لطفا منتظر باشید ...
1 - Al-Wahabia and Its Founder
The Wahabi sect was founded by Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahab
ibn Suleiman al-Najdi (1111 - 1206 AH.). After obtaining
fundamental religious training he developed a special
interest in books on false Prophets such as Musailama
al-Kathab, Sajah al-Aswad al-An'si and Tulaiha al-
Assadi. In the early period of his scholarship his father
and tutors became aware of his deviant thinking and this
led them to warn people of him by saying: "This man
will go astray and will mislead those whom Allah wish to
keep distant [from Him] and torment."
In 1143 AH. Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahab called upon the
people of Najd to follow his new doctrine. However, his
father and religious teachers rehmently opposed him and
publicly refuted his ideas. Consequently, his mission
remained unpopular until his father's death ten years
later. At that time he resumed his preaching and a small
group of villagers followed him. Most of the villagers
were, however, incensed by this and tried to kill him. He
was thus, forced to flee to another town, Uyayna, where
he won the favour of its ruler by marrying his sister. He
remained there preaching his new doctrines until the
indignant population drove him out. In al-Daria in
eastern Najid he finally found permanent refuge. As a
historical footnote it should be remembered that this was
the land of the false prophet Musailama and the
birthplace of the rada or apostatsy movement after
the Prophet's death. Ibn Abdul Wahab's ideas fell on
fertile ground in the town of al-Daria and its ruler,
Muhammad ibn Saud, and most of its inhabitants converted
to the new doctrine.
At that time Ibn Abdul Wahab behaved as if he had
absolute monopoly over ijtihad, i.e. the ability to
arrive at logical deductions on religious questions. In
reality however, Ibn Abdul Wahab lacked the basic
prerequisites that could qualify him to the rank of ijtihad.
This was the opinion of his brother; Sulaiman, who knew
him closely and authored a book refuting his brother's
invocation and demonstrating its falsehood. His book
includes the following passage which concisely sums up
the Wahabia and its founder:1
At present people are plagued by someone who
claims to follow the Holy Quran and al-Sunna
(the Prophet Tradition) and dares to deduce from
their teachings paying no heed to any opposition.
Because anyone who opposes him [he calls] a heretic
although he possesses none of the qualifications of
the mujtahedeen - and, I swear by Allah, not
even one tenth of one of these qualifications. In
spite of this, his teachings have attracted many
simpletons. To Allah we belong and shall return.
