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The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
this article, al-Yassini relied on the earliest and most reliable sources
in Arabic (ibn Bishr’s work in particular). Al-Yassini has a good
description of ibn Abdul-Wahhaab’s background, briefly touches upon
his travels, the beginning of his call and its success. There may be just
a few points that are open to criticism but as a whole, the information
is factual and accurate. In a separate article, “Wahhabiyah,” the same
al-Yassini again gives an excellent description of some of the main
features of ibn Abdul-Wahhaab’s teachings. He discusses the issue of
tauheed, tawassul, erection of tombs over graves, charge of unbelief,
innovations and ijtihaad and taqleed. 1
Western Travelers
Some of the earliest accounts coming to the West concerning
ibn Abdul-Wahhaab and his followers came from Western “travelers.”
In general, these were men who were traveling through the Middle
East on Western scientific or government related projects.
Danish traveler Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815 C.E.) was among
the first to speak about “Wahhabis” in the Western literature, being in
the Persian Gulf in the years 1764-1765. In reality, he did not touch
too much upon the “Wahhabis,” being more interested in the lands to
the east of Najd. Parsons, another early traveler, was also in the
Middle East around the same time, but again not in Najd. Sir Hartford
Brydges was in Basra, Kuwait and Baghdad in the 1790s and offers
much insight for life at that time. John Lewis Burckhardt’s Notes on
the Bedouins and Wahabys (originally published in 1830) gives a
great deal of information concerning the social situation in Najd. In
the 1860s, William Palmgrave, “a member of the Society of Jesus and
a French agent, infiltrated into central Najd and visited Riyadh.” 2 Even
though he actually visited the area, his account has numerous errors in
it, to the extent that it was doubted whether he actually visited Najd. 3
In general, one has to agree with Abu-Hakima’s assessment:
“European and Moslem writings contemporary to the Shaikh are very
1 Ayman al-Yassini, “Wahhabiyah,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern
Islamic World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), vol. 4, pp. 307-308.
2 Vassiliev, p. 17.
3 Ibid., p. 17. For a general discussion of the sources related to this period of
history and this particular region, ranging from Arabic sources to British semiofficial
sources, see Vassiliev, pp. 12-19; Abu-Hakima, pp. 1-23.
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