Abdullah bin Muhammad Al Sheikh (1751–1829) was a Muslim scholar who served as the head of the judicial system during the First Saudi State, also known as the
Emirate of Diriyah
The Emirate of Diriyah (), also known as the First Saudi State, was established in February 1727 (1139 AH). In 1744, the emir of Najdi town called Diriyah Muhammad bin Saud and the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab formed an alliance ...
. He was a son of
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab
; "The Book of Monotheism")
, influences =
, influenced =
, children =
, module =
, title = Imam, Shaykh
, movement = Muwahhidun (Wahhabi)
, native_name = محمد بن ...
, who was credited with introducing the
Wahhabi
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...
sect of
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
. Abdullah developed the
doctrine
Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief system ...
of this religious belief.
David Commins
David Commins (born 1954) is an American scholar and Professor of History and Benjamin Rush Chair in the Liberal Arts and Sciences (1987) at Dickinson College. He is known for his works on Wahhabism
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَ ...
, an American scholar on Wahhabism, argues that Abdullah was the most significant figure among Muhammad's sons.
Early life and career
Abdullah bin Muhammad was born in
Diriyah
Diriyah ( ar, الدِرْعِيّة), formerly romanized as Dereyeh and Dariyya), is a town in Saudi Arabia located on the north-western outskirts of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Diriyah was the original home of the Saudi royal family, and served ...
in 1751 as the eldest of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's four sons, founder of Wahhabism.
He was raised in Diriyah and educated by his father on the topics of the Islamic schools of law,
legal theory
Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
,
Quranic commentary, philology and
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
tradition.
Together with his brothers, Husayn, Ali and Ibrahim, Abdullah established a religious school close to their home in Diriyah and taught the young students from Yemen, Oman, Najd and other parts of Arabia at their majlis, including Husayn Ibn Abu Bakr Ibn Ghannam, a well-known Hanbali-Wahhabi scholar who was a Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...
scholar from Al Ahsa before he had come Najd.[
Following the death of his father, Abdullah succeeded him as the head of the judicial system of the Emirate and served as chief qadi and grand mufti during the reign of three successive emirs, ]Abdulaziz
Abdulaziz ( ota, عبد العزيز, ʿAbdü'l-ʿAzîz; tr, Abdülaziz; 8 February 18304 June 1876) was the 32nd List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and reigned from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was 187 ...
, Saud and Abdullah
Abdullah may refer to:
* Abdullah (name), a list of people with the given name or surname
* Abdullah, Kargı, Turkey, a village
* ''Abdullah'' (film), a 1980 Bollywood film directed by Sanjay Khan
* '' Abdullah: The Final Witness'', a 2015 Pakis ...
. In this capacity he assigned the religious teachers and qadis
A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
in the Emirate.[ Abdullah supported the attacks against ]Shiites
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most n ...
in Karbala
Karbala or Kerbala ( ar, كَرْبَلَاء, Karbalāʾ , , also ;) is a city in central Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad, and a few miles east of Lake Milh, also known as Razzaza Lake. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorat ...
in 1802 and had writings against their views.[ As his father Abdullah described the religious views of Shiites and ]Zaydis
Zaydism (''h'') is a unique branch of Shia Islam that emerged in the eighth century following Zayd ibn Ali‘s unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. In contrast to other Shia Muslims of Twelver Shi'ism and Isma'ilism, Zaydis, ...
as deviance from Islam.[ In 1806 he accompanied Emir Saud when Mecca was captured and initiated Wahhabi propaganda in the city.][ Abdullah's fatwas that were issued following the incident are the earliest formulation of ]Hanbali
The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools (''madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal ...
-Wahhabi doctrine which became the routine ideology of this religious approach.[
]
Personal life and death
One of Abdullah's sons was Suleiman
Suleiman (Arabic language, Arabic: سُلِيمَان ''sulaymān''; or dictionary.reference.comsuleiman/ref>) is the Arabic name of the Quranic king and Islam, Islamic prophet Solomon (name), Solomon meaning "man of peace", derived from the Heb ...
(1785–1818), who was a significant Wahhabi ulema and the author of ''al Dalail fi Hukm Muwalat Ahl al Ishrak'' ( en, Evidence Against Loyalty to the Polytheists). The others were Abdul Rahman and Ali the latter of whom was murdered during the capture of Diriyah by the Egyptian forces led by Ibrahim Pasha in September 1818.[ In the same incident Abdullah bin Muhammad and his son Abdul Rahman were sent to Cairo together with his relatives and the members of the ]Al Saud
The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi state (1727–1818), and ...
family.[ He died there in 1829.][
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheikh, Abdullah Muhammad
18th-century Muslim scholars of Islam
19th-century Muslim scholars of Islam
1751 births
1829 deaths
Chief Qadis of Emirate of Dir'iyah
Arab Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam
Saudi Arabian expatriates in Egypt
Saudi Arabian Wahhabists