Editing Wahhabism (section)

=== Definition ===
Alongside its basic definition as an 18th&nbsp;century reformist/revivalist movement,{{efn|
"Wahhabism refers to a conservative interpretation of Islam founded as a revival and reform movement in eighteenth-century Arabia."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=N. Stearns |first=Peter |date=2008 |title=Wahhabism |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780195176322 |location=New York |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001 |url= https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001/acref-9780195176322-e-1677?rskey=RtFC0x&result=2}}</ref>
}}<ref name="books.google.com" /> the Wahhabi movement has also been characterized as a "movement for sociomoral reconstruction of society",<ref name="books.google.com" /> "a conservative reform movement",<ref name="EIMW-727">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World |date=2004 |publisher=Macmillan Reference |page=727}}</ref> and a sect with a "steadfastly fundamentalist interpretation of Islam in the tradition of [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal|Ibn Hanbal]]".<ref name="GlasseIsl">{{cite book |last=Glasse |first=Cyril |date=2001 |title=The New Encyclopedia of Islam |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |pages=469–472}}</ref>

Supporters of the Wahhabi movement characterize it as being "pure Islam",{{efn|name="Commins-viv"|"While Wahhabism claims to represent Islam in its purest form, other Muslims consider it a misguided creed that fosters intolerance, promotes simplistic theology, and restricts Islam's capacity for adaption to diverse and shifting circumstances.<ref>{{harvnb|Commins|2009|p=viv}}</ref>}} indistinct from [[Salafism]], and in fact "the true [[Salafi movement|Salafist]] movement"<ref name="Moussalli">{{cite report |last=Moussalli |first=Ahmad |date=January 2009 |title=Wahhabism, salafism and Islamism: Who is the enemy? |type=briefing |series=Conflicts Forum Monograph |website=Conflicts Forum (conflictsforum.org) |url= http://conflictsforum.org/briefings/Wahhabism-Salafism-and-Islamism.pdf |access-date=8 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 June 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140623113340/http://conflictsforum.org/briefings/Wahhabism-Salafism-and-Islamism.pdf}}</ref> seeking "a return to the pristine message of the [[Muhammad in Islam|Prophet]]" and attempted to free Islam from "superimposed doctrines" and superstitions".<ref>{{cite book |first=Muhammad |last=Asad |title=The Road to Mecca |date=1988 |isbn=9780930452797 |pages=160–161 |publisher=Theatre Communications}}</ref> Opponents of the movement and what it stands for label it as "a misguided creed that fosters intolerance, promotes simplistic theology, and restricts Islam's capacity for adaption to diverse and shifting circumstances".<ref name="Commins-viv">{{harvnb|Commins|2009|p=viv}}. "While Wahhabism claims to represent Islam in its purest form, other Muslims consider it a misguided creed that fosters intolerance, promotes simplistic theology, and restricts Islam's capacity for adaption to diverse and shifting circumstances."</ref> The term ''"Wahhabism"'' has also become as a blanket term used inaccurately to refer to "any Islamic movement that has an apparent tendency toward misogyny, militantism, extremism, or strict and literal interpretation of the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and ''[[hadith]]''".<ref>{{harvnb|DeLong-Bas|2004|pp=[https://archive.org/details/wahhabiislamfrom0000delo/page/123 123–24]}}</ref>

Abdallah al Obeid, the former dean of the [[Islamic University of Madinah|Islamic University of Medina]] and member of the Saudi Consultative Council, has characterized the movement as "a political trend" within Islam that "has been adopted for power-sharing purposes", but not a distinct religious movement, because "it has no special practices, nor special rites, and no special interpretation of religion that differ from the main body of [[Sunni Islam]]".<ref name="threat-define">{{cite news |last=Ibrahim |first=Youssef Michel |date=11 August 2002 |title=The Mideast threat that's hard to define |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url= http://www.cfr.org/religion/mideast-threat-s-hard-define/p4702 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140904022847/http://www.cfr.org/religion/mideast-threat-s-hard-define/p4702 |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 September 2014 |access-date=21 August 2014}}</ref>