Suleiman bin Abdullah Al Sheikh

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Suleiman bin Abdullah Al Sheikh
Born1785
DiedOctober 1818 (aged 32–33)
Diriyah
OccupationReligious scholar
Known forQadi of Diriyah
Notable work
al Dalail fi Hukm Muwalat Ahl al Ishrak (English: Evidence Against Loyalty to the Polytheists)
Parent(s)

Suleiman bin Abdullah Al Sheikh (1785 – October 1818) was a religious scholar during the Emirate of Diriyah and one of the grandsons of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, founder of Wahhabism. He was the author of al Dalail fi Hukm Muwalat Ahl al Ishrak (English: Evidence Against Loyalty to the Polytheists).[1] In addition, he was the first Wahhabi who emphasized the views of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab about calling non-Wahhabis as apostates.[2][3]

Biography[]

Suleiman was born in 1785 into the Al Sheikh family, and his father was Abdullah bin Muhammad, a son of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab.[1][2] Suleiman was a religious scholar like his father, uncles and grandfather and served as the qadi of Diriyah.[4] He focused on the interpretation of his grandfather's book, Kitab at Tawhid, and his work served as a guide for Wahhabi scholars to make sense of the major tenets of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab.[2]

Following the capture of Hejaz region by the Emirate of Diriyah in 1802-1803 Suleiman requested the ulema in the region to adopt the Wahhabi approach which was not accepted by them.[3] Then, they were declared by Suleiman as apostates.[3]

During the battles between the forces of the Emirate and the Egyptian-Ottoman troops Suleiman was one of the defenders of Diriyah.[5] For him it was not an ordinary battle between two political forces with conflicting interests, but between believers and non-believers or infidels.[6] Abdullah issued several fatwas to express how Wahhabis should behave against those who did not follow Wahhabi belief.[5][7] He suggested that true believers should not hesitate to show their hostility to the people with different religious belief.[5] His views were just a reproduction of the approach that had existed in Islam, particularly among some Kharijite and Shiite groups, since the seventh century which emphasized the difference between true and false religion and banned all interaction with infidels.[5] Here, infidels refer to Muslims from different religious traditions.[5] In these fatwas Suleiman also outlined the conditions about visiting the lands of infidels.[6] He argued that Wahhabi visitors should overtly practice their religion in such places and that they should not have close relations with infidels while visiting their land.[6]

One month after the capture of Diriyah by the Egyptian forces led by Ibrahim Pasha, son of Muhammad Ali, in October 1818 Suleiman was killed by them.[4][8] Because Suleiman did not accept their supremacy which he regarded as the submission to kufr.[2]

The views of Suleiman bin Abdullah were frequently employed by his cousin, Abdul Rahman bin Hasan, and other religious scholars during the second Saudi State, or Emirate of Najd.[5] His views were also used by the Ikhwan leaders in the late 1920s just before their revolt against King Abdulaziz as a justification for their resistance to him.[5] King Abdulaziz argued that Suleiman's views should be taken into consideration in the related context and period of time.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Joas Wagemakers (February 2012). "The Enduring Legacy of the Second Saudi State: Quietist and Radical Wahhabi Contestations of Al Walaʾ Wa l Baraʾ". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 44 (1): 95. doi:10.1017/S0020743811001267. JSTOR 41474982. S2CID 162663590.
  2. ^ a b c d Tarik K. Firro (2013). "The Political Context of Early Wahhabi Discourse of Takfir". Middle Eastern Studies. 49 (5): 776, 778. doi:10.1080/00263206.2013.811648. S2CID 144357200.
  3. ^ a b c Naser Ghobadzdeh; Shahram Akbarzadeh (2015). "Sectarianism and the prevalence of 'othering' in Islamic thought". Third World Quarterly. 36 (4): 691–704. doi:10.1080/01436597.2015.1024433. S2CID 145364873.
  4. ^ a b Elizabeth Sirriyeh (1989). "Wahhabis, Unbelievers and the Problems of Exclusivism". Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies). 16 (2): 124. doi:10.1080/13530198908705492. JSTOR 195146.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Nabil Mouline (2014). The Clerics of Islam. Religious Authority and Political Power in Saudi Arabia. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. pp. 77–79, 107. doi:10.12987/yale/9780300178906.001.0001. ISBN 9780300178906.
  6. ^ a b c David Commins (2006). The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia (PDF). New York: I. B. Tauris. pp. 33, 36. ISBN 9781848850149. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 April 2021.
  7. ^ Abdulaziz H. Al Fahad (May 2004). "Commentary. From Exclusivism to Accommodation: Doctrinal and Legal Evolution of Wahhabism" (PDF). New York University Law Review. 79 (2): 497.
  8. ^ R. Bayly Winder (1965). Saudi Arabia in the Nineteenth Century. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 20, 24. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-81723-8. ISBN 9780333055410.
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