Wahhabism is named after an eighteenth-century preacher and scholar,
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792).
[16] He started a
revivalist movement in the remote, sparsely populated region of
Najd,
[17] advocating a purging of practices such as the popular "cult of saints", and shrine and tomb visitation, widespread among
Muslims, but which he considered
idolatry, impurities and innovations in
Islam.
[5][18]Eventually he formed a pact with a local leader
Muhammad bin Saud offering political obedience and promising that protection and propagation of the Wahhabi movement would mean "power and glory" and rule of "lands and men."
[19] The movement is centered on the principle of tawhid,
[20] or the "uniqueness" and "unity" of
God.
[18] The movement also draws from the teachings of medieval theologian
Ibn Taymiyyahand early jurist
Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
[21]
