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The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
colonial power and they worked quickly to crush it. Unfortunately, the
Dutch were able to take advantage of the internal fighting between the
reform-minded Salafi Muslims and the Muslims who were content on
following the heresies and innovations that had crept into their
religion. The movement was finally defeated in 1837 C.E. after
sixteen years of struggle. Although many of the leaders of the struggle
were martyred during that fighting, their followers continued to spread
their message peacefully after that. After that time, the movement was
also able to spread to the other Indonesian islands. 1
On the Island of Java, in the 1910s and 1920s, a number of
organizations sprung up propagating, in general, the same teachings as
those of ibn Abdul-Wahhaab. One of them was lead by al-Haaj
Ahmad Dahklaan. He spent some time around 1902 in the Hijaz and
was greatly influenced by the teachings of ibn Abdul-Wahhaab. He
was the khateeb in the Mosque of Sultan in Jakarta and used that
position to spread those teachings and to eradicate some of the
innovations that had developed on the island. He resigned from his
post as khateeb 2 and continued to spread the message on his own, until
his death in 1923. But his organization, Jameeah Muhammadiyyah,
continued to spread to all of the islands. Indeed, it had a branch,
mosque, hospital or orphanage in virtually every city of Indonesia. It
became the largest dawah organization in Indonesia. Another
organization, Jameiyyah al-Wahdah al-Islaamiyyah was also very
active in carrying the same message. Although lots of negative
propaganda was being spread about the “Wahhabis,” as some of the
Indonesians performed the pilgrimage, they learned the truth about ibn
Abdul-Wahhaab and therefore the movement continued to spread
throughout Indonesia. 3
1 Cf., Arnold, p. 410; al-Zuhaili vol. 2, p. 323; Jumuah, pp. 88-103.
2 That is, the one who gives the sermons during the Friday Prayers.
3 For more details about the influence of ibn Abdul-Wahhaab in Indonesia, see
Najeeh Abdullah, “Tathar al-Dawaat al-Islaahiyyah fi Andooneesiya bi-Dawah
al-Shaikh Muhammad ibn Abdil-Wahhaab” in Buhooth Nadwah Dawah al-
Shaikh Muhammad ibn Abdil-Wahhaab (Riyadh: Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic
University, 1991), vol. 2, pp. 391-422; Jumuah, pp. 202-212.