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Saudi Arabia
THE MIDDLE AGES, 700-1500
Until about 900, the centers of Islamic power remained in the
Fertile Crescent, a semicircle of fertile land stretching from
the southeastern Mediterranean coast around the Syrian Desert
north of the Arabian Peninsula to the Persian Gulf and linked
with the Arabian heartland. After the ninth century, however,
the most significant political centers moved farther and farther
away--to Egypt and India, as well as to what is now Turkey and
the Central Asian republics. Intellectual vitality eventually
followed political power, and as a result, Islamic civilization
was no longer centered in Mecca and Medina in the Hijaz.
Mecca remained the spiritual focus of Islam because it was the
destination for the pilgrimage that all Muslims were required,
if feasible, to make once in their lives. The city, however, lacked
political or administrative importance even in the early Islamic
period. This devolved on Medina instead, which had been the main
base for the Prophet's efforts to gain control of the shrines
in Mecca and to bring together the tribes of the peninsula. After
the Prophet's death, Medina continued to be an administrative
center and developed into something of an intellectual and literary
one as well. In the seventh and eighth centuries, for instance,
Medina became an important center for the legal discussions that
would lead to the codification of Islamic law. Orthodox (Sunni--see
Glossary) Islam recognizes four systems--or schools--of law, and
one of these, the school of Malik ibn Anas (died in 796), which
is observed today in much of Africa and Indonesia, originated
with the scholars of Medina. The three other Sunni law schools
(Hanafi, Shafii, and Hanbali) developed at about the same time,
but largely in Iraq.
Arabia was also the site for some of the conflicts on which the
sectarian divisions of Islam are based. The major Islamic sect,
the Shia (from Shiat Ali or "party of Ali"--see Glossary), is
still represented in Saudi Arabia but forms a larger percentage
of the populations in Iraq and Iran.
One Shia denomination, known as the Kharijite movement, began
in events surrounding the assassination of Uthman, the third caliph,
and the transfer of authority to Ali, the fourth caliph. Those
who believed Ali should have been the legitimate successor to
the Prophet refused to accept the authority of Uthman. Muawiyah
in Syria challenged Ali's election as caliph, leading to a war
between the two and their supporters. Muawiyah and Ali eventually
agreed to an arbitrator, and the fighting stopped. Part of Ali's
army, however, objected to the compromise, claiming Muawiyah's
family were insincere Muslims. So strong was their protest against
compromise that they left Ali's camp (the term khariji
literally means "the ones who leave") and fought a battle with
their former colleagues the next year.
The most prominent quality of the Kharijite movement was opposition
to the caliph's representatives and particularly to Muawiyah,
who became caliph after Ali. Although the Kharijites were known
to some Muslims as bandits and assassins, they developed certain
ideal notions of justice and piety. The Prophet Muhammad had been
sent to bring righteousness to the world and to teach the Arabs
to pray and to distribute their wealth and power fairly. According
to the Kharijites, whoever was lax in following the Prophet's
directives should be opposed, ostracized, or killed.
The Kharijite movement continued to be significant on the Persian
Gulf coast in the ninth through the eleventh century and survived
in the twentieth century in the more moderate form of Ibadi Islam.
The uncompromising fanaticism of the original Kharijites was,
however, indicative of the fervor with which the tribal Arabs
had accepted the missionary ideology of Islam. It was this fervor
that made it possible for Arab armies to conquer so much territory
in the seventh century. This same spirit helped the Al Saud succeed
at the end of the eighteenth century and again at the beginning
of the twentieth.
The more orthodox Shia sect originated in circumstances similar
to those of the Kharijite movement. Shia believed that Ali should
have led the Muslim community immediately after the Prophet. They
were frustrated three times, however, when the larger Muslim community
selected first Abu Bakr, next Umar (died in 644), and then Uthman
as caliph. When Ali finally became caliph in 656, the Shia refused
to accept claims to the caliphate from other Muslim leaders such
as Muawiyah.
The dispute between Ali and Muawiyah was never resolved. Muawiyah
returned to Syria while Ali remained in Iraq, where he was assassinated
by a Kharijite follower in 660. Muawiyah assumed the caliphate,
and Ali's supporters transferred their loyalty to his two sons,
Hasan and Husayn. Whereas Hasan more or less declined to challenge
Muawiyah, Husayn was less definitive. When Muawiyah's son, Yazid,
succeeded his father, Husayn refused to recognize his authority
and set out for Iraq to raise support. He was intercepted by a
force loyal to Yazid. When Husayn refused to surrender, his entire
party, including women and children, was killed at Karbala in
southeastern Iraq.
The killing of Husayn provided the central ethos for the emergence
of the Shia as a distinct sect. Eventually, the Shia would split
into several separate denominations based on disputes over who
of Ali's direct male descendants should be the true spiritual
leader. The majority came to recognize a line of twelve leaders,
or Imams (see Glossary), beginning with Ali and ending with Muhammad
al Muntazar (Muhammad, the awaited one). These Shia, who are often
referred to as "Twelvers," claimed that the Twelfth Imam did not
die but disappeared in 874. They believe that he will return as
the "rightly guided leader," or Mahdi, and usher in a new, more
perfect order.
Twelver Shia reverence for the Imams has encouraged distinctive
rituals. The most important is Ashura, the commemoration of the
death of Husayn. Other practices include pilgrimages to shrines
of Ali and his relatives. According to strict Wahhabi Sunni interpretations
of Islam, these practices resemble the pagan rituals that the
Prophet attacked. Therefore, observance of Ashura and pilgrimages
to shrines have constituted flash points for sectarian problems
between the Saudi Wahhabis and the Shia minority in the Eastern
Province.
The Shia minority in Saudi Arabia, like the Shia in southern
Iraq, traces its origin to the days of Ali. A second Shia group,
the Ismailis, or the Seveners, follow a line of Imams that originally
challenged the Seventh Iman and supported a younger brother, Ismail.
The Ismaili line of leaders has been continuous down to the present
day. The current Imam, Sadr ad Din Agha Khan, who is active in
international humanitarian efforts, is a direct descendant of
Ali.
Although present-day Saudi Arabia has no indigenous Ismaili communities,
an important Ismaili center existed between the ninth and eleventh
centuries in Al Hufuf, in eastern Arabia. The Ismailis of Al Hufuf
were strong enough in 930 to sack the major cities of Iraq, and
they were fanatical enough to attack Mecca and remove the sacred
stone of the Kaaba, the central shrine of the Islamic pilgrimage.
The pilgrimage was suspended for several years and resumed only
after the stone was replaced, following the caliph's agreement
to pay the Ismailis a ransom.
Under normal circumstances, Muslims visited Mecca every year
to perform the pilgrimage, and they expected the caliph to keep
the pilgrimage routes safe and to maintain control over Mecca
and Medina as well as the Red Sea ports providing access to them.
When the caliph was strong, he controlled the Hijaz, but after
the ninth century the caliph's power weakened and the Hijaz became
a target for any ruler who sought to establish his authority in
the Islamic world. In 1000, for instance, an Ismaili dynasty controlled
the Hijaz from Cairo.
External control of the Hijaz gave the region extensive contact
with other parts of the Muslim world. In this regard, the Hijaz
differed greatly from the region immediately to the east, Najd.
Najd was relatively isolated. It was more arid and barren than
the Hijaz and was surrounded on three sides by deserts and separated
from the Hijaz by mountains. All overland routes to the Hijaz
passed through Najd, but it was easier to go around Najd. As the
caliphs in Baghdad became less powerful, the road between Baghdad
and Mecca that led across Najd, declined in importance. After
the thirteenth century, pilgrimage traffic was more likely to
move up the Red Sea toward Egypt and so bypass Najd.
So there were two faces of Arabia. To the west was the Hijaz,
which derived a cosmopolitan quality from the foreign traffic
that moved continually through it. In the east was Najd, which
remained relatively isolated. During the eighteenth century, Wahhabi
ideas, vital to the rise of the Al Saud, would originate in Najd.
Data as of December 1992
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