Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab was No Mujaddid

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is adapted from “Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, a Mujaddid?” 

With regards the claim that Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab an-Najdi was a reviver of the Diyn, it is important we understand a few ahadits that have been passed down to us.  The first hadits of the Prophet (s.a.w.) is where he said, “The best of generations is my generation, then the one after that, then the one after that.  After them will appear untrustworthy people.”  This is found in Swahih al-Bukhari.  We know from this that the best of generations in knowledge of sunnah are the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) companions, those that followed the companions and then those that followed the students of the companions.  In other words the first three generations which ended at 400AH.  400 years after the Hijrah, the era of the Salaf had finished and the Prophet (s.a.w.) warned that from this period would arise scholars that lie, untrustworthy people.  But before we think we cannot trust anybody, in another next hadits, the holy Prophet (s.a.w.) also said, “This knowledge will be carried by the trustworthy ones of every generation – they will expel from it the alterations made by those going beyond bounds, the false claims of the liars, and the false interpretations of the ignorant.”  This is found in Mishkat al-Maswabih, and classified as swahih. 

The Prophet (s.a.w.) told us that there will be trustworthy scholars that confirm the sunnah and refute the people of bid’ah.  The Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “At the head of every one hundred years, Allah will Send to this ummah, one who will revive for it its Religion.”  This is found in Sunan Abu Dawud.  Even the Wahhabi scholar Muhammad Naswir ad-Din al-Albani classified this hadits as swahih in his Silsilah asw-Swahihah.  The import of this hadits is crucial to understand, as the word in Arabic for reviver is “mujaddid”, meaning somebody who renews the religion by enjoining the sunnah and forbidding the bid’ah.  Also, we notice how the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) said that Allah (s.w.t.) would Send a mujaddid every hundred years.  This has to mean that any reviver that comes must affirm the message of the revivers that have gone before.  This means that they would have enjoined the sunnah and refuted the innovations of each age.  Here lays the challenge to the very claim of ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab being a reviver, because for him to be a reviver, the Wahhabis have to present a reviver from each century that came with the very same message as ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, and what was his message? 

He claimed that the mushrikin of Makkah were upon tawhid ar-rububiyyah and that their tawhid would have been perfect had they of not called upon others besides Allah (s.w.t.).  He also taught that the Muslims had declined from the 4^th century onwards and fell into idolatry and that idolatry was rampant in Makkah and Madinah.  He also taught that the Muslims of his age were in the depth of kufr and shirk even more than that of the musrikin of Makkah.  He taught that it is permissible to spill their blood and loot their property and that their recitation of the kalimah, their testimony of faith, was invalid.  He taught that the four madzahib were shirk as the Muslims were worshipping the a’immah as the Jews and the Christians worshipped their priests and rabbis.  He taught that the annual celebration of Milad an-Nabi was shirk because the people who do so were raising the Prophet (s.a.w.) to the level of god-hood as the Christians did with Jesus (a.s.). 

The problems that the Wahhabiyyah have, is producing such revivers of each century who came forward and preached the same message of ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab.  The Wahhabis cannot ever produce any revivers of each century who said the same things as ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab and ultimately their claim of Islamic purity fails.  Thus, we can then safely conclude that it is ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab who was an innovator and that he bought something new that was unknown to the previous, genuine, revivers.