variants
or less commonly Wahabi
: a member of a puritanical Muslim sect founded in Arabia in the 18th century by Muhammad ibn-Abdul Wahhab and revived by ibn-Saud in the 20th century
Examples of Wahhabi in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Al-Shabab rejects Somalia’s traditional Sufi form of Islam and wants to institute the much harsher Wahhabi rule, originating in Saudi Arabia.
—
Katharine Houreld, Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2024
Another Saudi cleric with whom Bayoumi worked, Fahad al-Thumairy, was posted to Los Angeles as both a diplomat at the Saudi Consulate and a senior imam at the nearby King Fahad Mosque — a pillar of the global effort to spread Wahhabi Islam that had opened in mid-1998.
—Tim Golden, ProPublica, 12 June 2023
For the United States, another benefit to decreased tensions between the Gulf and Iran is fewer incentives for Gulf interests to spread Wahhabi Islam throughout the Muslim world.
—Chris Murphy, Foreign Affairs, 19 Feb. 2021
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Katharine Houreld, Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2024
Another Saudi cleric with whom Bayoumi worked, Fahad al-Thumairy, was posted to Los Angeles as both a diplomat at the Saudi Consulate and a senior imam at the nearby King Fahad Mosque — a pillar of the global effort to spread Wahhabi Islam that had opened in mid-1998.
—Tim Golden, ProPublica, 12 June 2023
For the United States, another benefit to decreased tensions between the Gulf and Iran is fewer incentives for Gulf interests to spread Wahhabi Islam throughout the Muslim world.
—Chris Murphy, Foreign Affairs, 19 Feb. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Wahhabi.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Wahhabi. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share