46 Facts About Wahhabism

Wahhabism established the Muwahhidun movement in the region of Najd in central Arabia as well as South Western Arabia, a reform movement with a particular emphasis on purging practices such as the veneration of Muslim saints and pilgrimages to their tombs and shrines, which were widespread amongst the people of Najd.

The term "Wahhabism" was not used by Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab himself, but is chiefly used by outsiders, while adherents typically reject its use, preferring to be called "Salafi" .

Concepts like Wahhabism cannot exist without humans naming and attaching meaning to it.

Wahhabism distanced himself as well as the Indian Muslim public from this label, writing:.

Wahhabism is the Arabian version of Salafism, according to Mark Durie, who states Saudi leaders "are active and diligent" in using their considerable financial resources "in funding and promoting Salafism all around the world".

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Wahhabism's movement emphasized adherence to the Quran and hadith, and advocated the use of ijtihad.

Wahhabism travelled to Mecca and Medina to perform Hajj and studied under notable hadith scholars.

Wahhabism's critics were mainly ulama from his homeland, the Najd region of central Arabia, which was directly affected by the growth of the Wahhabi movement, based in the cities of Basra, Mecca, and Medina.

Wahhabism further rejected and condemned allegations charged against him by various critics; such as the claim of Takfir on those who opposed him or did not emigrate to the lands controlled by Muwahhidun.

Wahhabism abstained from legitimising Saudi military campaigns; dedicating the rest of his life for educational efforts and in asceticism.

Widely circulated but discredited apocryphal description of the founding of Wahhabism known as Memoirs of Mr Hempher, The British Spy to the Middle East alleges that a British agent named Hempher was responsible for the creation of Wahhabism.

Wahhabism would send his eldest son, Sa'd ibn Atiq, to India to study under Siddiq Hasan Khan as well as Sayyid Nazir Hussain for over nine years.

Wahhabism was appointed by Ibn Saud as the qadi of Riyadh as well as the Imam of Grand Mosque of Riyad giving him great influence in the educational system.

Wahhabism followed in the footsteps of the ancient Ahl al-Hadith school and took the call of Ahl-i-Hadith.

Wahhabism is noted for its policy of "compelling its own followers and other Muslims strictly to observe the religious duties of Islam, such as the five prayers", and for "enforcement of public morals to a degree not found elsewhere".

However, Wahhabism is generally recognised as "a particular orientation within Salafism", or an ultra-conservative, Saudi brand of Salafism.

Adherents of Wahhabism are favourable to derivation of new legal rulings so long as it is true to the essence of the Quran, Sunnah and understanding of the salaf, and they do not regard this as bid'ah .

Wahhabism solicited Khan to accept his son as his disciple and requested Khan to produce and send more commentaries on the various treatises of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim.

Wahhabism argued that the criterion for one's standing as either a Muslim or an unbeliever was correct worship as an expression of belief in one God.

Wahhabism criticized them for assigning greater authority to their current leaders than to Muhammad in interpreting the Qur'an and sharia, and for denying the validity of the consensus of the early Muslim community.

Wahhabism believed that the Shia doctrine of infallibility of the imams constituted associationism with God.

Wahhabism instructed that this procedure of education and debate should be carried out with the support of truthful ulama, hadith transmitters, and righteous people employing logic, rhetoric, examination of the primary texts and scholarly debates.

Prominent amongst those Salafiyya ulema who backed Wahhabism included Khayr al-Din al-Alusi, Tahir al-Jaza'iri, Muhammad Rashid Rida, Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi, Mahmud Shukri Al-Alusi, etc.

Wahhabism used 'ijma only "in conjunction with its corroboration of the Qur'an and hadith", and qiyas only in cases of extreme necessity.

Wahhabism rejected deference to past juridical opinion in favor of independent reasoning, and opposed using local customs.

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Wahhabism urged his followers to "return to the primary sources" of Islam in order "to determine how the Qur'an and Muhammad dealt with specific situations" without being beholden to the interpretations of previous Islamic scholarship, while engaging in Ijtihad.

Professor of history at Dickinson College, David Commins states that early disputes with other Muslims did not center on fiqh, and that the belief that the distinctive character of Wahhabism stems from Hanbali legal thought is a "myth".

Wahhabism did follow the Hanbali methodology of judging everything not explicitly forbidden to be permissible, avoiding the use of Qiyas, and taking Maslaha and 'Adl into consideration.

Wahhabism stressed the importance of education, especially for females and encouraged women to be active in educational endeavours and lead various communal and social activities.

Wahhabism's thoughts reflected the major trends apparent in the 18th-century Islamic reform movements.

Wahhabism believed that the Muslim ruler is owed unquestioned allegiance as a religious obligation from his subjects; so long as he leads the community according to the laws of God .

In June 2003, when the FBI had listed al-Qaeda as "the number one terrorist threat to the United States", American journalist Lulu Schwartz and former U S Republican Senator and lobbyist Senator Jon Kyl accused before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security of the U S Senate that "Wahhabism is the source of the overwhelming majority of terrorist atrocities in today's world".

Journalists and experts, as well as spokespeople of the world, have said that Wahhabism is the source of the overwhelming majority of terrorist atrocities in today's world, from Morocco to Indonesia, via Israel, Saudi Arabia, Chechnya.

Wahhabism has been vehemently criticized by many Sunni Muslims and continues to be condemned by various Sunni scholars in the strongest terms as a "new faction, a vile sect".

Wahhabism's movement became known as the Barelvi movement and was defined by rejection of Wahhabi beliefs.

Major precursor to the Takfiri discourse of Classical Wahhabism was Sulayman ibn 'Abdullah Aal al-Shaykh, a grandson of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, who responded harshly to the Ottoman invasion.

Wahhabism forbade travel to Ottoman lands since those lands, in his view, were polytheist lands .

Wahhabism argued that the beliefs of Ahl-i Hadith of India were based on Qur'an and Sunnah, and was not derived from Najdi scholars; attempting to distinguish them from the Ahl-i Hadith.

Yet Khan had rebutted various claims made against Wahhabism, by bringing up Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's responses as well as defenses made by various supporters of the movement.

Wahhabism began the treatise by fiercely criticising the Najdi Wahhabis for stamping out Islamic Universalism with territorial localism.

Wahhabism cited the discomfort of the Prophet to any type of regionalisation of Islam.

Wahhabism cited the famous Hadith of Najd as a rebuttal of Najdis.

The new scholarship of Wahhabiyyah would be dominated by Rida's disciples and comrades, who while remaining conservative, never developed the hardline approach of Classical Wahhabism, instead representing the "true Wahhabism" Rida had been championing across the Islamic World.

Wahhabism remains closely aligned with the Saudi state and its religious establishment of Aal ash-Shaykh and generally follow the Hanbali jurisprudence in legal issues.

Wahhabism strongly attacked Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab on several points; claiming that the latter was not a mujtahid in fiqh and accused him of imitating the Hanbali school.

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Wahhabism distinguished between Salafism and Wahhabism, criticizing the latter while supporting the former.