Hashimite depictions of Wahhabi Islam as a rhetorical front in the late Ottoman period

Abstract

This article frames the late-Ottoman Hashimite-Sacudi rivalry in the Arabian Peninsula as an ideological struggle in terms of competing notions of Islamic modernity and civilisation. I analyse how the Hashimite dynasty in Mecca leveraged Ottoman-era ideas of Islamic civilisation against Al-Sacud during the late Ottoman period and into the 1916–1918 Revolt. Hashimite figures like Husayn and his sons portrayed Wahhabism as antithetical to modern Islamic civilisation to critique the Sacudi family and their allies. They characterised Wahhabism as extreme with its adherents composed of nomadic populations whose fanaticism set them apart from settled, moderate, and ‘civilised’ societies. These distortions reflected a rhetorical front within a global debate over Islamic civilisation that the Hashimites intended to centre themselves as leaders. However, there existed different models of Islamic civilisation, particularly ones in which tribesmen of the Arabian Peninsula were its key agents. Ultimately, these alternative models weakened Hashimite claims that they represented the exclusive civilising force in the Arabian Peninsula and perhaps strengthened the appeal of other Arab leaders like the Sacudis.