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The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
and continues to be the presence of heretical groups. It is in the
interest of these groups to keep people from getting guidance directly
from the Quran and Sunnah because that guidance is not compatible
with the teachings that they believe in. Hence, one finds the Sufis and
the Shiites playing the most active role in trying to refute as well as
insult and ridicule Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab. Al-Abdul-Lateef
stated that via his study of the numerous refutations of ibn Abdul-
Wahhaab, he found that the majority of them came from Sufis and
Shiites who openly were defending their own ways of belief as being
the truth. 1 Indeed, if one removes grave-worship and the deification of
saints and imams, as ibn Abdul-Wahhaab attempted to do, one can
truly strike a deathblow to the heresies of the Sufis and Shiites. 2
In sum, one can say that the majority of the opponents of ibn
Abdul-Wahhaab came from one of three extremist groups—that is,
truly extremist groups from an Islamic definition of extremism. These
three groups were:
Sufis, in particular the Naqshabandis and the Barelwis 3, were
and are staunch opponents of the teachings of ibn Abdul-Wahhaab. In
their history, it was particularly the Naqshabandis that the “Wahhabis”
ran into. This is because they were both experiencing a growth at the
same time. As Abu-Hakima explained it, it was the 18 th Century that
witnessed “the spread of the revivalist Naqshabandi order and its ideas
in the Hijaz, in Syria and in Iraq.” 4 These groups are extremists with
respect to their treatment and actions toward the pious, especially the
deceased among them. Their extremism is even exhibited towards the
1 Al-Abdul-Lateef, p. 75.
2 Al-Abdul-Lateef (p. 75) notes that when the scholars of Madinah in 1344 A.H.
gave the religious ruling to tear down the tombs and mausoleums that had
been built in Madinah, the Shiites were greatly perturbed. They tried their
best to refute that religious ruling. It was via this process that many of them
turned their attention to the “Wahhabis” and tried to refute them. Thus came
the appearance of writings refuting the “Wahhabis” by the following Shiites: al-
Aurdubaadi, Muhammad Husain, Hasan Sadr al-Deen al-Kaadhimi and
others.
3 These are the grave-venerating followers of Ahmad Ridha Khan (1272-1340
A.H.) of India. They call themselves the ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamaah and they
still have quite a presence in the Indo-Pak subcontinent. They have been
persistent in their hatred and opposition to the “Wahhabis” and ahl al-Hadith
movements. They consider it impermissible to marry, attend the funerals of or
pray behind such “Wahhabis.” For more details concerning their attitude
towards the Wahhabis, see Abdul-Jaleel, pp. 135-138.
4 Abu-Hakima p. xvii.
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