When Sa'ad, the grandson of Mohammed Ibn Sa'dd, conquered Mecca, he ordered a kind of confession of faith to be published, the substance of which is as follows :— 'Abdu-l-Wahltb's doctrine teaches the salvation of mankind. It is divided iuto three parts : I., the knowledge of God ; IT., the knowledge of religion ; III., the knowledge of the prophet. In the first part, God, it is said, is one Almighty, and we acquire the knowledge of him by adoring him. The second part, knowledge of religion, is threefold, and contains—I. The Islam, or resignation to the will of God ; 2. Faith ; 3. Good works. The Islam contains five things : 1. The belief that there is only one God, and that Mohammed is his prophet; 2. The five daily prayers ; 3. Alms, one-fifth of the annual income ; 4. Fasts during the month of Ramazan ; 5. The pilgrimage to Mecca. The Faith contains six things, namely : 1. The belief in God ; 2. In his angels ; 3. In his Holy Scriptures ; 4. In his prophets; 5. In his divine and perfect qualities ; 6. In the day of judgment. Good Works are only the consequence of the rule that we should adore God as if be were present to our eyes ; and though we cannot see him, we must know that hs sees us. The knowledge of the prophet, which is the must important part of Wahl:Atm, is based on very positive principles. Mohammed, the prophet, was a mortal like all other men, and he preached for all the nations of the world, and not for one only, the Arabs ; no religion is perfect and true in all its parts except his, and after him no other prophet will come ; Moses and Jesus were virtuous men, though Inferior to Mohammed, notwithstanding he was not of divine nature. Those who do not fulfil their religious duties are to be severely punished. The reformed religion shall be propagated with the sword, and all those who refuse to adopt it are to be exterminated. 'Abslu-l-Wahhab not only forbade the adoration of Mohammed and of saints, but he also ordered their splendid tombs to be destroyed, and he declared tradition to be an impure source. He made several other prohibitions concerning social and religious abuses, such as the habit of using wine, opium, and tobacco, the use of the rosary for prayers and he preached strongly against those unnatural practices which were and are still so frequent among the Turks.
The doctrine of 'Abdu-l-Wahhab was no new religion : was Mohammedanism reduced to a pure deism, and so little did it deviate from the Koran, that even to the present day many theologians of Syria and Egypt do not venture to say that it is schismatic. Yet this reformer maintained that there bad never been any man directly in spired by God, and that there was no scripture or book whatsoever which was entitled to be called divine. Hence it follows that accord ing to 'Abdu-l-Wahhab there is no revealed religion ; and if he calls the Mohammedan a divine religion, it is not because he believed that it had been transmitted directly from God to man, but merely on the ground of its perfection.
The reformed Mohammedanism made rapid progress, especially among the nomadic) Arabs, or Beduins, who had never adored Mohammed as a divine person, nor viewed the Koran as a diviuo book, although they considered themselves to be as orthodox Moham medans as any of the other nations which have adopted the Islam.
The inhabitants of the towns were less inclined to adopt Wahhablan, but Mohammed Ibn Sa'fid nevertheless succeeded in conquering the greater part of Nejd, of which he was the temporal chief, while 'Abdu-l-Wahhab was the spiritual chief. The system of government
established by these two men was strictly conformable to the political prescriptions of the Koran, and very like that of the first khalifs. The chief authority lay in the hands of the temporal chief, but this authority was confined to the direction of important affairs ; the governors of the provinces and the under-governors were kept in strict obedience to the orders of the prince, but their authority over the Arabs was not very great. The ulema of the capital, who generally belonged to the clan or family of Sa'fid, formed a council or ministry for religious and legislative affairs, and in time of war the governors used to assemble in Der'aiyeh for the purpose of concerting the plan of the campaign. Trade and agriculture were well protected. The revenues of the Wahhabt empire were composed of : —1. One fifth of the booty taken from heretics ; the four remaining fifths were for the soldiers. 2. The tribute, called "alms " in the Koran : it was a certain part of the property, which varied according to the nature of the property : for fields watered by rain or rivers it was one-tenth of the yearly produce; for fields watered artificially, one-twentieth only ; merchants paid one and a half per cent of their capital. The Beduins, who had always been tax-free, disliked these " alms " very much, but they were indemnified by the frequent occasions of plunder. 3. Revenue from the chiefs or prince's own estates, and from the plunder of rebellious towns. The punishment for a first rebellion was a general plunder, one-fifth of which belonged to the fisens ; in case of a second rebellion, all the grounds belonging to the town were confiscated, and became the property of the reigning chief ; and as such rebellions were very frequent, the chief acquired immense estates. The greater part of them were afterwards confiscated by Mehemet 'Ali, the resha of Egypt. Except a few hundred men who formed the prince s life-guard at Der'aiyeh, the Wahhabis had no standing army, but assembled when the prince designed some expedition. Two or three great expeditions were made every year.
The name of the Wahhable soon became known in the Turkish pro vinces adjacent to Arabia. The Turkish government was not aware that this sect had as much warlike and religious energy as the Arabs under the first khalifs, and employed little activity in their efforts to coerce them. The Wahhabls were successful in their resistance. They gained several battles, and even possessed themselves of Mecca. At length their subjugation was entrusted to Mehemet 'Ali. [MEHEMET 'Aai, in Firm Div.] He commenced his preparations in 1809, but active hostilities only began in 1811, and continued for several years. By 1818, however, their power was completely broken, and 'Abdullah, the successor of Sa'fid, was captured, sent to Constantinople, and there beheaded. The sect, however, though subdued, was not exterminated. They have more than once risen again in arms, but have been repressed ; but still their tenets are understood to have numerous adherents throughout Arabia.
(Burekhardt, Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys ; Mengin, Histoire sommaire der Egypte sous le Gouvernement de Mohammed A ly ; Corancez, Histoire des Wahabis.)