Shaykh al-Islam al-Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab ibn Sulayman al-Tamimi al-Najdi (1703–1792 C.E., 1115–1206 A.H.) was an Arab Muslim scholar, theologian, preacher, activist, religious leader, jurist, and reformer, who was from Najd in the Arabian Peninsula and is considered as the eponymous founder of the Wahhabi movement.Sources:
The label "Wahhabi" is not claimed by his followers.Sources:
Born to a family of jurists, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's early education consisted of learning a fairly standard curriculum of jurisprudence according to the Hanbali school, which was most prevalent in his area of birth. He promoted strict adherence to Islamic law, proclaiming the necessity of returning directly to the Quran and Hadith literature rather than relying on traditional interpretations, and insisted that every Muslim male and female should personally read and study the Quran. He opposed blind taqlid and called for the use of ijtihad (independent legal reasoning through research of scripture).
Being given religious training under various Sunni Muslim scholars during his travels to Hejaz and Basra, Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab gradually became opposed to certain rituals and practices associated with the visitation to and veneration of the shrines and tombs of Muslim saints, which he condemned as heretical religious innovation or even idolatry. While claiming to be a Hanbali, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab minimized reliance on medieval legal manuals, instead engaging in direct interpretation of scriptures. His views were also rejected by even some Hanbali scholars of his time. His call for social reforms was based on the key doctrine of tawhid (oneness of God), and was greatly inspired by the treatises of classical scholars Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728 A.H/ 1328 C.E) and Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 A.H/ 1350 C.E).Sources:
Despite being opposed or rejected by some of his contemporary critics amongst the religious clergy, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab charted a religio-political pact with Muhammad bin Saud to help him to establish the Emirate of Diriyah, the first Saudi state,Hourani 1992: 257–58. and began a dynastic alliance and power-sharing arrangement between their families which continues to the present day in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Al ash-Sheikh, Saudi Arabia's leading religious family, are the descendants of Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab, and have historically led the ulama in the Saudi state,Abir 1987: 4, 5, 7. dominating the state's clerical institutions.Metz 1992
Ancestry and early life
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab is generally acknowledged to have been born in 1703Philby 1930: 8. into the sedentary and impoverished Arab clan of Banu TamimGlassé 2003: 470. in 'Uyayna, a village in the Najd region of central Arabia.EI1: 1086. Before the emergence of the movement, there was a very limited history of Islamic education in the area.Navalk Post Graduate School Thesis, September 2009, Michael R. Dillon: Wahhabism: Is it a factor in the spread of global terrorism?, p. 13 Linked 3 March 2015. For this reason, Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab had modest access to Islamic education during his youth, but his knowledge was, according to historian David Commins, "magnified by the depth of ignorance surrounding" him. Despite this,ibn Ghannam: 75–76.Hopwood 1972: 55.EI2: 677–78. the area had nevertheless produced several notable jurists of the Hanbali school of orthodox Sunni jurisprudence, which was the school of law most prominently practiced in the area. In fact, Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab's own family "had produced several doctors of the school," with his father, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, having been the Hanbali jurisconsult of the Najd and his grandfather, Sulaymān, having been a judge of Hanbali law. According to historian David Commins, Abd al-Wahhab's "scholastic learning was shallow" but his "knowledge was magnified by the depth of ignorance surrounding" him.
Early studies Ibn ʿAbd-al-Wahhab's early education was taught by his father, and consisted of learning the Quran by heart and studying a rudimentary level of Hanbali jurisprudence and Islamic theology as outlined in the works of Ibn Qudamah (d. 1223), one of the most influential medieval representatives of the Hanbali school, whose works were regarded "as having great authority" in the Najd. The affirmation of Islamic sainthood and the ability of saints to perform miracles (karamat) by the grace of God had become a major aspect of Sunni Muslim belief throughout the Islamic world, being agreed-upon by majority of the classical Islamic scholars.Al-Ashʿarī, al-Ibāna ʿan uṣūl al-diyāna, ed. Fawqiyya Ḥusayn Maḥmūd (Cairo: Dār al-Anṣār, 1397/1977), 31, 33: "It is possible for God to single out the righteous (ṣāliḥīn) by making signs (āyāt) appear at their hands".Al-Ṭaḥāwī, Matn al-ʿaqīda al-ṭaḥāwiyya, ed. Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī (Beirut: al-Maktab al-Islāmī, 1398/1978), 59: "[W]e believe in what has come via sound transmission through trustworthy narrators (ṣaḥḥa ʿan al-thiqāt min ruwātihim) from among their [the saints'] miracles".Ibn Qudamah, cited in Ahmet T. Karamustafa, Sufism: The Formative Period (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007, p. 132). However, the veneration of these practices and their reaching a level of "paganism" was "rife among the Bedouin" in 'Uyayna, which may have led to the departure of the young scholar from the area.
Travels
Pilgrimage to Mecca
After leaving 'Uyayna around the age of twenty under unclear circumstances, Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab performed the Greater Pilgrimage in Mecca, where the scholars appear to have held opinions and espoused teachings that were unpalatable to him. After this, he went to Medina, the stay at which seems to have been "decisive in shaping the later direction of his thought." In Medina, he met a Hanbali theologian from Najd named ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ibrāhīm al-Najdī, who had been a supporter of the works of Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328), who holds an exceptionally high position in Islamic history.Ajhar A. Hakim: "In Islamic history, Ibn Taymiyya holds an exceptionally high position as an intellect in regard to his theories" The Forgotten Rational Thinking in the Ḥanbalite Thought With Special Reference to Ibn Taymiyya Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, Sharjah, U.A.E p.152 Some Sunni Muslim scholars who adhere to a scripture-focused methodology praise Ibn Taymiyyah to be a mujadid of the authentic Sunnah,Rebecca Skreslet Hernandez, The Legal Thought of Jalāl Al-Din Al-Suyūṭī: Authority and Legacy, p.133 taking pride in the proliferation of his strict adherence to the Qur'an, SunnahMuhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said "Every innovation is going astray, and every going astray will be in the Fire." Narrated by Muslim (867) an-Nasaa'i (1578) and way of the companions of Muhammad,Jalal Abualrub: "Ibn Taymiyya only followed Prophetic statements and statements of the Prophet's companions and Muslim imams that prohibit innovating in the religion." (September 2013). Biography and Mission of Muhammad Ibn AbdulWahhab p.31Ibn Mas'ood said: "Follow (the Sunnah) and do not innovate, because you have been sufficed." Ad-Darimi and he also said: "Practicing a little of the Sunnah is far better than practicing many innovations." Al-Hakim though his teachings had been considered heterodox and misguided by many Sunni Muslim scholars who ascribed to the Sufis of their time.Taqi al-Din al-Hisni referred to Ibn Taymiyyah as a "heretic from Harran"; see Rapoport, Yossef; Ahmed, Shahab (1 January 2010). Ibn Taymiyya and His Times. Oxford University Press. p. 271.Bori, Caterina. "Ibn Taymiyya (14th to 17th century): Transregional spaces of reading and reception." The Muslim World 108, no. 1 (2018): 87-123.Kaya, Hasan. "The Factors Influencing the Criticism Directed toward Ibn Taymiyyah." Cumhuriyet Ilahiyat Dergisi/Cumhuriyet Theology Journal 29.1 (2025).
Tutelage under al-Sindhi
Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's teacher, 'Abdallah ibn Ibrahim ibn Sayf, introduced the relatively young man to Muhammad Hayat al-Sindi in Medina, who belonged to the Naqshbandi order (tariqa) of Sufism,John L. Esposito (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, Oxford University Press (2004), p. 296. and recommended him as a student.ibn 'Hajar: 17–19.Official sources on Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab's life put his visits to these cities in different chronological orders, and the full extent of such travels remains disputed among historians. As well, dates are missing in a great many cases, making it difficult to reconstruct a chronology of his life up until his return to 'Uyayna in 1740. Muhammad Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab and al-Sindhi became very close, and Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab stayed with him for some time.Voll 1975: 32–39 "Scholars have described Muhammad Hayya as having an important influence on Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, encouraging him in his developing determination to denounce rigid imitation of medieval commentaries and to utilize informed individual analysis (ijtihad). Muhammad Hayya also taught Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab a rejection of popular religious practices associated with 'saints' and their tombs that is similar to later Wahhdbi teachings". Al-Sindi taught Muhammad Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab to reject popular religious practices associated with walis and their tombs. He also encouraged him to reject rigid imitation (Taqlid) of medieval legal commentaries and develop individual research of scriptures (Ijtihad). Influenced by al-Sindi's teachings, Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab became critical of the established Madh'hab system, prompting him to disregard the instruments of Usul al-Fiqh in his intellectual approach. Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab rarely made use of Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and various legal opinions in his writings, by and large forming views based on his direct understanding of Scriptures.
Apart from his emphasis on hadith studies, aversion for the madhhab system and disregard for technical juristic discussions involving legal principles, Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab's views on ziyārah (visitations to the shrines of Awliyaa) were also shaped by al-Sindhi. Al-Sindi encouraged his student to reject folk practices associated with graves and saints. Various themes in al-Sindi's writings, such as his opposition to erecting tombs and drawing human images, would be revived later by the Wahhabi movement. Al-Sindi instilled in Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab the belief that practices like beseeching the dead saints constituted apostasy and resembled the customs of the people of Jahiliyya (pre-Islamic era). In a significant encounter between a young Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab and al-Sindhi reported by the Najdi historian 'Uthman Ibn Bishr (d. 1288 A.H./ 1871/2 C.E.):"... one day Shaykh Muḥammad [Ibn 'Abdi'l-Wahhāb] stood by the chamber of the Prophet where people were calling [upon him or supplicating] and seeking help by the Prophet's chamber, blessings and peace be upon him. He then saw Muḥammad Ḥayāt [al Sindī] and came to him. The shaykh [Ibn 'Abdi'l-Wahhāb] asked, "What do you say about them?" He [al-Sindī] said, "Verily that in which they are engaged shall be destroyed and their acts are invalid.""
Journey to Basra