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The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
In fact, for many parts of Najd, especially where the Bedouins ruled,
the law of the land was not the Shareeah but local custom (known as
urf or saalifah). 1
Even though these matters were widespread, it does not mean
that the people had left Islam completely or that there were no
scholars or studying of the religion whatsoever in Najd. Al-Uthaimeen
notes that some writers 2 give that impression that all remnants of
Islam had been obliterated in Najd. Indeed, even ibn Bishr, who stated
that most of the people were living in ignorance, describes Najd as a
land of knowledge, scholars and piety, engaged in religious debates
and writing books. 3
Actually, the Hanbali school of fiqh had been entrenched in
Najd for centuries. Furthermore, it was the custom for Najdis to travel
to Damascus, Baghdad and Cairo, centers of Hanbali fiqh, to increase
their knowledge. These students had a good relationship with the
scholars in those lands. When Mara’ee ibn Yoosuf compiled his work
Ghaayah al-Muntahaa fi Jama al-Iqnaa wa al-Muntahaa, he sent one
of its two copies to Najd with greetings to two of their scholars at the
end of the work. 4 In fact, al-Uthaimeen notes a number of scholars
who lived in Najd prior to the time of Muhammad ibn Abdul-
Wahhaab. 5
Al-Uthaimeen does however note that the Islamic studies were
concentrated on fiqh only, perhaps because the main purpose was to
make the student qualified to be a judge. Hence, other topics like
aqeedah or “beliefs” were not emphasized. 6 In fact, in a very strongly
worded letter, ibn Abdul-Wahhaab denies that the scholars of that land
had a true understanding of the basic meaning of “There is none
worthy of worship except Allah.” 7 (Al-Atram also notes that there
were scholars but those scholars were busy with the details of
1 Apparently, the situation in nearby Kuwait was no better. Abu-Hakima (p. 58)
writes, “The two Kuwaiti historians who tackled this problem, al-Qina’i and al-
Rashid, write that the Shari’a law was not used in Kuwait during the entire
eighteenth century and even later.”
2 He cites Abdul Rahmaan Ali-Shaikh (Ulamaa al-Dawah) and W. G. Palgrave
(Narrative of a Year’s Journey Through Central and Eastern Arabia).
3 Ibn Bishr, vol. 1, pp. 22 and 47. Also see Abdul-Muhsin ibn Baaz, vol. 1, p. 63.
4 Al-Uthaimeen, Al-Shaikh, p. 17.
5 Al-Uthaimeen, Al-Shaikh, p. 17.
6 Al-Uthaimeen, Al-Shaikh, p. 18.
7 See his letter in Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab, Muallifaat, vol. 7, p. 186.
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