to the Islamic revival in the form of a government takeover by hard-line clerics and disillusioned, fundamentalist youth; both motivated and led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Rule of Iran by these fundamentalist clerics then led to the formation of the fundamentalist Islamic theocracy that governs present-day Iran. The current government has some democratic appearances, but all real power is in the hands of the supreme leader, an Ayatollah who is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, a group of clerics chosen by the Guardian Council. With the Iranian Revolution, political Islam was born, with the fundamentalists holding the reins of power in Iran to the present day.
In 1250 the Mamluk rebellion overthrew the Ayyubid house for control of Egypt and named Aybeg, one of the Mamluk regimental leaders, as Sultan. The Mamluks, being a military slave society, were able to defend Syria against the Mongols in 1260 and also subsume the remaining Syria principalities and expel the Crusaders by 1291.1 The unity between Egypy and Syria that the Mamluks were able to achieve was reason that the Mamluk state was the largest Islamic states between the time of the Abbasids and the Ottoman empire.2 Moreover, t...
Islam is a major world religion. Its origin can be traced back to 610 CE in Arabia. The basis of this religion is the revelations to the prophet Mohammad. Dissatisfied with his life, he traveled to deserts, hills, and the wilderness surrounding Mecca, where he lived, to meditate and reflect. He became a new man through his revelations, which many of his followers believe Allah transmitted to him through his angel Gabriel. Islam was originally an Arab religion, but many different beliefs and practices were added to it, making it extremely popular and aiding in its rapid spread. This new religion spread to many different areas surrounding Arabia, both under Mohammad and after his death. The Muslim Empire grew to encompass Spain and the Eastern Roman Empire as well Persia and Africa. Many different practices and methods were used to spread Islam. The religion itself was appealing to, in addition to the inhabitants of Arabia, other people in the surrounding areas because of its distinct religious beliefs and practices, such as the five pillars, as well as the humility and prayerfulness of the Islamic people. They fought cruel, vicious wars with their enemies. Many different things motivated the warriors to expand, but above all, the riches they would gain from the people of the Fertile Crescent encouraged them to expand.
Muhammad Ibn Abd al- Wahhab(MIAW) was an 18th century Islamic reformer, scholar, jurist and writer. He is considered the first modern Islamic fundamentalist and extremist. He believed in order for Muslims to be “true Muslims” they must adhere, “solely and strictly to the original beliefs set forth by Muhammad.” (ask.com) This idea of his formed what many know today as the controversial Wahhabi movement.
Robinson, T., Seiglie, M., 2008. The Birth and Spread of Islam. Retrieved September 28, 2008 from http://www.ucgstp.org
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.
Johari F. (2010). The Dynamism in The Implementation of Al-Kharaj During The Islamic Rule (634-785AD). Jurnal Syariah, Jil. 18, Bil. 3 (2010) 629-658.