Wahabism Unmasked (1)

If we study the history of different religions or religious resources with careful and appropriate reflection, we realize that most religions have been divided into multiple sects with the passage of time.
However, the major divine religions seemed unaware of this trend. As time went by and we became more distant from the age of those that pioneered these religions, multiple sects and religions were established. It is clear the origin of the differences and the number of different sects created within the divine religions has been because of the human thought; in the teaching of the holy prophets monotheism was the cardinal principle and the prophets have warned humanity of division and dissociation. Trust and faith and belief in the resurrection and reappearance of the savior to dispense justice and defiance of oppression are other common principles in all the divine religions. Also all the divine religions agree that the source of all revelations is God and it’s revealed that God is the fountain of all morality. But throughout history we have witnessed factors such as misinterpretation of religion, prevailing conditions and social environment, greed and selfish inclinations that resulted in an unorthodox perception in the minds of some people and the beginning of misconceived concepts about religion. During the period of the growth and development of the followers of the divine religions divisions began to proliferate. The multiplicity of religions and sects whether it originated from the errors of human thought or from selfishly motivated political conspiracies manifests an undeniable truth which has pierced unity like a vicious bullet. These multiple religions sometimes bring along with them unfounded prejudices, as a result these divine religions which are the essence of unity have been tainted by the seeds of discord.
In this series of the articles we will introduce to you one of these sects called Wahabism.
The factors that led to the formation of Wahabism are similar to that of other sects; they’ve emanated from the basic ideas of their founders. As all the major ideas of the Wahabi sect have been derived from Ibn Teymiya’s notions and thoughts, therefore it is essential to know his basic ideas and his attitude towards Islam.
In the 7th century AH, Taqi Aldin Ahmad ben Abd-ul-Halim known as Ibn Teymiya was born in the city of Harran (Carrhae) in the year 661 AH. At that time the city of Harran was one of the Hanbali religious training centers. This city that currently is nothing but ruins located in the south of Turkey used to be a glorious city with a beaming culture. “Ibn Teymiya” was raised and nurtured in a family that for over a century was leader of the Hanbali sect and controlled their religious writings. Ibn Teymiya’s father who himself was one of the famous jurists of Harran known as Sheikh Al-Balad- who the people knew as the preacher and teacher of Islamic sciences. Ibn Teymiya lived during the time of the barbaric attacks of the Mongols on Islamic lands. At that time the Mongols brutally conquered Islamic domains everyday increasing their territory. During this time many precious Islamic relics and many books written by Muslim scholars were plundered or destroyed by the Mongols.
Ibn Katheer a famous Arab historian has written, “In the year 667 AH (1269 BC) when Ibn Temiya was only 6 years old the pressure of the Mongols on the city of Harran increased until the people fled the city in fear that the Mongols would attack. Ibn Teymiya and his family left Harran for Damascus. After migrating to Damascus Ibn Teymiya’s father became the leader of Dar-ol-Hadith or house of hadith in Damascus and devoted his time to teaching.
Ibn Teymiya spent his adolescence in Damascus. He started learning the terminology and interpretation of sciences such as jurisprudence, Hadith and theology from his father and other Hanbali scholars until he reached the level of independent reasoning, he then requested permission to exercise his own judgment and to start teaching. After the death of his father he didn’t fill his father’s position and began to teach and interpret the Holy Quran.
Ibn Teymiya later began to study different religions he then issued statements that contradicted the teachings of the four traditional religious sects and Shiism. He criticized some of the current Muslim ideas and traditions and considered some traditions as a form of polytheism and distancing from God. Ibn Teymiya’s life was filled with many ups and downs because of his aberrant statements and the questioning of some of the basic tenets upheld by Muslims. Until the year 698 AH Ibn Teymiya’s thoughts were unheard of, however soon afterwards his ideas began to surface. As an example in that same year he wrote a book against the Ash’ari sect that caused a big controversy in Damascus.
Ibn Teymiya claimed himself as a Salafist. Salafism in definitions means imitation of the predecessors, obscurantism or their unconditional acceptance. However, Salafi is the name of the sect that claims allegiance to the prophet of Islam (SAWA) and the Tabe’in or followers. Followers are those who have met one or more of the prophet’s companions or accompanied them. The Salafis believed that all the Islamic ideas should be practiced as they were practiced in the age of the followers and companions of the prophet. All Islamic ideas should be learned from the holy book or traditions and scholars shouldn’t follow any evidence other than what is in the Holy Quran. In the Salafi thought rational analysis and logic had no place and only the text of the Holy Quran and traditions were sufficient for implication. They were rigid and prejudiced in their ideas and dealt harshly with any opposition. Ibn Teymiya on the pretext of restoring Islam to the version of Islam practiced by predecessors expressed his ideas and thus a lot of the deeds and ideas of Muslims were questioned by him and many Muslims were even considered religious outcasts.
When Ibn Teymiya mentioned his different ideas and beliefs, he faced many objections; especially when he described the traits of God. He believed that God had a physical body and that he sat upon the skies. Ibn Teymiya was the first Muslim that claimed God had a physical body and he wrote several dissertations on it. He also considered pilgrimages and commemoration of the death anniversary of the Holy prophet (SAWA) as a sacrilegious act. Another one of his ideas was that he considered recourse to parents unlawful, as he considered this recourse wasn’t towards God. Ibn Teymiya disagreed with the repair and restoration of the graves of the prophets and righteous friends and also with the building of mosques next to blessed tombs for he considered it as polytheism. In return scholars of different Islamic sects rose up against him in opposition. They weren’t ready to tolerate the words of a man who considered God having a physical body and human characteristics. Muslim scholars with regards to the contents of the holy Quran which describes God beyond physicality and human understanding have written many books rejecting Ibn Teymiya’s ideas. They also requested the court to encounter his perverse ideas firmly. Ibn Teymiya despite facing the storm of objections still continued to persist in his ideas. He considered his critics as unbelievers and sometimes addressed them with inappropriate words in his writings.
History records that when he read the book” Fosus-ol-Hekam-“written by Mohye’e-ddin Al-Arabi, an Arab Muslim mystic in 703 AH he wrote a book titled “Al-Nosus ‘Alal-Fosus” to reject Mohye’e-ddin Arabi’s book and to curse him and his followers. The flames of division and differences intensified every day. The public became tense because of Ibn Teymiya’s divergent ideas that contradicted the prevalent and popular opinions of Muslims. As a result in the year 705 AH he was exiled to Egypt by a court in Syria. In the year 707 AH Ibn Teymiya was released from prison and returned to Syria few years later and once again began publishing of his thoughts and comments. In the year 721 AH he was repeatedly sentenced to prison and finally in the year 728 AH the 20th October he passed away in the castle prison of Damascus.
Ibn Teymiya’s perspective on Islamic issues was all in vain except that it caused division between Muslims and opposed many of the Islamic etiquettes and ideas. But the reasonable reaction of the Islamic scholars towards him resulted in the early cessation of this movement.