Problem of Historical Distortion – Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab

THE PROBLEM OF HISTORICAL DISTORTION A Survey of Literature on imam Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab as viewed through the western sandwich slant of bill By Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui The caper of diachronic anguishOf the past fourteen centuries of the Moslem civilization, its thought, its institutions and the per countersignalities who eat contributed to its development and glory, stagnation and disintegration, the historical perspective painted by the Judaeo-Christian West has been markedly distinctive from the picture presented by the Muslim scholars, varying from outright hostile and distorted versions to the recent sympathetic (and sometimes empathetic) accounts. invoice is one of those branches of knowledge that can be engrossd most effectively for the glorification and upliftment of ones own people at the expense of the traditions of separates, leading eventu every last(predicate)y to a subversive imposition of ones own norms, value and way of life as the standard for anforme r(a)(prenominal)s. Most, if non all of the people emanating from the Judaeo-Christian tradition who move over penned their at a lower placestanding of the Islamic civilization, have been prey to such underlying motives.This is not unique though since the subjective bias and assumptions of the historian in chaseion argon an integral part of the writing of history. What becomes remark fit in this type is the effective use of the historical perspective of other people for the exploitation of the same. This becomes manifest and so, for example, in the notorious Divide and Rule policy of the post-renaissance British Empire. The Old will Hebraic heritage has a lot to attainer in comprehending this attitude and mentality of the Western writer.The Old Testament (in the Bible) was indite primarily to identify the roue and heritage of the Jews and thereby declare their superiority over all other nations. The other nations mentioned in the Old Testament are merely for the sake of exculpation of the crimes of the Children of Israel. Likewise, the modern Western writer is not concerned active the absolute and relative truths. He is more concerned about justifying or explaining away the phenomena of other civilizations. Through this he either hopes to dominate over the other civilizations, or to convert them to his own ways.We are well aware that our foregoing remarks are hard loaded with our own assumptions but there are certain assumptions, which are derived through the cognitive and perceptive processes using the facts of history as the starting invest. 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 paper a survey of the literature in English produced by the West during the ordinal and nineteenth centuries on the famous and controversial imam Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1789).As a prominent figure in Islamic history, loved by many and hated by many others of the Muslims, he has managed to attract the attention of the Western colonialists, missionaries, and historians who were neither, right from his own lifetime to the present. Far greater than the imaum himself is the impact of his followers the Muwa idun or the questionable Wahhabis on the Western literature about Islam. The schismatic element in the nature of the controversy between the followers of the Imam and other Muslims has held great affair for the very reasons we have outlined above.The analysis will become far more categorical as we proceed with the survey itself. Besides, this analysis can be made much more precise, consummate and to the point if one were to attempt a similar exercise on the survey of the Western literature about 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 life briefly. scalawag 2 The Problem of Historical Distortion Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab A Brief Biography Coming from a learned family, 1 Mu? mmad ibn Abd al-Wahhab was born in 1115/1703 at Uyaynah, a small town or so 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 hike 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 similarly offered him a chance to teach for quite some time. Subsequently, he go on this occupation at the Umayyad mosque of Damascus.His journeys took him east to Basrah as well, where, besides acquiring further knowledge of the traditional sciences, he got the 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 social classs and then moved to capital of Iraq. There he married a wealthy lady and remained for five years. He abutting 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 front work on taw? id, and excessively gathered disciples. After the death of his father in 1153/1740, he left Huraymilah for Uyaynah where he spend 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 preaching against shirk (associating partners with Allah) that was practiced by the masses, and against their moral laxity shook the root of the society.As a result, the Imam was forced to leave Uyaynah and sufferk refuge in Diriyah (which is around 10-15 Km from Uyaynah in the direction of Riyadh), where he found followers among the amir Mu? ammad ibn Sauds brothers and son. Eventually the Amir in any case supported him. The Amir and the Imam took a bayah (an oath of mutual loyalty), to strive, by force if necessary, to make the kingdom of Gods record book prevail. 3 This was the beginning of the religio- policy-making reality that was to engulf the whole of Najd and its neighbouring territories during the decades to come, jump 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 return to the man who called for the return to taw? id (Gods unity) and a true(p) practice of Islam. Mu? ammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab continued his role as teacher in the mosque of Diriyah, as political counselor of the Amir, and as a preacher writing theological works and ex tending 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 several works of ? anbali inspiration, which in part arrive. 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 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 Historical Distortion WESTERN ACCOUNTS ABOUT THE IM M M. Carste n Niebuhr (1733-1815) The first European to mention the Imam in his publications was M. Carsten Niebuhr who visited the peninsula in 1761-1764, that is in spite of appearance four years of the bayah taken between the Imam and ibn Saud. He published his accountings in German in 1772 and 1778.An abridged English version of his writings appeared first in 1792 entitled Travels Through Arabia and new(prenominal) Countries in the East. 5 Niebuhr and his companions had embarked upon an ecclesiastical mission to gather some information about this ancient cut down of Arabia, which had been the cradle of Christianity just as it had been for Judaism and Islam. Many people have noted the false and misleading remarks of Niebuhr with regards to the Imam. In the drama depicted by Niebuhr, there are two important characters in the founding of the New trust of a Part of Nedsjed, 6 namely one Abd ul Wahheb and his son Mahomet. His description of ibn Abd al-Wahhabs youth seems to campaign with the facts of the Imams life. Now this Abd ul Wahheb, having founded his religion, converts several Schiechs (i. e. shaykhs) to his faith, 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 supreme ecclesiastical character in El Ared. Among his beliefs cited are that he considered Mahomet, Jesus Christ, Moses, and many others, well-thought-of by the Sunnites in the character of prophets, as merely great men, whose history might be read with improvement 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 new religion of Abd ul Wahheb deserves therefore to be regarded as a rehabilitation of Mahometism, reducing 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 servant 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 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 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 ibid. , II131-3. 8 Ibid. , II133. 9 Ibid. , II134. 10 Ibid. , II135. 11 Ibid. , II135. Page 4 5 The Problem of Historical 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 later on, under pretense, that his Brother in Law Mahamer perverted Justice and oppressed the Tribe, murdered him with his own hands in the Mosque as he was at prayers meaning thereby, as he declared, to give to the People 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 laboured even 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 esteem as meritorious, so horrible a Transaction, and they obliged Moolah Mohammed, to abandon Ayenah, and he fled to Dereah 16 where he found an Asylum and Protector in Shaik Ibn Soud, the Governor of that place, who als o embraced his Doctrines. 17 Historically we know that Uthman ibn Muammar died a natural death after the Imam had left for Diriyah, and that his expulsion from Uyaynah was due to the pressures from various parts 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 Religion they possess is Mohammedan 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 authoritative account of the Muwa idun in his A Brief History of the Wahauby. 19 We shall return to this inscription after looking at other developments during these 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 offshoot of the Qarmatians. 20 Rousseau Four yea rs later in 1809, another 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 century. 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 Transactions of His Majestys Mission to the coquette of Persia in the years 1807-11, to which is appended A Brief History of the Wahauby London, James Bohn, 1834. 20 M. A. Bari, The early Wahhabis, some contemporary assessments. minutes of the 27th 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, 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 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 Cora ncezs 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 a lot first-hand observers but his account of the life of the split up of the Wahhabi movement is inadequate. He ascribes Wahhabi expansion totally 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, mustiness certainly 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 amused his European audience with his History of Seyd Said, sultan of Muscat in 1819, which also devoted a considerable section to the Muwa idun. Maurizi, in h is zeal to abase the movement, overstepped even the limits of Niebuhr and painted a completely ridiculous picture. To give a full flavour of his deliberate misreporting, we quote part of his narrative below. About 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 interpreter of the will of heaven declared that this sign portended the turn in of a son, who should become the founder of a new religion, and perform extraordinary actions. Soon afterwards the wife of Abdulvaab really became pregnant, and bore him a son, who was named Maam? . 29 footnote in the text reads This happened about the year 1757. . The tribe of Neshdee, or Nescede, 30 to which the fam ily 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 & 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 patriotism in the Arab World 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 page of his Preface to the History of Seyd Said, Sultan of Muscat, 1819. 28 He believably 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 while his son accompanied him, and was shown to all as the precious pledge of Almighty acclaim 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 except those relating to religion, a soul named Abdullazis, 31 an adopted 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 possibly 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 hea dsman last mentioned, 33 almost 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 grave accent 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 route 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 detail but we shall make observations on some salient distortions.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 fallacy 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 precisely be commented upon. But the interesting development that must be noted is the so-called declaration by Abd al-Aziz of the Prophet Mu? ammad (p) being an impostor. Maurizi elaborates on this and other so-called 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 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 earth 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 i ben 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 known more than a few words or phrases in Arabic, or else he would have rendered the envoys answer truthfully. Instead, he has oblige 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 hypothecateed 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 All ah 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 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 order 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 Comparin g 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 his sole turn over 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 disgraced. 0 One can quote Burckhardt at length to show his positive attitude which led him to a fairly objective analysis of the confidence 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) a nd 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 psychological 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 primitive (emphasis ours) faith of Islam, or Mohammedanism, had become totally corrupted and obscured by abuses, . 42 The value judgment involved in his use of the word primitive is apparent. The Western notion that the progression of thought and ideas essentially leads to the procession 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 humanity min d, 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 get hold ofment in the history of man, the Western thinker 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 tightness. 43 Hitti goes further though in regarding the bayah of 1757 as another case of marriage between religion and the sword. 4 The subtle misdemeanour of value judgements are scattered profusely throughout the writings even of the socalled sy mpathetic 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 Ancient 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 offer, we turn to his usage of some of the existent 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 superstition as to abolish the ceremonies of ablution and the Meccan pilgrimage, or even those of kissing the bla ck nether region 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 commitment to God. By calling these rituals superstition, the author has obviously passed a normative 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 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 dispu te, what Brydges has to offer as an interpretation of this 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 modern-day Islam, Islam Essays in the nature and offset 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 & 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 sense of hearing fr om 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 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 confidential information 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 east 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 disc redit 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 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 scarce 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 increasing pressures of the Christian, or, at to the lowest degree, non-Mahometan, West, has intensified the fanatical tendency, even where it has limited 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 drove 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 o f 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 & 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, stiff and unmoving whatever savours of vitality is by that alone convicted of heresy and defection. But Christianity with its living and loving God, Begetter and Begotten, Spirit and Movement, nay more, a Creator made creature, the shaping machine and the made existing in One, a Divinity communicating itself by uninterrupted gradation and degree from the most intimate 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 high -energy 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 mother 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 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 twentieth century have faithfully followed the tradition of the likes of Palgrave. CONCLUSION For the sake of betterment a nd 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 order 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 accept the facts as such and interpret them for the betterment of mankind.It is obvious that in-person 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 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, communicatory of a Years voyage Through Eastern and Central Arabia (1862-63), 2 Vols. London, MacMillan & 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 Deserta London, N. Y. , 1906. 57 T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of firmness 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 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. plot of ground the colonialists and their functionaries strove to maintain their political supremacy and to keep the Muslim population subdued 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 glove 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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