Problem of Historical Distortion – Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab

THE PROBLEM OF HISTORICAL straining A Survey of Literature on imaum Mu? am sick of(p) ibn Abd al-Wahhab as viewed by the westward slant of muniment By Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui The caper of diachronic overrefinementOf the past fourteen centuries of the Muslim civilization, its thought, its institutions and the personalities who guide contri al geniused to its discipline and glory, stagnation and disintegration, the historic perspective painted by the Judaeo-Christian westward has been markedly distinctive from the picture geted by the Muslim scholars, varying from outright unconnected and wormed magnetic variations to the recent sympathetic (and slightlytimes empathetic) accounts.History is unmatchable of those branches of k instantaneously leadge that can be used roughly effectively for the idealisation and upliftment of ones avouch people at the expense of the traditions of archean(a)s, track howevertu e very(prenominal)y to a intiregent imposition of ones stimulate norms, values and office of homophilener as the standard for others. to the highest degree, if non all of the people emanating from the Judaeo-Christian tradition who unloosen in penned their on a lower floorstanding of the Muslim civilization, require been pit to such chthonianlying motives.This is non uncommon though since the subjective bias and assumptions of the historian in question be an intact let on of the written temporal of annals. What becomes remarkable in this case is the effective use of the historical perspective of other people for the developing of the same. This becomes manifest then, for example, in the nonorious catchment area and Rule policy of the post-renaissance British pudding stone. The Old volition Hebraic inheritance has a troop to proffer in comprehending this attitude and head of the Hesperian writer.The Old Testament (in the Bible) was written primarily to identify the ancestry and heritage of the Jews and t he reby declare their superiority all oer all other nations. The other nations mentioned in the Old Testament are hardly when for the rice beer of justification of the crimes of the Children of Israel. Likewise, the modern west bank writer is non cin one caserned rough the absolute and relative truths. He is a corking deal concerned astir(predicate) justifying or justifying external the phenomena of other civilizations. by dint of this he e genuinely hopes to dominate over the other civilizations, or to convert them to his own ways.We are s unassailable up aware that our foregoing remarks are intemperately loaded with our own assumptions just now there are certain assumptions, which are derived by the cognitive and perceptive wreakes using the facts of storey as the starting point. consequently, in this case, the assumptions are elevated to the level of derived facts and axioms. To prove our point, we ware chosen for this topic a tireveil of the literature in En glish produced by the West during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries on the famous and controversial imam Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1789).As a prominent figure in Muslim level, loved by m any(prenominal) and stilbesterolpised by some(prenominal) others of the Muslims, he has managed to run the attention of the occidental colonia add ups, missionaries, and historians who were incomplete, right from his own bearingtime to the personate. Far greater than the imaum himself is the impact of his pursual the Muwa idun or the so-called Wahhabis on the westerly literature just some Islam. The schismatic element in the temperament of the controversy amid the followers of the imaum and other Muslims has held great interest for the very reasons we obligate outlined above.The depth psychology allow become off the beaten track(predicate) more mat as we proceed with the survey itself. Besides, this analysis can be made some(prenominal) more precise, total an d to the point if one were to attempt a similar dress on the survey of the westbound literature close the followers of the imam. In this paper we shall limit ourselves to the Imam only. To begin with, it would be appropriate to narrate the salient features of the Imams brio drawingly. rogue 2 The line of work of historic contortion Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab A brief spirit Coming from a learned family, 1 Mu? mmad ibn Abd al-Wahhab was born in 1115/1703 at Uyaynah, a small town roughly 30 Km northwest of capital of Saudi-Arabian Arabia in Saudi Arabia. His ancestors had been steeped in the ? anbali tradition, and so was puppy a identical(p) Mu? ammads education. As a young man, he unexpended Uyaynah for just studies. His search for learning in additionk him to Makkah, Madinah and Damascus. He acquired great admiration for Ibn Taymiyah (d. 728/1328) through the shaykh Abd Allah ibn Ibrahim al-Najdi at Madinah. Madinah besides offered him a come across to teach for q uite some time. Subsequently, he act this occupation at the Umayyad mosque of Damascus.His journeys in like mannerk him eastbound to Basrah as well, where, besides acquiring further knowledge of the traditional sciences, he got the accident of getting acquainted with Shii and Sufi circles, their ways and ideas. This period ascertained for him the grammatical construction of a mission in his mind. consort to the track down al-Shihab, 2 he stayed in Basrah for four old age and then travel to Baghdad. There he married a wealthy lady and remained for five eld. He next went to Hamadan and then to Isfahan in 1148/1736 to teaching philosophy and Sufism. His quest for knowledge led him to Cairo and Damascus as well.Upon the gag law of his father in Huraymilah near Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab joined him, and it was here that the Imam composed his beginning(a) rifle on taw? id, and likewise poised disciples. by and by the demolition of his father in 11 53/1740, he left Huraymilah for Uyaynah where he spent four years. During his stay there, the governor Uthman ibn Bishr of the Banu Muammar became his follower. This became a cause for consternation among the powerful Banu Khalid. His sermon against shirk (associating comparabilitytners with Allah) that was utilised by the masses, and against their honorable laxity shook the roots of the society.As a result, the Imam was forced to leave Uyaynah and look for refuge in Diriyah (which is around 10-15 Km from Uyaynah in the direction of Riyadh), where he bring followers among the amir Mu? ammad ibn Sauds brothers and son. Eventually the ameer in like manner supported him. The Amir and the Imam took a bay treeah (an oath of vernacular committedness), to strive, by force if necessary, to reap the terra firma of Gods record prevail. 3 This was the antecedent of the religio-political reality that was to engulf the solid of Najd and its neighbouring territories during the de cades to come, first under the amir Mu? mmad ibn Saud (d. 1178/1765), then under his son Abd al-Aziz (d. 1218/1803) and his grandson Saud (d. 1229/1814). We leave the story of the Al Saud for other historians to narrate, and break away-up the ghost to the man who called for the return to taw? id (Gods unity) and a true practise of Islam. Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab continued his role as instructor in the mosque of Diriyah, as political counselor-at-law of the Amir, and as a preacher writing theological works and extending his dawah to the neighbouring areas until his termination in 1204/1789. 4 Bearing this brief picture of the Imam in mind, we ow turn to his Western biographers and their accounts. His grandfather Sulayman b. Mu? ammad had been mufti of the Nadjd. His father Abd al-Wahhab was kadi at Uyayna during the emirate of Abd Allah b. Mu? ammad b. Muammar he taught ? adith and fikh in the mosques of the town and left some(prenominal) works of ? anbali inspiration, wh ich in part survive. Laoust, EI2, III677, col. 2. 2 Abu Hakima, Ahmad A. , ed. , Lam al-Shihab fi tarikh Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Beirut, 1967 3 Laoust, EI2, III678, col. 2. most of the facts view as been taken from this same source. Most historians give the year of death as 1206/1792. See Muinuddin A? mad Khan, A Diplomats Report on Wahhabism of Arabia, Islamic Studies 7 (1968), p. 38, for the argument in favour of 1204/1789 as the correct date. Page 3 1 The problem of historic Distortion occidental ACCOUNTS ABOUT THE IM M M. Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815) The first European to mention the Imam in his writings was M. Carsten Niebuhr who visited the peninsula in 1761-1764, that is inwardly four years of the bayah taken amongst the Imam and ibn Saud. He publish his reports in German in 1772 and 1778.An abridged English fluctuation of his writings appeared first in 1792 empower Travels Through Arabia and Other Countries in the East. 5 Niebuhr and his companions had embarked upon an ecclesiastical mission to gather some entropy about this ancient work of Arabia, which had been the cradle of Christianity just as it had been for Judaism and Islam. umteen people take a shit noted the mendacious and misleading remarks of Niebuhr with regards to the Imam. In the drama picture by Niebuhr, there are both all-important(prenominal) characters in the founding of the forward-facial expression pietism of a Part of Nedsjed, 6 peely one Abd ul Wahheb and his son Mahomet. His translation of ibn Abd al-Wahhabs youth distinguishms to tally with the facts of the Imams life. Now this Abd ul Wahheb, having founded his godliness, converts several Schiechs (i. e. shaykhs) to his holiness, and virtually becomes their ruler. He reduces a great part of El Ared, thus seemingly also performing the role of ibn Saud. After the fathers death, the son Mahomet takes over the small conglomerate built by his father, sustaining the supreme ecclesiastical character in El Ared. Among his beliefs cited are that he considered Mahomet, Jesus Christ, Moses, and legion(predicate) others, prize by the Sunnites in the character of prophets, as merely great men, whose history mogul be read with improvement denying that any reserve had ever been written by divine inspiration, or brought down from the nirvana by the angel Gabriel. 9 Against the beliefs of Abd ul Wahheb, he contrasts the Sunnites as a superstitious junto whose opinions are false, depending on their own whimsies to explain the Alcoran, acknowledging saints to whom many absurd miracles are ascribed, and so on 0 Finally, he concludes that The unused religion of Abd ul Wahheb deserves therefore to be regarded as a reformation of Mahometism, reducing it back to its pilot simplicity. 11 The inaccuracies of Niebuhrs reporting continued in the Western understanding for many decades as we shall see. Sir Harford Jones Brydges Far more high-fidelity in his reporting was the civil retainer of the colonialist British, Sir Harford Jones Brydges, who sent his first report on the Wahhabis from Baghdad to the British Foreign accountability in C. M. Niebuhr, Travels Through Arabia and Other Countries in the East, trans. nto English by Robert Heron, vol. 2, Edinburgh, R. Morrison & Son, 1792. cf also Muinuddin A? mad Khan, op. cit. , p. 33 and a follow of Niebuhrs life in Islamic nicety 7 (1933), pp. 502-505 by V. B. Mehta. 6 Niebuhr, II130. Note that Nedsjed is Najd. 7 ib. , II131-3. 8 ibidem , II133. 9 ibid. , II134. 10 ib. , II135. 11 Ibid. , II135. Page 4 5 The bother of historic Distortion 1799, that is within a decade of the death of the Imam. 12 The weakest part of his report is the side by side(p) recital Shaik Ibn Mahamer 13 proud of possessing this sweet Sectuary gave colewort Mohammed 14 his own Sister intermarriage and Moolah Mohammed sometime afterwards, under pretense, that his sidekick in Law Mahamer perverted referee and oppressed the Tribe, mur dered him with his own work force in the Mosque as he was at prayers meaning thereby, as he declared, to give to the race of Ayenah 15 a verification that his love for Justice was so great, that neither the obligations which he had to, nor alliance he had with Shaik Mahamer could detain him from punishing even in him that he carryd to be a deviation from it. The People of Ayenah however appear to have had too much good Sense, to esteem as meritorious, so horrible a Transaction, and they induce Moolah Mohammed, to abandon Ayenah, and he fled to Dereah 16 where he found an Asylum and guardian in Shaik Ibn Soud, the Governor of that place, who also embraced his Doctrines. 17 Historically we know that Uthman ibn Muammar died a raw(a) death after the Imam had left for Diriyah, and that his expulsion from Uyaynah was delinquent to the insistings from various part of that area against his teachings.Other than this error, Brydges report to his masters in London faithfully depicted the doctrines taught by the Imam. He says, The religious belief they possess is Muhammadan according to the literal meaning of the Koran, following the Interpretations of Hambelly. 18 Thirty-five years afterwards, in 1834, Sir Harford Jones Brydges produced a far greater compulsive account of the Muwa idun in his A abbreviated History of the Wahauby. 19 We shall return to this account after looking at other developments during these thirty-five years. e Sacy In 1805, we encounter the Frenchman de Sacy writing in his paper Observations sur les Wahhabites that the Muwa idun are enemies of Islam. He considered them to be an offshoot of the Qarmatians. 20 Rousseau Four years after in 1809, other Frenchman by the pee-pee of Rousseau produced two short treatises 21 in which it was imperatively asserted, that the Wahabys have a newfound religion, and that Muinuddin A? mad Khan, op. cit. , pp. 33-46. i. e. Uthman ibn Muammar, the governor of Uyaynah. 14 i. e. Mu? ammad ibn Abd a l-Wahhab 15 i. e. Uyaynah. 16 i. e.Diriyah, the first Saudi capital in the eighteenth speed of light. It is now a ruin, lying on the outskirts of present day Riyadh 17 Muinuddin A? mad Khan, op. cit. , p. 41. 18 Ibid. , p. 42. By Hambelly he means the ? anbali School of Fiqh. 19 Harford Jones Brydges, An Account of the proceeding of His Majestys Mission to the judiciary of Persia in the years 1807-11, to which is appended A Brief History of the Wahauby London, pack Bohn, 1834. 20 M. A. Bari, The early Wahhabis, some contemporary assessments. Proceedings of the twenty-seventh International Congress of Orientalists Ann Arbor, Mich. , 1967.It may be recalled here that the Qarmatians were a 9th 12th century Ismaili faction that sprang up in Confederate Iraq and al-Hasa. 21 J. B. L. J. Rousseau, Descriptions du pashalic de Baghdad suivie dune notice historique sur les Wahabis, et de quelques autres pieces relatives lhistoire et la litterature de lOrient, Paris, Trouttel et Wurtz, 1809, pp. 125-182. Idem. , Notice sur la religious ordere des Wahabis, Fundgruben des Orients, Vol. I, Wien, 1809, pp. 191-198. 13 12 Page 5 The Problem of Historical Distortion although they acknowledge the Koran, yet they have entirely abolished the pilgrimage to Mekka. 2 He claimed to derive part of his information from le Chapelain de Saoud. 23 Burckhardt, Brydges, 24 and other later Western writers reprimanded Rousseau for his obvious misinformation, the indignation a come up over his claim to an authentic source of information. Corancez The following year, i. e. in 1810, Corancez published his work in French. 25 Nashshabah says that after Burckhardt, the next scoop up Western account of the early history of the Wahhabis is Corancezs Histoire des Wahhabis, depuis leur origine jusqua la fin de 1809.Corancez, who was the French consul in Aleppo from 1800 to 1808, carefully checked the information he had been able to gather, and his informants were very much first-hand observer s but his account of the life of the founder of the Wahhabi straw man is inadequate. He ascribes Wahhabi expansion solely to the impuissance and misrule of the Ottomans (whose authority in most of Arabia was at times merely nominal) and ignores the inflammation stirred up by (ibn) Abd al-Wahhab which, feature with the leadership of Mu? ammad ibn Saud, mustiness(prenominal) surely have been the main reason for their astonishing victories. 6 Vincenzo Maurizi During the following years, we find the writings of other Niebuhrian, 27 an Italian by the take a shit of Vincenzo Maurizi alias Shaik Mansur. He amused his European audience with his History of Seyd Said, Sultan of muscat in 1819, which also devoted a considerable religious section to the Muwa idun. Maurizi, in his enthusiasm to bring low the apparent movement, over tone of voiceped even the limits of Niebuhr and painted a completely erroneous picture. To give a full flavour of his flip misreporting, we inverted comma part of his narrative below. About the put of the last century (i. e. ighteenth century), a man named Abdulwahab, or Abdulvaab, a native of Hellah, or Ellaa, 28 on the banks of the Euphrates, pretended to have a vision, in which a irrupt appeared to issue from his body and burn to ashes all the neighbouring country he confided the extraordinary flock which had befallen him to a Mullah, or Mulla, and the maper of the impart of nirvana declared that this sign portended the stick out of a son, who should become the founder of a new religion, and perform extraordinary actions. briefly afterwards the wife of Abdulvaab really became pregnant, and bore-hole him a son, who was named Maam? . 29 footnote in the school script reads This happened about the year 1757. . The tribe of Neshdee, or Nescede, 30 to which the family belonged, soon imbibed the doctrines which appeared to be canonical by divine authority, and Abdulvaab, as command of J. L. Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins a nd Wahabys, vol. 2 London, Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1831, p. II103. 23 Ibid. , p. 103. 24 cf. ibid. , and Brydges, The Wahauby, p. 109,112. 25 L. A. O. de Corancez, Histoire des Wahhabis, depuis leur origine jusqu la fin de 1809, Paris, Grapelet, 1810. 26 Hisham A.Nashshabah, Islam and Nationalism in the Arab universe of discourse A Selected and Annotated Bibliography Montreal, Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, 1955. Unpublished M. A. thesis. p. 11. 27 About Niebuhr, Maurizi remarks where the accurate and indefatigable Niebuhr could afford me any assistance, I have not hesitated to avail myself of it, and on the other hand I have occasionally remarked any alterations which have taken place since his days. 17th varlet of his Preface to the History of Seyd Said, Sultan of Muscat, 1819. 28 He probably means al-? illah in Iraq. 29 i. e. Muhammad 30 i. e.Najdi. Page 6 22 The Problem of Historical Distortion an army and prophet of a rising sect, had an opportunity of spreading his political power, and the opinions of the new faith, which he considered himself commissioned to promulgate opus his son accompanied him, and was shown to all as the precious pledge of Almighty panegyric towards the Vaabi religion. After Abdulvaabs death Maam? t succeeded in his command, but being blind, was obliged to employ, as his deputy, in all af somewhats of disagreeentiate ask out those relating to religion, a person named Abdullazis, 31 an espouse brother of his fathers. This minister followed up the victories of the deceased prophet with the greatest facility. As the first barriers of opposition had been already overthrown, it would be very difficult, and perhaps useless to name all the Seek 32 who resisted in arms the aggrandisement of the Vaabi, or the particular periods of their several conquests but at the death of the chief last mentioned, 33 just about all the interior of the Arabian peninsula acknowledge their political and religious sway.Ab dullazis succeeded to the supreme authority, and greatly extended the limits of their power, having sacked Mecca and Medina and destroyed the tomb of Mahomet, whom he declared to be a deceiver, and not a messenger of heaven he also penetrated to the gates of Aleppo and Baghdad, massacred a caravan of Persian pilgrims on their path to visit the burial place of Alle, or Eli, 34 at Ellaa, 35 and looted that depository of the accumulated wealth of ages. 36 The historical errors are far too many to find on in detail but we shall make observations on some salient overrefinements.The dichotomy between Abd al-Wahhab and Mu? ammad ibn Abd alWahhab is carried on from Niebuhr, but Maurizi goes a step further in proclaiming Abd al-Wahhab to be a prophet, and giving Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab almost the position of a demi-god. Besides, he transfers the hometown of the family to al-? illah in Iraq and moves the year of return of Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab to 1757, the year when he contrac ted the bayah with ibn Saud. The fallacy of a tribe called Najdi, of the mankind of Alis tomb at al-? illah, of Abd al-Aziz being the adopted brother of the Imams father, etc. eed hardly be commented upon. But the interesting development that must be noted is the so-called promulgation by Abd al-Aziz of the Prophet Mu? ammad (p) being an impostor. Maurizi elaborates on this and other supposed beliefs of the Vaabi by quoting an coiffure which he claims to have been given to him by an envoy of Saud ibn Abd al-Aziz. It reads We do not differ from other Musaleems, or Muselims (Musselmen) 37 except in thinking that Mahomet arrogated to himself too much authority and, that the Koran was sent to the populace by the hands of angels, nd not of that man, who has even dared to falsify many of its doctrines we also consider that the prophets, and especially Maamet iben Abdulvaab were beings like ourselves and, therefore, not worthy of being addressed in prayer, although deserving of admirat ion and imitation for their piety and moral conduct 38 Obviously, Maurizi could not have known more than a few words or phrases in Arabic, or else he would have rendered the envoys fasten truthfully. Instead, he has imposed hearsay and his own 31 32 Presumably Abd al-Aziz ibn Mu? ammad ibn Saud. . e. shaykhs. 33 i. e. Maamet, the son of Abdulva b. 34 i. e. Ali ibn Abi Talib. 35 i. e. al-? illah in Iraq. 36 Maurizi, , op. cit. , pp. 36-38. 37 i. e. Muslims. 38 Maurizi, op. cit. , p. 40. Page 7 The Problem of Historical Distortion assumptions into the mouth of the envoy. His lack of knowledge of Arabic is gleamed also in the fact that he misconstrues Abd Allah ibn Saud, the Saudi amir after Saud ibn Abd al-Aziz as Abdullahazis (Abd al-Aziz). Similarly, in the last passage cited, the envoy must have said the prophets, and especially Mu? mmad ibn Abd Allah were beings like ourselves which Maurizi took to mean Maamet iben Abdulvaab. Maurizis account even disgraces fiction. J. L. Bu rckhardt behind Lewis Burckhardt was the first to bring a match view of the movement to the European audience. The epistle of Brydges in 1799 was not a public document. Thus Burckhardts Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys published in 1831 was a turning point in the Western understanding of the Imam and his followers. This work goes into fair amount of detail about the movement.Burckhardt dispelled many of the misunderstandings that had been current in the West as a result of the earlier writings. The very first thing he set out to correct was that The doctrines of Abd el Wahab were not those of a new religion his efforts were say only to reform abuses in the followers of Islam, and to disseminate the pure faith among Bedouins who although Muselmans, were equally ignorant of religion, as indifferent about all the duties which it prescribed. 39 comparison the Muwa idun to the Ottoman Turks, he says Not a single new precept was to be found in the Wahaby ode. Abd el Wahab took as hi s sole guide the Koran and the Sunne (or the laws make upon the traditions of Mohammed) and the only difference between this sect and the orthodox Turks, however improperly so termed, is, that the Wahabys rigidly follow the same laws which the others neglect, or have ceased altogether to observe. To describe, therefore, the Wahaby religion, would be to ingeminate the Muselman faith and to show in what points this sect differs from the Turks, would be to give a list of all the abuses of which the last mentioned are wicked. 0 One can adduce Burckhardt at duration to show his positive attitude which led him to a fairly objective analysis of the creed and practice of the Muwa idun, and the reasons why Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab was misunderstood both by his friends and his enemies. 41 The former took offense at his seeming attacks on the Prophet (p) and the latter saw a political holy terror in his preaching thus leading to an intentional distortion of the facts. Despite this ob jectiveness in Burckhardt, one cannot but comment on the Western slant of his perception.The usage of words often has a mental effect on the reader. For instance, Burckhardt, writing about the Imam says that being convinced by what he observed during his (b. Abd al-Wahhabs) travels, that the unprocessed (emphasis ours) faith of Islam, or Mohammedanism, had become totally demoralize and obscured by abuses, . 42 The value impression involved in his use of the word primitive is apparent. The Western notion that the onward motion of thought and ideas essentially leads to the advancement of civilization is a result of their philosophical heritage.The Islamic notion, that the absolute is derived solely through the process of divine revelation in history and not through cognitive, intuitive or perceptive processes which are bound by the limitations of the human mind, stands markedly in contradistinction to the Western assumptions. Thus, plot of ground the 39 40 Burckhardt, op. cit. , II99. Ibid. , II112 41 Ibid. , II99. 42 Ibid. , II96. Page 8 The Problem of Historical Distortion Muslim (including Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab) would view the life of theProphet as a supreme deed in the history of man, the Western psyche would regard it as a primitive confront in the life of man. However, it is remarkable that if one is to compare Burckhardt with the later Orientalists, he was far ahead of his own time in this respect. His value judgements are very limited. Hitti, a century later, echoes the same words that he (b. Abd al-Wahhab) himself determined to purge it (Islam) and restore it to its primitive strictness. 43 Hitti goes further though in regarding the bayah of 1757 as another case of marriage between religion and the sword. 4 The subtle aggression of value judgements are scattered copiously throughout the writings even of the socalled sympathetic Western Orientalists like Nicholson, 45 Wilfrid Cantwell Smith (d. 2000), 46 von Grunebaum (1909-1972), 47 and H. A. R. Gibb (d. 1971) 48 not to let loose of the others. Andrew Crichton The next stage in the history of the Western biographies of the Imam was set by Andrew Crichton with his publication of History of Arabia antediluvian patriarch and neo in 1833. This is the first time that we see a Western writer typography a secondary work on the Muwa dun based solely on other Western writings. Having noted Burckhardts circumspection against the misconceptions floating around, Crichton relied primarily on Burckhardt, Corancez and Mengin in particular. 49 Since he has nothing skipper to offer, we turn to his usage of some of the material at hand. For example, after outlining the beliefs and practices of the Muwa idun, he states They did not, however, so far outstrip themselves of all credulity as to abolish the ceremonies of ablution and the Meccan pilgrimage, or even those of kissing the black stone and throwing stones at the devil. 0 To start with, this reveals the authors ignorance a bout Islam, its beliefs, practices and rituals. Secondly, it is surprising that the author cannot even conceive of non-Christian rituals that reflect and lead to cleanliness, unity of man, and entree and commitment to God. By calling these rituals credulity, the author has obviously passed a prescriptive judgment that is reflective of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Sir Harford Jones Brydges re-visited Chronologically, this brings us once again to Sir Harford Jones Brydges.This worthy civil consideration of the colonialist British Empire had little that was new to add to the known facts of the Imams life as described by Burckhardt. He published his Brief History of the Wahauby, in 1834 after perusal of Burckhardts work. The only point on which the two disagreed was whether Mu? ammad ibn alWahhab was the father-in-law or the son-in-law of Mu? ammad ibn Saud. Regardless of this dispute, what Brydges has to offer as an interpretation of this relationship between the two is as follow s P. K. Hitti, History of the Arabs Edinburgh, 1939, 1972, p. 40. Ibid. 45 R. A. Nicholson, literary History of the Arabs, Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1907, 1969, p. 466. 46 W. C. Smith, Islam in advanced(a) History N. Y. , Mentor, 1957, pp. 48-51. 47 G. von Grunebaum, Attempts at Self-Interpretation in contemporary Islam, Islam Essays in the nature and growing of a ethnic tradition, London, 1955, pp. 185-236. 48 H. A. R. Gibb, Modern Trends in Islam, pelf, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1947, 1972, pp. 26-32. 49 Andrew Crichton, History of Arabia Ancient and Modern, vol. 2 Edinburgh, Oliver & Boyd, 1833, p. II190.See footnote. 50 Ibid. , II290. 44 43 Page 9 The Problem of Historical Distortion and that in consequence of this connexion, though Abdulwahaub remained the book, Mahommed Ibn Saoud became the sword of the sect. 51 This is the prelude to what we have been earshot from Orientalists like Hitti and others mentioned earlier. The only difference is that while Brydges was a part of the colonialist establishment and had a political axe to grind, the Orientalists are a part of the neo-colonialist imperialism that breeds Orientalist research. In other respects, i. . those that speak other aspects of the history of the Muwa idun, their administration, etc. , Brydges book complements the work of Burckhardt. W. G. Palgrave Moving beyond the spirit of the nineteenth century, we come to William Gifford Palgrave, a handmaid of the British crown in India, steeped in the Christian tradition. By his time, the facts of the movement were well known it was now the time for the growth of interpretation of these facts. Palgrave published two works, viz. east and primal Arabia (1866) and Essays on eastern Questions (1872).Wahhabism had by this time become a great threat to the British Empire in India and elsewhere, and the crown was out to discredit the movement not only in the British public eye, but also among the Muslims residing in the British colonies. The l atter draw a bead on was not difficult to achieve due to the existing propaganda against the Muwa idun by the Ottoman Turks. Thus, in true service of British colonialism and displaying his loyalty to the missionary cause, Palgrave tried to paint the movement as a reaction to the pressure of the Christian West.He says The great reactionary movement, the Revival, originated where barely a spark of life had been left, by the too-famous Abd-el-Wahhab, in the land of Nejd, has gradually but surely extended itself over the entire surface and through all the length and depth of Islam while the ever increase pressures of the Christian, or, at to the lowest degree, non-Mahometan, West, has intensified the fanatical tendency, even where it has modify its special direction.For Islam is a political not less than a religious whole 52 This was a rejoinder to the scandalise sounded by W. W. Hunter (who was in Her Majestys Bengal elegant Service) in his book The Indian Musalmans. 53 By this time, the British had already successfully faced Sayyid A? mad Shahid (d. 1831), Titu Mir and the struggle of 1857. With these major setbacks, a wave of strong Wahhabi feelings had swept the Muslims of Bengal and Northern India, hoping to regain their disconnected position.Therefore, it was essential for the British cause to defile this obvious threat. Apart from the political motivations for his analysis, his Christian missionary zeal and hatred for Islam control Palgrave to write as follows The Wahhabee reformer organize the design of putting back the hour-hand of Islam to its starting-point and so far he did well, for that hand was from the first meant to be fixed. Islam is in its essence stationary, and was enclose thus to remain.Sterile like its God, lifeless like its first Principle and supreme veritable in all that constitutes true life for life is love, participation, and progress, and of these the Coranic Deity has none it right on repudiates all change, all advan ce, all developement. To dramatise the forcible words of Lord Houghton, the 51 52 Brydges, The Wahauby, p. 107. W. G. Palgrave, Essays on Eastern Questions London, MacMillan & Co. , 1872, p. 115. 53 W. W. Hunter, The Indian Musalmans, 1871. Page 10 The Problem of Historical Distortion written book is there the dead mans hand, powerful and motionless whatever savours of vitality is by that alone convicted of heresy and defection. But Christianity with its vitality and loving God, Begetter and Begotten, Spirit and Movement, nay more, a motive made creature, the noble and the made existing in One, a Divinity communicating itself by incessant gradation and degree from the most refer union far off to the faintest irradiation, though all that It has made for love and governs in love 54 Mu? mmad ibn Abd al-Wahhab is the example for him par excellence of the true image of Islam, standing(prenominal) against a dynamic Christianity, backward looking against the advancing Christianity , lifeless against the life-time Christianity, and with a Sterile God against a living and loving Christian God who begets his only begotten Son becoming the Creator and creature, the Maker and the made all in One. Palgrave combined the missionary and the colonialist mentality in a perfect blend that was to reflect in the Orientalist attitude during the century to follow. He becomes the precursor to the likes of Samuel Zwemer, 55 E. Calverley, C. M.Doughty (1843-1926), 56 T. E. Lawrence (1888-1935), 57 and others. We end our analysis with Palgrave. Doubtless, the approach of the Orientalist has modify vastly during this century, as we see in the writings of George Rentz, for example. 58 However, the Orientalists of the latter piece of land of the nineteenth century, and until recently, those of the twentieth century have faithfully followed the tradition of the likes of Palgrave. CONCLUSION For the sake of betterment and advancement of the civilization of man, we go back to our o pening remarks and question the Western Judaeo-Christian approach towards the civilizations of the East.Rejecting the self-centeredness and particularity nice by the Judaeo-Christian West, and in order to boisterous the Islamic universality, we must shed our feathers and rate the traditions and civilizations of others within their own framework and assumptions. The ingroup of this small world, shrunk by the advance of technology, necessitates a renunciation of selfishness and oppression of the weak, at least in intellectual exercises. In the present context, that is of our approach towards history, we are now bound to accept the facts as such and interpret them for the betterment of mankind.It is obvious that personal biases cannot be eliminated in their totality. The basic assumptions must remain. Regardless, this should not lead us to a distortion of facts. Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab served an important purpose to a material population of mankind, and has also caused grievan ce to many. In light of this we cannot justify either awe or denunciation of this man, who devoted his life for a simple cause. W. G. Palgrave, Narrative of a Years Journey Through Eastern and Central Arabia (1862-63), 2 Vols. London, MacMillan & Co. , 1866, p. I372. 5 Samuel M. Zwemer, Arabia the rocker of Islam and The Mohammedan public of Today N. Y. , Fleming H. Revell Co. , 1906. 56 Charles Montagu Doughty, Travels in Arabia forsakea London, N. Y. , 1906. 57 T. E. Lawrence, heptad Pillars of cognition London, Jonathan Cape, 1926, 1935, 1940 Idem. , Revolt in the Desert N. Y. , George H. Doran Co. , 1927 58 George Rentz, Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and the Unitarian Movement in Arabia, Ph. D. Thesis, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Cf. also Idem. , Wahhabism and Saudi Arabia in The Arabian Peninsula Society and Politics, ed. y Derek Hopwood London, George Allen Unwin, 1972, pp. 54-66. And Idem. , The Wahhabis in Religion in the Middle East ed. by A. J. Arberry Cambri dge, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1969, pp. 270- 284. Page 11 54 The Problem of Historical Distortion Instead, his contribution to the development of civilization must be comprehended in its true perspective. The most important conclusion is the recognition of the distortion of facts, deliberate or otherwise, by the Western colonialists, their functionaries, their missionaries, and the Orientalists who were none of these.Their aims were multifarious. While the colonialists and their functionaries strove to maintain their political victory and to keep the Muslim population mild within the colonies, the missionaries tried their utmost to distort Islam to the extent possible hoping to gain converts. It was often that the aims of the colonialists and the missionaries though seemingly different were in fact the same. Hence, they worked hand in mitt throughout and distorted the facts of history to make their own ends meet. Page 12 The Problem of Historical DistortionBIBLIOGRAPHY Abu Hakima, Ahmad A. , ed. , Lam al-Shihab fi tarikh Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Beirut, 1967 M. A. Bari, Harford Jones Brydges, The early Wahhabis, some contemporary assessments. 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