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

The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
polytheism (shirk) and disbelief (kufr). 1 Ibn Abdul-Wahhaab stated,
“We declare as disbelievers those who associate partners with Allah in
His Godhood after the proofs of the falsehood of shirk have been
made clear to him.” 2 Also, no one can be declared a disbeliever simply
on conjecture. Ibn Abdul-Wahhaab stated, “Whoever outwardly
shows [an attachment] to Islam and we suspect that he has negated
Islam, we do not declare him a disbeliever based on that conjecture, as
what is apparent is not overridden by conjecture. Similarly, we do not
declare as a disbeliever anyone from whom we do not know disbelief
simply based on a negating factor that is mentioned about him that we
have not verified.” 3 Furthermore, no one can be declared a disbeliever
except on those points that the Quran and Sunnah clearly declare to be
disbelief. For example, the committing of a major sin, such as
adultery, does not mean that a person has fallen into disbelief, as
opposed to what the Khawarij and other extremist groups have
believed. Thus ibn Abdul-Wahhaab stated, “We do not declare any
Muslim to be a disbeliever simply due to a sin he committed.” 4
Finally, he would only declare people disbelievers on the basis of
issues that were agreed upon among the scholars. Hence, he wrote,
The pillars of Islam are five. The first of them are the two
statements testifying to the faith. Then come the [remaining] four
pillars. If one affirms them but does not perform them out of
laziness, we, even if we should fight him over what he has done, do
not declare him a disbeliever for leaving those acts. The scholars
have differed over the disbelief of one who abandons those acts out
of laziness, without rejecting them [as obligations]. And we do not
1 As for those who died before being conveyed the true teachings of tauheed, ibn
Abdul-Wahhaab and his followers refrained from declaring any such
individuals to be disbelievers. In fact, ibn Abdul-Wahhaab’s son Abdullah
stated that not only were the ignorant to be excused due to their ignorance but
even the scholars should be excused before their time—before the coming of ibn
Abdul-Wahhaab—since, in most areas, there was no one who stood for the
truth with his speech and his actions. Cf., Al-Uthaimeen, Al-Shaikh, p. 124.
2 Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab, Muallifaat, vol. 7, p. 60.
3 Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab, Muallifaat, vol. 7, p. 24. He also said (vol. 7, p.
25), “Those of the enemies who say that I declare people disbelievers based on
conjecture have stated a grave lie. They intend by that simply to drive people
away from the religion of Allah and His Messenger.”
4 Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab, Muallifaat, vol. 7, p. 11. For more details
concerning his perspective, see Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab, Muallifaat,
vol. 7, p. 233.
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