A discussion of the call of Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and a clarification of the falsehoods attributed to it through lies and slander.

The Shaykh : This is a book written by one of the Alusi family of Baghdad, specifically the son of the Shaykh, "Mahmud al-Alusi," the author of the famous tafsir known as "Ruh al-Ma'ani." His son, named al-Nu'man, wrote a very beautiful book titled: "The Clear Verses Regarding the Dead Not Hearing in the Hanafi Sadaat." I authenticated this book, added annotations to it, and wrote an introduction of about fifty pages. In it, I explained this type of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and the shirk (associating partners with Allah) and idolatry that contradict it, including the reasons for which this Alusi wrote the book, "The Clear Verses Regarding the Dead Not Hearing in the Hanafi Sadaat." Today, you see people gathered around the graves of some of the awliya (close friends of Allah) and the righteous. The grave of our master Shu'ayb is not far from you, and the sacrifices and vows offered to him, all of this contradicts the testimony that there is no god but Allah in the correct sense that encompasses the three types of tawhid, so that the one who practices tawhid is pure in his tawhid.
We return to the question about the Wahhabis: how did this term come about? We said that "Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab" was one of the scholars of Najd who sought knowledge in Iraq at that time and in al-Azhar. When he returned to his country, being the most knowledgeable of people about it, he found shirk (associating partners with Allah) standing firmly on its feet. So he began calling people to pure tawhid (the oneness of Allah) — I think we are now understanding each other — pure tawhid.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And beware, and may Allah bless you.
Of course, every caller, whether he is on the truth or on falsehood, has opponents and followers. This was also the case for this caller; he had opponents and he had followers. For a wisdom that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) willed, some of those who responded to the Shaykh's call to worship Allah alone, having no partner, and to disavow these types of shirk (associating partners with Allah) and idolatry that were standing firmly on their feet in the Najdi lands at that time, and still do so in many Islamic lands, such as al-Azhar, for example, and Sayyida Zaynab and al-Husayn (may Allah be pleased with them all). Here, if you see them, it suffices you from seeing them in dreams. So it was in the Najdi lands. But when "King Saud" — who was an emir at that time — followed "Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab" in his call, the sword and the pen were joined here, so each of them was strengthened by the other. They set out in their call, sometimes with the tongue and sometimes with the spear, and their call spread.
Who moved here? The Turks; because they were controlling all the Islamic lands, including the Arab lands and the Arabian Peninsula. They feared that this new emerging movement would become strong. And so, as you know from the methods of propaganda, especially in the modern era, one of the strongest methods is to destroy the enemy by spreading false propaganda. So the Turks did this against this new movement. They began spreading about them the opposite of what they actually were, and they gathered all these fabrications that they fabricated about them, some of which we mentioned earlier. The least of which was that their madhhab (school of jurisprudence) is a fifth madhhab, that the Wahhabis' madhhab is a fifth one. They spread this in the Islamic lands, so all the Islamic lands rose up, influenced by these false rumors, along with the Ottoman state at that time. And wars occurred, known in recent history, between these Najdis called the Wahhabis and "Ibrahim ibn Ali Pasha," who was the ruler of Egypt in his time. And unfortunately, blood was shed from both sides by the Turkish Ottoman Ibrahim army, influenced by the false propaganda. Those people were defending, first, their souls, and then their creed. The war continued back and forth until these Najdis were defeated in their matter and extinguished, until the movement of the King, what is his name? "Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud," in a long story, they entered Kuwait, so he took control of Riyadh. Who was in "al-Rashid"?

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes, indeed. Then he also began, in his turn, to expand his call which he inherited, and they began publishing letters clarifying their creed to the Islamic world. Then, when they secured the road for Hajj (the major pilgrimage) to the House of Allah, and people began connecting with these people called the Wahhabis because of these facilitations, the truths became clear to them. It became evident that they had been misled by the term Wahhabi and Wahhabis, by the claims that they say such and such. The reality is that they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. There is no difference between them and the other Muslims except that if there is a difference between the Hanafi and the Shafi'i, then there is a difference between the Najdi and these people; because the Najdis, in reality, are Hanbalis who follow Imam Ahmad, who is the fourth imam: Abu Hanifa, then Malik, then al-Shafi'i, then Ahmad ibn Hanbal. So they are in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) on the madhhab of Imam Ahmad. When people realized this truth, many of them were guided and returned from what they were accusing these people of falsely and slanderously.
And among the jokes we have read and heard; unfortunately, the common people, to this day, still live with the old Turkish concepts that these are Wahhabis. What are these Wahhabis? They know nothing about these truths, ever, except the specialists and the educated. Among what I read was that two people were discussing this topic, so one of them says: My brother, these people do not believe in anything but Allah, as for Muhammad being the Messenger of Allah, they do not believe in it, and they do not say anything other than: There is no god but Allah.
And our Lord sends the Saudi consulate car with the flag in the front fluttering, written on it: "There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." He said to him: Look, this is from the leaders of the Kingdom. Look at what is written on the flag? "There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." How can you accuse the group of saying nothing but there is no god but Allah?
This is a summary of the group's ideas. They are one of the four madhahabs (schools of jurisprudence), there is no doubt in that. But the reason for the resentment goes back to the detail in the previous speech about tawhid (the oneness of Allah). The group understands tawhid better than any other group in all the Islamic lands. So when they began calling in the past, in the time of "Saud the First" with "Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab," and finally "King Abd al-Aziz," they rose up. The peoples rose up against them under the name that these people deny the karamat (miracles granted to a righteous person) of the awliya (close friends of Allah), for example, that they do not respect the awliya, that they do not sanctify them. Why? Because they say: Do not call for aid except to Allah, and do not call upon except Allah. Even they say: Do not seek nearness to Allah through any of the servants of Allah at all, but seek nearness to Allah through Allah by His names and attributes, and so on. So the ignorant people interpreted these things with a reality that has a relation to tawhid, that these people either deny the Messenger, or deny his status, or deny the karamat of the awliya and the righteous. And they wrote books and letters when they denied these things. Their answer is: Glory to You, this is a great slander!
Perhaps this amount is sufficient as an answer regarding the Wahhabis.