Is the Wahhabi school a fifth madhhab, or does it follow one of the four madhahib?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Written questions were sent to me by one of the shaykhs from outside the Kingdom, and I answered them by saying:
From 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Baz to his honored brother, may Allah guide him to beneficial knowledge and act upon it, amen. Peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings: As for what follows, your letter dated 2/3/1394 AH has reached you, may Allah connect you to the rope of guidance and success, and I understood the three questions it contained regarding the Wahhabis, and here is the answer to them:
Q: What is your statement on what the Wahhabis are, and are they a fifth madhhab, or do they follow one of the four madhahib?
And the answer: This term is used by many people for the call of the shaykh and imam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab ibn Sulayman al-Tamimi al-Hanbali (may Allah have mercy on him), and they call him and his followers the Wahhabis. It is known to anyone with the slightest insight into the movement of Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) and his call that he set out to spread the call to pure tawhid (the oneness of Allah), and to warn against shirk (associating partners with Allah) in all its forms, such as attaching oneself to the dead and others, like trees and stones and the like. He (may Allah have mercy on him) was in 'aqidah (creed) upon the madhhab of the righteous Salaf, and in the branches of jurisprudence upon the madhhab of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Shaybani (may Allah have mercy on him), as indicated by his books and fatwas, and the books of his followers from his sons and grandsons and others. All of these have been printed and circulated among the people.
Imam Muhammad (may Allah have mercy on him) arose at a time when the alienation of Islam had become severe, and the clouds of ignorance had settled over the Arabian Peninsula and elsewhere, except what Allah wills, and the worship of rivals and idols had spread therein. So the Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) rolled up his sleeves with earnestness, struggled and fought, and devoted his efforts to eliminating the paths of misguidance, employing in this various means leading to the spread of pure tawhid (the oneness of Allah) free from superstitions among the people. And among the blessings of Allah the Exalted was that He guided Imam Muhammad ibn Sa'ud, the ruler of al-Dar'iyyah at that time, to accept this call. So he stood with him in this path, along with his sons and those under his command and those who followed him in this good. May Allah reward them all with good, forgive them, and guide all their descendants to everything that brings His pleasure and the well-being of His servants.
The regions of the Arabian Peninsula have continued to live under the shadow of this noble call to this day. His call (may Allah have mercy on him) was in accordance with the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The Wahhabis are not a fifth madhhab as the ignorant and malicious claim, but rather they are a call to Salafi 'aqidah (creed) and a renewal of what had faded of the markers of Islam and tawhid (the oneness of Allah) in the Arabian Peninsula, as mentioned previously.
From 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Baz to his honored brother, may Allah guide him to beneficial knowledge and act upon it, amen. Peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings: As for what follows, your letter dated 2/3/1394 AH has reached you, may Allah connect you to the rope of guidance and success, and I understood the three questions it contained regarding the Wahhabis, and here is the answer to them:
Q: What is your statement on what the Wahhabis are, and are they a fifth madhhab, or do they follow one of the four madhahib?
And the answer: This term is used by many people for the call of the shaykh and imam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab ibn Sulayman al-Tamimi al-Hanbali (may Allah have mercy on him), and they call him and his followers the Wahhabis. It is known to anyone with the slightest insight into the movement of Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) and his call that he set out to spread the call to pure tawhid (the oneness of Allah), and to warn against shirk (associating partners with Allah) in all its forms, such as attaching oneself to the dead and others, like trees and stones and the like. He (may Allah have mercy on him) was in 'aqidah (creed) upon the madhhab of the righteous Salaf, and in the branches of jurisprudence upon the madhhab of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Shaybani (may Allah have mercy on him), as indicated by his books and fatwas, and the books of his followers from his sons and grandsons and others. All of these have been printed and circulated among the people.
Imam Muhammad (may Allah have mercy on him) arose at a time when the alienation of Islam had become severe, and the clouds of ignorance had settled over the Arabian Peninsula and elsewhere, except what Allah wills, and the worship of rivals and idols had spread therein. So the Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) rolled up his sleeves with earnestness, struggled and fought, and devoted his efforts to eliminating the paths of misguidance, employing in this various means leading to the spread of pure tawhid (the oneness of Allah) free from superstitions among the people. And among the blessings of Allah the Exalted was that He guided Imam Muhammad ibn Sa'ud, the ruler of al-Dar'iyyah at that time, to accept this call. So he stood with him in this path, along with his sons and those under his command and those who followed him in this good. May Allah reward them all with good, forgive them, and guide all their descendants to everything that brings His pleasure and the well-being of His servants.
The regions of the Arabian Peninsula have continued to live under the shadow of this noble call to this day. His call (may Allah have mercy on him) was in accordance with the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The Wahhabis are not a fifth madhhab as the ignorant and malicious claim, but rather they are a call to Salafi 'aqidah (creed) and a renewal of what had faded of the markers of Islam and tawhid (the oneness of Allah) in the Arabian Peninsula, as mentioned previously.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.