254 DESTINY DISRUPTED
People unconvinced of his views, however, saw his vision as a particular
interpretation of Islam, not Islam itself; and they had no trouble labeling
his ideology Wahhabism, a term that came into use even among some who
endorsed his views.
In 1766, Ibn Saud was assassinated but his son Abdul Aziz took over
and continued his father's campaign to unite Arabia under the banner of
Abdul Wahhab's theology. Then in 1792, Wahhab himself died, leaving
behind twenty widows and countless children. His life had spanned virtu-
ally the entire eighteenth century. While he was imposing his vision of
pristine Islam in Arabia, England and Scotland melded into Great Britain,
the United States of America was born, the French Revolution issued the
Declaration of the Rights of Man, Mozart wrote his entire corpus of
music, and James Watt invented the steam engine.
Upon Wahhab's death, Aziz ibn Saud declared himself his successor. Al-
ready the amir, the new Ibn Saud now anointed himself the chief religious
authority as well. In 1802, Aziz ibn Saud attacked the city of Karbala,
where the Prophet's grandson Hussein had been martyred. This city was
central to Shi'i devotions, and many of them had gathered just then to
commemorate Hussein's martyrdom. But Shi'is ranked high on Wahhab's
list of those who had altered and corrupted pristine original Islam, and so,
upon conquering the city, Aziz ibn Saud had some two thousand of its
Shi'i inhabitants put to death.
In 1804, Aziz ibn Saud conquered Medina, where he had his army
promptly destroy the tombs of Mohammed's companions. From Medina,
the Saudi-Wahhabi armies went on to Mecca, where they wrecked a shrine
that supposedly marked Prophet Mohammed's birthplace {so that no one
would fall into idolatrous worship of Mohammed). As long as he was in
the city, Ibn Saud took advantage of the opportunity to humbly perform
the rites of pilgrimage in the Ka'ba.
Then in 1811, the Saudi-Wahhabi alliance began to organize a new
campaign, this time to Asia Minor, the heart of the Ottoman Empire.
Now at last the sultan took notice of the Wahhabi movement. To grapple
with these surging Bedouins, he called on Mohammed Ali, khedive of
Egypt, to help him out. Mohammed Ali took his disciplined modern army
into Arabia, and in 1815-the same year that Napoleon's career was end-
ing at Waterloo-he crushed Ibn Saud, restored Ottoman control over