Najd Before the Salafi Reform Movement: Social, Political and Religious Conditions During the Three Centuries Preceding the Rise of the Saudi State

In the middle of the 18th century, a religious reform movement arose in al-Dir'iyyah, a small town in Najd, central Arabia. Founded by Shaykh Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, and politically and militarily supported by Muhammad Ibn Sa'ud, the chief of al-Dir'iyyah, this movement, known as the Salafiyya, called for a return to the pure and original teachings of the Qur'an and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. In the later decades of the century, it spread to other parts of Najd, and by the death in 1814 of its third political leader, Sa'ud Ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, it controlled most of Arabia and imposed peace and order on its people for the first time since the early caliphs of Islam. Despite the central role it has played in the creation of modern Saudi Arabia, the social, political, and religious conditions which led to the emergence of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's Salafi movement are not well understood. They also present something of a historical puzzle, for the Najd of the pre-Salafis was not a centre of religious learning, nor did it contain the kind of large urban communities which might be expected to produce such a movement. In this book Professor Al Juhany brings skilful and painstaking scholarship to bear on the scant and often difficult sources on the study of Najd during the three centuries preceding the rise of the Salafis. The result is a historical narrative that reveals phenomenal developments in the spheres of nomadic migration, settlement, the growth of the sedentary population, and the growth of religious learning. These all combined to produce a new society that had new prospects and expectations by the middle of the 18th century.

Table of Contents:
The Geographical and Ecological Background - The Land Formation of Najd; The Settled Regions of Najd; The Climate and Ecology of Najd; An Historical Background - The Inhabitants of al-Yamamah Before Islam; The Inhabitants of Najd at the Rise of Islam; Al-Yamamah During the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates; Al-Yamamah During the Early 'Abbasid Caliphate; The Rule of Bani al-Akhaydir in al-Yamamah; The Ascen dancy of the Nomads of Bani 'Amir Ibn Sa'sa'ah in Najd; The Decline of the Sedentary Population of al-Yamamah; The Domination of the Bani Lam Nomads in Najd; The Authority of the Jabrids of Bahrayn in Najd; The Nomads of Najd, 850/1 446-1150/1738: Climatic and Ecological Conditions, 850/144 6-1150/1738; Old Najdi Nomadic Groups; Nomadic Migration to Najd, 850/1446-1150/1737-38; The Migration of Old Najdi Nomads to Southern Iraq; The Settlement of the Najdi Nomads; The Settlement of the Old Najdi Nomads; The Sedentary Population of Najd, 850/1446-1150/1737 - The Depopulation of Najd; Social, Political and Land Utilization Characteristics of Najdi Sedentary Society; The Resettlement and Repopulation of Najd; The Growth of the Old Najdi Towns; The Migration of Najdis to Eastern Arabia and Southern Iraq; The Growth of Religious Learning in Najd, 900/1495-1200/1785 - The Contact of Najdi "Ulama" with Syrian and Egyptian "Ulama"; Centers of Learning and the Spread of the 'Ulama; The Relationship Between the Growth of Learning and the Growth of the Najd Sedentary Population; The Salafi Reform Movement; Political, Social and Religious Conditions in Najd, 850/1446-1150/1738: Political Conditions; Relations Between the Nomadic and Sedentary Populations; Political and Social Conditions in the First Half of the Twelfth Century AH; The Development of Regional Political Powers; Religious Conditions; Najd Society in Transition; Conclusion.

About the Author :
Uwaidah M. Al Juhany, who is Associate Professor at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, received his PhD from the University of Washington in 1983.