Diriyah near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

 

Diriyah (الدِرْعِيّة) is an important site for Saudi Arabia [1], as it is the original home of the House of Saud and was also the capital from 1727 to 1818, during the first Saudi state. The city is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also the birthplace of Wahhabism, which became associated with the House of Saud, which is why I need to talk a little about Wahhabism here. I hesitated somewhat before writing this article because, although I had read some articles about it, I felt it wasn't enough and did some further reading, especially in a German book by Martin Pabst, "Understanding Saudi Arabia" [2]. Diriyah (Dirʿiyya) is a suburb of Riyadh (الرياض) with just over 61,000 inhabitants. The original settlement of low mud-brick buildings lies directly on the Wadi Hanifa and is now an open-air museum. Behind these buildings, on a hillcock, sits the Salwa Palace (قصر سلوى), which is open to visitors. There are also exhibitions there.

The afternoon traffic from Riyadh made the drive to Diriyah longer than expected. I was particularly interested in the Saudi visitors. I would have placed them in the upper middle class. I saw children aged 1½ to 2 years with their own tablets in strollers; I've never seen that anywhere else. The children were already using the tablets, and by that I mean they weren't just looking at pictures. Unlike in the city center, where I had also seen women without headscarves, here most women wore headscarves and quite a lot also wore a niqab. We arrived after sunset, but that was fine because of the atmosphere and a light show. The Veterinary Museum had caught my eye. Only cell phone photography was allowed. I never understood the logic behind that. But it was less noticeable that way, since I sometimes showed interest in the visitors and not just the place itself.

Wahhabism is characterized by puritanical piety and incorporates certain points from the Hanbalist school of thought; this school traces its origins to the jurist Ahmed ibn Hanbal (780-855), who worked in Basra and Baghdad. Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792) considered the Shiites to be apostates, and Muslims should also keep distance from Jews, Christians, and other non-Muslims. His major work is titled Kitab at-Tawhid (كتاب التوحيد / Book of One God Belief). He spoke out particularly against intermediaries between God and believers, the veneration of the dwellings or graves of martyrs, and amulets. We will certainly examine him and his teachings in more detail later.

I must simplify things now. The first Saudi state existed from 1744 to 1818. It was founded on the alliance of the House of Saud, represented by the Emir of Diriyah, Mohammed ibn Saud (محمد بن سعود), and the cleric Mohammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. The Emir pledged to uphold Islam in the Wahhabi sense, and Mohammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab legitimized the House of Saud as absolute rulers. The first battles were fought only over a few oases and Riyadh, but later the House of Saud pressed the Ottoman Empire, leading to the state's collapse in 1818, though it has risen again and again.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site at Diriyal is well worth a visit!

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dir%CA%BFiyya and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diriyah
[2] Martin Pabst:Saudi-Arabien verstehen. Geschichte, Religion, Gesellschaft. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2022/2023. ISBN: 978-3-608-12104-9. 241 pp.

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