Wahabbism Essay

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Islam is a monotheistic religion which is articulated by the Quran, and the teachings of the Sunnah and the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad, who is considered to be the last prophet of Islam. The word Islam means submission to God, peace, and the way to peace. The followers of Islam are called Muslims. Presently, Wahabbism has gained international attention because of their acts of terrorism within the last few decades. This minority group of Islam is recently fostering the growth of religious fundamentalism. To begin with, Islam is split into two main sectors; Shia and Sunni. Sunnism is furthered broken down to four different sectors; Hanifi, Shafi, Maliki and Hanbelli. The Wahabbis are a part of Hanbelli, and the founder of this sector is Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab[i]. Wahabbism is a movement within Islam and it is based on the 18th century teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-wahhab. The main focus of his reform was to argue that every single idea that was added to Islam after the third century (about 950 CE) was false and it must be eliminated. According to him, Muslims should strictly believe in the original beliefs that are set forth by Prophet Muhammad. He considered many of the popular practices of the time as being regression to pre-Islamic polytheism. For example; making pilgrimages to tombs or special mosques, venerating caves, trees, stones, using votive and sacrificial offerings and praying to saints were all to be banned[ii]. All of these practices were accepted at that time and these were associated with the Islamic religion but the Wahhabs considered these to be unacceptable. The current Western societies and their secular behaviors are even more anathema to the current Wahhabs. They are against secularism, modernity, and the enlightenment. In order to fight the anti-modernism, anti-secularism, they have become extremists and do not fear the use of

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