W A H 



other by their talents. The other fivf have been organ- 

 builders and makers of keyed inftruments. 



WAGOE, in Geography, one of the Farcer iflands, 

 well of Stromoe. 



WAGOLY, a town of Hindooflan, in Dowlatabad ; 15 

 miles N.E. of Poonah. 



WAGON, a fmall ifland on the weft fide of the gulf 

 of Bothnia. N. lat. 63^ 12'. E. long. 13° 38'. 



WAGRA, a town of Auftria ; 6 miles S.E. of 

 Maiittern. 



WAGRAIN, a town of the arclibifhopric of Salz- 

 burp, near the Gros Arl ; 6 miles W. of Radftadt. 



WAGRAM, a town of Auftria ; 2 miles N.E. of 

 Voglabruck. 



Wagram, or Deutfch Wagram, a town of Auftria ; 8 

 miles E.of Korn Neuburg. 



WAGRIA, a diftria of Holftcin, fituated in the 

 N.E. part, between the Baltic and the Trave. 



WAGSTADT, or Bilowes, a town of Silefia, in 

 the principahty of Troppau ; 24 miles W. of Tefchen. 

 N. lat. 49= 28'. E. long. 18^. 



WAGTAIL, in Ornithology. See MoTAClLLA. 

 WAGTER, NoRD, in Geography, a fmall ifland in the 

 gulf of Tonquin, near the coaft of China. N. lat. 21'' 13'. 

 E. long. 109*^ 30'. 



Wagter, Zuyd, a fmall idand in the Chinefe fea, near 

 the coaft of Cochinchina. N. lat. 17' 18'. E. long. 

 io6° 34'. 



WAGUOIT Bay, a bay of the Atlantic, on the S. 

 coaft of Maftachufetts. N. lat. 41" 30'. W. long. 

 70° 28'. 



WAGUR, Little, a diftrift of Hindooftan, on the 

 coaft of the gulf of Cutch. 



WAHABEES, Wahabies, or Wehhabis, appella- 

 tions that diftinguifh a formidable body of warlike feftaries, 

 who fprung up in Arabia about a century ago, commenced 

 their career as reformers of the Mahometan religion, and 

 extended their migrations and conquefts. According to 

 Niebuhr, the founder of this feft was one Abd ul Wehhab, 

 (Abdoulwehhbah, or Ubdool Wahab,) a native of Aija:ne 

 (Ujuna), a town in El Ared (Ool Urud), one of the two 

 diftrifts of Nedsjed in Arabia. This man, in his youth, is 

 faid to have ftudied at home (or at Medina) tliofe fciences 

 which are chiefly cultivated in Arabia ; he afterwards fpent 

 fome time at Bofra, and made feveral journeys to Bagdad, 

 and through Perfia. After his return to his native place, 

 fays Niebuhr, he began to propagate his opinions among 

 his countrymen, and fucceeded in convertinir feveral inde- 

 pendent fchiecks, whofe fubjeds became followers of this 

 new prophet. Thofe fchiecks, who had before been in a 

 ftate of hoftility againft one another, were reconciled by the 

 mediation of Abd ul Wehhab, and agreed for the future to 

 undertake no enterprife without the advice of their apoftle. 

 In procefs of time, Abd ul Wehhab reduced great part of El 

 Ared ; and being afterwards joined by fchieck Mecrami, 

 of Nedsjeran, who was alfo the head of a particular feft, he, 

 or rather his fon Mahomet, as he fucceeded his father, was 

 enabled to reduce the Sunnite fchiecks, and as they afted 

 in concert to fubdue many of their neighbours. After the 

 death of Abd ul Wehhab, his fon retained the fame authority, 

 and profccuted his father's views, of courfe he fuftained the 

 fupreme ecclefiaftical charafter in El Ared ; and thouph the 

 hereditary fchiecks, which were more independent, llill re- 

 tain a nominal authority, yet Mahomet is in faft the fove- 

 rcign of the whole, and exafts a tribute, under the name of 

 «• fikka," or aid, for the purpofe of carrying on the war 

 againft the infidels. The Sunnitcs complain of his perfc- 

 VoL. XXXVIL 



W A H 



cution ; but, more probably, as Niebuhr fays, this bigotted 

 and fuperftitious feft hate and calumniate Mahomet for his 

 innovations in religion. However this be, the inhabitants 

 of Nedsjed, who demur againft embracing the new religion, 

 are retiring to other parts of the country. Zobaner, the 

 ancient Bafra, wliich had decayed to a condition little better 

 than a hamlet, has been peopled by thcfc refugees, and is^ 

 now a large town. 



As to the religious doftrine taught by Abd ul Wehhab, 

 and adopted by his followers, Niebuhr ftates, that he be- 

 lieved God to be the only objcft of worfhip and invocation, 

 and the creator and governor of this world. He forbade 

 the invocation of faints, and fo much as the mention of 

 Mahomet, or any other prophet, in prayer, as praAices fa- 

 vouring of idolatry. He confidered Mahomet, Jefus Chrift» 

 Mofes, and many others, refpedled by the Sunnites, under 

 the charafter of prophets, as merely great men, whofe hiftory 

 might be perufed with improvement ; at the fame time de- 

 nying that any book had ever been written by divine iufpi- 

 ration, or brought down from heaven by the angel Gabriel, 

 He alfo forbade, as a crime againft Providence, the making 

 of vows, in the manner of the Sunnites, with a view of ob- 

 taining deliverance from danger. This new religion of 

 Abd ul Wehhab, according to the account given of it by 

 the fchiecks, which, however, in fome refpefts, differs from 

 the ftatement of the Sunnites, may be regarded as a re- 

 formation of Mahometanifm, propofing to reduce it to itg 

 original fimphcity. Experience muft decide whether a reli- 

 gion, fo ftripped of every thing that might ferve to 

 ftrike the fenfes, can long maintam its ground among, a 

 people fo rude and ignorant as the Arabs. Abd ul Wehhab 

 has alfo thought it neceffary to impofe fome religious ob- 

 fervances on his followers ; and has interdifted the ufe of 

 tobacco, opium, and coffee ; and he has enafted a variety 

 of civil regulations, with regard to the collection and diftri- 

 bution of the revenues. 



Of thefe Wahabees other travellers have more recently 

 detailed a variety of particulars, and we Ihall here avail our- 

 felves of the information concerning them, communicated in 

 the travels of Ali Bey, whofe refidence in Arabia, and pil- 

 grimage to Mecca, afforded him an opportunity of acquaint- 

 ing himfelf with the hiftory and religious ufage» of this tribe 

 of feftariej. Of their founder we have already given a brief 

 account. He commenced his career among the wandering 

 Bedouin Arabs of the defert; and his firft profelyte of any 

 importance is faid to have been Ibn Saaoud, a prince of cer- 

 tain tribes inhabiting the country to the eaft of Medina ; 

 and this prince took occafion, in the diffemination of his new 

 doftrine, to attack and fubjugate the neighbouring tribes. 

 His fucceffor, or, as fome fay, his coadjutor, was Abdel- 

 aaziz (Ubdool Uzecz), who profecuting his fyftem, carried 

 in one hand his creed of reform, and his fword in the other ; 

 and having made himfelf mafter of the interior of Arabia, 

 extended his military excurfions as far as the vicinity of 

 Bagdad ; and in the year 1801, totally dcftroyed by fire the 

 town of Imam Hoffein, near this capital. The men and 

 male cliildren were all put to the fword ; while a Wehliabitc 

 doAor, from the top of a tower, excited the maffacrc, by 

 calling on the foldiers to kill " all the infidels who gave 

 companions to God." In 1802, Mecca was taken after a 

 trifling oppofition by Saaoud, the fon of Abdclaazii, who 

 razed to the ground all the mofques and chapels confccrated 

 to the prophet or his family. This young warrior fuc- 

 ceeded to the command of tlic Wciiiiabis the following year, 

 on the aflaffination of his father; and, in 1R04, maJe him- 

 felf mafter of Medina, which had before ofifted his arms. 

 The conqucft of Arabia wao now nearly completed ; and 



^h the 



