Page 303 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Eiglil

to formulate his fundamentalist doctrines in his book Kitab al
1 auhld (the Book of the Unity of God). He spoke of the need to purify
the minds of Muslims from polytheistic habits of invoking the help of
saints, angels, the dead, and prophets. He attacked all philosophical
and legal innovations introduced into Islam after the third century
ah, and tried to abolish certain abuses. When Muhammad ’Abdul
Wahhab tried to urge his views on the citizens of his native town he
was banned from there, but he found refuge and an open ear for his
reformist religious ideas and a powerful supporter in Muhammad
bin Sa'ud of nearby Dara'iyah. Together they convinced the tribes of
the area of the new doctrine—or else forced them to accept it in an
alliance of the spirit and the sword not unlike in the early days of the
expansion of Islam. The movement gained in strength under ’Abdul
’AzFz, the son of Muhammad bin Sa'ud as the “leader of a Beduin
Commonwealth”, according to Jacob Burckhardt, one of the earliest
European observers of this movement.15
By the end of the 18th century the Wahhabis had overrun al Hasa
and reached the Gulf coast, having also taken possession of both
Karbala’ and Mecca. There were vigorous and numerous attempts to
bring all of Eastern Arabia and particularly Oman under their
sovereignty. Many tribes needed little persuasion to become fol­
lowers of this strict and austere form of practising Islam, which was
after all not remote from strict Ibadi observance, while other tribes
joined in for political reasons, and others soon found that armed
resistance was punished severely.
In 1800 Buraimi was seized by a force of 700 cavalry and camel-
riders, forcing the Na’Tm and Dhawahir population to capitulate. The
Wahhabis built a new fort in the oasis, which served as a vantage
point from which to make inroads deep into Oman.16 An obvious
means of gaining sovereignty over Oman was to form an alliance with
the Qawasim, who were the traditional rivals of the Omani Sultans
and merchants. In due course, the Qawasim became staunch allies of
the Wahhabis, but they did not consider themselves to be completely
under the rule of the Amir at Dara'iyah to whom they paid zakah,
since they did not remit the customary one-fifth of the value of booty.
Partly due to this support by the Qawasim, the Wahhabis est­
ablished supremacy over the whole Arabian coast of the Gulf by
1803, and continued to try to conquer all of Oman. After the severe
but temporary set-backs to Wahhabi domination by the victorious
campaign of Muhammad 'Ali (the Viceroy of Egypt from 1812), the
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