The rejection of modernity in favor of a return to the sacred past has a varied and ramified history in the region and has given rise to a number of movements. The most important of these was undoubtedly that known, after its founder, as Wahhabism. Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (1703 - 1792) was a theologian from Najd area of Arabia, ruled by sheikhs of the House of Saud. In 1744 he launched a campaign of purification and renewal. His declared aim was to return to the pure and authentic Islam of the Founder, removing and where necessary destroying all the later accretions and distortions. The Wahhabi cause was embraced by the Saudi rulers of Najd, who promoted it, for a while successfully, by force of arms. * * * The rise of Wahhabism in eighteenth-century Arabia was in significant measure a response to the changing circumstances of the time. One of these was of course the retreat of Islam and the corresponding advance of Christendom. * * * Wherever they could, they enforced their beliefs with the utmost severity and ferocity, demolishing tombs, desecrating what they called false idolatrous and holy places, and slaughtering large numbers of men, women, and children who failed to meet their standards of Islamic purity and authenticity. ibid pages 129-122.