'Notes on the "Akhwan" Movement' [‎105v] (3/8)

exists, in the form of Najdis not being allowed to so to Mecca. Government would do
well not to neglect the storm clouds winch are gathering. I his is the only anxiety
Bin Sa'ud has at the present moment in his dealings with the Akhwan. Be is anxious
about the future, and his repeated requests to me to warn His Majesty s Government
about the high feeling that was running throughout iNajd was a sufficient indication ot
Bin Sa'ud's state of mind. Finally, in a general sense, Akhwanism may be said to be
a revival of Wahhahism. It is, however, in no sense a heresy, but an ascetic movement
amono- Moslems to revive the Salifi school of Sunniism, as taught by the Imam Ahmad
At the present moment, as I mentioned above, it may be said to have chiefly attected
the Beduin of Central Arabia, as opposed to the more educated townspeople. Bin
Sa'ud himself is at the head of the movement, and on one occasion, when 1 askeo. about
the Akhwan, he said, "T am the Akhwan." Bin Sa'ud himself told me that the
Akhwan were practically the same as the Wahhabis. lo-day ^\Vahhal)ism-cum-
Akhwanism was the purest of all religions in the world, said Bin Sand, its membeis
were to be found all over Central Arabia ' According to Bin Sa ud, the attack on the
Wahhabis by Ibrahim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , the Egyptian, in 1817, by order of the Sultan, was not
so much because the religion of Najd offended as that a personal insult had been
offered to the Sultanah of Turkey by the Amir of Najd, who ordered her caravan to
turn back from Madina. At the time, however, it was considered by lurkey to be a
political move to make out that Wahhabism was a menace to orthodox Islam. As we
know, the result of Ibrahim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. 's campaign in Najd in 1817 was the destruction
of Dharaiyah. the capital, and the carrying off of the Amir Abdullah ibn-Sa ud
to Egypt. This crushed VV ahhabism for a tirre and rendered Najd innocuous as a
menace to orthodox Islam, as the Sultan knew it. ahhabism, however, has existed
throughout Najd and in parts of Oman, Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , Hasa and elsewhere, ever since,
though not in a militant form.
II. A Short History of Akhwanism.
(1) The actual date of the new revival under the name of Akhwan is difficult to
determine. Certain it is that up to five years ago the term " Akhwan ' was practically
unknown. It is also certain that the few members of the sect, though existing in the
township of Artawiyah, always a fanatical spot, played no part in the recovery of Najd
by 'Abdul 'Aziz, the present Imam, in 190-. It was only after 1913 when Bin Sa'ud,
the present ruler, recovered Hasa from the Turks that the movement first came
under his notice. In 1914-15 the term came into general use, and began to spread to
an alarming extent. It was then that Bin Sa'ud decided to turn his attention to
Akhwanism as a means of strengthening and consolidating his power over the many
disruptive elements which he had to contend with in Najd and his new dominions
generally. To-day the principal religious leader of the Akhwanism is Shaikh 'Abdul
Karim-al-Mughrabi. This individual was, at one time, Chief 'Alim to the late
Palih Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. A1 Sa'dun, Shaikh of the Muntafiq. -He later became 'Alim to Miz'al
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , father of the present Ibrahim Beg A1 Sa'dun. He left the latter's service,
however, and departed to Najd, where he ensconced himself as 'Alim in the town of
Artavviyah, a small nest of Wahhabism. There is a story that in the year 1899,
when Miz'al Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. went to Mecca, he returned via Najd, and on his way visited
Artawiyah. In place of a welcome, as he expected from his old friend, Abdul Karim,
the latter rudely drove him away, cursing him for a u Kafir" and a " Mushrik."
Among other Akhwan religious leaders we have Ibn 'Abdul Latif, Qadhi of Riyadh and
Shaikh 'Tsa, Qadhi of Hasa.
(2) That the present Ruler of Najd, Bin Sa'ud, has been forced to associate himself
with the movement and became its leader, I think, there is little doubt. In my opinion
he, in the first place, thought to make use of the movement to strengthen his position,
but in the end found he was forced to spread its doctrines and become its leader lest
he should go under himself. It would appear that in about 1915 or 1916 Bin Sa'ud
found that Akhwanism was definitely getting control of affairs in Najd. He saw he
had to decide between being a temporal ruler and crushing Akhwanism or becoming
the leader of a new kind of Wahhabism. He decided on the latter course as being the
less risky. Having once taken them up he saw that it was vital to get the members
of the new cult under proper control. There was a danger of their running " amuck"
both in the direction of Hijaz and 'Iraq. He issued his famous order in 1916 that all
Beduins of Najd and Arabia must join the movement and must pay him "Zikat" as
their recognised leader. This led to much fighting, and was incidently one of the
reasons leading up to the 'Ajman tribes resisting him in Hasa in 1915. It may be said