But, as the
Zeidites are accustomed to conceal the fact of their heresy and to pass
themselves when on pilgrimage as Sunites, I could learn little about
them. They were, till ten years ago, independent under the Imams of
Sana, and it is certain that they repudiate the Califate. In former
times, before the first conquest of Arabia by the Turks, these Imams
were all powerful in Hejaz, and on the destruction of the Bagdad
Califate assumed the title of Hami el Harameyn, protector of the holy
places. The Turks, however, now occupy Sana, and the office of Imam is
in abeyance. The Zeidites can hardly number more than two millions, and
their only importance in the future lies in the fact of their
geographical proximity to Mecca, and in the fact that their sympathies
lie on the side of liberality in opinion and reform in morals. Neither
Zeidites nor Abadites have any adherents out of their own countries.
Of the Wahhabites a more detailed account is needed, as although their
numbers are small and their political importance less than it formerly
was, the spirit of their reform movement still lives and exercises a
potent influence on modern Mohammedan ideas. I have described
elsewhere[9] the historical vicissitudes of the sect in Arabia, and the
decline of its fortunes in Nejd, but a brief recapitulation of these may
be allowed me.
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