The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ... - IslamHouse.com

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The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
A closer examination of the ways of the Bedouins before the
influence of ibn Abdul-Wahhaab shows that their description as
falling outside of the fold of Islam seems quite warranted. An early
Western traveler, Volney, wrote,
The bedouin who live on the Turkish frontiers pretend to be
Muslims for political reasons but they are so negligent of religion
and their piety is so weak that they are usually considered infidels
who have neither a law nor a prophet. They readily admit that
Muhammad’s religion was not created for them. They add, “How
can we perform ablutions without water? How can we give alms,
being not rich?…” 1
The mid-nineteenth century Finnish traveler Wallin stated about some
tribes that did not accept the call of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab,
[T]he Ma’aze (Maazeh) [a tribe in Western Arabia] are, in general,
grossly ignorant in the religion they profess, and I scarcely
remember ever meeting with a single individual of the tribe who
observed any of the rites of Islam whatsoever, or possessed the
least notion of its fundamental and leading dogmas; while the
reverse might, to a certain degree, be said of those Bedouins who
are, or formerly were, Wahhabiye. 2
The accounts of Burckhardt and Palgrave are very similar. 3 Common
among the Bedouin, as Vassiliev describes based on early Western
accounts, were: a cult of the sun, the moon and the stars; rites and
legends running counter to Islamic teaching; the cult of ancestors;
making sacrifices at ancestors’ graves; animism; fetishism and so
forth. 4
It seems clear from all accounts that polytheistic practices
(such as the cult of grave-worship) were widespread. Intermediaries
were prayed to in both times of hardship and ease. As ibn Bishr noted,
virtually every tribe or oasis had trees, shrubs and graves that were
sought after for their blessings and their help. In fact, Muhammad ibn
Abdul-Wahhaab himself often commented on said state of affairs—
indeed, most of his original writings were dedicated to bringing an end
to the kind of polytheism that existed. He stressed that those
1 Quoted in Vassiliev, p. 72.
2 Quoted in Vassiliev, p. 73.
3 See Vassiliev, p. 72.
4 Vassiliev, pp. 72-73.