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The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
evidence to suggest that ibn Abdul-Wahhaab married one of ibn
Saud’s relatives.
On pages 20-21, Algar repeats claims made earlier that ibn
Abdul-Wahhaab and his followers declared all non-Wahhabis non-
Muslim and they were similar to the Khawarij. These types of
allegations were discussed in the previous chapter.
In a rather lengthy passage, Algar proclaims to present the
“Wahhabi” view and then quickly refute them. Due to the importance
of this passage, it will be presented in virtually its entirety. Algar is
discussing the concept of tauheed al-ibaadah or the concept that all
acts of worship must be directed toward Allah, otherwise one may be
falling into shirk. Algar then writes,
Such violation takes place whenever an act of devotion involves, in
any fashion at all, an entity other than the worshipper and God.
The examples are numerous: petitionary prayer (du’a) in which
mention is made of the Prophet or other exalted personages in the
hope of gaining greater acceptability for one’s supplication, by
using a formulation such as bi-hurmati…; isti’ana and istighatha,
seeking help in mundane or spiritual matters with a form of words
that implies expectation of help from a given person, rather than
from God, even if the person in question be implicitly viewed as a
channel or transmitter of divine aid; tawassul, regarding a person,
however exalted, as a means of facilitating one’s approach to the
divine presence; attributing life and agency to the dead by
addressing them in a devotional context, even if not as the objects
of one’s devotion; the expectation of, or aspiration for, the shafa’a
(intercession) of prophets, saints, martyrs, and other exalted
personages; tabarruk (the seeking of blessings) at their tombs;
ziyara, the visitation of those tombs as an act performed in its own
right and with due intention; and the construction of domes or
other elevated structures over such tombs. All of these result in a
violation of tauhid al-‘ibada and make of the offender a mushrik.
To put it differently, tauhid al-‘ibada can be defined only
negatively, in terms of the avoidance of certain practices, not
affirmatively; this places a fear of perceived deviation at the very
heart of Wahhabism and helps to explain its intrinsically
censorious nature. All the allegedly deviant practices just listed can,
however, be vindicated with reference not only to tradition and
consensus but also to hadith, as has been explained by those
numerous scholars, Sunni and Shi’i alike, who have addressed the
phenomenon of Wahhabism. Even if that were not the case, and the