In the name of Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala), the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Blessings and peace be upon His Messenger and his followers.
I know that in Pakistan for some time, if you were called a Wahhabi it was considered an insult partly due to the draconian nature of the sect, but especially because it was considered exactly that; a sect. And to be labelled as a member of anything other than a Sunni Muslim, i.e. of the Ahl us-Sunnah wa al-Jamaa’ah (literally meaning People of the Sunnah and the Community of Muslims), is an accusation that one has deviated from the path of the Noble Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). It was and is generally accepted by the Ulama (scholars) and the Muslim populations of the world (or the Sunni ones at least) that the Wahhabi group of Muslims is a deviant sect.
When you talk to people about this subject they are well aware of the general controversies surrounding this issue, for example, that they are strict, fanatical Muslims who accuse every one from our fathers back to the people of almost the time of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) of being a heretic or an apostate. However, I have found that unless you have at least associated with the company of practicing circles of Sunni Muslims (I know at least here in the United Kingdom), the history of this group of Muslims is somewhat obscure and to a very limited extent this is what I intend to deal with in this article. One major aspect that people seem to overlook when talking about the Wahhabis is the historical alliance between the Ulama of the aforesaid sect and the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia, acknowledged amongst the political circles, even on the Saudi Arabian Information Resource website, yet not being a commonly known detail in relation to the Wahhabi phenomenon.
In terms of the history and origins it is not that difficult to dig up, however, the precarious nature of delineating the aqaa’id (creed) of the Wahhabis deserves and needs the assistance of the Honourable Ulama of the Ahl us-Sunnah. Many a person has been denounced due to the negligent nature of an individual’s understanding of what is correct and incorrect belief and it is possible that I have accused someone wrongly in the past in these matters as well. The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) taught that whoever labels someone a disbeliever wrongly then he himself is a disbeliever. So we must take note of the gravity of these matters and proceed cautiously. However, it is not my intention in this article to list the refutations of their beliefs, which have been exhaustively published, but to shed light on a history of theirs that is marked by plunder and bloodshed as part of a campaign against the majority of Muslims. Along with my apology for the length of this article and my acknowledgment that it is not a quick 2/3-page read comes my insistence that it be read in a single sitting. Since there are so many volumes of work on this multi-faceted issue that every Muslim needs to be aware of, these small number of pages actually constitute a limited summation of the scant information I have come across, read and learned about.
I am first going to take you back in time, somewhat, to the rise of Wahhabism itself and how it gained prominence. The name Wahhabi comes from the last word in the name of Muhammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab, an 18 th century scholar born in a village called Uyaynah, in the eastern province of Najd of modern-day Saudi Arabia. Now some people have pointed out that you shouldn’t call people Wahhabis as it somewhat defames a name of Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala); Al-Wahhab. However, just as people who follow the school of law of Imam Malik (radhiallahu ta’ala anhu) call themselves Maliki (Malik also being a name of Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala); Al-Malik), the people who follow the doctrines of ibn Abd al-Wahhab are termed Wahhabi in order to indicate this. To this day I have not heard of any scholar who has reprimanded a Muslim for saying that he is Maliki, so I will assume that it does no disrespect to our Lord to call them Wahhabis (and Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala) knows best).
The founder of the Wahhabi movement (also called the Wahhabiyya) was born into a family of religious Sunni scholars who travelled extensively throughout the Middle East including Makkah, Madina, Basra, Baghdad and Iran. It is recorded that he studied the heretical doctrines of Ibn Taymiyya, a 13 th Century scholar from Damascus, which moulded some of ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s views that he later incorporated into the book “Kitaab at-Tauheed” (“The Book of Monotheism”). In Madina, he studied with Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Sulayman al-Kurdi and Shaykh Muhammad Hayat al-Sindi who early on detected the deviation and heresy of ibn Abd al-Wahhab, and they used to say “Allah will allow him be led astray; but even unhappier will be the lot of those misled by him.” Even his family condemned him; his father began to warn others about his son and his own brother Shaykh Sulaiman ibn Abd al-Wahhab wrote a book to refute the creed and doctrines of his brother called al-Sawa’iq al-Ilahiyya fi al-radd ‘ala al-Wahhabiyya (“Divine Lightenings in refuting the Wahhabis”). The region in which ibn abd al-Wahhab was from, i.e. Najd, is also notorious because of an earlier tribulation in the form of Musaylima the false prophet, who was alive at the time of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), and ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s brother, Sulaiman, actually said in his book (referred to above) “the horn of Shaytan which the Prophet (sallalahu aliahi wa sallam) referred to is you”. Shaykh Sulaiman is referring here to a hadeeth of Sayedinna Rasoolallah (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) in which he said “ O Allah, bless our Syria and our Yemen!" They said: "Ya Rasulallah, and our Najd!" He didn't reply. He blessed Syria and Yemen twice more. They asked him to bless Najd twice more but he didn't reply. The third time he said: "There [in Najd] are the earthquakes and the dissensions, and through it will dawn the epoch [or horn] of shaytan.” (Bukhari, Kitaabul Fitan)
He considered himself a reformer who was calling back the Muslims to the way of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), which according to him had not been followed since the first generation of Muslims and he condemned his contemporary Muslims and their ancestors all of being disbelievers. In Kashf-u-Shubhaat Muhammed ibn abd al-Wahhab wrote “ Those people who ask for intercession from Prophets and Angels and make Du'a through their Waseela, to become closer to Allah, are committing sins. Due to this crime it is permitted to kill them and to take their possessions.” Mas'ood Aalam Nadwi wrote that Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab Najdi has called only those Muslims kafir who make Du'a with the Waseela of Prophets and Awliya, and he made jihad against them. (In taking the verses revealed in relation to the idolaters and disbelievers, he would use those very verses in relation to Sunni Muslims, imitating a much earlier sect of Muslims called the Khawarij who were notorious for doing this) It is quite interesting that his opinions were specifically bearing down on this issue of waseela and seeking help from Prophets and Awliya Allah (Friends of Allah), since it is a featured belief of the Ahl us-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah. He did not specifically target any non-Muslim nation or any other sect of Muslims, therefore, it is obvious that this deviant was opposing the majority of Muslims that were and actually are on the Way of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). A hadeeth is related in Ibn Majah: “Without doubt my Ummah will never be gathered in misguidance. Whenever you see disagreement, then hold fast to the Sawad-al-Azam (the greater majority)”. Another hadeeth is related: “There will be Dajjals and liars among my Community. They will tell you something new, which neither you nor your forefathers have heard. Be on your guard against them and do not let them lead you astray" (Ahmad). Yet here is Ibn Abd al-Wahhab declaring that the Sawad-al-Azam are in the wrong, this being a simple matter of either following the instruction of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), or not. In disregarding this prophetic directive one may ask what truly motivated ibn Abd al-Wahhab if it was not to guide the Muslims back to what he termed the right path.
When he returned from his travels to his home city, the ruler of Uyaynah gladly received him; Uthman ibn Mu’ammar who accepted his doctrines and took him under his wing in the city. However, when the Banu Khalid chief of Al-Hasa started threatening invasion of Uyaynah unless the innovator ibn Abd al-Wahhab was executed, Uthman, who was willing neither to provoke invasion or willing to kill his guest, dismissed ibn abd al-Wahhab from Uyaynah who then took refuge with the local prince of neighbouring Ad-Dir’iyah that had never yet come under control of the Ottoman Empire. The prince was Muhammad ibn Sa’ud, the son of Sa’ud ibn Mohammed ibn Mukrim, who had been ruling since 1726. People eventually flocked to the teachings of the preacher and the fataawa (legal rulings) of ibn Abd al-Wahhab gave the perfect pretext to Muhammad ibn Sa’ud to challenge the Sunni Ottoman Empire. Ibn Sa’ud pledged loyalty to ibn Abd al-Wahhab and his doctrines and as more people flocked to his teachings the pledges made between scholar and prince resulted in an ambitious move to wipe away any trace of Sunni Islam from the Arabian Peninsula and bring it under the umbrella of Wahhabi Islam, politically enforced by the Al-Sa’ud family and given a wider audience as a result; a legitimised territorial expansion from the Saudi perspective and a “jihad” from the perspective of the self-made reformers of ibn Abd al-Wahhab. The alliance was further cemented by the marriage of ibn Saud’s son to ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s daughter.
One by one, the surrounding towns and villages fell to the new alliance starting with Uyaynah, Al-Hasa and eventually, after 27 years of resistance, Riyadh. The Wahhabi armies, in the process of eradicating “polytheistic” practices also eradicated innocent men, women and children from the face of the earth in the name of Islamic Monotheism, and a significant aspect of this new style of monotheism was the complete denigration and habitual belittlement of our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). For example, there was a blind mu'adhdhin that he had killed once because he would not desist from sending prayers on the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) after giving the call to prayer. At another time he said, “I looked up the account of Hudaybiyya and found it to contain this or that lie”. (Hudaybiyya was a treaty established between the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and the Quraysh tribe of Makkah in 628 C.E.) He would freely employ insulting statements like this to the point where one of his followers became inspired to say in the presence of ibn Abd al-Wahhab: “This stick in my hand is better than Muhammad because it benefits me by enabling me to walk. But Muhammad is dead and benefits me not at all”. Legally speaking, in the four Sunni Orthodox schools (madhahib) of Law, the above statement is considered an act of disbelief (kufr) and is punishable by death, but not so in this new religion of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. As well as deeming licit the killing of the Sunni Ulama and Sunnis in general, burning books of the Islamic sciences and books containing prayers on the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), he also ordered the digging up of the graves of the Saints (Awliya Allah); in Ahsa he ordered that their graves be used to relieve the wants of nature.
One of the worst abominations that took place as part of this crusade was the massacre at Ta’if in 1802 C.E.; upon entering they killed every one in sight (including Muslims bowing in prayer) until about twenty people remained. I plead the reader to examine the detailed expose of the events in Ta’if included in the recently published book by Sirat ul Muslimin in Manchester called “Sirat ul Ahl us-Sunnah –exposing the beliefs of the deviant sects”, chapter 16. It includes details of indescribable massacres, the plunder of the treasures of Masjid-e-Nabi and the Treasury of the Muslims as well as the setting on fire of the cover of the Ka’ba. In battles between armies at Beit al-Far and Beit al-Fitni, the Wahhabis tricked some of the people to come out to the valley of Waj where they left them naked, cold, barefoot, men, women et al, after which they went back and plundered their possessions. They razed the houses and made what was once a town into barren wasteland. Raging through these towns like a storm the Wahhabi armies would slay anyone who did not conform to their new religion because after all their “Imam” had given them the fataawa to do so. The religious conquest was brutal, swift and concise; if ibn Abd al-Wahhab wanted something done he would inform Muhammad ibn Sa’ud or write an essay (like kashf al-shubuhat `an khaliq al-ardi wa al-samawat (“The Clarification of Unclarity Concerning the Creator of Heaven and Earth”) in which he declared almost every one under the sun as disbelievers). If a Sunni, Shi’i or any other sect of Muslim came in their path then it was a miracle from the Almighty if they were left alive, and Muhammad ibn Sa’ud used these justifications very effectively.
By the time of the demise of Muhammad ibn Sa’ud in 1765 C.E., only a few parts of central and eastern Arabia had come under Wahhabi control and that were left to his son and successor Abd al-Aziz who was commander in chief of the Wahhabi forces under his father’s reign. Due to the sworn allegiances and newly formed marital relationships between the Sa’udis and ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the two factions continued to work in complete harmony, with the Sa’udi successors (Abd al-Aziz and later Sa’ud ibn Abd al-Aziz) in charge of the expansion of their inherited empire and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab in complete control of Civil Administration. Under the reign of Abd al-Aziz in 1801, Karbala was attacked and plundered and in 1803 they moved to take control of Sunni towns in the Hijaz and in Makkah and Madinah destroying the grave markers, domes and monuments that indicated the graves of great Muslim personalities, which the Wahhabis considered as polytheism. In one of these incidents, the Dome serving as a canopy over the Well of Zam Zam was destroyed.
With the death of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab at the age of 89 in 1792 C.E., the Wahhabi movement still acknowledged the leadership of the Al Sa’ud family. Thereafter they restricted access to the two holy cities, which alarmed the majority of Muslims and drew the attention of the Ottomans who were the only real Islamic force in the world at that time. Refusing to cede control of the Hijaz to local leaders the Ottomans delegated the recapture of the Hijaz to the Egyptian Muhammad Ali Pasha (rahmatallah alaih). After Sa’ud died in 1814 C.E., it was his son Abd-Allah ibn Sa’ud ibn Abd al-Aziz who faced the invading Egyptians. Retreating to the Sa’ud family stronghold of Ad-Diri’iyah, the Sa’udis and Wahhabis were no match for the superior Egyptian forces, even though they held out for two years. The town fell in 1818 C.E. sending Abd-Allah to Istanbul to be publicly beheaded, the local Wahhabi leaders executed, descendants of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab sent to detention in Egypt and Ad-Diri’iyah razed to the ground. Hence ended the first attempt of domination of the Sunni territories on the part of the Wahhabi and Sa’udi alliance, however this was to be but a first chapter in the continuing efforts between these two factions.
In 1818 C.E., the Ottoman Caliph Abdul Majid and his successors established a program of sustained reconstruction of the demolished sites, restoring the Islamic heritage at all the sacred sites. In 1848 C.E. and 1860 C.E. further renovations were made at the expense of nearly seven hundred thousand pounds the bulk of which came from donations collected at the tomb of His Holiness (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). The visual glory, awe and respect were restored as the (Ottoman) Empire added to the beauty and splendour of Makkah and Madinah by building religious structures of great beauty and architectural value. Subsequent English adventurers to the region, including the English explorer and writer Sir Richard Francis Burton, wrote of Madinah boasting 55 mosques and holy shrines; a small city resembling Istanbul with its white walls, golden slender minarets and green fields. Beauty had indeed been restored, spiritual and visual, inward and outward with the expulsion of the deviant sect.
In subsequent years, however, the members of Al-Sa’ud regained much of the lost territory (from their new base and family stronghold of Riyadh) by using the local Arabs with whom the Wahhabis had converted thereby strengthening the local relationships between the Saudis and the local tribes. Also due to the weakening strength of the Ottoman-backed forces around the Hijaz and the rulers of Makkah, the 6 th Saudi Emir Turki ibn Abd-Allah, the grandson of Muhammad ibn Sa’ud, retook the Najd again by 1824. Since then, the Al-Sa’ud family has ruled almost continuously up to the present day. After the death in 1792 of ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the Al-Sa’ud leader took the title of Imam, thereby enhancing his authority from both the political and more importantly religious perspectives. Turki continued this tradition and although his baton of Wahhabi Islam was carried around the Najd benefiting from the Islamic rules of war booty, he was unwelcome in the (for the most part) Sunni region of Hijaz.
The assassination of Turki (by a Shi’a in revenge for the attack on Karbala in 1801 C.E.) along with ensuing rivalries with the Rashidi clan eventually drove his descendants including a young Abd al-Aziz ibn abd al-Rahman Al-Sa’ud (later known as Ibn Sa’ud) into Kuwait, becoming penniless exiles at the mercy of local rulers. At the turn of the century, however, Abd al-Aziz set out to retake his family lands with a small army eventually capturing Riyadh in January 1902. The following two decades resulted in more battles consolidating the authority of the young Abd al-Aziz, using the fanatical Ikhwan (Brotherhood) movement of Wahhabis that spread their rigid doctrines to the nomads. The young ruler used these warriors with tact until he had to put them down himself after they refused to cease raiding into then Transjordan and upsetting British interests in the region. The religious fervour that Wahhabi Islam continued to inspire was, however, one of the first things that Abd al-Aziz managed; he used them when he needed to but they started to demand an opportunity to decimate all non-Wahhabi Muslim forces including the British which was unacceptable to Abd al-Aziz who was trying to firm up his position in the Middle East with the British. The Ikhwan ultimately accused him of treachery and going against the teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, but they were crushed by Abd al-Aziz himself at the Battle of Sibilla on March 29 1929 C.E. By putting down and restraining the fanatical Wahhabis and gaining the approval of local Ulama, he established himself as the King.
Just one example of this Wahhabi cancer was the Ikhwan’s insistence (and for a short while that of the Ulama) against the setting up of radio communications advocated by Abd al-Aziz considering it an innovation (Bid’ah). What these literalistic, simple and narrow-minded people failed to realise and what Wahhabis of all time have failed to realise is that the Bid’ah expressly forbidden by the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) was to do with the religious beliefs and established practices. If there was no room for manoeuvre in Islam then the second Caliph Sayedinna Umar ibn al-Khattab (radhiallahu ta’ala anhu) would not have compiled the Qur’an into a physical book, which technically is in fact an innovation but most certainly not an innovation in religion i.e. by compiling it into a book we have not added any verses into the Qur’an or perform salah with the Qur’an in our hands.
Anyway, Abd al-Aziz duly turned his attention from conquest to the formation of a ruling government, which led to the formal unification of his territories into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. After a short while of relative poverty, massive oil reserves were discovered around the kingdom that the British and American oil companies swiftly began to compete over. The first oil contract was signed in 1933 with the firm Standard Oil of California (Socal) and the resulting exploitation accelerated the flow of money into the family coffers, the oil revenue continuing to enrich the Kingdom up and till the present day.
The Ongoing Jihad
As an advocate of the principles of ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Abd al-Aziz, in addition to forming a Kingdom, was also going to repeat history by attempting to eradicate the Sunni Islamic legacy of Arabia. On April 21 st 1925 C.E. he ordered the mausoleums in Jannat al-Baqi (the Holy Graveyard in Madinah) to be demolished; the only remaining one being the Holy Tomb of God’s Last Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). Everything else that even hinted of love, piety and devotion was eradicated. The following is an excerpt taken from a telegram sent by a Press Reporter in London to the News Agency of India on August 22 nd 1925:
“The information has been received through some reliable sources that the wahhabis have attacked Madina, and that the Dome of the Masjid-e-Nabwi had been damaged, (under this dome exists the Grave of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and the Mosque bearing the name of Sayyidina Ameaer Hamza (radi Allu anhu) has been demolished.” (Taken from the Khilafat Committee Report, p. 30) In Makkah, Jannat al-Mu’alla (the sacred cemetery where our Mother Sayyida Khadeejah (radhiAllahu ta’ala anhaa) is laid to rest) was also dismantled and razed to the ground along with the house where Sayeddina Rasoolallah (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) was born. By Allah, the list of sites that were destroyed is too long to go over, however, a partial list is provided below:
Not only were the Saudi-Wahhabi armies guilty of the above but they also interrupted the Hajj rituals by trying to force Sunnis to accept Wahhabism (although they do not call it that now, they call it the way of the Qur’an and Sunnah) and despite protests by almost the entire Muslim world and a Khilafat Committee delegation sent to the Hijaz, none of the sites were (and have yet to be) restored in the face of overwhelming condemnation.
Not content with attacking the beliefs and values of Islam, Wahhabi forces have attempted to wipe out the physical structures built to remind Muslims of these illustrious personalities, whereby their love for them would increase and his conviction and faith (imaan) would increase by, not only remembering the glorious past of Islam but to be inspired with the dedication and effort required of a Muslim to carry this sacred way of life in this world today. Even the non-Muslims are outraged by this defiant destruction of an age-old heritage; Harvard University Fine Arts librarian, Andras Riedlmayer says: “The Wahhabis, with their wealth and fanaticism, are a menace to heritage, in some ways more dangerous than the Serb paramilitary, since about the latter, at least, no one harbours any illusions regarding their uncharitable intentions”, referring to destruction of sites across Kosovo and Serbia by contracted Saudi Arabian construction agencies.
With the Al-Sa’ud as the political authority, the Wahhabis went about placing themselves in the positions of government that would enable them to make sure that their fanatical ideologies take hold and hold firm. The descendants of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (e.g. Saleh ibn Abd al-Aziz Al Sheikh, Minister of Islamic Affairs), called the Ash-Sheikh family, are in prominent positions of power that have enabled them to divert part of the vast oil wealth of Saudi Arabia in promoting Wahhabism abroad. Over the past couple of decades by funding the Deoband school and forming informal alliances with the founders of the Tableeghi Jam’aat on the sub-Indian continent, they and their followers have tried various ways (and succeeded mostly) to infiltrate the Ahl us-Sunnah wa al-Jam’aah and corrupt the community and its faith from within; this is the most effective way of subverting Islam more so than overtly pillaging, murdering and plundering the Ahl us-Sunnah. By enticing Sunnis with their attractive slogan of “Qur’an and Sunnah”, they have misled many and still are misleading. Just to give an example: On a recent visit to Pakistan a Muslim, with whom I was discussing the issue of taking interest on money, was condemning all Muslims in the U.K. of committing a great sin by taking mortgages. He told me that he followed the orthodox school of law of Imam Shafi’i (radhi Allahu ta’ala anhu). However, after I presented to him Shafi’i opinions on this issue that permitted us to take mortgages, for the purposes of security in a non-Muslim land, he would not accept it and accused me of ignorance. Similarly, supposedly Sunni Hanafi members of the notorious Tableeghi Jam’aat accuse us of polytheism for kissing the thumbs on hearing the name of our Beloved Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). I ask these very same people, is it polytheism to kiss your father or mother out of affection, or your wife and son? If the answer is no then you are contradicting yourselves because the status and love accorded to Rasoolallah (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) is greater and therefore deserves greater affection and love on the part of the Muslim, the kissing of the thumbs being a symbolic yet practical way of showing that adoration required of a believer.
Wahhabis (also known as Salafis, Ahl al-Hadeeth), Deobandis and Tableeghi Jam’aat constantly reiterate the need to reform one’s action; prayer, fasting, Hajj, reading Qur’an on your own locked up in a room. In this simplistic way they have fooled many Muslims, some of whom asked me why I had not yet done my round of 40 days with the Tableeghi Jam’aat (an innovative sect formed by Mohammed Ilyas about 50 years ago). However, a correct action if backed up by a misguided belief is annulled, just like the martyr on the Day of Judgement is thrown into the Fire because his intention was corrupt. You could perform salah constantly and beautifully all your life, but if you believed at the same time that it is acceptable to disrespect the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), then suffice it to say you will still have a problem in regards with Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala) when the time comes and you have to face Him and answer for the slander that you afforded His beloved servant; for example, “To think of an ox and donkey in Salaah is permissible, but to think of the Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) in Salaah is Shirk (Polytheism)." (“Seerate Mustaqeem”, by Ismael Dehlwi (a Tableeghi text))
Even now, a person anywhere in the world can apply for grants from the Saudi Government in order to set up a Mosque or school to teach the Wahhabi curriculum or to write a magazine propagating Wahhabi beliefs. As a result of sharp coordination by owning large and well-equipped publishing houses, they have been able to mass-circulate propaganda about Sunni Islam (love of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), sufism (the spiritual sciences of tasawwuf) and the general communal relationships enhanced by dhikr (remembrance gatherings) and Qur’an reading gatherings being prime targets), and also spread their own beliefs under various titles. Nevertheless, no matter how beautifully crafted their translations of the Qur’an or Hadeeth collections are or how enticing and artificially pious they seem, a scholarly heritage that has flourished for over 1400 years, with the help and will of Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala), can never be wiped out and break the Muslims from their faith. Their efforts are sustained and it does take deep insight and effort to realise and witness the folly of their endeavours; a Muslim must understand that no matter how much one prays, fasts and outwardly seems pious (like they have deceived many people), this does not change the fact before God that if they have corrupt belief then they will be thrown into the Fire. At this point I insert some narrations of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) taken from The Doctrine of Ahl as-Sunna Versus the "Salafi" Movement, by Jamal Effendi al-`Iraqi al-Zahawi, translated with notes by Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, ASFA, 1996. The book itself sources the cited hadiths (details can be found on http://www.sunnah.org/publication/fajr/fajr.htm):
Throughout their almost 300 year history, the Wahhabis have hidden themselves behind the rhetoric of abiding by the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and many have been duped into believing that they represent the true and genuine Islamic faith. Instrumental in securing the legitimacy of the Saudi monarchy, if sufficiently alienated Wahhabis could also tear it down. Since Ibn Sa’ud formed the kingdom in 1932, the Saudis have tried to balance the demands of modernisation hand in hand with the intolerance of the Wahhabis and their zealous military ambitions that did not fade away simply with the formation of that kingdom. Wahhabis (the current batch of Wahhabi Ulema include Abd al-Aziz ibn Baaz, Muhammad ibn Saalih Uthaimeen and Muhammad Naasir-ud-Deen al-Albani) are fiercely loyal to the monarchy as represented by the Wahhabi Ulama’s fataawa legitimising Gulf War I in the early 1990s as long as the Saudis support the Wahhabi mission to convert all Sunnis to Wahhabism, and ultimately widen the efforts to subvert the rest of the world ideologically and most famously militarily.
The Saudis and Wahhabis use each other to further their causes with the Wahhabis providing the legal backbone to the Saudi monarchy in the event of the Saudis investing in the Wahhabis. For example, the power of the Ulama was demonstrated on November 2, 1964 when Sa’ud ibn Abd al-Aziz was deposed after a fatwa was issued inaugurating Faisal as king. The funding of Wahhabi missionary work is well acknowledged in the evidently warm relationships between the Wahhabis and the Saudis in terms of setting up educational programmes to teach the Wahhabi curriculum entailing all-expenses paid tours to Saudi universities to be brainwashed with Wahhabi doctrines.
Furthermore, recent revelations about possible Saudi involvement in terrorist activities, especially after 9/11, have shed further light on the ambitions of the hijackers of Islam, and also highlighted the coming fall of Al-Sa’ud as a result of prolonged financing of terrorist activities abroad in order to keep militants at home at bay. The Wahhabis have publicly turned Islam into an order of terrorism that has been extensively taken advantage of by the media and politicians of Europe, America, Russia and others. The fact that members of Al-Sa’ud have been financing militant Islamic causes along with the blacked out portions of the recently published Congressional Report on 9/11 in the U.S. relating to U.S.-Saudi relations and the Saudi origins of the supposed September 11 hijackers, the origins of “the Arabian Rockefeller” Osama ibn Laden leave little doubt among many analysts that the source of militant Islamic fundamentalism is Saudi Arabia.
As the age-old relationship between the Al-Sa’ud and the Wahhabis has been based on mutual support, the Sa’udis are inextricably bound by honour to support the Wahhabis in their misguided and illegal jihad operations against the West. If the Wahhabis started to demand more than what the Saudis are willing to give, then due to the rising number of frustrated Muslims in the kingdom, this could cause a serious issue in terms of the stability of the Arabian peninsula. Several factors have to be considered from a Wahhabi Muslim’s point of view in that country at the present time, among them that the oil money has corrupted the Royal family, the country’s leaders have failed to protect Muslims in Palestine and other places and that, in short, the country has let Islam be humiliated and therefore needs a radical “purification”. Recent events including a report in the summer of 2002 by USA Today reported that nearly four out of five computer hack attacks came from within Saudi Arabia and a report commissioned by the UN Security Council indicating the transfer of $500m to Al-Qa’ida leave little doubt in many people’s minds that Saudi Arabia is funding Wahhabi Islamic militancy across the world. Indeed the wanton destruction and indiscriminate killing of innocent men and women in the September 11 attacks is a perfect advancement on the massacres of innocent Sunni Muslims led by ibn Abd al-Wahhab and more recently by Ibn Sa’ud himself around the turn of the century. The simple, attractive and radical slogans also of Al-Muhajiroon (of openly rebelling against rulers and hailing Osama ibn Laden as a hero by a recent Al-Muhajiroon meeting ‘A Towering Day In History’) are also inciting unease amongst the majority of Muslims who for the most part are not even aware of these issues. Al-Muhajiroon, especially have hallmarks of Wahhabi ideas themselves and although being an offshoot of the more progressive Hizb ut-Tahreer have started their own campaign of establishing a Khilafah with meetings guarded by youths wearing black headscarves that would understandably concern most people, including Muslims.
The militant messages have also been given further impetus with attempts by movements to proclaim Martial Jihad as an obligation (fard) on every able Muslim. This is certainly the opinion of Wahhabis as well as the Tableeghi Jam’aat as I was to find out on a recent trip to Pakistan when a member tried to convince me of the aforesaid obligation. This greatly worried me that by trying to convince Muslims everywhere of the “obligation” of military jihad, the Wahhabis are trying to increase their numbers for the eventual overhaul of Saudi Arabia and quite possibly Pakistan and the wider Muslim World. In Saudi Arabia particularly, with popular preachers across the country openly advocating a jihad against the West, the House of Sa’ud seems to be diverting the attention of these advocates of war abroad in the fear of a militant uprising at home. In spite of this, if and when the uprising does take place, it may result in the formation of a purely Wahhabi government; unwilling to compromise, with no power-sharing and ready, eager and willing to take on the rest of the infidel world.
There are a number of ways that a Wahhabi can be identified, or a Muslim with Wahhabi tendencies. One of them is the whole-hearted accusation that they propound against Sunnis of Bid’ah (innovation), kufr (disbelief) and shirk (polytheism); since they have been indoctrinated to such an extent they will be unwilling to accept that they could be wrong. They will believe that they have the true faith and will not hesitate in denouncing their parents, grandparents and other relatives as misguided deviants or even disbelievers. Whilst fooling people that they are following the Imams of the mainstream schools of law (recently a collection has been published by the Saudi government of their version of the creed of the four Sunni Imams), all their deviant opinions and beliefs go against the thoroughly documented ones of Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Shafi’i, Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal and Imam Malik (the mercy of Allah be on all of them). After the international condemnation of Wahhabi-led massacres in the first half of the 20 th Century to continue being called a Wahhabi is now unthinkable, which is why they have changed tactics from physically slaughtering the Muslims to now trying to decimate a faith that has flourished for 1400 years. Have no doubt that they are now working from within the Sunni communities of the world; in the Middle East, India, Pakistan, the U.K., the United States as well as other countries. Reading a couple of books and learning some ahadith, dua’aas and chapters of the Qur’an seems to be the prerequisites to becoming a scholar these days as opposed to the age-old tradition of sitting with a true scholar, who has studied for literally decades and is still considered a student of knowledge, and directly learning from him/her with the knowledge tracing back to the Prophet himself (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).
Over 250 years have gone by since the advent of mainstream Wahhabism, and it can be pointed out that Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab was a Godsend to the British as at that time they were concentrating their efforts on weakening the Ottomans. Thereafter they turned to the Wahhabi founder with hope to spiritually weaken the Muslims by emotionally separating them from their Beloved Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) with his messages and beliefs of deprecating the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and one cannot help but wonder whether the British implicitly encouraged ibn Abd al-Wahhab and Muhammad ibn Sa’ud to expand their tribal empire overriding the authority of the Ottomans in the Arabian peninsula. However, in trying to distance the Muslims from our Prophet (allallahu alaihi wa sallam), they have greatly underestimated the Sunnis’ devotion to him (sallallahu alaihi wasallam), a devotion and respect that is ordered by the Qur’an and countless ahadith:
Surah al-Noor: Verse 63 “O Muslims; do not call or address the Prophet as you would call or address one another”
Surah Taubah: Verse 62 “…it is more fitting that they should please Allah andHis Messenger, if they are believers”
In a hadeeth of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) related by Imam Bukhari “None amongst you can be a true believer until I am dearer to him than even himself.” For the Wahhabis, though, sticks of wood are dearer to them than the Holy Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam)
It is strange indeed that whereas the “true carriers of Monotheism” belittle, disrespect and greatly dishonour him, non-Muslims at the risk of being labelled traitors go to great lengths in describing the wonderful characteristics of Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). Well-known figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, George Bernard Shaw, Montgomery Watt, Lamartine and Thomas Carlyle among many others have written great accounts in their works praising him; praise that normally came from Muslims and worryingly the type of praise that is slowly diminishing from the dialogue of Muslims. Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala) has said in a Hadeeth Qudsi “Whoever harms any of my deputies, I shall declare war on him” ( related by al-Bukhari on the authority of Abu Harayra (radhi Allahu ta'ala anhu)). It would do well for Wahhabis and others to note these words of the Almighty when they attack our adoration of the Prophets and Saints.
The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) was given knowledge of the unseen by Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala) that included knowledge of incidents, events and problems to come in the future. He was well aware of the tribulation of Wahhabism, and he gave advice accordingly: "Follow the way of the largest group of Muslims! For he who deviates from this group will be thrown into Hell.” (Ibn Majah) Yet I am amazed at when you present these simple ahadith and commands from the Messenger and Prophet of God himself (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), the amount of bickering a Wahhabi will do to try to manoeuvre out of the uncomfortable position of the correctness of a Sunni and his own deviation. Ultimately, however, this is his problem and as true Muslims, we should just attempt to guide our angry, misguided brethren back to the way of the largest group of Muslims and insha Allah inspire each and every one of ourselves to become closer to the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), whose spiritual presence transcends time, and ultimately to Our Creator (Glorified be He, Most High).
My dear brothers and sisters, do not be fooled by the riches the Saudis have used to enlarge the Two Holy Mosques, of providing, improving and maintaining the facilities in Makkah and Madinah. The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) once said “O uncle, if they were to put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left hand to stop me from preaching Islam, I would never stop. I will keep on preaching until Allah makes Islam prevail or I die" (Seerah of Ibn Hisham). No matter how beautiful the Mosques are and how big and how vast the facilities provided, if one were to believe that they are the true stalwarts of Islam then this person has indeed been fooled. If they were true guardians of the Faith, then they would have spent all their resources and manpower in reclaiming Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem from the Israeli oppressors, yet they have left it in their hands for the past half-century. The Wahhabis’ campaign of subversion has been going on nearly 3 centuries, and even though they have changed tactics, their aims are the same: Distance the Muslims from the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), eradicate the Sunni Muslim legacy, heritage and tradition of scholarship and to increase the numbers of their sect.
May Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala) keep us all from misguidance and deviation in all their complicated and sinister forms.
The following are some of the websites I have used for information (some are specific pages, others are the home pages of a collection of pages I have used)
www.sunnah.org/publication/fajr/fajr.htm
foi.missouri.edu/evolvingissues/fallhouseofsaud.html
www.ahya.org/tjonline/eng/contents.html
countrystudies.us/saudi-arabia/
www.worldhistory.com/wiki/M/Muhammad-bin-Saud.htm
www.abc.se/~m9783/n/itay_e.html
www.naqshbandi.org/
www.compuex.com/ad101/wahab.html
www.nooremadinah.net/Library/Docs/VariousIslamicTopics/41.html
www.nooremadinah.net/Library/EnglishBooks/TableeghiJamaatFactsTruth/Tableeghi.html
Sirat ul Ahl us-Sunnah -
exposing the beliefs of the deviant sects (Published by Sirat ul Muslimeen', Manchester)
Traditional Scholarship & Modern Misunderstandings: Understanding the Ahle al-Sunnah by Abu Ammar (Published by the Islamic Information Centre (Bristol), www.islamicinformationcentre.co.uk)