Christ’s call for the church is to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Mat 5:44). These prayers are to be done believing that God will give us what we ask in conformity with His will (Mat 21:22). Christians are also not called to be fearful of other human beings, of whom the worst they can do is kill the body, but rather revere God who controls the soul (Mat 10:28). Operating out of these precepts, Christians have a duty to pray for the Muwahhidun and other more fundamentalist Islamic groups, believing that God will give them an opportunity to fearlessly minister to them. The Muwahhudun, known by their critics as the Wahhabi’s, derive their name from their Unitarian beliefs and the emphasis they place on tawhid, or the oneness of God (Hashmi, "Wahhabiyya.", 727). The founder of this belief system was Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab. This paper looks to provide the reader with a cursory understanding of the beliefs of Muwahhidun particularly at its origins and explore if it is responsible for the jihadist movement. First, the paper will look briefly at basic Islamic teachings, practices and specific passages within the Islamic religious texts. Next, it will look at the history, beliefs and goals of Muhammad Ibn abd al-Wahhab. Finally, it will look at some of the major thinkers in the jihadist movement including Rashid Rida, Hassan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, and Osama Bin Laden. Throughout the paper, it will address potential connections with Christianity.
Islam is a life of submission to Allah. It is built upon five pillars or basic beliefs (Stone, Lecture Notes, Islam). First, the Shahada or the creed that every Muslim must state and believe that “there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet.” Second, the salat or prayer, said five times per day in the direction of Mecca Mecca Palestine
The Quran establishes a single god who is sovereign over all (Surah 67). This god alone created everything (Surah 31:11), including life and death (Surah 67:2). The God of the Bible is also sovereign over all things and is the creator of the universe, however, death is a result of sin (Gen 2:17). The god of the Quran forgives upon request, while the God of the Bible requires punishment for sins, a punishment that is absorbed at the cross. The Quran holds that it is serving the same god that Abraham, Moses and Jesus served (Surah 42:13). However, there conception of God is not the same as that of the Christian. Therefore, while there are similarities in terms of both being sovereign, forgiving, creator deities, they perform these functions in different ways.
“The Quran’s Allah is equally majestic, equally omnipotent and provident, but he is also supremely transcendent; he walks not among humankind. His ninety-nine Quranic attributes—he is compassionate, the merciful—are pronounced, rehearsed, listed in the Quran, but they are rarely experienced there. The Bible is dramatic, expository, and descriptive; the Quran is hortatory and assertive; and their portraits of God differ accordingly.” (Peters, The Children of Abraham, Kindle Location 214)
Jesus and the Holy Spirit are part of the Quran literature. Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary (Surah 3: 45-47). However, Jesus did not die on the cross (Surah 4: 157). Jesus was only a prophet like Muhammad. Jesus was the only one to be strengthened with the holy spirit (Surah 2:87, 5:110). Therefore, while they recognize that Jesus was a special prophet, being conceived by a virgin and filled with the holy spirit they miss the cross, which is a centerpiece to Christian teachings. The Quran also has a brief mention of the Holy Spirit as a strengthener of Muslims against the powers of Satan (Surah 16:98-102). Therefore, there is room to build upon the Muslim conception of the Holy Spirit and from there begin to push toward a more Trinitarian conception of God.
The Quran establishes a religion that will affect every aspect of ones life. There are laws governing divorce (Surah 2: 227-232). There are dietary laws (Surah 5:1). There are laws governing inheritance (Surah 4:11). It sought to make religious one’s private and public lives. Violation of these laws had punishments in proportion to the crime, for instance, for unintentional killing of a believer then only compensation is due however, if he intentionally kills, he goes to hell (Surah 4: 92-93). Thieves are to have their hands cut off unless they repent and amends his conduct (Surah 5:38-39). All of this seems to illustrate that ones Islamic religion will have an impact on every aspect of their lives. While in Christianity, there are no laws in the New Testament governing things like divorce, diets, and inheritance, many of these things are present in the Old Testament. Christians likewise should be able to promote an equally complete system, as Christianity is not supposed to be a religion only practiced on Sundays.
Perhaps the biggest problem with coming to terms with what is an orthodox position within Islam is that the Holy Books (i.e. Quran, Haddith and Sunnah) are not always consistent nor is each passage in the Haddith and Sunnah universally accepted. Supposedly, the later revelation that the Prophet Muhammad received was better revelation for the particular situation and time (Habeck, Knowing the Enemy, 44). This brings up the issue of what particular elements of the change in time made this new revelation appropriate as opposed to the old. When it comes to the Haddith, which is a collection of supposed sayings of the Prophet, it relies heavily on the line of transference of these sayings. Did the people claiming the Prophet had said these things, have access to the Prophet, were others able to verify these statements, does the line of transference of these statements have any holes in it. Deciding which Haddiths are inspired is particularly significant because many Muslims believe that Muhammad was the best commentator on the Quran. Therefore, his statements provide insights into interpreting the Quran. For the Muwahhidun, the first step in confirming a Haddith is to verify the line of transference and secondarily to insure that it is consistent with the Quran (Delong, Wahhabi Islam. Kindle Location 102-103).
Perhaps the best asset one could have in a missionary context is to understand the history of the group. The Muwahhidun have their origins in the teachings of Muhammad Ibn abd al—Wahhab who lived from 1703 to 1793. He was born in Najb , Saudi Arabia Mecca and Medina
Ibn Abd al-Wahhab moved to Diriyya where he established an alliance with Saud. Saud pledged military support for Wahhab’s religious beliefs (Hashmi, Sohail H. "Abd Al-Wahhab, Muhammad Ibn (1703-1792)," 6) “The alliance was cemented by Ibn Saud's marriage to the daughter of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the beginning of frequent intermarriage between the two families that continues to the present”(Hashmi, "Wahhabiyya." 728). Wahhab would spend the rest of his life teaching at the mosque in Diriyya and counseling Saud and, following Saud’s death, his son Aziz (Hashmi, Sohail H. "Abd Al-Wahhab, Muhammad Ibn (1703-1792)," 6). It is Saud and Aziz that would lay the foundations for the new Saudi Arabian kingdom. These two rulers banned music, tobacco, jewelry and other things deemed luxurious (Hoveyda, The Broken Crescent, 53). Under this kingdom, the Quran ruled, it was accompanied with the major tenants of the Muwahiddun’s “to revere God alone; to shun idols and man-made God substitutes; to pursue the original Muslim way of life with simplicity; and to command the good while forbidding evil” (Lacey, Inside the Kingdom, 11). The paper argues later that these tenants are contact points with the Christian religion. However, for now it is important to understand how these tenants affected and continue to have an affect on Saudi Arabian policy. The house of Saud funds “relief organizations, hospitals, publishing, books, magazines, schools, universities, scholarships, teachers, mosques and preachers abroad—but the only version of Islam propagated in Wahhabi or Wahhabi-like organizations” (Marshall, Islam at the Crossroads, 97). The maddrassas (Islamic schools) that Saudi Arabia established provide free Quran based education, for impoverished parents looking to further their children’s future. These schools are often the only option they have; even through they typically breed radical Islamists. While Christians cannot support the radical views that come out of these schools, however, the overall altruism and attempt to help the poor and needy is a point of contact. Christians could also have a place in educating children in these countries as well. In a sense, Christians would be combating the Muwahhidun by cutting off the supply.
The Muwahhidun movement is part of a much larger reform movement within eighteenth century, Islam. The overall reform movement was a response to “economic and socioeconomical decline, military defeats, and political divisions within the imperial sultanates (Ottoman, Safavid, and Mongul) and beyond” (Esposito, The Islamic Threat, 47-48). The reformers blamed the decline on Muslims not being faithful to Allah. During this time, Islam was not up against foreign challengers to which Wahhab would be addressing, nor was it very likely that Wahhab living in the depths of Arabia would have been aware of any threats. Rather he was addressing the need for internal reform within Islam. There “was something rotten in the state of Islam” (Jansen, Militant Islam, 87). This threat from within was bid’a (innovation) and a threat to tawhid (oneness of Allah), which was particularly seen in Saint and Muhammad worship practices that were developing.
Tawhid is a definitive tenet throughout Islam. It primarily deals with the sovereignty of a single deity that is omnipotent and omniscient (Schubel, "Worship and Devotional Life: Muslim Worship," 9816). Therefore, there is a necessity to live in accordance with the will of this deity. Wahhab takes this a step further to declare that anyone who claims for themselves a characteristic of Allah is an apostate. For instance, because Allah has no associates anyone who attempts to play god is an apostate, or since Allah is lawmaker anyone who attempts to make their own law is an apostate (Habeck, Knowing the Enemy, 22). Wahhab saw those who worshipped Muhammad or the saints as committing the sin of shirk (polytheism), which is an unforgivable sin that excuses one from the community (Peters, The Children of Abraham, Kindle Location 1321). Many Muwahhidun’s become iconoclastic in their aesthetics, calling anything with human representations as idolatry and polytheism (Esposito, Unholy War, 108). Actually, they would be apostate by their own rule. Because judgment is also an attribute of Allah, therefore by judging a fellow Muslim as a violator of shirk and taking justice into their own hands, they act in a way only appropriate for Allah. There is however in this view a passion for insuring that Allah alone is god and has no associates. Christians also have a passion for the supremacy of God, with all other deities and objects of worship being idols. There is division among Christians on the issue of the use of icons in church, with many banning them completely. Many Protestants have concerns about the Catholic veneration of the Virgin Mary among other saints. Therefore, Tawhid, with a proper understanding of the Triune God, could be a point of contact.
Shar’ia law is another major tenant of Islam. Wahhab’s objective was to insure that the people are living under Allah’s law the Shar’ia, rather than human made law. The Shar’ia, as mentioned previously, affects all of ones life and in an evangelical setting has connections with Old Testament law. However, interpretation of Shar’ia is another key area where Wahhab differed from other Muslims. He favored reopening the gates of ijtihad or independent rulings based in Shar’ia (Hashmi, "Abd Al-Wahhab, Muhammad Ibn (1703-1792)," 6). The gates of ijtihad closed around AD 900 (Peters, The Children of Abraham. Kindle Location 1718). The problem for many reformers with the gates of ijtihad closing was that it gave the ulama control over the interpretation rather than allowing every individual to interpret the text (Habeck, Knowing the Enemy, 12). Therefore, this is similar to how the Protestant Reformers wanted to allow the average person the opportunity to interpret the text. In addressing the Muwahhidun, evangelists must allow them to interpret the scriptures that they see as inspired in the Christian cannon, rather than being like an ulama and interpreting it for them.
Finally, Wahhab fought against bid’a (innovation). Muslims had added to what Muhammad and his immediate followers had envisioned. Wahhab was particularly against the addition of mysticism, saint worship, the orthodox school and the cult of Muhammad (Jansen, Militant Islam, 87). Wahhab believed the reason for the shortcomings that were occurring in Islam was due to the abandonment of the fundamentals of Islam. Therefore, the answer to all the problems was to return to a pure faith, as it existed during the time of Muhammad and the rightly guided caliphs (Marshall, Islam and the Crossroads, 95). This movement is very similar to the ‘back to the sources’ movement during the Protestant Reformation. It therefore becomes important to look at the life and practices of the early leaders of Islam, Muhammad, Abu Bakr, Umar, Ulthman, and Ali, to see if there are other connections to Christianity.
Muhammad was the final prophet for Muslims. He received a vision commanding him to recite the revelation in which he was hearing (Surah 53). He sought counsel from Jews and Christians who advised Muhammad that he had received the Torah (Peters, The Children of Abraham, Kindle Location 718). Therefore, it would seem that Christians were influential in the life of Muhammad. However, such things should not be brought up by an evangelist, because, as a matter of dogma, Muslims hold that Muhammad’s revelation was only from Allah, making such suggestions offensive (Peters, The Children of Abraham, Kindle Location 784). Mecca Medina , where he established a mujahidin that he used for military conquests, including the conquest of Mecca
Umar, the next caliph, would forgive the rebels and incorporate them into his military campaigns (Goldschmidt, A Concise History of the Middle East, 51). Under Umar, the Muslim territories would expand at great speed. It is also important to note that the law forbade Arab soldiers to own land outside of Arabia . The law also sent one-fifth of the movable booty to Medina Byzantine Empire ; in particular, disgruntled Syrian and Egyptian Christians viewed the Arabs as liberators from the Byzantines that persecuted them for their views on Christological issues (Goldschmidt, A Concise History of the Middle East, 52). The Pact of Umar established the dhimma a social status group with the people of Jerusalem
Umar appointed a shura (electoral committee) to select the next caliph Uthman. Uthman, established the authoritative translation of the Quran and burned all other translations (Goldschmidt, A Concise History of the Middle East, 55). He also amassed estates worth over a hundred million while he was caliph. However, he fell out of popularity and was killed. His replacement was Ali, who was the last of the Rashidun (rightly guided caliphs). Ali had previously advised the former caliphs on policy and dogma. (Goldschmidt, A Concise History of the Middle East , 56-57). He was a pious and generous man. However, his term was full of strife; the Battle of Camel established a precedent of Muslim armies fighting each other. Uthman’s cousin, Mu’awiya rose up against Ali and when he decided to negotiate with them, his own men, the Kharijites (secedes), turned against him for agreeing to the arbitration. A Kharijite would later kill Ali. Therefore, the final two caliphs faced internal problems and it seemed that the umma was in trouble. It was Mu’awiya who would save the umma through his policy of limited violence “I never use my sword when my whip will do, nor my whip when my tongue will do. Let a single hair bind me to my people, and I will not let it snap; when they pull I loosen, and if they loosen I pull.” (Goldschmidt, A Concise History of the Middle East , 58). This indicates that the Rashidun were not perfect. The romanticized view of the Rashidun held by the Muwahhidun is exaggerated. Nevertheless, there are certain parts of the history of the Rashidun that Christians could draw upon to illustrate the permissiveness of Christianity held early in Islam’s history. Particularly in the later caliphs, sin seems to be a major feature. However, beyond that, God was able to work through these sins in Mu’awiya who tried to limit the amount of violence he used to maintain the umma.
The verdict is still out on whether the Muwahhidun movement is responsible for the current extremist of groups like al-Qaeda and others or if it is only Saudi Arabia Egypt Saudi Arabia
First, do the Muwahhidun’s roots point toward violence? The source used in this section does have a bias toward the Muwahhidun and Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
Wahhabs thinking has had an influence on key reforming figures in Egypt
Rashid Rida was born in al-Qalamun to a family that claims to have descended from the Prophet (Ryad, Islamic Reformation and Christianity, 3-9). In 1987, he went to Egypt Syria
Wahhab and Rida had an impact on Hassan Al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. Al-Banna was born in Mahmudiyya , Egypt
Sayyid Qutb broke from the Muslim Brotherhood because he believed the only way in which the Muslim Brotherhood was going to accomplish its purpose of getting rid of the infidels was through violence (Habeck, Knowing the Enemy, 35-42). Qutb included Muslims not following Shar’ia as susceptible to a declaration of jihad. It is therefore in Qutb that one sees the most resemblance to the position taken by al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. On this level of insistence of physical violence to achieve ends, there are few connections with Christianity. One could argue Christians are involved in a spiritual jihad with the forces of Satan, but this would be dangerous as many see Satan as the United States
Finally, the most recent jihadist contributor was Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden called for specific reform in his letter to the Americans (Lawrence, Messages to the World, 160-172). He called Americans to convert to Islam, which he saw as the only true religion. He called Americans to live moral and upright lives. This means ending the separation between church and state and implementing God’s law, the Shar’ia. He called America America America America America America Algeria America has a double standard as to who gets Weapons of Mass Destruction, when in fact the only ones to use them is the United States America has broken many international laws and treaties including at Guantanamo Bay and committed several war crimes in Somalia , Lebanon , Iraq and Afghanistan
Besides conversion to Islam, these demands are common concerns for Christians. Christians, like Bin Laden are greatly troubled at the loss of family values and morality in the United States United States United States up to the atrocities in which the United States was perpetrating against the Middle East through its foreign policy? It was the last resort following the failure to create change through boycott or attacks on United States Israel
In conclusion, the Muwahhidun at its base had a vision of cleansing Islam from its idolatrous acts of saint worship and return to the time of the Rashidun. Overall, many Muslims could appreciate the admirable goals that the Muwahhidun established. However, Wahhab’s name soon tarnished when jihadist groups identified with Wahhab. Nevertheless, except in its most radical form there are connection points with Christianity. Prominent connections between the Muwahidun and Christians include morality, justice for the poor, differentiation of the people of God, and worshipping God alone. Obviously, this is only a cursory glance at a topic that there is not a whole lot of information about, particularly of the religious aspects of the Muwahhidun. The vote is still out on whether the Muwahhidun are necessarily jihadist or if the jihadists are just a radical sect that claims Wahhadi roots. Either way, the call for Christians is not to be a fearful people. Instead the call is to pray for those who persecute them. It is only through an act of God that conversion is possible; the role of the Christian is simply to sow the seeds.
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