ABSTRACT
Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Wahhab was the spiritual and Muhammad ibn Sa‘ud the military leader of the hosts of Wahhabism. Together they unleashed a surge of puritanism that cleansed the mundane heart of Arabia till it became irresistible. Muhammad ibn Sa‘ud died in 1764. He did not live to see the glory of his house for it was not until 1773 that ar-Riyadh, the true capital of Nejd, was taken by his son ‘Abd al ‘Aziz Al Sa‘ud. In 1801 the war on idolatry was carried far beyond its country of origin. Najaf and Kerbala were captured and cleansed, which in their case meant destroyed. The first Wahhabi movement thus came to an end, at least as far as outward appearances were concerned. But the spirit of the movement could not be extinguished with material weapons and would again emerge from the desert when it found for itself a new leader.
