Wafd
Wafd was the Egyptian nationalist political party that was the leading political organization of the country between World War I and the Nasser revolution (1918-1952), and central in the work for establishing Egyptian independence. The full name of the organization would be translated as “Egyptian delegation.”
On November 13, 1918, Wafd was organized by Sa’ad Zaghlul in response to the end of World War I. A delegation led by Zaghlul to the British high commissioner in Cairo demands a voice at the peace conferences following the World War, but this was refused. From then on, three years of demonstrations and riots followed. Through these years there were talks between the British and Wafd.
In March of 1919, the leaders of Wafd, Zaghlul, Ismail Sidqi and Hamid al-Basil were exiled for a short period.
In September of 1923, following the partial independence of 1922, Wafd established itself as a political party.
In February of 1924, Wafd won ninety percent of the seats in the First Chamber and formed a government.
In 1927, Zaghlul died, and the Egyptian nationalist movement was divided, into Wafd, now led by Mustafa Nahas Pasha, and King Fu’ad.
In 1931, the king sacked premier minister Nahas Pasha, and suspended the constitution of 1923.
In April of 1936, elections returned Wafd to power, and a Regency Council ruled on behalf of Egypt’s new king, Faruk. In August of 1936, Egypt became an independent kingdom.
In 1937, Wafd formed the League of Wafdist Youth, which developed into a para-military organization, called the Blueshirts.
In February of 1938, King Faruk was 18, and tensions between him and Wafd reach the same level as under his father. He had prime minister Nahas Pasha dismissed.
In February of 1942, during World War II, when King Faruk exercised Italian sympathies, the British forced him to elect Nahas Pasha for the job as prime minister. The authority of this Wafd government gave them the power to start talks with other Arab states about closer ties. This eventually led to establishment of the Arab League in 1945.
In January of 1950, Wafd won the general election with an overwhelming majority.
In October of 1951, Wafd unilaterally abrogated the treaty with the British of 1936, which gave the British control over foreign interests and the safety of national minorities. They also demanded a British withdrawal from the Suez Canal, and Wafd members took part in guerrilla attacks on their installations.
In January of 1952, King Faruk dismissed the Wafd government, following riots in Cairo.
In 1953, Wafd was dissolved together with all other parties by the Revolution Command Council.
In February of 1978, Wafd was reconstituted as a consequence of the legalization of political parties. The new party was referred to as Neo-Wafd.
Wafd proved to be far more effective than other political groups to get popular support against British presence in Egypt, and exercised their power through demonstrations and riots in addition to participation in normal elections. The core of Wafd’s supporters were the professional elite and the bourgeoisie.
Wafd called for the internal autonomy, constitutional government, civil rights and Egyptian control over the Sudan and the Suez Canal. Wafd was an important political factor in all fields of the society, by controlling four daily and four weekly newspapers.
Wafd formed the government of Egypt from 1924, and these governments were in constant conflicts with the ruling kings of Egypt, even after Egypt gained its independence in 1936. The fall of Wafd in the 1950's came from strong discontent among normal Egyptians as well as military leaders, for their inconclusive dealing with the continued British presence in Egypt.
Easily the greatest factor contributing to popular disillusionment with the Wafd was the party's failure to boycott the Farouk government after it acceded to the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936. The policies followed by the party during the Anglo-Egyptian crisis of the mid-1930s alienated many Egyptian nationalists - heretofore the single most reliable support bloc for the Wafd - and severed the party between its small but powerful accommodationist minority and its large but voiceless resistant majority. The failure of the Wafd to more aggressively oppose the continuation of the British presence left Egyptian politics devoid of a popularly legitimized leader or party.
The leaders of the Wafd were:
* Saad Zaghlul Pasha 1919 to 1927
* Mustafa el-Nahhas Pasha 1927 to 1952
Hizb al-Wafd see Wafd
Delegation Party see Wafd
Wafrani (Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-Wafrani) (Muhammad al-Ifrani) (Mohammed al-Ifrani) (Muhammad al-Saghir ibn al-hajj Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Ifrani al-Marakkushi) (El Ifrani) (1669/1670-1727/1747). Moroccan biographer and historian. He is best known as the author of the great chronicle of the Sa‘di Sharifs of Morocco, covering the period from 1511 to the end of the seventeenth century.
Little is known about the life of El Ifrani. He was born in Marrakesh in 1669/1670, studied there and in Fez, and may have held a post in the entourage of Mulay Ismael Alawi, sultan of Morocco (1645-1727), on whose reign he wrote a now lost chronicle. Later in life, he became imam and khatib of the Ben Youssef Medrassa (also known as al-Yusufiyya) in Marrakesh. Certain sultans like Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah (1757-1790), were very strict in what the content of the education should be and even gave out manuals with regulations and works to be treated, but the teachers did as they pleased and that is how El Ifrani in the beginning of the 17th century wrote a work on the life of Ibn Sahl of Sevilla, an Andalusian poet of the 12th century while pretending to be teaching law and the hadith.
A number of the works of El Ifrani have survived, the most important of which is his biographical dictionary of men of the eleventh century of the hijra: Safwat man intashar min Akhbar Sulaha Al Qarn Al Hadi Ashar, briefly called "Safwat man intashar". This work contains the biographies of saints who lived in 17th century Morocco. It is the classic biographical dictionary of that time. Also famous is his history of the Saadi Dynasty, Nuzhat al-hadi bi-akhbar muluk al-qarn al-hadi, written shortly before 1724. The work, among others, relates the conquest of the Songhai Empire by the Saadian sultans.
Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-Wafrani see Wafrani
Muhammad al-Ifrani see Wafrani
Mohammed al-Ifrani see Wafrani
Muhammad al-Saghir ibn al-hajj Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Ifrani al-Marakkushi see Wafrani
El Ifrani see Wafrani
Wahb ibn Munabbih, Abu ‘Abd Allah (Abu ‘Abd Allah Wahb ibn Munabbih) (Wahb ibn Munabbih) (Abu 'Abd Allah al-Ṣana'ani al-Dhimari) (Wahb ibn Munabbih ibn Kamil ibn Sirajud-Din Dhee Kibaar Abu-Abdullah al-Yamani al-San'ani) (654-725/728/737). Story teller of Persian descent from Yemen. He is celebrated for his Book of the Military Campaigns, describing the Prophet’s campaigns. He was also an authority on the traditions of Jews and Christians.
Wahb ibn Munabbih was a Muslim traditionist of Dhimar (two days' journey from Sanaa) in Yemen. He is counted among the Tabi‘in and narrated Isra'iliyat.
On his father's side he was descended from Persian knights, while his mother was a Himyarite.
His father, whose name was Munabbih ibn Kamil, had been converted to Islam in the lifetime of the Prophet, although a single authority, the "Al-Tibr al-Masluk", states that Wahb himself had turned from Judaism to Islam. His other biographers, however, including Al-Nawawi and Ibn Challikan, do not note that he was a Jew either in race or in religion. The fact that he was well versed in Jewish traditions, on which he wrote much, probably gave rise to the statement that he was a Jew, although he might have acquired his knowledge from his teacher Ibn 'Abbas.
Among Wahb's many writings may be mentioned his "Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiya'" ("Story of the Prophets") and "Kitab al-Isra'iliyat" ("Book of the Israelites," "Ḥajji Khalfa," iv. 518, v. 40). The former, which is believed to be his earliest literary work, is, as its title indicates, a collection of narratives concerning Biblical personages, the accounts being drawn from Jewish folk-lore though presented in Islamic guise. Thus, like Ibn 'Abbas and Ka'b al-Aḥbar, he was an authority for many legends narrated by Al-Ṭabari, Mas'udi, and others. The "Kitab al-Isra'iliyat," or "Book of Jewish Matters," is lost, but was apparently a collection of Jewish stories, many of them incorporated by a Jewish compiler into the "Arabian Nights." In the latter collection there are indeed many stories that bear the Jewish stamp, and some of them, such as the "Angel of Death," are ascribed to Wahb by the author of "Al-Tibr al-Masluk." There are also other stories which are attributed to Wahb, and many more which, from their Jewish character, may be traced to him. His Jewish learning may be illustrated by his opinion of the Shekinah (Arabic, "Sakinah") as stated by different Arabic authors.
Abu 'Abd Allah Wahb ibn Munabbih see Wahb ibn Munabbih, Abu ‘Abd Allah
Wahb ibn Munabbih see Wahb ibn Munabbih, Abu ‘Abd Allah
Abu 'Abd Allah al-Ṣana'ani al-Dhimari see Wahb ibn Munabbih, Abu ‘Abd Allah
Wahb ibn Munabbih ibn Kamil ibn Sirajud-Din Dhee Kibaar Abu-Abdullah al-Yamani al-San'ani see Wahb ibn Munabbih, Abu ‘Abd Allah
Wahhabi (Wahhabiya) (Wahabi). Arabic term which refers to a member of a fundamentalist Muslim sect founded by Muhammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab (Muhammad ‘Abd al-Wahhab). The Wahhabi is now the dominant sect in Saudi Arabia. The term Wahhabi has been used in West Africa to refer to militant anti-Western and anti-brotherhood movements, but it has no official tie to the Saudi doctrine.
Wahhabiya (Wahhabism) is an Arabic term which refers to a fundamentalist movement that took its name from Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792), an Islamic reformer from the 18th century of the Christian calendar, who was born in Arabia. Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab was influenced by Ibn Hanbal and Ibn Taymiyya. Having provoked negative reactions among his entourage, ‘Abd al-Wahhab sought refuge with Muhammad ibn Sa‘ud, the ruler of ‘Anaza from 1735 to 1765. The Saudi family, after taking power in Arabia, made Wahhabism the official state doctrine. Wahhabism is a fundamentalism that rejects all innovations, especially the brotherhoods and the cult of saints.
Although, the name “Wahhabiya” was given to the movement by its opponents, the adherents of the movement have preferred to call themselves “Unitarians” (muwahhidun), because of their fervid emphasis on the divine unity and their corresponding diligence in uncovering and rooting out all attitudes and acts which could be regarded as idolatry.
Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab was born near Riyadh of a branch of the Tamim tribe and received a sound Islamic education. He traveled widely in search of learning and became expert in Sufi doctrine as well as in the more orthodox Islamic sciences. Gradually his leanings became thoroughly Hanbalite. Though he was often at the center of controversy, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab’s uncompromisingly strict religious views were accepted by the tribal chief Muhammad ibn Sa‘ud of nearby Dar‘iya. Religious authority was assumed by Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, political and military power by Ibn Sa‘ud. This venture determined the future of the movement, which has continued to the present day as a powerful religio-political combination in Arabia, where the Sa‘udi dynasty and Wahhabi fundamentalism dominate absolutely.
Dar‘iya soon became a theocratic state and the center of an increasingly vast territory. Ibn Sa‘ud’s able son, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, continued military conquests, with Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab as religious guide. After the reformer’s death the fortunes of the Sa‘udi dynasty continued to advance. Its territorial dominion eventually included all of the Hejaz and Najd, and much of the rest of the Arabian Peninsula from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf. The Wahhabis even went beyond Arabia in attacks on Damascus in Syria and Najaf in Iraq. Later there was a significant branch of the movement in India.
The nineteenth century brought forth reversals to the Sa‘udi dynasty, and Ottoman punitive expeditions, under Egyptian command, finally overthrew the fires Wahhabi empire in 1818. But early in the present century the Sa‘udis regained their old position under the great ‘Abd al-‘Aziz II, who was crowned king of Hejaz and Najd in 1930. His descendants continue to rule the modern kingdom of Saudia Arabia.
Wahhabi reforms were aimed at excising all beliefs and behavior not soundly rooted in the pristine period of Islam, roughly the first three centuries. Thus, the Qur’an, the Sunna, and the four orthodox Sunni law schools -- fiqh -- were regarded as the normative sources for faith and order. All else was viewed as bid‘a -- heresy. Two classical figures had an especially forceful influence on the formation of Wahhabi doctrine: Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the founder of the most conservative law school, and Ibn Taymiyya, the activist Hanbalite jurist, who wrote scathing denunciations of the veneration of saints.
The central issue around which the Wahhabi reforms revolved was the popular cult of saints. The building of mausoleums, especially of the mosque-tomb type, and visiting them for veneration and blessings were declared to be shirk. Early Wahhabis ruthlessly destroyed many shrines and stamped out all activities associated with them. They scrutinized all aspects of their fellow believers’ behavior, to judge it as deviant or pure. In this they were reminiscent of the Kharijites of early Islam. They were particularly hostile toward Sufism in all forms, although ironically they resembled a Sufi order in the way in which they organized into cooperatives for work and, when necessary, holy warfare.
Centering all in absolute devotion to the one, transcendent, sovereign God, the Wahhabis declared that it is shirk to seek intercession of any creature with God (except for with Muhammad on the Last Day), or to utter any other than God’s name in prayer. It is unbelief to deny divine predestination in all things, to interpret the Qur’an allegorically, or to claim knowledge of religion based on anything other than the Qur’an, the Sunna, or the consensus of the early orthodox legists. Further, the rosary was forbidden in the meditation on the Divine Names (although the fingers could be used to keep count, as the Prophet is reported to have done.) Mosques were to be utterly simple and functional, with neither minarets nor decorations. Even celebration of the Prophet’s birthday -- mawlid -- was forbidden.
While the Wahhabis were relentless and at times cruel in their punishment of heresy -- and by their standards a very wide range of otherwise innocuous and commonplace attitudes and activities could be construed as such -- at bottom they were animated by an intense moral fervor which sought in all things to purify the total environment for the proper service of God. Arabian Islam had sunk to a low level, and both private and public behavior in the sacred pilgrimage centers of Mecca and Medina was frequently corrupt and unrestrained. The Wahhabi movement as reform movement began to revitalize Arabian Islam.
The Wahhabi movement is significant also because it was a thoroughly indigenous, pre-modern reform within the bosom of Islam and not a reaction to Western ideas and incursions, as was the case with later movements across the Muslim world.
In spite of its fanatical puritanism and early excesses, Wahhabism did inspire later reformers in widely dispersed regions to overcome the stagnating effects of blind conformity to outmoded views and to make new efforts in applying the Qur’an and the Sunna to changing times. In a sense, Wahhabism can be characterized as an imposing Muslim expression of the “Protestant principle,” which is “guardian against the attempts of the finite and conditional to usurp the place of the unconditional in thinking and acting.”
In more contemporary times, it is the Wahhabi movement which the oil riches of Saudi Arabia has allowed it to export to other lands. Thus, Wahhabism has taken root in Sudan, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, the disciples of Wahhabism, the group known as the taliban, succeeding in taking control of the country and, for a while, imposing Wahhabism throughout the land.
Wahhabi doctrine was introduced into India by Sayyid Ahmad Brelwi (1786-1831). He established a permanent center in Patna, marched against the Sikh cities of the Punjab and took Peshawar in 1830. His adherents started an insurrection in Lower Bengal. In 1870, the older Muslim communities of India, both Shi‘a and Sunni, dissociated themselves from the Wahhabi doctrine of Holy War.
The term wahhabism is not used by Wahhibis themselves. The term they use is muwahhidun. Wahhabism is a term given to them by their opponents, and is now used by both European scholars and most Arabs. The name wahhabims comes from their founder Abdul Wahhab. The term muwahhidun is Arabic, and means unitarians.
The muwahiduns started in 1912 to establish agricultural colonies, where people from different tribes lived together. The inhabitants of these colonies were known as “brothers” (Arabic, ikhwan). Each colony could house from 1,000 to 10,000 inhabitants.
The colonies were established near water sources, and were defended by arms. Mud huts were built in place of traditional tents.
The Prohibitions of Wahhabism are:
1. No other object for worship but God.
2. Holy men or women must not be used to win favors from God.
3. No other name than the names of Allah may enter a prayer.
4. No smoking of tobacco.
5. No shaving of beard.
6. No abusive language.
7. Rosaries are forbidden.
8. Mosques must be built without minarets and all forms of ornaments.
The Commandments of Wahhabism are:
1. All men must attend public prayer, salat.
2. Alms, zakat, must be paid from all income.
3. Butchers slaughtering animals according to halal must have their life styles scrutinized. It is not sufficient that they perform the basic rituals correctly.
The political fortunes of the Wahhābī were immediately allied to those of the Saʿūdī dynasty. By the end of the 18th century, they had brought all of Najd under their control, attacked Karbalāʾ, Iraq, a holy city of the Shīʿite branch of Islām, and occupied Mecca and Medina in western Arabia. The Ottoman sultan brought an end to the first Wahhābī empire in 1818, but the sect revived under the leadership of the Saʿūdī Fayṣal I. The empire was then somewhat restored until once again destroyed at the end of the 19th century by the Rashīdīyah of northern Arabia. The activities of Ibn Saʿūd in the 20th century eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932 and assured the Wahhābī religious and political dominance on the Arabian Peninsula.
Members of the Wahhābī call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn, “Unitarians,” a name derived from their emphasis on the absolute oneness of God (tawhid). They deny all acts implying polytheism, such as visiting tombs and venerating saints, and advocate a return to the original teachings of Islām as incorporated in the Qurʾān and Ḥadīth (traditions of Muḥammad), with condemnation of all innovations (bidʿah). Wahhābī theology and jurisprudence, based, respectively, on the teachings of Ibn Taymīyah and on the legal school of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, stress literal belief in the Qurʿān and Ḥadīth and the establishment of a Muslim state based only on Islāmic law.
Wahhabiya see Wahhabi
Wahabi see Wahhabi
Wahhab, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al- (Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab) (Abdul Wahhab) (b. 1703, ʿUyaynah, Arabia [now in Saudi Arabia] - d. 1792, Ad-Dirʿīyah). Born near Riyadh (in Uyayna) of a branch of the Tamim tribe and received a sound Islamic education. He studied in Medina with teachers of the Hanbali school, as defined by Ibn Taymiyya. He traveled widely in search of learning and became expert in Sufi doctrine as well as in the more orthodox Islamic sciences. He lived 4 years in Basra, 5 years in Baghdad, 1 year in Kurdish areas, 2 years in Hamadhan, and 1 year in Esfahan around the mid-1730s. Here he studied philosophy and Sufism before continuing to Qom. After Qom, ‘Abd al-Wahhab returned to Uyayna, and started to preach his message.
Gradually his leanings became thoroughly Hanbalite. ‘Abd al-Wahhab wrote the Book of Unity (Kitab al-Tawhid). This book met with more opposition than interest, and after some time there, he was forced to flee to the medium sized town of Dar‘iya, whose chieftain Muhammad ibn Sa‘ud, gave him protection. Though he was often at the center of controversy, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab’s uncompromisingly strict religious views were accepted by the tribal chief Muhammad ibn Sa‘ud of nearby Dar‘iya. According to sources that were very close to the court of Ibn Sa‘ud, the two made an arrangement, where ‘Abd al-Wahhab would be religious leader, leaving the secular power in the hands of Ibn Sa‘ud. Thus, religious authority was assumed by Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, political and military power by Ibn Sa‘ud. This venture determined the future of the movement, which has continued to the present day as a powerful religio-political combination in Arabia, where the Sa‘udi dynasty and Wahhabi fundamentalism dominate absolutely.
In 1765, Ibn Sa‘ud died, but his successor, Abdul Aziz, also chose ‘Abd al-Wahhab as a religious guide. In 1766, the doctrines of ‘Abd al-Wahhab won recognition among the scholars of Mecca.
As the area under the power of Abdul Aziz increased, the number of doctrines from ‘Abd al-Wahhab also increased.
‘Abd al-Wahhab died a natural death at the age of 89.
Having completed his formal education in the holy city of Medina, in Arabia, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb lived abroad for many years. He taught for four years in Basra, Iraq, and in Baghdad he married an affluent woman whose property he inherited when she died. In 1736, in Iran, he began to teach against what he considered to be the extreme ideas of various exponents of Sufi doctrines. On returning to his native city, he wrote the Kitāb at-tawḥīd (“Book of Unity”), which is the main text for Wahhābī doctrines. His followers call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn, or “Unitarians”. The term Wahhābī is generally used by non-Muslims and opponents.
ʿAbd al-Wahhāb’s teachings have been characterized as puritanical and traditional, representing the early era of the Islamic religion. He made a clear stand against all innovations (bidʿah) in Islamic faith because he believed them to be reprehensible, insisting that the original grandeur of Islam could be regained if the Islamic community would return to the principles enunciated by the Prophet Muhammad. Wahhābī doctrines, therefore, do not allow for an intermediary between the faithful and Allah and condemn any such practice as polytheism. The decoration of mosques, the cult of saints, and even the smoking of tobacco were condemned.
When the preaching of these doctrines led to controversy, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb was expelled from ʿUyaynah in 1744. He then settled in Ad-Dirʿīyah, capital of Ibn Saʿūd, a ruler of the Najd (now in Saudi Arabia).
The spread of Wahhābīsm originated from the alliance that was formed between ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and Ibn Saʿūd, who, by initiating a campaign of conquest that was continued by his heirs, made Wahhābīsm the dominant force in Arabia since 1800.
Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab see Wahhab, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-
Abdul Wahhab see Wahhab, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-
Wahhab, Abdul see Wahhab, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-
Wahid, Abdurrahman (Abdurrahman Wahid) (Abdurrahman Addakhil) (Gus Dur) (b. September 7, 1940, Denanyar, East Java, Dutch East Indies [now Indonesia] - d. December 30, 2009, Jakarta, Indonesia). Member of the National Awakening Party (PKB) who was elected president of Indonesia on October 20, 1999, by an electoral assembly that voters had chosen in June. The election marked the end of political dominance by the Golkar Party, which supported the dictatorship of former President Suharto for 32 years. In May 1998, Suharto had resigned and installed B. J. Habibie as president.
Wahid offered the vice presidency to rival presidential candidate Megawati Sukarnoputri of the Indonesian Democracy Party-Struggle. Wahid’s health appeared frail in 1999 after allegedly suffering two strokes and many observers speculated that he might not complete his five-year term. Wahid’s government faced formidable challenges, including a severe recession and conflicts between pro-independence groups and pro-Indonesia militias in the province of East Timor.
Indonesians call Wahid “Gus Dur,” combining a Muslim title of respect with an abbreviation of his first name. Wahid was born in the Indonesian province of East Java. He studied at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, and earned a degree in 1970 from the University of Baghdad in Iraq. As the leader of Indonesia’s largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama Muslims, Wahid advocated an inclusive, tolerant form of Islam.
Wahid’s grandfathers were among the founders of the world’s largest Islamic organization, the 25-million-member Nahdatul Ulama (NU). Wahid studied the Qurʾān intensively at an East Javan pesantren (religious boarding school) founded by his paternal grandfather, Hasyim Asyʾari, and at institutes in Jakarta when his father was Indonesia’s first cabinet minister for religion. In 1965 Wahid earned a scholarship to study at the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo, but he bristled against the traditionalism of its faculty, and, instead of studying more scripture, he devoured New Wave movies, read French and English books, and studied Marxism. Leaving without taking a degree, he moved to Baghdad, where he soon began attracting attention with his religious writings.
After returning to Indonesia in the late 1960s, Wahid became a scholar. He was elevated to the post of general chairman of the NU in 1984. The organization then severed its ties to a Muslim-based political party and concentrated on social work and education. The managers of 6,500 pesantren nationwide—the backbone of the NU’s support—opposed any anti-government moves. Wahid was nonetheless widely perceived to present a threat to political authority for his promotion of a vision for the NU that would, in his words, “move toward the transformation of society, socially and culturally.”
As NU chief, Wahid was one of the most respected figures in Indonesian Islam and the most politically active. He headed the political discussion group Forum Demokrasi, which welcomed dissidents and human rights advocates. Wahid spoke frankly on national issues to ministers, diplomats, journalists, and others who consulted him. Deviating from the positions held by the leaders of many Muslim countries, he suggested normalizing ties with Israel and contended that the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina was not religious. Many admired his defense of Indonesia’s Christian minority. Even the powerful military was keen to maintain good ties to a perceived bulwark against radical Islam. Honored in 1993 with the Magsaysay Award, Wahid was elected the following year to lead the World Council for Religion and Peace.
In 1990 Wahid declined to join the new Association of Muslim Intellectuals, accusing its chairman, B.J. Habibie, protégé of President Suharto and the country’s research and technology minister, of using Islam to gain power. Critics and even relatives conceded, however, that Wahid could not separate his own political stance from NU’s needs. In 1994 Suharto loyalists within the NU tried in vain to end Wahid’s chairmanship. In the wake of the Asian economic crisis (1997–98) that forced the resignations of Suharto and his successor Habibie, Wahid was elected president in 1999. He was the first candidate to win the presidency through a vote by the People’s Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat; MPR), as opposed to the earlier, consensus-seeking process. Economic and political instability, coupled with a corruption crisis in which Wahid himself was implicated, led to his impeachment and removal from office in 2001. After leaving office, Wahid encouraged interfaith dialogue for the promotion of world peace.
Abdurrahman Wahid see Wahid, Abdurrahman
Gus Dur see Wahid, Abdurrahman
Abdurrahman Addakhil see Wahid, Abdurrahman
wali (waliy). Term which means “protector,” “benefactor,” “companion,” or “governor.” A wali is a friend of God -- a saint or a Sufi whose tomb is visited for its blessing. A wali is also a legal guardian of a minor, woman, or incapacitated person.
For the Arabs, the word wali is synonymous with “saint.” The companion word wilayat means “sainthood.” How the terms wali and wilayat first came to be applied to Sufis is not known, but from an early date it was explained that the Qur’anic verse: “{God} loves them and they love {God}” {see Sura 5:59} meant that God is their friend, and they are God’s friends. The Qur’an also contains repeated reference to “the friends of God” -- the awliya’ Allahi.
Saints are thought to constitute an invisible hierarchy, with a discrete cosmological ranking. In all there are perhaps forty thousand “friends of God,” including three hundred chosen (akhyar), forty deputies (abdal), seven pious (abrar), four pillars (awtad), three substitutes (nuqaba’), and one pole or nourisher (qutb, ghawth). The numbers in some categories vary, but the importance of this cosmological scheme for Sufi devotion cannot be overstated. The qutb saint, in particular, is posited as the axis around which the entire universe revolves. He is “the perfect man” (al-insan al-kamil), for the sake of whose perfection all the elements of nature, and even all other humans, have been brought into existence. Muhammad was the perfect man in his time, but since the world would cease to function without a qutb saint, others have come after Muhammad, though they lacked his prophetic mandate.
Sainthood and prophethood, therefore, overlapped as authoritative categories for mystically minded Muslims. The differentiation was as essential as it was problematic. On the one hand, the qutb saint was differentiated from the hidden imam of the Shi‘ites (though they shared a common theological mold as salvific mediators); at the same time, he was distinguished from the Prophet Muhammad -- usually on a temporal basis, implying that the qutb was doing the work of the Prophet in his generation. For some Sufi theorists, moreover, the distance of sainthood from prophethood was as slight as a single vowel: walayat meaning “lordship” was reserved for prophets, while wilayat or “friendship” was reserved for saints.
Wilayat also had a practical connotation. It defined the geographical area within which a particular saint was recognized as the preeminent spiritual leader for his generation. In populous urban centers or remote regions of Asia where more than one Sufi order had been introduced, conflicting wilayat claims were inevitable, but they were less frequent and less intense than might be expected. The Wahhabiya movement has been uncompromisingly opposed to the veneration of saints and has destroyed many shrines where the saints were venerated.
Walī (Arabic, plural Awliyā') is an Arabic word meaning "friend", "client", "kinsman", "patron". It generally denotes "friend of God" in the phrase walīyu 'llāh. In English, wali most often means a Muslim saint or holy person. It should not be confused with the word Wāli which is an administrative title that was used in the Muslim Caliphate, and still today in some Muslim countries, such as the Wali of Swat.
waliy see wali
Walid I (al-Walid I ibn ‘Abd al-Malik) (Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik) (Al-Walid I) (Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malīk ibn Marwān) (668 - 715, Damascus [now in Syria]). Umayyad caliph (r.705-715). He was the great builder of the Umayyad dynasty. In 706, he began the reconstruction of the basilica of St. John the Baptist at Damascus into a magnificent mosque. He also built the Great Mosques at Mecca and Medina. Other striking features of his reign were the arabization of the administration and the progress of conquests. During his reign, the Arab empire attained its greatest extent from Transoxiana to Spain.
Al-Walīd, the eldest son of the caliph ʿAbd al-Malīk ibn Marwān, was fervently orthodox in his religious views. He had a great interest in architecture. As caliph, he confiscated the Christian Basilica of St. John the Baptist in Damascus and had the Great Mosque (Umayyad Mosque) erected on the site. He also had mosques built at Medina and Jerusalem. During al-Walīd’s reign, areas in Central Asia, in coastal northern Africa, and in Spain were conquered and brought under the influence of Islam. Although al-Walīd did not actively direct this expansion, he did give support to capable subordinate officers and officials, allowing them great autonomy in the conduct of their affairs.
al-Walid I ibn ‘Abd al-Malik see Walid I
Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik see Walid I
Al-Walid I see Walid I
Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malīk ibn Marwān see Walid I
Walid II (al-Walid II ibn Yazid II) (Walid ibn Yazid) (d. April 16, 744). Umayyad caliph (r.743-744). He was remarkably cultivated, but also a libertine. In 743, he sold Khalid al-Qasri, the former governor of Iraq, to the latter’s mortal enemy Yusuf ibn ‘Umar al-Thaqafi, which raised the Yemenis in Syria against him. Before being caliph, he had built the hunting lodge Qusayr ‘Amra, and as a caliph he began with the construction of al-Mushatta.
Al-Walid succeeded to the throne on the death of his uncle, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, on February 6, 743. As al-Walid grew older, Hisham became more displeased with him and even urged him to step aside in favor of Hisham's son. Hisham spoke to al-Walid about his drinking and living a dissolute life. The caliph commanded al-Walid to send away his best drinking companion. He also cut off funds to the heir and strongly encouraged him to be more respectful in matters religious.
As heir, al-Walid was known for his open handedness. When he became caliph, he took special care of the crippled and blind. He increased the stipend. He named his two sons, al-Hakam and Uthman, to succeed him in that order. There's an eloquent letter on this theme dated May 21, 743 in at Tabari. At Tabari also quotes a number of al-Walid's poems.
Al-Walid at first confirmed Nasr ibn Sayyar as governor of Khurasan. However, bribed by Yusuf ibn Umar, the caliph dismissed Nasr. Al-Walid also appointed his uncle Yusuf ibn Muhammad governor of Medina. Yahya ibn Zayd was found in Khurasan. Nasr urged him to present himself to the caliph, bearing in mind the essential nature of Islamic unity. However, Yahya chose another path and after initial victory was slain.
Al-Walid put Sulayman ibn Hisham in prison. Such a deed, as well as his reputed drinking, singing and immorality aroused considerable opposition. Al-Walid was fond of versifying and he arranged horse races. The upright Yazid ibn al-Walid spoke against the new ruler's moral laxity. A group began plotting his assassination. When approached, Khalid ibn Abdallah declined to join in and even cautioned al-Walid. However, his vague warning aroused the ire of al-Walid who imprisoned Khalid and then gave him to Yusuf ibn Umar for an offer of fifty million dirhams. Yusuf tortured and killed Khalid. This intensely angered many of al-Walid's own relatives.
Hearing of the plot, Marwan ibn Muhammad wrote from Armenia urging a more prudent course of action, one more promising for the stability of the state and the preservation of the Umayyad house. This was disregarded and many armed men moved into Damascus. The caliph was besieged in a castle outside the city. He fought well, but on April 16, 744, at Al-Aghdaf [now in modern Jordan], he was defeated and killed by the forces of Sulayman ibn Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. He was succeeded by his cousin Yazid III.
Walid II ibn Yazid II, al- see Walid II
Walid ibn Yazid see Walid II
Walide Sultan (Valide Sultana). Title borne, in the Ottoman Empire, by the mother of the reigning sultan and only for the duration of her son’s reign.
Valide Sultana see Walide Sultan
Walid ibn al-Mughira ibn ‘Abd Allah, al- (d. 622). Opponent of the Prophet. He was the head of the numerous and prosperous Banu Makhzum at Mecca.
Wali Songo
The history of arrival and spread of Islam in Indonesia is unclear. One theory states it arrived directly from Arabia before the 9th century, while another credits Sufi merchants and preachers for bringing Islam to Indonesian islands in the 12th or 13th century either from Gujarat in India or directly from the Middle East. Before the arrival of Islam, the predominant religions in Indonesia were Hinduism and Buddhism.
Initially, the spread of Islam was slow and gradual. Though historical documents are incomplete, the limited evidence suggests that the spread of Islam accelerated in the 15th century, as the military power of Melaka Sultanate in Malay Peninsular today Malaysia and other Islamic Sultanates dominated the region aided by episodes of Muslim coup such as in 1446, wars and superior control of maritime trading and ultimate markets. During 1511, Tome Pires found animists and Muslims in the north coast of Java. Some rulers were Islamized Muslims, others followed the old Hindu and Buddhism.
By the reign of Sultan Agung of Mataram, most of the older Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms of Indonesia, had at least nominally converted to Islam. The last one to do so was Makassar in 1605. After the fall of the Majapahit empire, Bali became the refuge for the Hindu upper class, Brahmins and their followers that fled from Java, thus transferring the Hindu culture of Java to Bali. Hinduism and Buddhism remained extant in some areas of East Java where it syncretized with animism. Their traditions also continued in East and Central Java where they earlier held a sway. Animism was also practiced in remote areas of other islands of Indonesia.
The spread of Islam in eastern islands of Indonesia is recorded in 1605 when three Islamic pious men collectively known as Dato' Tallu came to Makasar, namely Dato'ri Bandang (Abdul Makmur or Khatib Tunggal), Dato'ri Pattimang (Sulaiman Ali or Khatib Sulung) and Dato'ri Tiro (Abdul Jawad or Khatib Bungsu). According to Christian Pelras (1985), Dato' Tallu converted the Kings of Gowa and Tallo to Islam and changed their name to Sultan Muhammad.
The spread of Islam was initially driven by increasing trade links outside of the archipelago. Traders and the royalty of major kingdoms were usually the first to convert to Islam. Dominant kingdoms included Mataram in Central Java, and the sultanates of Ternate and Tidore in the Maluku Islands to the east. By the end of the 13th century, Islam had been established in North Sumatra; by the 14th in northeast Malaya, Brunei, the southern Philippines northeast and among some courtiers of East Java; and the 15th in Malacca and other areas of the Malay Peninsula. Although it is known that the spread of Islam began in the west of the archipelago, the fragmentary evidence does not suggest a rolling wave of conversion through adjacent areas; rather, it suggests the process was complicated and slow.
Despite being one of the most significant developments in Indonesian history, historical evidence is fragmentary and generally uninformative such that understandings of the coming of Islam to Indonesia are limited. There is considerable debate amongst scholars about what conclusions can be drawn about the conversion of Indonesian peoples. The primary evidence, at least of the earlier stages of the process, are gravestones and a few travellers' accounts, but these can only show that indigenous Muslims were in a certain place at a certain time. This evidence cannot explain more complicated matters such as how lifestyles were affected by the new religion or how deeply it affected societies. It should not be assumed, for example, that because a ruler was known to be a Muslim, that the process of Islamization of that area was complete. Instead, what is known is that the Islamization process was, and remains to this day, continuous in Indonesia. Nevertheless, a clear turning point occurred when the Hindu empire Majapahit in Java fell to the Islamized Demak Sultanate. In 1527, the Muslim ruler renamed newly conquered Sunda Kelapa as Jayakarta (meaning "precious victory") which was eventually shortened to Jakarta. Islamization increased rapidly in the wake of this conquest, spurred on by the spiritual influences of the revered Sufi saints Wali Songo (or Nine Saints).
Malik Ibrahim (b. before 1350, Kashan, Persia - d. April 7, 1419, Gapurosukolilo, Gresik), also known as Sunan Gresik or Kakek Bantal, was the first of the Wali Songo, the nine men generally thought to have introduced Islam to Java (Indonesia).
Ibrahim's origin is unclear, although it is generally agreed that he originated from outside of Java. He is thought to have been born in the first half of the 14th century. Ibrahim is known by several names in the Babad Tanah Jawi and other texts. In the texts, Ibrahim is identified as Makhdum Ibrahim as-Samarqandy (localised to Syekh Ibrahim Asmarakandi). This indicates a possible origin from Samarkand in modern-day Uzbekistan.
Malik Ibrahim was born in Kashan, Persia (modern day Iran). Malik Ibrahim belonged to a Sayyid and highly educated family in Kashan. His great grandfather migrated from Samarkand to Kashan. Ibrahim came to Java with his father, Syekh Jumadil Qubro or Kubro, and his brother Maulana Ishaq, from Persia. They were descendants of Muhammad through Hussein ibn Ali. According to this version, Qubro stayed in Java while his sons went abroad for dakwah. Ibrahim went to Champa (in modern-day Vietnam), while his brother went to Pasai in northern Sumatra. During his 13 years in Champa, Ibrahim provided healthcare and taught farmers more efficient ways to grow crops. He also married one of the king's daughters, whose name has been Indonesianised as Dewi Candrawulan, and had two sons. When he felt that he had converted enough people in Champa to Islam, Ibrahim returned to Java without his family.
Ibrahim landed at Sembalo, Learn, Manyar (9 kilometres (5.6 mi) north of modern-day Gresik) in the late 14th century, where he became acquainted with the local people. He began trading out of the harbor, dealing equally with people from different castes - different social classes based on the dominant Hindu religion. By doing so, Ibrahim found popular support from the lower castes, which led to numerous conversions. He also continued his work from Champa, teaching the locals ways to improve harvests and treating the ill.
Through his trading, Ibrahim also became acquainted with the ruling class and nobles. After journeying to Trowulan to meet the king of Majapahit, he was granted a landing on the outskirts of Gresik which was used for preaching. Ibrahim also founded an Islamic boarding school there.
A legend associated with Ibrahim is that one day, while travelling, he came across a young woman about to be sacrificed to the gods in order to end a long-standing drought. After stopping a group of men from stabbing the woman, Ibrahim prayed for rain. When his prayers were answered, the group he had faced converted to Islam.
Ibrahim died on 12 Rabi' al-Awwal, 822 AH (April 7, 1419 CC). He was buried in Gapura village, Gresik, East Java.
Before the 19th century, Ibrahim was not considered one of the Wali Songo, the saints who spread Islam to Java. After his grave was rediscovered in the early 19th century, he was included in the core group. He was first listed as a Wali Songo in Babad Dipanegara. Today his grave, which is without a headstone, is a common destination for pilgrims, who read the Qu'ran and the life of Muhammad; they also partake in a dish unique to the area, harisah rice porridge. In 2005 over 1.5 million pilgrims went to the grave, for which there is an entry fee. Most come on the anniversary of his death, based on the Islamic calendar.
Near Ibrahim's grave is a stone marker bearing an inscription in Arabic, translated below:
Both of Ibrahim's sons went on to spread Islam to Java after they became adults. The eldest, Ali Rahmatullah, is better known as Sunan Ampel and is a member of the Wali Songo himself. The youngest was named Ali Murthada. Ibrahim's work in eastern Java was continued by Raden Paku (later known as Susuhunan Giri) in Giri (now part of the Jepara Regency of Central Java) and Raden Rahmat, who founded an Islamic school in Ngampel, near Surabaya.
Every year, the Gresik city government holds a festival to celebrate Ibrahim's birth. Known as Gebyar Maulid, the festival also serves to promote local culture.
The Wali Songo (also transcribed as Wali Sanga) are revered saints of Islam in Indonesia, especially on the island of Java, because of their historic role in the spread of Islam in Indonesia. The word wali is Arabic for "trusted one" ("guardian" in other contexts in Indonesia) or "friend of God" ("saint" in this context), while the word sanga is Javanese for group of monks or the number nine. Thus, the term is often translated as "Sangha of saints".
Although referred to as a group, there is good evidence that fewer than nine were alive at any given time. Also, there are sources that use the term "Wali Sanga" to refer to saintly mystic(s) other than the most well-known nine individuals.
Each man is often attributed the title sunan in Javanese, which may derive from suhun, in this context meaning "honored".
Most of the wali were also called raden during their lifetimes, because they were members of royal houses.
The graves of the Wali Sanga are venerated as locations of ziarah (ziyarat) or local pilgrimage in Java. The graves are also known as pundhen in Javanese.
The earliest Wali Sanga was Malik Ibrahim. He is thought to have been in the first half of the 14th century. Malik Ibrahim was of Sayyid lineage and came from a highly educated family in Kashan. His great-grandfather migrated from Samarqand, and that is why his family is also known as Samarqandi. They were originally a converted Central Asian Muslim pir from Samarkand. With centuries of Turkish, Mongol and Ottoman rule over Middle East, many of them started claiming Sayyid ancestry to legitimize their rule over the population.
Syekh Jumadil Kubra, to whom all the saints of Java appear to be related, is a name that appears to almost certainly be a corruption of Najmuddin al-Kubra. The name Syekh Jumadil Kubra has attached itself to various legendary and mythical personalities,. These personalities have a common connection in that they are the ancestors or preceptors of the founders of Islam in Java - an oblique acknowledgement, perhaps, of the prestige of the Qubrowi in the period of Islamization.
The sufis themselves traced their ancestors to erstwhile Hindu and Buddhist Javanese kings. Tracing the lineage earlier than Malik Ibrahim is problematic, but most scholars agree that Kubra's lineages are of Chinese descent and not Arab. Although Kubra's silsila -- his spiritual genealogy -- is listed in various Javanese royal chronicles (such as Sejarah Banten) to denote ancestral lineage from erstwhile Hindu Kings, the term in Sufism refers to a lineage of teachers.
Although popular belief sometimes refers to the wali sanga as "founders" of Islam on Java, the religion was present by the time the Chinese Muslim admiral Zheng He arrived during his first voyage (1405-1407 CC).
Many of the earliest Wali Sanga had Chinese ancestry both paternally and maternally. For example, Sunan Ampel (Chinese name Bong Swi Ho), Sunan Bonang (Ampel's son, Bong Ang), and Sunan Kalijaga (Gan Si Cang).
Dewi Candrawulan, a Muslim Princess from Champa, was the mother of Raden Rahmat (Prince Rahmat), who was later known by the name of Sunan Ampel. Sunan Ampel was the son of Maulana Malik Ibrahim, and the ancestor or teacher of some of the other Wali Sanga.
The composition of the nine saints varies, depending on different sources. The following list is widely accepted, but its authenticity relies much on repeated citations of a handful of early sources, reinforced as "facts" in school textbooks and other modern accounts. This list differs somewhat from the names suggested in the Babad Tanah Jawi manuscripts.
One theory about the variation of composition is that there was a loose council of nine religious leaders, and that as older members retired or died, new members were brought into this council. However, it should be borne in mind that the term "wali sanga" was created retroactively by historians, and so there was no official "group of nine" that had membership. Further, the differences in chronology of the wali suggest that there might never have been a time when nine of them were alive contemporaneously.
At first, it was not easy for Islam to enter and thrive in the archipelago. Even in the historical record, in a span of about 800 years, Islam had not been able to establish a substantial presence. Notes from the time of the Tang Dynasty of China indicated that merchants from the Middle East had come to the kingdom of Shih-li-fo-shi (Srivijaya) in Sumatra, and Holing (Kalinga) in Java in the year 674 CC, i.e., in the transitional period of Caliph Ali to Muawiyah. In the 10th century, a group of Persians called the Lor came to Java. They lived in an area in Ngudung (Kudus), also known as Loram (from the word "Lor" which means North). They also formed other communities in other areas, such as in Gresik. The existence of the gravestone of Fatimah binti Maimun bin Hibatallah in Gresi, dated to the 10th century CC, is considered evidence of the incoming migration of the Persian tribes.
In his notes, Marco Polo relates that when returning from China to Italy in 1292 CC, he did not travel via the Silk Road, but instead traveled by sea towards the Persian Gulf. He stopped in Perlak, a port city in Aceh, southern Malacca. According to Polo, in Perlak there were three groups, namely (1) ethnic Chinese, who were all Muslims; (2) Westerners (Persians), also entirely Muslim; and (3) indigenous people in the hinterland, who worshipped trees, rocks, and spirits. In his testimony, Polo said, regarding the "Kingdom of Ferlec (Perlak)" - "This kingdom, you must know, is so much frequented by the Saracen merchants that they have converted the natives to the Law of Mohammet — I mean the townspeople only, for the Java hill-people live for all the world like beasts, and eat human flesh, as well as all other kinds of flesh, clean or unclean. And they worship this, that, and the other thing; for in fact the first thing that they see on rising in the morning, that they do worship for the rest of the day.
One hundred years after Polo, the Chinese Muslim Admiral Zheng He came to Java in 1405 CC. When he stopped in Tuban, he noted that there were 1,000 Chinese religious Muslim families there. In Gresik, he also found there were 1,000 Chinese Muslim families, with the same amount reported in Surabaya. On Zheng He's seventh (last) visit to Java in 1433 CC, he invited his scribe named Ma Huan. According to Ma Huan, the Chinese and the Arab population of the cities on the northern beaches of Java were all Muslim, while the indigenous population were mostly non-Muslim as they were worshipping the trees, rocks, and spirits.
Early in the 15th century CC, Ali Murtadho and Ali Rahmat, sons of Malik Ibrahim (also known as Sheikh Ibrahim Samarqandi), relocated from the Kingdom of Champa (Southern Vietnam) to Java, and settled in the Tuban area, precisely in the Gesikharjo Village at Palang District. Malik Ibrahim was buried there in 1419. After the funeral, both of his sons then headed to the capital of Majapahit, because their aunt (Princess Dwarawati) was married to the King of Majapahit. By the King's order, both of them then were appointed as officials of the Majapahit Empire. Ali Murtadho as Raja Pandhita (Minister of Religion) for the Musims, while Ali Rahmat was appointed as Imam (High Priest for Muslims) in Surabaya. Ali Rahmat was known as Raden Rahmat (Prince Rahmat), who then became Sunan Ampel.
In sum, multiple sources and conventional wisdom agree that the Wali Sanga contributed to the propagation of Islam (but not its original introduction) in the area now known as Indonesia. However, it is difficult to prove the extent of their influence in quantitative terms such as an increase in the number of adherents or masjids in the areas of their work in contrast to localities where they were not active.
Some of the family relationships described below are well-documented; others are less certain. Even today, it is common in Java for a family friend to be called "uncle" or "brother" despite the lack of a blood relationship.
- Sunan Gresik (Malik Ibrahim): Arrived on Java 1404 CC, died in 1419 CC, buried in Gresik, East Java. Activities included commerce, healing, and improvement of agricultural techniques. Father of Sunan Ampel and uncle of Sunan Giri.
- Sunan Ampel: Born in Champa (Southern Vietnam) in 1401 CC, died in 1481 CC in Demak, Central Java. Can be considered a focal point of the wali sanga. He was the son of Sunan Gresik and the father of Sunan Bonang and Sunan Dradjat. Sunan Ampel was also the cousin and father-in-law of Sunan Giri. In addition, Sunan Ampel was the grandfather of Sunan Kudus. Sunan Bonang in turn taught Sunan Kalijaga, who was the father of Sunan Muria. Sunan Ampel was also the teacher of Raden Patah.
- Sunan Giri: Born in Blambangan (now Banyuwangi, the easternmost part of Java) in 1442 CC. His father Maulana Ishak was the brother of Maulana Malik Ibrahim. Sunan Giri's grave is in Gresik near Surabaya.
- Sunan Bonang: Born in 1465 CC in Rembang (near Tuban) on the north coast of Central Java. Died in 1525 CC and buried in Tuban. Brother of Sunan Drajat. Composed songs for gamelan orchestra.
- Sunan Drajat: Born in 1470 CC. Brother of Sunan Bonang. Composed songs for gamelan orchestra.
- Sunan Kudus: Died 1550 CC, buried in Kudus. Possible originator of wayang golek puppetry.
- Sunan Kalijaga: His birth name is Raden Mas Said, and he is the son of Adipati Tuban. Buried in Kadilangu, Demak. Used wayang kulit shadow puppets and gamelan music to convey spiritual teachings.
- Sunan Muria: Buried in Gunung Muria, Kudus. Son of Sunan Kalijaga and Dewi Soejinah (sister of Sunan Giri).
- Sunan Gunung Jati: Buried in Cirebon. Founder and first ruler of the Cirebon Sultanate. His son, Maulana Hasanudin, became the founder and the first ruler of the Banten Sultanate.
Wali Ullah, Shah (Shah Wali Ullah) (Shah Waliullah) (Shah Wali Allah) (Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlvi) (b. February 21, 1703, Delhi [India] - d. August 20, 1762, Delhi [India]). Distinguished Muslim thinker of eighteenth century North India. Shah Wali Ullah was deeply influenced by a youthful stay in the Hijaz, where he encountered a newly vital commitment to the study of the recorded traditions (hadith) of the Prophet as a basis of intellectual renewal and a foundation for social well-being. His subsequent writings de-emphasized the teachings of the historic law schools in favor of study of the Qur’an (which he translated into Persian) and the hadith. Even more ambitiously, he tried to show the essential unity of the fruits of the epistemologically distinctive Islamic strands of reason (aql), tradition (naql), and the gnosis (ma’rifa) of the Sufis. His work took on urgency in the wake of the decline of the Mughal Empire and he sought out Muslim rulers who would work in consultation with scholars like himself in order to create conditions where Muslim law could flourish. Institutionally, he was the head of the Madrasa-i Rahimiyya, a school founded by his renowned father in Delhi. He was also a revered Sufi elder among the Naqshbandis. Later reformers in the subcontinent looked to him as an exemplar in personality and attainments, a guide to the study of the revealed sciences, a spokesman for an authoritative role for scholars in a properly ruled polity, and an opponent of intellectual and sectarian disunity.
Shāh Walī Allāh received a traditional Islamic education from his father and is said to have memorized the Qurʾān at the age of seven. In 1732 he made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and he then remained in the Hejaz (now in Saudi Arabia) to study religion with eminent theologians. He reached adulthood at a time of disillusionment following the death in 1707 of Aurangzeb, the last Mughal emperor of India. Because large areas of the empire had been lost to Hindu and Sikh rulers of the Deccan and the Punjab, Indian Muslims had to accept the rule of non-Muslims. This challenge occupied Walī Allāh’s adult life.
Walī Allāh believed that the Muslim polity could be restored to its former splendor by a policy of religious reform that would harmonize the religious ideals of Islam with the changing social and economic conditions of India. According to him, religious ideas were universal and eternal, but their application could meet different circumstances. The main tool of his policy was the doctrine of tatbīq, whereby the principles of Islam were reconstructed and reapplied in accordance with the Qurʾān and the Ḥadīth (the spoken traditions attributed to Muhammad). He thereby allowed the practice of ijtihād (independent thinking by theologians in matters relating to Islamic law), which hitherto had been curtailed. As a corollary, he reinterpreted the concept of taqdīr (determinism) and condemned its popularization, qismat (narrow fatalism, or absolute predetermination). Walī Allāh held that man could achieve his full potential by his own exertion in a universe that was determined by God. Theologically, he opposed the veneration of saints or anything that compromised strict monotheism. He was jurisprudentially eclectic, holding that a Muslim could follow any of the four schools of Islamic law on any point of dogma or ritual.
The best known of Walī Allāh’s voluminous writings was Asrār ad-dīn (“The Secrets of Belief”). His annotated Persian translation of the Qurʾān is still popular in India and Pakistan.
Walī Allāh received a traditional Islamic education from his father and is said to have memorized the Qurʾān at the age of seven. In 1732 he made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and he then remained in the Hejaz (now in Saudi Arabia) to study religion with eminent theologians. He reached adulthood at a time of disillusionment following the death in 1707 of Aurangzeb, the last Mughal emperor of India. Because large areas of the empire had been lost to Hindu and Sikh rulers of the Deccan and the Punjab, Indian Muslims had to accept the rule of non-Muslims. This challenge occupied Walī Allāh’s adult life.
Walī Allāh believed that the Muslim polity could be restored to its former splendor by a policy of religious reform that would harmonize the religious ideals of Islam with the changing social and economic conditions of India. According to him, religious ideas were universal and eternal, but their application could meet different circumstances. The main tool of his policy was the doctrine of tatbīq, whereby the principles of Islam were reconstructed and reapplied in accordance with the Qurʾān and the Ḥadīth (the spoken traditions attributed to Muhammad). He thereby allowed the practice of ijtihād (independent thinking by theologians in matters relating to Islamic law), which hitherto had been curtailed. As a corollary, he reinterpreted the concept of taqdīr (determinism) and condemned its popularization, qismat (narrow fatalism, or absolute predetermination). Walī Allāh held that man could achieve his full potential by his own exertion in a universe that was determined by God. Theologically, he opposed the veneration of saints or anything that compromised strict monotheism. He was jurisprudentially eclectic, holding that a Muslim could follow any of the four schools of Islamic law on any point of dogma or ritual.
The best known of Walī Allāh’s voluminous writings was Asrār ad-dīn (“The Secrets of Belief”). His annotated Persian translation of the Qurʾān is still popular in India and Pakistan.
Wali Allah was an Islamic scholar and reformer. He worked for the revival of Muslim rule and intellectual learning in South Asia, during a time of waning Muslim power. He despised the divisions and deviations within Islam and its practice in India and hoped to "purify" the religion and unify all Indian Muslims under the "banner of truth". He is also thought to have anticipated a number of progressive, social, economic, and political ideas of the modern era such as social reform, equal rights, labor protection, welfare entitlement of all to food, clothing, and housing.
Shah Wali Ullah see Wali Ullah, Shah
Shah Waliullah see Wali Ullah, Shah
Shah Wali Allah see Wali Ullah, Shah
Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlvi see Wali Ullah, Shah
Wana. Most Wana are not Muslim. However, as inhabitants of a remote interior region of Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi Province, the Wana offer a distinct perspective on Islamic culture. The view from the Wana hinterlands maybe unique in details, but it illustrates a pattern widespread in island Southeast Asia, namely, the development of an ethnic self-consciousness on the part of an interior upland population in response to a coastal Muslim presence.
Before Dutch authorities entered the region in the first decade of the twentieth century, some Wana were drawn into the spheres of small Islamic sultanates that once dotted the coasts of Sulawesi. In the last century, Wana in the southern reaches of the territory paid tribute in the form of beeswax to the Raja of Bungku, a principality located to the southwest of Wanaland. Likewise Wana in the north presented tiny bamboo tubes filled with uncooked rice to the Raja of Tojo, a sultanate to the northwest of the Wana area. Some Wana were appointed local representatives of these rajas and carried special titles. While Wana homage no doubt enhanced the stature of local sultans and may have conferred certain privileges on Wana middlemen, by no means did these demonstrations of vassalage imply that coastal rulers exercised thoroughgoing suzerainty over the Wana. Then, as now, Wana had the option of fading back into the interior forests when threatened or oppressed in their relations with coastal authorities. For their part, the rajas occupied themselves with issues of status and prestige at political centers, not with territorial concerns in the hinterlands. But through contact with these principalities, Wana adopted and reworked for their own purposes some key political and cosmological concepts basic to the Islamic sultanates, including the idea of baraka (magical powers associated with royalty), a tripartite social class system made up of nobles, commoner and slaves (unrealized in Wana social life, but nonetheless present in their thought) and an association of cosmic well-being and political order (a model that Indonesia’s Muslim kingdoms had in turn reworked from earlier Hindu-Buddhist constructions). And Wana, who attribute all power to sources external to their own society, claim that their legal code was obtained from the Raja of Bungku.
Wanquli, Mehmed ibn Mustafa al-Wani (Mehmed ibn Mustafa al-Wani Wanquli). Sixteenth century Ottoman jurist from Van. His translation of the Arabic lexicon of Abu Nasr Jawhari was printed in 1728 by Ibrahim Muteferriqa, as one of the first books printed in Turkey.
Mehmed ibn Mustafa al-Wani Wanquli see Wanquli, Mehmed ibn Mustafa al-Wani
Waqidi, Muhammad ibn ‘Umar al- (Muhammad ibn ‘Umar al-Waqidi) (747-822). Arab historian from Medina. A moderate Shi‘a, he owes his fame to the Book of the Campaigns (of the Prophet), the only one of his many writings that has survived as an independent work. His merit lies mainly in his transmission of a very large amount of material and in fixing its chronology.
Muhammad ibn 'Umar al-Waqidi
Wa see Waqidi, Muhammad ibn ‘Umar al-
Waraqa ibn Nawfal ibn Asad (Waraqah ibn Nawfal) (Waraqah ibn Nawfal ibn Assad ibn Abd al-Uzza ibn Qusayy Al-Qurashi) (d. c. 610). Cousin of Khadija, Muhammad’s wife. He is said to have belonged to the Meccan group of monotheists (in Arabic, hanif).
Waraqah ibn Nawfal was the parental cousin of Khadija, Muhammad's first wife. According to the Islamic sources, Waraqah was a Christian Ebionites priest living in Mecca, and had knowledge of the previous scriptures. When told of Muhammad's first revelation (when he received the first five verses of surat Al-Alaq), he immediately recognized him as a prophet. Contrariwise some non-Islamic critics believe that Waraqah was one of the sources of these revelations, insofar as Waraqah may have taught Muhammad about the Biblical ideas and stories which later were to be found in the Qur'an.
Waraqah ibn Nawfal see Waraqa ibn Nawfal ibn Asad
Waraqah ibn Nawfal ibn Assad ibn Abd al-Uzza ibn Qusayy Al-Qurashi see Waraqa ibn Nawfal ibn Asad
War-Dyabi ibn Rabis (War Jabi) (War Jaabi) (d. 1040/1041). Ruler of Takrur -- the first known West African kingdom to embrace Islam. According to the chronicler al-Bakri, it was War-Dyabi who first insisted that his subjects convert to Islam, demonstrating that Islam had reached western Sudan before the Almoravid conquest of Ghana in 1076/1077. After War-Dyabi’s death, his son allied with the Almoravids, and probably fought with them against Ghana.
War Jabi was the king of Tekrur in the 1030s. He converted to Islam. This conversion allowed Tekrur to justify its wars of expansion to the south.
War Jabi see War-Dyabi ibn Rabis
War Jaabi see War-Dyabi ibn Rabis
Washmgir (Wushmaghir ibn Ziyar Abu Talib) (Vushmgir) (d. 965/967) Ruler of the Ziyarid dynasty in Tabaristan and Gurgan (r. 935-965/967). Under his brother Mardawij (r. 927-935), he conquered Isfahan and drove from there ‘Ali ibn Buya, the founder of the Buyid dynasty, who had taken it when he was in Mardawij’s service. In 940, he was defeated by the Samanids who were in alliance with the Buyids. Later Washmgir fled to the Samanid Nuh I ibn Nasr, who assisted him against the Buyids, Tabaristan thus becoming a buffer state between the Samanids and the Buyids.
Vushmgir was a son of Ziyar. Vushmgir means "quail catcher" in the local Caspian Iranian dialects.
In 935, Vushmgir's brother Mardavij was murdered by his Turkish troops. Many of the Turks then defected. Some entered the service of the Buyid Hasan, while others traveled to the caliph in Baghdad. Hasan took advantage of this situation by stripping Isfahan from Ziyarid rule. The Dailamite and Gilite troops, however, pledged their support to Vushmgir, who was in Ray. That same year, he defeated a Samanid army, as well as the Dailamite Makan, which had together invaded Tabaristan. Vushmgir then wrested Gurgan from Samanid control.
Vushmgir soon decided to acknowledge Samanid supremacy, and in 936 he also turned over Gurgan to Makan. Turning against Hasan, he retook Isfahan in 938. In 939 or 940, the Samanid governor Abu 'Ali ibn Muhtaj attacked Gurgan. Vushmgir sent Makan aid, but the city fell after a long siege. Ibn Muhtaj then engaged Vushmgir in battle in Ray and defeated him, killing Makan in the process. Vushmgir fled to Tabaristan, but was faced there with a revolt by his governor of Sari, al-Hasan ibn al-Fairuzan, who was a cousin of Makan and blamed the Ziyarid for his death. Vushmgir defeated him, but al-Hasan convinced Ibn Muhtaj to invade Tabaristan. Vushmgir was forced to recognize Samanid authority again. Hasan furthered the Ziyarid's troubles by retaking Isfahan in 940.
When Ibn Muthaj left for Samanid Khurasan, Vushmgir retook control of Ray. He then lost it for good in 943, to the Buyid Hasan. Returning to Tabaristan, he was defeated there by al-Hasan, who had previously occupied Gurgan. Vushmgir fled to the Bavandids of the mountains in eastern Tabaristan, then to the court of the Samanid Nuh I. Al-Hasan meanwhile allied with Hasan, but when Ibn Muthaj took Ray from the Buyids in 945, he recognized Samanid authority. Still, in 945 Vushmgir captured Gurgan with Samanid support, but did not manage to retain his rule there. It was only in 947 when he was able to take Gurgan and Tabaristan from al-Hasan with the help of a large Samanid army.
In 948 Hasan (who after the Buyids' entrance into Baghdad in 945 had used the title Rukn al-Daula) invaded Tabaristan and Gurgan and took them from Vushmgir. While al-Hasan supported the Buyids, Vushmgir relied on his Samanid allies. Tabaristan and Gurgan changed hands several times until 955, when in a treaty with the Samanids, Rukn al-Daula promised to leave Vushmgir alone in Tabaristan. Peace between the two sides did not last long, however. In 958 Vushmgir briefly occupied Ray, which was Rukn al-Daula's capital. The Buyid struck back, temporarily taking Gurgan in 960, then taking both Tabaristan and Gurgan for a short time in 962. He may have also taken Tabaristan and Gurgan in 966, but did not hold on to them for long.
Vushmgir was killed by a boar during a hunt in 967, shortly after a Samanid army had arrived for a joint campaign against the Buyids. He was succeeded by his eldest son Bisutun, although the Samanid army attempted to put another son, Qabus, into power. A third son predeceased him in 964 in the fighting over Hausan.
Wushmaghir ibn Ziyar Abu Talib see Washmgir
Vushmgir see Washmgir
Quail Catcher see Washmgir
Washsha’, Abu’l-Tayyib Muhammad al- (Abu’l-Tayyib Muhammad al-Washsha’). Arabic philologist and bel esprit of the tenth century. He wrote a handbook of rules of good society for the aristocrats of Baghdad.
Abu'l-Tayyib Muhammad al-Washsha' see Washsha’, Abu’l-Tayyib Muhammad al-
Wasi’ ‘Alisi ( Wasi' ‘Ali) (d. 1543). Ottoman author, scholar and poet, stylist and calligrapher. His fame is based on his Turkish translation of the Persian version of the Kalila wa-Dimna.
'Alisi, Wasi' see Wasi’ ‘Alisi
Wasi' 'Ali see Wasi’ ‘Alisi
'Ali, Wasi' see Wasi’ ‘Alisi
Wasif, Ahmed (Ahmed Wasif) (d.1806). Official historian of the Ottoman Empire. His four state chronicles, called appendices because they follow on to ‘Izzi’s work, cover the greater part of the period from 1783 to 1805. He also wrote an account of Bonaparte’s invasion of Egypt.
Ahmed Wasif see Wasif, Ahmed
Wasil ibn ‘Ata’, Abu Hudhayfa al-Ghazzal (Abu Hudhayfa al-Ghazzal Wasil ibn 'Ata') (699/700-748). Chief of the Mu‘tazila. He migrated to Basra where he belonged to the circle of Hasan al-Basri, and entered into friendly relations with Bashshar ibn Burd. His wife was a sister of ‘Amr ibn ‘Ubayd Abu ‘Uthman, next to himself the most celebrated of the earliest Mu‘tazila. His deviation from the views of Hasan al-Basri is said to have become the starting point of the Mu‘tazila. Four theses are ascribed to him; denial of God’s eternal qualities; the doctrine of free will, which he shared with the Qadarites; the doctrine that the Muslim who commits a mortal sin enters into a state intermediate between that of a Muslim and that of an unbeliever; the doctrine that one of the parties who took part in the murder of ‘Uthman, in the battle of the Camel and in that of Siffin, was wrong.
Wasil ibn Ata was a Muslim theologian, and by many accounts is considered to be the founder of the Mutazilite school of Islamic thought.
Born around the year 700 in the Arabian Peninsula, he initially studied under Abd-Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, the son of the famous fourth Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib. Later he would travel to Basra in Iraq to study under Hasan al-Basri (one of the Tabi‘in). In Basra he began to develop the ideologies that would lead to the Mutazilite school. These stemmed from conflicts that many scholars had in resolving theology and politics. His main contribution to the Mutazilite school was in planting the seeds for the formation of its doctrine.
Wasil ibn Ata died in 748 in the Arabian Peninsula.
He was married to the sister of Amr ibn Ubayd.
Abu Hudhayfa al-Ghazzal Wasil ibn 'Ata' see Wasil ibn ‘Ata’, Abu Hudhayfa al-Ghazzal
Wathiq bi-‘llah, Abu Ja‘far Harun al- (Abu Ja‘far Harun al-Wathiq bi-‘llah). ‘Abbasid caliph (r.842-847). His reign was marked by troubles caused by an alleged descendant of the Umayyads, named Abu Harb, usually called al-Mubarqa’. He also had to send the general Bugha al-Kabir to Medina in order to subdue the rebellious Bedouins around the town. The Kharijites and the Kurds were also causing trouble, al-Wathiq was an ardent Mu‘tazili.
Abu Ja‘far Harun al-Wathiq bi-‘llah see Wathiq bi-‘llah, Abu Ja‘far Harun al-
Wattasids (Wattassids) (Waṭāsīyūn) (Banu Wattas) (Banu Watas). Moroccan dynasty (r.1428-1547 [1554?]). In the thirteenth century, the Banu Wattas established themselves in the Rif of eastern Morocco. They became practically independent rulers when their relatives, the Marinids (Merinids), had replaced the Almohads. Their history is at first linked with that of the Marinids and afterwards closely connected with the Christian attempts to conquer territory in Morocco and with the accession of the Sa‘di Sharifs. The descendants of a branch of the nomadic Zanata on the northern edge of the Sahara, who settled in eastern Morocco and the Rif from the 13th century. Having come to prominence under their relatives, the Merinids, as viziers and governors they took over the regency for the Merinid child sultans (r. 1358-1374 and 1393-1458).
The founder of the dynasty Abu Zakariyya’ Yahya (r. 1428-1448) took control of Morocco as vizier after it had lapsed into anarchy following the assassination of the Marinid Abu Sa‘id ‘Uthman III (r. 1399-1420). He fought successfully the Portuguese who had landed on the Moroccan coasts. His son ‘Ali, however, could not prevent the fall of al-Qasr al-Saghir, and the third Wattasid vizier, Yahya, was assassinated in 1458 with most of his family. All but two brothers were slaughtered during the massacre. The last Marinid ruler Abu Muhammad ‘Abd al-Haqq II (r.1428-1465) then tried to govern directly, but he was killed in 1465. The surviving Wattasid Muhammad al-Sheikh al-Mahdi (Muhammad I al-Shaykh) (r.1472-1505), in Arzila since 1465, from his base there seized power in Fez in 1472 and installed his family’s rule.
In 1472, the Wattasid Muhammad I al-Shaykh was able to take Fez, now under Idrisid government, and was proclaimed sultan. His successors, Muhammad al-Burtugali (r. 1505-1524) and Abu’l-Abbas Ahmad (r. 1524-1550), had to struggle against the invading Portuguese and Spanish, to whom they lost broad coastal territories, and also against the advancing Sadites in the south. The last Wattasid ruler fell in 1554 during the fight against the Sadites.
The Wattassids were an Amazigh dynasty of Morocco. They followed the Marinids and were followed by the Saadis.
Like the Marinids, they were of Berber Zenata descent. The two families were related, and the Marinids recruited many viziers from the Wattasids. These viziers assumed the powers of the Sultans, seizing power when the last Marinid, Abu Muhammad Abd al-Haqq, who had massacred many of the Wattasids in 1459, was murdered during a popular revolt in Fez in 1465.
Abu Abd Allah al-Sheikh Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Mahdi was the first Wattasid Sultan, but controlled only the northern part of Morocco as the Wattasid sultanate, the south being dominated by the Saadi dynasty.
The Wattasids were finally replaced by the Saadis in 1554.
The Wattasid viziers were:
* 1420-1448 : Abu Zakariya Yahya
* 1448-1458 : Ali ibn Yusuf
* 1458-1459 : Yahya ibn Abi Zakariya Yahya
The Wattasid sultans were:
* 1472-1504 : Abu Abd Allah al-Sheikh Muhammad ibn Yahya
* 1504-1526 : Abu Abd Allah al-Burtuqali Muhammad ibn Muhammad
* 1526-1526 : Abu al-Hasan Abu Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad
* 1526-1545 : Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad
* 1545-1547 : Nasir ad-Din al-Qasri Muhammad ibn Ahmad
* 1547-1549 : Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad
* 1554-1554 : Abu al-Hasan Abu Hasun Ali ibn Muhammad
Banu Wattas see Wattasids
Waṭāsīyūn see Wattasids
Wattassids see Wattasids
Banu Watas see Wattasids
Watwat, Rashid al-Din (Rashid al-Din Watwat) (Rashid al-Din Vatvat) (Rashid al-Din Muhammad Umar-i Vatvāt) (d. 1182). Persian poet. He left a Persian translation of the 100 sayings of ‘Ali, and a treatise on rhetoric.
Rashid al-Din Muhammad Umar-i Vatvāt was a 12th century royal panegyrist and epistolographer of Persia.
Serving at the court of Khwarazmshah Kings, he is not to be mistaken for a later physician by the name Amin al-Din Rashid al-Din Vatvat.
He also composed qasidehs, but his rhetorical work Hadā'iq 'us-sihr ("The Gardens of Magic") is in prose.
Rashid al-Din Watwat see Watwat, Rashid al-Din
Rashid al-Din Muhammad Umar-i Vatvāt see Watwat, Rashid al-Din
Rashid al-Din Vatvat see Watwat, Rashid al-Din
Wayto (Weyto). The Wayto of Lake Tana in north central Ethiopia are one of the rare remnants of the pre-agricultural African peoples (hunters, gatherers and fishermen) and constitute one of the few instances in the world of Muslim hunters. They live in scattered settlements on the Tana shore and dispersed among Amhara peoples further inland. Wayto in both locations may total as many as 2,000, but they are constantly “passing” and disappearing into the society of the Amhara peoples, the dominant people of Ethiopia. They spoke their own indigenous language and possessed an aboriginal religion in the late eighteenth century, but since at least the mid-nineteenth century the Wayto speak only Amharic (an Ethno-Semitic language) and profess to be Muslims.
The Weyto people were a group of hippopotamus hunters who once spoke the Weyto language. They lived in Ethiopia near Lake Tana. They were never a large community, but they were not always endangered. Their language is now an extinct language. Ninety-three percent (93%) of these people speak Amharic, the dominating language. Since Weyto has been extinct for quite some time, it is little known and considered an unclassified language.
Weyto see Wayto
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