WAHHABIS or WAIIABEES, is the name of the adherents of a Mohammedan sect in Arabia. Tho origin of this sect is intimately connected with the following circumstances. When Sultan &Hui I. bad conquered Egypt and deposed the last khalif of Cairo, Alsnuta wakkel in A.n. 922 (A.D. 1517), he was acknowledged as successor of the khalifs by Berekiat, the grand sherif of Mecca, who presented him with the keys of the Ka'bah. From this time the sultans of the Osmanlin were the protectors of the Mohammedan faith, though only recognised as such by the Sunnites; they were the guardians of the holy cities, Mecca and Medina ; and they had the privilege and the duty of protecting the numerous caravans of hAjis, or pilgrims, which annually travel to Mecca. A Turkish pasha resided at Jidda, and sometimes also at Mocha, and while the fertile provinces of Hejaz and Yemen in Western Arabia seemed to obey the Sultan, the pashas of Ilaglithiti and Basrah made frequent attempts to establish the Turkish authority in the province of EI-Hassa in Eastern Arabia. The Moham medan religion had generally departed from its primitive purity, and was particularly corrupted among the Turks. The Mollainnpelans had Introduced novelties into their religion, which were rather calculated to please the senses, and which found favour among people who have always loved to follow the bent of their imaginations. Mohammed gradually received honours like God himself ; virtuous men became saints, and the miracles they were said to have performed were eagerly believed by the people ; many austere rules of the Koran were forgotten or left to the extravagances "of a few derwishes and fakirs; " and the places of worship were adorned by the princes and the rich with the arts and luxuries of the East, while the poorer Mohammedans indulged their passion for religious buildings by erecting a rude tomb to some unknown saint, surmounted by a cupola of painted brickwork. To this we must add that the Koran ceased to be the sole source of religious knowledge, and that traditions con cerning Mohammed were considered by his disciples as pure and trustworthy as the Koran itself. Although the Arabs had deviated from the rule of the Koran, there was a striking difference between them and the Turks. The Turks used opium and wine ; not satisfied with polygamy, they had intercourse with prostitutes ; they were addicted to practices against nature, which are strictly prohibited by the Koran, and more than once holy hajis of the Turkish caravans had polluted the sacred cities with their scandalous conduct. The
caravans especially, those congregations of pious men assembled for the purpose of performing one of the most sacred duties of their faith, presented a revolting aspect to the simple and uncorrupted believers among the Beduins of the desert. Their leaders gave full licence to debauchery, and although it was generally their riches which tempted the Beduins, and excited them to predatory attacks, it often happened that the Son of the Desert unsheathed his sword indignant at the pride and vices of men who, from the moment they reached Mecca, proudly assumed the holy title of kajl.
Such was the state of the Islam, when, in the beginning of the last century, a Mohammedan sheikh conceived the project of reform ing the religion of Mohammed, and restoring it to its primitive purity.
This sheikh was 'Abdu-l-Wahhab (" the servant of Him who gives (us) every thing"), who was born at El-Hauta, a village five or six days' journey south of Der'aiyeh, the capital of the province of Nejd, on the road from this town to the district called Wadi Dowasir, or as some say at 'Al-Aynah, in Nejd, or Aiyineh, which seems to be El Ayeynels. near Der'aiyeh. 'Abdu-l-Wahhab was born at the begin ning of the 12th century of the Ilijira, which corresponds to the end of the 17th century of our nra. His father was the sheikh, or chief, of the Bent Wahhab, a branch of the great tribe of Temim, which occupies a considerable part of Nejd. 'Abdu-l-Wahhab received his education in the schools of Basrah, where he studied divinity. He made the usual pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina, and lived several years at Damascus, where he had frequent disputations with the divines on religion, but displaying great zeal in the abolition of abuses, his doctrine was considered as schismatic, and being exposed to persecutions, be fled to Mosul. After some time he returned to Arabia, but the doctrines which he preached to the natives, and his violent attacks on Turkish tyranny and vice, became so many causes for new persecutions, and he led a wandering life till he settled at Defaiyeh, the residence of the sheikh Mohammed I bn Sa'fid. This intelligent chief listened to the words of the reformer. He became his disciple ; he married his daughter ; and soon drew his sword to propagate the new doctrine among the tribes of Arabia. Mohammed Ibn Sa'frd thus laid the foundations of a powerful empire on theo cratical principles, of which his descendants remained masters for nearly a century.