Wahhabism

General Biography

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab was a prominent Arabian Islamic scholar and theologian. He was born in 1703 in the Banu Tamim tribe of Arabia. He received his early education from his father. He travelled to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina to study from prominent Muslim scholars. His family was from a line of prominent Hanbali scholars. He was perceived to be a poor student. He was reported to be defiant and arrogant by his early teachers. He was the creator of the Wahhabi movement. He entered into an agreement with Muhammad bin Saud. This pact helped later establish the modern Saudi Arabia. He belonged to the Hanbali sect of Islam. The agreement decrees that the Al Saud family rules the kingdom while the religious influence will be provided by Al Wahhab's family known as al ash-Sheik.

The Theology of Traditional Islam

The traditional and common Islamic belief is that whoever proclaims that there is none but One God is a Muslim. All other aspects of Islam follow this fundamental pillar of Islam. To go to heaven and be safe from the hell, one needs to proclaim this belief. The traditional scholars hold the belief that whoever admits to this basic belief also known as the first “Kalima” or the sacred words. If a person then does not obey or follow the Islamic ways and the Prophet's teachings, he can be admitted to be a sinner but cannot be outcast as a non believer. The single entity on which being a Muslim is based is the faith in this concept of unity and completeness of all authority in God.

The Theology of Wahhabism

Sheikh Muhammad quoted the famous Hadith of the Prophet that says that Islam first appeared as a stranger and will return one day as a stranger. In the context of this Hadith, the understanding is that when Islam first appeared on the map, it did not match the ideas and practices that occurred in the region. It was a new concept for the people of Arabia. The Prophet gave prior information of a time when the Muslims will forget their core values to the extent that the real Islamic values would seem alien to them. There has always been a concept of religious revival in Islam. Sheikh Muhammad believed that the time has come when totally is looking like a stranger again. His movement differs from the other revolutionary movements in the way that it declares strict boundaries between followers of the movement and other Muslims.

Wahhabi mission's teaching declared that only the proclamation of the unity of God is not enough to declare a person Muslim. One must suffice to the standards of Islam, showing through his life that he truly believed in the oneness of God. He presented this idea in his famous book, the Book of God's Unity. He quoted verses from al Quran and one Hadith. These verses state that the idol worshippers call beings that worship the Almighty themselves, and that Abraham declared he would not ...