y little sins."[91]

After holding possession of the holy cities for nine years they were driven
out by the Turkish forces. 'Abdullah, the fourth Wahhabi ruler, was
captured by Ibrahim Pasha, and afterwards executed in the square of St.
Sophia (1818 A.D.) The political power of the Wahhabis has since been
confined to parts of Arabia; but their religious opinions have widely
spread.

The leader of the Wahhabi movement in India was Sayyid Ahmad, a reformed
freebooter. He was now born at Rai Bareili, in Oudh, 1786 A.D. When about
thirty years of age he gave up his wild way of living and settled down in
Delhi as a student of the Law of Islam. After a while, he went on
pilgrimage to Mecca, but his opinions, so similar to those of the noted
Wahhabi, attracted the attention of the orthodox theologians, through whose
influence he was expelled from the sacred city. Persecution deepened his
religious convictions, and he returned to India a pronounced Wahhabi. He
soon gained a large number of disciples, and in 1826 A.D. he preached a
Jihad against the Sikhs. This war was not a success. In the year 1831 the
Wahhabis were suddenly attacked by the Sikhs, under Sher Singh, and Sayyid
Ahmad was slain. This did not, however, prevent the spread of Wahhabi
principles, for he had the good fortune to leave behind him an enthusiastic
disciple. This man, {105} Muhammad Isma'il, was born near Delhi in the year
1781 A.D. He was a youth of good abilities and soon mastered the subjects
which form the curriculum of a liberal education amongst Musalmans. His
first preaching was in a Mosque at Delhi on Tauhid (Unity), and against
Shirk (Polytheism). He now met with Sayyid Ahmad who soon acquired great
influence over his new disciple. Isma'il told him one evening that he could
not offer up his prayers with Huzur-i-Kalb, presence of heart. The Sayyid
took him to his room where he instructed him to repeat the first of the
prayers after him, and then to conclude them alone. He did so, and was able
to so abstract himself in the contemplation of God that he remained engaged
in prayer till the morning. Henceforward he was a devoted adherent of his
spiritual teacher. In the public discussions, which now often took place,
none were a match for Isma'il. This fervent preacher of Wahhabiism is now
chiefly remembered by his great work, the Takwiat-ul-Iman, the book from
which the account of Wahhabi doctrine given in this chapter is taken. If I
make no special re