i The Wahhabis Seen through European Eyes (1772–1830) © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi 10.1163/9789004276338_001 ii The History of Oriental Studies Editors Alastair Hamilton (University of London) Jan Loop (University of Kent) Thomas Burman (University of Tennessee) Advisory Board Charles Burnett (London) – Bernard Heyberger (Paris) Noel Malcolm (Oxford) – Jan Schmidt (Leiden) Francis Richard (Paris) – Arnoud Vrolijk (Leiden) Joanna Weinberg (Oxford) VOLUME 1 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/hos iii The Wahhabis Seen through European Eyes (1772–1830) Deists and Puritans of Islam By Giovanni Bonacina LEIDEN | BOSTON iv Originally published as Eretici e riformatori d’Arabia. I wahhâbiti in prospettiva europea 1772-1830. ©2011 by Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane s.p.a. Cover illustration: Ibrahim Pasha fighting the Wahhabis, Arabia, 1816–1818. Artist: Jean Adolphe Beaucé (from: E. Gouin, L’Égypte au XIXe siècle, Boizard, Paris, 1847, p. 296). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bonacina, Giovanni, 1961- [Eretici e riformatori d’Arabia. English] The Wahhabis seen through European eyes (1772-1830) : deists and Puritans of Islam / by Giovanni Bonacina. pages cm. -- (The history of Oriental studies, ISSN 2405-4488 ; volume 1) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-29301-4 (hardback : acid-free paper) -- ISBN 978-90-04-29328-1 (e-book) 1. Wahhabiyah-- Public opinion--History. 2. Public opinion--Europe--History--18th century. 3. Public opinion--Europe-- History--19th century. 4. Europe--Intellectual life--18th century. 5. Europe--Intellectual life--19th century. I. Title. BP195.W2B6613 2015 297.8’14--dc23 2015003500 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 2405-4488 isbn 978-90-04-29301-4 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-29328-1 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. v In memory of Anita Fusari, my mother ⸪ vi Chapter 1 12 Contents Contents vii Preface ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1 12 A Deistic Revolution in Arabia 12 1 Niebuhr: A New Religion in Najd 12 2 Grounds for Niebuhr’s Impressions and their Early Circulation 20 3 Volney: A Great Political and Religious Revolution in Asia 28 4 Olivier: Wandering Wahhabis and Persian Pilgrims 35 5 Browne: A Najd Rebel 40 Chapter 2 47 Literary Disputes and Colonial Aims 47 1 Silvestre de Sacy: A Hypothesis of Continuity of the Qarmatians 47 2 Rousseau: A Reforming Sheikh of Mohammedanism 53 3 Corancez: The Cult of the Koran in its Original Simplicity 64 4 Rousseau, Corancez and their Sources 73 5 Waring: The Fractured Foundation Stone 86 6 Valentia and Other English Voices: The Din of Hostile Arms at Mecca 94 Chapter 3 108 Muslim “Puritans” 108 1 Seetzen before the Emir of Wuhabisten 108 2 Badía y Leblich: A Swarm of Bees Round the Kaaba 121 3 European Testimonies of the Redemption of Mecca 136 4 Wahhabi Hostages in Cairo: Mengin’s “Précis” 148 5 Burckhardt: Materials for a History of the Wahhabis 159 6 Burckhardt: Arabia from Puritanism to Infidel Indifference 168 Conclusion 184 Bibliography 199 Index 226 Contents Contents vii Contents Preface ix Introduction 1 1 A Deistic Revolution in Arabia 12 1 Niebuhr: A New Religion in Najd 12 2 Grounds for Niebuhr’s Impressions and their Early Circulation 20 3 Volney: A Great Political and Religious Revolution in Asia 28 4 Olivier: Wandering Wahhabis and Persian Pilgrims 35 5 Browne: A Najd Rebel 40 2 Literary Disputes and Colonial Sights 47 1 Silvestre de Sacy: A Hypothesis of Continuity of the Qarmatians 47 2 Rousseau: A Reforming Sheik of Mohammedanism 53 3 Corancez: The Cult of the Koran in its Original Simplicity 64 4 Rousseau, Corancez and their Sources 73 5 Waring: The Fractured Foundation Stone 86 6 Valentia and other English Voices: The Din of Hostile Arms at Mecca 94 3 Muslim “Puritans” 108 1 Seetzen before the Emir of Wuhabisten 108 2 Badia y Leblich: A Swarm of Bees Round the Kaaba 121 3 European Testimonies of the Redemption of Mecca 136 4 Wahhabi Hostages in Cairo: Mengin’s “Précis” 148 5 Burckhardt: Materials for a History of the Wahhabis 159 6 Burckhardt: Arabia from Puritanism to Infidel Indifference 168 Conclusion 184 Bibliography 199 Index 226 viii Contents Preface Preface ix Preface This book has its origins in my long familiarity with the works of the nine- teenth-century German geographer Carl Ritter and his influence on Hegel’s concept of world history. I read the two great volumes dating from 1846–47 which Ritter devoted to the geography and ethnography of the Arabian penin- sula, while his Erdkunde provided a wealth of references to the earlier Euro- pean literature, characteristically also on the Wahhabi movement. My eagerness to study the subject in greater depth was thus aroused by a desire to complete and correct Ritter’s material. Although extremely well-informed for the time, it is now no more than a comprehensive repository of what was known on the subject at that moment. The present study is intended to enrich and transform that repository, thereby creating an intelligible and cohesive ac- count of the gradual acquisition of information and the first formulation and rectification of concepts and prejudices surrounding the Wahhabis. Very dif- ferent events have now brought the movement to public notice, to that not only of specialists but also of those who were unaware of the two hundred years of Wahhabi history and its impact on European views of Islam. With the aid of recent scholarly publications – the works of Michael A. Cook, Esther Peskes, George S. Rentz and Alexei Vassiliev have proved invaluable – and within the limits of my linguistic competence, I have tried to establish and communicate to the reader the critical distance necessary when examining those past texts juxtaposed to our more advanced knowledge. This now also includes nineteenth-century Arabic chronicles (by Ibn Ghannam and Ibn Bishr) which were unavailable to early eye-witnesses and writers. Acquain- tance with the later history of the Wahhabi movement, and its key contribu- tion to the creation of the present unified kingdom of Saʿudi Arabia, naturally constitute a backdrop against which to study the small group of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European observers and critics. They actually saw the original nucleus, the rudimentary political structure usually defined by pres- ent-day historiography as the First Saʿudi State, which lasted from about 1745 to 1818. Every effort has been made to avoid imputing our own notions to men from a different period with very different preoccupations. I have tried not to apportion blame in the name of our own critical preconceptions to any real or supposed ideology of theirs, while making no attempt to conceal their in- evitably partial, albeit instructive, points of view and the unsuitability of some of their interpretative categories. There remained two gaps to be bridged: one between those European observers of the past and the object of their x Preface observation, their acquaintance with which matured slowly and only approxi- mately; and the other between the observers and ourselves, since we can no longer presume to identify with them at first hand. Readers will decide for themselves how far this book succeeds in meeting such demands. Now that this book is completed I wish to thank in particular Professors Alastair Hamilton of the Warburg Institute in London and Giuseppe Ricupera- ti of the University of Turin, the two main advocates of this undertaking; Mau- rits van den Boogert at Brill; Jan Loop (University of Kent) and Thomas E. Burman (University of Tennessee), the two co-editors of this series; Massimo Campanini (University of Trent), Rolando Minuti (University of Florence), and Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti (University of Rome, “La Sapienza”) for their ap- preciation of my earlier work (Eretici e riformatori d’Arabia. I wahhâbiti in pro- spettiva europea 1772–1830, E.S.I., Neaples, 2011); Natana DeLong-Bas (Boston College), Sabine Mangold (Bergische Universität Wüppertal), Tilman Nagel (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen), Esther Peskes (Friedrich-Wilhelms- Universität Bonn), and Uwe Pfullmann (Gornsdorf/E.) for their encourage- ment; Stefano Poggi (University of Florence) for persuading me to read Ritter’s Geography in greater detail; and, finally, Angela Gibbon (University of Urbino) for her invaluable help with the translation. My gratitude is also due to the staff and facilities of the Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göt- tingen, my favourite place of study for many summers. My bibliography is lim- ited to the texts actually consulted and cited, without any claim to completeness or to the inclusion of the more far-reaching theme of the manifold modern analogies of Islam with Deism or with Protestant movements which have no direct bearing on the Wahhabis. IntroductionIntroduction 1 Introduction The prevalent impression among writers and travellers who have made us acquainted with the progress of the Wahaby power, has been to con- sider it as openly hostile to, and threatening the downfall of, the Mussul- man faith.