316 chapter eight
modernization of society that is necessary for Muslim counties to be-
come competitive. The movement contends that while Islamic norms
and ideals are of great religious value, they should be: (a) confined
to the individuals’ in shaping their personal and social pattern of
behavioural with no effect on the politics of government or the affairs
of the state, and (b) Islamic Sharì"ah rules need to be re-examined
to avoid what has become, in their view, redundant and unsuitable
to the community of today, such as polygamy and divorce rules. Some
representative examples of these movements are highlighted below.
First: Traditional Reform Movements
The Wahhàbiyyah Movement
The Wahhàbiyyah movement which is named after its founder
emerged from the heart of the Arabian Peninsula. Calling upon
Muslims to return to the fundamental teachings of Islam as in the
Qur"àn and Sunnah to re-shaping their life and society, Muhammad
ibn Abd al-Wahhàb (d. 1792) embarked on an uncompromising rad-
ical reform that called for the purification of Islam from what he saw
as un-Islamic cults inherited from the practice of flùfìsm and other
sects. In that it may be argued that he followed the footsteps of the
earlier reformer Ibn Taymìya (1263–1328) who, among others, called
for the return to the basic teachings of the Qur"àn and Sunnah when
the Islamic land was under the occupation of the Mongols. Like Ibn-
Taymìya, Ibn-Abdel-Wahhàb did not reject ijtihàd, the exertion of
self to reach an Islamic opinion that would provide an answer to a
situation that did not exist at the time of the Prophet, but unlike
Ibn-Taimiya, he was strict in basing ijtihàd on the basic source of the
religion, the Qur"àn and Sunnah. He rejected all forms of Islamic
medieval schools of thought, and was in essence entirely Hanbalì(Fazlur
Urahman, 1970). Though the Wahhàbiyyah movement managed to
purge Islam from intruding customs which may be described as not
entirely in conformity with the practice of the Prophet, the Wahhàbis
deprived the Sharì"ah from the basic tools of innovation that may
be available in jurisprudence. They, however, had been successful in
bringing into relief the principles of Islamic egalitarianism and co-
operation, and had thrived to establish co-operative farm villages (ibid.).