The Origin of Saudi Statehood and Its Connection with the Foundations of the Wahhabi Creed

Abstract

The article focuses on the analysis of the impact of the Wahhabi movement on the emergence of the First Saudi State in the 1740s. Special attention is paid to the investigation of the distinctive features of the Wahhabi doctrine and the socio-political transformation of the Emirate of Diriyah under its direct influence. The study is based on the chronicles of the early Wahhabi theologians and historians — Hussein ibn Ghannam (d. 1811) and Usman ibn Bishr (d. 1871/72), as well as the anonymous work “The Shine of the Meteor in the Life of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab”. The treatises of the founder of Wahhabism Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792) serve as a source of information about the early ideology of the movement. A comprehensive study of the listed sources makes it possible to reconstruct the social and political processes in Najd of the mentioned period, and also to draw a conclusion about the leading role of the Wahhabi doctrine in the emergence of Saudi statehood and the absence of other socio-political factors in this process.

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