Question:

Some people said to me: ‘There is [a group called] the “Wahhabis.”’ So I said to them: ‘There is no “Wahhabism”; rather, it is a term coined by the Sharifs [of Mecca] to turn people away from the reformist call.’ However, one of them told me: ‘Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab—may Allah have mercy on him—was indeed a religious reformer, but he deviated toward the end of his life, as he rejected some authentic prophetic traditions (Hadiths) because they did not align with his opinion.’ What is your view on this?

Answer:

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab—may Allah have mercy on him—is among the greatest callers to Salafiyyah, the sound creed, and the upright methodology, and his books—may Allah have mercy on him—are filled with evidence of that.

As for what you mentioned regarding one of the opponents of his call telling you that the Shaykh deviated toward the end of his life, rejecting certain authentic hadiths because they did not align with his opinion—this is a lie and a slander against the Shaykh. He passed away while being among the most stringent of people in respecting the Sunnah, accepting it, and indeed calling to it, may Allah have mercy on him.