Question:
Our Shaykh, it becomes evident through messages sent to this program that our Muslim world is full of many things that contradict the religion of Islam. One of these things is Sufism and seeking blessings from the graves, Awliya and the like. It seems that this affair require another Shaykh like Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhab.
Answer:
There is no doubt that these matters require the presence of reformers who call for guidance and face these falsehoods with inviting people to Allah and making them well-acquainted with their religion. It also needs Imams, rulers and leaders that can prevent people from this evil by force, punish those persons who do these acts and compel them to accept the Truth. This was done by the Prophet (peace be upon him) during his stay in Madinah and Makkah. The same was done by the Rightly-Guided Caliphs and reformers including Shaykh-ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah be Merciful with him) in his time, Ibn Al-Qayyim in his time and others like them. Then, Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhab (May Allah be Merciful with him) emerged in the twelfth Hijrah century and undertook this obligation. He invited people to Allah, guided them to Tawhid and warned against Shirk that was rampant in Najd and Hijaz. He warned against these acts and called people to the Truth.
The same was also done by his supporters of righteous scholars and callers to guidance in Najd, Hijaz and Yemen. They performed this duty and called people to Allah (may He be Exalted and Glorified) and guided them to Tawhid. They also warned them against worshiping graves, trees, stones and Jinn. Similarly, every reformer should do this by calling, direction, legal Jihad and using force that deters the evildoers if they refrained from not affected by words. If words do not deter evildoers, they should be deterred with force, punishment, jailing, killing the Murtad (apostate) and so on. This was done by our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the Rightly-Guided Caliphs and the guided Imams (rulers) after them, Allah is the One sought for help