Alawi's clients Abdul Jalil al-Mudad, Muhammed al-Muqdad and Abdul Wahhab Husain received life sentences, he said.

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The al-Saud family has held on to power by placating the kingdom's religious establishment, which is dominated by descendants of the 18th century Muslim cleric Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab.

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Another, in the 18th century, was Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, who advocated purging Islam of modern accretions and relying strictly on the Koran and hadith (the record of the prophet's words and deeds).

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Later it was expounded on by various Islamic scholars, such as Ibn Taymiiya in the 13th century, but it did not become institutionalized until the mid-18th century when the theories promulgated by the radical cleric Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab were accepted and imposed as the state religion of his realm by the founder of the House of Saud.

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