| ORIGIN AND SUB-CONTINENTAL
ROLE OF WAHABISM |
What is Wahabism? How did it come to the sub-continent
from Saudi Arabia? What was its pre-1947 role in the sub-continent?
To answer these questions, one could do no better than quote extensively
Mr.V.Abdulla, a well-known South Indian Islamic research scholar.
Reviewing a book titled "The Wahabi Movement In India",
written by Mr.Qeyamuddin Ahmad and published by the Manohar Publishers
& Distributors, 2/6,Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi--110002,
he wrote as follows in the "Hindu" of Chennai (October
10,1995):
"The Wahhabi movement---a name they disliked intensely,
as they preferred to call themselves Ahli Hadithi or followers of
the Prophet's authenticated traditions--- was based on the teachings
of Muhammad Abdul Wahhab (1703-92) born in Nejd, now part of Saudi
Arabia. The bedrock of their belief was the strict monotheism of
pristine Islam coupled with an abjuration of any intercession of
any saint, however holy, for God's favours.
"They abhorred
the very idea of Muslims visiting the tombs of such saints or investing
them with miraculous powers. Although Abdul Wahhab initially enjoyed
the local support of the regional Governor who ruled under the suzerainty
of the Ottoman Caliph, his reforming zeal soon incurred the wrath
of the establishment.
"He had to take refuge with a powerful
local tribal chief Mohammad Ibn Saud with whom he struck up an alliance
which has left an indelible mark on modern Arab history. The descendants
of Mohammad Ibn Saud, who followed the teachings of Abdul Wahhab,
eventually established their authority of what is now called Saudi
Arabia. The austere and puritanic principles enjoined by Abdul Wahhab
are still enforced in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
"The
Wahhabi link with India came mainly through Sayyid Ahmad (1786-1831),
who belonged to a family of saintly renown who were settled down
in UP. He was strongly influenced by the teachings of Abdul Wahhab,
of the necessity of going back to the pristine purity of Islamic
tenets.He went a step further and decided it was necessary to build
up an organisation of dedicated followers who should be enjoined
to bear arms, if so needed.
"As it came into being during
the period of the decline of Mughal authority and the erosion of
their Imperial power, the Wahhabi movement became imbued with strong
political overtones, resistance to the rising tide of the British
influence being the predominant motive.
"Although Bihar
and Bengal had been its base of operations, it was not long before
Sayyid Ahmad decided to migrate to the independent territories of
North-West Frontier from where he could wage war against the British.
This fateful journey, called "Hijrat" or migration, began
in 1826 and helped to arouse great religious fervour and political
enthusiasm.
"As the Sikhs under Maharaja Ranjit Singh were
expanding northwards from the Punjab, it was natural that they looked
upon Sayyid and his followers with distrust, sometimes leading to
skirmishes between the two.
"This gave the impression that
the Wahhabis were anti-Sikh, a notion that was deliberately exaggerated
and nurtured by the British to serve their own purpose. There were
many pitched battles between the Wahhabis and the British forces,
fought in the mountainous Himalayan terrain. Though the British forces
suffered many defeats, they were able to take revenge in their clinching
triumph in the Battle of Balakote where the Wahhabis fell fighting
to the last, including their leader Sayyid Ahmad.
"The cardinal
aim of the Wahhabis, apart from their puritanical objectives, was
the destruction of British power. They not only attacked the British
openly as in the Frontier, but they also tried infiltrating secretly
among the rank and file of the army in order to sow the seeds of
disloyalty.
In the course of time, the British realised what was
going on and they decided that Wahhabi influence would be rooted
out altogether.
"The two major conspiracies the British
had to face were the "Mutiny", so-called, of 1857 and the
Wahhabi movement which tried to destroy the very army on which the
British relied for support. The Wahhabis had a great deal to do with
the unrest in the army, which resulted in the "Mutiny",
though it failed because it lacked central directive or motive force
and dissipated itself in stray uprisings which spent themselves out." |
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