Abdullah bin Muhammad Al Sheikh (1751–1829) was a Muslim scholar who served as the head of the judicial system during the First Saudi State, also known as the

Emirate of Diriyah The first Saudi state (), officially the Emirate of Diriyah (), was established in 1744, when the emir of a Najdi town called Diriyah, Muhammad I, and the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab signed a pact to found a socio-religious ...

. He was a son of

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Sulaymān al-Tamīmī (1703–1792) was a Sunni Muslim scholar, theologian, preacher, activist, religious leader, jurist, and reformer, who was from Najd in Arabian Peninsula and is considered as the eponymo ...

, who was credited with introducing the Salafiyyah form of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. Abdullah developed the

doctrine Doctrine (from , meaning 'teaching, instruction') is a codification (law), codification of beliefs or a body of teacher, teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a ...

of this religious belief. David Commins, an American scholar on Wahhabism, argues that Abdullah was the most significant son of Muhammad.

Early life and career

Abdullah bin Muhammad was born in

Diriyah Diriyah (; formerly romanization of Arabic, romanized as Dereyeh and Dariyya) is a towns in Saudi Arabia, town and governorate in Saudi Arabia. Located on the northwestern outskirts of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Diriyah was the original home of t ...

in 1751 as one of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's four sons, founder of Wahhabism. He was raised in Diriyah and educated by his father on the topics of the Islamic schools of law,

legal theory Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

, Quranic commentary, philology and

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

tradition. Together with his brothers, Husayn, Ali and Ibrahim, Abdullah established a religious school close to their home in Diriyah and taught the young students from Yemen, Oman, Najd and other parts of Arabia at their majlis, including Husayn Ibn Abu Bakr Ibn Ghannam, a well-known Hanbali-Wahhabi scholar who was a

Maliki The Maliki school or Malikism is one of the four major madhhab, schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas () in the 8th century. In contrast to the Ahl al-Hadith and Ahl al-Ra'y schools of thought, the ...

scholar from Al Ahsa before he had come Najd. Following the death of his father, his brother Husayn succeeded him as the head of the judicial system of the Emirate. Abdullah replaced Husayn in the post in 1809 when he died. Abdullah served as chief qadi and grand mufti during the reign of three successive emirs,

Abdulaziz Abdulaziz (; ; 8 February 18304 June 1876) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was overthrown in a government coup. He was a son of Sultan Mahmud II and succeeded his brother Abdulmejid I in 1861. Ab ...

, Saud and Abdullah. In this capacity he assigned the religious teachers and qadis in the Emirate. Abdullah supported the attacks against

Shiites Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

Karbala Karbala is a major city in central Iraq. It is the capital of Karbala Governorate. With an estimated population of 691,100 people in 2024, Karbala is the second largest city in central Iraq, after Baghdad. The city is located about southwest ...

in 1802 and had writings against their views. As his father Abdullah described the religious views of Shiites and Zaydis as deviance from Islam. In 1806 he accompanied Emir Saud when Mecca was captured and initiated Wahhabi propaganda in the city. Abdullah's fatwas that were issued following the incident are the earliest formulation of

Hanbali The Hanbali school or Hanbalism is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence, belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It is named after and based on the teachings of the 9th-century scholar, jurist and tradit ...

-Wahhabi doctrine which became the routine ideology of this religious approach. One of Abdullah's works was the biography of the Muslim

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

Personal life and death

One of Abdullah's sons was

Suleiman Suleiman (; or dictionary.reference.comsuleiman/ref>) is the Arabic name of the Jewish and Quranic king and Islam, Islamic prophet Solomon (name), Solomon. Suleiman the Magnificent (1494–1566) was the longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman E ...

(1785–1818), who was a significant Wahhabi ulema and the author of ''al Dalail fi Hukm Muwalat Ahl al Ishrak'' (). The others were Abdul Rahman and Ali the latter of whom was murdered during the capture of Diriyah by the Egyptian forces led by Ibrahim Pasha in September 1818. In the same incident Abdullah bin Muhammad and his son Abdul Rahman were sent to Cairo together with his relatives and the members of the

Al Saud The House of Saud ( ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi State, (1727–1818), and his brothers, though the ruling fac ...

family. He died there in 1829.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheikh, Abdullah Muhammad 18th-century Muslim scholars of Islam 19th-century Muslim scholars of Islam 1751 births 1829 deaths Chief Qadis of Emirate of Dir'iyah Arab Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Saudi Arabian expatriates in Egypt Saudi Arabian Wahhabis