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( Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab)
Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab at-Tamimi' (1703–1792) (Arabic???? ?? ??? ?????? ???????) was a prominent Arab theologian born in Najd, in present-day Saudi Arabia and an influential scholar. Despite his never having called for a separate school of Islamic thought, it is from ibn Abd-al Wahhab that name that the term Wahhabism is derived. He was a member of the Arab tribe of Banu Tamim. There are two contemporary histories of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his religious movement from the point of view of his supporters Ibn Ghannam's Rawdhat al-Afkar wal-Afham (commonly known as Tarikh Najd) and Ibn Bishr's 'Unwan al-Majd fi Tarikh Najd. Ibn Ghannam, a native of al-Hasa who died in 1811, was the only historian to have observed the beginnings of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's movement first-hand. His chronicle ends at the year 1797.[1][2] Ibn Bishr's chronicle, which stops at the year 1854, was written a generation later than Ibn Ghannam's, but is considered valuable partly because Ibn Bishr was a native of Najd and because Ibn Bishr adds many details to Ibn Ghannam's account.[3] A third account, dating from around 1817 is Lam' al-Shihab, written by an anonymous Sunni author who respectfully disapproved of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's movement, regarding it as a bid'a (innovation). It is also commonly cited because it is considered to be a relatively objective contemporary treatment of the subject. However, unlike Ibn Ghannam and Ibn Bishr, its author did not live in Najd and his work is believed to contain some apocryphal and legendary material with respect to the details of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's life.[4][5] Some details have been pieced together via the work of numerous historians. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab is generally acknowledged to have been born in 'Uyayna[6][7][8][9] in 1703[10][11]. He was thought to have started studying Islam at an early age, primarily with his father ('Abd al-Wahhab) early on[12][13][14][15][16], as he was from a line of scholars of the Hanbali school of jurisprudence[17]. While there is some consensus over these details, there is not a unanimous agreement over the specifics and some minority opinions do exist in regard to his place and date of birth. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab spent some time studying with Muslim scholars in Basra (in southern Iraq)[18][19], and it is reported that he traveled to the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina to perform Hajj and study with the scholars there,[20][21]before returning to his home town of Uyayna in 1740. Official sources on ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's life put his visits to these cities in different chronological order, and the full extent of such travels remains disputed among historians.
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