Although Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, the leader of the Wahhabi movement,[13] had indirectly expressed critiques on the Ottoman dynasty in his letters, he had decided not to publicly challenge the legitimacy of the empire as a precautionary measure.

Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab did not acknowledge their caliphate claims, an assertion made by Sultan Abdul Hamid I after Ottoman defeat in the 1770s Russo-Turkish war, to portray himself as the leader of Muslim world.

[14] However, this did not imply that Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab sought a conflict with Ottomans, as classical Wahhabi doctrines did not view the establishment of caliphate as a necessity upon individual Muslims.

[16] Political hostilities and distrust would eventually lead the Wahhabis and the Ottomans to declare mutual exchanges of Takfir (excommunication), many years after Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's death.

Intending to form an armed coalition to defeat the Muwahhidun, he corresponded with the Ottoman authorities in Istanbul and sought to turn them hostile against his rivals by portraying them as disbelievers.

In 1797, Sulayman the Great, the Mamluk governor of Iraq, invaded Diriyah with around 15,000 troops in co-ordination with Ghalib and laid a one-month siege to Al-Ahsa.

The assassination in November 1803 of Saudi Emir 'Abd al-'Aziz during prayers in al-Dir'iyya by an Iraqi; was suspected of being orchestrated by the Mamluk governor of Baghdad, which greatly deteriorated the Saudi-Ottoman relations.

[19] The Saudi emir denounced the Ottoman sultan and called into question the validity of his claim to be caliph and guardian of the sanctuaries of the Hejaz.

[22] In response, the Ottoman sultan, Mahmud II, ordered Muhammad 'Ali, governor of Egypt, to attack the Wahhabi state in December 1807.

[27] In 1815, one of the main rebels, Bakhroush bin Alass of Zahran tribe, was killed and beheaded by Muhammad Ali forces in Al Qunfudhah.

The Egyptian troops were led by Muhammad Ali's elder son, Ibrahim Pasha, and penetrated into the heart of Central Arabia, besieging the chief centres of Qasim and Najd.

Waging a war of extermination between 1816 and 1818, the invading armies pillaged various towns and villages, forcing the inhabitants to flee and seek refuge in remote regions and oases.

[21] Thus, the Emirate of Diriyah formally ended with the surrendering of its leaders and the head of the Wahhabi state, Abdullah bin Saud, was taken captive and sent to Istanbul.

Captain George Forster Sadleir, an officer of the British Army in India was dispatched from Bombay to consult with Ibrahim Pasha in Dariyya.

It is now in ruins, and the inhabitants who were spared, or escaped from the slaughter, have principally sought shelter here ... Munfooah ... was surrounded with a wall and ditch which the Pacha ordered to be razed .... Riad is not so well peopled ....

The year's crop had been consumed by the Turkish force"[35]Saudi ruler 'Abdullah ibn Saud was transported first to Cairo and then to Istanbul, wherein he was beheaded alongside several other Wahhabi Imams.

[21] After the Destruction of Diriyya, Ibrahim Pasha rounded up the prominent survivors of the Saudi family and the scholarly Al ash-Sheikh many of whom were deported to Egypt.

The General Maritime treaty was concluded in 1820 with the local chieftains, which would eventually transform them into a protectorate of Trucial States; heralding a century of British supremacy in the Gulf.

[39] This war had formed the basic hatred of the Wahhabi movement amongst the Ottomans, and continues to influence modern Turkey wherein many Turkish Islamic preachers consider Wahhabism to be un-Islamic.