Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 695: Is the Wahabi ideology too conservative and not as thorough as the Protestant reforms, leading to its lack of advancement?

On the way, Guo Kang asked Zhu Wenkui about the situation.

"When did Tuo Huan start to visit this woman so frequently?" He focused directly on the key point: "Has this person ever been released from prison and taken to other places by him?"

"It's been about half a month. It started not long after you left." Zhu Wenkui thought for a moment and told him, "But I think we only talked a few times at the government office. There was no more interaction."

"Do you think he's interested in her?" He asked curiously. "I feel that way, but it's nothing. He's the same age as us, and he's the crown prince of the Qin Kingdom, but he hasn't been close to women yet. He's too serious. I think it's no big deal to find a woman. On the contrary, if he continues like this, he'll either be working or hanging out with his friends every day. I'm afraid the Greeks will start to have wild thoughts again."

"There is indeed nothing wrong with finding a woman, the main thing is that we don't know what kind of woman he found." Guo Kang did not mince words and said bluntly: "You also know that he is the prince of the Qin Kingdom. Finding an Egyptian woman always feels a bit wrong..."

"However, as long as there is nothing more to say, it's okay. We can also investigate first. Otherwise, once they wrap it up and send it to him, it will be useless to say anything."

"That's not the case." Zhu Wenkui shook his head repeatedly: "There is no power like the Tian family here, which is enough to show strength to the Khanate; besides, a woman is not the heir, so she must be chosen."

"Ah?" Guo Kang didn't understand what he meant for a moment.

"You don't remember the stories from the Spring and Autumn Period?" Zhu Wenkui was also a little surprised. "The history books say that Duke Jing of Qi never appointed a crown prince. In his later years, he wanted to appoint Prince Tu, who was born to his favorite concubine Rui Ji. Prince Tu was still a young child, known as 'Yan Ruzi'; his mother was not of high birth, and his family was weak, so the ministers were very worried."

"But Duke Jing of Qi was particularly fond of his youngest son. To cheer him up, he personally played the role of an ox, holding a rope in his mouth and letting Yan Ruzi lead him. However, Yan Ruzi was not walking steadily and fell, and the rope broke all of Duke Jing of Qi's teeth."

"When he doted on her to such an extent, it was useless for the ministers to dissuade him. Duke Jing of Qi was still stubborn and made Yan Ruzi the crown prince, entrusting the ministers of Guoxia and Gaozhang to assist him."

"After Duke Jing of Qi died, Tian Qi, head of the Tian family, took advantage of the conflict between the two ministers Guo and Gao and other ministers to stir up trouble, and joined forces with the Bao family to launch a mutiny and attack the palace. The king's faction was caught off guard and was defeated in a hurry. Guo Zi fled to Ju State, Gao Zi, Yan Zi and others fled to Lu State, and Yan Ru Zi was captured by the Tian family."

"Tian Qi found Prince Yangsheng who had fled before, promised to support him, and hid him in his home. When the situation was slightly stable, Tian Qi invited the doctors to a banquet. During the banquet, he put the prince in a leather bag and had strong men carry him to the center of the venue. When the bag was opened, Prince Yangsheng came out, and Tian Qi announced: 'This is the king of Qi.' The doctors were afraid of Tian's strength and the strong men at the banquet, so they had to pay him a visit and express their approval."

"Tian Qi asked everyone to swear an oath with Prince Yangsheng. Someone asked, 'Whose order is this?' Tian Qi coaxed everyone and said, 'It was Baozi's order.' Baozi was drunk at the time, but he still realized that he was going to take the blame, so he said angrily, 'Have you forgotten that the king had to work as a ruzi ox and even broke his teeth? Why do you want to betray the agreement with him?' This is the origin of 'Ruzi Niu'."

"However, Prince Yangsheng bowed his head and said, 'We act according to morality. If I can do it, there is no need to kill a doctor; if I can't do it, there is no need to kill a prince.' Baozi was afraid of his threat and had to accept it, saying, 'Who is not the son of the king?' So they held an oath and supported Prince Yangsheng, who was Duke Dao of Qi. Tian Qi served as the prime minister and sent people to kill Yan Ruzi. This was the beginning of the Tian family's dominance of state affairs."

"This story is quite famous. I thought you knew it."

"I thought of other allusions." Guo Kang didn't react either.

To him, the story of Caesar and Cleopatra was more famous. If others hadn't told him, he wouldn't have realized that it wasn't just Cleopatra that came out of the package, it could also be Duke Dao of Qi...

"It's not a big deal." Zhu Wenkui comforted him, "Besides, you don't have to worry about what will happen to that woman. I think she has always been afraid of you. Several of us have realized this now."

"Afraid of me? Why would you be afraid of me..." Guo Kang was a little curious after hearing this: "Master Wang always said that I was too gentle and was afraid that I couldn't control people."

"I heard from your Persian sister that this isn't the first time she's expressed this opinion," Zhu Wenkui told him, "It's probably because you've been working for the church, so she's more afraid of you."

"What does it matter? She herself is not a priest," Guo Kang asked puzzledly.

"Maybe it's because she knows a little bit." Zhu Wenkui said, "From what I can understand, she thinks your style of doing things is like that of Ibn Taimiyyah, who advocated retro style. She said that since that person, you are the first to publicly express that you want to restrict women's occupations and behaviors according to the doctrine."

"Is it because it is useful that people advocate retro? Every time there is a reform, don't people use the banner of retro or orthodoxy?" Guo Kang disagreed: "Besides, I am on the side of the God Worshipping Society. No matter how much I think, I can't control them." "Besides, her analogy is a bit exaggerated." He shook his head: "You may not understand these religious history knowledge, so you don't have any feeling about this name. This person is a very famous extremist jurist, a Syrian. His most famous deed was that when the Ilkhanate and the Mamluks were at war, he issued a decree announcing that Ghazan Khan and his subjects were not true believers, because when they governed the country, they were based on Genghis Khan's Great Yasa, and believed that the Great Yasa was higher than Sharia law. The believers who supported the Ilkhanate were also guilty of apostasy, and a holy war should be launched against them."

"Before him, jurists were very cautious about ruling on apostasy because it could easily lead to internal divisions. The internal problems of the Muslim community are already serious and they cannot add fuel to the fire. Even if a civil war breaks out, they will not take it too far, like the Sunnis who recognized both Ali and Muawiyah at the same time."

"But his theories provided the first legal basis for the use of deadly violence among Muslims, thus setting a very bad precedent. Although at the time, this move successfully called on many Syrians to join the fight against the Ilkhanate, which earned him a high reputation, this situation has become more and more serious since then."

"Is that so?" Zhu Wenkui really didn't know this background: "That really can't be compared. The Ilkhanate and the subsequent Timurid Khanate are both traditional allies of the Qin State. If they were the same as him, they would be fighting against themselves."

"We knew this person before." Guo Kang said, "Before the founding of the country, we worked for the Golden Horde, so we also knew something about the Islamic religion. Of course, the cultural level of the Golden Horde was also quite... tragic. But later, a traveler named Ibn Battuta came to the Khanate and had contacts with our great ancestor and my ancestor Yuanting Gong and others, so everyone heard some of the situation at that time."

"At that time, Taimiye was already a famous figure - but in a negative way. He was a fundamentalist who believed that we should return to the original pure faith and prohibit all kinds of impious behavior. Moreover, he and his disciples had a strong sense of responsibility and felt that they should fulfill their religious obligations of admonishing others and persuading everyone to abandon evil and do good, so they were very motivated."

"However, their understanding of good and evil is different from that of others, and their way of admonishment is obviously their own. They often harass others, smash other people's holy objects in temples, beat up Sufi scholars, and catch children on the street who they think are unruly and shave their heads. There are too many outrageous behaviors like this, which makes other jurists often unable to stand him."

"In addition, he was committed to opposing alcohol consumption and often led his followers to smash wine shops in Damascus. The attitude of the Mamluk leaders also changed from believing that this man could fight against the Ilkhanate to disgust. They arrested him several times and finally banned him from going to Syria and drove him to Egypt."

"Battuta himself was a religious judge, so his students would sometimes ask him for advice on related knowledge. According to his students, they had asked their teacher what he thought of Taimiyeh's theory. Battuta did not directly analyze and evaluate his theological and philosophical thoughts, but instead said to everyone, 'Although this person can have scholarly discussions, he has a problem with his brain.' That was the first impression everyone had."

"Is that so? Then it should be the civilians who support him? However, when I went to Syria before, I didn't see people with similar ideas publicly protesting against us and the Mamluks who surrendered to us." Zhu Wenkui thought for a moment and said, "It should have only been a hundred years. Have the Syrians' ideas changed so quickly?"

"A hundred years is a long time." Guo Kang disagreed: "It's enough time for ideas to change dozens of times."

"My great grandfather told us that his grandfather participated in the battle at Yashan and resisted the Yuan army. At that time, everyone was still resisting the Yuan Dynasty. Even now, the battle with the Yuan people has not stopped." Zhu Wenkui shook his head: "Thoughts can change quickly, but expelling invaders and traitors should not be done so quickly, right? We can do it, why can't the Syrians do it so quickly?"

"Comparing yourself to the Syrians, you are overestimating them." Guo Kang said speechlessly, "As for why they are not opposed now, I guess it's because the more ruthless uncle Timur has come. He really fights against his brethren every day, and the Syrians can't stand it. So the reason should not be that complicated, it's just that these people are prone to impulsiveness. Let the old uncle beat them up."

Of course, there are some follow-up impacts - or perhaps even greater impacts - that have not happened yet and cannot be told to Zhu Wenkui and others.

Several hundred years later, Ibn Wahhab, a theologian from Najd, rediscovered Taymiyyah’s theory and further improved it. Other fundamentalist ideologies also gradually emerged during this period, and many people began to re-respect him, making him the recognized master of Salafism.

However, at this time, this trend of thought was only a local force on the Arabian Peninsula, and it was not uncommon. When the Ottoman Empire learned of the situation, it believed that someone was causing heresy again, so it sent troops to eliminate it.

The Saudi tribes who supported Wahhab had established an emirate in Diriyah and occupied the two holy cities. But the Egyptian governor, Muhammad Ali Pasha, sent troops across the Red Sea and quickly defeated them. The Saudi and Wahhab armies retreated to the capital, but after several months of siege, they were also defeated by the artillery of the Ottoman army.

Muhammad Ali sent the captives to Costantiniye, where the Sultan held a triumphal procession for him and paraded the captives through the streets. Afterwards, all members of the Wahhabis sect, including Chief Abdullah bin Saud, were executed. This round of events was also settled.

However, this performance attracted the attention of the British. The British sent representatives to contact them directly and provided them with assistance, which enabled them to make a comeback. The spread of Wahabi thought was a spontaneous act on the surface, but in fact it was also the credit of the great powers, especially Britain.

The popular Protestantism in the UK and the theological thought of Wahhab are essentially the same. They are the result of the surge of fundamentalist thought after the crisis of monotheism, including only recognizing the original scriptures and opposing the worship of saints. I don’t know if it is because of this reason that they can talk very well. The difference is that Ibn Taymiyyah and others still respect the judgment of some predecessors, while Protestantism directly denies the holy tradition and does it more radically.

Therefore, it is difficult to say who has the credit for this influence. After all, if Protestantism is more superior, then Wahhab's teachings can also be considered "advanced". If we analyze it carefully, we can say what is progress and what is advanced...

(End of this chapter)