What is the response to the doubt that Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and Amir Muhammad ibn Saud rebelled against the ruler?

Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: Some people who are hostile to the call of Shaykh al-Islam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) claim that Shaykh al-Islam and Imam Muhammad ibn Saud were rebels against the ruling of the ruler, the Ottoman state, and that they broke the bond of obedience. This is contrary to the belief of the people of the Sunnah and the community. What is your view of this statement? May Allah reward you. And is the one who makes this statement committed to listening and obeying?

Answer:
Most of those who make this statement see rebellion against the imams as permissible now, and they do not commit to or acknowledge the authority of the rulers; that is one aspect. The second aspect is that Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) and Imam Muhammad ibn Saud did not rebel against the ruler in their time, because the Ottoman state had no authority over the lands of Najd. Rather, the lands of Najd were in the hands of their amirs, with each town having an independent amir who ruled it, and when he died, one of his sons or relatives would succeed him. So the Ottomans had no authority over the lands of Libya, nor did they care about them. The Ottoman state did not care about the lands of Libya because there was no production there at that time, so they did not care about them. Rather, they fought the Saudi state not because they had rebelled against them, but out of fear of them. They fought the Saudi state out of fear of it when its status grew and its affair became apparent, and they feared it, so they fought it out of concern that the Saudi state would invade them in their lands. This was the intention. Otherwise, they had no authority over the lands of Najd, and the lands of Najd were in the hands of their amirs and rulers, generation after generation, until Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) came with the call, and Muhammad ibn Saud supported him. So they extended their authority over all of Najd and other lands of the Peninsula, as Allah the Exalted enabled them, because they established the call of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and spread Islam. So all the emirates that had previously been scattered in Najd came under one authority. At that time, the Ottoman state feared that they would expel them from their lands in Iraq and the Levant, and they feared for themselves. Also, they have superstitions and shrines, so they feared for what they were upon. They have Sufism and religious innovations, so they feared for what they were upon of these matters, in case the Shaykh's call would change them. And so they fought the Saudi state.