Wahhabi
history
Translated, for the most
part, from
Ayyub Sabri Pasha's Turkish work
Mir'at al-Haramain:
5 volumes, Matba'a-i Bahriyye, Istanbul
1301-1306 A.H.
(1883-1888CE)
36 - During the time when the Ottoman
reign was dominant in the Arabian Peninsula ,
each state was governed by an official selected from the state. Later on, every
region except the Hijaz came into the possession of whomever could usurp it and
was governed as sheikhdoms.
The
tenets of Wahhabism disseminated by Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab changed into a political
form in a short time in 1150 A.H. (1737)
and spread all over Arabia .
Later, by
the order of the Caliph in Istanbul , Muhammad
'Ali Pasha, the Governor of Egypt, liberated Arabia from them with the armed
forces of Egypt
'Abd
al-'Aziz ibn Muhammad, who believed in the Wahhabis, declared war for the first
time in 1205 A.H. (1791) against the
amir of Mecca, Sharif Ghalib Effendi. They had disseminated Wahhabism secretly
till then. They had killed and tortured many Muslims,
enslaved their women and children and usurped their possessions.
Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab belonged to the Bani Tamim tribe. He was
born in Uyayna village near the town of Huraimila
in the Najd Desert
Formerly,
with the idea of trading, he went to Basra , Baghdad , Iran ,
India
and Damascus
In 1125 (1713 A.D.), he met Hempher, a British spy, in
Basra, who understood that this unexperienced young person (ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab)
has a desire to be a chief by way of revolution, established a long-term
friendship with him. He inspired him the trics and lies that he had learned
from the British Ministry of the Commonwealth. Seeing that Muhammad enjoys
these inspirations, he proposed him to establish a new religion. So, the spy
and Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab got what they were looking for. He had thought
it proper to found a new Tariqa or reach his goal, and, in preparation for this
goal, attended the lectures of the Hanbali 'ulama' in the blessed city of Medina and later in Damascus Najd ,
he wrote pamphlets on religious subjects for villagers. He wrote what he
learned from the British spy and mixed corrupt information from the Mutazila
and other groups of bidat. Many ignorant villagers, particularly the
inhabitants of Dar'iyya and their ignorant chief, Muhammad ibn Sa'ud, followed
him. The Arabs esteemed ancestral distinctions very highly, and because he did
not belong to a well-known family, he used Muhammad ibn Sa'ud as a tool to
disseminate his Tariqa, which he named Wahhabism. He introduced himself as the
Qadi (Head of the Religious Affairs) and Muhammad ibn Sa'ud as the Hakim
(Ruler). He had it passed in their constitution that both would be succeeded
only by their children.
In 1306 (1888) when the book Mirat al-Haramain
was written, the amir of the Najd was 'Abdullah ibn Faysal, a descendant of
Muhammad ibn Sa'ud, and the Qadi was a descendant of Muhammad ibn 'abd
al-Wahhab.
Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's father, 'Abd al-Wahhab, who was
a pious, pure alim in Medina, his brother Sulaiman ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his
teachers had apprehended from his statements, behavior and ideas, which he
frequently had put forward as questions to them when he was a student in
Medina, that he would become a heretic who would harm Islam from the inside in
the future.
They advised him to correct his ideas and advised the Muslims to
avoid him. But they soon encountered the very thing they were afraid of, and he
started disseminating his heretical ideas openly under the name of Wahhabism.
To deceive ignorant and stupid people, he came forward with reforms
and innovations incompatible with the books of the 'ulama' of Islam. He dared
to be so impetuous as to deem the true Muslims of Ahl as-Sunnat wal-Jamaat as
disbelievers. He regarded it as polytheism to ask Allahu ta'ala for something
through the mediation of our Prophet (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) or other
prophets or awliya', or to visit their graves.
According
to what Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab learned from the British spy, he who talks
to the dead while praying near a grave becomes a polytheist. He asserted that
Muslims who said that someone or something beside Allah did something, for
example, saying "such-and-such medicine cured" or "I obtained
what I asked through our master Rasulullah" or "such-and-such
wali" were polytheists.
Although
the documents Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab made up to support such statements were
nothing but lies and slanders, the ignorant people who could not distinguish
right from wrong, the unemployed, raiders, ignoramuses, opportunists and the
hard-hearted soon assented to his ideas and took their part on his side and
regarded the pious Muslims of the right path as disbelievers.
When Ibn
'Abd al-Wahhab applied to the rulers of Dar'iyya with the view of disseminating
his heresies easily through them, they willingly cooperated with him with the
hope of extending their territories and increasing their power. They strove
with all their might do disseminate his ideas everywhere. They declared war
against those who refused and opposed them. The bestial people and pillagers of
the desert competed with one another in joining the army of Muhammad ibn Sa'ud
when it was said that it was halal to plunder and kill Muslims.
In 1143 (1730), Muhammad
ibn Sa'ud and Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab hand in hand arrived at the
conclusion that those who would not accept Wahhabism were disbelievers and
polytheists, and that it was halal to kill them and confiscate their
possessions, and publicly announced their declaration seven years later.
Then, Ibn
'Abd al-Wahhab started fabricating ijtihad when he was
thirty-two years old and announced his false ijtihads at the age of forty.
As-Sayyid Ahmad ibn Zaini Dahlan (rahmat-Allahi 'alaihi), Mufti of
the blessed city of Mecca, described under the topic "Al-fitnat al-Wahhabiyya"
the tenets of Wahhabism and the tortures the Wahhabis inflicted upon Muslims?
[Al-futuhat al-Islamiyya, second volume, page 228, Cairo ,
1387 (1968); photo-offset reproduction of a comparable part, Istanbul
He wrote: "To
deceive the 'ulama' of Ahl as-Sunnat in Mecca
and Medina Cairo , 1387 (1968); photo-offset
reproduction of a comparable part, Istanbul
The
'ulama' of the Hijaz belonging to all the four madhhabs, including Muhammad ibn
'Abd al-Wahhab's brother Sulaiman and also his teachers who had trained him,
studied Muhammad's books, prepared answers to his disunionist writings, which
were destructive to Islam, and wrote, to call to the attention of Muslims,
well-documented books in refutation to his heretical writings. [See above
article 5, for the passage translated from Sulaiman ibn Abd al-Wahhab's work
As-Sawa'iq al-ilahiyya fi'r-raddi ala'l-wahhabiyya; first published in 1306;
second edition (reproduced by photo-offset) in Istanbul in 1395 (1975).]
These
books did not help much but rather increased the Wahhabis' resentment against
Muslims and excited Muhammad ibn Sa'ud to attack Muslims and augment the
bloodshed.
He
belonged to the Bani Hanifa tribe, so was a descendant of a stupid race that
believed in the prophethood of Musailamat al-Kadhdhab.
Muhammad ibn Sa'ud died in 1178 (1765), and his son 'Abd al-'Aziz succeeded him.
Muhammad ibn Sa'ud died in 1178 (1765), and his son 'Abd al-'Aziz succeeded him.
'Abd al-'Aziz
was assassinated, stabbed in the abdomen by a Shiite, in the Dar'iyya Mosque in
1217 (1830).
Then, his son Sa'ud ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz became the chief of the Wahhabis.
Then, his son Sa'ud ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz became the chief of the Wahhabis.
All three strove very hard, as if competing
with one another, to shed Muslim blood in order to deceive the Arabs and to
disseminate Wahhabism.
The
Wahhabis say that Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab disseminated his thoughts in order to
attain sincerity in his belief in "Sharif Ghalib fled
from fear! And the Ta'ifians do not have the power to resist you! They sent me
to communicate that they will surrender the fortress, and they ask you to
forgive them. I like the Wahhabis. Come back! You have shed much blood! It is
not right to go back without capturing Ta'if. I swear that the Ta'ifians will
immediately surrender the fortress. They will accept whatever you want."
It was Sharif Ghalib Effendi's fault that Ta'if was lost in vain. If he had
stayed in Ta'if, Muslims would not have suffered that doom. Since "Traitors are cowards," the Wahhabis did not
believe that the Ta'ifians would surrender readily. But, seeing the flag of
truce on the fortress, they sent an envoy to the fortress to investigate the
situation. The Ta'ifians, pulled the envoy up to the fortress with a rope.
"Gather all your goods
here and surrender if you want to save your lives," said the envoy. All
their possessions were gathered with the effort of a Muslim named Ibrahim.
"This is not enough!" said the envoy, "We cannot
forgive you for this much. You should bring more!" He gave them a notebook
and said, "List the names of those who do not give! The men are free to go
wherever they wish. The women and children will be put in chains."
Although they begged him to be a little bit
softer, he increased his aggression and harshness. Ibrahim, unable to be
patient any more, hit him on the chest with a stone and killed him. During this
confusion, the Wahhabis attacked the fortress, thus they escaped from being hit
by cannon balls and bullets. They broke the gates and
entered the fortress. They killed every woman, man and child they saw, cutting
even the babies in cradles.
The streets turned into floods of blood. They raided the houses and
plundered everywhere, attacking outrageously and madly till sunset. They could
not capture the stone houses in the eastern part of the fortress, so they
besieged and put those houses under a shower of bullets.
a Wahhabite scoundrel shouted: "We
forgive you! You may go wherever you want with your wives and children,"
but they did not yield. Meanwhile, the Wahhabis gathered the people, who had
set out to migrate, on a hill and encircled those pure Muslim families, who had
grown up amid fondling and affection and most of whom were women and children,
and held them to die of hunger and thirst for twelve days, and tortured them by
slandering, stoning and cudgeling. The Wahhabis called
them one by one and beat them and said, "Tell us where you hid your
possessions!" and howled, "Your day of death is coming!" to
those who begged for mercy.
Ibn Shakban,
after pressing the stone houses violently for twelve days and being unable to
make them yield, promised that those who would come out of the houses and give
up arms would be forgiven. Muslims believed him and came out, but, with their
hands tied behind their backs, they were drawn by Ibn Shakban to the hill where
the other Muslims were encircled. Three hundred and
sixty-seven men, together with women and children, were put to the sword on the
hill (rahmat-Allahi 'alaihim ajmain). They made animals trample on the bodies
of the martyrs and left them unburied to be eaten by beasts and birds of prey
for sixteen days.
They
plundered Muslims' houses and gathered all they took into a big heap in front
of the gateway of the fortress and sent one fifth of the goods and the money
they collected to Sa'ud, sharing the remainder among themselves. The traitors
and torrential rains swept away uncountable money and invaluable goods, and
there remained little, only forty thousand gold rials, in the hands of Ahl
as-Sunnat; ten thousand rials were distributed to the women and children, and
the goods were sold very cheaply.
The Wahhabis tore up the copies of the Qur'an al-karim and books of
tafsir, hadith and other Islamic books they took from libraries, masjids and
houses, and threw them down on the ground.
They made sandals from the gold-gilded leather covers of the Qur'an
copies and other books and wore them on their filthy feet. There were ayats and
other sacred writings on those leather covers. The leaves of those valuable
books thrown around were so numerous that there was no space to step in the
streets of Ta'if.
Although Ibn Shakban had ordered the looters not to
tear up the copies of the Qur'an al-karim, the Wahhabite bandits, who
were gathered from the deserts for looting and who did not know the Qur'an
al-karim, tore up all the copies they found and stamped on them.
Only three copies of the Qur'an al-karim and
one copy of the Sahih of al-Bukhari were saved from plunder in the big town of Ta'if
a mujiza: The
weather was calm during the plunder of Ta'if. There was no wind. a storm broke
out after the bandits went away, and the wind lifted up all the leaves of the
Qur'an al-karim and Islamic books and swept them away. soon there was no piece
of paper left on the ground. Nobody knew where they were taken.
Under the hot sun, the corpses of the martyrs decayed on the hill in
sixteen days. The atmosphere became fetid. Muslims begged, wept and lamented in
front of Ibn Shakban to permit them to bury their dead relatives. At last he
agreed, and they dug two big hollows, put all the decayed corpses of their
fathers, grandfathers, relatives and children into the hollows and covered them
with soil. There was no corpse that could be recognized; some of them were only
one half or one fourth of a body, for other parts were scattered around by
birds and beasts of prey. They were permitted to collect and bury these pieces
of flesh because the bad smell bothered the Wahhabis, too. Muslims searched all
around and collected and buried them, too, in the two hollows.
It was
also for the purpose of insulting and taking revenge on the dead Muslims that
the bandits kept the martyrs unburied until they decayed.
But, as said in a couplet.
'It will bring ascent, do not grieve that you have fallen,
A building is not restored before it turns to a ruin.'
A building is not restored before it turns to a ruin.'
The
status of martyrs (rahmat-Allahi 'alaihim ajmain) in Allah's esteem increases
when their corpses are left unburied to decay and to be prey for birds and
beasts.
The
bandits completely ruined the shrines of as-Sahabat al-kiram, awliya' and
'ulama' after putting the Muslims of Ta'if to the sword and dividing up the
loot and the money.
When they attempted to dig a grave with a view to take out and burn
the corpse of Hadrat 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas, who was
one of our Prophet's most beloved
companions, they were frightened by the pleasant scent that came out when the
first pickaxe hit the ground.
They
said, "There is a great Satan in this grave. We
should blow it up with dynamite instead of losing time by digging."
Although
they put much powder and tried hard, the powder misfired and they went away in
astonishment. The grave was left level with the ground for a few years.
Later, Sayyid Yasin Effendi put a very nice sarcophagus on it
and protected that blessed grave from being forgotten.
The bandits also tried to dig up the graves of Sayyid 'Abd al-Hadi Effendi and many other awliya', but they were prevented by a karama at each grave. Facing
extraordinary difficulties in carrying out this vile intention of theirs, they
gave it up.
'Uthman al-Mudayiqi and Ibn Shakban also ordered that the
mosques and madrasas should be demolished together with the shrines.
Yasin Effendi, a great scholar of Ahl
as-Sunnat, said, "Why do you want to demolish
mosques, which are built for the purpose of performing salat in congregation?
If you want to ruin this mosque because the grave of 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas
(radi-Allahu 'anhuma) is here, I tell you, his grave is in the shrine outside
the big mosque. Therefore, it is not necessary to demolish the mosque."
'Uthman al-Mudayiqi and Ibn Shakban could not make any rejoinder. But, Matu, a zindiq among them, made a ridiculous
statement: "Anything doubtful should be
annihilated." Then, Yasin
Effendi asked, "Is there anything doubtful
about mosques?" and the demagogue was silent. After a long silence, 'Uthman
al-Budayiqi said, "I do not agree with
either of you," and ordered, "Do not touch the mosque, demolish the
shrine!"
39 - Although the rascals also attacked
Mecca Jidda to raise an army to resist the Wahhabis, and the
people of Mecca
The Wahhabis entered Mecca Medina
Fourteen
days later, they assaulted upon Jidda to capture
Sharif Ghalib Effendi, who
straightforwardly attacked the Wahhabite bandits from the Jidda Mecca Mecca
Sharif 'Abd al-Muin Effendi accepted being the amir in order
to protect the Meccans from being tortured by the Wahhabis.
Sharif
Ghalib Effendi returned to Mecca with the Jiddan
soldiers and the governor of Jidda , Sharif Pasha, thirty-eight days after
the bandits were defeated in Jidda Mecca
'Uthman called together all the bandits
around Mecca
The Meccan Muslims suffered distress and hunger for
months, and there was not even left a dog to eat on the last days of the siege.
Sharif Ghalib Effendi understood that there was no
other way out but to enter into a treaty with the enemy in order to save
citizens' lives. He surrendered the city under the condition that he should be
left as the amir of the city and that the Muslims' lives and possessions should
be safe.
The bandits captured Medina after Mecca Mecca
and Medina and did not let the pilgrims of Ahl as-Sunnat into Mecca
They covered the Kaba with two sheets of black cloth called Qailan. They forbade smoking the hookah
and badly cudgeled those who smoked it. Meccans and Medinans disliked and kept
away from them.
Ayyub Sabree Pasha (rahimah-Allahu ta'ala) reported
in the first volume of his book Mirat
al-Haramain, which was published in
1301 A.H. (1883), the tortures inflicted upon the Meccan Muslims as
follows:
"The
tortures done to the Muslims in the blessed city of Mecca
"The
chief of the bandits, Sa'ud, frequently sent letters of threat to the amir of
the Meccans, Sharif Ghalib Effendi. Although Sa'ud had laid siege to Mecca
Sharif
Ghalib Effendi, with the governor of Jidda ,
assembled the leaders of the pilgrim caravans from Damascus
and Egypt in 1217 and told them that the bandits
intended to attack the blessed city of Mecca Jidda
"Sa'ud responded
and went to Mecca Mecca and
Medina
"Sa'ud
attacked Jidda to seize Sharif Ghalib Effendi
(rahmat-Allahu 'alaih) and capture Jidda Jidda Mecca
"Although Sharif 'Abd al-Muin Effendi (rahmat-Allahi 'alaih) tried to be friendly with the
Wahhabis in order to protect the Meccan Muslims against massacre and torture,
the ferocious Wahhabis increased the severity of torture and pillage day by
day. Seeing it was impossible to get along with them in peace, he sent a
message to Sharif Ghalib Effendi saying that Sa'ud was in Mecca Mu'alla Square
"Upon the message, Sharif
Ghalib Effendi
took some distinguished soldiers with the governor of Jidda ,
Sharif Pasha, and attacked the Wahhabis in Mecca Mecca
The cruel 'Uthman al-Mudayiqi fled to the mountains in Yaman with his men. Seeing that
those who were driven out of Mecca
" 'Uthman al-Mudayiqi gathered the ignorant, savage
villagers of the Yaman Mountains and, with the Wahhabis he met on his way,
laid siege to Mecca
Sharif Ghalib Effendi failed in his attempts to sally
out against the besiegers, although he tried ten times. The food stocks
vanished. The price of bread went up to five rials and butter to six rials per
oke (2.8 lb), but later no one sold anything.
Muslims
had to eat cats and dogs, which later could not be found. They had to eat grass
and leaves. When there was nothing left to eat, the city of Mecca
Sharif Ghalib Effendi was not faulty in this event, but he would not have fallen
into this situation if he had called for aid from the allying tribes before. In
fact, Meccans had begged Sharif Ghalib Effendi, 'We can go on resisting till
the time of pilgrimage if you obtain help from the tribes who love us, and we
can defeat them when the Egyptian and Damascene pilgrims come.' Sharif Ghalib Effendi had said, 'I could have done it
before, but it is impossible now,' confessing his former mistake.
He did not want to surrender, either, but the Meccans said, 'Oh Amir! Your blessed ancestor Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam),
too, made agreement with his enemies.
You, too,
please agree with the enemy and relieve us of this trouble. You will be
following our master Rasulullah's sunnat by doing so. Because, Rasulullah had
sent Hadrat 'Uthman [from Khudaibiya] to the Quraish tribe in Mecca
He yielded to the constraint of a man of
religious duty named 'Abd ar-Rahman when the people could not endure the
difficulty any longer. It was very intelligent of Sharif Ghalib Effendi to have
listened to 'Abd ar-Rahman and to use him as a mediator in preventing Sa'ud
from torturing the Muslims. He also won the favor of Meccans and soldiers by
saying, 'I yielded to make an agreement unwillingly; I was planning to wait
till the time for pilgrimage.'
"After the capitulation, Sa'ud ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz entered Mecca
He covered the Magnificent Kaba with coarse felt. He dismissed Sharif Ghalib
Effendi (rahmat-Allahi 'alaih). He attacked here and
there like a pharaoh and tortured
the people in an inconceivable way. Because no
help had come from the Ottomans, Sharif Ghalib Effendi was offended.
He
disseminated the hearsay that the reason for the surrender of Mecca
was due to the slackness of the Ottoman government, and he incited Sa'ud not to
let the Egyptian and Damascene pilgrims into Mecca
"This
behavior of Sharif Ghalib Effendi made Sa'ud get more
ferocious, and he increased the torture. He tortured and killed most of the
'ulama' of Ahl as-Sunnat and prominent and rich people of Mecca
His men shouted, 'Accept Sa'ud's religion! Shelter under his
vast shadow!' in markets, bazars and
streets. He forced Muslims to accept
Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's religion.
The
number of the faithful people who could protect their true faith and correct
madhhab decreased greatly, as it was in the deserts.
"Sharif
Ghalib Effendi, seeing the dismal situation and apprehending that Islam would
be annihilated also in the Hijaz and the blessed cities as it had in the
Arabian deserts, sent a message to Sa'ud, saying, 'You cannot resist the
Ottoman army that will be sent from Istanbul if you stay in Mecca after the
season of the pilgrimage. You will be captured and killed. Do not stay in Mecca
"During this period of tyranny and torture, Sa'ud ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz asked an alim
of Ahl as-Sunnat,
'Is Hadrat Muhammad ('alaihi 's-salam) alive in his grave?
Or is he dead like every dead person as we
believe he is?'
The alim said, 'He is alive with a life which we cannot comprehend.'
Sa'ud
asked him this question because he expected such an answer on account of which
he would easily torture him to death. 'Then, show us
that the Prophet is alive in his grave so that we may believe you. It will be
understood that you are obstinate in refusing my religion if you answer
incongruously, and I will kill you,' said Sa'ud.
'I shall not try to convince
you by showing something unrelated to the subject.
Let's go to al-Madinat al-Munawwara together and stand in front of
the Muwajahat as-Saada.
I shall greet him. If he returns my greeting, you will see that our
master Rasulullah is alive in his blessed grave and that he hears and answers
those who greet him. If we get no answer to my greeting, it will be understood
that I am a liar.
Then you may punish me in any way you wish,' answered the alim of
Ahl as-Sunnat.
Sa'ud got very angry at this answer but let him go, for he would have become a disbeliever
or polytheist according to his own beliefs if he had done as the alim proposed.
He was stupefied for he was not learned enough to make any rejoinder to this
answer. He set the alim free so that he might not be disreputed. However, he ordered one soldier to kill him and to
immediately let him know when he was killed. But the Wahhabi soldier, by the
Grace of Allah, could not find an opportunity to attain his goal. This
terrible news reached the ear of that mujahid scholar, who then migrated away
from Mecca thinking that it would not be good
for him to stay in Mecca
"Sa'ud sent an assassin after the mujahid when he heard of his departure. The
assassin traveled day and night, thinking that he would kill one belonging to
Ahl as-sunnat and win much thawab. He caught up with the mujahid but saw that
he had died a normal death shortly before he reached him. He tethered the
mujahid's camel to a tree and went to a well for water.
When he
returned, he found that the corpse was gone and only the camel was there. He
went back to Sa'ud and told him what had happened. 'Oh,
yes!' Sa'ud said, 'I dreamt of that person ascending to the heavens among
voices of dhikr and tasbih.
People with shining faces said that the corpse was his (the
mujahid's) and was being raised up to the heavens because of his correct belief
in the Last Prophet (sall-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam).'
Thereupon, the Wahhabi said, 'You sent me to murder such a blessed
person! And now you do not correct your corrupt belief although you see Allahu
ta'ala's favor on him!' and swore at Sa'ud. He repented.
Sa'ud did
not even listen to the man. He appointed 'Uthman
al-Mudayiqi to be the governor of Mecca
"Sa'ud ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz lived in Dar'iyya. He captured the
blessed city of Medina Mecca
They started reading and explaining the book written by Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab in the Masjid al-Haram
in Mecca
The 'ulama' of Ahl as-Sunnat
refuted them.
[For details, see Saif al-Jabbar, a collection of the Meccan ulama's
refutations of Wahhabism, later printed in Pakistan ;
reprint in Istanbul
Sa'ud ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz
arrived ten days later. He
settled in Sharif Ghalib Effendi's mansion at Mu'alla Square
"Meanwhile,
the news came that a caravan of Damascene pilgrims was coming towards Mecca Mecca Mecca
Sa'ud said, 'Oh Pasha! I
would kill all of you if I did not fear Allah. Bring me the sacks of gold coins
which you intend to distribute to the people of the Haramain and Arab
villagers, and immediately go back! I forbid you the pilgrimage this year!'
Yusuf
Pasha surrendered to him the sacks of gold and turned back.
"The
news that the Damascene caravan was prevented from carrying out the pilgrimage
spread as a terrible shock among the Muslim world. Meccan Muslims wept and
lamented for they thought that they, too, were forbidden to got to 'Arafat. The
following day they were given permission to go to 'Arafat, but were forbidden
to go on mahfas or camel-palanquins. Everybody, even judges and 'ulama', went
to 'Arafat on donkey or camel. Instead of the Qadi of Mecca, a Wahhabi
delivered the khutba at 'Arafat. They returned to Mecca
"Sa'ud dismissed the Qadi of Mecca, Khatib-zada Muhammad Effendi,
from service upon his arrival to Mecca
'Abd ar-Rahman summoned Muhammad
Effendi, Su'ada Effendi, the mullah (chief judge) of Medina ,
and 'Atai Effendi, the Naqib (representative of the Sharifs in Mecca ) of the blessed city of Mecca
These 'alims clasped hands saying, 'La ilaha illa'llah wahdahu la
Sharika lah,' in accord with the Wahhabite belief and sat down on the floor
again.
Sa'ud laughed
and said, 'I command you and the pilgrims of the Damascene caravan to Salih ibn
Salih's care. Salih is one of my good men. I trust him. I permit you to go to Damascus Damascus
You may
go comfortably and happily under my protection. All pilgrims will travel under
these conditions. And this is a justice of mine. I
wrote a letter to the Ottoman Sultan, Hadrat Salim Khan III [rahmat-Allahi
'alaih]. I asked that it be forbidden to
build domes on graves, to make sacrifice for the dead and to pray through
them.'
"Sa'ud stayed in Mecca Jidda and Medina jointly
drove Sa'ud out from Mecca
40 - Sulaiman Khan I, the seventy-fifth Khalifa of Islam and the tenth
Ottoman Sultan (rahmat-Allahi 'alaih) had restored the walls around the
blessed city of Medina; the city had not suffered any assault of bandits for
274 years owing to its strong walls, and Muslims had lived in comfort and peace
in the city till early 1222 A.H. (1807),
when they fell prey to the hands of Sa'ud.
Sa'ud sent the looters he raised from
the villages to Medina Medina
The Muslims who were on the right
path shown by the 'ulama' of Ahl as-Sunnat were looted and put to the sword. There were so many villages burnt
and Muslims killed that nobody could make an approximate estimate. The villages
around Medina
Sa'ud sent a letter
addressing the Medinan Muslims with Salih ibn Salih:
"I begin with the name of He who is the Owner of the Day of
Judgement. May it be known by the 'ulama', officials and merchants of Medina Medina Medina Mecca have been enjoying favor and kindness from me since
the day I entered Mecca
This letter frightened the
Medinans very much. They
had heard about the tortures and massacre inflicted upon the Ta'ifian women and
children (rahmat-Allahi ta'ala 'alaihim ajmain) a few days ago and had
shuddered with fear. They could say neither 'yes' nor 'no' to Sa'ud ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz's letter. They could surrender
neither their lives nor their religion.
Seeing no
answer to the letter, the head of the bandits, Baday the treacherous, attacked
Yanbu', the seaport of Medina
After capturing Yanbu', he laid
siege to Medina and
severely attacked the 'Anbariyya gate of the walls. Just on that day, the
Damascene pilgrims came with their leader 'Abdullah Pasha. Upon seeing the city
under siege, the pilgrims and the accompanying soldiers started fighting
against the bandits. About two hundred bandits were killed in two hours of
bloody battle while the remainder ran away.
The Muslims enjoyed peace in Medina
a mujiza: The
water of the well at the Baghchat
ar-Rasul in Masjid an-Nabi increased and its hardness decreased and
brackish taste disappeared after the 'Ain az-zarqa' was demolished and the
water-supply in the city was exhausted. No Muslim suffered thirst. Formerly,
this well was known for its brackish water.
The siege
continued for months. The Muslims endured heavy distress in the hope that the
Damascene pilgrims would come and rescue them again. At last, the pilgrims
arrived, but the head of the caravan, Ibrahim
Pasha, said, "Surrender the
city to them," because he did not have sufficient armed forces to
fight against them. The Muslims thought that Ibrahim Pasha had talked and
agreed with Baday and obtained promise that the
Muslims would not be tortured or harmed. They
wrote the following letter to Sa'ud and sent it by a council of four
representatives, namely Muhammad Tayyar, Hasan Chawush, 'Abd al-Qadir Ilyas and
'Ali:
"We
offer the respect to be paid to you and say salams. May Allahu ta'ala make you
successful in your deeds which are compatible with His approval! Oh Shaikh
Sa'ud! Ibrahim Pasha, the amir of the Damascene pilgrims, arrived and saw that
the city was besieged, the roads barred, and the water cut off by Baday. He
asked the reason and learnt that it was an order of yours. As we hope you bear
no evil intention towards the people of Medina Medina
Sa'ud treated the messengers
very violently upon reading the letter and was not ashamed
of saying that he was very angry with and hostile
towards the people of Medina
The
messengers begged him much to forgive them and imploringly cast themselves at
his filthy feet. But, he said, "I conclude from
your letter that you will not obey my orders, that you will not accept my true
religion, that you are trying to deceive me with soft words for you are
overwhelmed by thirst, hunger and distress, and that you are begging just to
get rid of this distress. There is no other way out but to do whatever I wish.
I will make you groan and vanish as I did with the people of Ta'if, if you
pretend to be accepting my orders but speak or act unfavorably."
He forced the Muslims to renounce their
madhhabs.
The
fallacious, heretical terms dictated to the Medinan messengers by Sa'ud are
written in detail in the book Tareekh-i
Wahhabiyyan.
The
Medinan messengers went back to Medina Medina Medina
No answer
came from the letters written to Istanbul Istanbul Medina
had asked Istanbul Medina
All the
savages and villagers of the deserts of Arabia recognized Sa'ud as the ruler of
the Najd , who signed the letters he wrote to
here and there with the title "al-Imam ad-Dar'iyyat al-majdiyya wal-ahkami
'd-da'wati 'n-Najdiyya."
As soon as he entered Medina
The
servants of these shrines started demolishing them while weeping and lamenting.
The servant of Hadrat Hamza's
(radi-'Allahu 'anh) shrine said he was very old and could not do anything, and Sa'ud ordered a treacherous slave of his to demolish the
shrine. That person climbed up the dome to start demolishing it but fell down
and died, and Sa'ud, the filthy, gave up
demolishing Hadrat Hamza's shrine,
yet he had its door removed.
After supervising the operation of this base order of his, he made
a speech on the dais constructed in Manaha
Place
He said
that the Medinans did not want to obey him, but became
munafiqs out of fear and wanted to go on being polytheists as before.
He added,
in a very ugly and impertinent voice, that those who
took refuge in the fortress should come and show humility, and that those who
did not come would suffer the "Wahhabite justice" performed in Ta'if.
Everybody
was frightened when the fortress gates were closed and it was announced in
every street that all the people should assemble in Manaha Place Manaha Place
Men and women assembled in two
separate groups and bowed their neck towards the bright
dome of
Rasulullah's (sall-Allahu
'alaihi wa sallam) blessed shrine.
The
blessed city of Medina Medina Medina
He
appointed Hasan Chawush, one of the rascals he
trusted the most, to be the governor of Medina Medina
again after performing hajj in Mecca
Sa'ud came out from his den to the courthouse when the
Damascene caravan went two or three days' way away from Medina
The fire of hatred in
him against the Muslims did not calm down even after this
shameful vileness of his, and he went on demolishing the remaining graves
belonging to the Sahabis and martyrs. Although he
attempted to demolish the dome of Rasulullah's blessed shrine,
the Muslims' cries and entreaties made him give up; yet he ruined the Shabakat
as-Saada, fortunately not touching the walls. He
ordered that the walls around Medina
He assembled the
Medinans in Masjid an-Nabi. He closed the gates of the Masjid and delivered the
following speech on the dais:
"Oh congregation! I have summoned you
here to advise you and to warn you to obey my orders. Oh people of Medina
Sa'ud,
after making many similar unbecoming and vulgar slanders, which we dare not to
quote, let the gates of Masjid as-Saada be opened. He appointed his son
'Abdullah the governor of Medina
41 - During those years, the Ottoman State Egypt
Although
Tosun Pasha did not suffer any harm, most of the Ottoman Muslims were martyred.
Muhammad 'Ali Pasha grieved about this misfortune and set out with a bigger
army corps armed with eighteen cannons, three big mortars and many other
weapons. They passed the Safra Valley and the Judaida Pass Mecca
appointed by the Wahhabis; however, he had a heartfelt desire to liberate Mecca Medina Egypt Egypt Mecca via Jidda Jidda early in Muharram 1228 and marched on towards Mecca Mecca Mecca
Sa'ud ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz had turned back to his den of mischief, Dar'iyya, in 1227, after the pilgrimage and a visit to Ta'if where
much Muslim blood had been shed. He was astonished to learn that al-Madinat
al-Munawwara and then al-Makkat al-Mukarrama were taken by the Ottomans when he
arrived in Dar'iyya. Just during those days, the Ottoman soldiers attacked
Ta'if but met no resistance, for the tyrant of Ta'if, 'Uthman al-Mudayiqi, and
his soldiers had fled from fear. The good news was presented to the Caliph of
the Muslims in Istanbul
Muhammad 'Ali Pasha, obeying Sultan Mahmud Khan's
order, set out from Egypt Egypt and then to Istanbul Istanbul
when he arrived in Mecca and appointed his
brother Yahya ibn Masud Effendi (rahimah-Allahu ta'ala) to be the amir of Mecca Istanbul Istanbul
Sharif
Ghalib Effendi, who served as the amir of Mecca for 26 years, was given a warm
welcome of respect and love in Istanbul, and he was sent to Salonika where he
reposed until he passed away in 1231
(1815). His shrine in Salonika is open to
visitors.
A
division was sent out to clear the places far down to Yaman after sweeping the
bandits out from the blessed cities in the Hijaz. Muhammad 'Ali Pasha went to
help this division with his soldiers and cleared the whole district. He came
back to Mecca and stayed there until Rajab 1230, then he appointed his son Hasan
Pasha to be the governor of Mecca and returned
to Egypt
Sa'ud bin 'Abd al-'Aziz
died in 1231 and his son, 'Abdullah ibn Sa'ud, succeeded him. Muhammad 'Ali Pasha sent his son
Ibrahim Pasha with a division under his order against 'Abdullah ibn Sa'ud.
'Abdullah made an agreement with Tosun Pasha that he would be loyal to the
Ottomans on the condition that he would be recognized as the governor of
Dar'iyya, but Muhammad 'Ali Pasha did not accept this agreement. Ibrahim Pasha
set out from Egypt
'Abdullah ibn
Sa'ud resisted against Ibrahim Pasha with all
his soldiers but was arrested after very bloody battles in Dhu 'l-Qada 1233 (1818).
The good news of the victory was welcomed in Egypt
Muhammad 'Ali Pasha, who deemed it a very important
duty to clear the blessed cities in Arabia of the bandits, struggled hard to
achieve this goal and expended innumerable gold coins for this cause. [It is
now seen with sorrow that the Saudi government is in a struggle to
disseminating their heretical beliefs all over the world by expending many more
dollars. There is no way out other than to learn true Islam by reading the
books of Religion written by the ulama of Ahl as-Sunna in order to save
ourselves from the destruction of la-madhhabism.]
'Abdullah
ibn Sa'ud with his ferocious looters who had tortured Muslims were arrested and
sent to Egypt Cairo
"You
have struggled very hard!" the Pasha said.
"War
is an affair of fate and luck," Ibn Sa'ud answered.
"How
do you find my son Ibrahim Pasha?"
"He
is very brave. His intelligence is much greater than his bravery. We strove
hard, too. But, it happened as Allah had decreed."
"Do
not worry! I shall write a letter of intercession for you to the Caliph of the
Muslims."
"What
was fated will happen."
"Why
do you carry that casket with you?"
"In it, I keep very valuable things that my father took from
the Hujrat an-Nabawiyya. I shall offer it to our magnificent Sultan."
Muhammad 'Ali Pasha ordered the casket to be opened. Three copies
of the Qur'an al-karim with invaluable gildings, 330 very large pearls, a large
emerald and gold chains, all stolen from the Hujrat an-Nabawiyya, were seen.
"This is not all of the valuable treasures taken from the
Khazinat an-Nabawiyya. There should be more, shouldn't there?" Muhammad
'Ali Pasha inquired.
"You are right, my noble lord. But, this is all I could find in
my father's treasure. My father was not the only one who attended the plunder
of the Hujrat as-Saada. The Arab chiefs, notables of Mecca ,
the servants of he Haram as-Saada and the amir of Mecca
"Yes, that is right! We found many things with Sharif Ghalib
Effendi [rahmat-Allahi 'alaih] and took them from him," said Muhammad 'Ali
Pasha. [Ayyub Sabri Pasha comments in his text: "It should be thought that
Sharif Ghalib Effendi took them with the purpose of saving them from being
plundered by the Wahhabite looters. Muhammad Ali Pasha said, 'Yes, that is
right!' not because he believed that Sharif Ghalib Effendi really looted, but
because he accepted the reason why there were so very few things in the
casket."]
After
this conversation, 'Abdullah ibn Sa'ud and his accomplices were sent to Istanbul Topkapi Palace
Ibrahim
Pasha demolished the Dar'iyya fortress and returned to Egypt Egypt
After 'Abdullah ibn
Sa'ud, Tarkee ibn 'Abdullah of the same lineage became the chief of the
Wahhabis in 1240 (1824). Tarkee's father, 'Abdullah, was the uncle of Sa'ud ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz.
In 1249, Mashshari ibn Sa'ud killed
Tarkee and took the reign. And Faysal, Tarkee's son, murdered Mashshari to
succeed him in leading the Wahhabis in
1254 A.H. (1838). Though he tried to resist the soldiers sent by Muhammad
'Ali Pasha the same year, he was captured by Mirliwa (Brigadier-general)
Khurshid Pasha and was sent to Egypt Egypt till then, was appointed to be the amir of
Dar'iyya and sent to Riyadh
Khalid
Bey, who was trained according to Ottoman manners, was a polite person with the
faith of Ahl as-Sunnat. Therefore, he managed to remain as the amir only for
one and a half years. Someone named 'Abdullah ibn Sazyan, pretending to be
faithful towards the Ottoman
State Najd . Khalid took refuge in Mecca Egypt , fled and, with the help of Ibn ar-Rashid,
the amir of Jaba as-Samr, went to the Najd and
killed Ibn Sazyan. Taking the oath of allegiance to the Ottoman State
Faysal had four sons, namely 'Abdullah, Sa'ud, 'Abd ar-Rahman and
Muhammad Said. The eldest one, 'Abdullah, was appointed as the amir of Najd . Sa'ud rose in rebellion against his elder brother with the people he
gathered around him on the Bahrain
Island Najd regained comfort and peace, and all the Muslims
prayed for the Caliph of the Faithful (rahmat-Allahi 'alaih).
In 1306 (1888), however,
Muhammad ibn ar-Rashid captured the Najd and
imprisoned 'Abdullah.
About one million
savages of Asir who lived in the Sawwat
Mountains
The
people of Asir had an amir, whom they elected, and a governor, who was
appointed by the Ottoman
State port of Hodeida Hodeida Asir
Mountains
The Arabian Peninsula had been
governed by the Ottomans since 923 A.H. (1517), when Yavuz Sultan Salim Khan
(rahmat-Allahi 'alaih) conquered Egypt
In 1274 (1858), the
British organized
a revolution and overthrew the Islamic State in India
and worked mischief also in Jidda ; nevertheless,
peace was maintained with the policy implemented by Namiq Pasha, the governor
of Mecca
All the
rebellious, savage amirs were brought to obedience and put under the control of
the Ottoman State
It is noted in the book Mirat
al-Haramain that twelve million people lived on the Arabian
Peninsula in 1306 A.H. (1888) when the book was written. Although they were very
intelligent and understanding, they were also extremely ignorant, cruel and
murderous. Their allegiance to Sa'ud increased the intensity of their
barbarism.
Amir Ibn ar-Rashid, the great grandson of Ibn
ar-Rashid, fought with the Ottomans against the British during the First World War. 'Ali, his son, the amir of Ha'il, a
town south-east of Medina Riyadh Kuwait Riyadh , Qasim and Buraida, united with 'Abd al-'Aziz who
was then in the village
of Al-Muhanna Riyadh
from Kuwait
He
entered Riyadh Riyadh Riyadh Saudi
State was established in Riyadh Riyadh Riyadh
On the 17th of June, 1336 [This is not in the year of the
Hijra (Hegira), with which Arabic months are used, but in the Rumi calendar, which
was introduced after the Tanzimat
(1839). The Ottoman
State Cyprus
'Abd al-'Aziz ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman easily
captured Mecca
Earlier, on February 28th, 1337 (1919), the Ottoman soldiers, who had
guarded Medina against the amir of Mecca, Sharif Husain Pasha, who was not on
friendly terms with the Ittihajjilar ['Unionists'; members of Ittihad wa
Taraqqi Jam'iyyati, the secret 'Union and Progress Society,' which later became
the Union and Progress Party.] who had taken the government of the Ottoman
Empire under their own control at that time, had left the Hijaz in accord with
the terms of the Mondros Armistice. Sharif 'Abdullah, Sharif Husain Pasha's
son, had settled in Medina but the British
government banished him from Medina to Amman Jordan
Sharif Husain Pasha's second son,
Sharif Faysal, founded the State of Iraq Iraq Iraq and Syria
were captured by the socialist Ba'th Party after several coups and became
dependencies of Russia
'Abd al-'Aziz ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman attacked Medina Istanbul
The Times of India published in India
"The recent news that Medina India
The partisans
of the Union and Progress Party who governed the Ottoman
Empire during the First World War were ignorant of Islam. They
lacked Islam, Islamic training and morals. Most of those who took active parts
in the government were freemasons, who tortured the Muslims in Arabia , too, as they did all over the Empire. They
oppressed Muslims very ruthlessly. The people of Arabia ,
who were used to justice, mercy, favor and respect during the reign of Sultan
'Abd al-Hamid Khan II (rahmat-Allahi 'alaih), loved the Turks as their
brethren. They were astonished at the torture and robbery committed by the
Unionists. The son-in-law and other relatives of Sharif Husain ibn 'Ali Pasha,
the Amir of Mecca (rahmat-Allahi 'alaih), and
many Arab notables were tortured to death by the Unionist Jamal Pasha in Damascus
After the
Unionist army came from Saloniki to Istanbul and dethroned Sultan 'Abd al-Hamid
Khan II, they locked in dungeons many notables of the government, 'ulama' and
authors of the time of the Caliph, and murdered others by shooting them from
behind when they were leaving their offices or mosques after prayer. They used
Sultan Rashad (rahmat-Allahi 'alaih), whom they brought to the Caliphate, like
a puppet, and the legislators they appointed like tools under the threat of
pistols in running the Empire from war to war, from one disaster to another.
Ignoring Islam totally, they took to torturing the people and amusing
themselves in dissipation. They sent into exile or hanged those zealous
patriots, foresighted and sincere Muslims who opposed this crazy current
flowing at full speed. Sharif Husain ibn 'Ali Pasha was one of these sagacious
Muslims who held the rank of Mir-i miran or Beghler Beghi (provincial governor)
and served the Caliph and the Empire during Sultan 'Abd al-Hamid Khan's reign.
To keep him away from Istanbul , he was appointed
the Amir of Mecca
The
unionists gave the name of "Jihad-i akbar" falsely to the declaration
of war, which was prepared by Anwar Pasha and signed by Sultan Rashad on 22 Dhu'l-Hijja 1332 (October 29, 1914),
and sent its copies to all Muslim countries. poor Sultan Rashad supposed that
he was the real caliph but could not help complaining, "They do not listen
to me at all!" to his close companions, expressing that he was aware of
the tricks played, when he was forced to sign orders incompatible with Islam.
I thought it proper to publish
this second declaration for the enlightened compatriots and learned Muslims, thinking that there might be some
doubt about the endeavors and ideas of ours, the people of he Hijaz, who have
started an action for the reasons stated in the first declaration. I am warning
our brothers in the light of the latest apparent proofs and evidences.
The foresighted Muslims and the
learned,
experienced personages of the Ottoman community and the wise and intelligent
ones of the whole world do not approve of the Ottoman
Empire having entered into the General War. [The First World War.]
There are two reasons for this [disapproval]:
The first reason is domestic: the Supreme
Ottoman State
had recently come out from the wars of Trablusgharb [Tripoli
The second reason is foreign: the Unionist government has made
a big mistake in choosing the side on which to take part. The Ottoman
Empire is an Islamic State. The geographical situation of her
lands is of great importance and extends widely. The length of her coastlines
is greater than the length of her borderlines. Therefore, the Ottoman dynasty,
those exalted sultans, have almost always cooperated with those states which
have had a Muslim majority and a dominant naval power. This policy of theirs
has nearly always been successful. The inexperienced, ignorant leaders of the
Unionists, being taken in by the appearance and deceived by baseless, false
words, have changed this policy of the Ottoman sultans (rahmat-Allahi 'alaihim
ajmain). Those who are able to distinguish right from wrong and who are well
versed in history have foreseen the bad and very bitter results of this stupid
decision and avoided cooperating with the Unionists. Even I explained my view
in detail and tried to warn them by giving historical examples when my opinion
was asked for by telegram about entering into this last war, this disaster. The
answer I then telegraphed is a sound document showing my ideas, goodwill and
loyalty towards the Empire and my struggle for the protection of the honor of
Islam.
The
bitter, destructive consequences we had feared and piteously told of at the
beginning of the war are coming about now: the border of the Ottoman Empire in
Europe is almost drawn back down to the city walls of Istanbul today; the
vanguards of the Russian army are torturing the Ottoman people in the provinces
of Sivas and Musul; the British army captured the provinces of Basra and
Baghdad; thousands of Ottoman children have been captured in the desert of
al-Arish as the result of Jamal Pasha's stupid guidance. There is no doubt that
the faithful compatriots, who see this grievous course and the disaster the
Empire will suffer as a consequence of this course directed by the Unionists,
are to choose between two things:
The first
is [to accept] the eradication of the Ottoman Empire
from the [world] map - her annihilation.
The
second is to find the means of protection against this disastrous annihilation.
I leave it to the whole Muslim world to investigate, to think, to consult one
another, and to make the necessary proposals on this matter.
We took
action rightfully before the dangers encircled the country and annihilated
Muslims. If we could know, or even hope, that we would he helpful to the
country and the nation by being loyal to this unconscious, stupid
administration of the Ottoman Empire , which is
a plaything in the hands of a dictatorial minority, we would not say anything
or move in any way, but be patient and endure every hardship, even die. But it
is very obvious that this [silence] will do not good but make the situation
worse. How could it not be obvious while there is a hundred-percent probability
that if we follow the way were are forced to follow [by the Unionists], we will
suffer the disaster which the nations who followed such ways have suffered. Is
there anyone who does not see that the Unionists have broken the huge empire
into pieces and put the people into utter trouble? The huge empire is being
sacrificed for the pleasure of Anwar, Jamal, Tal'at and their friends.
The
foreign policy of the Ottoman Empire has been
the established policy accepted by the Ottoman sultans over the centuries of
experience and consultations with the notables of the Empire. This policy is
the policy of co-operation with the British and French governments. This policy
has always been beneficial to our State and nation throughout history. Those
who made us neglect this policy are the said Unionist dictators.
Now we oppose the ignorant,
foolish policy and brutal, torturous administration of the Unionists. We see that the Empire is being
led to destruction and we never approved of it. It should be known by everyone
that our opposition is against Anwar, Jamal, Tal'at and their accomplices.
Every Muslim approves this just action. Every compatriot supports and is with
us on this right cause. Even the Head of the Empire, the Caliph of the
Faithful, is on our side with his heart and conscience. The most sound evidence
supporting this is that the Wali-'ahd (Heir to the Throne) Yusuf 'Izz ad-din
Effendi has been attacked and martyred by the Unionists.
I say
again: the great Ottoman Empire is being
sacrificed for the evil intentions and by the destructive actions of these
dictators. We seek refuge in Allahu ta'ala from their wickedness.
I can't
help exposing another evil deed of the Unionists, which warned and made us take
action, for the noble Turkish nation:
Jamal
Pasha, one of the excessive chiefs of the Unionist society, hangs or shoots to
death whomever he wishes in Damascus Surat
I have
mentioned some of the grievous, destructive behavior of the Unionist partisans,
who lead the people and the Empire to ruination. I write all these in order to
awaken my Muslim brothers living on Ottoman lands and in Muslim countries, thus
to serve my milla [Muslim world] and country. I want to communicate to my fellow-countrymen
that the Unionists are acting out of caprice without thinking of the safety of
the Empire and the nation. Let alone believing and respecting the Divine Orders
and Prohibitions, they are even striving to change and spoil these sacred rules.
Therefore, I ask my Muslim brothers not to support this destructive,
discordant, stupid and vile course of theirs. It is not proper to obey those
who disobey Allahu ta'ala and who oppress men! He who has the power to reverse
their actions should try to do so with his hand, tongue and heart! If there are
those who cannot see the harm of the Unionists and who approve of their
actions, I am ready to hear them out. Our salam be upon those who are on the
right path and who do useful work!
11 Dhu'l-Qada, year 1334 [1916]
Amir of al-Makkat al-Mukarrama
Sharif Husain ibn 'Ali
These two declarations reveal
Sharif Husain Pasha's sincere intention and whole faith, as well as his wrong
ideas and harmful conclusions. His greatest mistake was that he could not understand the
aggressiveness of the British against Islam
throughout history. [It was certainly wrong to fight against the British who
would dominate the seas and had big power of army and arms.
But, to
cooperate with this fierce enemy of Islam is a bigger mistake.] It is seen that
he had not heard about the raid made by the British forces upon Istanbul Africa
and colonized and exploited them during that same period.
They annihilated the Muslim
'ulama', Islamic books, Islamic culture and morals in those countries. The
British deceived the Ottoman Sultan 'Abd al-Majid Khan (rahmat-Allahi
'alaih) and placed freemasons in important posts
of the State and started spoiling the faith and morals of Muslims through them.
These freemasons brought up those who acted as spies
for the British during the First World War. They annihilated the Great Empire
demolishing it both from within and from without. In his book Inhitat-i
Islam, Grand Vizier Said Halim Pasha wrote in detail how the State was
annihilated. Sharif Husain Pasha supposed that the most perilous enemy of Islam
would help Islam, very probably because he had not studied the historical
evidences.
An
influential person like Sharif Husain Pasha, who understood the evilness of the
Unionists, could have done away with Jamal Pasha and the degenerates hired by
the British in Damascus Mecca , Medina
and Jerusalem
42 - After Muhammad 'Ali Pasha, the Governor of Egypt, cleared
the district of the Hijaz by order of the Caliph of the Muslims, Sultan Mahmud
'Adli Khan the Second (rahmat-Allahi 'alaih), the tombs of the Sahabat
al-kiram, the wives of Rasulullah and martyrs (radi-Allahu ta'ala 'anhum) were
built up again, and Masjid as-Saada and the Hujrat an-Nabawi were restored.
Sultan 'Abd al-Majid Khan spent hundreds of thousands of gold coins for their
construction, ornamentation and maintenance. His endeavors in this respect were
amazingly grand. [See article 15.] Sultan 'Abd al-'Aziz Khan (rahmat-Allahi
'alaih) restored the walls around Medina Damascus
to Medina Medina Mecca
There were six mosques with minarets,
sixty-seven small mosques without minarets, six madrasas, two public libraries,
one secondary and forty-three primary schools, two covered bazars, nine inns,
nineteen tekkes, two public baths, twenty-five large stores, three thousand
shops, one hospital and forty fountains in Mecca when 'Abd al-Hamid Khan the
Second was the Sultan. Large and comfortable guesthouses were built for the
pilgrims as well. A water-supply had been constructed from a distance of three
days' way to 'Arafat in Harun ar-Rashid's time; Mihr-u Mah Sultan, the daughter
of Sultan Sulaiman Khan, extended this water-supply to Mecca. The population of
Mecca
There is the gate Bab as-Salam ornamented with marble and gold
writings on the south west corner of the Haram ash-Sharif. The Hujrat an-nabawi
is in the southeast corner of the Haram ash-Sharif. Bab as-Salam is on the
right and the Hujrat as-Saada is on the left when one stands in front of the
qibla wall facing the qibla.
The Hujrat an-Nabawi is designed with very precious
ornaments all over it. Most of the houses in Medina
are built of stone and four -or five- storied like those in Mecca Medina
The Mount Uhud is to the north of the city at a
distance of two hours' way. There were ten mosques, seventeen madrasas, one
secondary and eleven primary schools, twelve public libraries, eight tekkes,
nine hundred and thirty-two shops and stores, four inns, two public baths, one
hundred and eight guesthouses in the city. The population was twenty thousand.
[According to the atlas titled Mamlakat al-Arabiyyat as-Su'udiyya, which was
published in England in 1398 A.H.
(1978), the distance through recently-constructed roads from Medina to
Riyadh is 1011, to Taif is 535, to Jidda is 424, to Mecca is 442 and to Tebuk
is 686 kilometers; from Mecca, it is 989 kilometers to Riyadh, 88 to Taif, 72
to Jidda, 1133 to Tebuk, 898 to Nejran and 1879 to Kuwait. The road from Mecca
The Wahhabis have been demolishing and annihilating the invaluable historical and
artistic works in the cities of Mecca and Medina
As written
in the book Mirat al-Madina, the
Masjid ash-Sharif in Medina Jerusalem
In Medina Mecca
The copy of the Qur'an al-karim sent in a big wooden box by Hajjaj
to al-Madinat al-Munawwara was placed with this box on the right side of the
pillar which is in front of this place.
The first
mihrab was placed here by 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz. After the second fire,
Masjid as-Saada was repaired and the present marble mihrab was constructed in
the year 888 A.H. But this marble
mihrab was placed somewhat closer to the Hujrat as-Saada.
Formerly, there was not a minbar
in Masjid an-Nabi,
and Rasulullah delivered the khutba standing, where a
branch of a date tree was erected later. And still later a minbar of four
stairs was made, and Rasulullah stood on the third stair. A curtain was hung at
the door of the minbar during the time of Hadrat Muawiya. During the time of the Prophet, there were eight pillars in
Masjid an-Nabi. At the times when the religious necessity for the enlargement
of the masjid was concluded, the number of pillars added up to 327. At the
Rawdat al-mutahhara, there are three lines of pillars and in each line there
are four pillars. Some of these pillars are in the walls. The number of pillars
in sight is 229. The southern wall of the masjid faces the qibla. The bower
where the Ashab as-suffa used to reside is outside the northern wall. In order
not to lose this blessed place by time, its base was raised half a meter from
the level, and a wooden fence of half a meter high was put around it.
While Masjid ash-Sharif was being constructed, a room for each of
the two pure wives of the Prophet was constructed (next to the masjid). The
number of rooms became nine later on. Their ceiling was one and a half meters
high. They were on the east, north or south of the masjid. Every room,
including those of some Sahabis, had two doors, one opening to the masjid and
the other to the street. Rasulullah (sall-Allahu 'Alaihi wa sallam) stayed
mostly at 'Aisha's (radi-Allahu 'anha) room, whose door to the masjid was made
of teak. During the time of the Four Caliphs, as-Sahabat al-kiram competed with
one another for a place in one of the eight rooms for the Juma salat. Hadrat
Fatima's (radi-Allahu 'anha) room was next to and on the north of Hadrat
'Aisha's room. This room was later included in the Shabakat as-Saada. Except
the one belonging to Abu Bakr, all the doors opening to the masjid were closed
on the order of Rasulullah five days before he passed away.
Abu Bakr, the first Caliph (radi-Allahu 'anh), endeavored against
the murtads on the Arabian Peninsula as his
first job, and could not find time to enlarge Masjid as-Saada.
In the seventeenth year of he Hegira, Hadrat 'Umar (radi-Allahu
'anh) gathered as-Sahabat al-kiram and reported to them the hadith ash-Sharif,
"Masjid ash-Sharif should be enlarged." As-Sahabat al-kiram
unanimously accepted it and, demolishing the Damascene and west walls of the
masjid, enlarged it by fifteen meters. Many houses were bought and their plots
were added to the masjid. In the year 35, Hadrat 'Uthman (radi-Allahu 'anh),
consulting with the Ashab ash-shura and getting the unanimity of as-Sahabat
al-kiram demolished the southern, northern and western walls and enlarged the
masjid ten meters in width and twenty meters in length. Meanwhile, the rooms of
Hadrat Hafsa, Talha ibn 'Abdullah and 'Abbas were added to the masjid.
On the
written order of Caliph Walid to his cousin 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, the Governor
of Medina, the houses of the pure wives of the Prophet and that of Fatima az-Zahra, which were on the north, were demolished
and their plots were added to the masjid in the year 87.
Thus, Rasulullah's (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa
sallam) blessed tomb was included in the masjid. As-Sahabat al-kiram, the four
aimmat al-madhahib and the Muslim 'ulama' of fourteen centuries did not say
anything against this.
It is written in the Shaban 1397
A.H. (1977) copy
of the weekly periodical Ad-da'wa, which was prepared by a madrasa named Jamiat
al-Islamiyya in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, "In the
coming enlargement of Masjid an-Nabi, only the west side should be widened and
the great bidat should be ended. The great bidat is the inclusion of the three
graves in the masjid. The eastern wall should be brought back to its former
place, and the graves should be left outside the masjid."
This
assertion of the periodical is a disrespect against ijma' al-Umma and
dissention from the Muslim community. That this is disbelief has been
unanimously reported by the 'ulama' of the four madhhabs (rahimahum-Allahu
ta'ala).
We wish that the Saudi Arabian
government should not get involved in such an ugly act and should not break the
hearts of Muslims all over the world.
Disrespect to the Hujrat as-Saada has been witnessed many times, but
those who committed it have been punished by Allahu ta'ala even in this world,
the examples of which are very many. It is written at the end of Mirat
al-Madina, "When the Governor of the Hijaz, Halat Pasha, visited Medina in 1296 A.H. (1879), the head of the
servants at the Hujrat as-Saada, Tahsin Agha, with a view of winning the favor
of the Pasha,
said, 'Let's have the women of your house visit the
Hujrat as-saada. This chance would not be met at other times.' The
Pasha, though refrained from it at first, took the women of close and distant
relations of his house into the Shabakat as-Saada at midnight upon the urging
of the Agha.
Since there were unclean women without an ablution among them and because of this
disrespect towards Rasulullah (sall-Allahu 'alaihi
wa sallam), a violent earthquake
occurred three times in Medina
People ran to and fro in
panic.
When its cause was understood, the Pasha was disgraced and was let out of Medina
Similarly, all those who have
committed acts of disrespect to Rasulullah's tomb have been doomed and
troubled."
During the time of Shams ad-din
Effendi, the head
of the servants at the Hujrat as-Saada and several vagabonds from Aleppo
The brigand named Artat, who was the ruler of the Karak
castle and the villages on the outskirts of Nabulus town near Damascus Medina Harran .
Salah ad-din was grieved much by this news, and he sent an order to the
Governor of Egypt, Husam ad-din Saif ad-dawla (rahimah-Allahu ta'ala). Husam
ad-din sent soldiers under the command of Lulu', who killed some of the bandits
near Medina and captured others, who were taken
to Egypt
Those who have attempted to commit
impudence towards Rasulullah during his life or after his
death have been severely punished by Allahu ta'ala. And, one day, if the Saudis, following their heretical
beliefs and evil thoughts, dare to stage
such a vile attempt, they should know it well that that day will be the end of
both their State and madhhab, and that they will be remembered with damnation
until the Last Day.
-------------------
-------------------
In Part2
TRANSLATION OF A LETTER
182nd LETTER
Muhammad Mathum as-Sirhindi (rahmat-Allahi 'alaih), one of the great
Islamic scholars of India
-------------------------------------
(Edited by ADHM)
