HISTORY OP THE WAHABEES. 289 



the clan called El Wahabe, of which his father was 

 sheik. He was born in 1691 at the village of El 

 Ayeneh, in the province of El Ared. In his youth 

 he had visited Mecca, Medina, Bussora, Bagdad, 

 and various other schools of the principal cities in 

 the East; and being convinced, by what he had ob- 

 served during his travels, that the primitive faith of 

 Islam had become totally corrupted in practice, and 

 that by far the greater part of Turks and Persians 

 were heretics, he determined to assume the character 

 of a reformer. His manners were naturally grave 

 and austere ; while his talents and learning secur- 

 ed for him the respect of his countrymen, among 

 whom he made several converts by means of his 

 writings and his reputation for wisdom. 



The religion and government of this sect may be 

 very briefly denned, as a Mohammedan puritanism 

 joined to a Bedouin phylarchy, in which the great 

 chief is both the political and religious leader of the 

 nation. In their creed they are perfectly orthodox. 

 The unity of God is the fundamental principle of 

 their faith. They believe in the Prophet, but re- 

 gard him as a man essentially mortal, though gifted 

 with a divine mission. They reject the fables and 

 false glosses of the Koran, acknowledging only the 

 traditions of the Sonnees. As they consider all men . 

 equal in the si<jht of God, they hold it sinful to in- 

 voke the intercession of departed saints, or to honour 

 their mortal remains more than those of any other 

 person. Hence chapels, cupolas, and monuments, 

 where reverence was paid to their memory, they con- 

 demned as an abomination, and forbade them to be 

 visited. To swear by Mohammed is criminal ; and 

 they accuse the Turks of idolatry when they give 



