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The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
follow them… His [ibn Abdul-Wahhaab’s] brother Sulaimaan one day
said to him, ‘O Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab, how many pillars of
Islam are there?’ He replied, ‘Five.’ He [his brother] then said, ‘You
have made them six. The sixth is that whoever does not follow you is
not a Muslim. For you, that is the sixth pillar of Islam.’” 1 The same
allegations continue today on the pens of, for example, the Shiite
Muhammad Jawaad Mughniyah and the Turkish Naqshabandi
Huseyin Hilmi Isik. 2
As noted above, these accusations first appeared during ibn
Abdul-Wahhaab’s lifetime. He immediately addressed these issues in
a number of his letters. In his letter to the mutawwa of Thurmadaa, he
wrote, “As for what the enemies mention about me, that I declare
disbelief simply on the basis of conjecture or that I declare a
disbeliever the ignorant one who has not had the proof established
against him, they are grave lies. By them, they only seek to make the
people flee from the religion of Allah and His Messenger.” 3 In his
letter to the people of al-Qaseem, he makes reference to the lies that
ibn Suhaim spread about him, “And Allah knows that the man has
fabricated statements from me that I never said nor that ever occurred
to my mind. This includes his statement that I said that the people
have not been on anything [of the truth] for six hundred years or that I
declare as disbeliever the one who seeks closeness to Allah via the
pious or that I declared al-Boosairi 4 a disbeliever or that I declare the
one who swears by other than Allah a disbeliever… My response to
those issues is that I say, ‘Exalted be You [O Allah] this is great
slander.’” 5 On another occasion he wrote, while refuting such false
claims, “In fact, I call Allah to bear witness of what He knows in our
hearts that whoever acts upon monotheism (tauheed) and is innocent
of idolatry (shirk) and its adherents is a Muslim in any time and any
place. And we only declare as disbeliever whoever associates partners
1 Quoted in al-Abdul-Lateef, pp. 166-7.
2 Cf., al-Abdul-Lateef, pp. 168-169. For more quotes of such allegations, see al-
Abdul-Lateef, pp. 163-169; al-Husain, pp. 282-285; Umair, vol. 2, pp. 66.
3 Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab, Muallifaat, vol. 7, p. 25.
4 Al-Boosairi had written an ode to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him). Scholars have objected to some of the statements he made in this
ode. This ode is very popular among Sufis and is currently being recorded on
tapes and CDs. It is even sold throughout the United States.
5 Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab, Muallifaat, vol. 7, pp. 11-12.
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