A Correction Of Misunderstandings Found In Non-Arabic Sources About
The Movement Of Sheikh Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahhab
4- It is also claimed that Sheikh Muhammad ibn al Wahhab denied Qiyas
(analogy). This is incorrect as the Sheikh held the same opinion about this
subject as the Hanbali School in general. Imam Abu Zahra said, 'It is
reported from Ahmad that one cannot be free of Qiyas as it was adopted by the
Sahabah.'
Once Imam Ahmad had established this principle, the Hanbali school accepted it
widely. Qiyas was used whenever a new situation arose for which they could not
find a reference from the Hadith or sayings of the Sahabah. [4]
5- The allegation that leaders of other mazahib have no authority and their
followers are not Muslims, and that'
6- 'anyone who does not join the Wahhabi movement is a Kafir.
Both the above allegations are clear fabrications. Sheikh Abdullah, son of
Sheikh Muhammad ibn al Wahhab, wrote a treatise after he entered Makkah
victoriously with Prince Saud bin Abdul Aziz on Saturday 8 th Muharram 1218
AH. In this he wrote,
'Our mazhab in the principle of the deen is the deen of Ahl ul Sunnah wal
Jama'ah. Our way is the way of the Salaf, the pious predecessors. Our branch
of mazhab is that of Ahmad bin Hanbal, but we do not reject anyone who follows
any of the four Imams excluding other mazahib which are not fully regulated.'
He continues,
'Those people who invent lies against us to conceal the truth and deceive the
people; they make the people believe we degrade the status of the Prophet (SAS),
we teach he has no intercession and visiting him is not recommended; we do not
depend on the sayings of the ulama, we declare the people in general to be
kafirs, we stop people sending salutations on the Messenger of Allah (SAS),
and we. do not recognise the rights of Ahl ul Bayt ' to all these allegations
our answer is,
'May Allah be glorified, this is indeed a great lie.'
Therefore anyone who attributes any of these beliefs to us has attributed a
lie. [5]
7-The claim that Sheikh ibn al Wahhab believed there is no intercession on the
part of a prophet or saint. Our reply is that the author of the article was
obviously ignorant of the difference between two types of Shafa'a
(intercession). The first contains Shirk, and this was rejected by Sheikh ibn
al Wahhab. The second which was approved by him, is the Intercession performed
only with permission from Allah on the Day of Judgement, by a being chosen by
Allah for this honour [6] . If the critics of Wahhabism mean by this that the
Sheikh has forbidden Al Waseelah through prophets and saints, our reply is
that most people do not understand the opinions of both Sheikh ibn al Wahhab
and Imam ibn Hanbal on this issue and have levelled false charges against
them. Imam ibn Taymiyyah said that Imam Ahmad has been reported in the
'Rituals of Al Marwazi' as to how to achieve Waseelah of the Prophet (SAS)
through his du'a. But there are others who did not approve of it. Tawassul
achieved through faith in the Prophet (SAS), through love for him, through
following him and through obeying him is acceptable to both parties. But
Tawassul through the person of the Prophet (SAS) is a contentious issue, and
wherever a dispute arises, it should be referred back to Allah and His
Messenger. [7]
8- The claim that Wahhabis declare the visiting of the graves and tombs to be
haram will be discussed later, alongside the writings of Ignaz Goldziher.
9- They claim that Wahhabis declare haram the taking of oaths with anyone
other than Allah. This is indeed true as it is proven by authentic ahadith.
Umar bin al Khattab narrated that the Prophet (SAS) said,
'Anyone who swears by any other than Allah has committed Shirk.'
This is reported by At Tirmidhi who declared it as hadith hasan. It was also
declared Sahih by Al Hakim.
Ibn Mas'ud said,
'It is preferable to me to swear by Allah when lying than to swear by other
than Allah when speaking the truth.' [8]
10- It is also claimed that Sheikh ibn al Wahhab believes that vows in the
name of others than Allah is haram, and that meat slaughtered besides graves
in the name of saints is also haram. This is perfectly true, as it is from the
deen of Allah, and every Muslim should believe it as long as he believes in
Allah and His Messenger. In his great book 'Kitab al Tawhid', Sheikh ibn al
Wahhab includes a chapter under the title, 'No slaughtering should be offered
for Allah in a place where slaughtering is offered for beings other than
Allah.' His next chapter title is, 'To vow in the name of someone other than
Allah is Shirk.' Both chapters contain extensive proofs from the Qur'an and
Sunnah to support these statements.
Goldziher
We now come to the writings of the
German orientalist Ignaz Goldziher in 'Muslim Studies'. This appeared in two
volumes in German in 1889 and was translated into English in 1967. The author
devoted a long chapter of 96 pages to the subject of 'Veneration of Saints in
Islam'. He discusses at great length the excessive attribution of miracles to
saints whether living or dead, by Muslims. He also gives a wealth of examples
of sanctifying graves and tombs from Islamic literature and general Muslim
practice. His aim is to show that there is no difference between Christians
and Muslims in the veneration of saints. Pointing to Qur'anic verses and
Hadith which refute such practices, he comments,
'After all this there is no need to explain in detail that within Islam in its
original form there was no room for the veneration of saints as it so largely
developed later. The Koran itself polemizes directly against the veneration of
saints in other confessions which consider their ahbar and ruhban as arbab,
divine masters (Sura 9:31)'
He then quotes Karl Hase regarding the saint cult and says,
'That it 'satisfies within a monotheistic religion a polytheistic need to fill
the enormous gap between men and their god',' [9]
After the author has included numerous examples of veneration of saints by the
general Muslim public and the visiting of graves and tombs for praying for
one's needs, he also gives examples of scholars who objected to such forms of
Shirk. He quotes the impenetrable stance of Imam ibn Taymiyya in the issue of
Tawassul and journeying to places other than the three Mosques. He then says,
'This shows that Wahhabism had its forerunners and that it only expressed in a
corporate way what was also earlier the inner conviction of old traditional
Muslims. From this point of view it would be of great interest for the
cultural and religious history of Islam to collect all pre-Wahhabi
manifestations of a monotheistic reaction in Islam against pagan survivals
which it inherited from paganism or which infiltrated from outside, and to
relate these manifestations to the surroundings which gave them rise. Apart
from the older manifestations just mentioned it would be possible to list one
which can probably be counted the latest: the scene which took place six
decades before the beginning of the Wahhabite movement in 1711 in the Mu'ayyad
mosque at Cairo. One evening in Ramadan the catechism of Birgewi was being
interpreted when a youth ' he is called a Rumi ‘ ascended the pulpit and
preached passionately against the ever increasing cult of saints and graves,
branding this degenerate form of Islamic worship as idolatory. He said, ‘Who
has seen the hidden tablet of fate’ Not even the prophet himself. All these
graves of saints must be destroyed, those who kiss the coffins are infidels,
the convents of the Mewlewi and Bektashi must be demolished, the dervishes
should study rather than dance.’ The zealous youth, who interpreted the fatwa
issued against him in a derisive manner and who repeated his provocative
speeches for several evenings, disappeared mysteriously from Cairo. The
‘ulama’ do not cease to decorate the graves of their saints and to confirm the
people in their disbelief in this complete nonsense.’ [10]
Subject: A Correction Of Misunderstandings Part 2 
Tue Oct 02, 2007 2:47 pm