Wahhabism

American  

[wuh-hah-biz-uhm, wah-] / wəˈhɑ bɪz əm, wɑ- /

Also Wahhabiism

noun

1. the group of doctrines or practices of the Wahhabis.

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Etymology

Origin of Wahhabism

First recorded in 1820–30; Wahhab(i) + -ism

Example Sentences

Or one could argue the opposite: The presence of a unifying caliph might have, as it had for centuries, moderated the expansion of marginal extremist movements such as Wahhabism or, in our time, Islamic State.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026

An adherent of Wahhabism, a conservative and fundamentalist interpretation of Sunni Islam, he hopes to rally a population exhausted by over a decade of conflict.

From Barron's • Jan. 14, 2026

Ruled for generations by the House of Saud under Wahhabism, a fundamentalist form of Sunni Islam, Saudi Arabia perennially scores near the bottom of most international human rights indices.

From Salon • Jun. 7, 2023

However, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has curbed the influence of Wahhabism on Saudi society and arts, also reining in the religious police and letting women drive cars.

From Reuters • Mar. 13, 2023

Wahhabism, when it overspread Southern Asia, never gained a foothold further north than Syria, and broke itself to pieces at last against the corrupt orthodoxy of Constantinople.

From The Future of Islam by Blunt, Wilfred Scawen