Wahhabism

Wahhabism is a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It was initially established in the central Arabian region of Najd and later spread to other parts of the Arabian Peninsula, and was the official policy of Saudi Arabia until 2022. Despite being founded on the principles of Sunni Islam, the Hanbalite scholars Ibn Taimiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim in particular, Wahhabism may also refer to doctrinal differences distinct from other forms of Sunni Islam. Non-Wahhabi Sunnis also have compared Wahhabism to the belief of the Kharijites and loyalist monarchism despite the two belief systems being contradictory to each other.

The Wahhabi movement staunchly denounced rituals related to the veneration of Muslim saints and pilgrimages to their tombs and shrines, which were widespread amongst the people of Najd. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his followers were highly inspired by the Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328 CE/AH 661–728) who advocated a return to the purity of the first three generations (salaf) to rid Muslims of bid'a (innovation) and regarded his works as core scholarly references in theology. While being influenced by Hanbali school, the movement repudiated taqlid to legal authorities, including oft-cited scholars such as Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim (d. 1350 CE/AH 751).

Wahhabism has been characterized by historians as "puritanical", while its adherents describe it as an Islamic "reform movement" to restore "pure monotheistic worship". Socio-politically, the movement represented the first major Arab-led revolt against the Turkish, Persian and foreign empires that had dominated the Islamic world since the Mongol invasions and the fall of Abbasid Caliphate in the 13th century; and would later serve as a revolutionary impetus for 19th-century pan-Arab trends. In 1744, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab formed a pact with a local leader, Muhammad bin Saud, establishing a politico-religious alliance with the Saudi monarchy that lasted for more than 250 years. The Wahhabi movement gradually rose to prominence as an influential anti-colonial reform trend in the Islamic world that advocated the re-generation of the social and political prowess of Muslims. Its revolutionary themes inspired several Islamic revivalists, scholars, pan-Islamist ideologues and anti-colonial activists as far as West Africa.

For more than two centuries, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's teachings were championed as the official creed in the three Saudi States. As of 2017, changes to Saudi religious policy by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have led to widespread crackdowns on Islamists in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab world. By 2021, the waning power of the religious clerics brought about by the social, economic, political changes, and the Saudi government's promotion of a nationalist narrative that emphasizes non-Islamic components, led to what has been described as the "post-Wahhabi era" of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's annual commemoration of its founding day on 22 February since 2022, which marked the ascension of Muhammad ibn Saud in 1727 and de-emphasized his pact with Ibn Abd al-Wahhab in 1744, has led to the official "uncoupling" of the religious clergy by the Saudi state.

The designation Wahhabi for this movement was likely first used by Sulayman ibn Abd al-Wahhab, an ardent critic of his brother's views, who used the term in his purported treatise Fasl al-Khitab fi al-Radd ala Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. The movement's political opponents widely used the term to denounce it. The word is primarily an exonym and was not used by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab or by his partisans, who called themselves Muwahhidun ("the Monotheists") derived from Tawhid, the central Islamic tenet denoting the oneness of God. Later, many followers adopted the term Salafi instead, ascribing themselves to the first three generations known as the salaf.

Modern-day followers of the movement continue to reject the term Wahhabi for themselves. Another prominent term used for the movement is Najdi that is derived from Najd, the central Arabian region where Ibn Abd al-Wahhab started his movement.

The term "Wahhabi" is distinct from Wahbi, which is the dominant creed within Ibadism.

Alongside its basic definition as an 18th century reformist/revivalist movement, the Wahhabi movement has also been characterized as a "movement for sociomoral reconstruction of society", "a conservative reform movement", and a sect with a "steadfastly fundamentalist interpretation of Islam in the tradition of Ibn Hanbal".