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The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
In each of his studies, al-Khamees also discusses the types of
shirk and the acts that constitute shirk according to scholars of all four
schools of fiqh as found in their major reference works. 1 In general,
one can say that all of the acts that ibn Abdul-Wahhaab objected to as
acts of shirk are also mentioned by each of the four schools of fiqh as
acts of shirk that take one out of the fold of Islam. 2 Hence, again, ibn
Abdul-Wahhaab was not an innovator bringing something new and
unheard of. Instead, he was reviving teachings found in every school
of fiqh that had been ignored or forgotten. Those teachings touch the
core of Islam and whenever they are ignored or forgotten, it is a must
that they be restored.
One can understand from all of these texts and scholarly
conclusions that ibn Abdul-Wahhaab was completely right when he
opposed, with the greatest of effort, shirk in all of its manifestations
and all the paths that lead to it. The most important thing that a human
can be saved from is falling into this evil shirk. It is not an
overstatement to say that all Muslim leaders and scholars should take
great efforts to keep the Muslims from falling into shirk. Furthermore,
in the light of the Quran and Sunnah, it is completely inexcusable for
any Muslim to take this matter lightly—not to speak of attempting to
justify as a manifestation of “true Islam” those very same acts that the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prohibited. One
can only plead to Allah for help and guidance to rescue the Muslim
Nation from any form of shirk that it currently is engaged in.
1 One has to realize that many of the acts of shirk appeared after the time of the
founders of these schools. Hence, some of them did not mention any of these
acts specifically because they simply did not exist and were not an issue at
their time.
2 These acts include praying for help from the deceased, setting up intermediaries
between oneself and Allah, sacrificing animals for other than Allah, giving the
complete right of obedience to other than Allah and so forth. See al-Khamees,
al-Hanafiyyah, pp. 15-26 and 31-68; al-Khamees, al-Maalikiyyah, pp. 19-25 and
41-58; al-Khamees, al-Shaafi’iyyah, pp. 23-28 and 44-61; al-Khamees, al-
Hanaabilah, pp. 13-26 and 34-57.
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