I read a lot ... but wow khanaseeb this is just too much ... :-

prominent sunni scholar about abdul wahab/wahabis

A Warning to Muslims against the Bid'ahs
preached by Muhammad Ibn 'Abdi-l-Wahhab

By Shaykh Abdul Hadi Palazzi

This article has been written by prominent scholars of Ahlul Sunnah


Praised by Allah, Lord of the worlds, and blessing and peace upon the best of His creatures, the Prophet Muhammad Ibn ?Abdi-Llah, upon his noble family, his pure wives, his purified Sahabah and upon all those who follow his path till the Day of resurrection. This paper has been compiled under the supervision of Shaykh Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Director of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community as a mean to seek Allah?s favor and as a warning against the founder of the heretic Wahhabi-Salafi cult and against the bid?ahs he preached. May Allah save this Ummah from bid?ah and dalalah, and preserve us on the right path followed by Asyaduna al-akramin. Amin.

Rasul-Ullah (sall-Allahu ?alayhi wa sallam) said:"Allahumma, bless Yemen, Allahumma, bless Sham." He was asked: "And what about Najd?" He answered: "From Najd Shaytan?s horn will rise."

He (sall-Allahu ?alayhi wa sallam) also said: "Beware of Shaykhu-n-Najdi, since he is Shaytan."

He (sall-Allahu ?alayhi wa sallam) also said: "There will be people who come from the eastern side of Arabia who will recite Qur?an, but their recitation will not pass beyond their collarbones. They will go out of Islam as swiftly as the arrow goes through the prey. Their sign is shaving their heads."

Muhammad Ibn ?Abdi-l-Wahhab was a descendent of the Bani Tamim tribe and was born in the Uyaynah village (Najd) in 1111 H. (1699 M.). His father was a learnt Hanbali scholar, and sent him to study tafsir, fiqh and tasawwuf in Mecca, Medina, Baghdad, Basrah and Damascus, as well as in Iran and India. His attitude, from the beginning, was very much polemic, and he took active part in scholarly debates. During this period, he received the surname "Shaykhu-n-Najdi". He contacted many Shaykhs of tasawwuf, and tried his best to be appointed as a khalifah. This request of his, however, was not accepted, since the Shaykhs realized he was too must influenced by kibr and by the desire to become a leader.

At the age of thirty-two he came back to Najd and started working as a teacher for Bedouins; he also started exercising ijtihad, and accusing Sunni scholars and Ahlu-t-tasawwuf of bid?ahs. In 1143 H. (1730 M.) he met a leader of a gang of marauders called Muhammad Ibn Sa?ud, whose main activity was plundering travelers in the desert of Najd. Since most of those Bedouins living in Dar?iyyah were completely unlearnt, Ibn ?Abdi-l-Wahhab could easily convict them of his theories; Ibn Sa?udand him made an agreement, according to which the former was appointed as the "Amir", and the latter as the "Shaykh". The "Shaykh declared he was ready to publish "fatwas" where non-Wahhabi Muslims were described as apostates and idol-worshippers; this point of view obviously represented a sort of "religious justification" for Ibn Sa?ud?s gang. They were not, anymore, robbers and criminals, but "mujahids", authorized to kill "kuffars", to plunder their properties and to rape their women.

The "Shaykh" also appointed some "wakils" and send them to preach Wahhabism in Mecca, but scholars living in the Blessed City were ready in understanding how dangerous this doctrine was. Sayyid Ahmad Zayni Dahlan as-Shafi?i (rahimah-Ullah) was the Chief Mufti of Mecca. In wrote in the book "Al-Futuhatu-l-Islamiyyah":

"To deceive the ?ulema in Mecca and Medina, those people sent emissaries in al-Haramayn, but these missionaries were not able to answer questions asked by Sunni scholars. It became evident that they were ignorant bid?ah holders. Muftis of the four madhhabs wrote a fatwa that declared them kuffar, and this document was distributed in the whole Jazirah. The Amir of Mecca, Sharif Mas?ud Ibn Sa?id, ordered that the Wahhabis should be imprisoned. Some Wahhabis fled to Dari?yyah and informed their leader of what was happening."

Muhammad Ibn ?Abdi-l-Wahhab?s brother, Sulayman Ibn ?Abdi-l-Wahhab (rahimah-Ullah), studied his works and tried his best to invite him to tawbah. At least, when he realized verbal admonitions had no effect, decided to write a book called "As-Sawa?iqu-l-Ilahiyyah fi-r-Raddi ?ala-l-Wahhabiyyah". It contains a detailed refutation of his brother?s heresies, and states:

"One of the dalils showing that your path is heretic is the hadith sharif narrated by ?Uqbah Ibn Amir and collected in the Sahihayn : ?Rasul-Ullah (sall-Allahu ?alayhi wa sallam) ascended the minbar, and it was the last time I saw him on the minbar. He said: ?I do not fear that you will become mushrikun after me, but I fear that, because of worldly interests, you will fight each others, and thus be destroyed like the peoples of old.?

The Messenger of Allah (sall-Allahu ?alayhi wa sallam) foretold all that would happen to his Ummah until the end of the world. This hadith sharif shows that he was certain of the fact that this Ummah will never worship idols. By saying so, he destroys Wahhabism from its roots, since Wahhabi books say that Ummah al-Muhammadiyyah is involved in polytheism, that Muslim countries are full of idols, and that Muslim graves are houses of shirk. They also claim that someone who does not accept to consider mushrikuns those who ask for intercession by the graves is himself a kafir. On the contrary, Muslims have been visiting graves and asking for the intercession of awliya? for centuries. No Islamic scholar has even called such Muslims mushrikuns.

"My brother asks: ?A hadith sharif says: "Of all that will befall you, shirk is what I fear more." Is not this a dalil of the fact that a part of this Ummah will be engaged in shirk?'

"I say: It is inferred by many other hadiths that this hadith refers to shirku-l-asghar. There are similar hadiths, narrated by Shaddad Ibn ?Aws, Abu Hurayrah and Mahmud Ibn Labid (may Allah be pleased with all of them), according to which the Prophet (sall-Allahu ?alayhi wa sallam) feared that shirku-l-asghar would be committed by his Ummah. It has exactly happened as it was foretold in the hadith, and many Muslims are guilty of shirku-l-asghar. But you, in your ignorance, confuse shirku-l-asghar with shirku-l-akbar, and the tragic consequence of this mistake of yours is that you regard as ?unbelievers? those Muslims that do not accept to call other Muslims ?unbelievers?."

Another contemporary scholar, Muhammad Ibn Sulayman Effendi (rahimah-Ullah) wrote:

"O Muhammad Ibn ?Abdi-l-Wahhab, do not slander Muslims! I admonish you for Allah?s sake! Does anyone of them says that there is a creator besides Allah? If you have anything to argue against Muslims, please, show them authoritative dalils. It is more correct to call you, a single person, ?kafir?, than calling millions of Muslims ?kuffars?. Ayah 114 of Surah an-Nisa? says: ?If anyone contends with the Messenger after guidance has been plainly conveyed to him, and follows a path other than the one followed by Believers, we shall leave him in the path he has chosen, and land him in Jahannam, quite an evil refuge!? This ayah points to the situation of those who have departed from Ahlu-s-Sunnah wa-l-Jama?ah."

When the order from the Amir of Mecca reached the Khalifah in Istanbul, he ordered Muhammad ?Ali Pashah (rahimah-Ullah), governor of Egypt to move to Najd and to stop the Wahhabi fitnah. The marauders of Ibn Sa?udtied to attack Mecca and fought against mujahids, but Allah gave the victory to the Islamic army.

Among Sunni ?uleams who refuted Wahhabism we must also mention Sayyed Dawud Ibn Sulayman, Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi, Sun? Allah al-Halabi al-Makki al-Hanafi, Muhammad Ma?sum as-Sarhindi, Muhammad Ibn Sulayman al-Madani ash-Shafi?i, may Allah be pleased with all of them. The latter was the Shafi?i Mufti of Medina, and was asked to write a fatwa against Muhammad Ibn ?Abdi-l-Wahhab. This fatwa is quoted in the book "Ashaddu-l-Jihad" and says:

"This man is leading the ignoramuses of the present age to a heretical path. He is trying to extinguish Allah?s light, but Allah will not permit His light to be extinguished, in spite of the opposition of mushrikuns, and will enlighten every place with the light of Ahlu-s-Sunnah."

As-Sayyid ?Abdur-Rahman al-Ahdal (rahimah-Ullah), the Mufti of Zabid, said, "...in refuting them , it is sufficient to mention the hadith of the Prophet (sall-Allahu ?alayhi wa sallam): ?Their sign is shaving their heads?, since no other innovators had ever done it."

The Wahhabis also call themselves the "Salafis," believing that they follow the footsteps of the pious Salaf, i.e. the Sahabah, the Tabi?un, and Atba?u-t-Tabi?in. The Wahhabis, however, have a route of knowledge that traces back to Muhammad Ibn ?Abdi-l-Wahhab, the founder of the Wahhabi movement, who lived in the 1700?s M., and before him to Ibn Taymiyyah, another heretic who lived in the late 1200?s to early 1300?s M. Their route of knowledge does not trace back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad (sall-Allahu ?alayhi wa sallam) or his pious followers whom he praised. The Wahhabis, therefore, cannot be "al-Firqatu-l-Najiyyah", or the Saved Sect, but are one of the other 72 deviant sects within the Ummah, which the Prophet (sall-Allahu ?alayhi wa sallam) dispraised and warned us about.

In many of his "fatwas," Muhammad Ibn ?Abdi-l-Wahhab labeled Muslims as "kuffar" if they did not agree to his heretical teachings, which opposed the orthodox Islamic beliefs that Muslims had been adhering to for over a thousand years. When the Sunni Muslims disagreed with the newly formulated Wahhabi cult, the blood of countless Muslims, including plenty of scholars of Ahlu-s-Sunnah, was made halal by the command of Muhammad Ibn ?Abdi-l-Wahhab.

Although thousands of Muslims were massacred by the deviant Wahhabis, the scholars of Ahlu-s-Sunnah continued to refute them in their books. An example is what the Mufti of Mecca, Ahmad Zayni Dahlan al-Makki ash-Shafi?i (rahimah-Ullah) wrote in a work titled "Fitnatu-l-Wahhabiyyah", stating:

"In 1217 H. they marched with big armies to the area of at-Tayf. In Dhu-l-Qa?dah of the same year, they lay siege to the area the Muslims were, subdued them, and killed the people: men, women, and children. They also looted the Muslims belongings and possessions. Only a few people escaped their barbarism."

"They plundered what was in the room of the Prophet (sall-Allahu ?alayhi wa sallam), took all the money that was there, and did some disgraceful acts."

"In 1220 H. they lay siege to Mecca and then surrounded it from all directions to tighten this siege. They blocked the routes to the city and prevented supplies from reaching there. It was a great hardship on the people of Mecca. Food became exorbitantly expensive and then unavailable. They resorted to eating dogs."

What better person could the British have used to fulfill their motto, i.e. "divide and conquer?" The British were laughing at Muhammad Ibn ?Abdi-l-Wahhab and his followers for plundering, looting, and killing Muslims in the name of Islam, causing Muslims in Mecca to resort to eating dogs, in addition to fighting Muslim armies sent by the Ottomans, e.g. Muhammad ?Ali Pashah (rahimah-Ullah) of Egypt and his army.

This was indeed a fulfillment of the interests of the British, as well as entertainment for them. Contemporary members of the Sa?ud house are descendants of Muhammad Ibn Sa?ud, the heretic who collaborated with Muhammad Ibn ?Abdi-l-Wahhab, to cause a Muslim bloodbath in the name of "Jihad." Their monarchy has existed since the Wahhabi movement originated, and they continue to raise the Dajjal?s banner to this very day. They have destroyed the maqams of our four Imams around al-Ka?bah, and identifying the place where the imam of salatu-l-jama?at must stand in Masjidu-l-Haram is today quite difficult. The sanctity of al-Haram is profaned five times each day, since the Wahhabi "imams" stand too close to al-Ka?bah, in a place that is not justified in the light of fiqh.

The discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia in the 1930?s has enabled the Saudi-Wahhabi kingdom to become rich, and their leaders have used their wealth to disseminate the Wahhabi doctrine all across the globe. They have built printing presses in Egypt, Syria, and even the United States to print beautiful books to attract the laypeople so that they may fall into their trap. The problem is that many new and naive Muslims are falling into the Wahhabi trap, and are propagating their false doctrine in Muslim Student Organizations, universities, and mosques ? especially in the East Coast of the United States.

The Wahhabis are known for parroting the slogan of "Qur?an and Sunnah," without any profound understanding of the two sources of Islam, and are known for slandering scholars of Ahlu-s-Sunnah like Imams Suyuti, Imam Abu Hamid Ghazali, Imam Nawawi, (rahimahum-Ullah) among others. The great Hanafi scholar, Imam Muhammad Amin Ibn Abidin (rahimah-Ullah), stated that the Wahhabis of today are reviving the creed of the Khawarij of the past. It is also known that the Khawarij wrongly understand the meanings of ayahs in the Qur?an and falsely attribute ayahs meant for non-Muslims to Muslims.

The Wahhabis are notorious for reviving this Kharijite practice. Moreover, the Wahhabis have a passion for trying to find faults among the mujtahids such as the noble Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Shafi?i, Imam Malik, and Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. They try to find faults in their methodologies, while they do not possess a methodology of their own. Hence, Wahhabi "scholars" who have graduated from Wahhabi universities in Saudi Arabia are never taught a methodology to enable them to understand the Qur?an and Sunnah. This is why they are in a constant state of self-contradiction, confusion, and fitnah among the Muslim population.

It is the scholars of Ahlu-s-Sunnah wa-l-Jama?ah who must awaken the Muslims and warn them by bidding the lawful and forbidding the unlawful Wahhabi doctrine by efficient means of da?wah. An anti-Wahhabi campaign must be formulated and strengthened to defend the Ash?ari and Maturidi creeds, the Hanafi, Shafi?i, Maliki, and Hanbali madhhabs, and the numerous tariqahs of tasawwuf, of which the majority of Muslim scholars have been a part of.

And all praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds.


W A R N I N G


Wahhabis today call themselves "Salafis," in an attempt to confuse the Muslim masses that they adhere to the methodology of the pious Salaf, or predecessors, i.e the Sahabah, the Tabi?un, and Itba?u-t-Tabi?in. For example, some of the true Salaf applied ta?wil, or figurative interpretation, to Allah?s Attributes. Imam Bukhari gave a figurative interpretation of wajh to mean "Allah?s Dominion," in Suratu-l-Qasas, ayah 88. This can be found in the Sahih of Bukhari in the Chapter "Tafsir ul-Qur?an." Plenty of other examples exist of how the Wahhabi-Salafis oppose the practices of the true and pious Salaf.

The following writers are representatives of this cult. Their followers call them "Shaykhs", and Muslims must stay away from their books, papers and Web pages, and do not confuse them with real Sunni scholars:




Yusuf al-Qaradawi al-Misri (the one who says that salah in al-Aqsa is "haram". He unites the errors of Wahhabis and the errors of Ikhwan in a new form of heresy).


?Abdu-l-?Aziz Ibn Baz (the deceased official "Mufti" of the Saudi regime and their Rabitah, who oppressed Ahlu-s-Sunnah in al-Haramayn).


Muhammad Nasiru-d-Din al-Albani (a recently disappeared pseudo-muhaddith from Albania who classified hadiths according to his unlimited fantasy and forbade women to wear golden ornament).


Abu Aminah Bilal Philips (a ultra-Wahhabi from Jamaica who forges claims in the history of fiqh, full of slanders and absurd accusations against Ahlu-s-Sunnah).


Muhammad Nubar Yahya Silmy (a propagandist of Wahhabism in Sri Lanka who is very much hostile to the Sunni ?aqidah).


Abu Bilal Mustafah al-Kanadi.


Muhammad Saleh.


Hamza Massimiliano Boccolini (a Wahhabi who lives in Naples and is exhorted to accept rahmah from Allah by tawbah and study of Sunnah)


?Abdur-Rahman Rosario Pasquini (an Ikhwani propagandist in Milano who, because of senescence, supports linguistic bid?at like "Allah is unipersonal" - sic! - "Muslims are islamocratics", wa na?udhu bi-Llah, afala yatadhakkarun)

the Prophet s.a.w. has taught us that unless someone openly defies him and admits by action or words that he is not a believer, then he isn't one.

I have seen kufr actions by soime people or shirk behaviour, but they represent only themselves and have transgressed on their own, so as long as you guys here don't condone it, then I have no reason to believe you are on that same misguidance. :)

and don't worry mehnaz, as much as they claim sunnism, they won't convince me of considering you (or anyone else here) kafir :)

You guys need to see what kind of extremism on both sides there is in lebanon. I have never heard of wahhabis there, but definitely some of the most extreme shias there. Unless you guys have lived in Lebanon and know what kind of people call themselves shias there, you can't justify this as a simple rumour. And no, I didn't hear it from wahhabis. But hey, besides the very people that you guys are referring to on here, I have never heard of anyone ever before that even in saudi to tell me that shias in general are kafirs.

My cousins who lived between the shias in Ba'albak and other parts of southern lebanon can testify to hearing a lot of junk against sunnis. But once again, if a certain group of fanatics down there are saying it, you make yourself sound pretty foolish by saying they don't exist and they turn out to be as much in existence as you and I.

You guys can asume all you want, but I personally am not justifying what some fanatics calling themselves sunnis on this planet say or do.

One more thing for DH and anyone else who thinks I am generalizing on shias...

{In the same context Asif_ali, some people in lebanon who say "iqtul sunni, tadkhul jannih" (Kill a sunni, and enter paradise", claim they are shia. Am I to assume that automatically?...}

It was in the form of a question that I said that, asking it in a negative context obviously, as it's not smart to generalize.

And thanks Eibraheem for clarifying that for those that might need it here. I realize that some of you understand that concept, but there are equally as ignorant shias who will spread rumours about sunnis in general to make theior points valid.

you are right Eibraheem this wahabi bidda started in 70s by saudi regime to justify their unislamic act in the name of islam

Thats true Eibraheem, you're right. However, unfortunately wahabbis regard declare themselves as Sunnis, and seek to influence them.

Sorry from dropping in from middle of no where into this this-kus-cion...hmm,

I just want to remind all of us including my self that this is not a SHIA_WAHABI "dialuoge" village?

Traditional Sunnis and Shias for most of the part have co-exist peacfully....the extremists who go under names of these two sects on both sides are to condemned equally.

was'salaam :)

Now who here is willing to disagree with what khanaseeb said .... because by Allah it is the truth

allahomma la'an qatalatul Huysain w'ashaab

history is witness , shias were and are persecuted by bani umayya, bani abbas, aale saud, saddam ,taliban, sipahe sahaba and al-qaeda

never ever heard such ridiculous rumors .... just a way to try and justify their conduct towards shia .... all I wanna know is when the heck is it gonna end ... huh ... when ???

A friend of mine told me that one wahabi brother told her that they should do to shias what Hitler did to the Jews. Thing is don't doubt that they won't try if given the opportunity

these people are so stupid. if we were going to kill some one we would have done it long ago, that is instead of being massacred for 1400 yrs....

uh, no... :(

Honestly, as an open question to every shi'ite in this village, has anyone even remotely heard rumors of shia's using such slogans to persecute other sects?

Again feel free to call me biased but one would have to be smoking Grade A of Canada's finest to disagree with Mehnaz's previous statement ;)

That slogan is an absolute fraudulent claim put forth by wahabi forces to make up for their own slogans "kill shia kafirs". Its very simple, we dont kill you because we consider you muslims. On the other hand, you relagate us to 'kafir' so now, who would kill who do you think?

I am sure you have only heard such a thing hearsay from a sunni source, because that phrase is not even uttered, we have never spoken, heard, or read such a thing, it is an absolutely fradulent ploy.

It goes against the basic interest of shias to endorse such things, thats why we dont believe.

no matter how right or wrong Shias are, one thing is for sure, for 1400 yrs there have been multitudes of active pogroms to slay Shias and wipe them out and not vice versa.

If you had any intellectual honesty you wouldnt say something so base....

Thekeeper, you honestly think that ss is the single and only person who we've encountered like that?

hello, we come across thousands of classless people who profess wahabism and have filthy mouths.....you dont have to look very far...

And that's valid, but I'm just indicating that it should never be used to represent the school of thought in general from one person or even a group of people's behaviours. I've seen enough labeling and generalizing in these villages to last me a lifetime I think.

I wasn't labelling the whole group, you said you never heard that viewpoint from wahabis, just pointing out it exists.