When I wrote about "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab," the founder of Wahhabism.. Britain's agent.. he rebelled against people.. and they decided I had committed unbelief.. and I may soon begin founding a new creed, one that calls for the worship of lizards, for instance.

Today we take up a document that appeared in the 18th century. It was written by a famous British spy.

A spy who managed to penetrate and live in the Middle East and play a role in moving events there for more than 30 years.

This spy's name is "Hempher."

The document appeared immediately after the death of "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab".. its title is "Memoirs of Mr. Hempher, The British Spy to the Middle East."

Many people claimed these memoirs were forged.. and that they were "fabricated" in English by the enemies of "Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab" - most of whom could barely read and write in the Arabian Peninsula.

But unfortunately for them, documents emerged confirming it.. not least the book of the Ottoman historian "Ayyub Sabri Pasha".. who wrote explicitly in 1890 about open cooperation between "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab" and a British spy named (Hempher), in his book "The Beginning and Spread of Wahhabism".. and he mentioned with the utmost clarity the plan of "Hempher" and "Abd al-Wahhab".. to found a new religion resembling Islam in its form and teachings.. for political purposes.

Despite that, some people came out saying "that Britain is a liar.. and that Ayyub Sabri Pasha" is slandering "Abd al-Wahhab."

And then another book appeared.

The book of the Sunni Hanbali imam, the judge "Suleiman ibn Abd al-Wahhab ibn Suleiman ibn Ali al-Tamimi al-Najdi al-Hanbali."

The full brother of "Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab" himself!

The brother, the Hanbali judge.. who ruled that his brother was a heretic and an imposter inventing a new religion, responded to him in a book titled "The Divine Thunderbolts in Refutation of the Wahhabis".. in which he accused his brother explicitly of inventing a new religion for some purpose.. and he was the first ever to call this movement "Wahhabism."

We return to our friend "Hempher," who first felt the sands of the Middle East under his feet.. when the Colonial Office sent him in 1710 to Turkey, seat of the Ottoman state.. or as Europe used to call it; "the Sick Man."

The nickname itself, "Hempher" recorded in his memoirs.. and he mentioned that Britain indeed saw the Ottoman state as a "sick man".. whose last breaths would be drawn in less than a century.

"Hempher" says: "After a long, exhausting journey, I arrived in Constantinople, with a specific mission: to study these people thoroughly and learn the points of their strength and weakness.. and I was not alone.. there were nine comrades, and we set off for different places."

One of them, by the way, came to Egypt.. also a British spy.. and embedded himself among its people.. but this man neither carried out his mission nor ever returned to London at all.. "Hempher" says of him that they later learned he had been bewitched by a seductive Egyptian woman, so he converted to Islam, married her, and stayed by her side in Egypt forever.

There was also another one of them who set off for Russia and never came back .. and this in particular caused grave concern in the Colonial Office.. because this spy was Russian by origin.. and the whole time they remained afraid that he had been a spy against them, tasked by the Russians from the start.. and that his loyalty had been to Russia all along.. and he settled there when they dispatched him to it, and his mission came to an end.

As for "Hempher" himself, his first station was Constantinople: "I arrived there and called myself Muhammad.. and the first place I headed to was the Jami Mosque; a place where Muslims perform their worship and some of their gatherings.. and I was astonished by the order, cleanliness and obedience I saw.. and there I met an elderly religious scholar named (Ahmed Efendim), who provided me with shelter and food and found me work, without ever once asking me about my origin or lineage."

"My mission required me to submit a monthly report to the Colonial Office on my work in Constantinople, which amounted to immersing myself among the people and learning their language and customs, sending it with an agent attached to the Office who would meet me at a place and time agreed in advance. Provided that I return after two years to London for new instructions."

The two years ended and "Hempher" had learned the language, and acquired no small share of religious sciences.. then instructions came to him to head for Basra.. he goes and embeds himself among them for a while, and returns to London.. and stays there six months.. during which he mentions an incident where he told his superior of his astonishment at the sectarian and doctrinal differences among the people.. and he said to him verbatim: "If they were people of reason who understood the meaning of life, they would abandon their quarrel and unite their word".. and his superior told him calmly: "Never mention such a thing to them."

"Hempher" returns once again to Iraq. And he takes a simple job to live on and to help him keep up the appearance the Colonial Office had drawn for him as a student of religion.

Anyway, he works for a carpenter from (Khorasan) named "Abd al-Rida".. he learns Persian there and merges in with "Abd al-Rida" and his friends, and their political conversations.. especially since they were resentful of their government and hated the Caliph in Constantinople.

"Hempher" and "Abd al-Rida" and the latter's friends used to gather in the shop.. trading criticism and hateful talk about the government all the time.. and they had come to trust "Hempher" and took him for a man from Azerbaijan.. because he was blond.. especially given his mastery of Turkish.. and particularly because the people of Azerbaijan hated the Caliph in Constantinople.

They would chat.. and fall silent if any stranger or customer came in.. until one time a young man came in on them.. who appeared to "Hempher" to have the look of a student of religion.. he described him as very thin and highly strung, of a nervous temperament, so "Hempher" stopped talking, but "Abd al-Rida" reassured him that the young man was with them.. and shared their same resentful thinking against the Ottoman government.

The young man begins talking with "Abd al-Rida".. and "Hempher" understands from him that he had indeed come to Iraq to study.. and that he followed the Hanbali school.. and this last bit amazed "Hempher" greatly, because "Abd al-Rida" was a Shia.. and the Hanbalis are Sunnis.. but he moved past it quickly as he scrutinized the young man and listened to his views.. and he was dazzled because the young man spoke Arabic, Turkish and Persian.

And this young man's name was "Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab".. and as he rambled on in conversation.. "Hempher" notices something dangerous.. on the basis of which he decides to take an even more dangerous decision.

And that decision we will speak of later...

And there remains more to be said.