The term () has been deployed by external observers as a pejorative epithet to label a wide range of religious, social and political movements across the Muslim world since the 18th century. Initially, the term was employed by the opponents of the religious reformist movement initiated by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab () in the Arabian Peninsula and continued by his successors. The term was derived from his father's name, Abd al-Wahhab, and widely employed by rivals to denounce his movement. Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and his disciples did not use the terminology and identified themselves as . However, later scholars associated with the movement such as Ibn Baz and Salih al-Fawzan later appropriated the term and considered it an honorific title.
During the 19th century, the term was applied by colonial authorities in British India to Islamic religious movements perceived as a threat to their imperial interests, such as the Tariqat e-Muhammadiyah movement led by Syed Ahmad Barelvi. The usage of the term by British officials led to a backlash from Indian Muslims and it was banned from being used in official discourse by 1889. During the 20th century, several authoritarian states, particularly in the post-Soviet sphere, have incorporated the epithet into Islamophobic and nativist propaganda discourses, depicting dissidents of Muslim background as subversives and "traitors" to the nation. During the post-9/11 era, the strategy was amplified by various dictators, who launched crackdowns upon public expressions of religiosity by portraying such campaigns as a defense of modern "Enlightenment" ideas. Victims of these campaigns include practising Muslims who pray in mosques, have beards or assist Islamic educational institutions; who are portrayed by authoritarian regimes as opponents of modernity and dehumanised in state propaganda through Islamphobic stereotypes.
Etymology The Arabic term translates in English to "of ", meaning "the Bestower", which is one of the names of God in Islam. The term was initially applied to the reformist movement of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab.
Historical usage The term is used to label a wide range of religious, social and political movements across the Muslim world, ever since the 18th century. Initially, the term was employed by the political opponents of the religious reform movement initiated by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab () in the Arabian Peninsula and continued by his successors. The term was derived from his father's name, Abd al-Wahhab and widely employed by rivals to denounce his movement. The designation for this movement was likely first used by Sulayman ibn Abd al-Wahhab, an ardent critic of his brother's views, who used the term in his purported treatise . Meanwhile, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and his disciples did not use the terminology and identified themselves as . Various scholars have described the epithet as part of a "Rhetoric of Fear" to suppress alternate social, political and religious voices by ruling authorities.
British India
During the colonial era, various European travellers began using the term to denote a wide swathe of Islamic reform and political movements they witnessed across the Muslim World. Hanafi scholar Fazl-e Haq Khairabadi, the fiercest opponent of Shah Ismail Dehlvi (d. 1831 CE / 1246 AH) was the first major figure in South Asia to charge the socio-political Jihad movement of Sayyid Ahmad Shahid (d. 1831 CE / 1246 AH) and Shah Ismail with "Wahhabism". Noting the shared Hejazi teachers of Islamic reformer Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (d. 1762 CE / 1176 AH) — the grandfather of Shah Ismail — with Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab; the British colonial administration charged Shah Waliullah's followers with "Wahhabism". After Sayyid Ahmad's death, his followers were labelled as "Wahhabis", accusing them of pan-Islamic rebellions and were tried by colonial authorities in what became known as "The Great Wahhabi Trials". Concomitantly, the disciples of Sayyid Ahmad rejected this term and identified themselves as Ahl-i Hadith (People of Hadith) or (Path of Muhammad). Prominent figures of the Ahl-i Hadith and Deobandi schools tried by the British include Siddiq Hasan Khan (d. 1890 CE / 1307 AH), Muhammad Qasim Nanawtawi (d. 1880 CE / 1297 AH) etc. Decrying the chaotic state of affairs, prominent 19th century Indian modernist scholar Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) stated:"he who follows the sunnat [the teachings and practices of Muhammad] is called a and he who practices bid'at [heretical innovations] is called wali [holy man]"
Islamic scholar Siddiq Hassan Khan publicly challenged the rationale behind the British usage of the term and would compile several treatises rebuking its usage. Another influential Ahl-i Hadith scholar Muhammad Husayn Batalwi (d. 1920 CE / 1338 AH) launched a popular protest campaign during the 1880s demanding the British administration ban the official usage of the word . In 1887, the Punjab provincial administration acceded to the campaign demands and by 1889, the movement was successful in procuring its demands throughout all the British Indian Provinces. Although the term would be censured in official documents, its usage continues in intra-religious discourse to the present day. Very often the Ahl-i Hadith, Deobandi and modernist movements were subjected to (excommunication) by rival sects; under the charge of "Wahhabism".
Contemporary usage
Russia Late Soviet Era
During the Soviet era, religious freedoms of Muslims were suppressed by the Soviet state through various anti-religious campaigns, which were part of its Marxist-Leninist social programme. State atheist propaganda stirred up Islamophobic hysteria to persecute Muslims by regularly alleging the existence of pan-Islamist plots to overthrow the communist order through underground activities. The terms "Sufism" and "fanatic" were deployed as the boogeyman in Soviet propaganda while implementing the Soviet anti-Islam campaigns, particularly during the era of stagnation. Anti-"Wahhabi" discourse of KGB had appeared as early as 1970s, in co-ordination with the Soviet approved clerics of SADUM, repressing many indigenous Sufi reformers and political dissidents. Saudi-Soviet relations were poor, and the Kremlin had regarded Saudi government as "reactionary". However, during the perestroika period, a significant shift emerged in the propaganda depictions. Replacing "Sufi" and "fanatic", KGB began directly borrowing the British colonial-era discourse on "Wahhabism" and Western terminology on "fundamentalism" respectively; to stereotype an alleged phenomenon labelled in state propaganda as "Islamic menace". Anti-Islam stereotypes of the cultures of Muslim countries were regularly featured in Soviet media throughout the 1980s, which discouraged Muslims living within Soviet Union from having religious contacts with the Muslim World.
Post Soviet Era By 1990s, in post-Soviet Russian media, the label had become the most common term to refer to the erstwhile Soviet notions of so-called "Islamic Menace"; while "Sufism" was portrayed by the new government as a "moderate" force that countered the alleged "radicalism" of Muslim dissidents. Despite the improvement of Russia–Saudi Arabia relations, conspiratorial rhetoric linking pan-Islamists in Central Asia and Caucasus with Saudi Arabia continued to persist. Former CPSU elites as well as Russian ultra-nationalists regularly used the label to stir up anti-Muslim hysteria against the revival of Islamic religiosity in Central Asia, Caucasus and various regions of Russian Federation.
Russian government also deployed the epithet to attack political opponents and independence movements in Muslim-majority regions of Chechnya, Dagestan, Tatarstan, etc. The BBC News reported in 2001: "The term "Wahhabi" is often used very freely. The Russian media, for example, use it as a term of abuse for Muslim activists in Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as in Russia itself.."
In contemporary Russia, the term "Wahhabism" is often used to denote any manifestation of what the government depicts as "non-traditional" forms of Islam. Some Russian policymakers characterise "Wahhabism" as a "sectarian heresy" that is alien to Islam in Russia. Other Russian intellectuals adopted an approach of differentiating between the Wahhabi movement of Saudi Arabia, which was characterised as "traditional", while its manifestation in foreign countries began to be termed "non-traditional". The latter approach came to be prescribed in the official Russian religious policy. In various provinces, "Wahhabism" would be banned by law. Revealing the government policy, Russian president Vladimir Putin stated in 2008: "Wahhabism in its original form is a normal tendency within Islam and there is nothing terrible in it. But there are extremist tendencies within Wahhabism itself".
Scholars have compared government fabrications of conspiracies to the anti-semitic tropes propagated during the era of Imperial Russia. Various Russian academics have challenged the usage of the term as a "catch-all phrase" to characterize trends that depart from "normative Islam" and warn of the disfiguring inferences of such an approach. These include Professor Vitaly Naumkin, Director of Islamic Studies Centre at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and author Aleksei Malashenko, who assert that: Wahhabi movement of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab was only one of the various Salafi movements and has different strands within itself Using the term "Wahhabism" suggests a monopolistic mentality that distinguishes between "true Islam" and a wrong version, eroding the ability to envision "religious pluralism". This may also result in radicalisation of neo-traditionalist establishment which becomes hostile to Salafis, reformists and various Muslim groups they deem heterodox The term is often used in an abusive manner and has become increasingly used as a politically correct label to censure any political rivals. Oftentimes, many apolitical Muslims are the first victims of anti-Wahhabi campaigns Central Asia Across Central Asia, authoritarian governments conceptualise "Wahhabism" to label various Islamic revivalist, social and political opposition movements and group them alongside militant Islamists. The political classes widely deploy the usage of the term "Wahhabism" to suppress any unauthorised religious activity. As a result, Sufi reformers, modernist intellectuals and various political activists have been targeted under the charge of "Wahhabism". Oftentimes, Iran-inspired shi'ite activists are also labelled "Wahhabi". The official political discourse borrows tags like "fundamentalist", "Wahhabi", etc. to denote what the government considers to be the "wrong type of Islam". Numerous arbitrary arrests, detentions, torture and other repressive measures are meted out to those charged with these labels. In 1998, loudspeakers in Uzbek Mosques were banned, alleging that it was a "Wahhabi" practice.