THE WAHHABIS NEWCOMERS TO THE BALKANS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54561/prj0101205pKeywords:
Wahhabism, Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhad, Saudi Arabia, Salafism, Islamism, religious conflictsAbstract
Tensions among Moslems and incidents at Serbian city of Novi Pazar force us to pose the question, once again, who are in fact the Wahhabis. Wahhabism is infl uential religious movement within Sunni denomination, which requests Moslems to return to the Islamic principles and practice, as typified by Prophet Mohammad and Pious Predecessors (Salaf as Salih) of first three Moslem generations. According to Wahhabis’ views, the original Islamic teachings should be purified from any innovation, revision, deviations or polytheism, which gradually made the Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad Sunna vague in previous centuries. The founder of Wahhabi movement, Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab (1703- 1792), claimed that Moslems from Arabia, the cradle of Islam, were obliged to confront foreign infl uences, primarily those one stemming from the Persian (Shia) and Turkish (Sufi ) deviations of true Islamic faith.