Die Zerstörung von Mekka - Wahhabiten 2. Teil

Der erste saudische Staat, 1744 - 1816

 Nachdem ich hier:

Die Zerstörung von Mekka - Wahhabiten 1. Teil

auf einen interessanten Dokumentarfilm sowie einige zusätzliche Erläuterungen hingewiesen habe, folgen nun nur noch einige Hintergrundinformationen aus einer Enzyklopädie, die das ganze unterfüttern sollen. Denn es zeigt sich, dass der in Saudi-Arabien gelebte ultraorthodoxe wahhabitische Islam auch nicht vom Himmel fiel, sondern sich erst in relativ junger Zeit entwickelte.
Und ohne dem Ölreichtum hätte diese Bewegung der Wahhabiten heute ein nicht beachtetes Schattendasein gefristet, wie heutzutage im Westen kaum bekannte andere islamische Richtungen (wie z.B. die Charidschiten).


aus:
Richard C. Martin (Hrsg.): Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim world. 2004.

S. 727 ff.:

WAHHABIYYA

The Wahhabiyya is a conservative reform movement launched
in eighteenth-century Arabia by Muhammad b. 'Abd al-
Wahhab (1703–1792). It provided the ideological basis for
the military conquest of the Arabian peninsula that had been
undertaken by the Sa'ud family, first in the late eighteenth
and early nineteenth centuries, and then again in the early
twentieth century. Wahhabism is the creed upon which the
kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded, and it has influenced
Islamic movements worldwide.
Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Wahhab began to preach a puritanical
form of Islam during the 1740s in the small settlements
of the Najd, the arid province of north central Arabia.
His basic teachings are found in a small treatise titled Kitab altawhid
(Book of unity), and from it his followers took the
name Muwahiddun (Unitarians). His Muslim opponents,
along with Westerners, initially used the term “Wahhabiyya”
and its anglicized form, “Wahhabism,” as derogatory references
to what was depicted as a fanatical sectarian movement.
To this day, the term is often used pejoratively by critics of
the movement.
Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab wanted to restore the pristine Islam
of the Quran and the Prophet by cleansing it of all innovations
(bid'a) that challenged strict monotheism. Foremost
among these was the cult of saints, which had developed over
the centuries among both Sunnis and Shi'ites. Such popular
practices as pilgrimages to the tombs of saints, beseeching the
dead for intercession with God, asking blessings upon saints
following the ritual prayer, and the construction of domed
mausoleums for pious personalities were strongly condemned
as shirk, or associating divinity to beings other than God.
Among the “innovations” condemned by Ibn 'Abd al-
Wahhab was the centuries-long heritage of jurisprudence
(fiqh) that coalesced into four Sunni schools of law and the
many schools of Shi'ism. The Wahhabiyya considered themselves
the true Sunnis and acknowledged their affinity to the
Hanbali legal tradition. Yet they rejected all jurisprudence
that in their opinion did not adhere strictly to the letter of the
Quran and the hadith, even that of Ibn Hanbal (780–855)
and his students. Consequently, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, along
with other Muslim reformers of the eighteenth century, such
as Shah Wali Allah (1703–1762) in India, was one of the most
important proponents of independent legal judgment (ijtihad)
of his time. His ijtihad, however, was of a very conservative
type, aimed at enforcing a literal reading of the Quran and
hadith, especially in such matters as the punishment for
adultery, theft, drunkenness, and failure to follow religious
obligations like daily prayers and fasting during Ramadan.
Having been expelled from the first two towns in which he
preached, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab settled around 1744 in Dir'iyya,
an oasis controlled by Muhammad b. Sa'ud (r. 1746–1765).
The religious teacher and tribal chieftain concluded a pact by
which Ibn Sa'ud pledged to give military support for the
propagation and enforcement of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab’s teachings.
The alliance was cemented by Ibn Sa'ud’s marriage to
the daughter of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, the beginning of
frequent intermarriage between the two families that continues
to the present. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab’s sons would also
participate actively alongside the Sa'ud family in the military
expansion of the movement.
By 1747, Ibn Sa'ud was at war with the neighboring ruler
of Riyadh, a conflict that would continue for nearly thirty
years. Conquest of territory was followed by the establishment
of a fort and mosque, where Wahhabi preachers and
judges were settled to propagate Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab’s teachings.
Control over the entire Najd was achieved by 1780
under the leadership of Muhammad b. Sa'ud’s son, 'Abd
al-'Aziz.
Following the death of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab in 1792, the
movement advanced east toward the Persian Gulf and north
into Iraq. In 1802, Wahhabi tribesmen sacked the Shi'ite
shrine city of Karbala, severely damaging a number of religious
buildings, including the gold-domed tomb of the Prophet’s
grandson, Husayn. To avenge this destruction, a Shi'ite from
Karbala, who had infiltrated the Wahhabi camp as a convert,
killed 'Abd al-'Aziz in November 1803.
Under Sa'ud, 'Abd al-'Aziz’s son and successor, the
Wahhabis advanced upon the Hijaz. In 1803, they entered
Mecca after the city was abandoned by its Ottoman garrison,
and quickly moved to purge the sanctuary of the Ka'ba of any
offending ornamentation. Medina was not taken until the
following year, when a Wahhabi force marched into the city
and proceeded to level the gravestones of those members of
the Prophet’s family and companions who are buried in the
cemetery adjacent to the Prophet’s tomb.
By 1811, the Wahhabi domain extended over much of the
Arabian Peninsula and north into Syria. The movement was
checked only when the Ottoman sultan authorized the governor
of Egypt, Muhammad 'Ali (c. 1769–1849), to crush it.
The Turco-Egyptian forces succeeded in taking Medina in
1812 and Mecca the following year. In the Najd, however,
Wahhabi forces fought fiercely until the death of Sa'ud in
May 1814. Sa'ud’s successor, 'Abdallah, tried to negotiate a
settlement with Muhammad 'Ali, but in September 1818 was
forced to surrender the capital of Dir'iyya and was later
executed in Istanbul.
The Wahhabi state was restored in the new capital of
Riyadh under Turki, a cousin of Sa'ud’s, following the departure
of Egyptian troops from the Najd in 1822. By the time of
Turki’s death in 1834, most of the tribes in northeastern
Arabia acknowledged Wahhabi rule. A power struggle within
Wahhabism began after Turki’s death, when the Rashid clan
of Hail began increasingly to challenge Sa'udi control. In
1891, Muhammad b. Rashid (r. 1872–1897) won a decisive
victory over the Sa'udis and occupied Riyadh as the head of
the Sa'ud family, 'Abd al-Rahman (r. 1889–1902), fled
to Kuwait.
The Sa'ud clan, now led by the young son of 'Abd al-
Rahman, 'Abd al-’Aziz (1880–1953), reclaimed control of
Riyadh in 1902. In 1912 'Abd al-'Aziz founded the first of the
agricultural colonies known as dar al-hijra (abode of migration).
These colonies would produce the Ikhwan, a group of
devoted Wahhabi loyalists who were prepared to fight for the
Sa'ud family at short notice. The Wahhabi expansion in
Arabia was curtailed under British pressures during the First
World War, but immediately afterward 'Abd al-'Aziz began
to advance beyond the Najd. The Hijaz was conquered by the
end of 1925.
Wahhabi doctrines have governed much of the legal and
cultural life of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia since its founding
in 1932, even though followers of Wahhabism may be a
minority within the country. A Supreme Council of Ulema
advises and oversees the government on the application of
Islamic law (shari'a), which from the period of Ibn 'Abd al-
Wahhab has been based largely on Hanbali jurisprudence.
While legal reform has taken place in certain areas—slavery
and concubinage were officially outlawed in 1962, for
example—the ulema have resisted reform in such fields as
personal, economic, and penal law. The courts enforce a
largely unwritten legal code that permits capital punishment
for murder, rape, drug smuggling and adultery, amputation
of the hands for theft, and flogging for drunkenness. The
mutawwa'in, a sort of religious police officially charged with
“commanding the right and forbidding the wrong,” enforce
Wahhabi societal mores, including “modest dress” for both
sexes and a ban on public displays by Muslims or non-
Muslims of heterodox religious beliefs.
The rapid modernization of Saudi society has often led to
clashes between the Sa'udi family and clerical establishment
and the most zealous Wahhabi loyalists. The first major crisis
came in the late 1920s, when 'Abd al-'Aziz crushed his own
Ikhwan militias when they revolted against some of his
modernization efforts. Later, dissident ulema challenged the
government over such matters as the introduction of radios,
television, and automobiles into the country. Social reforms
involving greater rights for women have provoked particularly
severe reactions. The opening up of higher education to
women in the 1970s led to riots in some cities; and at the start
of the twenty-first century, women were still unable to drive
their own automobiles, despite domestic pressure to lift this
ban. In 1992, more than one hundred scholars circulated a
petition criticizing the government for, among other things,
not adhering strictly to shari'a and for wasting billions of
dollars of the country’s wealth. By 2003, the presence of
American military bases in the kingdom had become the
major source of conflict between Wahhabi activists and the
royal family. Although the government has not taken any
concerted steps to shut down or curb private Wahhabi
organizations, it has jailed or exiled a number of dissident
scholars and activists.
Saudi Arabia’s tremendous oil wealth has made possible
the dissemination of Wahhabi ideas and influence throughout
the world, through religious propaganda and financial
assistance to mosques and schools. During the Afghan war
against the Soviet Union, many wealthy Saudis financed
charities that educated and cared for Afghan refugees in
Pakistan. The religious schools (madrasas) where poor Afghan
boys were educated produced the foot soldiers for the Taliban,
who seized control of much of Afghanistan during the 1990s
and established a state grounded in Wahhabi doctrine. One
wealthy Saudi, Usama bin Ladin, personally directed the
recruitment, training, and fighting of Arabs coming to Afghanistan
to wage jihad against Soviet occupiers. This was the basis
for the terrorist organization that developed in the 1990s into
al-Qa'ida. Wahhabi groups in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and
other Gulf emirates are allegedly funding other militant and
terrorist organizations in such diverse parts of the Muslim
world as Algeria, Sudan, Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir, and
the Philippines.

Autor: Sohail H. Hashmi

Weiterführende (auch deutschsprachige) Literatur laut Brockhaus 2007:

• E. Peskes: Muḥammad b. 'Abdalwahhāb (1703‒92) im Widerstreit. Untersuchungen zur Rekonstruktion der Frühgeschichte der Wahhābīya (1993)
•  U. Pfullmann: Thronfolge in Saudi-Arabien. Wahhabitische Familienpolitik v. 1744 bis 1953 (1997)
•  G. W. Steinberg: Religion u. Staat in Saudi-Arabien. Die wahhabitischen Gelehrten 1902‒1953 (2002)
• P. Ménoret: The Saudi enigma. A history (aus dem Französischen, London 2005)
• D. Commins: The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia (London u. a. 2006)

Nun zu dem Begründer, aus obiger Enzyklopädie, S. 6:

'Abd al-Wahhab:

Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab was a religious scholar and
conservative reformer whose teachings were elaborated by
his followers into the doctrines of Wahhabism. Ibn 'Abd al-
Wahhab was born in the small town of 'Uyayna located in the
Najd territory of north central Arabia. He came from a family
of Hanbali scholars and received his early education from his
father, who served as judge (qadi) and taught hadith and law at
the local mosque schools. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab left 'Uyayna
at an early age, and probably journeyed first to Mecca for the
pilgrimage and then continued to Medina, where he remained
for a longer period. Here he was influenced by the
lectures of Shaykh 'Abdallah b. Ibrahim al-Najdi on the neo-
Hanbali doctrines of Ibn Taymiyya.
From Medina, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab traveled to Basra,
where he apparently remained for some time, and then to
Isfahan. In Basra he was introduced directly to an array of
mystical (Sufi) practices and to Shi'ite beliefs and rituals. This
encounter undoubtedly reinforced his earlier beliefs that
Islam had been corrupted by the infusion of extraneous and
heretical influences. The beginning of his reformist activism
may be traced to the time when he left Basra around 1739 to
return to the Najd.
Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab rejoined his family in Huraymila,
where his father had recently relocated. Here he composed
the small treatise entitled Kitab al-tawhid (Book of unity), in
which he most clearly outlines his religio-political mission.
He castigates not only the doctrines and practices of Sufism
and Shi'ism, but also more widespread popular customs
common to Sunnis as well, such as performing pilgrimages to
the graves of pious personages and beseeching the deceased
for intercession with God. More generally, following a line of
argument developed much earlier by Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn 'Abd
al-Wahhab challenged the authority of the religious scholars
(ulema), not only of his own time, but also the majority of
those in preceding generations. These scholars had injected
unlawful innovations (bid'a) into Islam, he argued. In order to
restore the strict monotheism (tawhid) of true Islam, it was
necessary to strip the pristine Islam of human additions and
speculations and implement the laws contained in the Quran
as interpreted by the Prophet and his immediate companions.
Thus, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab called for the reopening of ijtihad
(independent legal judgment) by qualified persons to reform
Islam, but the end to which his ijtihad led was a conservative,
literal reading of certain parts of the Qur'an.
Aspects of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab’s teachings, including
asceticism, simplicity of faith, and emphasis on an egalitarian
community, quickly drew followers to his cause. But his
condemnation of the alleged moral laxity of society, his
challenge to the ulema, and to the political authority that
supported them estranged him from his townspeople and,
some claim, even from his own family. In 1740, he returned to
his native village of 'Uyayna, where the local ruler (amir)
'Uthman b. Bishr adopted his teachings and began to act on
some of them, such as destroying tombs in the area. When
this activity caused a popular backlash, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab
moved on to Dir'iyya, a small town in the Najd near presentday
Riyadh. Here he forged an alliance with the amir Muhammad
b. Sa'ud (d. 1765), who pledged military support on
behalf of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab’s religious vocation. Ibn 'Abd
al-Wahhab spent the remainder of his life in Dir'iyya, teaching
in the local mosque, counseling first Muhammad b. Sa'ud
and then his son 'Abd al-'Aziz (d. 1801), and spreading his
teachings through followers in the Najd and Iraq.

 (Bildquelle: Wikimedia Commons)