al-Mar'a fi Hayat Imam al-Da'wa al-Shaykh Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab (Matbu' dimn Buhuth Nadwat Da'wat al-Shaykh Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab, al-Juz al-Awwal)
- Author died
- 1421 AH
- Editions
- عمادة البحث العلمي بجامعة الإمام محمد بن سعود الإسلامية
al-Mar'a fi Hayat Imam al-Da'wa al-Shaykh Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab (Women in the Life of the Imam of the Call, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab) is a historical treatise by the Saudi historian and genealogist Hamad al-Jasir (d. 1421 AH / 2000 CE), examining the female figures connected to the reformer Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and their roles in the early Saudi-Wahhabi movement .
Context and Purpose
The treatise was originally prepared as a research paper submitted to the "Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Week" symposium organized by Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in late Rabi' al-Thani 1400 AH (1980 CE), and was later published in the first volume of the conference proceedings (Buhuth Nadwat Da'wat al-Shaykh Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab) .
Al-Jasir notes in his introduction that traditional Najdi chroniclers focused almost exclusively on doctrinal reform, theology, and military expeditions, leaving familial, genealogical, and social dimensions of early Wahhabi history largely unexamined . He also emphasizes that defending women's legal rights formed a core element of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's reform, citing his strong condemnation of customary stratagems regarding endowments and bequests designed to disinherit women and female lineages .
Scope and Contents
The work reconstructs biographical and historical data on prominent women associated with the Shaykh and his era:
- Mawdi bint Watban: The wife of the ruler of al-Dir'iyya, Muhammad ibn Saud. Al-Jasir identifies her lineage from Al Kathir of Al Fadl (from the tribe of Tayy) and details her crucial historical role upon Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's arrival in al-Dir'iyya in 1157 AH, when she persuaded her husband to grant the Shaykh sanctuary and political protection .
- The Daughter of Muhammad ibn Saud: An evaluation of dialectal poetry attributed to an unnamed daughter of Muhammad ibn Saud urging resistance against the raids of Uthman ibn Mu'ammar, which al-Jasir subjects to historical and linguistic scrutiny regarding northern versus central Najdi dialect features . He also outlines the matrimonial alliances between the House of Muqrin (Al Saud) and the rulers of Al Mu'ammar .
- The Mother of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab: Sourced primarily from Abdullah ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Bassam's biographical accounts, tracing her maternal family to Al 'Izzaz from the Musharraf branch of Banu Tamim, and mentioning her brother Shaykh Sayf ibn Muhammad ibn 'Izzaz (d. 1129 AH) .
- Al-Jawhara bint Abd Allah ibn Mu'ammar: The Shaykh's wife in al-Uyayna and the paternal aunt of its ruler, Uthman ibn Mu'ammar . Al-Jasir documents her granting of safe passage to Muhammad ibn Saud in 1139 AH after the ambush of Zayd ibn Markhan, as well as her role in strengthening the initial alliance between the Shaykh and Uthman ibn Mu'ammar . This section includes a critical historical digression analyzing the geopolitical pressures on Uthman from the ruler of al-Ahsa, Sulayman ibn Muhammad of Banu Khalid, which ultimately led to the Shaykh's expulsion and Uthman's subsequent assassination in 1163 AH .
- The Daughters of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab: Relying on the Yemeni historian Lutf Allah ibn Ahmad Jahhaf's Durar Nuhur al-Hur al-'In, al-Jasir records that the Shaykh had two daughters, named Sha'i'a and Haya . One daughter married Imam Abd al-Aziz ibn Muhammad ibn Saud . The other married the judge Hamad ibn Ibrahim ibn Hamad (d. 1194 AH), with whom she bore the judge and diplomat Abd al-Aziz ibn Hamad and Ibrahim ibn Hamad, and after Hamad's death she married the scholar Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Gharib (killed in al-Dir'iyya in 1208 AH) .
To contextualize the public agency of women in the era, the text also mentions figures outside the immediate family circle who engaged in military and political defense, such as Ghalya al-Baqmiyya during the Battle of Turaba (1229 AH) and Lu'lu'a bint Abd al-Rahman Al Arfaj in al-Qasim .
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