The Renewal by Imam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab of the Call to Tawhid (the oneness of Allah)

The questioner:
May Allah reward you with good and may He do you good. The Shaykh, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, and the Wahhabiyyah are terms we hear sometimes, and behind them lies more than one meaning. A final question on this topic. May Allah reward you with good, Shaykh Salim?

The Shaykh:
Yes. The Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him)—that is his name: the Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab ibn Sulayman ibn 'Ali, the Imam who renewed the call to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) in this land. As for the Wahhabiyyah, it is a designation derived from his father. Is it not a designation derived from him? Because he is Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab. If the designation were correct, it would be called the Muhammadiyyah, the Muhammadi call. And if it were called the Muhammadiyyah, this name would match the reality, because it is the Prophetic call, the call of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). But they avoided this.

The presenter:
Mm.

The Shaykh:
And they called them the Wahhabiyyah.

The presenter:
This is for a clear purpose.

The Shaykh:
A clear purpose: to judge this call and to conceive of it as a new school of thought.

The presenter:
And also.

The Shaykh:
That it is a new school of thought and a new creed that Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab adopted or invented. So they classify it among the new sects and creeds. That is their intention. Therefore, they mention it alongside the new sects and schools of thought. They mention it to the extent that I have seen some contemporary authors classify it alongside the Bahayyah and the Qarmatiyyah, and so on. That is their intention. Meanwhile, the Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) does not have a specific school of thought, and he did not bring anything new. Rather, he called to what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) called to.

The presenter:
Okay.

The Shaykh:
He called to the creed of the Salaf (the earliest generations) al-Salih (the righteous). In terms of madhhab (school of jurisprudence), he is on the madhhab of Imam Ahmad in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). As for creed, he is on the madhhab of Imam Ahmad and the other Salaf al-Salih. He does not have a new school of thought, neither in fiqh nor in creed. Rather, his methodology is the methodology of the Imams of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah (the people of the Sunnah and the community) before him. But he renewed it and called to it at a time when it had been obscured, and contrary schools of thought and creeds had been brought in. Yes.