to the
Indian mutiny, and permanently fanaticized Afghanistan and the wild
tribes of the Indian North-West Frontier.[7] It was during these years
that the famous Seyid Mahommed ben Sennussi came from his Algerian home
to Mecca and there imbibed those Wahabi principles which led to the
founding of the great Pan-Islamic fraternity that bears his name. Even
the Babbist movement in Persia, far removed though it was doctrinally
from Wahabi teaching, was indubitably a secondary reflex of the Wahabi
urge.[8] In fact, within a generation, the strictly Wahabi movement had
broadened into the larger development known as the Mohammedan Revival,
and this in turn was developing numerous phases, chief among them being
the movement usually termed Pan-Islamism. That movement, particularly on
its political side, I shall treat in the next chapter. At present let
us examine the other aspects of the Mohammedan Revival, with special
reference to its religious and cultural phases.

The Wahabi movement was a strictly puritan reformation. Its aim was the
reform of abuses, the abolition of superstitious practices, and a return
to primitive Islam. All later accretions--the writings and
interpretations of the mediaeval theologians, ceremonial or mystical
innovations, saint worship, in fact every sort of change, were
condemned. The austere monotheism of Mohammed was preached in all its
uncompromising simplicity, and the Koran, literally interpreted, was
taken as the sole guide for human action. This doctrinal simplification
was accompanied by a most rigid code of morals. The prayers, fastings,
and other practices enjoined by Mohammed were scrupulously observed. The
most austere manner of living was enforced. Silken clothing, rich food,
wine, opium, tobacco, coffee, and all other indulgences were sternly
proscribed. Even religious architecture was practically tabooed, the
Wahabis pulling down the Prophet's tomb at Medina and demolishing the
minarets of mosques as godless innovations. The Wahabis were thus,
despite their moral earnestness, excessively narrow-minded, and it was
very fortunate for Islam that they soon lost their political power and
were compelled thenceforth to confine their efforts to moral teaching.

Many critics of Islam point to the Wahabi movement as a proof that Islam
is essentially retrograde and innately incapable of evolutionary
development. These criticisms, however, appear to be unwarranted. The
initial stage of every reli