Problem of Historical Distortion – Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab

THE PROBLEM OF HISTORICAL torture A Survey of Literature on imaum Mu? am sore ibn Abd al-Wahhab as viewed with the western nearlyern slant of history By Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui The difficulty of diachronic torturingOf the ancient fourteen centuries of the Islamic well-bredization, its thought, its institutions and the personalities who stimulate contributed to its nurture and glory, stagnation and disintegration, the historical sight painted by the Judaeo-Christian West has been markedly distinctive from the picture saluteed by the Muslim scholars, varying from verbotenright hostile and wricked versions to the recent philanthropic (and sometimes empathetic) accounts. narrative is one of those branches of companionship that fag end be used roughly effectively for the glorification and upliftment of ones give birth people at the expense of the traditions of others, guide leveltu on the wholey to a subversive imposition of ones proclaim norms, values and fede ral agency of feel as the standard for others. Most, if non alone of the people emanating from the Judaeo-Christian tradition who have penned their infrastanding of the Islamic civilization, have been prey to such(prenominal) key motives.This is not unique though since the subjective bias and assumptions of the historian in question atomic number 18 an integral section of the write of history. What forces peculiar in this case is the effective use of the historical perspective of other people for the exploitation of the same. This sticks manifest thence, for example, in the notorious Divide and Rule policy of the post-renaissance British empire. The Old testament Hebraic heritage has a lot to head in comprehending this attitude and mentality of the occidental writer.The Old Testament (in the Bible) was write primarily to identify the ancestry and heritage of the Jews and thereby declare their favorable position over all other nations. The other nations mentioned in the Old Testament are merely for the sake of justification of the crimes of the Children of Israel. Likewise, the modern westbound writer is not concerned slightly the absolute and relative truths. He is more(prenominal) concerned just about justifying or condoneing away the phenomena of other civilizations. through with(predicate) this he either hopes to dominate over the other civilizations, or to convert them to his accept ways.We are well aware that our foregoing remarks are heavily pissed off with our induce assumptions but there are certain assumptions, which are derived through the cognitive and perceptive processes using the facts of history as the starting point. Thus, in this case, the assumptions are elevated to the level of derived facts and axioms. To prove our point, we have chosen for this idea a survey of the literature in English produced by the West during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries on the famous and controversial imam Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-W ahhab (1703-1789).As a prominent figure in Islamic history, get alongd by some(prenominal) and hated by many others of the Muslims, he has managed to attract the attention of the occidental colonia adverts, rusharies, and historians who were neither, right from his own lifetime to the present. Far capaciouser than the imam himself is the meeting of his take noteers the Muwa?? idun or the so-callight-emitting diode Wahhabis on the westerly literature about Islam. The schismatic element in the nature of the controversy mingled with the chase of the imam and other Muslims has held great interest for the very reasons we have adumbrate above.The analysis will become far more categorical as we proceed with the survey itself. Besides, this analysis can be made frequently more precise, precise and to the point if one were to attempt a uniform exercise on the survey of the western literature about the followers of the Imam. In this paper we shall limit ourselves to the Imam solo. To begin with, it would be inhibit to narrate the salient features of the Imams life briefly. scallywag 2 The Problem of diachronic Distortion Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab A truncated Biography Coming from a acquire family, 1 Mu? mmad ibn Abd al-Wahhab was born in 1115/1703 at Uyaynah, a small townsfolk roughly 30 Km northwest of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. His ancestors had been steeped in the ? anbali tradition, and so was young Mu? ammads education. As a young man, he left Uyaynah for further studies. His search for learning took 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 excessively offered him a rule to teach for kinda some time. Subsequently, he continue this occupation at the Uwhitethornyad mosque of Damascus.His journeys took him east to Basrah as well, where, besides acquiring further k directlyledge of the traditional sciences, he got th e chance of getting acquainted with Shii and Sufi circles, their ways and ideas. This period ascertained for him the formulation of a mission in his mind. According to the Lam al-Shihab, 2 he stayed in Basrah for four twelvemonths and then moved to Baghdad. in that location he married a wealthy lady and re mained for five years. He conterminous went to Hamadan and then to Isfahan in 1148/1736 to study philosophy and Sufism. His quest for knowledge led him to Cairo and Damascus as well.Upon the settlement 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 initial change state on taw? id, and also self-possessed disciples. After the death of his father in 1153/1740, 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 panic among the powerful Banu Khalid. His preaching a gainst shirk (associating circumstancesners with Allah) that was practiced by the masses, and against their moral laxity shook the roots of the society.As a resolution, the Imam was forced to leave Uyaynah and stress refuge in Diriyah (which is around 10-15 Km from Uyaynah in the direction of Riyadh), where he found followers among the emeer Mu? ammad ibn Sauds brothers and son. Eventually the Amir also dorsum up him. The Amir and the Imam took a talkah (an oath of mutual dedication), to strive, by force if necessary, to make the kingdom of Gods word prevail. 3 This was the spring of the religio- policy-making reality that was to engulf the whole of Najd and its neighbouring territories during the decades 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 amends to the man who called for the return to taw? id (Gods unity) and a true up practice of Islam. Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab continued his contribution as teacher in the mosque of Diriyah, as political advocator of the Amir, and as a preacher writing theological works and extending his dawah to the neighbouring areas until his death 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, which in part survive. Laoust, EI2, trinity677, 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 have been taken from this same source. Most historians give the year of death as 1206/1792. See Muinudd in A? mad Khan, A Diplomats inform on Wahhabism of Arabia, Islamic Studies 7 (1968), p. 38, for the argument in favour of 1204/1789 as the correct date. paginate 3 1 The Problem of historical Distortion WESTERN 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 at heart four years of the bayah taken between the Imam and ibn Saud. He make his reputes in German in 1772 and 1778.An abridged English version of his writings appeared first in 1792 entitled Travels with Arabia and Other Countries in the East. 5 Niebuhr and his companions had embarked upon an ecclesiastical mission to gather some information about this ancient land of Arabia, which had been the rocker of Christianity just as it had been for Judaism and Islam. Many people have remark the morose and misleading remarks of Niebuhr with regards to the Imam. In the drama depicted by Niebuhr, there are two cardinal characters in the founding of the New Religion of a Part of Nedsjed, 6 namely one Abd ul Wahheb and his son Mahomet. His description of ibn Abd al-Wahhabs offspring go forms to tally with the facts of the Imams life. Now this Abd ul Wahheb, having founded his religion, converts several Schiechs (i. e. shaykhs) to his trustingness, 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 empire built by his father, sustaining the imperious ecclesiastical character in El Ared. Among his beliefs cited are that he canvassed Mahomet, Jesus Christ, Moses, and many others, respected by the Sunnites in the character of prophets, as merely great men, whose history might be read with expediency denying that any book had ever been written by divine inspiration, or brought down from the heaven by the angel Gabriel. 9 Against the beliefs of Abd ul Wahheb, he contrasts the Sunnites as a superstitious sect whose opinions are false, depending on their own whimsies to explain the Alcoran, acknowledging saints to whom many absurd miracles are ascribed, etc. 0 Finally, he concludes that The novel religion of Abd ul Wahheb deserves therefore to be regarded as a reformation of Mahometism, simplification it back to its original 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 accurate in his reporting was the civil handmaiden of the colonialist British, Sir Harford Jones Brydges, who sent his first report on the Wahhabis from Baghdad to the British Foreign Office in C. M. Niebuhr, Travels by Arabia and Other Countries in the East, trans. nto English by Robert Heron, vol. 2, Edinburgh, R. Morrison &038 Son, 1792. Cf. also Muinuddin A? mad Khan, op. cit. , p. 33 and a review of Niebuhrs life in Islamic Culture 7 (1933), pp. 502-505 by V. B. Mehta. 6 Niebuhr, II130. Note that Nedsjed is Najd. 7 ib. , II131-3. 8 Ibid. , II133. 9 Ibid. , II134. 10 Ibid. , II135. 11 Ibid. , II135. Page 4 5 The Problem of diachronic Distortion 1799, that is within a decade of the death of the Imam. 12 The weakest part of his report is the following anecdote Shaik Ibn Mahamer 13 proud of possessing this new Sectuary gave Moolah Mohammed 14 his own Sister inMarriage and Moolah Mohammed sometime after, under pretense, that his Brother in Law Mahamer perverted evaluator and oppressed the Tribe, murdered him with his own hand in the Mosque as he was at prayers meaning thereby, as he stated, to give to the wad of Ayenah 15 a proof that his love for Justice was so great, that neither the obligations which he had to, nor alliance he had with Shaik Mahamer could withhold him from heavy(a) regular in him that he conceived to be a deviation from it. The People of Ayenah however appear to have had too much good Sense , to think of as meritorious, so horrible a Transaction, and they obliged Moolah Mohammed, to cast away Ayenah, and he fled to Dereah 16 where he found an Asylum and Protector in Shaik Ibn Soud, the Governor of that place, who also embraced his Doctrines. 17 Historically we know that Uthman ibn Muammar died a indispensable death after the Imam had left for Diriyah, and that his expulsion from Uyaynah was due to the pressures from several(a) parts of that area against his teachings.Other than this error, Brydges report to his masters in London dependably depicted the doctrines taught by the Imam. He says, The Religion they possess is Mohammedan consort to the literal meaning of the Koran, following the Interpretations of Hambelly. 18 Thirty-five years later, in 1834, Sir Harford Jones Brydges produced a far greater originatoritative account of the Muwa?? idun in his A Brief score of the Wahauby. 19 We shall return to this document after look at other phylogenesiss during th ese thirty-five years. e Sacy In 1805, we find 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 process of the Qarmatians. 20 Rousseau Four years later in 1809, another(prenominal) Frenchman by the name of Rousseau produced two short treatises 21 in which it was positively asserted, that the Wahabys have a new 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 al-Wahhab 15 i. e. Uyaynah. 16 i. e.Diriyah, the first Saudi capital in the eighteenth degree centigrade. 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 sum the ? anbali School of Fiqh. 19 Harford Jones Brydges, An Account of the Transactions of His Majestys Mission to the Court of Persia in the years 1807-11, to which is appended A Brief History o f the Wahauby London, James Bohn, 1834. 20 M. A. Bari, The too soon 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 sect that sprang up in southern 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 secte 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, until now 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 clear misinformati on, the indignation arising 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 best 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 often first-hand observers but his account of the life of the founder of the Wahhabi parkway is inadequate. He ascribes Wahhabi expansion solely to the weakness and misrule of the Ottomans (whose authority in most of Arabia was at times merely nominal) and ignores the fervour stirred up by (ibn) Abd al-Wahhab which, combined with the leadership of Mu? ammad ibn Saud, essential for certain have been the main reason for their astonishing victories. 6 Vincenzo Maurizi During the following years, we find the writings of another Niebuhrian, 27 an Italian by the name of Vincenzo Maurizi alias Shaik Mansur. He entertained his European audience with his History of Seyd Said, Sultan of Muscat in 1819, which also given up a considerable section to the Muwa?? idun. Maurizi, in his zeal to humble the doing, overstepped even the limits of Niebuhr and painted a completely erroneous picture. To give a full flavour of his deliberate misreporting, we quote part of his narrative below. roughly the middle 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 flame appeared to issue from his body and burn to ashes all the neighbouring country he confided the extraordinary circumstances which had befallen him to a Mullah, or Mulla, and the congresswoman of the will of heaven declared that this sign portended the birth of a son, who should become th e founder of a new religion, and perform extraordinary actions. Soon after the wife of Abdulvaab really became pregnant, and bore him a son, who was named Maam? . 29 footnote in the text edition 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 sanctioned by divine authority, and Abdulvaab, as general of J. L. Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys, vol. 2 London, Henry Colburn &038 Richard Bentley, 1831, p. II103. 23 Ibid. , p. 103. 24 cf. ibidem , 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 World A Selected and Annotated Bibliography Montreal, engraft of Islamic Studies, McGill University, 1955. Unpublished M. A. thesis. p. 11. 27 round Niebuhr, Maurizi remarks where the accurate and indefatigable Niebu hr could afford me any assistance, I have not hesitated to avail myself of it, and on the other hand I have at times remarked any alterations which have taken place since his days. 17th page of his Preface to the History of Seyd Said, Sultan of Muscat, 1819. 28 He probably message 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 chance of spreading his political power, and the opinions of the new confidence, which he considered himself commissioned to promulgate bit his son accompanied him, and was shown to all as the precious pledge of ecclesiastic approbation 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 affairs of state buy food those relating to religion, a person named Abdullazis, 31 an select brother of his fathers. This minister followed up the victories of the deceased pr ophet 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 stress 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 nigh all the interior of the Arabian peninsula acknowledged their political and religious sway.Abdullazis 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 dispatch to visit the burial place of Alle, or Eli, 34 at Ellaa, 35 and plundered that depository of the accumulated wealth of ages. 36 The historical errors are far too many to comment on in fact but we shall make observations on some sal ient torturings.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 birth of Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab to 1757, the year when he contracted the bayah with ibn Saud. The illusion of a tribe called Najdi, of the existence of Alis tomb at al-? illah, of Abd al-Aziz being the adopted brother of the Imams father, etc. eed hardly be commented upon. besides the interesting development that must be noted is the so-called declaration by Abd al-Aziz of the visionary Mu? ammad (p) being an impostor. Maurizi elaborates on this and other supposed beliefs of the Vaabi by quoting an answer which he claims to have been given to him by an envoy of Saud ibn Abd al-Aziz. It reads We do not discord from other Mus aleems, or Muselims (Musselmen) 37 except in thinking that Mahomet arrogated to himself too much authority and, that the Koran was sent to the earth by the turn over 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 admiration and imitation for their piety and moral conduct 38 Obviously, Maurizi could not have cognise more than a few nomenclature or phrases in Arabic, or else he would have rendered the envoys answer 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 in to the mouth of the envoy. His deficiency of knowledge of Arabic is reflected 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. Burckhardt John Lewis Burckhardt was the first to bring a balanced view of the course 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 direct 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 in contrasting about all the duties which it cocksure. 39 Comparing the Muwa?? idun to the Ottoman Turks, he says Not a wizard new precept was to be found in the Wahaby ode. Abd el Wahab took as his sole guide the Koran and the Sunne (or the laws formed 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 recapitulate 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 latter are guilty. 0 One can quote Bu rckhardt 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 wherefore 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 threat in his preaching thus leading to an intentional distortion of the facts. Despite this objectivity 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 confident(p) by what he observed during his (b. Abd al-Wahhabs) travels, that the native (emphasis ours) faith of Islam, or Mohammedanism, had become totally corrupted and obscured by abuses, . 42 The value judgment entangled in his use of the word primitive is apparent. The Western notion that the advance of thought and ideas essen tially 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 manifestation 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, while 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 achievement in the history of man, the Western intellect would regard it as a primitive stage 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 intrusion of value judgements are scattered profusely end-to-end 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 speak 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 antique and Modern in 1833. This is the first time that we see a Western writer composing a secondary work on the Muwa?? dun based solely on other Western writings. Having noted Burckhardts caution against the misconceptions floating around, Crichton relied primarily on Burckhardt, Corancez and Mengin in particular. 49 Since he has nothing original to o ffer, 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 fanaticism 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 about 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 submission and commission to God. By calling these rituals superstition, 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 servant of the colonialist British Empire had little that was new to add to the kn own 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 human relationship between the two is as follows 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 Modern 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 growth of a cultural tradition, London, 1955, pp. 185-236. 48 H. A. R. Gibb, Modern Trends in Islam, Chicago, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1947, 1972, pp. 26-32. 49 Andrew Crichton, History of Arabia Ancient and Modern, vol. 2 Edinburgh, Oliver &038 Boyd, 1833, p. II190.See footnote. 50 Ibid. , II290. 44 43 Page 9 The Problem of Historical Distortion and that in termination 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 sense of hearing from Orientalists like Hitti and others mentioned earlier. The only difference is that while Brydges was a part of the colonialist ecesis 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 cover 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 middle of the nineteenth century, we come to William Gifford Palgrave, a servant 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, namely Eastern and Central 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 latter purpose was not difficult to achieve due to the actual propaganda against the Muwa?? idun by the Ottoman Turks. Thus, in true service of British colonialism and displaying his loyalty to the missional cause, Palgrave tried to paint the movement as a reception to the pressure of the Christian West.He says The great reactionary movement, the Revival, originated where scarce a bring out 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 increasing pressures of the Christian, or, at least, non-Mahometan, West, has intensified the fanatical tendency, even where it has modified its special direction.For Islam is a political not less than a religious whole 52 This was a rejoinder to the alarm sounded by W. W. Hunter (who was in Her Majestys Bengal Civil 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 War 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 lost position.Therefore, it was essential for the British cause to subvert this obvious threat. Apart from the political motivations for his analysis, his Christian missionary zeal and hatred for Islam pack Palgrave to write as follows The Wahhabee reformer formed 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 framed thus to remain.Sterile like its God, lifeless like its first Principle and supreme Original in all that constitutes true life for life is love, participation, and progress, and of these the Coranic Deity has none it justly repudiates all change, all advance, all developement. To borrow the forcible words of Lord Houghton, the 51 52 Brydges, The Wahauby, p. 107. W. G. Palgrave, Essays on Eastern Questions London, MacMillan &038 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, puckish and motionless whatever savours of vitality is by that alone convicted of heresy and defection. But Christianity with its victuals and loving God, Begetter and Begotten, Spirit and Movement, nay more, a causation made creature, the Maker and the made existing in One, a theology communic ating itself by uninterrupted gradation and degree from the most outline 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, stagnant against a dynamic Christianity, backward looking against the advancing Christianity, lifeless against the living Christianity, and with a Sterile God against a living and loving Christian God who begets his only begotten Son meet 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 improved vastly during this century, as we see in the writings of George Rentz, for example. 58 However, the Orientalists of the latter portion of the nineteenth century, and until recently, those of the ordinal century have faithfully followed the tradition of the likes of Palgrave. CONCLUSION For the sake of amelioration and advancement of the civilization of man, we go back to our opening remarks and question the Western Judaeo-Christian approach towards the civilizations of the East.Rejecting the self-centeredness and particularity practiced by the Judaeo-Christian West, and in mold to approximate the Islamic universality, we must shed our feathers and appreciate the traditions and civilizations of others within their own framework and assumptions. The plurality 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 acce pt 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 fundamental 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 significant population of mankind, and has also caused grievance to many. In light of this we cannot justify either veneration 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 &038 Co. , 1866, p. I372. 5 Samuel M. Zwemer, Arabia the Cradle of Islam and The Mohammedan World of Today N. Y. , Fleming H. Revell Co. , 1906. 56 Charles Montagu Doughty, Travels in Arabia quita London, N. Y. , 1906. 57 T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of wiseness 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 midst East ed. by A. J. Arberry Cambridge, 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 appreciated 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 supremacy and to proceed the Muslim population subdued within the colonies, the missionaries t ried 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 glove throughout and twisted 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. Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of Orientalists Ann Arbor, Mich. , 1967. An Account of the Transactions of His Majestys Mission to the Court of Persia in the years 1807-11, to which is appended A Brief History of the Wahauby London, James Bohn, 1834. Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys, vol. 2 London, Henry Colburn &038 Richard Bentley, 1831, p.II103. Histoire des Wahhabis, depuis leur origine jusqua la fin de 1809, Paris, Grapelet, 1 810. History of Arabia Ancient and Modern, vol. 2 Edinburgh, Oliver &038 Boyd, 1833 Travels in Arabia Deserta London, N. Y. , 1906. An abridged version of this work was also published under the title Wanderings In Arabia, London, Duckworth, 1908, 1926 Modern Trends in Islam, Chicago, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1947, 1972 Attempts at Self-Interpretation in Contemporary Islam, Islam Essays in the nature and growth of a cultural tradition, London, 1955, pp. 85-236 History of the Arabs Edinburgh, 1939, 1972 The Indian Musalmans, 1871 A Diplomats Report on Wahhabism of Arabia, Islamic Studies 7 (1968), encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition, III677, col. 2. Seven Pillars of Wisdom London, Jonathan Cape, 1926, 1935, 1940 Revolt in the Desert N. Y. , George H. Doran Co. , 1927 History of Seyd Said, Sultan of Muscat, 1819 A review of Niebuhrs life in Islamic Culture 7 (1933), pp. 502-505 Islam and Nationalism in the Arab World A Selected and Annotated Bibliography Montreal, Institute of Islami c Studies, McGill University, 1955.Unpublished M. A. thesis. Literary History of the Arabs, Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. 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