The Wahhabism. Religion as a legitimate element of the political power in Saudi Arabia, 1744–1932

Abstract

Religion, more specifically the revival current of the Sunni cleric Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, played a major role in shaping the Saudi state between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. The alliance established between the Al Saud´s and Abd al-Wahhab allowed to reach to this dynasty the legitimacy necessary to unify to the different tribes that populated Central Arabia in XVIII century. Thanks to the intimate union between religion and politics, Wahhabi doctrine achieved the exclusiveness of religious indoctrination of Nayd´s population, and the Al Saud´s political leadership in the goal of becoming a unified state in the Arabian Peninsula.