Why did Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab not declare the people of the desert to be disbelievers, even though they were committing acts of shirk (associating partners with Allah)?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. A questioner says: Why did Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) not declare the people of the desert to be disbelievers due to their ignorance, when they were committing acts of shirk (associating partners with Allah)?
Answer:
Because there was no one among them to convey the message to them and explain it to them. One is not declared a disbeliever except if it is explained to him and he persists in what he is doing. One is not declared a disbeliever except after the explanation has been given, may Allah have mercy on him.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. A questioner says: Why did Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) not declare the people of the desert to be disbelievers due to their ignorance, when they were committing acts of shirk (associating partners with Allah)?
Answer:
Because there was no one among them to convey the message to them and explain it to them. One is not declared a disbeliever except if it is explained to him and he persists in what he is doing. One is not declared a disbeliever except after the explanation has been given, may Allah have mercy on him.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 136- لماذا لم يُكفِّر الشيخ محمد بن عبد الوهاب أهلَ البادية مع وقوعهم في الشرك؟ - صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.