A Study Of The Ikhwan Movement In The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia

Ikhwan is the plural forms of brother in Arabic, referring to the Bedouins who ended nomadic life and settled down in cities with complete political and religious functions.Ibn Saud who was the founder of the modern kingdom of Saudi Arabia had built"ikhwan al-tawhid" which was based on the wahhabism for building a new country and pushing forward the settlement of Bedouins. The "ikhwan al-tawhid" soon developedinto Ikhwan Movement which unified religion, military and production together. Ikhwan Movement is not only a social-political movement using religion as a tool to achieve political goals, but also an ethnic revitalization movement resisting foreign slavery and oppression. Ikhwan Movement did press ahead the unity of the country at the beginning. However, after the independence of the Saudi Arabia, Ikhwan extremists launched insurgencies driven by religious fanaticism, which became blocks of the centralism country. At last, they were cracked down byIbnSaud.In this paper, Ikhwan Movement and its influence will be studied through three parts.The first part is introduction, in which the basis of subject, the research status both at home and abroad, theoretical and practical significance and research methods and innovations will be expounded.The second part is the body of the paper which has three chapters. In the first chapter, the historical origins of Ikhwan Movement will be analyzed. Ikhwan Movement is a critical link of Wahhabi religious revival movement, and it has indivisible relations with the early Arabic countries’ rising and fall in history. That is the reason of the discussion of Wahhabi and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in early stage in this chapter. In the second chapter, the historical changes of Ikhwan Movement will be introduced through three historical periods which is publicity period as preparation, expansion period and rebellion and suppression. Since 20 century, IbnSaud restored the alliance with Wahhabi and conducted the vigorous Ikhwan Movement with Wahhabism, which truly promoted the unity of the country at the early stage. Nevertheless, the unification of the Arabian Peninsula means the termination of the historical mission of Ikhwan Movement. Due to the rebellion started by some conservatives, Ikhwan movement was suppressed by IbnSaud ruthlessly and ended its existence in history ingloriously. In the third chapter, the historical influence of Ikhwan Movement will be expounded. As for Saudi Arabia at home, Ikhwan Movement played an important role in promoting the political system of unification of politics and religion as well exerting positive effect on theBedouins settlement. While internationally, Ikhwan Movement in some sense expelled the British colonists. It also was boycotted by other Islamic countries because of its fanaticism.The third part is conclusion, in which Ikhwan Movement is summarized on a macro level. In addition, it is Ikhwan Movement that religious extremists inspired by and then waged Jihad, for which we must be on the alert.