The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ... - IslamHouse.com

The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
make matters worse, with what little knowledge Algar truly has of ibn
Abdul-Wahhaab’s writings, he has the audacity and the arrogance to
think himself capable of judging what came from ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
and what did not, with no scholarly basis for his conclusion
whatsoever. Indeed, in the translation by al-Faruqi, there is no hint
whatsoever that al-Faruqi added those “issues.” Algar has simply
decided that such is the case—and it does not seem that important to
him if such is the reality or not.
Actually, Algar is aware of the collected works of ibn Abdul-
Wahhaab. However, he never bothered to ensure that he had all the
volumes. He states, “it is unclear how many volumes the complete
series comprises.” 1 He writes that he has volumes one, two and four of
the set. As is clear from his own statements, he actually only had
volumes one and two of the collection of hadith of a legal nature by
ibn Abdul-Wahhaab and another volume with it. Yet with this amount
of effort, Algar thought himself qualified to write a critical essay on
Wahhabism and even to declare what is or is not part of ibn Abdul-
Wahhaab’s writings.
After mentioning some of ibn Abdul-Wahhaab’s writings on
pages 14 to 16, Algar still had the gall to write on page 17, “One has,
indeed, the impression that Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab regarded
the authorial act as one more unauthorized innovation that for
centuries had clouded the Muslim mind.” 2 Can there be a more
baseless conclusion? Furthermore, writing in itself is not the only
standard to judge whether or not one is a great scholar, reformer or
person of influence. In fact, Algar, who considers himself a Sufi, has
decided to ignore the fact that there are many Sufis who never left
much behind in the way of writings. As was mentioned earlier, ibn
Abdul-Wahhaab’s true scholarship appears in his letters that he wrote.
Algar seems to have no clue as to the importance or availability of that
important material.
Moving on with ibn Abdul-Wahhaab’s life, Algar claims that
ibn Abdul-Wahhaab made his alliance with Muhammad ibn Saud
“sealing it with another marriage.” 3 This author could not find any
1 Algar, p. 16.
2 Algar, p. 17.
3 Algar, p. 19.
284