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The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
“Indeed, at the head of every century, Allah shall raise for this Nation
one who will revive its religion for them.” 1
It is relevant here to speak in the light of this hadith. Ibn
Abdul-Wahhaab clearly attempted to propagate and revive the true
teachings of Islam. Hence many have asked the question: Should
Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhaab be considered a mujaddid (an
individual bringing the Muslims back to the true teachings of the
Quran and Sunnah)? It has been the conclusion of many scholars that
he was indeed a mujaddid (revivalist). Abdul Rahmaan ibn Qaasim
wrote, “The contemporaneous leaders of the time of the Shaikh
attested to his knowledge and reckoned him among the number of
mujaddids who revived what the Messenger of the Lord of the Worlds
brought. Similarly, the people of Egypt, Greater Syria, Iraq, Makkah,
Madinah, India and other places attest to the same.” 2 Muhammad
Rasheed Ridha and Abdul Mutaal al-Saeedi, in his book al-
Mujaddidoon fi al-Islaam, explicitly considered him a mujaddid. 3
However, even when recognizing that he was indeed a
mujaddid (Allah willing), it is important to note to what extent he
truly contributed to the revival of this religion, a revival that one could
argue is still continuing today. In an interesting passage, Abdul Hamid
Siddiqi wrote,
Many critics of Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab condemn this
movement as retrogressive. But this is an absolutely baseless
charge. Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab stood up with
determination to bring his people back to true Islam. He, therefore,
tried to purge Muslim life of all innovations and declared a “holy
war” against them. The feeling which he voiced was rather one of
rationalistic dissatisfaction with the outworn palimpsest of cults
than of the destruction of everything that he found before him. He
wanted to separate grain from chaff and this work he performed
with admirable courage and alertness of mind. He tried to
demolish all those things which he found alien to the spirit of Islam
and weeded out all those practices from Muslim society which he
considered antagonistic to the spirit of the faith. He rightly believed
1 Recorded by Abu Dawood, al-Haakim, al-Baghdaadi and al-Baihaqi in his
Marifah. According to al-Albaani, it is sahih. See al-Albaani, Saheeh al-Jaami,
vol. 1, p. 382. In addition, al-Sakhaawi and al-Ajalooni also confirm that its
chain is sahih. See Abdul Muhsin ibn Baaz, vol. 1, p. 6, fn. 1; Usrah, p. 4, fn. 2.
2 Quoted in Abdul Muhsin ibn Baaz, vol. 1, pp. 6-7.
3 Cf., Abdul Muhsin ibn Baaz, vol. 1, p. 7.