s dominion and that of
the reformed faith far beyond the limits of Nejd. His attacks on the
pilgrim caravans, begun in 1783 and constantly repeated, startled the
Mahommedan world,[2] and compelled the attention of the sultan, as the
nominal protector of the faithful. In 1798 a Turkish force was sent from
Bagdad into El Hasa, but was compelled to retreat without accomplishing
anything, and its discomfiture added much to the renown of the Wahhabi
power. In 1801 Saud, son of the amir Abdul Aziz, led an expedition to
the Euphrates, and on the festival of Bairam, the 20th of April, stormed
Kerbela, put the defenders to the sword, destroyed the sacred tomb,
scattered the sacred relics and returned laden with the treasures,
accumulated during centuries in the sanctuary of the Shia faith. Mecca
itself was taken; plundering was forbidden, but the tombs of the saints
and all objects of veneration were ruthlessly destroyed, and all
ceremonies which seemed in the eye of the stern puritan conqueror to
suggest the taint of idolatry were forbidden.

On the 14th of October 1802 the amir Abdul Aziz, at the age of
eighty-two years, was murdered by a Shia fanatic when at prayers in the
mosque of Deraiya, and Saud, who had for many years led the Wahhabi
armies, became the reigning amir. In 1804 Medina was taken and with its
fall all resistance ceased. The Wahhabi empire had now attained its
zenith, a settled government was established able to enforce law and
order in the desert and in the towns, and a spirit of Arabian
nationality had grown up which bade fair to extend the Wahhabi dominion
over all the Arab race. It already, however, bore within it the germ of
decay; the accumulation of treasure in the capital had led to a
corruption of the simple manners of the earlier times; the exhaustion of
the tribes through the heavy blood tax had roused discontent among them;
the plundering of the holy places, the attacks on the pilgrim caravans
under the escort of Turkish soldiers, and finally, in 1810, the
desecration of the tomb of Mahomet and the removal of its costly
treasures, raised a cry of dismay throughout the Mahommedan world, and
made it clear even to the Turkish sultan that unless the Wahhabi power
were crushed his claims to the caliphate were at an end.

But Turkey was herself fully occupied by affairs in Europe, and to
Mehemet Ali, then pasha of Egypt, was deputed the task of bringing the
Wahhabis into subjection. In October 1811 an