Summary of the Deviation in the Wahhabi Doctrine

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is a summary of the comparison of the doctrine of the Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah and the heretical Wahhabi sect, as extracted from al-Fajr as-Swadiq fi ar-Radd ‘ala Munkiri at-Tawaswswul wa al-Khawariq, “The True Dawn: A Refutation of Those Denying Miracles & Intercession in Islam” by Imam Jamil Swiddiqi ibn Muhammad Faydhi az-Zahawi al-Kurdi (r.a.), the Mufti of Baghdad. 

سُوۡرَةُ بنیٓ اسرآئیل / الإسرَاء

وَقُلۡ جَآءَ ٱلۡحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ ٱلۡبَـٰطِلُ‌ۚ إِنَّ ٱلۡبَـٰطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقً۬ا (٨١) 

And say: “Truth has (now) arrived, and falsehood perished: for falsehood is (by its nature) bound to perish.” (Surah al-Isra’:81) 

Since Allah (s.w.t.) had Shut tight the door of prophecy after the Seal of the Prophets (s.a.w.) there was no way for Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab an-Najdi to realise his desire of being considered one except to claim that he was a mujaddid and a mujtahid, neither of which he was qualified to be.  Such an attitude, the worst and most profound state of moral misguidance and religious disbelief, brought him to the point of declaring every group of Muslims disbelievers and idolaters.  He set out to apply the verses of Qur’an specifically Revealed to single out the idolaters of the Arabs to generally include all Muslims who visit the grave of their Prophet (s.a.w.), and seek his intercession with their Lord. 

In doing this, he cast aside what ran counter to his own invalid claims and the vain desires commanding his ego to work mischief regarding the explicit statements of the Master of all messengers (s.a.w.), the a’immah, and the mujtahidun of our religion.  Hence, when he saw a consensus of legal opinion in matters of faith which clashed with his own unwarranted innovations, he rejected it as a matter of principle, asserting, “I do not entertain any opinion of people coming after the Qur’an which contains all that pertains to Islam, the fresh and the dry.”  Thus, he failed to heed what the Qur’an itself Declared, when It Says: 

سُوۡرَةُ النِّسَاء

وَمَن يُشَاقِقِ ٱلرَّسُولَ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ ٱلۡهُدَىٰ وَيَتَّبِعۡ غَيۡرَ سَبِيلِ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ نُوَلِّهِۦ مَا تَوَلَّىٰ وَنُصۡلِهِۦ جَهَنَّمَ‌ۖ وَسَآءَتۡ مَصِيرًا (١١٥) 

If anyone contends with the Messenger even after Guidance has been plainly conveyed to him, and follows a path other than that becoming to men to faith, We shall leave him in the path he has chosen, and Land him in Hell - what an evil refuge! (Surah an-Nisa’:115) 

Inasmuch as he accepted from Qur’an only what it Reveals concerning the idolaters of the Arabs, he interpreted these verses in his own obscure fashion, having the gall to stand before Allah (s.w.t.) and facilitate the accomplishment of his own personal political ambitions by means of an unwarranted and unjustified exegesis of His Text.  His method here mostly consisted in applying these verses concerning the idolaters to Muslims and on this basis declaring that they had been disbeliever for the last six hundred years, that one may shed their blood with impunity and confiscate their property and reduce their land, Dar al-Islam to Dar al-Harb. 

All this despite the fact that the Prophet (s.a.w.), from what we see in the two canonical collections of sound ahadits, Swahih al-Bukhari and Swahih Muslim, declared in the narration where the angel Jibril (a.s.) assumed human form to question him about the creed of Islam: “Islam is to testify that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”  

Again, in the narration of Sayyidina Abu Hafsw ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab al-Faruq (r.a.), he said, “Islam is built upon five articles of faith: [Beginning with] Testimony that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.” 

Then, there is his declaration to the delegation of Bani ‘Abd al-Qays also cited in Swahih al-Bukhari and Swahih Muslim: “I am commanding you to believe in Allah Alone.  Do you know what belief in Allah Alone is?  It is to testify, ‘There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.’” 

Also cited is his exhortation, “I have been ordered to fight people until they say: ‘There is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.’” 

Finally, the Prophet (s.a.w.) said, ‘It is sufficient that folk say, ‘There is no god but Allah.’” 

Despite all this, however, ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab and his followers go counter to all these statements of the Prophet (s.a.w.).  They make a disbeliever the one who says, “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” because that person is not like them in respect to their claim that the one who testifies in the aforementioned fashion and yet asks Allah (s.w.t.) for something for the sake of a prophet or evokes the name of someone absent or dead or makes a vow to that person it is as if his belief diverges from his testimony.  His only aim here is to market goods unsaleable where sound ahadits and correct exegeses of the Qur’an are exchanged. 

It is amazing how ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab misrepresents use of the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) name in petitions to Allah (s.w.t.) or tawaswswul under the pretense of tawhid and tanzih, claiming that use of a prophet’s name in this manner constitutes association of a partner with Allah (s.w.t.); yet at the same time there is his outright assertion to the effect that Allah’s (s.w.t.) mounting His ‘Arsh is like sitting on it and his affirmation that Allah (s.w.t.) has a hand, face and possesses spatial dimension.  He says it is possible to point to Him in the sky and claims that He literally descends to the lower heavens so that he gives a body to Allah (s.w.t.) Who is too Exalted in the Height of His Sublimity beyond what obscurantists proclaim.  What happens to Divine Transcendence after making Allah (s.w.t.) a body so that the lowliest of inanimate creatures share properties in common with their Creator?  To what is He, the Exalted, transcendent when He is characterised in so deprecating a fashion and His Divinity couched in terms so redolent of ridicule and contempt? 

One of ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab’s more enormous stupidities is this: When he sees reason going against his claims, he casts aside all modesty and suspends reason giving it no role in his judgement.  He endeavours thereby to make people like dumb beasts when it comes to matters of faith.  He prohibits reason to enter into religious affairs despite the fact that there is no contradiction between reason and faith.  On the contrary, whenever human minds reach their full measure of completeness and perfection, religion's merits and prerogatives with regard to reason become totally manifest.  Is there, in this age, an age of the mind’s progress, anything more abominable than denying reason its proper scope, especially when the cardinal pivot of religion and the capacity to perform its duties is based on the ability to reason?  For the obligation to carry out the duties of Islam falls away when mental capacity is absent.  Allah (s.w.t.) has Addressed His servants in many places in the Qur’an: 

سُوۡرَةُ الطّلاَق

... فَٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَ يَـٰٓأُوْلِى ٱلۡأَلۡبَـٰبِ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ‌ۚ قَدۡ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ إِلَيۡكُمۡ ذِكۡرً۬ا (١٠) 

… Therefore, fear Allah, O you men of understanding ― who have believed! ― for Allah has indeed Sent Down to you a Message ― (Surah ath-Thalaq:10) 

All this alerting them to the fact that knowledge of the realities of religion is only a function of those possessed of minds. 

In summation, their invalid creed consists of a number of articles.  They include, affirming the face, hand, and spatial direction of the Creator and making Him a body that descends and ascends; making principles derived from naql prior to those derived from ‘aql; denial and rejection of consensus as an aswl of shari’ah; similar denial and rejection of qiyas; not permitting copying and emulating the judgements of the a’immah who have, in Islam, the status of those capable of exercising independent reasoning in matters of shari’ah; declaring Muslims who contradict them disbelievers; prohibition of using the name of the Messenger (s.a.w.) in petitions to Allah (s.w.t.) or the name of someone else among the friends of Allah (s.w.t.) and the pious; making the visiting of the tombs of prophets and of pious people illicit; and declaring a Muslim a disbeliever who makes a vow to someone other than Allah (s.w.t.) or sacrifices at the grave or final resting place of awliya’ or the pious.