son of Abdul Wahháb first realized how far the rigid lines of Islám had been stretched, almost to breaking, in the endeavour to adapt its stern principles to the superstitions of idolatrous Arabia. He accompanied his father to Harimala, and, after his father's death, he returned to his native village of Ayína, where he assumed the position of a religious teacher. His teachings met with acceptance, and he soon acquired so great an influence over the people of those parts that the Governor of Hassa compelled him to leave the district, and the reformer found a friendly asylum in Deraiah, under the protection of Muhammad-ibn-Saud, a chief of considerable influence, who made the protection of Ibn-Abdul-Wahháb a pretext for a war with the Shekh of Hassa. Ibn Saud married the daughter of Ibn-Abdul-Wahháb, and established in his family the Wahhábí dynasty, which, after a chequered existence of more than a hundred years, still exists in the person of the Wahhábí chief at Ryadh.[1]
- ↑ The following are the names of the Wahhábí chiefs, from the establishment of the dynasty:—Muhammad-ibn-Saud, died A.D. 1765; Abdul-Azíz, assassinated 1803;
