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Bahrain History WAHHABI ISLAM AND THE GULF
picture courtesy newarabia.net The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were a turbulent time for Arabia in general and for the gulf in particular. To the southeast, the Al Said of Oman were extending their influence northward, and from Iraq the Ottoman Turks were extending their influence southward. From the east, both the Iranians and the British were becoming increasingly involved in Arab affairs. The most significant development in the region, however, was the Wahhabi movement. The name Wahhabi derived from Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, who died in 1792. He grew up in an oasis town in central Arabia where he studied Hanbali law, usually considered the strictest of Islamic legal schools, with his grandfather. While still a young man, he left home and continued his studies in Medina and then in Iraq and Iran. When he returned from Iran to Arabia in the late 1730s, he attacked as idolatry many of the customs followed by tribes in the area who venerated rocks and trees. He extended his criticism to practices of the Twelver Shia, such as veneration of the tombs of holy men. He focused on the central Muslim principle that there is only one God and that this God does not share his divinity with anyone. From this principle, his students began to refer to themselves as muwahhidun (sing., muwahhid), or "unitarians." Their detractors referred to them as "Wahhabis." courtesy FRD country studies next page - Wahhabi Islam pg. 2 Contents of History of Bahrain: The Gulf in the Ancient World - The Gulf in the Middle Ages (page 1, page 2) - The Age of Colonialism (page 1, page 2) - Wahhabi Islam and the Gulf (page 1, page 2) - Treaties with the British (page 1, page 2) - Discovery of Oil (page 1, page 2) - Independence (page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)- Developments since Independence (page 1, page 2) - Tribal Nature of Gulf Society (page 1, 2, 3, 4) bahrain home - bahrain map - bahrain hotels - bahrain nightlife - bahrain overview - bahrain history index - bahrain pictures
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