The Conspiracies of the European countries against the Islamic State
Shaikh Abdul Qadeem Zallum
Despite the differences amongst the Kuffar about the division of the Muslims’ lands, they however agreed upon destroying Islam. They pursued several methods for this purpose. For a start, they aroused the feelings of nationalism and independence in the regions of the Islamic state in Europe. They incited the citizens of these lands against the Islamic State and they supplied them with weapons and money in order to revolt against it, as was the case in Serbia and Greece. The European countries tried to stab the Islamic State in the back, hence France invaded Egypt and occupied her in July 1798, then marched onto Palestine and occupied her. France wanted to occupy the rest of Al-Sham in order to deal the Islamic State the fatal blow, she however was defeated afterwards, leaving Egypt and surrendering back the lands she had occupied to the Islamic State.
The rise of the Wahhabis and the Saudi rule
Britain had attempted through her agent Abdul-Aziz Ibn Mohammed Ibn Saud to strike the Islamic State from within. The Wahhabis by then had managed to establish an entity within the Islamic State, led by Mohammed Ibn Saud then by his son Abdul-Aziz. Britain supplied them with weapons and money and they moved on a math’hab basis to seize the Islamic lands which were under the authority of the Khilafah, i.e. they took up arms against the Khalifah and fought the Islamic armed forces, namely the army of the Amir of the believers, goaded and supplied by the British. The Wahhabis wanted to seize the lands ruled by the Khalifah in order to rule them according to their Math’hab (school of thought), and remove all the other Islamic Math’habs different to theirs by force. Hence, they raided Kuwait in 1788 and occupied her. Then they marched on towards the north until they besieged Baghdad. They wanted to seize Karbala’ and the tomb of Al-Hussein (may Allah be pleased with him) to destroy it and ban visitors to it. Then in April 1803, they launched an attack on Makkah and occupied it. Then in the spring of 1804, Madinah fell under their control; so they destroyed the huge domes which used to shade the grave of the Messenger of Allah (saw) and stripped them of all the gems and precious things. Having completed their seizure of the whole of Al-Hijaz, they marched on towards Al-Sham. They neared Hims and in 1810 they attacked Damascus for a second time and they also attacked Al-Najaf. Damascus defended itself bravely and gloriously. However, while besieging Damascus, the Wahhabis moved at the same time towards the north and spread their authority over most the Syrian lands and up to Aleppo. It was a well known fact that this Wahhabi campaign was a British instigation, for Aal Saud were British agents. They exploited the Wahhabi Math’hab, which is an Islamic Math’hab and whose founder Imam Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab was a Mujtahid, in political activities with the aim of fighting the Islamic State and colliding with other Math’habs, in order to incite sectarian wars with the Ottoman state. The followers of this Math’hab were unaware of this, but the Saudi Amir and the Saudis were fully aware of what was happening. This is because the relationship was not between the British and Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab, but between the British and Abdul-Aziz Ibn Mohammed Ibn Saud and then between them and his son Saud.
Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab, whose Math’hab had been Hanbali, made Ijtihad in a host of matters and deemed that the Muslims who followed other Math’habs differed with his opinion in such matters. Hence, he set about calling for his opinions, working towards implementing them and attacking fiercely the other Islamic opinions. Hence, he faced a barrage of opposition and rejection from the various scholars, Amirs and prominent figures, considering that his opinions differed from what they had understood from the Book of Allah and His Messenger. For instance, he used to say that visiting the grave of the Messenger Mohammed (saw) is Haram and a sinful act. He even went to say that whoever set off in a journey to visit the grave of the Messenger of Allah (saw) would not be allowed to shorten his prayer while travelling, for the purpose of his journey would be to commit a sinful act. He made reference to the Hadith in which the Messenger of Allah (saw) is reported to have said: “Journeys should not be made but to three mosques: This Mosque of mine, Masjid al-Haram and Al-Aqsa Mosque.” Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab understood from this Hadith that the Messenger of Allah (saw) had forbidden travelling to other than the three mosques. Hence, if one were to travel to visit the grave of the Messenger of Allah (saw), he would be travelling to other than the three mosques, hence, it would be Haram, and a sinful act. Other Math’habs deem the visiting of the grave of the Messenger of Allah (saw) as being Sunnah and a Mandub action that yields a reward, because the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “I had in the past forbidden you from visiting the graves, but you may now visit them.” The more reason why the grave of the Messenger of Allah (saw) should be included in this Hadith, in addition to other Ahadith which they quote. They say about the Hadith which Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab used as evidence, that it is specific to the mosques; hence, its subject is related to travelling to the mosques and does not exceed it. The Hadith is not general, but rather specific and related to a certain subject: “Journeys should not be made but to three mosques.”, hence, it would be forbidden for a Muslim to specifically visit the Aya Sofia mosque, or the Ommayyad mosque in Damascus, because the Messenger of Allah (saw) has confined the travel to mosques to three mosques and no more. Hence, it would be forbidden to travel to other than these three mosques. Apart from this, it is permitted to travel on business, to visit family and friends, on sightseeing and tourism amongst other reasons. Hence, the Hadith does not categorically forbid travelling and restricts it to these three mosques, it rather forbids travelling with intent to visit mosques other than the three mosques it mentioned. Likewise, the followers of other Math’habs deem his opinions as being wrong and contradictory to what they had understood from the Quran and the Sunnah. The difference between him and them intensified and he was banished from the country.
In 1740, he sought refuge with Mohammed Ibn Saud, the Sheikh of the tribe of Anzah, who was at odds with the Sheikh of Uyaynah and who lived in Al-Dir’iyyah, which was only six hours away from Uyaynah. Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab was made welcome and met with hospitality. He started spreading his opinions and thoughts amongst people in Al-Dir’iyyah and the surrounding areas. After a period of time his thoughts and opinions gained some supporters, hence Amir Mohammed Ibn Saud inclined towards these thoughts and opinions and started approaching the Sheikh.
In 1747, Amir Mohammed declared his approval and acceptance of the opinions and thoughts of Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab. Furthermore, he also pledged his support to the Sheikh and to these thoughts and opinions. With this alliance the Wahhabi movement was established and it came into being in the shape of a Da’awah and in the shape of a rule, for Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab used to call for it and teach people its rules, whilst Mohammed Ibn Saud used to implement its rules upon the people who were under his command and his authority.
The Wahhabi movement started to spread to the areas and tribes neighbouring Al-Dir’iyyah in both aspects, the Da’awah and the rule. The authority (Imarah) of Mohammed Ibn Saud started to spread as well until he succeeded in ten years to make an area of 30 square miles submit to his authority and to the new Math’hab. However, it was an expansion achieved through a Da’awah and the authority of the Sheikh of Anzah. No person challenged him and no person opposed him, even the Amir of Al-Ihsaa’, who had expelled Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab from Uyaynah, did not oppose his foe in this expansion and he did not amass his troops to fight him until 1757 and was defeated. Hence, Mohammed Ibn Saud seized his authority (Imarah) and consequently, the authority of Anzah, i.e. the authority of Mohammed Ibn Saud and the authority of the new Math’hab became the ruling authority of Al-Dir’iyyah and its surroundings, as well as Al-Ihsaa’. The Wahhabi Math’hab used to be implemented over these land by the force of the authority.
However, in the wake of its clash with the Amir of Al-Ihsaa and the conquest of his land, the Wahhabi movement came to a stand still. It is unclear whether it expanded further or carried out any activity. But it did remain confined to that area. Mohammed Ibn Saud stopped at that point and the Wahhabi Math’hab stopped at the borders of this area and the movement fell into slumber and stagnated
In 1765 Mohammed Ibn Saud died. He was succeeded to the Sheikhdom of Anzah by his son Abdul-Aziz. His son followed on his footsteps and ruled the area under his control. However, he did not carry out any activity for the movement, nor any expansion into the surrounding areas. Hence, the movement remained asleep and stagnation remained its main feature. Hardly anything was heard of this movement since and none of its neighbours used to mention it or fear its invasion.
However, 41 years after the start of the Wahhabi movement, i.e. from 1747 till 1788, and 31 years after its suspension and the stagnation of its movement, i.e. from 1757 till 1787, its activity suddenly started again. The movement adopted a new method in spreading the Math’hab and it became widely and highly publicised beyond its borders and all throughout the Islamic State as well as the other superpowers. This movement started to cause its neighbours disquiet and concern, it even started to cause disquiet and concern to the whole of the Islamic State.
In 1787, Abdul-Aziz Moved to establish a “Imarah House” and adopted a hereditary system of rule, or what is known as succession to the throne: This entailed that Abdul-Aziz would confirm his son Saud as his successor. A huge crowd led by Sheikh Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab gathered. This huge crowd of people were addressed by Abdul-Aziz who declared that the right to Imarah was confined to his family and the right to succeed him was confined to his sons; he also declared that his son Saud was confirmed as his successor. Hence, this huge crowd of people, headed by Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab agreed with him and acknowledged his declarations. Hence, an Imarah house for a state rather than a tribe or a host of tribes was established. It seemed also that the succession to the head of the Wahhabi Math’hab was also confined to the family of Mohammed ibn Abdul-Wahhab. Once the issues of succession to both the Amir and the head of the Math’hab was settled, the movement suddenly came to life again and resumed its conquests and expansions. Hence, it resorted once more to waging war in order to spread the Math’hab.
In 1788, Abdul-Aziz embarked upon equipping and preparing a huge military raid. He attacked Kuwait, conquered and seized it. The British had been trying for their part to seize Kuwait off the Ottoman state but they failed. This was because other states, such as Germany, Russia and France used to oppose them, and because the Khilafah State used to resist them. Hence, the severance of Kuwait from the Ottoman state then the advance towards the north in order to protect it was sufficient to capture the imagination of the major states such as Russia, Germany and France, as well as the Ottoman State. Furthermore, the characteristic of this war, which was a sectarian one, used to arouses religious emotions.
Hence, the Wahhabis resumed their activities suddenly, after a lull that lasted several decades. They resumed this activity with a new method, that is to spread this Math’hab through war and conquest in order to remove the features of all the other Math’habs from existence, and replace them by their Math’hab. They started off this activity of theirs by attacking Kuwait and seizing it. Then they pursued this activity with several attempts at expansion. Hence, they became a cause of concern and nuisance to their neighbours within the Arabic peninsula, Iraq, Al-Sham and the Ottoman state, in its quality as the Khilafah State. They brandished the sword to fight the Muslims and force them to abandon what they carried in terms of opinions alien to the Wahhabi Math’hab, and to adopt the opinions of the Wahhabi Math’hab. They fought the Khalifah and conquered the Islamic lands. Then in 1792, Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab died and his son succeeded him in his post exactly as Saud succeeded his father Abdul-Aziz. Therefore, the Saudi Amirs proceeded since then in this course, adopting the Wahhabi Math’hab as a political tool to strike the Ottoman state, i.e. the Khilafah State and to incite the sectarian wars between Muslims.
The British conspiracy against the Islamic State
The brokerage and loyalty of Aal Saud to the British was a well known matter to the Khilafah state and to the major powers such as Germany, France and Russia. It was also known that they were steered by the British; the British themselves never used to conceal the fact that they supported the Saudis on the international scene. Furthermore, the huge arsenals and equipment's which reached them via India and the moneys to cover the war effort and to equip the armed forces were but British weapons and moneys. Therefore, the other European countries, especially France were opposed to the Wahhabi campaign, for it was considered a British campaign. The Khilafah State had tried to strike the Wahhabis but to no avail, and her Walis in Madinah and Baghdad were unable to curb them. Hence, she instructed her Wali in Egypt, Mohammed Ali to dispatch a task force to deal with them. He hesitated at first. However, he was a French agent, and it was France who helped him stage the coup in Egypt and seize power, then forced the Khilafah to recognise him. Hence, on the basis of France’s agreement and incitement, Mohammed Ali responded to the Sultan’s demands in 1811 and dispatched his son Tosson to fight the Wahhabis. Several battles took place between the Egyptian army and the Wahhabis, and the Egyptian army managed to conquer Madinah in 1812. Then in 1816, Mohammed Ali sent his son Ibrahim from Cairo, so he crushed the Wahhabis until they retreated to their capital, Al-Dir’iyyah and fortified themselves in there. Hence, Ibrahim besieged them in April 1818. the siege went on all through the summer then on 9th September 1818 the Wahhabis capitulated. The armies of Ibrahim destroyed Al-Dir’iyyah and razed it completely. It was said that he ploughed it so that no trace of it was left. This marked the end of the British campaign.
France’s attempt at hitting the Islamic State
France then attempted to strike the Islamic State from the back through her agent Mohammed Ali, the Wali of Egypt. France openly supported him internationally and politically, hence he broke away from the Khalifah and declared war against him. He marched towards Al-Sham in 1831 with the aim of conquering it. He occupied Palestine, Lebanon and Syria and started to infiltrate the Anatolia. However, the Khalifah dispatched a strong army to fight him. Britain, Russia and two from amongst the German countries turned against Mohammed Ali. In July 1840, Britain, Russia and two German countries held what became known as the “Quadrilateral Alliance”, according to which these states would undertake to defend the unity of the Ottoman State and to oblige Mohammed Ali, by force if necessary, to surrender Syria. This stand taken by the European countries has turned the international position in favour of the Khalifah; this helped him besides his fighting Mohammed Ali to drive him out of Syria, Palestine and Lebanon. Mohammed Ali returned to Egypt agreeing to be a Wali under the authority of the Khalifah
Excerpt from 'How the Khilafah was Destroyed" by Abdul Qadeem Zallum
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