WAHABEEISM. 49 



daughter, and the latter those of the three preced- 

 ino- caHphs, Abii-Beker, Omar, and Othman, both 

 adopting- the Kahiia, oi- dogma, " Mohamed kebir, 

 Allah akhbar " — " Mohamed is great, God is gi-eater," 

 or, as popularly interpreted, " There is but one 

 God, and Mohamed is His prophet." 



These two sects are again subdivided, the most 

 important and energetic of which is that of the 

 Wahabees, founded towards the end of the seven- 

 teenth century, whose mission was to purify Maho- 

 medanism. They are very fanatical, and their strong- 

 hold is in the Nejed, a central province of Arabia, 

 where, under the cloak of religion, they committed 

 great excesses and often gave trouble to their sove- 

 reign, the Sultan of Turkey, until at last, in 1818, 

 Ibrahim, Mahomed-Ali's eldest son and commander- 

 in-chief, completely defeated them by land, whilst, 

 in the following year, a British naval force, aided by 

 their ally, the Sultan of Muscat and Zanzibar, was 

 equally successful against the Wahabee pirates of 

 Ras-el-Khymah. Since that time their dominion in 

 Arabia has undergone many changes. Anarchy at one 

 time nearly exhausted their strength, when the late 

 Emir of Nejed — famous, by the by, for his breed of 

 horses — became their leader, and embued the sect 

 with fresh vitality. 



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