The Truth About The Label ‘Wahhabi’ And An Appeal To Common Sense

[Shehzad Sattar]

All Praise is due to Allaah (Azza wa Jal) who sent his Messenger (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) with guidance and the true religion so that it may become manifest over all other religions. May the Salaat and Salaam of Allaah be upon the last and noblest of All the Prophets, Muhammad (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam), on the family of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) and upon the noble companions (radiAllaahu ‘anhum) and on all those who follow the path of righteousness until the last day.

It is the habit of the people of today that they label as anyone who calls to Tawheed and warns against all forms of shirk a Wahhabi. So since this has become prominent amongst some of the Muslims, who call themselves Sunnis then we should refer back to the Qur’aan and the Sunnah upon the understanding of the first three generations in order to ascertain what is the truth.

(1) Firstly Al-Wahabb is one of the beautiful names of Allaah (Azza Wa Jal) meaning the all-giver and so how can anyone twist this beautiful name, Aoudhoubillah.

(2) The usage of ‘Wahhabi’ comes from a scholar who lived some time ago by the name of Muhammad Bin Abdul-Wahaab, who called to Tawheed and defended it and warned against Shirk and fought its people. So if these people were truthful they would use the term ‘Muhammadi’ since Abdul-Wahaab was the name of his father.

(3) Alllaah (Azza Wa Jal) has prohibited us from insulting using nicknames as He (Azza Wa Jal) says:

“And do not insult by nicknames” [Al Hujuraat (49):11]

(4) The people of the past accused Imaam Shafiee of being a Rafidee and he replied with:

If Rafd is loving the Family of Muhammad (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam)
Then the humans and Jinns witness that I am a Rafidee.

So we refute with what a poet said:

If the follower of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) is a Wahhabi
Then I affirm that I am a Wahhabi

(5) It is the duty of the Muslims to call to Tawheed and warn against Shirk:

Allaah (Azza Wa Jal) says: “And we have sent to every nation a Messenger saying Worship Allaah alone and avoid the Taghoot” [An Nahl (16):36]

The Taghoot is anything that is worshipped besides Allaah (Azza Wa Jal).

The call to Tawheed is the call of all the Messengers:

Allaah (Azza Wa Jal) says: “To Aad (We sent) their brother Hud. He said: ‘Oh my people, worship Allaah, you have no other Illah except Him, will you not fear (Allaah)” [Al Aa’raaf (7):65]

And He (Azza Wa Jal) says: “To Thamud we sent their brother Salih. He said: O my people worship Allaah You have no other Illah except Him” [Hud (11):61]

So see how the dawah to Tawheed is the dawah of all the Prophets and the battle between Tawheed and Shirk is long standing.

But today if you make this call you are labelled a Wahhabi. But this call existed long before Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahabb was born. The evidences of Tawheed existed long before the birth of Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahabb. The collection of hadeeth like Bukhari and Muslim existed hundreds of years before even the great great grandfather of Muhammad bin Abdul Wahaab was born. So if we quote hadeeth from Bukhari and Muslim as evidences for Tawheed and we are Wahaabis then was Imaam Bukhari a Wahaabi or Imaam Muslim.

(6) If you read the ayat in the Qur’aan:

“You alone do we Worship and you alone do we seek help from” [Fatihah (1):4]

Then are you a Wahhabi?

(7) If you mention the hadeeth narrated by Ibn Abbas (radiyallahu anhu) found in An-Nawawis Forty Hadeeth:

The Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) said: “When you ask, then ask Allaah, and when you seek help seek help from Allaah alone” Are you a Wahhabi?

(8) Or maybe if you mention the hadeeth of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam):

“Whoever dies while calling upon other than Allaah shall enter the Hell fire”[Bukhari]

(9) Or maybe you are a Wahhabi if when told that the Awliyah know the unseen you say But Allaah (Azza wa Jal) says:

“With him are the keys of the unseen, none knows them but He” [Al An’aam (6):59]

(10) And perhaps you are a Wahhabi if you expose Ibn Arabi for his kufr statements such as:

“The Lord is the Slave and the Slave is the Lord
Oh I wish I knew who was the one in authority”

(11) Or maybe you are a Wahhabi if you deny that the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) was made from light and that he had and still has the power to bring good to us:

Allaah (Azza wa Jal) says:
“Say O Muhammad (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) I possess no power to benefit or hurt myself except as Allaah wills. If I had Knowledge of the unseen, I should have secured for myself an abundance of wealth, and no evil should have touched me. I am but a warner , and a bringer of glad tidings unto people who believe” [Al A’raaf (7):188]

(12) Or maybe you’re a Wahhabi if you don’t celebarate the birthday of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) or Praise him highly elevating him above his being a Prophet:

The Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) said:
“Do not exaggerate in praising me as the Christians exaggerated in praising the Son of Maryam (Eesaa) (alaihis-salaam), for verily I am only a slave, so say slave of Allaah and His Messenger” [Bukhari]

(13) Maybe you are a Wahhabi if you don’t call upon Abdul Qaadir al-Jeelaanee to remove some harm from you and you mention the ayah:

“If Allaah touches you with harm, none can remove it except He” [Al An’aam (6): 17]

Was the Scholar who said the following a Wahhabi ?

“Ask Allaah and do not ask other than Him,. Seek help from Allaah and do not seek help from other then Him. Woe to you, with which face will you meet Him tomorrow? You contend with Him in the world, turning away from Him, and approaching His creation thus associating partners with Him. You submit your needs to them and rely on them in your important matters. Increase the ways and means between yourself and Allaah, for verily, if you stop that, then it is foolishness. There is no king, or authority, no self-sufficiency and no might except with Allaah, The Mighty, The Magestic, turn towards Allaah without the creation”

He seems to meet the criterion, who was he, he was none other than the one some people call upon, Abdul Qaadir al-Jeelaanee, he said this in Fath ur Rabaanee.

Or maybe the one who said the following was a Wahhabi:

“I hate to ask Allaah, by other than Allaah”

This man was Imaam Abu Haneefah, reported in Daar ul Mukhtaar.

They (the so called ‘Sunnis’) say the Wahhabis don’t love the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) since we don’t call upon him or make intercession through him, they claim that they are lovers of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam), and we reply with the saying of a poet:

“If your love was true you would have obeyed him,
Verily the lover is to the beloved obedient”

In Conclusion:

It seems that they call people a Wahhabi who:

(1) Worship Allaah alone, love Tawheed and hate Shirk
(2) Make duaa to Allaah alone
(3) Rely in Allaah alone
(4) Follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam), and hate and avoid innovations.
(5) Adhere to the path of the companions (radiyallahu anhum)
(6) Read the books of the Imaams and take from them.

And our final call is to Allaah Lord of all the Creation.

Source: https://islamtees.wordpress.com/2011/09 ... mon-sense/