'History of the imâms and seyyids of 'Omân by Salîl-ibn-Razîk, from A.D. 661-1856; translated from the original Arabic, and edited with notes, appendices, and an introduction, continuing the history down to 1870, by George Percy Badger, F.R.G.S., late chaplain in the Presidency of Bombay.' [‎245] (406/612)

SALIM-BIN-SULTAN.
245
from their doctrines, whereby also they virtually legalized
the murder of the Muwdhhidin, 1 the despoiling of the peo
ple of the Kiblah 2 of their property, the marriage of their
wives without divorce, 3 and the enslavement of their chil
dren. 1 Salim listened without speaking, but after the
discussion respecting the Wahhabis—those people of dark
ness and tyranny—had continued a long time, he said :
" Sheikhs, I am disposed to visit the learned sheikh Mu
hammad-ez-Zuwany, el-Hasay, esh-Shafay, who, as you
know, has been driven from his home to our country and
distinction in a creature, is an invasion of the all-absorbing rights of the
Creator; and neither place nor title can avail when the beast and arch
angel, heaven and hell, are all the same before the unmoved and inacces
sible One. That Mahomet had thus thought and acted accordingly
whenever these heretical deviations came under his notice, the son of
'Abd-el-Wahhab well knew ; and he very fairly inferred that he would
have looked upon with equal abhorrence, and treated with no less rigour,
the analogous corruptions and overlayings of later times." Central and
Eastern Arabia, vol. i. pp. 365, 370. The thoughtful pages from which
thc«e extracts are quoted deserve to be carefully studied by all who
would understand the leading doctrine of Islam, and what Muhammad-
ibn-'Abdu-'l-Wahhab undertook when he formed the project of re
placing this its " neglected keystone, and with it and by it reconstruct
ing the broken fabric." Imbued with these views respecting the Unity of
God, his followers were strictly consistent in charging with Tashrtk all
Muslims who had adopted theories or practices incompatible therewith,
notwithstanding that they denied all plurality in the Godhead by an un
swerving adherence to the formula. La ildh ilia Allah.
1 Muwahhidtn, those who affirm the Unity (of God).
2 That is, Muslims, who turn towards the Kiblah, meaning Mekkah,
when engaged in religious worship.
3 That is to say, without being first divorced a third time from their
husbands. Such is the law of the Kuran:—" Ye may divorce your
wives twice, and then either retain them with humanity or dismiss them
with kindness....But if the husband divorce her a third time, she shall
not be lawful to him again until she marry another husband. But if he
also divorce her, it shall be no crime in them if they return to each
other." SArat-el-Bdkarah, (ii.) 229, 230.
4 All these acts were legitimate on the part of the Wahhabis, as
orthodox Muslims, towards all others whom they chose to regard as
Mushriktn, or Polytheists, whether Muslims, Christians, Jews, or Pagans.