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The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
VI
Recent English Literature on Muhammad ibn Abdul-
Wahhaab
In this chapter, an attempt will be made to briefly survey some
of the English literature related to Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab.
The emphasis will be on recently published works 1 of—or supposedly
of—a scholarly nature. 2 Hence, the sensationalism and propaganda
that one hears in the common media concerning “Wahhabism” will
not be discussed here, although it is deserving of a study in itself.
General Studies on Islam
With the interest in Islam growing since the 1970s, a number
of new introductory works or general surveys of Islam have been
published. Some of them are of the same tenor as earlier works, being
very anti-Islam. Others are much more “sympathetic” and objective. A
number of these works, as well as other works that deal with the
Middle East or Muslim revival, touch upon ibn Abdul-Wahhaab and
his mission. In general, one can say that as more information about ibn
Abdul-Wahhaab becomes widely available, the views of him are
becoming more and more positive.
For example, Peter Mansfield wrote A History of the Middle
East, discussing the recent history of the Middle East. A complete
discussion of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab was beyond the scope
of his work because he lived before the time Mansfield wished to
cover. However, Mansfield was very familiar with Muhammad ibn
Abdul-Wahhaab and wrote about him, “In the middle of the
eighteenth century in Nejd in the centre of the peninsula, a remarkable
religious reformer named Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab appeared
spreading the essential doctrine of Tawhid or the uniqueness of God,
1 Although not necessarily recently written works.
2 A review of much of the earlier Western literature touching upon ibn Abdul-
Wahhaab or the “Wahhabis” may be found in Aali-Bootami, pp. 154-157, al-
Nadwi, pp. 235-249 and al-Huqail, pp. 241-243. Thus that material will not be
repeated here.
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