Question:
Our brother also asks Your Eminence, the Sheikh, saying: ‘There is a group of people who, when we call them to Allah and to abandon Shirk (associating partners) with Him, accuse us of Wahhbism. How should we confront them, if you please?’
Answer:
They should be taught. There is no such thing as a ‘Wahhabi madhhab’ (school of thought); rather, it is simply obedience to Allah and His Messenger. ‘Wahhabism’ calls to what Allah and His Messenger have said. Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab—may Allah have mercy on him—to whom ‘Wahhabism’ is attributed, was a man who stood up in the second half of the twelfth century [AH] to call people to what Allah and His Messenger said. He called people to the creed of the Salah al-Salih (Pious Predecessors), to following the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and to walking upon the methodology of his Companions in both words and deeds.”
He followed the Hanbali madhhab (school of thought), but Allah granted him success in calling people to rectify their creed, to abandon associating partners with Allah, and to leave behind the bid’ah (religious innovations) and superstitions practiced and adopted by the Sufis or the theologians. He called to the creed of the Salaf al-Salih in both practice and belief, and he forbade the innovations practiced by the theologians and some of the Sufis who strayed from the correct path into innovation. Therefore, he did not have a school of thought that opposed the methodology of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah (the People of the Sunnah and the Muslim community); rather, he called exclusively to the methodology of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah.
So if you call someone to Tawheed (Monotheism) and forbid them from Shirk (associating partners with Allah), and they say, ‘This is Wahhabism,’ then say: ‘Yes, I am a Wahhabi, and I am a Muhammadi (a follower of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ). I call you to the obedience of Allah and His Shari’ah (Law); I call you to the monotheism of Allah.’
If anyone who calls to the monotheism of Allah is a ‘Wahhabi’, then I am a Wahhabi. If anyone who calls to the monotheism of Allah is a ‘Nasibi’, then I am a Nasibi. If anyone who calls to the monotheism of Allah is a ‘Shiite’, then I am a Shiite. The only thing that matters is calling to what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his Companions were upon. As for using labels to drive people away from the call—that has no value.
What is obligatory upon the believer is to fear Allah and to remain steadfast upon the command of Allah, no matter what people say to him—even if they say he is a hypocrite, or a Wahhabi, or a Shiite, or whatever else they might say. As long as he knows that he is calling to the monotheism of Allah and to the obedience of Allah and His Messenger, exactly as Allah and His Messenger have spoken, then the troublemakers and those who drive people away with the labels they invent will not harm him.
Similarly, the disbelievers said to the Messenger ﷺ that he was a Sabian, and they said he was a madman, and they said he was a poet, and they said he was a soothsayer, and they said he was a sorcerer. None of that harmed him; he continued in his call to Allah, taught the people the monotheism of Allah, and paid no mind to their claims that he was a sorcerer, a soothsayer, or anything of the sort.
Such is the case with the followers of truth; they are not harmed if it is said to them, ‘Wahhabi,’ or if this or that is said about them, or if they are called ‘strict,’ ‘divisive,’ ‘extremist,’ ‘excessively deep,’ or whatever else they label them with in order to drive people away from them. No, this does not harm them. It is his duty to be patient, and it is his duty to clarify the truth to the people, and to show that he holds nothing that contradicts the purified Shari’ah (Law) of Allah brought by Muhammad, upon whom be peace and blessings.
So this is who the ‘Wahhabis’ are: the ‘Wahhabis’ are callers to the monotheism of Allah and to the obedience of Allah and His Messenger. They do not possess a new madhhab (school of thought); rather, they are simply callers to the monotheism of Allah and to the following of His Messenger Muhammad ﷺ. In fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), they generally adhere to the Hanbali school of thought, except when they find something in the Hanbali school that contradicts the weightier position among the scholars due to evidence supporting what others have said—in which case, they follow the evidence.