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The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab lead a person of lesser quality to have a very biased stance towards ibn Abdul-Wahhaab and his followers. Indeed, Algar himself states towards the end of this book, “It will be abundantly clear to the attentive reader by now that the present writer has little liking or sympathy for Wahhabism.” 1 However, the real question is whether or not he would be able to raise himself above those inclinations to produce a truly scholarly and objective work concerning Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab. Algar begins by stating that the “Wahhabis” call themselves Muwahhidun “the asserters of the divine unity.” Based on that, Algar makes the conclusion, “But precisely this self-awarded title springs from a desire to lay exclusive claim to the principle of tauhid that is the foundation of Islam itself; it implies a dismissal of all other Muslims as tainted by shirk.” 2 There is no need to derive such conclusions and make such assumptions when the leaders of the call themselves have clearly pronounced that they do not consider all the Muslims outside of them to be non-Muslims or “tainted by shirk.” Relevant quotes concerning this topic have already been given and shall not be repeated here. Algar then tries to display the importance of the “Wahhabis” in Islamic thought. He calls them “intellectually marginal.” If it were not that they were close to Makkah and Madinah and that they had the Saudi oil money, “Wahhabism might have well passed into history as a marginal and short-lived sectarian movement.” 3 The discussion in Chapter 4, which highlights the influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul- Wahhaab before the coming of the oil wealth, is a sufficient rejoinder Sina (Avicenna) and the Sufis Suhrawardi and Ibn Arabi.” (Interesting that no mention was made of studying the Quran or statements of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).) These facts may also shed some light on why Schwartz also seems to hate every Muslim except Sufis and some Shiites. It is also interesting to note that Schwartz (p. 56) argues that ibn Taimiyyah was imprisoned with the support of the scholars of his time due to his “extremist views” yet he never comments that Hallaj was put to death by the scholars of his time. This should imply that Hallaj was supra-extreme. In reality, the Shiahs and Sufis have always had a strong connection with each other. The interested reader should consult the two-volume study Kaamil Mustafa al-Shaibi, al-Silah bain al-Tasawwuf wa al-Tashayya (Beirut: Daar al- Andalus, 1982), passim. 1 Algar, p. 67. 2 Algar, p. 1. 3 Algar, p. 2. 280
281 The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab to this claim. One should not refer to a (so-called) “movement” that led to the reopening of the “door to ijtihaad” and made scholars reconsider their own positions in the light of the Quran and Sunnah as “intellectually marginal.” Algar then goes on to write, Wahhabism is an entirely specific phenomenon, calling for recognition as a separate school of thought or even as a sect of its own. Sometimes the Wahhabis are characterized, particularly by non-Muslim observers searching for a brief description, as “extreme” or as “conservative” Sunnis… It has, however, been observed by knowledgeable Sunnis since the earliest times that the Wahhabis do not count as part of the Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama’a, for almost all the practices, traditions and beliefs denounced by Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab have been historically integral to Sunni Islam, enshrined in a vast body of literature and accepted by the great majority of Muslims. Precisely for that reason, many of the ‘ulama contemporary with the first emergence of Wahhabism denounced its followers as standing outside the pale of Ahl al- Sunna wa al-Jama’a. 1 A number of points can be made here but the goal is to be brief. First, the fact that it was the “Wahhabis” who brought the people to prayer together behind one Imam instead of each school having its own Imam and prayer at the Kaabah should be a sufficient sign that they were not sectarians out to establish themselves as a separate entity. Second, he gives no mention of whom those “knowledgeable Sunnis” are who have declared the “Wahhabis” not part of the Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamaah. One can only hope that he is not referring to the “scholars” discussed in the previous chapter who fabricated and distorted reality to come to their bogus conclusions, although from the references he mentions in his work one is forced to make that conclusion. In any case, when one reads Algar’s passage closely, one sees that “Sunnism,” or Algar’s “Sunnism”, has nothing to do with the Quran, the way of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) or the way of his Companions. If Algar’s Sunnism were based on the Quran and Sunnah, he would have mentioned that ibn Abdul- Wahhaab is refuting actions established by the Quran and Sunnah. He cannot say that because that would be an obvious lie. The only 1 Algar, pp. 2-3.
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