WAHHÂBISM AND ITS REFUTATION BY THE AHL AS-SUNNA (II)
Muhammad ibn ’Abd al- Wahhâb’s ideas imbued villagers, the inhabitants of Dar’iyya and their chief, Muhammad ibn Su’ûd. People who accepted his ideas, which he termedWahhâbiyya, are called Wahhâbîs or Najdîs. They increased in number, and he imposed himself as the qâdî and Muhammad ibn Su’ûd as the amîr (ruler). He declared it as a law that only their own descendants should succeed them.
Muhammad’s father,’Abdal-Wahhâb, who was a pious Muslim and a scholar of Medina, apprehended from Ibn’Abdal-Wahhâb’s words that he would start an eccentric movement and advised everybody not to talk with him. But he proclaimed Wahhâbism in 1150 [1737 A.D.]. He spoke ill of the ijtihâds of the ’ulamâ’ of Islam. He went so faras to call the Ahlas-Sunna “disbelievers.” He said that he who visited the shrine of a Prophet or of a Walî and addressed him as “Yâ Nabî-Allâh!”(O Allah’s Prophet) or as,“Yâ ’Abdal-Qâdir!”would become apolytheist (mushrik).
The real owner of man is Allâhu ta’âlâ. The 257th âyat of the Sûrat al-Baqara states this openly: “Allâhu ta’âlâ is the Walî (Protector, Guardian) of those who believe.” And by saying, “Allâhu ta’âlâ and His Prophet ‘’alaihis-salâm’ are your walîs,” and “The Prophet protects the Believers more than they protect themselves,” in the 56th and 6th âyatsof Sûra sal-Mâ’ida and al- Ahzâb, respectively, He means that man, too, although symbolically, is a walî. Similarly, the real helper is Allâhu ta’âlâ, and He also callsmen ‘mu’în’ (helper) metaphorically. He says in the third âyat of the Sûrat al-Mâ’ida: “Help one another in goodness and piety (taqwâ).” Wahhâbîs use the word ‘mushrik’ (polytheist) for Muslims who call somebody an ’abd (servant, slave) of someone other than Allâhu ta’âlâ, for example, ‘’Abd an-Nabî’ or ‘’Abd ar-Rasûl’; however, in the 32nd âyat of Sûrat an-Nûr, it is declared: “Give in marriage your unmarried women and those pious ones among your slaves and female slaves.” The Real Rabb (Trainer) of men is Allâhu ta’âlâ, but someone else can also be called ‘rabb’ metaphorically; in the 42nd âyat of the Sûrat Yûsuf is said , “Mention me in the presence of your rabb.”