'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part II. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎2376] (893/1262)

2376
The Wahhabi denomination of Islam in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. region.
m
The origin of the Wahhabis or Wahhabijah , the cha
racter of their religion, and their political history are sufficiently explained
in the historical chapter on Najd, to which the reader may refer; it is
therefore unnecessary to dwell here on their principles and position.
Confusion at At the present day it is extremely difficult to distioguish, in the
the present Deighbourhood of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , between the Wahhabis proper and
Wahhahis 611 some Muhammadans of the Sunni persuasion whose views approximate
and Hanbali ver 7 closely to those of the Wahhabis. The Bani Bu'Ali and Bani
Sunnis. Rasib tribes of the ''Oman Sultanate appear to be still Wahhabis in the
full sense of the word and to call themselves so; but the Ghafiri tribes of
Trucial ^Oman in general, who were once undoubtedly Wahhabis, now
claim to be Sunnis of the Hanbali sect; and in practice they have
declined, and even departed, from the strict Wahhabi standards of conduct.
The position of some Bedouin tribes of Eastern Arabia, such as the
^Ajman, Bani Hajir and A1 Morrah, who call themselves Hanabilah, is
similarly doubtful. A portion of the Ma^adhid of Qatar have recently
become Hanbali Sunnis of a somewhat extreme type, have held close
relations with the Wahhabi Amir, and may, perhaps, be reckoned
Wahhabis.
Absence of We may refer here to the Wahhabi movement which took place
connection among Muhammadans in India during the 19th century; by some it has
between ^ tbe apparently been assumed to have been instigated from Arabia^ but the
Wahhftbis of ev i^ ence available does not favour any such assumption* The
those^of an movemer ^ w as initiated by Saiyid Ahmad Shah of the Eai Bareli district,
India. who visited Makkah in 1822 and there imbibed the principles of the
Wahhabi faith, yet without, so far as is known, forming any permanent
connection with the Wahhabis of Arabia. Another prominent figure
among the Indian Wahhabis was Titu Miyan, who visited Makkah ^
1822 and returned to India in 1827^ but did not apparently^ enter into
any relations with Najd. Saiyid Ahmad Shah declared a Jihad or holy
war against the Sikhs in ] 826 and maintained it, not altogether ^ withou
success, until his death, at the hands of the Sikhs, in 1831. Since then
the Wahhabis have occasionally given trouble to the British Governmen
in India, especially between the years 1860 and 1870, upon the Nortn*
Western Frontier and in the Lower Provinces ; but it does not appe ar
that they have ever maintained any correspondence with Central Arawa,
that they themselves have ever visited Najd, or that any Wahna ^
propagandists have been sent from Arabia to India.t The movement, i
* It is therefore to be feared that Sir Alfred Lyall 's stirring poem, A ^ -
in Lower^ Bengal (1864), must be regarded as devoid of historical fonn ^
The exordium of the preacher,—" Men of the Indian cities who cull on the
name "--seeiris inappropriate also in the mouth of an Arabian Wahhabi, ^l 10
necessarily reject the intercession of any prophet or saint.
t The records of the Foreign Department of the Government of IndiM|f J 1 J
Criminal Intelligence Department and of the local Governments of the " atl 3 aD '.
Uniled Provinces, Bombay and Bengal, so far as it has been possible to
them, contain no hint of communications between the Wahbabis of India ana*
of Arabia. < Nor has the writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. met with a reference to any such BUppose a
spondence in the entire records of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Political Resideocy.