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Untitled Article
Burckhardt * * Account of the IFahahees .
WE have frequently referred in the progress of our work to the sect of Mahometans in Arabia ., who have assumed the character of Reformers of their religion ; and we judge that our readers will be pleased
with the further description of them m the following paper taken from the Christian Examiner , an American publication , for Sept . and Oct . 1824 . We preserve the introduction of the Editor of that work , both on accoiuit
of its containing a history of this literary article and of its suggesting so just and liberal a sentiment with regard to the limits of national hostilities . Ed .
Religion of the Wahabees . [ The Wahabees are a sect of Mohammedans , which has sprung up in recent times , and made great progress in Arabia . The following extract is from a letter written by the celebrated traveller , Burckhardt , at Cairo , in the
year 18 J 2 , and lateJy published in the Atlantick Magazine , at New York . The letter was directed to Sir Joseph Banks , and was found oa board a vessel taken by one of our privateers in 1813 . The letter , and the notes
accompanying it , are curious ; and the only regret that can be felt by the American reader is , that documents of such a character should not have been transmitted immediately to their proper destination . The sanctuary of science and knowledge should be sacred even against the intrusions of
war . It will be seen by the extract that these Wahabees are a kind of reformers of the Mohammedan faith . They beg ' m to reason , and discuss , and to ask the grounds of their belief . It will be seen , moreover , that such bold innovations have been met much in
the same way , as the same propensities among Christians have been met by their brethren . The adherents to the old faith resist inquiry , endeavour to suppress controversy . By these HfhoJesotne restrictions , and
circulating exaggerated accounts of the heresy of the rising party , they hope to stop the current of Reformation , audi save themselves the trouble of
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answering questions or of giving & reason . The people , of whom Burckhard t is here speaking , are called Bedouin Arabs , and inhabit the country east ^ nd south of Palestine , and particularly those regions where the Israelites sojourned forty years in their wanderings from Egypt to the Holy Land . ]
" Abd el Aryz , father of Ihn el Saoud the present chief of the Wahabees , had sent summonses all over the Mohammedan world , to engage the people to join his creed . Some of his missionaries were arrested by tlie Shah of Persia , while others penetrated to the shores of the Atlantick
The Moggribeen Olemas entered into discussion with him , which gave origin to several written dissertations of both sides . The principal points in dispute are ; 1 st , The Wahabees denial of Mohammed ' s stilL living invisibly
among the followers of his faith ; 2 nd , Of his being able to intercede at the Almighty ' s throne , in favour of the departed souls of the faithful ; 3 d , Their irreverence for the saints in general , and for their influence in
heaven , which they demonstrate by demolishing all the chapels constructed in honour of them ; 4 th , Their like sentiments with regard to the companions and followers of Mohammed ;
5 th , Their severity of discipline ; 6 th , Their refusing any authority to tradition , or Pladyth , as related of the companions of Mohammed . The champions of the established Turkish faith answer , and pretend that Mohammed is still alive - that he hears the
prayers addressed to him by the faithful , and grants them us much as is in his power , partly by the faculties he himself possesses of working miracles and partly by hi $ applications to the Deity . The saints , indeed , they say , were but mortals , and no more ; l > ut their virtues have entitled them to the
favour of the Almighty , which they are at liberty to invoke , and often to obtain for " those earthly inhabitants and faithful Mouslirws , who devoutly pray ut their tombs . The sajnc is the case with the companions of fyluharnmed , for which ijt 19 the duly <>* all the foitWfci to . pray ; therefore W Turks seldom mention the nmm <>' the propk&t , without adding prayers for his family , aa 4 hip compmwns ;
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414 . « Bwt / cKh * rdp& Account of the Wahabee * .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1825, page 414, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2538/page/30/
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