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The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
scholars other than ibn Taimiyyah were in complete agreement with
his arguments. He finally discusses the fact that many people tried to
defend polytheistic acts among the Muslims while, in fact, there is no
justification for their rationalizations.
(iv) Al-Usool al-Thalaathah wa Adillatuhaa (“The Three
Principles and Their Evidence”) 1: It is said that ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
wrote this work at the request of Ameer Abdul-Azeez who had asked
him for a concise work that could be taught to all the people. 2 In this
poignant work, Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab explains how every
Muslim must know his Lord, his deen (“religion”) and his prophet
Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). He began
this work with two introductory sections, the first about the
importance of knowledge, acting upon it, calling others to it and being
patient when doing so and the second about the wisdom behind the
creation of humans. It was Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab’s goal
that people would memorize this work, so he wrote it in a very simple
fashion. Indeed, the followers taught this work in the mosque and after
the Fajr prayer would have people recite it from their memories. 3
(v) Al-Qawaaid al-Arbaah (“The Four Principles”) 4: In this
work, Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab establishes four basic
principles: (1) The people whom the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) fought accepted the concept of the oneness of the
Lord and Creator, yet that was not sufficient to make them Muslims.
(2) Those polytheists claimed that their intercessors and false gods
were simply means of getting closer to Allah. (3) The Messenger
1 Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab, Muallifaat, vol. 1, pp. 183-196. An English
translation is available in Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, Three Essays on
Tawhid (Ismail Al Faruqi, trans. North American Trust Publications, 1979),
pp. 12-21. A number of commentaries have been written on it, including:
Haashiyah Thalaathat al-Usool by Abdul-Rahmaan ibn Muhammad ibn
Qaasim al-Najdi and Sharh Thalaathat al-Usool by Muhammad ibn Saalih al-
Uthaimeen. The former work has been translated into English as Notes to the
Three Tenets (Farid Abdulwahid Haibatan, trans., Jeddah: Dar al-Khair, 2001)
while the latter has been translated as Explanation of the Three Fundamental
Principles of Islam (Dawood Burbank, trans. Birmingham, United Kingdom:
Al-Hidaayah Publishing and Distribution, 1997).
2 Al-Abood, vol. 2, p. 184.
3 Ibn Bishr, vol. 1, p. 90.
4 Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab, Muallifaat, vol. 1, pp. 197-202. An English
translation is available in Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, Three Essays on
Tawhid (Ismail Al Faruqi, trans. North American Trust Publications, 1979),
pp. 22-24.
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