View source for Wahhabism

{{Short description|Fundamentalist movement within Sunni Islam}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025|cs1-dates=ll}}
{{Salafi|Related}}
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{{Sunni Islam|Movements}}

'''Wahhabism'''{{efn|The term "Wahhabism" is primarily an [[exonym]]; it was not used by Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab himself or his followers, who typically refer to themselves as ''Salafi'', ''Sunni'', or ''[[Muwahhidun]]''.{{sfn|Bonacina|2015|pp=12–40}}{{sfn|Coller|2022|pp=151, 235}}{{sfn|Bayley|2010|pp=21–41}} {{langx|ar|ٱلْوَهَّابِيَّة|translit=al-Wahhābiyya}}. The rejection of the label is based on the self-understanding as "true Islam". Wahhabis were well aware of being distinct from the majority of Muslims since the formative stage as "the Najd Mission". The rejection of the term is thus misleading.<ref>Bunzel, C. M. (2025). Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement. USA: Princeton University Press. p. 5</ref>}} is a [[Salafi movement|Salafi]] [[Islamic revival|revivalist]] movement within [[Sunni Islam]] named after the 18th-century [[Hanbali school|Hanbali]] scholar [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab]].<ref name="books.google.com">{{harvnb|Esposito|2003|loc="Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab"|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=E324pQEEQQcC&pg=PA123 123]}}</ref>{{efn|Sources:
* {{Cite book |last=Knowles |first=Elizabeth |url= https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803120333822 |title=Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2005 |isbn=9780198609810 |edition=2nd |quote="[Wahhabi] A member of a strictly orthodox Sunni Muslim sect founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–92)"}}
* <ref name="auto1">{{harvnb|Commins|2006|p=vi}} "What is the Wahhabi Mission?... A neutral observer could define the Wahhabi mission as the religious reform movement associated with the teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792)"</ref>
* {{Cite book |last1=Kerr |last2=Wright |first1=Anne |first2=Edmund |title=A Dictionary of World History |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2015 |isbn=9780199685691 |edition=3rd |quote=Wahhabism...The doctrine of an Islamic reform movement .... It is based on the Sunni teachings of Ibn Hanbal (780–855)}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ahsan |first=Sayyid |title=Trends in Islam in Saudi Arabia |publisher=Department of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University |date=1987 |pages=141–142 |chapter=IV: Foundations of the Saudi State – II: Reforms of Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab}}
* {{cite book |title=Political Islam in the Age of Democratization |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |date=2013 |isbn=9781137313492 |editor1-last=Bokhari |editor1-first=Kamran |location=New York |pages=81–100 |chapter=Conditionalist Islamists: The Case of the Salafis |doi=10.1057/9781137313492_5 |editor2-last=Senzai |editor2-first=Farid |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ThiuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81}}
}} It was initially established in the central Arabian region of [[Najd]] and later spread to other parts of the [[Arabian Peninsula]],{{efn|
* {{Cite book |last=W. Brown |first=Daniel |title=A New Introduction to Islam: Second Edition |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |date=2009 |isbn=9781405158077 |location=Malden, Massachusetts |page=245}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Ahmad Khan |translator-last=Jones |first=Mu'Īnuddin |translator-first=Harford |title=A Diplomat's Report on Wahhabism of Arabia |date=March 1968 |journal=Islamic Studies |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=33–46 |jstor=20832903}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mattar |first=Philip |title=Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East & North Africa |edition=2nd |publisher=Thomson Gale |date=2004 |isbn=0028659872 |location=Farmington Hills, Michigan |page=1625}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Agoston |last2=Masters |first1=Gabor |first2=Bruce |title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire |publisher=Facts on File |date=2009 |isbn=9780816062591 |location=New York |pages=587–588}}
}} and was the official policy of Saudi Arabia until 2022. Despite being founded on the principles of Sunni Islam, the Hanbalite scholars [[Ibn Taimiyya]] and [[Ibn al-Qayyim]] in particular,<ref>Bunzel, C. M. (2025). Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement. USA: Princeton University Press. p. 5; p. 7</ref> Wahhabism may also refer to doctrinal differences distinct from other forms of Sunni Islam.<ref>Bunzel, C. M. (2025). Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement. USA: Princeton University Press. pp. 5-6</ref><ref>Sedgwick, M. (2006). Islam & Muslims: A Guide to Diverse Experience in a Modern World. Vereinigtes Königreich: John Murray Press., chapter: Summary</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://5pillarsuk.com/2016/09/08/al-azhar-grand-imam-salafis-are-not-sunnis/ | title=Grand Imam of al Azhar: "Salafis are not Sunnis" | date=8 September 2016 }}</ref> Non-Wahhabi Sunnis also have compared Wahhabism to the belief of the [[Kharijites]]<ref>Valentine, S. R. (2015). Force and Fanaticism: Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and Beyond. Vereinigtes Königreich: Hurst. p. 16</ref> and loyalist monarchism<ref>Omayma Abdel-Latif, "Trends in Salafism." Taken from ''Islamist Radicalisation: The Challenge for Euro-Mediterranean Relations'', pg. 74. Eds. Michael Emerson, Kristina Kausch and Richard Youngs. [[Brussels]]: [[Centre for European Policy Studies]], 2009. {{ISBN|9789290798651}}</ref><ref>[[Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought]], [http://themuslim500.com/profile/sheikh-rabi-ibn-haadi-umayr-al-madkhali Sheikh Rabi’ Ibn Haadi ‘Umayr Al Madkhali] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130322021833/http://themuslim500.com/profile/sheikh-rabi-ibn-haadi-umayr-al-madkhali |date=2013-03-22 }}. The Muslim 500: The World's Most Influential Muslims</ref><ref name=pbs>ICG Middle East Report N°31. [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saud/themes/backgrounder.pdf Saudi Arabia Backgrounder: Who Are the Islamists?] [[Amman]]/[[Riyadh]]/[[Brussels]]: [[International Crisis Group]], 21 September 2004.</ref><ref>Roel Meijer, ''Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement'', pg. 49. [[New York City|New York]]: [[Columbia University Press]], 2009.</ref> despite the  two belief systems being contradictory to each other.

The Wahhabi movement staunchly denounced rituals related to the [[Wali|veneration of Muslim saints]] and [[Ziyarat|pilgrimages to their tombs and shrines]], which were widespread amongst the people of Najd. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his followers were highly inspired by the [[Hanbali]] scholar [[Ibn Taymiyya]] (1263–{{CE|1328}}/[[Anno Hegirae|AH]] 661–728) who advocated a return to the purity of the first three generations ({{Transliteration|ar|[[salaf]]}}) to rid Muslims of {{Transliteration|ar|[[bid'a]]}} (innovation) and regarded his works as core scholarly references in theology. While being influenced by Hanbali school, the movement repudiated ''[[taqlid]]'' to legal authorities, including oft-cited scholars such as Ibn Taymiyya and [[Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya|Ibn Qayyim]] ({{died-in|{{CE|1350}}}}/AH 751).<ref name="auto3">{{Cite book |title=The Encyclopedia of Islam |edition=New |volume=XI |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2002 |isbn=9004127569 |editor-first=Peri |editor-last=Bearman |location=Leiden |page=39 |editor2-first=Thierry |editor2-last=Bianquis |editor3-first=C. Edmund |editor3-last=Bosworth |editor4-first=E. J. |editor4-last=van Donzel |editor5-first=Wolfhart P. |editor5-last=Heinrichs}}</ref>

Wahhabism has been characterized by historians as "puritanical",{{efn|
* {{harvnb|Bonacina|2015|pp=12–40}}
* {{harvnb|Coller|2022|pp=151, 235}}
* {{harvnb|Bayley|2010|pp=21–41}}
}} while its adherents describe it as an Islamic "reform movement" to restore "pure [[monotheistic]] worship". Socio-politically, the movement represented the first major [[Arab world|Arab]]-led revolt against the Turkish, Persian and other foreign empires that had dominated the [[Islamic world]] since the [[Mongol invasions of the Levant|Mongol invasions]] and the fall of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] in the 13th century, and later served as a revolutionary impetus for 19th-century [[pan-Arabism|pan-Arab]] trends.{{efn|
* {{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Bernard |title=The Shaping of the Modern Middle East |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=1994 |isbn=0195072812 |location=New York |chapter=5: The Revolt of Islam |page=103}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tibi |first=Bassam |title=Arab nationalism: A Critical Enquiry |publisher=The Macmillan Press |date=1990 |isbn=9781349208043 |edition=2nd |location=London |page=162 |translator-last=Sluglett |translator-last2=Sluglett |translator-first=Marion Farouk |translator-first2=Peter}}
}} In 1744, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab formed a [[Diriyah Pact|pact]] with a local leader, [[Muhammad bin Saud]], establishing a politico-religious alliance with the [[Saudi monarchy]] that lasted for more than 250 years. The Wahhabi movement gradually rose to prominence as an influential [[anti-colonial]] reform trend in the Islamic world that advocated the re-generation of the social and political prowess of [[Muslims]]. Its revolutionary themes inspired several [[Islamic revival]]ists, scholars, [[Pan-Islamism|pan-Islamist]] ideologues and [[Anti-colonialism|anti-colonial]] activists as far as [[West Africa]].{{efn|
* {{Cite book |last=Motadel |first=David |title=Islam and the European Empires |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2014 |isbn=9780199668311 |pages=19–20 |chapter=Introduction}}
* {{Cite book |last=Murzik Kobo |first=Ousman |title=Unveiling Modernity in Twentieth-century West African Islamic Reforms |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2012 |isbn=978-90-04-21525-2 |location=Leiden |pages=221, 277, 283–285}}
}}

For more than two centuries, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's teachings were championed as the official creed in the [[Third Saudi State|three Saudi States]]. As of 2017, changes to Saudi religious policy by [[Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia|Crown Prince]] [[Mohammed bin Salman]] have led to widespread crackdowns on [[Islamism|Islamists]] in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the [[Arab world]]. By 2021, the waning power of the religious clerics brought about by the social, economic, political changes, and the Saudi government's promotion of a nationalist narrative that emphasizes non-Islamic components, led to what has been described as the "[[History of Wahhabism#Post-Wahhabi Era|post-Wahhabi era]]" of Saudi Arabia.{{efn|
* {{Cite web |date=20 June 2021 |title=Saudi Arabia seeks religious reset as clerical power wanes |url= https://www.dawn.com/news/1630509 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210620163808/https://www.dawn.com/news/1630509 |archive-date=20 June 2021 |website=Dawn}}
* {{Cite web |last=Alhussein |first=Eman |date=19 June 2019 |title=Saudi First: How hyper-nationalism is transforming Saudi Arabia |url= https://ecfr.eu/publication/saudi_first_how_hyper_nationalism_is_transforming_saudi_arabia/ |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210906031038/https://ecfr.eu/publication/saudi_first_how_hyper_nationalism_is_transforming_saudi_arabia/ |archive-date=6 September 2021 |website=ECFR}}
* {{Cite web |last1=Farouk |last2=J. Brown |first1=Yasmine |first2=Nathan |date=7 June 2021 |title=Saudi Arabia's Religious Reforms Are Touching Nothing but Changing Everything |url= https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2015/04/arctic-council-initiatives-to-sustain-arctic-cooperation?lang=en |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210619081314/https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/06/07/saudi-arabia-s-religious-reforms-are-touching-nothing-but-changing-everything-pub-84650 |archive-date=19 June 2021 |website=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace}}
}} Saudi Arabia's annual commemoration of its [[Saudi Founding Day|founding day]] on 22 February since 2022, which marked the ascension of [[Muhammad bin Saud Al Muqrin|Muhammad ibn Saud]] in 1727 and de-emphasized his [[Diriyah Pact|pact with Ibn Abd al-Wahhab]] in 1744, has led to the official "uncoupling" of the religious clergy by the Saudi state.{{efn|
* {{Cite web |last=Hassan |first=Hassan |date=22 February 2022 |title=The 'Conscious Uncoupling' of Wahhabism and Saudi Arabia |url= https://newlinesmag.com/argument/the-conscious-uncoupling-of-wahhabism-and-saudi-arabia/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220222102858/https://newlinesmag.com/argument/the-conscious-uncoupling-of-wahhabism-and-saudi-arabia/ |archive-date=22 February 2022 |website=Newlines Magazine}}
* {{Cite news |date=22 February 2022 |title=Saudi Arabia for first time marks its founding, downplaying conservative roots |work=The Economic Times |url= https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/saudi-arabia/saudi-arabia-for-first-time-marks-its-founding-downplaying-conservative-roots/articleshow/89742152.cms |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220222064013/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/saudi-arabia/saudi-arabia-for-first-time-marks-its-founding-downplaying-conservative-roots/articleshow/89742152.cms |archive-date=22 February 2022 |url-status=live |agency=[[Reuters]]}}
* {{Cite news |date=23 February 2022 |title=Riyadh celebrates the state's founding, downplays the role of Wahhabi Islam |work=Asia News |url= https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Riyadh-celebrates-the-state%E2%80%99s-founding,-downplays-the-role-of-Wahhabi-Islam-55214.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220303165437/https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Riyadh-celebrates-the-state%E2%80%99s-founding,-downplays-the-role-of-Wahhabi-Islam-55214.html |archive-date=3 March 2022}}
* {{Cite web |last=Alamer |first=Sultan |date=23 February 2022 |title=The Saudi 'Founding Day' and the Death of Wahhabism |url= https://agsiw.org/the-saudi-founding-day-and-the-death-of-wahhabism/#:~:text=On%20January%2027%2C%20King%20Salman,the%20decree%2C%20in%20February%201727. |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220304085933/https://agsiw.org/the-saudi-founding-day-and-the-death-of-wahhabism/ |archive-date=4 March 2022 |website=AGSIW.org}}
}}

== Name and definition ==

=== Etymology ===
{{Further|Wahhabi (epithet)}}
The designation {{Transliteration|ar|Wahhabi}} for this movement was likely first used by [[Sulayman ibn Abd al-Wahhab]], an ardent critic of his brother's views, who used the term in his purported treatise {{Transliteration|ar|Fasl al-Khitab fi al-Radd ala Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab}}.{{sfn|Gaye|2021|p=212}} The movement's political opponents widely used the term to denounce it.{{sfn|Reem|2007}} The word is primarily an [[exonym]] and was not used by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab or by his partisans, who called themselves {{Transliteration|ar|[[Muwahhidun]]}} ("the Monotheists") derived from {{Transliteration|ar|[[Tawhid]]}}, the central Islamic tenet denoting the oneness of God.{{sfn|Ali|2015|p=49}} Later, many followers adopted the term {{Transliteration|ar|[[Salafi]]}} instead, ascribing themselves to the first three generations known as the {{Transliteration|ar|[[salaf]]}}.{{sfn|Ali|2015|p=49}}{{Sfn|Mouline|2014|p=8}}

Modern-day followers of the movement continue to reject the term {{Transliteration|ar|Wahhabi}} for themselves.{{sfn|Ali|2015|p=49, note 16}} Another prominent term used for the movement is {{Transliteration|ar|Najdi}} that is derived from [[Najd]], the central Arabian region where Ibn Abd al-Wahhab started his movement.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gomez-Perez |first1=Muriel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8w1LEQAAQBAJ&dq=%22najdism%22&pg=PA55 |title=The Politics of the Hajj from a Comparative Perspective: States, Entrepreneurs, and Pilgrims |last2=Jourde |first2=Cédric |last3=Brossier |first3=Marie |date=2025-02-28 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3-031-65349-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bunt |first=Gary R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qIbwHwTYqqcC&dq=%22najdism%22&pg=PA319 |title=iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam |date=2009-04-30 |publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-8771-4 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bishara |first=Azmi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=utGAEAAAQBAJ&dq=wahhabi+also+known+as+najdi&pg=PT18 |title=On Salafism: Concepts and Contexts |date=2022-09-27 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-1-5036-3179-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Malik |first=Jamal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NVnVOGluM3UC&dq=wahhabi+also+known+as+najdi&pg=PA57 |title=Madrasas in South Asia: Teaching Terror? |date=2007-11-27 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-10763-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Zaidi |first=S. Akbar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jTorEAAAQBAJ&dq=salafi+also+known+as+%22najdi%22&pg=PA42 |title=Making a Muslim: Reading Publics and Contesting Identities in Nineteenth-Century North India |date=2021-09-30 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-49053-5 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kuiper |first=Matthew J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eyI3EAAAQBAJ&dq=wahhabi+also+known+as+%22najdi%22&pg=PA145 |title=Da'wa: A Global History of Islamic Missionary Thought and Practice |date=2021-03-31 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-5154-3 |language=en}}</ref>

The term ''"Wahhabi"'' is distinct from [[Ibadi Islam#Wahbi school|''Wahbi'']], which is the dominant creed within [[Ibadism]].<ref name="val">{{cite book |last1=Hoffman |first1=Valerie |title=The Essentials of Ibadi Islam |date=2012 |page=19}}</ref>

=== Definition ===
[[File:Chester Beatty T 414 fol 130r ibn Ḥanbal.jpg|left|thumb|Islamic miniature depicting [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal]]]]
Alongside its basic definition as an 18th&nbsp;century reformist/revivalist movement,{{efn|
"Wahhabism refers to a conservative interpretation of Islam founded as a revival and reform movement in eighteenth-century Arabia."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=N. Stearns |first=Peter |date=2008 |title=Wahhabism |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780195176322 |location=New York |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001 |url= https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001/acref-9780195176322-e-1677?rskey=RtFC0x&result=2|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
}}<ref name="books.google.com" /> the Wahhabi movement has also been characterized as a "movement for sociomoral reconstruction of society",<ref name="books.google.com" /> "a conservative reform movement",<ref name="EIMW-727">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World |date=2004 |publisher=Macmillan Reference |page=727}}</ref> and a sect with a "steadfastly fundamentalist interpretation of Islam in the tradition of [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal|Ibn Hanbal]]".<ref name="GlasseIsl">{{cite book |last=Glasse |first=Cyril |date=2001 |title=The New Encyclopedia of Islam |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |pages=469–472}}</ref>

Supporters of the Wahhabi movement characterize it as being "pure Islam",{{efn|name="Commins-viv"|"While Wahhabism claims to represent Islam in its purest form, other Muslims consider it a misguided creed that fosters intolerance, promotes simplistic theology, and restricts Islam's capacity for adaption to diverse and shifting circumstances.<ref>{{harvnb|Commins|2009|p=viv}}</ref>}} indistinct from [[Salafism]], and in fact "the true [[Salafi movement|Salafist]] movement"<ref name="Moussalli">{{cite report |last=Moussalli |first=Ahmad |date=January 2009 |title=Wahhabism, salafism and Islamism: Who is the enemy? |type=briefing |series=Conflicts Forum Monograph |website=Conflicts Forum (conflictsforum.org) |url= http://conflictsforum.org/briefings/Wahhabism-Salafism-and-Islamism.pdf |access-date=8 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 June 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140623113340/http://conflictsforum.org/briefings/Wahhabism-Salafism-and-Islamism.pdf}}</ref> seeking "a return to the pristine message of the [[Muhammad in Islam|Prophet]]" and attempted to free Islam from "superimposed doctrines" and superstitions".<ref>{{cite book |first=Muhammad |last=Asad |title=The Road to Mecca |date=1988 |isbn=9780930452797 |pages=160–161 |publisher=Theatre Communications}}</ref> Opponents of the movement and what it stands for label it as "a misguided creed that fosters intolerance, promotes simplistic theology, and restricts Islam's capacity for adaption to diverse and shifting circumstances".<ref name="Commins-viv">{{harvnb|Commins|2009|p=viv}}. "While Wahhabism claims to represent Islam in its purest form, other Muslims consider it a misguided creed that fosters intolerance, promotes simplistic theology, and restricts Islam's capacity for adaption to diverse and shifting circumstances."</ref> The term ''"Wahhabism"'' has also become as a blanket term used inaccurately to refer to "any Islamic movement that has an apparent tendency toward misogyny, militantism, extremism, or strict and literal interpretation of the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and ''[[hadith]]''".<ref>{{harvnb|DeLong-Bas|2004|pp=[https://archive.org/details/wahhabiislamfrom0000delo/page/123 123–24]}}</ref>

Abdallah al Obeid, the former dean of the [[Islamic University of Madinah|Islamic University of Medina]] and member of the Saudi Consultative Council, has characterized the movement as "a political trend" within Islam that "has been adopted for power-sharing purposes", but not a distinct religious movement, because "it has no special practices, nor special rites, and no special interpretation of religion that differ from the main body of [[Sunni Islam]]".<ref name="threat-define">{{cite news |last=Ibrahim |first=Youssef Michel |date=11 August 2002 |title=The Mideast threat that's hard to define |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url= http://www.cfr.org/religion/mideast-threat-s-hard-define/p4702 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140904022847/http://www.cfr.org/religion/mideast-threat-s-hard-define/p4702 |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 September 2014 |access-date=21 August 2014}}</ref>

=== Naming controversy ===
Ibn Abd al-Wahhab himself or his followers typically refer to themselves as ''Salafi'', ''Sunni'' or ''[[Muwahhidun]]''.{{sfn|Bonacina|2015|pp=12–40}}{{sfn|Coller|2022|pp=151, 235}}{{sfn|Bayley|2010|pp=21–41}} The term ''Wahhabi'' was probably first used by [[Sulayman ibn Abd al-Wahhab]], a staunch opponent of his brother's views until {{CE|1776}}/AH 1190, who declared the Wahhabi movement as the personal interpretation of its leader.<ref name="dx.doi.org">{{cite book |last1=Peskes |first1=Esther |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_1329 |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam |last2=Ende |first2=W. |date=2012 |isbn=9789004161214 |editor1-last=Bearman |editor1-first=Peri |edition=2nd [online] |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_1329 |contribution=Wahhābiyya |access-date=25 February 2024 |orig-date=1960–2007 |editor2-last=Bianquis |editor2-first=Thierry |editor3-last=Bosworth |editor3-first=C. Edmund |editor4-last=van Donzel |editor4-first=E. J. |editor5-last=Heinrichs |editor5-first=Wolfhart P.}}</ref><ref name="books.google.com" /> Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and his movement's early followers referred to themselves as ''[[The People of Monotheism|"al-muwahhidun"]]'' (monotheists;<ref name="dx.doi.org" /><ref name=":634039">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Wahhabi |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica Online |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/634039/Wahhabi |access-date=12 December 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226130304/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Wahhabi |archive-date=26 December 2018}}</ref> {{langx|ar|الموحدون|lit="one who professes God's oneness" }}<ref name="EBWR-761">{{cite book |last1=Safra |first1=Jacob E. |title=Britannica Encyclopedia of World Religions |last2=Aguilar-Cauz |first2=Jorge |date=2006 |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica Co. |isbn=9781593394912 |page=761}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hay |first=Jeff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1n5mDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA331 |title=The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of World Religions |date=2007 |publisher=Greenhaven Press |isbn=9780737732177 |location=Farmington Hills, Michigan |page=331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rentz |first=George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JENPAAAACAAJ&q=The+Birth+of+the+Islamic+Reform+Movement+in+Saudi+Arabia:+Muhammad+Ibn+Abd+Al-Wahhab+(1703/4-1792)+and+the+Beginnings+of+Unitarian+Empire+in+Arabia |title=The Birth of the Islamic Reform Movement in Saudi Arabia: Muhammad Ibn 'Abd Al-Wahhāb (1703/4–1792) and the Beginnings of Unitarian Empire in Arabia |date=2004 |publisher=King Abdulaziz Public Library |isbn=9789960944364}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kjeilen |first=Tore |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6NnajwEACAAJ&q=Muwahhidun |title=Encyclopaedia of the Orient: Wahhabism/Muwahhidun |date=2001}}</ref> derived from ''Tawhid'' (the oneness of God).<ref name="GlasseIsl" /><ref name="Esposito333">{{harvnb|Esposito|2003|p=333}}</ref> The movement's present-day followers continue to reject the term and instead often refer to themselves as ''[[Salafi movement|Salafi]]'' (also used by followers of other Islamic reform movements).<ref name=":634039" />

The term "Wahhabism" has frequently been used by external parties as a sectarian<ref>Sources:
* {{harvnb|Commins|2006|pp=vi, 137, 192}}
* {{Cite book |last=Daly Metcalf |first=Barbara |jstor=j.ctt7zvmm2 |title=Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860–1900 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |date=1982 |pages=271–272, 279}}
* {{Cite web |last=H. Cordesman |first=Anthony |date=31 December 2002 |title=Saudi Arabia Enters The 21st Century |url= https://www.csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/legacy_files/files/media/csis/pubs/s21_04.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiFp7-1rbzuAhXUV3wKHcKTAu8QFjAFegQICxAB&usg=AOvVaw1Rp_wrGdqoASa8cDzjUiXq |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201223180655/https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/legacy_files/files/media/csis/pubs/s21_04.pdf |archive-date=23 December 2020 |website=Center for Strategic and International Studies |pages=8–9}}
* {{harvnb|Reem|2007}} and [[Islamophobia|Islamophobic]] [[List of religious slurs#Muslims|slur]].Sources:
* {{Cite web |last=Atkin |first=Muriel |date=2000 |title=The Rhetoric of Islamophobia |url= https://www.ca-c.org/online/2000/journal_eng/eng01_2000/16.atkin.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210925070024/https://www.ca-c.org/online/2000/journal_eng/eng01_2000/16.atkin.shtml |archive-date=25 September 2021 |website=CA&C Press |quote=In political, as well as religious matters, any Muslim who challenges the status quo is at risk of being labeled a Wahhabi. This is how the KGB and its post-Soviet successors have used the term.}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Khalid |first=Adeeb |date=2003 |title=A Secular Islam: Nation, State and Religion in Uzbekistan |url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/3879864 |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=573–598 |doi=10.1017/S0020743803000242 |jstor=3879864 |s2cid=162710583 |access-date=18 August 2022 |archive-date=21 January 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230121025820/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3879864 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Knysh |first=Alexander |date=2004 |title=A Clear and Present Danger: "Wahhabism" as a Rhetorical Foil |url= http://www.jstor.org/stable/1571334 |journal=Modern Asian Studies |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=9–13 |jstor=1571334 |quote="The use of the term to label all distasteful opponents has become so routine in post–Soviet discourse that Feliks Kulov, then Minister for National Security in Kyrgyzstan, could speak in 1997 of "foreign Wahhabi emissaries, from Iran in particular"..."People accused of being "Wahhabis" are routinely charged with treason and subversion against the state". |access-date=18 August 2022 |archive-date=21 January 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230121025830/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1571334 |url-status=live}}</ref> The term used in this manner "most frequently used in countries where Salafis are a small minority" with the intent of "conjuring up images of Saudi Arabia" and foreign interference.{{sfn|Wiktorowicz|2006|p=235 footnote}}<ref name="GlasseIsl" /><ref name="Esposito333" /><ref name="EBWR-761" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Hay |first=Jeff |date=2007 |title=The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of World Religions |publisher=Greenhaven Press |isbn=9780737732177 |location=Farmington Hills, Michigan |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1n5mDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA331 |via=Google Books |page=331}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Rentz |first=George |date=2004 |title=The Birth of the Islamic Reform Movement in Saudi Arabia: Muhammad ibn 'Abd Al-Wahhāb (1703/4–1792) and the beginnings of unitarian empire in Arabia |publisher=[[King Abdulaziz Public Library]] |isbn=9789960944364 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=JENPAAAACAAJ&q=The+Birth+of+the+Islamic+Reform+Movement+in+Saudi+Arabia:+Muhammad+Ibn+Abd+Al-Wahhab+(1703/4-1792)+and+the+Beginnings+of+Unitarian+Empire+in+Arabia |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="auto4">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Kjeilen |first=Tore |date=2001 |title=Wahhabism / Muwahhidun |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of the Orient |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6NnajwEACAAJ&q=Muwahhidun |via=Google Books}}</ref>{{excessive citations inline|date=May 2024}} Labelling by the term ''"Wahhabism"'' has historically been expansive beyond the doctrinal followers of [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab]], who tend to reject the label.{{sfn|Bonacina|2015|pp=12-40}}{{sfn|Coller|2022|pp=151, 235}}{{sfn|Bayley|2010|pp=21-41}}{{sfn|Haykel|2013|page=231}}{{efn|
... "stereotypes and images are assumed to be based on the conservative Wahhabi interpretation of Islam despite the fact that no systematic analysis of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's writings about women and gender has ever been undertaken ... the assertion that these attitudes are characteristic of Wahhabism risks inaccuracy because the term Wahhabism is rarely defined. Many of the regimes and movements labeled as Wahhabi in the contemporary era do not necessarily share the same theological and legal orientations ... Wahhabism has become such a blanket term for any Islamic movement that has an apparent tendency toward misogyny, militantism, extremism, or strict and literal interpretation of the Quran and hadith ... do not necessarily reflect the writings or teachings of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab. In fact, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's life and writings reflect a concern for women and women's rights ..."{{harvnb|DeLong-Bas|2004|pp=[https://archive.org/details/wahhabiislamfrom0000delo/page/123 123–24]}}
}}{{excessive citations inline|date=May 2024}}

Since the [[Colonial empire|colonial period]], the [[Wahhabi (epithet)|Wahhabi epithet]] has been commonly invoked by various external observers to erroneously or pejoratively denote a wide range of [[Islah|reform]] movements across the [[Muslim world]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Metcalf |first=B.D. |date=2002 |title=Traditionalist' Islamic Activism: Deoband, Tablighis, and Talibs |journal=International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World |page=6 |hdl=1887/10068 |url= https://hdl.handle.net/1887/10068 |via=Leiden University Scholarly Publications}}</ref> During the [[Early modern period|colonial era]], the [[British Empire]] had commonly employed the term to refer to those [[Ulama|Muslim scholars]] and thinkers seen as obstructive to their imperial interests; punishing them under various pretexts. Many Muslim rebels inspired by [[Sufism|Sufi]] ''[[Wali|Awliyaa]]'' (saints) and [[Tariqa|mystical orders]], were targeted by the [[British Raj]] as part of a wider "Wahhabi" conspiracy which was portrayed as extending from [[Bengal]] to [[Punjab]]. Despite sharing little resemblance with the doctrines of Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab, outside observers of the Muslim world have frequently traced various religious purification campaigns across the Islamic World to Wahhabi influence.<ref>{{cite news |last=Butt |first=Salman |date=6 July 2017 |title=Think tank funded by foreign extremists writes report on foreign extremist funding |website=Islam21C.com |url= https://www.islam21c.com/current-affairs/think-tank-funded-by-foreign-extremists-writes-report-on-foreign-extremist-funding/ |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210305195603/https://www.islam21c.com/current-affairs/think-tank-funded-by-foreign-extremists-writes-report-on-foreign-extremist-funding/ |archive-date=5 March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bates |last2=Carter |first1=Crispin |first2=Marina |date=2013 |title=Holy Warriors: Religion as military modus operandi in the Indian uprising of 1857 |journal=Mutiny at the Margins – New Perspectives on the Indian Uprising of 1857 |volume=4 |issue=3 |page=46 |location=Singapore |publisher=Sage Publications |url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273959847 |via=ResearchGate}}</ref><ref name="Brill Publishers">{{cite book |last1=Hatina |first1=Meir |last2=Commins |first2=David |date=2009 |chapter=10: Wahhabis, Sufis, and Salafis in early twentieth century Damascus |title=Guardians of Faith in Modern Times: ʿUlamaʾ in the Middle East |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=9789004169531 |location=Boston |page=231}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Rohan |date=2009 |chapter=1: Wahhabism as a contested category |title=Western Imaginings: The intellectual contest to define Wahhabism |publisher=The American University in Cairo Press |isbn=9789774168642 |page=31}}</ref> According to [[Qeyamuddin Ahmed]]:<ref>{{cite book |last=Ahmed |first=Qeyamuddin |author-link=Qeyamuddin Ahmad |title=The Wahhabi Movement in India |date=2020 |publisher=Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group |isbn=9780367514839 |location=Abingdon, Oxfordshire |pages={{mvar|ix, x}}}}</ref>
{{blockquote|In the eyes of the British Government, the word ''Wahabi'' was synonymous with  'traitor' and 'rebel' .... The epithet became a term of religio-political abuse.}}

In general, the so-called ''Wahhabis'' do not like – or at least did not like – the term. Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab was averse to the elevation of scholars and other individuals, including using a person's name to label an Islamic school (''[[madhhab]]'').{{sfn|Wiktorowicz|2006|p=235 footnote}}<ref name="CRS08">{{cite report |last=Blanchard |first=Christopher M. |date=24 January 2008 |title=The Islamic traditions of Wahhabism and Salafiyya |series=CRS Report for Congress |publisher=Congressional Research Service |url= https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21695.pdf |access-date=12 August 2015 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150924134431/http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21695.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Bederka |first1=Alan |title=Wahhabism and Boko Haram |website=Student Center for African Research and Resolutions (scarrdc.org) |url= http://www.scarrdc.org/uploads/2/6/5/4/26549924/bederkawahhabism.pdf |access-date=4 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140727011019/http://www.scarrdc.org/uploads/2/6/5/4/26549924/bederkawahhabism.pdf |archive-date=27 July 2014}}</ref> Due to its perceived negative overtones, the members of the movement historically identified themselves as "''Muwahhidun''", Muslims, etc. and more recently as ''"Salafis"''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mandaville |first1=Peter |last2=Hammond |first2=Andrew |date=2022 |title=Wahhabism and the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia's Global Influence on Islam |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780197532577 |location=New York |page=35}}</ref> According to [[Robert Lacey]] "the Wahhabis have always disliked the name customarily given to them" and preferred to be called ''[[The People of Monotheism|Muwahhidun]]'' (Unitarians).{{sfn|Lacey|1981|p=56}} Another preferred term was simply "Muslims", since they considered their creed to be the "pure Islam".<ref name="elfadl-57">{{cite book |last=Abou El Fadl |first=Khaled |date=2005 |title=The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists |publisher=Harper San Francisco |isbn=978-0-06-0563394 |page=[https://archive.org/details/greattheftwrestl00abou/page/57 57] |url= https://archive.org/details/greattheftwrestl00abou |url-access=registration}}</ref> However, critics complain these terms imply that non-Wahhabi Muslims are either not monotheists or [[Kafir|not Muslims]].<ref name="elfadl-57" /><ref name="Algar-1">{{harvnb|Algar|2002|pp=1–2}}</ref> Additionally, the terms ''Muwahhidun'' and Unitarians are associated with other sects, both extant and extinct.<ref>{{cite book |last=Glasse |first=Cyril |date=2001 |title=The New Encyclopedia of Islam |publisher=AltaMira Press |page=469}}</ref>

Other terms Wahhabis have been said to use and/or prefer include ''[[People of hadith|Ahl al-Hadith]]'' ("People of the Hadith"), ''Salafi dawah'' ("Salafi preaching"), or ''al-da'wa ila al-tawhid'' ("preaching of monotheism" for the school rather than the adherents),<ref name="Gold-21">{{cite book |last=Gold |first=Dore |date=2003 |title=Hatred's Kingdom |publisher=Regnery Publishing |location=Washington, DC |page=21}}</ref>{{Sfn|Mouline|2014|p=8}} ''al-Tariqa al-Salafiyya'' ("the way of the pious ancestors"),{{Sfn|Mouline|2014|p=8}} "the reform or Salafi movement of the Sheikh" (the sheikh being Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab), etc.{{refn|
According to author Abdul Aziz Qassim.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mahdi |first1=Wael |date=18 March 2010 |title=There is no such thing as Wahabism, Saudi prince says |agency=Abu Dhabi Media |newspaper=[[The National (Abu Dhabi)|The National]] |place=Abu Dhabi, UAE |url= http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/there-is-no-such-thing-as-wahabism-saudi-prince-says |access-date=12 June 2014 |archive-date=27 April 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140427025500/http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/there-is-no-such-thing-as-wahabism-saudi-prince-says |url-status=live}}</ref>}} Their self-designation ''"People of the Sunnah"'' was important for Wahhabism's authenticity, because during the Ottoman period only [[Sunnism]] was the legitimate doctrine.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Bernard |last1=Haykel |first2=Thomas |last2=Hegghammer |first3=Stéphane |last3=Lacroix |date=2015 |title=Saudi Arabia in Transition |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=9781107006294 |page=153}}</ref>

Other writers such as Quinton Wiktorowicz, urge use of the term ''"Salafi"'', maintaining that "one would be hard pressed to find individuals who refer to themselves as ''Wahhabis'' or organizations that use ''Wahhabi'' in their title, or refer to their ideology in this manner (unless they are speaking to a Western audience that is unfamiliar with Islamic terminology; even then, its use is limited and often appears as ''Salafi/Wahhabi'')".{{sfn|Wiktorowicz|2006|p=235 footnote}} A ''[[New York Times]]'' journalist writes that Saudis "abhor" the term ''Wahhabism'', "feeling it sets them apart and contradicts the notion that Islam is a monolithic faith".<ref name="rigid" />

Saudi King [[Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud]] for example has attacked the term as "a doctrine that doesn't exist here" [in Saudi Arabia] and challenged users of the term to locate any "deviance of the form of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia from the teachings of the [[Quran]] and Prophetic [[Hadith]]s".<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/there-is-no-such-thing-as-wahabism-saudi-prince-says |title=There is no such thing as Wahabism, Saudi prince says |date=18 March 2010 |access-date=13 November 2014 |archive-date=27 April 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140427025500/http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/there-is-no-such-thing-as-wahabism-saudi-prince-says |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Saudi Prince Salman: The term ''Wahhabi'' was coined by Saudi Arabia's enemies |website=Islam Daily (islamdaily.org) |url= http://www.islamdaily.org/en/wahabism/8411.saudi-prince-salman-the-term-wahhabi-was-coined-by.htm |access-date=13 November 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160804012750/http://www.islamdaily.org/en/wahabism/8411.saudi-prince-salman-the-term-wahhabi-was-coined-by.htm |archive-date=4 August 2016}}</ref> Professor [[Ingrid Mattson]] stated that "''Wahhbism'' is not a sect: It is a social movement that began 200&nbsp;years ago to rid Islam of rigid cultural practices that had [been] acquired over the centuries."<ref>{{cite news |last=Mattson |first=Ingrid |date=18 October 2001 |title=Ingrid Mattson: What is Islam? |work=[[CNN]].com |type=interview |access-date=23 October 2015 |url= http://www.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/10/18/mattson.cnna/ |archive-date=3 January 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160103030535/http://www.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/10/18/mattson.cnna/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In an interview given to ''[[The Atlantic]]'' magazine in 2018, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince [[Mohammed bin Salman]] asserted that the Western usage of the term itself has been a [[misnomer]]. Stating that the terminology itself is indefinable, Mohammed bin Salman said: "When people speak of Wahhabism, they don't know exactly what they are talking about."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Goldberg |first=Jeffrey |date=2 April 2018 |title=Saudi Crown Prince: Iran's Supreme Leader 'Makes Hitler Look Good' |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/04/mohammed-bin-salman-iran-israel/557036/ |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190118022826/https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/557036/ |archive-date=18 January 2019 |access-date=26 January 2021 |work=The Atlantic}}</ref>

On the other hand, according to authors at Global Security and [[Library of Congress]] the term is now commonplace and used even by Wahhabi scholars in the Najd,<ref name="LofC" /> a region often called the "heartland" of Wahhabism.<ref>{{cite book |last=Riedel |first=Bruce O. |date=2011 |chapter=Saudi Arabia, elephant in the living room |title=The Arab Awakening: America and the transformation of the Middle East |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |isbn=9780815722274 |page=160 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2Bmejr8WaRkC&pg=PA160}}</ref> Journalist Karen House calls ''Salafi'' "a more politically correct term" for ''Wahhabi''.<ref>{{cite book |last=House |first=Karen Elliott |date=2012 |title=On Saudi Arabia: Its people, past, religion, fault lines, and future |publisher=Knopf |page=150 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=dIu0LSe8aVwC&pg=PA150 |isbn=9780307473288}}</ref> In any case, according to Lacey, none of the other terms have caught on, and so like the Christian [[Quakers]], Wahhabis have "remained known by the name first assigned to them by their detractors".{{sfn|Lacey|1981|p=56}} However, the confusion is further aggravated due to the common practice of various authoritarian governments broadly using the label ''"Wahhabi extremists"'' for all opposition, legitimate and illegitimate, to justify massive repressions on any dissident.{{sfn|Esposito|2011|p=55}}

Another movement, whose adherents are also called ''"Wahhabi"'' but whom were [[Ibadi Islam|Ibaadi]] [[Kharijites]], has caused some confusion in North and sub-Saharan Africa, where the movement's leader – [[Abd al-Wahhab ibn Abd al-Rahman]] – lived and preached in the eighth century [[Common Era|CE]]. This movement is often mistakenly conflated with the ''Muwahhidun'' movement of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab.<ref>{{harvnb|M. Zarabozo|2005|p=217}}.</ref>


=== Wahhabism and Salafism ===
There is considerable confusion between Wahhabism and [[Salafism]], but many scholars and critics draw clear distinctions between the two terms. According to analyst Christopher M. Blanchard, Wahhabism refers to "a conservative Islamic creed centered in and emanating from Saudi Arabia", while Salafism is "a more general puritanical Islamic movement that has developed independently at various times and in various places in the Islamic world".<ref name="CRS08" /> However, many view Wahhabism as the Salafism native to Arabia.<ref>{{cite news |last=Murphy |first=Caryle |date=5 September 2006 |title=For conservative Muslims, goal of isolation a challenge |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090401107_pf.html |access-date=17 September 2017 |archive-date=10 February 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210210234500/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090401107_pf.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Ahmad Moussalli tends to agree Wahhabism is a subset of Salafism, saying "As a rule, all ''Wahhabis'' are ''salafists'', but not all ''salafists'' are ''Wahhabis''."<ref name="Moussalli" /> Quintan Wiktorowicz asserts modern Salafists consider the 18th-century scholar Muhammed bin 'Abd al-Wahhab and many of his students to have been Salafis.{{sfn|Wiktorowicz|2006|p=216}}

According to Joas Wagemakers, associate professor of Islamic and Arabic Studies at [[Utrecht University]], ''Salafism'' consists of broad movements of [[Muslims]] across the world who aspire to live according to the precedents of the ''[[Salaf|Salaf al-Salih]]''; whereas ''"Wahhabism"'' – a term rejected by its adherents – refers to the specific brand of reformation (''[[islah]]'') campaign that was initiated by the 18th&nbsp;century scholar [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab]] and evolved through his subsequent disciples in the central Arabian region of Najd.{{Efn|
* {{Cite book |last=W. Brown |first=Daniel |title=A New Introduction to Islam: Second Edition |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |date=2009 |isbn=9781405158077 |location=Malden, Massachusetts |page=245}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Ahmad Khan |translator-last=Jones |first=Mu'Īnuddīn |translator-first=Harford |title=A Diplomat's Report on Wahhabism of Arabia |date=March 1968 |journal=Islamic Studies |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=33–46 |jstor=20832903}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mattar |first=Philip |title=Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East & North Africa |edition=2nd |publisher=Thomson Gale |date=2004 |isbn=0028659872 |location=Farmington Hills, Michigan |page=1625}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Agoston |last2=Masters |first1=Gabor |first2=Bruce |title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire |publisher=Facts on File |date=2009 |isbn=9780816062591 |location=New York |pages=587–588}}}} Despite their relations with Wahhabi Muslims of Najd; other Salafis have often differed theologically with the Wahhabis and hence do not identify with them. These included significant contentions with Wahhabis over their unduly harsh enforcement of their beliefs, their lack of tolerance towards other Muslims and their deficient commitment to their stated opposition to ''[[taqlid]]'' and advocacy of ''[[ijtihad]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wagemakers |first=Joas |date=2010 |title=A Quietist Jihadi: The ideology and influence of Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi |location=New York |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=9781107022072 |pages=6–7}}</ref>

In doctrines of ''[[Aqidah|<nowiki/>'Aqida]]'' (creed), Wahhabis and Salafis resemble each other; particularly in their focus on ''[[Tawhid]]''. However, the ''Muwahidun'' movement historically were concerned primarily about ''Tawhid al-Rububiyya'' (Oneness of Lordship) and ''Tawhid al-Uloohiyya'' (Oneness of Worship) while the ''Salafiyya'' movement placed an additional emphasis on ''Tawhid al-Asma wa Sifat'' (Oneness of Divine Names and Attributes); with a literal understanding of God's Names and Attributes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mandaville |first=Peter |date=2022 |chapter=2: Wahhabism and Salafism in global perspective |title=Wahhabism and the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia's Global Influence on Islam |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780197532577 |page=43}}</ref>

== History ==
{{Main|History of Wahhabism}}
[[File:A collection of voyages and travels- consisting of authentic writers in our own tongue, which have not before been collected in English, or have only been abridged in other collections. And continued (14586390739).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.5| An 18th century map of the [[Arabian Peninsula]] circa. 1740s]]
The Wahhabi movement started as a [[Islamic revival|revivalist]] and [[Islah|reform]] movement in the [[Arabian Peninsula]] during the early 18th century, whose adherents described themselves as "''[[Muwahhidun]]''" (Unitarians).{{efn|<ref name="auto4" /><ref name="Encyclopedia-Wahhabis" />{{sfn|Haykel|2013}}<ref name="thinnly">{{harvnb|Commins|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/wahhabimissionsa0000comm/page/7 7]}}.</ref>}} A young Hanbali cleric named [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab]] (1703–{{CE|1792}}/AH 1115–1206), the leader of the ''[[Muwahhidun]]'' and eponym of the Wahhabi movement,{{Efn|Sources:
* {{Cite book |last=Knowles |first=Elizabeth |url= https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803120333822 |title=Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2005 |isbn=9780198609810 |edition=2nd |quote=Wahhabi... a strictly orthodox Sunni Muslim sect founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–92). It advocates a return to the early Islam of the Koran and Sunna}}
* <ref name="auto1" />
* {{Cite book |last1=Kerr |last2=Wright |first1=Anne |first2=Edmund |title=A Dictionary of World History |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2015 |isbn=9780199685691 |edition=3rd |quote=Wahhabism...The doctrine of an Islamic reform movement founded by Muhammad ibn 'Abd al‐Wahhab (1703–92)... It is based on the Sunni teachings of Ibn Hanbal (780–855)}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ahsan |first=Sayyid |title=Trends in Islam in Saudi Arabia |publisher=Aligarh Muslim University |date=1987 |location=Department of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh |pages=141–142 |chapter=IV: Foundations of the Saudi State – ll : Reforms of Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab}}
* {{cite book |author-last=Wagemakers |author-first=Joas |title=Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2021 |isbn=9789004435544 |editor1-last=Cusack |editor1-first=Carole M. |editor1-link=Carole M. Cusack |series=Handbooks on Contemporary Religion |volume=21 |location=Leiden and Boston |page=341 |chapter=Part 3: Fundamentalisms and Extremists – The Citadel of Salafism |doi=10.1163/9789004435544_019 |issn=1874-6691 |editor2-last=Upal |editor2-first=M. Afzal |editor2-link=Afzal Upal |doi-access=free}}
* {{cite book |title=Political Islam in the Age of Democratization |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |date=2013 |isbn=9781137313492 |editor1-last=Bokhari |editor1-first=Kamran |location=New York |pages=81–100 |chapter=Conditionalist Islamists: The Case of the Salafis |doi=10.1057/9781137313492_5 |editor2-last=Senzai |editor2-first=Farid |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ThiuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81}}}} called upon his disciples to denounce certain beliefs and practices associated with [[Tariqa|Sufi orders]] as idolatrous impurities and innovations in Islam (''[[bid'ah]]'').{{sfn|Haykel|2013}}<ref name="Esposito333" /> His movement emphasized adherence to the [[Quran]] and ''[[hadith]]'', and advocated the use of ''[[ijtihad]]''.<ref name="Encyclopedia-Wahhabis">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Global Religion |publisher=Sage Publications |date=2011 |isbn=9781452266565 |editor1-first=Mark |editor1-last=Juergensmeyer |editor2-first=Wade Clark |editor2-last=Roof |page=1369 |chapter=Wahhabis |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WwJzAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1369}}</ref> Eventually, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab [[Diriyah Pact|formed a pact]] with a local leader, [[Muhammad bin Saud]],<ref name="lacey-glory">{{harvnb|Lacey|2009|pp=[https://archive.org/details/insidekingdomkin00lace_0/page/10 10–11]}}. "the two ... concluded a pact. Ibn Saud would protect and propagate the stern doctrines of the Wahhabi mission, which made the Koran the basis of government. In return, Abdul Wahhab would support the ruler, supplying him with 'glory and power'. Whoever championed his message, he promised, 'will, by means of it, rule and lands and men'."</ref> offering political obedience and promising that protection and propagation of the Wahhabi movement meant "power and glory" and rule of "lands and men".<ref name="lacey-glory" />

18th and 19th century European [[historian]]s, scholars, travellers and [[diplomat]]s compared the Wahhabi movement with various Euro-American socio-political movements in the [[Age of Revolution]]s. [[Calvinism|Calvinist]] scholar [[Johann Ludwig Burckhardt|John Ludwig Burckhardt]], author of the well-received works "''Travels in Arabia''" (1829) and "''Notes on the Bedouins and Wahábys''" (1830), described the ''Muwahhidun'' as Arabian locals who resisted Turkish hegemony and its "[[Napoleonic tactics|Napoleonic]]" tactics. Historian Loius Alexander Corancez in his book "''Histoire des Wahabis''" described the movement as an [[Asia]]tic revolution that sought a powerful revival of [[Arab Civilization|Arab civilisation]] by establishing a new order in Arabia and cleansing all the irrational elements and superstitions which had been normalised through [[Sufism|Sufi]] excesses from Turkish and foreign influences. [[Scottish people|Scottish]] historian [[Mark Napier (historian)|Mark Napier]] attributed the successes of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's revolution to assistance from "frequent interpositions of Heaven".{{sfn|Bonacina|2015|pp=5–10, 72–73, 97}}

After the [[Unification of Saudi Arabia]], Wahhabis were able to spread their political power and consolidate their rule over the Islamic holy cities of [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]]. After the discovery of petroleum near the [[Persian Gulf]] in 1939, Saudi Arabia had access to oil export revenues, revenue that grew to billions of dollars. This money{{snd}}spent on books, media, schools, universities, mosques, scholarships, fellowships, lucrative jobs for journalists, academics and [[Ulama|Islamic scholars]]{{snd}}gave Wahhabi ideals a "preeminent position of strength" in Islam around the world.<ref name="Kepel-petro">{{harvnb|Kepel|2006|pp=61–62}}.</ref>

== Relations with other Islamic reform movements ==
===Islamic revivalism===
{{main|Islamic revivalism}}
[[File:مقاتل_من_الدولة_السعودية_الأولى.jpg|right|thumb|Portrait of a "Saudi" musketeer of [[Emirate of Diriyah]].]]

The Wahhabi movement was part of the [[Islamic revival]]ist trends of the 18th and 19th centuries; such as the [[Mahdist War|Mahdist]] movement in 19th century [[Sudan]], [[Senusiyya|Senussi]] movement in [[Libya]], [[Fulani War|Fulani]] movement of [[Uthman Dan Fodio]] in [[Nigeria]], [[Faraizi]] movement of [[Haji Shariatullah]] (1784–1840) in [[Bengal]], the South Asian ''[[Ahl-i Hadith#Indian Jihad Movement|Mujahidin]]'' movement of [[Syed Ahmad Barelvi|Sayyid Ahmed Barelvi]] (1786–1831) and the [[Padri War|Padri]] movement (1803–1837) in [[Indonesia]], all of which are considered precursors to the Arab ''[[Salafiyya]]'' movement of late nineteenth century. These movements sought an [[Islah|Islamic Reform]], [[Tajdid|renewal]] and socio-moral re-generation of the society through a direct return to the fundamental Islamic sources (''[[Qur'an]]'' and ''[[Hadith]]'') and responded to the military, economic, social, moral, cultural stagnation of the [[Islamic World]]. The cause of decline was identified as the departure of Muslims from the Islamic values of the early Muslims during the era of the ''[[Salaf]]'', brought about by the infiltration and assimilation of local and un-Islamic beliefs and practices. The prescribed cure for Muslim societies was therefore a return to "true Islam".<ref>{{Cite book |last=L. Esposito |first=John |title=The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=1992 |isbn=0195102983 |page=64}}</ref>

=== Kadizadeli ===
{{main|Kadizadeli}}'''Kadizadeli''' (also ''Qādīzādali'') was  a seventeenth-century puritanical fundamentalist religious movement in the [[Ottoman Empire]] that followed [[Kadızade Mehmed]] (1582–1635), a revivalist Islamic preacher. Kadızade and  his followers were determined rivals of [[Sufism]] and [[Folk religion#Folk Islam|popular religion]]. They condemned many of the Ottoman practices that Kadızade felt were [[bidʻah]] "non-Islamic innovations", and passionately supported "reviving  the beliefs and  practices  of  the  first  Muslim  generation  in  the  first/seventh  century" ("[[enjoining good and forbidding wrong]]").<ref name="Evstatiev-2016-213">{{cite book |last1=Evstatiev |first1=Simeon |url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004307834/B9789004307834_010.xml |title=Accusations of Unbelief in Islam |date=2016 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9004307834 |pages=213–14 |chapter=8: The Qāḍīzādeli Movement and the Revival of takfīr in the Ottoman Age |doi=10.1163/9789004307834_010 |access-date=29 August 2021}}</ref>

Driven by zealous and fiery rhetoric, Kadızade Mehmed was able to inspire many followers to join in his cause and rid themselves of any and all corruption found inside the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Leaders of the movement held official positions as preachers in the major mosques of Baghdad, and "combined popular followings with support from within the Ottoman state apparatus".<ref name="Cook-91">{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Michael |title=Forbidding Wrong in Islam: An Introduction |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=91}}</ref> Between 1630 and 1680 there were many violent quarrels that occurred between the Kadızadelis and those that they disapproved of.  As the movement progressed, activists became "increasingly violent" and Kadızadelis were known to enter "mosques, [[Khanqah|tekkes]] and [[Ottoman coffeehouse]]s in order to mete out punishments to those contravening their version of orthodoxy."

=== Ahl-i-Hadith ===
{{Main|Ahl-i Hadith}}
The Wahhabi movement was part of the overall current of various Islamic revivalist trends in the 18th century. It would be influenced by and in turn, influence many other Islamic reform-revivalist movements across the globe. The [[Ahl-i Hadith]] movement of [[Indian subcontinent]] was a Sunni revivalist movement inspired by the thoughts of [[Shah Waliullah Dehlawi]], [[al-Shawkani]], and [[Syed Ahmad Barelvi]]. They condemned ''[[taqlid]]'' and advocated ''[[ijtihad]]'' based on scriptures.{{sfn|Esposito|2003|loc="Ahl-i Hadith"|p={{page needed|date=June 2021}}}} Founded in the mid-19th century in [[Bhopal]], it places great emphasis on hadith studies and condemns imitation to the canonical law schools. They identify with the early school of [[Ahl al-Hadith]]. During the late 19th century, Wahhabi scholars would establish contacts with Ahl-i-Hadith and many Wahhabi students would study under the Ahl-i-Hadith ''[[ulama]]'', and later become prominent scholars in the [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] Wahhabi establishment.{{sfn|Lacroix|2013|pp=60–62}}{{sfn|Commins|2006|p=145}}

The Wahhabi and Ahl-i-Hadith movements both oppose [[Sufi]] practices such as visiting shrines and seeking aid at the tombs of [[Islamic saints]]. Both the movements revived the teachings of the medieval Sunni theologian and jurist, Ibn Taymiyya,{{Efn|
* {{Cite book |last=De Bellaigue |first=Christopher |title=The Islamic Enlightenment: The Struggle Between Faith and Reason – 1798 to Modern Times |publisher=Liveright |date=2017 |isbn=9780871403735 |location=New York |pages=15–16 |chapter=1: Cairo}}
* {{Cite book |last=W. Hughes |first=Aaron |title=Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |date=2013 |isbn=9780231161473 |location=New York |page=235 |chapter=10: Encounters with Modernity}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hoover |first=Jon |title=Makers of the Muslim World: Ibn Taymiyya |publisher=One World Publications |date=2019 |isbn=9781786076892 |location=London |pages=3, 11, 43, 68–69, 144}}}} whom they both consider a [[Shaykh al-Islam]]. Suffering from the instabilities of 19th-century Arabia, many Wahhabi ''ulama'' would make their way to India and study under Ahl-i-Hadith patronage.{{sfn|Lacroix|2013|pp=60–62}}{{sfn|Commins|2006|pp=144–145}} After the establishment of [[Saudi Arabia]] and the subsequent [[oil boom]], the Saudi Sheikhs would repay their debts by financing the Ahl-i-Hadith movement. The [[Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia]] [[Ibn Baz]] strongly supported the movement, and prominent Ahl-i-Hadith scholars were appointed to teach in Saudi Universities.{{sfn|Commins|2006|p=147}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meijer |first=Roel |title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2013 |isbn=9780199333431 |pages=73–74, 130–135}}</ref>

=== ''Salafiyya'' movement ===
{{Main|Salafi movement|label 1=Salafiyya movement}}
[[File:MuhammadRashidRida.jpg|thumb|Salafi scholar [[Muhammad Rashid Rida]] ({{langx|ar|محمد رشيد رضا}}; AH 1282–1354) made vital contributions in the rehabilitation of Wahhabism across the [[Arab World]] during the early 20th-century]]
During the early 19th century, Egyptian Muslim scholar [[al-Jabarti]] had defended the Wahhabi movement. From the 19th century, prominent Arab ''Salafiyya'' reformers would maintain correspondence with Wahhabis and defend them against Sufi attacks. These included [[Mahmud al-Alusi|Shihab al Din al Alusi]], Abd al Hamid al Zahrawi, Abd al Qadir al Jabarti, Abd al Hakim al Afghani, Nu'man Khayr al-Din Al-Alusi, Mahmud Shukri Al Alusi<!--Q12241253--> and his disciple [[Muhammad Bahjat Athari|Muhammad Bahjat al-Athari]], [[Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi]], {{ill|Tahir al-Jaza'iri|fr|Tāhir al-Jazā'irī|vertical-align=sup}}, [[Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib]], Muhammad Hamid al Fiqi and most notably, [[Rashid Rida|Muhammad Rasheed Rida]] who was considered as the "leader of Salafis". All these scholars would correspond with Arabian and Indian ''Ahl-i-Hadith'' scholars and champion the reformist thought. They shared a common interest in opposing various Sufi practices, denouncing blind following and reviving correct theology and [[Hadith studies|Hadith sciences]]. They also opened [[Al-Zahiriyah Library|Zahiriyya library]], Salafiyya library, ''Al Manar'' Library, etc., propagating Salafi thought as well as promoting scholars like Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Hazm. Rashid Rida would succeed in his efforts to rehabilitate Wahhabis in the Islamic World and would attain the friendship of many Najdi scholars. With the support of the [[Saudi Arabia|Third Saudi State]] by the 1920s, a concept of ''"Salafiyya"'' emerged on a global scale claiming heritage to the thought of 18th-century Islamic reform movements and the pious predecessors (''[[Salaf]]''). Many of Rida's disciples would be assigned to various posts in Saudi Arabia and some of them would remain in Saudi Arabia. Others would spread the ''Salafi da'wa'' to their respective countries. Prominent amongst these disciples were the Syrian Muhammad Bahjat al-Bitar (1894–1976), Egyptian Muhammad Hamid al-Fiqi (1892–1959) and the Moroccan [[Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali|Taqi al-Din al-Hilali]] (1894–1987).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dean Commins |first=David |title=Islamic Reform: Politics and Social Change in Late Ottoman Syria |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=1990 |isbn=0195061039}}</ref>{{sfn|Commins|2006|p={{page needed|date=April 2021}}}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lauzière |first=Henri |title=The Making of Salafism: Islamic Reform in the Twentieth Century |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |date=2016 |isbn=9780231175500 |location=New York |pages=70–80}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Meijer |first=Roel |title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2013 |isbn=9780199333431}}</ref>

The [[Syrian]]-[[Albanians|Albanian]] Islamic scholar [[Al-Albani]] ({{Circa|1914–1999}}), an avid reader of ''[[Al-Manār (magazine)|Al-Manar]]'' and also student of Muhammad Bahjat al-Bitar (disciple of Rida and Al-Qasimi), was an adherent to the ''Salafiyya'' methodology. Encouraged by their call for hadith re-evaluation and revival, he would invest himself in [[Hadith studies]], becoming a renowned ''Muhaddith''. He followed in the footsteps of the ancient ''[[Ahl al-Hadith]]'' school and took the call of [[Ahl-i Hadith|Ahl-i-Hadith]]. In the 1960s, he would teach in Saudi Arabia making a profound influence therein. By the 1970s, Albani's thoughts would gain popularity and the notion of "''Salafi Manhaj''" was consolidated.{{sfn|Lacroix|2013|pp=63–70}}

=== Contemporary relations ===
{{See also|Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani}}
Original ''Salafiyya'' and its intellectual heritage were not hostile to competing Islamic legal traditions. However, critics argue that as Salafis aligned with Saudi promoted neo-Wahhabism, religious concessions for Saudi political patronage distorted the early thrust of the renaissance movement. The early ''Salafiyya'' leaders like [[Al-Shawkani|Muhammad ibn 'Ali al-Shawkani]] ({{died-in|{{CE|1835}}/AH 1250}}), Ibn al-Amir Al-San'ani ({{died-in|{{CE|1810}}/AH 1225}}), [[Rashid Rida|Muhammad Rashid Rida]] ({{died-in|{{CE|1935}}/AH 1354}}), etc. advocated ''[[Ijtihad]]'' (independent legal research) of Scriptures to solve the new contemporary demands and problems faced by Muslims living in a modern age through a pragmatic, [[Faqīh|juristic]] path faithful to the rich Islamic tradition. However, as other Salafi movements got increasingly sidelined by the Saudi-backed neo-Wahhabi [[Salafi movement#Purists|Purists]]; the legal writings that were made easily accessible to the general public became often rigidly literalist and intolerant of the wider Sunni legal tradition, limited to a selective understanding of the Hanbalite works of Ibn Taymiyya and [[Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya|Ibn Qayyim]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=O'Sullivan |first=Justine |date=2013 |title=The Myths of Muslim Women Liberation: Why Islamists Resist the Western Concept of Universal Women's Rights |journal=Arabic |location=Leiden |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |volume=56 |page=34 |doi=10.1163/157005809X398636 |via=tandfonline |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Abou El Fadl |first=Khalid |title=The Great Theft |publisher=HarperCollins |date=2005 |isbn=9780060563394 |location=New York |pages=75, 93, 152}}</ref>

The [[Syrians|Syrian]]-[[Albanians|Albanian]] Salafi ''[[Muhaddith]]'' [[Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani|Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani]] ({{died-in|1999}}) publicly challenged the foundational methodologies of the neo-Wahhabite establishment. According to Albani, although Wahhabis doctrinally professed exclusive adherence to the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'', the ''[[Hadith]]'', and the ''[[Ijma]]'' of [[Salaf|Salaf al-salih]]; in practice they almost solely relied on Hanbali jurisprudence for their ''fatwas''—acting therefore as undeclared partisans of a particular ''[[Madhhab|madhab]]''. As the most prominent scholar who championed anti-madhab doctrines in the 20th century, Albani held that adherence to a madhab was a ''[[bid'ah]]'' (religious innovation). Albani went as far as to castigate Ibn Abd al-Wahhab as a "Salafi in creed, but not in ''[[Fiqh]]''". He strongly attacked Ibn Abd al-Wahhab on several points; claiming that the latter was not a [[mujtahid]] in [[fiqh]] and accused him of imitating the Hanbali school. Albani's outspoken criticism embarrassed the Saudi clergy, who finally expelled him from the Kingdom in 1963 when he issued a ''[[fatwa]]'' permitting women to uncover their face, which ran counter to Hanbali jurisprudence and Saudi standards.<ref name="Meijer 2014 43">{{Cite book |last=Meijer |first=Roel |title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2014 |isbn=9780199333431 |page=43 |chapter=Between Revolution and Apoliticism: Nasir al-Din al-Albani and his Impact on the Shaping of Contemporary Salafism}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lacroix |first=Stéphane |title=Awakening Islam: The Politics of Religious Dissent in Contemporary Saudi Arabia |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |date=2011 |isbn=9780674049642 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=84–85, 220 |chapter=3: Resistance to Sahwa Ascendancy}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ismail |first=Raihan |title=Rethinking Salafism: The Transnational Networks of Salafi 'Ulama in Egypt, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia |date=2021 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780190948955 |chapter=1: Salafism |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vOFDEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA20}}</ref><ref>"From there he [Albani] learned to oppose taqlid in a madhab." Bennett, ''The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies'', p. 174. "Al-Albani had denounced Wahhabi attachment to the Hanbali school." Stephane Lacroix, George Holoch, ''Awakening Islam'', p. 85</ref><ref name="Lacroix 2008 6–7">{{Cite journal |last=Lacroix |first=Stéphane |date=2008 |title=Al-Albani's Revolutionary Approach to Hadith |url= https://hdl.handle.net/1887/17210 |journal=ISIM Review |location=Leiden |volume=21 |pages=6–7 |via=Lieden University |hdl=1887/17210}}</ref>

In addition, Albani would also criticise Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab for his weakness in [[Hadith studies|''hadith'' sciences]]. He distinguished between [[Salafism]] and Wahhabism, criticizing the latter while supporting the former. He had a complex relationship to each movement. Although he praised Ibn Abd al-Wahhab in general terms for his reformist efforts and contributions to the Muslim ''Ummah'', Albani nonetheless censured his later followers for their harshness in ''[[Takfir]]''.<ref name="Meijer2009">{{cite book |last=Meijer |first=Roel |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rvBOAQAAIAAJ |title=Global Salafism: Islam's new religious movement |date=1 October 2009 |publisher=[[C. Hurst & Co.]], [[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=9781850659792 |location=New York |pages=63–68}}</ref>{{rp|68}}{{rp|220}}

In spite of this, Albani's efforts at ''[[Hadith studies|hadith]]'' revivalism and his claims of being more faithful to the spirit of Wahhabism than Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab himself; made the former's ideas highly popular amongst Salafi religious students across the World, including Saudi Arabia.<ref name="Meijer 2014 43" /><ref name="Lacroix 2008 6–7" />

== Theology ==
{{See also|Traditionalist theology (Islam)}}

In [[Schools of Islamic theology|theology]], Wahhabism is closely aligned with the [[Athari]] (traditionalist) school which represents the prevalent theological position of the Hanbali [[Madhhab|legal school]].<ref>{{harvnb|Halverson|2010|p=49}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Halverson|2010|p=34}}.</ref> Athari theology is characterized by reliance on the [[Zahir (Islam)|zahir]] (apparent or literal) meaning of the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and ''[[hadith]]'', and opposition to rational argumentation in matters of ''[[Aqidah|<nowiki/>'Aqidah]]'' (creed) favored by [[Ash'ari]]te and [[Maturidi]]te theologies.<ref>{{harvnb|Halverson|2010|p=36}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |first=Aaron |last=Spevack |date=2014 |title=The Archetypal Sunni Scholar: Law, Theology, and Mysticism in the Synthesis of Al-Bajuri |publisher=State University of New York Press |page=44}}</ref> However, Wahhabis diverged in some points of theology from other Athari movements.<ref name="TCSI2010: 482">{{harvnb|Halverson|2010|pp=48–49}}.</ref> [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Muhammad Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab]] did not view the issue of God's Attributes and Names as a part of ''[[Tawhid|Tawhīd]]'' (monotheism), rather he viewed it in the broader context of ''[[Aqidah|aqāʾid]]'' (theology). While his treatises strongly emphasised ''Tawhid al-ulūhiyya'' (monotheism in Worship), Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab did not give prominence to the theology of God's Names and Attributes that was central to Ibn Taymiyya and the Salafi movement.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Beránek |last2=Ťupek |first1=Ondřej |first2=Pavel |title=The Temptation of Graves in Salafi Islam: Iconoclasm, Destruction and Idolatry |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |date=2018 |isbn=9781474417570 |pages=81–82, 119 |chapter=2: Early Wahhabism and the Beginnings of Modern Salafism}}</ref> Following this approach, the early Wahhabi scholars had not elucidated the details of [[Athari]] theology such as Divine Attributes and other creedal doctrines. Influenced by the scholars of the [[Salafiyya]] movement, the later Wahhabis would revive Athari theological polemics beginning from the mid-twentieth century; which lead to charges of anthropomorphism against them by opponents such as [[Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari|Al-Kawthari]]. By contrast, the creedal treatises of early Wahhabis were mostly restricted to upholding Tawhid and condemning various practices of saint veneration which they considered as [[Shirk (Islam)|shirk]] (polytheism).<ref>{{cite book |last=NAHOUZA |first=Namira |title=Contemporary Wahhabism rebranded as Salafism: the issue of interpreting the Qur'anic verses and hadith on the Attributes of God and its significance |date=April 2009 |publisher=University of Exeter |chapter=3: Contemporary perceptions of the Salaf – the Wahhabi case |pages=96–97}}</ref> They also staunchly opposed ''[[Taqlid]]'' and advocated ''[[Ijtihad]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ismail |first=Raihan |title=Rethinking Salafism: The Transnational Networks of Salafi ʿUlama in Egypt, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2021 |isbn=9780190948955 |page=16 |chapter=1: Salafism}}</ref>

Hammad Ibn 'Atiq ({{died in|{{CE|1883}}/AH 1301}}) was one of the first Wahhabi scholars who seriously concerned himself with the question of God's Names and Attributes; a topic largely neglected by the previous Wahhabi scholars whose primary focus was limited to condemning [[Idolatry in Islam|idolatry]] and necrolatry. Ibn 'Atiq established correspondence with [[Traditionalist theology (Islam)|Athari]] scholars like [[Siddiq Hasan Khan|Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān]], an influential scholar of the ''[[Ahl-i Hadith|Ahl al-Hadith]]'' movement in the Islamic principality of [[Bhopal State|Bhopal]]. In his letters, Ibn 'Atiq praised ''Nayl al-Maram'', Khan's Salafi commentary on ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'', which was published via prints in [[Cairo]]. He solicited Khan to accept his son as his disciple and requested Khan to produce and send more commentaries on the various treatises of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim. Khan accepted his request and embarked on a detailed study of the treatises of both the scholars. Hammad's son Sa'd ibn Atiq would study under Khan and various [[Traditionalist theology (Islam)|traditionalist]] theologians in India. Thus, various Wahhabi scholars began making efforts to appropriate Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's legacy into mainstream Sunni Islam by appropriating them to the broader traditionalist scholarship active across the [[Indian subcontinent]], [[Iraq]], [[Syria]], [[Egypt]], [[Yemen]], etc.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Beránek |last2=Ťupek |first1=Ondřej |first2=Pavel |title=The Temptation of Graves in Salafi Islam: Iconoclasm, Destruction and Idolatry |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |date=2018 |isbn=9781474417570 |pages=87–89 |chapter=2: Early Wahhabism and the Beginnings of Modern Salafism}}</ref>

The [[Hanafi]]te scholar [[Ibn Abi al-Izz]]'s ''sharh'' (explanation) on [[Al-Tahawi]]'s creedal treatise ''[[Al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya]]'' proved popular with the later adherents of the ''Muwahidun'' movement; who regarded it as a true representation of the work, free from [[Maturidi]] influences and as a standard theological reference for the [[Athari]] creed. A number of Salafi and Wahhabi scholars have produced super-commentaries and annotations on the ''sharh'', including [[Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz]], [[Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani]], [[Saleh Al-Fawzan]], etc. and is taught as a standard text at the [[Islamic University of Madinah]].<ref name="Thahawiyah">{{Cite journal |last=Bruckmayr |first=Philipp |date=27 May 2020 |title=Salafī Challenge and Māturīdī Response: Contemporary Disputes over the Legitimacy of Māturīdī kalām |journal=Die Welt des Islams |language=de |volume=60 |issue=2–3 |pages=293–324 |doi=10.1163/15700607-06023P06 |issn=1570-0607 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Tawhid ===
{{See also|Tawhid}}
Like all Muslims, Wahhabis uphold the doctrine of ''tawḥīd''. Unique to Wahhabism is the implementation of ''tawḥīd al-ibada'' (servitude), which prohibits commitment to intermediaries or spiritual practises not endorsed by [[Hermeneutics|Wahhabi hermeneutics]].<ref>Pall, Z. (2014). Lebanese Salafis between the Gulf and Europe: Development, fractionalization and transnational networks of Salafism in Lebanon. Amsterdam University Press. p. 20</ref><ref>Wiktorowicz, Quintan. "Anatomy of the Salafi movement." Studies in conflict & terrorism 29.3 (2006): 207-239.</ref> Intercession by prophets and saints, widespread across other Islamic denominations, is considered a violation of ''tawḥīd'' by Wahhabis.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Kalam (Islamic scholastic theology) |date=July 2021 |url=https://shiastudies.com/en/4908/mutazilah/}}</ref> The disagreement between Wahhabis and other Muslims is not on ''tawḥīd'', but rather what constitutes ''tawḥīd''.<ref name=":0" />

[[David Commins]] describes the "pivotal idea" in Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's teaching as being that "Muslims who disagreed with his definition of monotheism were not ... misguided Muslims, but outside the pale of Islam altogether." This put Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's teaching at odds with that of those Muslims who argued that the "''[[shahada]]''" (i.e., the testimony of faith; "There is no god but God, Muhammad is his messenger") alone made one a Muslim, and that shortcomings in that person's behavior and performance of other obligatory rituals rendered them "a sinner", but "not an unbeliever."<ref name="commins-x">{{harvnb|Commins|2009|p=x}}.</ref>
{{blockquote|Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab did not accept that view. He argued that the criterion for one's standing as either a Muslim or an unbeliever was correct worship as an expression of belief in one God ... any act or statement that indicates devotion to a being other than God is to associate another creature with God's power, and that is tantamount to idolatry (''shirk''). Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab included in the category of such acts popular religious practices that made holy men into intercessors with God. That was the core of the controversy between him and his adversaries, including his own brother.}}

In his major work, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's major work, ''Kitab al-Tawhid'', he denounces practises of intercession common among his contemporaries such as the veneration of trees and rocks. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab condemned such practises due to the implicit affirmation that such entities could bring about luck or blessings without permission by God.{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|p=69}} Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab affirms that Muhammad will intercede for the believers but only by God's permission, thus, ultimately it is God to whom people should seek blessings and forgiveness.{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|p=69}}

According to [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab]], someone who does not conform to their doctrines, even if their lives are otherwise exemplary; is deemed a heretic and an unbeliever. Once such people have received the call to Wahhabism, understood it and then rejected it, their blood and treasure are forfeit.{{sfn|Commins|2009|p=25}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Ibn Ghannam |first=Hussien |title=Tarikh najd |date=2009 |pages=467–471, 477}}</ref> Clarifying his stance on ''[[Takfir]]'', Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab states:<ref>{{Cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/1_20191031/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%B1%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9%20%D9%81%D9%8A%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%A9%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A9%201/page/n81/mode/2up |title=الدرر السنية في الأجوبة النجدية |publisher=[[Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University]] |date=1996 |editor-last=ibn Muhammad ibn Qasim Al-Najdi |editor-first='Abd al-Rahman |volume=1 |pages=82–83, 102 |language=ar |trans-title=Al-Durar Al-Sunniyya Fil Ajwabatil Najdiyya (Sunni Pearls from Najdi Answers) |chapter=2: كتاب العقائد |trans-chapter=2: Kitab Al-'Aqaid (Book of Creed)}}</ref>
{{blockquote|As for ''takfir'', I only make ''takfir'' of whoever knows the religion of the [[Muhammad in Islam|Messenger]] and thereafter insults it, forbids people from it, and manifests enmity towards whoever practices it. This is who I make ''takfir'' of. And most of the ummah, and all praise is for God, is not like this... We do not make takfeer except on those matters which all of the ''[[Ulama|ūlemá]]'' have reached a [[Ijma|consensus]] on.}}
The disagreement between Wahhabis and their opponents over the definition of worship (''[[Ibadah]]'') and monotheism (''Tawhid'') has remained much the same since 1740, according to David Commins: "One of the peculiar features of the debate between Wahhabis and their adversaries is its apparently static nature... the main points in the debate [have] stay[ed] the same [since 1740]."<ref name="commins-x" /> According to another source, Wahhabi jurists were unique for their literal interpretation of the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and ''[[Sunnah]]'' which tended to re-inforce local practices of the region of Najd.<ref name="LoC">{{cite book |title=Saudi Arabia, Library of Congress Country Studies |date=1992 |publisher=Library of Congress |chapter-url= http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+sa0044%29 |chapter=Wahhabi Theology |access-date=17 March 2014 |archive-date=7 November 2004 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20041107123733/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+sa0044%29 |url-status=live}}</ref> Whether the teachings of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab included the need for social renewal and "plans for socio-religious reform of society" in the Arabian Peninsula, rather than simply a return to "ritual correctness and moral purity", is disputed.<ref>{{harvnb|Commins|2009|pp=142–143}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Esposito|2003|loc="Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab"|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=E324pQEEQQcC&pg=PA123 123]}}.</ref>

=== ''Ijtihad'' and ''Taqlid'' ===
{{See also|Taqlid|Ijtihad}}
The Wahhabi scholars upheld the right of qualified scholars to perform ''[[Ijtihad]]'' on legal questions and condemned ''[[Taqleed]]'' of ''Mujtahids''. This stance pitted them against the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Sufism|Sufi]] ''[[Ulama|ulema]]'' who shunned ''Ijtihad'' and obligated ''Taqleed''. The Arab ''[[Salafi movement|Salafiyya]]'' reformers of 19th and 20th centuries would defend the Wahhabis on the ''Ijtihad'' issue as well as join forces with Wahhabis to condemn various Sufi practices and orders (''[[tariqa]]ts'') which they considered to be reprehensible ''[[Bidʻah|Bid'ah]]'' (innovations). Prominent amongst those ''Salafiyya'' ''ulema'' who backed Wahhabism included Khayr al-Din al-Alusi, [[Tahir al-Jazairi|Tahir al-Jaza'iri]], [[Muhammad Rashid Rida]], [[Jamal al-Din Qasimi|Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi]], Mahmud Shukri Al-Alusi, etc.{{sfn|Commins|2006|pp=132–33}}

Condemning the doctrine of blind-following (''Taqlid'') prevalent amongst the masses and obliging them to directly engage with the Scriptures; [[Suleiman bin Abdullah Al Sheikh|Sulaymān ibn 'Abd-Allāh al-Shaykh]] (1785–{{CE|1818}}/AH 1199–1233) wrote:<ref>{{Cite book |url= https://ar.m.wikisource.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D8%B5%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%81:%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%B1_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%B2_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%AF_%D9%81%D9%8A_%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%AD_%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A8_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%AF:%D9%85%D8%B7%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%B9 |title=تيسير العزيز الحميد |publisher=Maktaba Al-Islami |last=ibn Abdallah ibn Muhammad |first=Sulayman |pages=546–547 |language=ar |trans-title=Tayseer al-'Azeez al-Hameed (Facilitation of the Mighty Praise) |access-date=9 April 2022 |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230415154115/https://ar.m.wikisource.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D8%B5%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%81:%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%B1_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%B2_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%AF_%D9%81%D9%8A_%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%AD_%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A8_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%AF:%D9%85%D8%B7%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%B9 |url-status=live}}</ref>
{{blockquote|... what the believer must do, if the Book of Allah and the ''Sunnah'' of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) have reached him and he understands them with regard to any matter, is to act in accordance with them, no matter who he may be disagreeing with. This is what our Lord and our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) have enjoined upon us, and all the scholars are unanimously agreed on that, apart from the ignorant blind followers and the hard-hearted. Such people are not scholars.}}

The Wahhabis furthermore rejected the idea of closure of ''[[Ijtihad]]'' as an innovated principle. Although they professed adherence to Hanbali school, they refrained from taking its precepts as final. Since the issue of ''Ijtihad'' and ''Taqlid'' was amongst their principal concerns, Wahhabis developed a new set of juristic procedures to solve legal questions. Accordingly, they first search the ''[[Qur'an]]'' and ''[[Hadith]]'' as the primary sources of legislation. In case the solution was not accessible from the Scriptures, the principle of ''[[Ijma|'Ijma]]'' (consensus) was employed. ''Ijma'' was restricted to [[Ahl al-Sunnah]] and consisted of consensus of ''[[ṣaḥābah|Companions of the Prophet]]'', '' [[Salaf|Salaf as-Salih]]'' and the consensus of scholars.<ref name="L. Esposito 1995 308">{{Cite book |last=L. Esposito |first=John |title=The Oxford encyclopedia of the modern Islamic world Vol. 4 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=1995 |isbn=0195096150 |page=308 |url= https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped04espo/page/308/mode/2up?view=theater}}</ref><ref name="Naghma 2015 79">{{Cite book |author=Naghma |title=Impact of the Ahl-e-Hadith Movement on Contemporary Muslim Society in India |publisher=Aligarh Muslim University |date=2015 |location=Aligarh, India |page=79 |url= https://archive.org/details/ImpactOfTheAhlAlHadithMovementOnContemporaryMuslimSocietyInIndia/page/n103/mode/2up?view=theater}}</ref>

Prominent Wahhabi ''[[Qadi]]'' of the [[Emirate of Nejd|Second Saudi State]], 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Hasan [[Al ash-Sheikh|Aal-Al Shaykh]] (1782–{{CE|1868}}/AH 1196–1285) strongly condemned the practice of ''taqlid'' as a form of ''[[Shirk (Islam)|shirk]]'' (polytheism) in his treatises, writing:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ibn Hasan Aal-Sheikh |first='Abdur-Rahman |title=Fath al-Majeed: Sharh Kitab al-Tawhid |trans-title=Divine Triumph: Explanatory Notes on the Book of Tawheed |date=2002 |location=El Mansoura, Egypt |publisher=Dar al Manarah |isbn=9776005187 |chapter=38: Taking Scholars or Rulers as Partners Besides Allah |translator-last=Al-Halawani |translator-first='Ali As-Sayed |page=368}}</ref>
{{blockquote|One who asks for a [[Fatwa|religious verdict]] concerning an issue, he should examine the sayings and opinions of the ''[[Imams]]'' and scholars and take only what complies with Allah's Rulings and the teachings of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Allah, the Almighty says, "O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger ... and those of you [Muslims] who are in authority. [And] if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger" ... (Surah An-Nisa': 59) Thus, it is forbidden to prefer the opinion of any of Allah's creatures over the ''[[Sunnah]]'' of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and this is because to do so is an act of ''shirk'' (polytheism); since it constitutes obedience to other than Allah (Glorified be He).}}

The Wahhabis also advocated a principle in Islamic legal theory often referred to as "the rule against ''Ijtihad'' reversal". This principle allows overturning a scholar's ''[[fatwa]]'' (legal judgement) when he bases it on personal ''Ijtihad'' (personal legal reasoning), rather than a clear textual source from ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and ''[[Hadith]]''. In effect, this allowed the Wahhabi ''[[qadi]]s'' to remain autonomous. Opponents of Wahhabi movement harshly rebuked them for advocating ''Ijtihad'' and not recognising the finality of ''[[Madhhab|mad'habs]]'' (law schools).{{sfn|Commins|2006|pp=22–23, 115–16}}

== Practices ==
As a [[Islamic revivalist|religious revivalist]] movement that works to bring [[Muslims]] back from what it considers as foreign accretions that have corrupted Islam,<ref>Lewis, Bernard, ''The Middle East'', p. 333</ref> and believes that Islam is a complete way of life which has prescriptions for all aspects of life, Wahhabism is quite strict in what it considers Islamic behavior. The ''Muwahhidun'' movement has been described by ''[[The Economist]]'' as the "strictest form of Sunni Islam".<ref>{{cite news |title=Ramadan in Saudi Arabia |url= https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21700396-kingdom-treats-holy-month-more-seriously-anywhere-else-taking-it |access-date=11 June 2016 |newspaper=The Economist |date=11 June 2016 |archive-date=10 June 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160610210452/http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21700396-kingdom-treats-holy-month-more-seriously-anywhere-else-taking-it |url-status=live}}</ref> On the other hand, religious critics assert that Wahhabism is not strict, castigating it as a distorted version of Islam that deviates from traditional [[Shari'a]] law, and argue that their practices are neither typical nor mired in the roots of Islam.<ref>Paul Marshall ''Radical Islam's Rules: The Worldwide Spread of Extreme Shari'a Law'' Rowman & Littlefield Publishers 2005 {{ISBN|9781461686903}} p. 19</ref><ref>Paulo Casaca, Siegfried O. Wolf ''Terrorism Revisited: Islamism, Political Violence and State-Sponsorship'' Springer 2017 {{ISBN|9783319556901}} p. 159</ref> Unlike other schools of Sunnism, Wahhabis admonishes to ground Islamic principles solely on the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and ''[[Hadith]]'',<ref>Mark A. Caudill ''Twilight in the Kingdom: Understanding the Saudis'' Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006 {{ISBN|9780275992521}} p. 132</ref> rejecting much material derived within Islamic culture.
[[File:The heart of Arabia, a record of travel and exploration (1922) (14792399953).jpg|thumb|320px|right| Photo of a marketplace in the town of [[Hofuf|Al-Hasa]] c. 1922]]

This does not mean, however, that all adherents agree on what is required or [[haram|forbidden]], or that rules have not varied by area or changed over time. In Saudi Arabia, the strict religious atmosphere of Wahhabi doctrines were visible as late as the 1990s; such as the conformity in dress, public deportment, public prayers.<ref name="LofC-influence">{{cite web |title=Saudi Arabia. Wahhabi Theology |url= http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+sa0044%29 |date=December 1992 |publisher=Library of Congress Country Studies |access-date=17 March 2014 |archive-date=7 November 2004 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20041107123733/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+sa0044%29 |url-status=live}}</ref> Its presence was visible by the wide freedom of action of the "[[Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Saudi Arabia)|religious police]]", clerics in [[mosque]]s, teachers in schools, and ''[[Qadi]]s'' (i.e. judges who are religious legal scholars) in Saudi courts.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bradley |first=John R. |date=2005 |url= https://archive.org/details/saudiarabiaexpos00brad |url-access=registration |publisher=Macmillan |title=Saudi Arabia Exposed |page=[https://archive.org/details/saudiarabiaexpos00brad/page/10 10] |isbn=9781403964335}}</ref>

=== Commanding right and forbidding wrong ===
{{Main|Enjoining good and forbidding wrong}}

Wahhabism is noted for its policy of "compelling its own followers and other Muslims strictly to observe the religious duties of Islam, such as the five prayers", and for "enforcement of public morals to a degree not found elsewhere".<ref name="Glasse-heretics">{{cite book |last=Glasse |first=Cyril |title=The New Encyclopedia of Islam |date=2001 |publisher=AltaMira Press |page=470}}</ref> According to the [[Americans|American]] journalist [[Lawrence Wright]], due to Wahhabi emphasis on the "purification of Islam"; the teaching becomes very repressive to the followers.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7093423.stm Saudi schools promoting hatred and violence on non-believers]  BBC</ref>

While other [[Muslims]] might urge [[salat]] prayer, modest dress, and abstention from alcohol, for Wahhabis, prayer "that is punctual, ritually correct, and communally performed not only is urged but publicly required of men." Not only is modest dress prescribed, but the type of clothing that should be worn, especially by women (a black [[abaya]], covering all but the eyes and hands) is specified. Not only is wine forbidden, but so are "all intoxicating drinks and other stimulants, including tobacco".<ref name="LofC" />  While being influenced by Hanbali doctrines, the movement repudiated ''[[Taqlid]]'' to legal authorities, including oft-cited scholars such as Ibn Taymiyya and [[Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya|Ibn Qayyim]] ({{died-in|{{CE|1350}}}}/AH 751).<ref name="auto3" />

Following the preaching and practice of ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab that coercion should be used to enforce following of ''[[sharia]]'' (Islamic law), an [[Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Saudi Arabia)|official committee]] was empowered to "Command the Good and Forbid the Evil" (the so-called "religious police")<ref name="Glasse-heretics"/><ref>{{harvnb|Kepel|2004|p=[https://archive.org/details/warformuslimmind00kepe/page/158 158]}}.</ref> in Saudi Arabia{{snd}}the one country founded with the help of Wahhabi warriors and whose scholars and pious citizens dominated many aspects of the Kingdom's life. Committee "field officers" enforce strict closing of shops at prayer time, segregation of the sexes, prohibition of the sale and consumption of alcohol, driving of motor vehicles by women, and other social restrictions.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26030911 Saudi Arabia's religious police 'contains extremists'] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180812153329/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26030911 |date=12 August 2018}} BBC, 4 February 2014</ref>

A large number of practices was reported to be forbidden by Saudi Wahhabi officials, preachers or religious police. Practices that have been forbidden as [[Bida'a|Bid'a]] (innovation) or shirk (polytheism) and sometimes "punished by flogging" during Wahhabi history include performing or listening to music; dancing; [[fortune telling]]; [[amulet]]s; non-religious television programs; smoking; playing [[backgammon]], [[chess]], or [[card game|cards]]; drawing human or animal figures; acting in a play or writing fiction; dissecting [[cadaver]]s, even in criminal investigations and for the purposes of medical research; recorded music played over telephones on hold; or the sending of flowers to friends or relatives who are in the hospital.<ref name="Van-33">{{cite book |last=Van der Meulen |first=D. |title=The Wells of Ibn Sa'ud |date=2000 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780710306760 |pages=62–113}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Abou El Fadl |first=Khaled |date=2005 |title=The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists |url= https://archive.org/details/greattheftwrestl00abou |url-access=registration |publisher=Harper San Francisco |page=[https://archive.org/details/greattheftwrestl00abou/page/67 67] |isbn=9780060563394}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Simons |first=Geoff |title=Saudi Arabia: The Shape of a Client Feudalism |date=1998 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |pages=152–159}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kostiner |first=Joseph |title=The Making of Saudi Arabia, 1916–1936: From Chieftaincy to Monarchical State |url= https://archive.org/details/makingsaudiarabi00kost |url-access=limited |date=1993 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780195074406 |page=[https://archive.org/details/makingsaudiarabi00kost/page/n131 119]}}</ref><ref name="theft">{{cite book |title=The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists |first=Khaled |last=Abou El Fadl |publisher=Harper San Francisco |date=2005 |page=160}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Tripp |first1=Harvey |author2=Peter North |title=Culture Shock! Saudi Arabia |date=2003 |publisher=Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company |page=131}}</ref> Common Muslim practices Wahhabis believe are contrary to Islam include listening to music in praise of Muhammad, praying to God while visiting tombs (including the tomb of Muhammad), celebrating [[mawlid]] (birthday of the Prophet),<ref>{{cite book |last=Battram |first=Robert A. |title=Canada in Crisis (2): An Agenda for Survival of the Nation |publisher=Trafford |pages=415–416 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=pBc9349sw4QC&pg=PA415 |isbn=9781426933936 |date=2010}}</ref> the use of ornamentation on or in mosques, all of which is considered orthodoxy in the rest of the Islamic world.<ref name="net places">{{cite web |last=Sharp |first=Arthur G. |title=What's a Wahhabi? |url= http://www.netplaces.com/middle-east-guide/saudi-arabia-crossroads-of-islam/whats-a-wahhabi.htm |publisher=net places |access-date=20 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140321022500/http://www.netplaces.com/middle-east-guide/saudi-arabia-crossroads-of-islam/whats-a-wahhabi.htm |archive-date=21 March 2014}}</ref> Until 2018, driving of motor vehicles by women was allowed in every country except the Wahhabi-dominated Saudi Arabia.<ref>{{cite book |last=Anderson |first=Shelly |title=Falling Off the Edge of the World |date=2013 |publisher=Lulu |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cpOvFaOkVUkC&pg=PA137 |page=137 |isbn=9781304059833}}</ref> Certain forms of Dream interpretation, practiced by the famously strict [[Taliban]], is sometimes discouraged by Wahhabis.<ref>{{cite book |last=Roy |first=Olivier |title=Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah |date=2004 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |page=239 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=b9eFGcsWnwEC&pg=PA239 |isbn=9780231134996}}</ref>

Wahhabism also emphasizes "''Thaqafah Islamiyyah''" or [[Islamic culture]] and the importance of avoiding non-Islamic cultural practices and non-Muslim friendship no matter how innocent these may appear,<ref name="Husain, 2007, p.250">Husain, ''The Islamist'', 2007, p. 250</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Afshin |last=Shahi |title=The Politics of Truth Management in Saudi Arabia |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=D9pJAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |isbn=9781134653195 |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge}}</ref> on the grounds that the ''[[Sunnah]]'' forbids imitating non-Muslims.<ref name="special-day">{{cite journal |title=A special day for mothers: Difference of opinion |url= http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2009032032701 |journal=Saudi Gazette |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140312020104/http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2009032032701 |archive-date=12 March 2014}}</ref> Foreign practices sometimes punished and sometimes simply condemned by Wahhabi preachers as un-Islamic, include celebrating foreign days (such as [[Valentine's Day]]<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2010021463363 |first=Diana Marwan Al-Jassemand Ala'a |last=Al-Twarib |title=Many celebrate Valentine's Day in secret |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140312014207/http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2010021463363 |archive-date=12 March 2014 |url-status=dead |work=Saudi Gazette}}</ref> or [[Mothers Day]]<ref name="Husain, 2007, p.250" /><ref name="special-day" />) giving of flowers,<ref name="flowers">{{cite news |last=Eltahawy |first=Mona |title=The Wahhabi war against 'infidels' and flowers |url= http://www.islamdaily.org/en/wahabism/1423.the-wahhabi-war-against-infidels-and-flowers.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140726010107/http://www.islamdaily.org/en/wahabism/1423.the-wahhabi-war-against-infidels-and-flowers.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 July 2014 |access-date=22 March 2014 |newspaper=Islam Daily |date=1 July 2004}}</ref> standing up in honor of someone, celebrating birthdays (including the Prophet's), keeping or petting dogs.<ref name="theft" /> Some Wahhabi activists have warned against taking non-Muslims as friends, smiling at or wishing them well on their holidays.<ref name="rigid">{{cite news |first=Neil |last=MacFarquhar |title=A Few Saudis Defy a Rigid Islam to Debate Their Own Intolerance |date=12 July 2002 |newspaper=The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/07/magazine/the-jihadi-who-kept-asking-why.html?pagewanted=all |access-date=4 May 2014 |archive-date=3 September 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140903145423/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/07/magazine/the-jihadi-who-kept-asking-why.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Eidgah jeddah.JPG|thumb|280px|Open air mosque in [[Jeddah]], Saudi Arabia]]
Wahhabis are not in unanimous agreement on what is forbidden as sin. Some Wahhabi preachers or activists go further than the official Saudi Arabian Council of Senior Scholars in forbidding (what they believe to be) sin. [[Juhayman al-Otaybi|Juhayman al Utaybi]] declared [[Association football|football]] forbidden for a variety of reasons including it is a non-Muslim, foreign practice, because of the revealing uniforms and because of the foreign non-Muslim language used in matches.<ref>[Mansour al-Nogaidan, a young preacher in the Sahwah (awakening) movement] {{harvnb|Lacey|2009|p=[https://archive.org/details/insidekingdomkin00lace_0/page/122 122]}}.</ref><ref>[the leader of "The Salafi Group That Commands Right and Forbids Wrong" (Juhayman Al-Otaybi)] {{harvnb|Lacey|2009|p=[https://archive.org/details/insidekingdomkin00lace_0/page/12 12]}}.</ref> In response, the Saudi [[Grand Mufti]] rebuked such ''[[fatwa]]s'' and called on the religious police to prosecute its author.<ref>{{cite book |last=House |first=Karen Elliott |title=On Saudi Arabia: Its People, past, Religion, Fault Lines and Future |publisher=Knopf |date=2012 |page=50}}</ref>

According to senior Saudi scholars, Islam forbids the traveling or working outside the home by a woman without their husband's permission{{snd}}permission which may be revoked at any time{{snd}}on the grounds that the different physiological structures and biological functions of the two sexes mean that each is assigned a distinctive role to play in the family.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brooks |first=Geraldine |title=Nine Parts of Desire |publisher=Doubleday |date=1995 |page=161}}</ref> Sexual intercourse out of wedlock may be punished with flogging,{{sfn|Lacey|1981|loc=chapter 48: "Death of a Princess"}}

Despite this strictness, throughout these years senior Saudi scholars in the kingdom made exceptions in ruling on what is ''[[haram]]'' (forbidden). Foreign non-Muslim troops are forbidden in Arabia, except when the king needed them to confront [[Saddam Hussein]] in 1990; gender mixing of men and women is forbidden, and fraternization with non-Muslims is discouraged, but not at [[King Abdullah University of Science and Technology]] (KAUST). Until 2018, movie theaters and driving by women were forbidden, except at the [[ARAMCO]] compound in eastern Saudi, populated by workers for the company that provides almost all the government's revenue. The exceptions made at KAUST were also in effect at ARAMCO.<ref name="House-exceptions">House, Karen Elliott, ''On Saudi Arabia: Its People, past, Religion, Fault Lines and Future'', Knopf, 2012, p. 9</ref>

More general rules of permissiveness changed over time. [[Ibn Saud|Abdulaziz Ibn Saud]] imposed Wahhabi doctrines and practices "in a progressively gentler form" as his early 20th-century conquests expanded his state into urban areas, especially the [[Hejaz]].<ref name="Glasse-heretics"/> After vigorous debate Wahhabi religious authorities in Saudi Arabia allowed the use of paper money (in 1951), the [[Slavery in Saudi Arabia|abolition of slavery]] (in 1962), education of females (1964), and use of television (1965).<ref name="rodenbeck">{{cite journal |first=Max |last=Rodenbeck |date=21 October 2004 |title=Unloved in Arabia |url= http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2004/oct/21/unloved-in-arabia-2/?pagination=false |journal=New York Review of Books |volume=51 |number=16 |access-date=11 March 2014 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151016194119/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2004/oct/21/unloved-in-arabia-2/?pagination=false |url-status=live}}</ref> Music, the sound of which once might have led to [[summary execution]], is now commonly heard on Saudi radios.<ref name="Glasse-heretics"/> Minarets for [[mosque]]s and use of funeral markers, which were once forbidden, are now allowed. Prayer attendance, which was once enforced by flogging, is no longer.<ref>{{cite book |last=Glassé |first=Cyril |title=The New Encyclopedia of Islam |publisher=AltaMira |page=471 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=focLrox-frUC&q=wahhabism |isbn=9780759101906 |date=2003}}</ref>

=== Appearance ===
The uniformity of dress among men and women in Saudi Arabia (compared to other [[Muslim world|Muslim countries]] in the Middle East) has been called by Arthur G Sharp as a "striking example of Wahhabism's outward influence on Saudi society", and an example of the Wahhabi belief that "outward appearances and expressions are directly connected to one's inward state."<ref name="net places" />

A "badge" of a particularly pious Wahhabi man is a robe too short to cover the ankle, an untrimmed beard,<ref>{{harvnb|Lacey|2009|p=12}}.</ref> and no cord (''Agal'') to hold the head scarf in place.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ambah |first1=Faiza Saleh |title=An Unprecedented Uproar Over Saudi Religious Police |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102466.html |access-date=26 September 2014 |agency=Washington Post Foreign Service |date=22 June 2007 |archive-date=25 February 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150225152517/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102466.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The warriors of the Wahhabi [[Ikhwan]] religious militia wore a white turban in place of an ''agal''.<ref>{{cite book |title=One Thousand Roads to Mecca: Ten Centuries of Travelers Writing about the Muslim Pilgrimage |editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Wolfe |chapter=The Holy Cities of Arabia |last=Rutter |first=Eldon |publisher=Grove Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/onethousandroads0000wolf/page/344 344] |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fnYO0nJPsS4C&pg=PA344 |isbn=9780802135995 |date=1998 |url= https://archive.org/details/onethousandroads0000wolf/page/344}}</ref>

=== Propagation ===
{{Main|International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism}}
{{Further|International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism by region}}

''Da'wah Wahhabiyya'', or the Wahhabi mission, is the idea of spreading Wahhabism throughout the world.<ref name="lacey-islamism" /> Tens of billions of dollars have been spent by the Saudi government and charities on mosques, schools, education materials, scholarships, throughout the world to promote the Wahhabi influences. Tens of thousands of volunteers{{sfn|Commins|2009|p=174}} and several billion dollars also went in support of the jihad against the atheist communist regime governing Afghanistan.{{sfn|Kepel|2002|p=143}}

== Beliefs ==
{{Muslim Beliefs|Five Pillars}}
Adherents to the Wahhabi movement identify as [[Sunni]] Muslims.<ref>''Wahhabism: Understanding the Roots and Role Models of Islamic Extremism'', by Zubair Qamar, condensed and edited by ASFA staff</ref> The primary Wahhabi doctrine is affirmation of the uniqueness and unity of [[God in Islam|God]] (''Tawhid''),<ref name="Esposito333" /><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Allah |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online |access-date=28 May 2008 |url= http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9005770/Allah |archive-date=13 May 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080513004801/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9005770/Allah |url-status=live}}</ref> and opposition to ''shirk'' (violation of tawhid{{snd}}"the one unforgivable sin", according to Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab).{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|p=62}} They call for adherence to the beliefs and practices of the ''[[Salaf as salih|Salaf al-Salih]]'' (exemplary early Muslims). They strongly oppose what they consider to be heterodox doctrines, particularly those held by the [[Sufism|Sufi]] and [[Shia Islam|Shiite]] traditions,<ref>{{Cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=EYqlBgAAQBAJ&q=Wahhabism+opposition+to+sunni&pg=PA44 |title=Young American Muslims: Dynamics of Identity |last=Kabir |first=Nahid Afrose |date=2013 |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |isbn=9780748669936 |page=44}}</ref> such as beliefs and practices associated with the veneration of [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|Prophets]] and [[Awliyaa|saints]]. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab associated such practices with the culture of ''[[Taqlid]]'' (imitation to established customs) adored by pagan-cults of the ''[[Jahiliyya]]'' period.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Chih |editor1-first=Rachida |editor2-last=Jordan |editor2-first=David |editor3-last=Reichmuth |editor3-first=Stefan |editor3-link=Stefan Reichmuth (academic) |title=The Presence of the Prophet in Early Modern and Contemporary Islam |volume=2. Heirs of the Prophet: Authority and Power |last=Riexinger |first=Martin |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2022 |isbn=9789004466746 |location=Leidens |page=55 |chapter=2: Model, Not Idol The Recasting of the Image of Muḥammad in Mukhtaṣar sīrat al-rasūl by Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ({{died-in|1792}})}}</ref> The movement emphasized reliance on the literal meaning of the ''Quran'' and ''hadith'', rejecting rationalistic theology (''[[kalam]]''). Adherents of Wahhabism are favourable to derivation of new legal rulings ([[ijtihad]]) so long as it is true to the essence of the Quran, Sunnah and understanding of the ''salaf'', and they do not regard this as ''bid'ah'' (innovation).<ref>{{harvnb|Halverson|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IYzGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA71 71]}}. "Abdul-Wahhab was a proponent of Ijtihad, as were the leading reformers of the Salafi movement in Egypt."</ref>
[[File:تخطيط كلمة ابن تيمية.png|right|thumb|''Muwahhidun'' (Wahhabi) movement is highly influenced by the doctrines of the classical Hanbali theologian Ibn Taymiyya ({{died-in|{{CE|1328}}/AH 728}})]]

The movement is heavily influenced by the works of thirteenth-century Hanbali theologian Ibn Taymiyya who rejected ''[[Kalam]]'' theology; and his disciple [[Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya|Ibn Qayyim]] who elaborated Ibn Taymiyya's ideals. Ibn Taymiyya's priority of ethics and worship over metaphysics, in particular, is readily accepted by Wahhäbis.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Schmidtke |first1=Sabine |title=The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology |last2=Hoover |first2=Jon |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2014 |isbn=9780199696703 |pages=626, 636 |chapter=Ḥanbalī Theology}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ahsan |first=Sayyid |title=Trends in Islam in Saudi Arabia |publisher=Department of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University |date=1987 |pages=141–143}}</ref> Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab was a dedicated reader and student of Ibn Taymiyya's works, such as ''[[Al-Aqidah Al-Waasitiyyah|Al-Aqidah Al-Wasitiyya]]'', ''Al-Siyasa Al-Shar'iyya'', ''[[Minhaj as-Sunnah an-Nabawiyyah|Minhaj al-Sunna]]'' and his various treatises attacking the cult of saints and certain forms of Sufism. Expressing great respect and admiration for Ibn Taymiyya; Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab wrote:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ahsan |first=Sayyid |title=Trends in Islam in Saudi Arabia |publisher=Department of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University |date=1987 |pages=142–143}}</ref>
{{blockquote|I know of no one, who stands ahead of Ibn Taymiyya, after the Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal in the science of interpretation and the hadith}}

=== Loyalty and disassociation ===
{{See also|Al-Wala' wal-Bara'}}
According to the doctrine known as ''[[Al-Wala' wal-Bara'|al-wala` wa al-bara`]]'' (literally, "loyalty and disassociation"), Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab argued that it was "imperative for Muslims not to befriend, ally themselves with, or imitate non-Muslims or heretical Muslims", and that this "enmity and hostility of Muslims toward non-Muslims and heretical had to be visible and unequivocal".<ref>{{cite book |last=Abou El Fadl |first=Khaled |title=The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists |publisher=Harper San Francisco |date=2005 |pages=49–50}}</ref>
Even as late as 2003, entire pages in Saudi textbooks were devoted to explaining to undergraduates that all forms of Islam except Wahhabism were deviation.<ref name="Husain-wahhab">{{cite book |last=Husain |first=Ed |title=The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left |date=2007 |publisher=Penguin |page=250}}</ref> Shia critic Hamid Algar argued in 2002 that Saudi government had "discreetly concealed" this view from other Muslims "over the years" in order to depict itself as the defender of "Muslim interests".<ref name="Algar-20">{{harvnb|Algar|2002|p=20}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.globalpolitician.com/default.asp?23661-saudi |date=22 October 2007 |first=Curtin |last=Winsor |publisher=Global Politician |title=Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism and the Spread of Sunni Theofascism |access-date=4 October 2014 |archive-date=27 April 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140427031354/http://www.globalpolitician.com/default.asp?23661-saudi |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In a reply dated 2003, the Saudi Arabian government "has strenuously denied the above allegations", including claims that "their government exports religious or cultural extremism or supports extremist religious education."<ref name="CRS08" />

=== On Jihad ===
{{Main|Jihad|Islamic military jurisprudence}}
[[File:Saudi Camels march (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Soldiers of the [[third Saudi State]], 1920s]]

Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab defined armed [[jihad]] as a sacred endeavour that must have a valid religious justification and which can only be declared by an ''Imam''. The purpose of combat was to safeguard the community from the aggression and military attacks by various external threats.{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|pp=202–203, 241–242}}<ref name="N. Stearns 2008">{{Cite book |last=N. Stearns |first=Peter |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2008 |isbn=9780195176322 |chapter=Wahhabism |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001 |chapter-url= https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001/acref-9780195176322-e-1677?rskey=RtFC0x&result=2}}</ref> While early methods of his reformist efforts were based on preaching and educational efforts; state consolidation project of [[Emirate of Diriyah]] resulted in military conflicts with rival tribal chiefs. As a senior scholar, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab closely advised Emir [[Muhammad ibn Saud]] on military tactics; convincing him to pursue a largely defensive strategy and enjoining him to adhere to [[Islamic military jurisprudence|Islamic rules of warfare]]. The Emirate's soldiers were rigorously forbidden from launching attacks targeting women, children and non-combatant civilians.<ref name="N. Stearns 2008" />

Throughout his letters and treatises, Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb maintained that the military campaigns of the [[Emirate of Diriyah|Emirate of Dirʿiyya]] were strictly defensive and rebuked his opponents as being the first to initiate ''[[Takfir]]''.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite book |last=M. Bunzel |first=Cole |title=Manifest Enmity: The Origins, Development, and Persistence of Classical Wahhabism (1153–1351/1741–1932) |publisher=Princeton University |date=2018 |page=244}}</ref> Justifying the Wahhabi military campaigns as defensive operations against their enemies, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab asserts:<ref name="auto2" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Abu alrub |first=Jalal |title=Biography and Mission of Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab: Second Edition |publisher=Madinah Publishers and Distributors |date=2013 |isbn=9780985632694 |editor-last=Mencke |editor-first=Alaa |pages=267, 276}}</ref>
{{blockquote|As for warfare, until today, we did not fight anyone, except in defense of our lives and honor. They came to us in our area and did not spare any effort in fighting us. We only initiated fighting against some of them in retaliation for their continued aggression, [''The recompense for an evil is an evil like thereof''] (42:40)... they are the ones who started declaring us to be unbelievers and fighting us}}

This defensive approach to warfare largely got abandoned after Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's retirement in 1773. Emir [[Abdulaziz bin Muhammad Al Saud|Abdulaziz]], Muhammad ibn Saud's son and successor, was an advocate of expansionist policy and launched offensive military campaigns.<ref name="N. Stearns 2008" /> The excesses reported to have committed by soldiers of [[Emirate of Diriyah]] were regularly rebuked by the traditional Wahhabi [[Al ash-Sheikh|Aal al-Shaykhs]] (descendants of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab) who took care to condemn and religiously delegitimise [[war crime]]s. Condemning the military excesses committed during the Wahhabi conquest of Mecca in 1218–1803, [[Abdullah bin Muhammad Al Sheikh|Abdullah ibn Muhammad]] [[Al ash-Sheikh|Aal Ash-Shaykh]] (1751–{{CE|1829}}/AH 1164–1244) stated:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abu alrub |first=Jalal |title=Biography and Mission of Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab: Second Edition |publisher=Madinah Punlishers and Distributors |date=2013 |isbn=9780985632694 |editor-last=Mencke |editor-first=Alaa |page=419}}</ref>
{{blockquote|As for the fact that some Bedouins destroyed books belonging to the people of [[Taif|Ta'if]] it was committed by the ignorant, who were admonished, along with others, from repeating this and similar actions. The stance that we take is that we do not take [[Arabs]] as captives and will not practice that in the future. We did not initiate hostilities against [[Ajam|non-Arabs]] either, and we do not agree to killing of women and children.}}

=== Criticism of Shi'ism ===
{{See also|Shia Islam|Shia–Sunni relations}}

Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab considered some beliefs and practices of the [[Shia Islam|Shia]] to violate the doctrine of monotheism.{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|pp=84–87}} DeLong-Bas maintains that when Ibn Abd al-Wahhab denounced the ''[[Rafida]]h'', he was not using a derogatory name for Shia but denouncing "an extremist sect" within Shiism who call themselves ''Rafidah''. He criticized them for assigning greater authority to their current leaders than to [[Muhammad in Islam|Muhammad]] in interpreting the ''Qur'an'' and ''[[sharia]]'', and for denying the validity of the consensus (''[[Ijma|<nowiki/>'Ijma]]'') of the early Muslim community.{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|pp=84–87}} In his treatise "''Risalah fi al-radd ala al-Rafidah''" (Treatise/Letter on the Denial/Rejection Pertaining to the Rafidah), Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab addressed thirty-two topics on points of both theology and law refuting the ''Raafida''. In doing so, Ibn Abdul Wahhab spoke as a scholar who had studied Shi'i scholarly works, outlining a broad and systematic perspective of the Shi'i worldview and theology. He also believed that the Shia doctrine of [[Ismah|infallibility of the imams]] constituted associationism with God.{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|pp=84–87}} He instructed that this procedure of education and debate should be carried out with the support of truthful ''[[ulama]]'', ''hadith'' transmitters, and righteous people employing logic, rhetoric, examination of the primary texts and scholarly debates.{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|p=90}}

Although Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his son and successor [[Abdullah ibn Muhammad Abd al Wahhab|'Abdullah]] categorised various Shi'ite sects like ''Raafida'', [[Zaydism|Zaydis]], etc. as heretics and criticized many of their tenets, they had regarded them as Muslims. Abdullah's son, Sulayman ({{died-in|1818}}) would articulate a new doctrine of ''[[Takfir]]'' which set the foundations for the excommunication of Shi'ites outside the pale of Islam. Sulayman's doctrines were revived by later scholars of the ''Muwahhidun'' like 'Abd al-Latif ibn 'Abd al-Rahman (1810–1876) during the [[Al-Hasa Expedition 1871|Ottoman annexation of Al-Hasa]] in 1871. [[Hofuf|Al-Hasa]] was a Shi'ite majority area, and Ottoman invasion was assisted by the British. The Ottoman invasion had become a major danger to the [[Emirate of Nejd]]. From 1871, 'Abd al-Latif began to write tracts harshly condemning the [[Ottoman Turks|Ottomans]], [[Shia Islam|Shi'ites]] and [[British Empire|British]] as [[Mushrik|polytheists]] and called upon Muslims to boycott them. Integrating the concept of ''[[Hijrah|Hijra]]'' into his discourse of ''[[Takfir]]'', 'Abd al-Latif also forbade [[Muslims]] to travel or stay in the lands of Ottomans, ''[[Rafida|Rafidis]]'', British, etc. 'Abd al-Latif viewed the Shi'ite sects of his time as idolators and placed them outside the pale of Islam.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=K. Firro |first=Tarik |date=2 September 2013 |title=The Political Context of Early Wahhabi Discourse of Takfir |url= http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fmes20 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |publisher=Routledge |volume=49 |issue=5 |pages=776, 781–784 |doi=10.1080/00263206.2013.811648 |s2cid=144357200 |via=Tandfonline |access-date=13 March 2022 |archive-date=20 April 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210420094936/https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fmes20 |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Views on mysticism ===
{{See also|Tasawwuf}}
According to Jeffry R. Halverson, the ''Muwahidun'' movement was characterised by a strong opposition to [[Islamic Mysticism|mysticism]].<ref name="TCSI2010: 482" /> Although this feature is typically attributed to the influence of the classical theologian Ibn Taymiyya, Jeffry Halverson states that Ibn Taymiyyah only opposed what he saw as Sufi excesses and never mysticism in itself, being himself a member of the ''[[Qadiriyya]]h'' [[Tariqa|Sufi order]].<ref name="TCSI2010: 482" /> DeLong-Bas writes that Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab did not denounce [[Sufism]] or Sufis as a group, but rather attacked specific practices which he saw as inconsistent with the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and ''[[hadith]]''.{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|p=84}}

When he was asked on a religious matter, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab praised the pious Sufis, stating:<ref>{{Cite web |last=al-Makki |first=Mawlana 'Abd al-Hafiz |date=January 2011 |title=Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and Sufism |url= https://www.deoband.org/2011/01/sufism/shaykh-muhammad-bin-abd-al-wahhab-and-sufism/ |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210121054134/https://www.deoband.org/2011/01/sufism/shaykh-muhammad-bin-abd-al-wahhab-and-sufism/ |archive-date=21 January 2021 |website=Deoband.org}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Let it be known—may Allah guide you—that Allah Most High sent Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) with guidance, which is known as the beneficial knowledge, and true religion, which are virtuous actions. ... among those who affiliate themselves to religion, there are those who focus on knowledge and ''fiqh'' and speak regarding it, such as the jurists, and those who focus on worship and the quest for the hereafter, such as the Sufis.}}

Scholars like Esther Peskes point to the cordial relations between the ''Muwahidun'' movement and the Sufi [[Sheikh|Shaykh]] [[Ahmad ibn Idris al-Fasi|Ahmad Ibn Idris]] and his followers in [[Mecca]] during the beginning of the 19th century; to aver that notions of absolute incompatibility between [[Sufism]] and Wahhabism are misleading. The early Wahhabi historiography had documented no mention that suggested any direct confrontations between Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and contemporary Sufis nor did it indicate that his activism was directed specifically against Sufism. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's reforms were not aimed against socio-religious orientations such as Sufism; but were directed against the status quo prevalent in Islamic societies. Thus his efforts attempted a general transformation of [[Islamic culture|Islamic societies]], including Sufis and non-Sufis; the elite as well as the commoners. This resulted in the widespread desacralisation of the public sphere that heralded the advent of a new socio-political model in Arabia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peskes |first=Esther |date=1999 |chapter=The Wahhabiyya and Sufism in the Eighteenth Century |editor-last1=De Jong |editor-last2=Radtke |editor-first1=Frederick |editor-first2=Bernd |title=Islamic Mysticism Contested: Thirteen Centuries of Controversies and Polemics |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=9004113002 |location=Ledien |pages=145–152}}</ref>

Explaining the stance of early Wahhabis on ''Tasawwuf'', [[Abdullah bin Muhammad Al Sheikh|Abdullah Aal al-Shaykh]] ({{died-in|{{CE|1829}}/AH 1244}}), son of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab writes:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Liaqath Peeran |first=Syed |date=2022 |title=Sufism in Islam |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357868833 |journal=Islam & Sufism |publisher=Authors Press |via=ResearchGate}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Manzur Nu'mani |first=Muhammad |title=Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab ke Khilaf Propaganda aur Hindustan Ke Ulema-e-Haq par uskay Asrat |trans-title=The Propaganda against Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab and Its Impact on the True Clerics |publisher=Maktabat Al-Furqan |date=1978 |location=Lucknow |language=ur |page=85}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hisham Kabbani |first=Muhammad |title=The Naqshbandi Sufi tradition: Guidebook of Daily Practices and Devotions |publisher=ISCA |date=2009 |isbn=9781930409248 |location=Washington, DC |page=94}}</ref>
{{blockquote|My father and I do not deny or criticise the science of Sufism, but on the contrary we support it because it purifies the external and the internal of the hidden sins which are related to the heart and the outward form. Even though the individual might externally be on the right way, internally he might be on the wrong way. Sufism is necessary to correct it.}}

=== Views on modernity ===
{{See also|Islam and modernity}}
Since the Arabian Peninsula was never occupied by [[colonial powers]], it wasn't directly challenged by [[Western world|Western]] [[modernity]] until the mid-twentieth century, unlike the rest of the [[Muslim world|Islamic World]]. While the Saudi ruling class spearheaded modernization drive across the [[Saudi Arabia|Kingdom]]; response of the religious establishment to the drastic influx of modernity was varied, ranging from scholars who rejected modern influences to tech-savvy clerics who eagerly embrace [[modern technology]] and [[social media]]. Various preachers harmonise pious lifestyle with modern culture while simultaneously engaging with [[Muslims]] of diverse backgrounds across the globe through social media networks. Assisted by scholarly guidance from a wide range of Islamic revivalists across the world like [[Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi|Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi]], [[Abul A'la Maududi]], etc. The [[Islamic University of Madinah|Islamic University of Medina]] was established in 1961 to promote a [[Pan-Islamism|pan-Islamic]] response to contemporary challenges and modern ideologies. To intellectually counter the ideological spread of [[Western liberalism]], [[socialism]] and [[Secularism|secular]] [[nationalism]]; numerous works of classical scholars like [[Ibn Kathir]], [[Ibn Qudamah|Ibn Qudama]], [[Ibn Hazm]], Ibn Taymiyya, [[Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya|Ibn Qayyim]], etc. were mass-distributed through Saudi publishing centres and during [[Hajj|Pilgrimages]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mandaville |first=Peter |title=Wahhabism and the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia's Global Influence on Islam |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2022 |isbn=9780197532577 |pages=38, 49, 58–59, 87–88, 96 |chapter=}}</ref>

On the other hand, some influential Wahhabi clerics had also been noteworthy for issuing various archaic ''[[Fatwa|fatawa]]'' such as declaring "that the sun orbited the Earth", and forbidding "women from riding bicycles on the grounds that they were "the devil's horses", and "from watching TV without veiling, just in case the presenters could see them through the screen". The most senior cleric in Saudi Arabia as of early 2022, [[Saleh Al-Fawzan]], once issued a  ''fatwa'' forbidding "all-you-can-eat buffets, because paying for a meal without knowing what you'll be eating is akin to gambling".<ref name="Wood-power-Atlantic-3-2022">{{cite journal |last1=Wood |first1=Graeme |title=ABSOLUTE POWER |journal=The Atlantic |date=3 March 2022 |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/04/mohammed-bin-salman-saudi-arabia-palace-interview/622822/ |access-date=4 March 2022 |archive-date=10 July 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220710120845/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/04/mohammed-bin-salman-saudi-arabia-palace-interview/622822/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Despite this, the contemporary Wahhabi religious framework has largely been able to maintain Saudi Arabia's global image as a pious society which is also aptly capable of addressing modern challenges.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mandaville |first1=Peter |title=Wahhabism and the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia's Global Influence on Islam |last2=Hasan |first2=Noorhaidi |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2022 |isbn=9780197532577 |page=78 |chapter=7: Salafism, Education, and Youth}}</ref>

To resolve the novel issues of the 20th century, [[King of Saudi Arabia|King]] [[Ibn Saud|'Abd al-Azeez ibn Saud]] appointed [[Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Sheikh|Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Aal Al-Shaykh]] ({{died-in|1969}}) as the [[Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia|Grand Mufti]] in 1953 to head ''Dar al-Ifta'', the legal body tasked with crafting Wahhabi juristic response to the novel problems faced by Arabian Muslims. In 1971, ''Dar al-Ifta'' was re-organized to include a larger number of elder scholars to boost its intellectual output. Dar al-Ifta headed by the Saudi Grand Mufti, consists of two agencies: i) [[Council of Senior Scholars (Saudi Arabia)|Board of Senior Ulema]] (BSU) ii) Permanent Committee for Scientific Research and Legal Opinions (C.R.L.O). Wahhabi scholars advocated a positive approach to embracing technology, political affairs, etc. while maintaining a traditional stance on social issues. Contemporary ''fatwas'' also demonstrate a receptive outlook on visual media, medical field, economic affairs, etc. ''Dar al-Ifta'' became an influential institution in Arabian society and it sought a balanced approach to modernity; positioning itself between religious idealism and varying societal, economic and material demands. As a result, some scholars like Fandy Mamoun have stated that "In Saudi Arabia, different times and different places exist at once. Saudi Arabia is both a pre-modern and a post-modern society." The legal approach is characterized by taking from all law schools (''[[Madhhab|Madhabs]]'') through Scriptural precedents to sustain a legal system compatible with modernity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Al-Atawneh |first=Muhammad |title=Wahhābī Islam Facing the Challenges of Modernity |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2010 |isbn=9789004184695 |location=Leiden |pages=xiii–xxii, 81, 147–149 |chapter=4: Modern Wahhabi Jurisprudence}}</ref>

In opposition to the ''Taqlid'' doctrine, Wahhabi scholars advocated the proof-evaluation theory which believes in the continuous appearance of absolute ''[[Mujtahid]]s'' (''Mujtahid Mutlaq'') and claims an ''[['ijma|<nowiki/>'Ijma]]'' (scholarly consensus) that the doors of ''[[Independent legal reasoning in Islamic law|Ijtihad]]'' remain always open. This juristic approach had enabled flexibility in response of Wahhabi legal bodies to modernity. These include the encouragement of mass-media like [[television]], [[internet]], etc. to promote virtue. Internet would be made publicly accessible to Saudi citizens as early as 1997.<ref>{{Cite book |last=E. Vogel |first=Frank |title=Islamic Law and Legal System: Studies of Saudi Arabia |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2000 |isbn=9004110623 |location=Leiden |page=78 |chapter=2: Ijtihad as Law: Doctrines for Theory and Practice}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Al-Atawneh |first=Muhammad |title=Wahhābī Islam Facing the Challenges of Modernity |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2010 |isbn=9789004184695 |location=Leiden |pages=65, 115–120 |chapter=}}</ref> In 2000 ''[[fatwa]]'' on the internet, [[Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia|Grand Mufti]] [[Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh|ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Āal al-Shaykh]] explains:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Al-Atawneh |first=Muhammad |title=Wahhābī Islam Facing the Challenges of Modernity |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2010 |isbn=9789004184695 |location=Leiden |page=119 |chapter=6: Wahhabism Applied: Flexibility towards Change}}</ref>
{{blockquote|In my opinion, the Internet is both a blessing and a curse at one and the same time. It is a blessing as long as it used for doing God's will, commanding good and forbidding wrong. However, it is liable to be evil when it aggravates God .... I call our leaders ... to impose [[Internet studies]] primarily in schools and among society.}}

In the financial sector, Wahhabi approach is based on [[Islamic economics]]. [[Islamic banking and finance|Islamic banking]] system is encouraged and digital transactions like [[credit card]]s have been sanctioned. Employing the results from observatories to sight the monthly [[Crescent Moon of Islam|Crescent moon]] is today permitted and preferred by the clerics. In the [[medical field]], various ''fatwas'' legalising novel procedures like [[Corneal transplantation|corneal transplant]], [[Autopsy|autopsies]], [[organ donation]]s, etc. have been issued. In marital and gender-related issues, [[Divorce in Islam|divorce]] is encouraged for incompitable marriages. On the issues of [[birth control]], [[abortion]]s and [[family planning]], the legal bodies are conservative and generally prohibit them, viewing them as a contrary to [[Quran|Qur'anic]] commandments and Islamic principles to raise Muslim population. However, family planning measures are permitted in certain scenarios, wherein the legal principles of necessity are applicable.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Al-Atawneh |first=Muhammad |title=Wahhābī Islam Facing the Challenges of Modernity |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2010 |isbn=9789004184695 |location=Leiden |pages=121–179 |chapter=}}</ref> The Board of Senior Ulema (BSU) stated in a 1976 ''fatwa'':<ref>{{Cite book |last=Al-Atawneh |first=Muhammad |title=Wahhābī Islam Facing the Challenges of Modernity |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2010 |isbn=9789004184695 |location=Leiden |pages=136–137 |chapter=6: Wahhabism Applied – Flexibility Towards Change}}</ref>
{{blockquote|wBirth control and contraception, due to fear of want (''khishyat al-imlāq'') are prohibited, since God guaranties the sustenance of His creatures. However, if birth control comes to avoid harm to the woman ... or in cases in which both spouses agree that it is in their best welfare to prevent or postpone a pregnancy, then birth control is permitted.}}

== Jurisprudence ==
{{Main|Fiqh|Madhhab}}

Wahhabi approach to ''Fiqh'' radically challenged prevalent conventions of school ''Taqlid'' and was based on Ibn Taymiyya's broader theological call for a return to the values of the ''[[Salaf|Salaf al-Salih]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=E. Vogel |first=Frank |title=Islamic Law and Legal System: Studies of Saudi Arabia |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2000 |isbn=9004110623 |location=Leidens |page=71 |chapter=2: Ijtihad as Law}}</ref> Of the four major [[Sources of Sharia|sources]] in [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] ''[[Fiqh]]''{{snd}}the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'', the ''[[Sunni Islam|Sunna]]'', ''[[Ijma|<nowiki/>'Ijma]]'' (juristic consensus) and ''[[Qiyas]]'' (analogical reasoning){{snd}}Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's writings emphasized the ''Qur'an'' and ''Sunna''. He used ''<nowiki/>'ijma'' only "in conjunction with its corroboration of the ''Qur'an'' and ''[[hadith]]''"{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|p=97}} (and giving preference to the ''ijma'' of Muhammad's [[Companions of the Prophet|companions]] rather than the ''ijma'' of legal specialists after his time), and ''qiyas'' only in cases of extreme necessity.{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|p=96}} He rejected deference to past juridical opinion (''[[taqlid]]'') in favor of independent reasoning (''[[ijtihad]]''), and opposed using local customs.{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|p=100}} He urged his followers to "return to the primary sources" of Islam in order "to determine how the ''Qur'an'' and [[Muhammad in Islam|Muhammad]] dealt with specific situations" without being beholden to the interpretations of previous Islamic scholarship, while engaging in ''Ijtihad''.{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|pp=107–108}}

Historically, many established figures from Hanbalite and [[Shafiʽi school|Shafiite]] schools were noteworthy for their denunciation of ''taqlid'' since the classical period. Influenced by these scholars, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, fervently denounced ''Taqlid'' and upheld that the Gates of ''[[Independent legal reasoning in Islamic law|Ijtihad]]'' remained open.<ref>{{Cite book |last=E. Vogel |first=Frank |title=Islamic Law and Legal System: Studies of Saudi Arabia |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2000 |isbn=9004110623 |location=Leiden |pages=62, 211 |chapter=}}</ref> According to [[Edward Mortimer]], it was imitation of past judicial opinion in the face of clear contradictory evidence from ''hadith'' or ''Qur'anic'' text that Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab condemned.<ref name="Mortimer61">Mortimer, Edward, ''Faith and Power: The Politics of Islam'', Vintage Books, 1982, p. 61</ref> According to Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his followers, God's commandments to obey Him alone and follow the Prophetic teachings, necessitated a complete adherence to ''Qur'an'' and ''hadith''. This entailed a rejection of all interpretations offered by the four legal schools – including the ''Muwahhidun''<nowiki/>'s own Hanbali school – wherein they contradict the two primary sources.<ref name="L. Esposito 1995 308" /><ref name="Naghma 2015 79"/>

=== Perspective on other schools ===
Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab asserted that every Muslim layman, even one without modest educational credentials, have a duty to read and study the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and the ''[[Sunnah]]''; encouraging them to research religious scriptures. Regional rivals castigated him as a self-taught "ignorant" since "knowledge could come only from being taught by shaykhs" and not by treating the Scriptures as one's teacher. Although the issue of ''[[ijtihad]]'' and rejection of ''[[taqlid]]'' were central themes of his doctrines, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab did not lay down his approach to ''[[Principles of Islamic jurisprudence|Usul-al Fiqh]]'' (Principles of Jurisprudence) comprehensively. Rather, that was left to his son-in-law and pupil Hamad ibn Nasir ibn Mu'ammar ({{died-in|{{CE|1811}}/AH 1225}}), who would explicate a clarified Wahhabi position on ''Usul al-Fiqh'', after Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab. Moreover, in his writings, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab relied primarily only on ''[[hadith]]'' (Prophetic traditions) rather than opinions of early Hanbali jurists. This stance arose uncertainty over his formal affiliation to the [[Hanbali|Hanbali ''mad'hab'']] and would lead many local Hanbalite detractors to accuse him of undermining classical ''[[fiqh]]'' in general. Despite their conceptual doctrine based on repudiation of ''[[taqlid]]'' (emulating legal precedent) to a legal school and jettisoning the juristic super-structure that developed after the Islamic fourth century; in-order to lower clerical resistance to their campaign; Wahhabis sustained the local juristic tradition of Najd, which was based on Hanbalism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crawford |first=Michael |title=Makers of the Muslim World: Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab |publisher=One World Publications |date=2014 |isbn=9781780745893 |location=London |pages=51, 56–57}}</ref>

According to an expert on law in Saudi Arabia (Frank Vogel), Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab himself "produced no unprecedented opinions". The "Wahhabis' bitter differences with other Muslims were not over ''fiqh'' rules at all, but over [[Aqidah|''<nowiki/>'aqida'']], or theological positions".<ref>{{cite book |last=Vogel |first=Frank E |title=Islamic Law and Legal Systems: Studies of Saudi Arabia |publisher=Leiden |date=2000 |page=76}}</ref> Professor of history at [[Dickinson College]], [[David Commins]] also states that early disputes with other [[Muslims]] did not center on ''[[fiqh]]'', and that the belief that the distinctive character of Wahhabism stems from Hanbali legal thought is a "myth".<ref name="Commins12">{{harvnb|Commins|2006|p=12}}.</ref> Some scholars are ambivalent as to whether Wahhabis belong to the Hanbali legal school. The ''Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World'' maintains Wahhabis "rejected all jurisprudence that in their opinion did not adhere strictly to the letter of the Qur'an and the hadith".<ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World |date=2004 |publisher=Macmillan Reference |page=728 |editor-first=Richard C. |editor-last=Martin}}</ref> Cyril Glasse's ''[[The New Encyclopedia of Islam]]'' states that "strictly speaking", Wahhabis "do not see themselves as belonging to any school",<ref>{{cite book |last=Glasse |first=Cyril |title=The New Encyclopedia of Islam |date=2001 |publisher=AltaMira Press |pages=469–470}}</ref> and that in doing so they correspond to the ideal aimed at by [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal|Ibn Hanbal]], and thus they can be said to be of his 'school'.<ref name="Mortimer61" /><ref>Glasse, Cyril, ''The New Encyclopedia of Islam'' Altamira, 2001, p. 407</ref> According to [[Natana J. DeLong-Bas|DeLong-Bas]], Ibn Abd al-Wahhab never directly claimed to be a Hanbali jurist, warned his followers about the dangers of adhering unquestionably to ''Fiqh'', and did not consider "the opinion of any law school to be binding". In the absence of a ''[[hadith]]'', he encouraged following the examples of the [[companions of Muhammad]] rather than following a law school.<ref>{{harvnb|DeLong-Bas|2004|p={{page needed|date=June 2021}}}}.</ref> He did, however, follow the Hanbali methodology of judging everything not explicitly forbidden to be permissible, avoiding the use of ''[[qiyas]]'' (analogical reasoning), and taking ''[[maslaha]]'' (public interest) and ''[[Adl|<nowiki/>'adl]]'' (justice) into consideration.{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|pp=112–113}}

=== Ibn Mu'ammar's Legal Theory ===
[[File:Rasa'ail wa Fatawa Ibn Muammar.jpeg|thumb|right| Compilation of ibn Mu'ammar's treatises and legal verdicts published by [[Rashid Rida|Sayyid Rashid Rida]] in 1925–{{CE|1926}}]]
While Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab himself was not inclined to adhere to a particular ''[[Madhhab|madhab]]'', many of his followers would perpetuate the Hanbali legal theory.<ref>{{Cite book |last=H. Warren |first=David |title=Rivals in the Gulf |publisher=Routledge: Taylor & Francis |date=2021 |isbn=9780367280628 |location=Abingdon, Oxfordshire |page=5}}</ref> Hanbali jurist Hamad ibn Nasir ibn Mu'ammar (AH 1160–1125/ 1747–{{CE|1810}}) laid out a comprehensive legal theory in his treatises like ''[https://ar.m.wikisource.org/wiki/%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%AF_%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%82%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%AF Risala al-Ijtihad wal Taqlid]'' ("Treatise on Ijtihad and Taqlid") which became influential in the scholarly circles of the ''Muwahhidun''. Ibn Mu'ammar believed that maintaining the practice of ''Ijtihad'' in every era was a religious obligation and tasked the [[Ulama|Islamic scholars]] for carrying out this responsibility. This was to be done through proof evaluation from the Scriptures and by employing ''[[Principles of Islamic jurisprudence|Usul al-Fiqh]]'' (Principles of Jurisprudence). Based on one's expertise and knowledge, Ibn Mu'ammar ranked a hierarchy of ''[[Faqīh|Fuqaha]]'' (Islamic jurists) for carrying out the duty of issuing ''fatwas''. At the top was the absolute ''[[Independent legal reasoning in Islamic law|Mujtahid]]'' who issues verdicts solely based on the principles (''Usul'') of his madhab by independently determining the preponderant view from all the possible scenarios tracked down by himself as well as supplement the former rulings. After this came the 3 levels of partial ''Ijtihad'' which limited the scope of research: initially just to the past opinions, then to the rulings found in the 4 ''[[Madhhab|madhabs]]'' and finally to the views within one's own ''madhab''. The lowest of Ibn Mu'ammar's hierarchy constituted the non-Mujtahid laity who are required to directly engage with the Scriptural sources in consultation with scholars, as well as by analysing past scholarly works. Thus, Ibn Mu'ammar's legal theory strived for the reconciliation between the [[Islah|reformist]] programme of the ''Muwahhidin'' and the classical jurisprudential structures. What made Ibn Mu'ammar's proposed system unique was its "microcosmic" and flexible nature; which permitted the scholars to simultaneously represent different ranks within the hierarchy to carry out their responsibilities of ''Ijtihad''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=E. Vogel |first=Frank |title=Islamic Law and Legal System: Studies of Saudi Arabia |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2000 |isbn=9004110623 |location=Leiden |pages=66–67, 326–328 |chapter=}}</ref>

The Wahhabi legal theory stipulated proof-evaluation based on Hanbali principles as one of its major hallmarks. By claiming themselves as Hanbali, ''Muwahhidun'' scholars implied directly adhering to the five ''[[Principles of Islamic jurisprudence|Usul al-Fiqh]]'' (Principles of jurisprudence) of the Hanbali school.<ref>{{Cite book |last=E. Vogel |first=Frank |title=Islamic Law and Legal System: Studies of Saudi Arabia |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2000 |isbn=9004110623 |location=Leiden |pages=66–67, 70, 73 |chapter=}}</ref> Despite the main methodology of ''Wahhabi movement'' being derived from Hanbalite Ahl al-Hadith, scholars also take the rulings from other ''Madhhabs'', as long they regard them as being verified through Hadith and traditions or [[Sunnah]] authenticated by Sahabah. (''Qaul Sahabiyyah'' according to modern contemporary Muslim scholars<ref name="Qawl">{{cite journal |last1=Singgih |first1=Muhammad |title=Hujjah Qaul Shabat Dalam Perspektif Hukum Islam Huggah Qaul Sahabat |journal=An Naba |date=2018 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=40–41 |url= https://ejurnal.darulfattah.ac.id/index.php/Annaba/article/view/7 |access-date=15 December 2021 |publisher=An Nab |language=id |archive-date=15 December 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211215131823/https://ejurnal.darulfattah.ac.id/index.php/Annaba/article/view/7 |url-status=live}}</ref>). Prominent Wahhabi scholar [[Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen|Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen]] derived rulings from the [[Shafiʽi school|Shafiite]] jurisprudence in his commentary of [[The Meadows of the Righteous]] book authored by [[al-Nawawi]], wherein the [[Ijtihad]] (reasoning) of Abu Hurairah was taken by al-Nawawi for rulings of [[Wudu]] (ablution ritual).<ref name="Nawawi Riyadhus Shalihin commentary Uthaymin">{{cite book |last1=ibn al-Uthaymeen |first1=Muhammad |author1-link=Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen |title=Syarah Riyadh as Shalihin |trans-title=commentary of The Meadows of the Righteous |page=360 |date=2020 |publisher=Darul Falah |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eqcPEAAAQBAJ |access-date=15 December 2021 |language=id}}</ref>

== Social reform ==
{{See also|Islah|Tajdid}}
[[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab]] concerned himself with the social reformation of his people. He stressed the importance of education, especially for females and encouraged women to be active in educational endeavours and lead various communal and social activities. [[Diriyah]] had become a major centre of learning and foreign travellers often noted the higher literacy rates of townsfolk of Central Arabia. In line with his methodology, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab also denounced the practice of instant ''triple talaq'', counting it as only a single [[Divorce in Islam|''talaq'']] (regardless of the number of pronouncements). The outlawing of ''triple talaq'' has been considered to be one of the most significant reforms in the Islamic World in the 20th and 21st centuries. As an 18th-century reformer, Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab advocated ''Ijtihad'' of qualified scholars in accordance with the teachings of [[Quran|''Qur'an'']] and [[Hadith|''Hadeeth'']]. His thoughts reflected the major trends apparent in the 18th-century [[Islah|Islamic reform]] movements. Numerous significant socio-economic reforms would be advocated by the Imam during his lifetime. After his death, his followers continued his legacy. Notable [[Faqīh|jurists]] like Ibn Mu'ammar (AH 1160–1225/ 1747–{{CE|1810}}) would issue ground-breaking ''[[fatwa]]s'' (legal verdicts) on contemporary issues such as authorization of [[Smallpox vaccine|small-pox vaccinations]]; at a time when [[Vaccine hesitancy#Smallpox vaccination|opposition to small-pox vaccinations]] was widespread among the scientific and political elites of [[Europe]]. Many women were influential in various reformist endeavours of the ''Muwahhidun''; such as mass-education, communal activities, campaigns against [[Superstitions in Muslim societies|superstitions]], etc. These included Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's own daughter Fatimah, a revered [[Ulama|Islamic scholar]] who travelled far and wide; and taught numerous men and women. However, future events such as the destruction of the [[Emirate of Diriyah]] in the [[Wahhabi War]]s of 1818, subsequent persecution of Salafis and other [[Islah|Islamic reformers]], etc. would result in a halt to the social reforms implemented by the Wahhabi jurists and their suspicions towards the outside world would linger throughout the 19th century.{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|pp=8, 109–110, 173}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=11 August 2021 |script-title=ar:"أجازه" فقيه حنبلي قبل قرنين ورفضته جامعة باريس ومنعته كنائس الغرب |trans-title=It was "authorized" by a Hanbali jurist two centuries ago, and it was rejected by the University of Paris and forbidden by the churches of the West |url= https://www.aljazeera.net/turath/2021/11/9/%d8%a3%d8%ac%d8%a7%d8%b2%d9%87-%d9%81%d9%82%d9%8a%d9%87-%d8%ad%d9%86%d8%a8%d9%84%d9%8a-%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%81%d8%b6%d8%aa%d9%87-%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%85%d8%b9%d8%a9-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%b3 |work=Al Jazeera |access-date=18 January 2022 |archive-date=18 January 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220118111812/https://www.aljazeera.net/turath/2021/11/9/%d8%a3%d8%ac%d8%a7%d8%b2%d9%87-%d9%81%d9%82%d9%8a%d9%87-%d8%ad%d9%86%d8%a8%d9%84%d9%8a-%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%81%d8%b6%d8%aa%d9%87-%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%85%d8%b9%d8%a9-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%b3 |url-status=live |last1=ريان |first1=براء نزار }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=Islam, Revival, and Reform: Redefining Tradition for the Twenty-First Century – Essays Inspired by John O. Voll |publisher=Syracuse University Press |date=2022 |isbn=9780815637530 |pages=3–29 |chapter=1: The Role of Women in Solidifying Eighteenth-Century Revival and Reform Initiatives into Ongoing Mass Movements}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mukhlid al-Harbi |first=Dalal |title=Prominent Women from Central Arabia |publisher=Ithaca Press |date=2008 |isbn=9780863723278 |editor-last=Ann Roberg-Abahsain |editor-first=Jill |pages= |language=ar |translator-last=Abahsain |translator-last2=al-Furaih |translator-first=Muhammad M. |translator-first2=Mohammad A.}}</ref>

With the resurgence of rising [[Islah|reform]] currents of ''[[Salafiyya]]'' across the Muslim world from the late 19th century, the Wahhabis of Najd too underwent a rejuvenation. After the establishment of the [[Saudi Arabia|Third Saudi State]] and [[Unification of Saudi Arabia]], a ''Salafiyya'' Global movement would crystallise with the backing of a state. [[Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia|Ibn Saud]]'s reforms would get criticism from zealots amongst some of his Wahhabi clergy-men; reminiscent of the 19th-century harshness. However, other ''[[Ulama|ulema]]'' would allow them, eventually paving way for gradual reforms in KSA. Thus, new education policies would be approved that taught foreign languages, sciences, geography, etc. Overruling the objections of ''[[Ikhwan]]'', the Wahhabi ''ulema'' would permit the introduction of telegraph and other wireless communication systems. Soon after, oil industries would be developed with the discovery of petroleum. Influential clerics such as [[Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Sheikh|Mufti Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Aal ash-Shaykh]] would endorse female education.{{sfn|Commins|2006|pp=90–102, 111–13}}

=== Politics ===
{{See also|Political aspects of Islam|Political Islam|Islamism}}
[[File:First_saudi_state.png|thumb|upright=1.25|Military campaigns and political expansion of the [[Emirate of Diriyah]] (1744 – {{CE|1814}})]]
According to ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab; there are three objectives for [[Islamic state|Islamic government]] and [[Islamic culture|society]]: "to believe in Allah, enjoin good behavior, and forbid wrongdoing". This doctrine has been sustained in missionary literature, sermons, ''[[fatwa]]'' rulings, and explications of religious doctrine by Wahhabis since the death of ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab.<ref name="LofC" /> Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab saw a role for the ''[[Imam]]'', "responsible for religious matters", and the ''[[Emir|Amir]]'', "in charge of political and military issues".{{sfn|DeLong-Bas|2004|pp=34–35}} Despite this, in [[History of Saudi Arabia|Saudi history]]; the ''[[Imam]]'' had not been a religious preacher or scholar, but [[Muhammad bin Saud Al Muqrin|Muhammad ibn Saud]] and the subsequent [[House of Saud|Saudi dynastic]] rulers.<ref name="Gold-21" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: History. Rulers of the first Saudi state |url= http://www.info.gov.sa/portals/kingdom/KingdomHistory.html |website=info.gov.sa |publisher=Government of Saudi Arabia |access-date=20 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121219045347/http://www.info.gov.sa/portals/kingdom/KingdomHistory.html |archive-date=19 December 2012}} (note the first four Saudi monarchs have the title Imam.)</ref><ref>Vogel, Frank E, ''Islamic Law and Legal Systems: Studies of Saudi Arabia'' (Leiden, 2000), p. 207</ref>

He also believed that the Muslim ruler is owed unquestioned allegiance as a religious obligation from his subjects; so long as he leads the community according to the laws of God (''[[Sharia|Shari'ah]]''). A Muslim must present a ''[[bay'ah]]'' (oath of allegiance) to a Muslim ruler during his lifetime to ensure his redemption after death.<ref name="LofC">{{cite web |title=Saudi Arabia. Wahhabi Theology |url= http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+sa0044%29 |work=December 1992 |publisher=Library of Congress Country Studies |access-date=17 March 2014 |archive-date=7 November 2004 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20041107123733/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+sa0044%29 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=House, Karen Elliott |title=On Saudi Arabia: Its People, past, Religion, Fault Lines and Future |publisher=Knopf |date=2012 |page=27}}</ref> Any counsel given to a ruler from community leaders or ''[[ulama]]'' should be private, not through public acts such as petitions, demonstrations, etc.<ref>{{harvnb|Commins|2009|p=180}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Abir |first=Mordechai |title=Saudi Arabia: Government, Society and the Gulf Crisis |location=London |publisher=Routledge |date=1993 |pages=191–194}}</ref> This principle caused confusion during the dynastic disputes of the Second Saudi State during the late 19th century, when rebels succeeded in overthrowing the monarch, to become ruler.<ref>Struggle between designated heir Abdullah and his half brother Saud</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Commins|2009|p=62}}.</ref> While it gave the king a wide range of power, respecting ''shari'a'' does impose limits, such as giving ''[[qadi]]'' (Islamic judges) independence. This meant non-interference in their deliberations, as well as not codifying laws, following precedents or establishing a uniform system of law courts{{snd}}both of which violate the ''qadi's'' independence.<ref>{{harvnb|Commins|2009|p=115}}.</ref>

Wahhabis have traditionally given their allegiance to the [[House of Saud]], but a movement of "[[Salafist jihadism|Salafi jihadis]]" has emerged in the contemporary among those who believe that Al-Saud has abandoned the laws of God.<ref name="husain">{{cite book |last=Husain |first=Ed |title=The Islamist: Why I joined Radical Islam in Britain, what I saw inside and why I left |url= https://archive.org/details/islamistwhyijoin00husa |url-access=registration |date=2007 |publisher=Penguin Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/islamistwhyijoin00husa/page/246 246] |isbn=9780141030432}}</ref><ref name="Kepel-220">{{harvnb|Kepel|2002|p=[https://archive.org/details/jihad00gill_0/page/220 220]}}.</ref> According to Zubair Qamar, while the "standard view" is that "Wahhabis are apolitical and do not oppose the State", there is another "strain" of Wahhabism that "found prominence among a group of Wahhabis after the fall of the second Saudi State in the 1800s", and post 9/11 is associated with Jordanian/Palestinian scholar [[Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi]] and "Wahhabi scholars of the '[[Hamoud al Aqla al Shuebi|Shu'aybi]]' school".<ref>{{cite web |title=Wahhabism: Understanding the Roots and Role Models of Islamic Fanaticism and Terror |url= http://zubairqamar.com/2014/02/18/wahhabism-understanding-the-roots-and-role-models-of-islamic-fanaticism-and-terror/ |website=Zubair Qamar |ref=18 February 2014 |access-date=4 October 2014 |archive-date=24 July 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180724153914/https://zubairqamar.com/2014/02/18/wahhabism-understanding-the-roots-and-role-models-of-islamic-fanaticism-and-terror/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Wahhabis share the belief of Islamists such as the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] in Islamic dominion over politics and government and the importance of ''[[Dawah|da'wah]]'' (proselytizing or preaching of Islam) not just towards non-Muslims but towards erroring Muslims. However Wahhabi preachers are conservative and do not deal with concepts such as [[social justice]], [[anticolonialism]], or [[Economic inequality#Effects of inequality|economic equality]], expounded upon by Islamist Muslims.<ref name="lacey-islamism">{{harvnb|Lacey|2009|p=[https://archive.org/details/insidekingdomkin00lace_0/page/56 56]}}.</ref> Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's original pact promised whoever championed his message, 'will, by means of it, rule and lands and men'."<ref name="lacey-glory" /> While socio-political issues constituted a major aspect of his [[Islah|reformist]] programme, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab nonetheless didn't advocate revolutionary overthrowal of the ruling order to establish a [[Caliphate]] across the Muslim world. Following the classical Sunni understanding, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab advocated accommodation with the status quo, stating:<ref>{{Cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/1_20191031/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%B1%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9%20%D9%81%D9%8A%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%A9%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A9%209/page/n3/mode/2up |title=الدرر السنية في الأجوبة النجدية |publisher=[[Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University]] |date=1996 |editor-last=ibn Muhammad ibn Qasim Al-Najdi |editor-first='Abd al-Rahman |volume=9 |page=5 |language=ar |trans-title=Al-Durar Al-Sunniyya Fil Ajwabatil Najdiyya (Sunni Pearls from Najdi Answers) |chapter=في الإمامة، والبيعة، والسمع والطاعة |trans-chapter=On Imamate, Allegiance, Hearing and Obedience}}</ref>
{{blockquote|For a very long time, since before the time of Imam [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal|Ahmad]], till nowadays, the people have not united under one single ruler. Nor is it known from any of the scholars that there is any ruling which is invalid except with the [[Caliphate|greater imam]] (''al-imam al-a'zam'').}}18th and 19th century European travellers, [[ambassadors]] and writers considered the ''Muwahhidun'' as championing an "Islamic revolution" that campaigned for a pristine Islam stripped of all complex rituals, cultural accretions, superstitions, etc. and a simpler creedal ethos based on universal brotherhood and fraternity; analogous to various European frondeurs during the [[Age of Revolution]]s. Contemporary European diplomats and observers who witnessed its emergence drew parallels with the [[American Revolution|American]] and [[French Revolution|French revolutions]] in Wahhabi opposition to [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] clerical hierarchy and foreign imperialism; with some even labelling them as "Wahhabi [[Jacobin]]s" and its reformist efforts as a sort of "Protestantism".{{sfn|Coller|2022|pp=151–152}}{{sfn|Bayley|2010|pp=31–34}}{{sfn|Bonacina|2015|pp=5–6}}

[[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] historian [[Christopher Bayly|Christopher Allen Bayly]] noted that the religious movement of the Arabian ''Muwahhidun'' also had a revolutionary political programme comparable to the [[Age of Revolutions|European revolutions]] in the 18th and 19th centuries. The difference lied in their political language; wherein themes of [[anti-imperialism]], opposition to foreign aggression, promotion of [[civic values]], [[Civic duties|duties]] & [[Civic rights|rights]], etc. were conveyed to the local populace in terms of [[Islamic culture|Islamic values]].{{sfn|Bayley|2010|pp=21–41}} Tracing the movement's popularity to the wider phenomenon of [[Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman decline]], the far-reaching [[Influence of the French Revolution|impacts of the French revolution]] on the [[Arab world]]; and deciphering the sudden collapse of its revolutionary [[Emirate]] to invasion by military despots of the old order; Bayly wrote:{{sfn|Bayley|2010|pp=31-32}}
{{blockquote|the [[Wahhabi War|Wahhabi revolt]] against intrusive [[Ottoman rule]] and the decline of proper religious observance in the cities of [[Saudi Arabia]] should be regarded as a variety of world revolution .... [[Muhammad bin Saud Al Muqrin|Ibn Saud]]'s revolt began in the 1740s, before the [[American Revolution|American]] and [[European Revolutions|European revolutions]], but arose as an analogous response to the pressures of taxation and state interference in formerly independent communities .... [T]he influence of Wahhabism persisted indirectly across the Muslim world, inspiring imitations and reactions among the Muslim [[Sufi brotherhood]]s of [[North Africa|North]] and [[East Africa]] over the next hundred years .... [I]f we examine the social roots of [[revolution]], the word may be appropriate for these events within Islam .... [T]hese were often revolts of underprivileged suburbanites, the semi-settled [[bedouin]] on the fringe of the Muslim urban economies. These revolts exemplified that perennial conflict between the nomad and the city noted by [[Ibn Khaldun]] in the [[Islamic Golden Age|Middle Ages]].}}

== Prevalence ==
[[File:View of Lejbailat and State Mosque.jpg|thumb|257x257px|The [[Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque]] in [[Doha]], [[Qatar]]]]
The Wahhabi movement, while predominant across Saudi Arabia, was established from the Najd region, and it is there that its conservative practices have the strongest support, more so than in regions in the kingdom to the east or west of it.{{efn|at least one scholar (David Commins), sometimes refers to Wahhabism as the
"Najdi reform movement",<ref>{{harvnb|Commins|2009|p=41}}.</ref>
"Najdi movement",<ref>{{harvnb|Commins|2009|p=141}}.</ref>
"Najdi doctrine",<ref>{{harvnb|Commins|2009|p=152}}.</ref> and "Najdi mission"<ref>{{harvnb|Commins|2009|p=204}}.</ref>}}<ref>{{cite book |author=House, Karen Elliott |title=On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines and Future |publisher=Knopf |date=2012 |page=235}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bradley |first=John R. |date=2005 |title=Saudi Arabia Exposed |url= https://archive.org/details/saudiarabiaexpos00brad |url-access=registration |publisher=Macmillan |page=[https://archive.org/details/saudiarabiaexpos00brad/page/58 58] |isbn=9781403964335}}</ref> Cyril Glasse credits the softening of some Wahhabi doctrines and practices outside of the Najd region on the conquest of the Hejaz region "with its more cosmopolitan traditions and the traffic of pilgrims which the new rulers could not afford to alienate".<ref name="Glasse-heretics"/> Aside from Saudi Arabia, the only other country whose native population is predominantly Wahhabi is the adjacent gulf monarchy of [[Qatar]].<ref name="dorsey">{{cite web |last=Dorsey |first=James M. |title=Wahhabism vs. Wahhabism: Qatar Challenges Saudi Arabia |url= http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=61189 |work=2013-09-08 |publisher=Middle East Online |access-date=28 April 2014 |archive-date=3 September 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140903063553/http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=61189 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Cole">{{cite book |last=Cole |first=Juan |title=Engaging the Muslim World |date=2009 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9780230620575 |page=[https://archive.org/details/engagingmuslimwo00cole/page/110 110] |url= https://archive.org/details/engagingmuslimwo00cole |url-access=registration}}</ref> Estimates of the number of adherents to Wahhabism vary.{{efn|Other sources give far lower numbers of Shia though they do not estimate the number of Wahhabi. 15% of KSA is Shia.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7959531.stm |title=Saudi Arabia's Shia press for rights |publisher=BBC |author=Anees al-Qudaihi |date=24 March 2009 |access-date=4 October 2014 |archive-date=7 April 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100407072038/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7959531.stm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.cfr.org/publication/10903/shiite_muslims_in_the_middle_east.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060717225737/http://www.cfr.org/publication/10903/shiite_muslims_in_the_middle_east.html |archive-date=17 July 2006 |url-status=dead |title=Shiite Muslims in the Middle East |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations |author=Lionel Beehner |date=16 June 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Vali Nasr |title=Shia Revival |date=2006 |page=236}}</ref>}}

The "boundaries" of Wahhabism have been called "difficult to pinpoint",<ref name="threat-define" /> but in contemporary usage, the terms "''Wahhabi''" and "''Salafi''" are sometimes used interchangeably, and they are considered to be movements with different roots that have merged since the 1960s.<ref name="Dillon-3-4">{{cite web |last=Dillon |first=Michael R. |date=September 2009 |title=Wahabism: Is it a Factor in the Spread of Global Terrorism? |url= http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a509109.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140407090159/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a509109.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=7 April 2014 |access-date=2 April 2014 |publisher=Naval Post-Graduate School |pages=3–4}}</ref><ref>Stephane Lacroix, [https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/17210/ISIM_21_Al-Albani-s_Revolutionary_Approach_to_Hadith.pdf?sequence=1 Al-Albani's Revolutionary Approach to Hadith] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171010091919/https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/17210/ISIM_21_Al-Albani-s_Revolutionary_Approach_to_Hadith.pdf?sequence=1 |date=10 October 2017}}. ''ISIM Review'', Spring 2008, No. 21.</ref>{{efn|name=hybridation |Salafism has been termed a hybridation between the teachings of Ibn Abdul-Wahhab and others which have taken place since the 1960s.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Stephane |last=Lacroix |title=Al-Albani's Revolutionary Approach to Hadith |journal=ISIM Review |date=Spring 2008 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=6–7 |publisher=Leiden University |hdl=1887/17210 |url= https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2727669/view |access-date=26 June 2021 |archive-date=26 June 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210626201426/https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item:2727669/view |url-status=live}}</ref>}} However, Wahhabism is generally recognised as form of [[Salafi movement|Salafism]]", contextualised as an ultra-conservative, Saudi brand of the wider movement.<ref name="washingtonpost.com">{{cite news |title=For Conservative Muslims, Goal of Isolation a Challenge |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090401107_2.html |access-date=13 November 2014 |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-date=7 November 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121107042315/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090401107_2.html |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Esposito|2011|p=54}} [[Muhammad Iqbal]], praised the 18th-century Najdi movement as "the first throb of life in modern Islam", and noted that its influence on 19th-century religious reformers was "traceable, directly or indirectly [in] nearly all the great modern movements of Muslim Asia and Africa".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Iqbal |first=Muhammad |title=The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam |publisher=Stanford University Press |date=2013 |isbn=9780804781466 |page=121 |quote="But the spirit of Ibn Taymiyyah's teaching found a fuller expression in a movement of immense potentialities which arose in the eighteenth century, from the sands of Nejd, described by Macdonald as the "cleanest spot in the decadent world of Islam". It is really the first throb of life in modern Islam. To the inspiration of this movement are traceable, directly or indirectly, nearly all the great modem movements of Muslim Asia and Africa, e.g. the Sanusl movement, the Pan-Islamic movement, and the Babi movement, which is only a Persian reflex of Arabian Protestantism."}}</ref>

== Notable leaders ==
There has traditionally been a recognized head of the Wahhabi "religious estate", often a member of [[Al ash-Sheikh]] (a descendant of [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab]]) or related to another religious head. For example, Abd al-Latif was the son of Abd al-Rahman ibn Hasan.
* Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792) was the founder of the Wahhabi movement.{{sfn|Commins|2009|p=210}}<ref>[[Khaled Abou El Fadl]] (2002), ''The Place of Tolerance in Islam'', p. 8. Beacon Press. {{ISBN|0807002291}}.</ref>
* [[Abdullah bin Muhammad Al Sheikh|'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab]] (1752–1826) was the head of Wahhabism after his father retired from public life in 1773. After the fall of the [[Emirate of Diriyah|first Saudi emirate]], Abd Allah went into exile in Cairo where he died.{{sfn|Commins|2009|p=210}}
* [[Sulayman ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab|Sulayman ibn 'Abd Allah]] (1780–1818) was a grandson of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and author of an influential treatise that restricted travel to and residing in land of idolaters.{{sfn|Commins|2009|p=210}}[[File:Abd ar-Rahman ibn Nasir as-Sa'di.jpg|thumb|Influential [[Hanbali]] jurist and ''[[Mufassir]]'' [[Abdul-Rahman al-Sa'di|ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Nāṣir al-Siʿdī]] ({{langx|ar|عبد الرحمن بن ناصر السعدي}}; AH 1307–1376)]]
* 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Hasan (1780–1869) was head of the religious estate in the [[Emirate of Nejd|second Saudi emirate]].{{sfn|Commins|2009|p=210}}
* 'Abd al-Latif ibn 'Abd al-Rahman (1810–1876) Head of religious estate in 1860 and early 1870s.{{sfn|Commins|2009|p=210}}
* [[Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Latif Al ash-Sheikh]] (1848–1921) was the head of religious estate during period of Rashidi rule and the early years of King Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud.{{sfn|Commins|2009|p=210}}
* [[Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Sheikh]] (1893–1969) was the head of Wahhabism in mid twentieth century. He has been said to have "dominated the Wahhabi religious estate and enjoyed unrivaled religious authority".{{sfn|Commins|2009|p=111}}
* [[Ghaliyya al-Wahhabiyya]] was a Bedouin woman from the town of [[Turubah]] who rose to the rank of "''Amira al-Umara''" ([[generalissimo]]) and led Wahhabi forces in defending [[Mecca]] during the [[Ottoman-Saudi War]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=M. Jackson |first=Guida |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=x3BzmTdQLioC&dq=ghaliyya+al-wahhabiyya&pg=PR42 |title=Women Rulers Throughout the Ages: An Illustrated Guide |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |date=1999 |isbn=1576070913 |location=Santa Barbara, CAalifornia |page=xlii |chapter=Introduction}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=M. Jackson |first=Guida |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oclHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA141 |title=Women Leaders of Africa, Asia, Middle East and Pacific: A Biographical Reference |publisher=Xlibris |date=2009 |isbn=9781441558442 |page=141}}</ref>
* [[Abd al-Aziz Bin Baz|'Abd al-Azeez ibn Baz]] (1910–1999) has been called "the most prominent proponent" of Wahhabism during his time.<ref name="murphy-commins" />
* [[Muhammad ibn al Uthaymeen|Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen]] (1925–2001) is another "giant". According to David Dean Commins, no one "has emerged" with the same "degree of authority in the Saudi religious establishment" since their deaths.<ref name="murphy-commins">{{cite web |author=Caryle Murphy |date=15 July 2010 |title=A Kingdom Divided |publisher=GlobalPost |url= http://islamdag.info/story/415 |access-date=6 May 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140505024018/http://islamdag.info/story/415 |archive-date=5 May 2014}}</ref>

== International influence and propagation ==
{{Main|Arab Cold War|International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism|Petro-Islam}}
{{Further|International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism by region|Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict}}

=== Explanation for influence ===
{{proseline|date=February 2025}}
[[Khaled Abou El Fadl]] listed four major factors that contributed to expansion of Wahhabi ideas across the [[Muslim world|Islamic World]]:
* The appeal of [[Arab nationalism]], which considered the [[Ottoman Empire]] to be a foreign occupying power and took a powerful precedent from the Wahhabi rebellion against the Ottomans
* Wahhabi calls for a return to the pristine Islam of the ''[[Salaf|Salaf al-Salih]]'' (righteous predecessors) which rejected much of the classical legal precedents; instead deriving directly from ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'', ''[[Hadith]]'' and the sayings of the ''Salaf''; through ''[[Ijtihad]]''. This also appealed to the Islamic reformers who pushed for a revival of ''ijtihad'', and a direct return to the original sources for interpreting the ''Qur'an'' and ''[[Sunnah]]'', to seek solutions to the present day problems.
* Control of [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]], which allowed the [[King of Saudi Arabia]] to take the mantle of "[[Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques]]". This enabled the Wahhabis to exert great influence on Islamic culture and thinking;
* [[Saudi Aramco|Saudi Oil industry]], especially after its boom during the [[1970s energy crisis]], allowed Saudi Arabia to successfully promote their interpretations of Islam throughout the [[Muslim world|Islamic World]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abou El Fadl |first=Khalid |title=The Great Theft |publisher=HarperCollins |date=2005 |isbn=9780060563394 |location=New York |pages=70–72}}</ref>

[[Peter Mandaville]] lists two more reasons:<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mandaville |first1=Peter |title=Wahhabism and the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia's Global Influence on Islam |last2=Hammond |first2=Andrew |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2022 |isbn=9780197532577 |pages=11–12 |chapter=1: Wahhabism and the World: The Historical Evolution, Structure, and Future of Saudi Religious Transnationalism}}</ref>
* Societal factors: With the influx of modernity, younger generations of [[Muslims]] increasingly departed from the "localized" religious understanding of their parents and looked up to a [[Pan-Islamism|pan-Islamic]] outlook authentically rooted in Scriptures and early generations of ''[[Salaf|Salaf al-Salih]]''
* Rise of other native [[Islah|Islamic reformist]] movements such as the ''[[Ahl-i Hadith|Ahl-e Hadith]]'' in [[South Asia]] and the ''[[Salafi movement|Salafiyya]]'' movement in the [[Arab world]] which shared a common religious outlook. These movements expanded collaboration in various socio-economic, political and educational fields and formed a joint intellectual alliance. Additionally, influential conservative reform movements like [[Deobandi]]sm began co-operating with Wahhabis to a certain extent, despite doctrinal variations

According to French scholar and critic of [[Islamism]] [[Gilles Kepel]],  the tripling in the price of oil in the mid-1970s and the progressive takeover of [[Saudi Aramco]] in the 1974–1980 period, provided the source of much influence of Wahhabism in the [[Muslim World|Islamic World]].{{efn|... the financial clout of Saudi Arabia had been amply demonstrated during the oil embargo against the United States, following the Arab-Israeli war of 1973. This show of international power, along with the nation's astronomical increase in wealth, allowed Saudi Arabia's puritanical, conservative Wahhabite faction to attain a preeminent position of strength in the global expression of Islam. Saudi Arabia's impact on Muslims throughout the world was less visible than that of Khomeini's Iran, but the effect was deeper and more enduring{{spaces}}... it reorganized the religious landscape by promoting those associations and ulamas who followed its lead, and then, by injecting substantial amounts of money into Islamic interests of all sorts, it won over many more converts. Above all, the Saudis raised a new standard{{snd}}the virtuous Islamic civilization{{snd}}as foil for the corrupting influence of the West.<ref name="Kepel-petro" />}}

=== Funding ===
Estimates of Saudi spending on religious causes abroad include "upward of $100{{spaces}}billion";<ref>documentary ''The Qur'an'' aired in the UK, [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-and-tv/tv-radio-reviews/last-nights-tv-the-quran-channel-4-banged-up-five-867474.html ''The Qur'an'' review in ''The Independent''] {{Webarchive|url= https://swap.stanford.edu/20100416011259/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts%2Dentertainment/film%2Dand%2Dtv/tv%2Dradio%2Dreviews/last%2Dnights%2Dtv%2Dthe%2Dquran%2Dchannel%2D4%2Dbanged%2Dup%2Dfive%2D867474.html |date=16 April 2010}}</ref> $2–3{{spaces}}billion per year since 1975 (compared to the annual [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] propaganda budget of $1{{spaces}}billion/year);<ref name="deadly">Yahya Birt, an academic who is director of The City Circle, a networking body of young British Muslim professionals, quoted in [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/wahhabism-a-deadly-scripture-398516.html Wahhabism: A deadly scripture] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101209021212/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/wahhabism-a-deadly-scripture-398516.html |date=9 December 2010}}| Paul Vallely 1 November 2007</ref> and "at least $87{{spaces}}billion" from 1987 to 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.globalpolitician.com/23661-saudi |title=Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism and the Spread of Sunni Theofascism |date=22 October 2007 |work=Global Politician |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080610043506/http://www.globalpolitician.com/23661-saudi |archive-date=10 June 2008 |author=Curtin Winsor}}</ref> Reliability of these rough estimates have been disputed due to their inconsistencies and lack of a scientific methodology for precise quantification.<ref name="Oxford University Press">{{Cite book |last1=Mandaville |first1=Peter |title=Wahhabism and the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia's Global Influence on Islam |last2=Hammond |first2=Andrew |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2022 |isbn=9780197532577 |pages=6–10 |chapter=1: Wahhabism and the World: The Historical Evolution, Structure, and Future of Saudi Religious Transnationalism}}</ref>

Its largesse funded an estimated "90% of the expenses of the entire faith", throughout the Muslim world, according to journalist Dawood al-Shirian.<ref name="ReferenceA">Dawood al-Shirian, 'What Is Saudi Arabia Going to Do?' ''Al-Hayat'', 19 May 2003</ref> It extended to young and old, from children's [[madrasah|madrasas]] to high-level scholarship.<ref>Abou al Fadl, Khaled, ''The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists'', HarperSanFrancisco, 2005, pp. 48–64</ref> "Books, scholarships, fellowships, mosques" (for example, "more than 1,500 mosques were built from Saudi public funds over the last 50 years") were paid for.{{sfn|Kepel|2002|p=72}} It rewarded journalists and academics, who followed it and built satellite campuses around [[Egypt]] for [[Al-Azhar University|Al Azhar]], the oldest and most influential Islamic university.<ref name="Murphy, Caryle p. 32">Murphy, Caryle, ''Passion for Islam : Shaping the Modern Middle East: the Egyptian Experience'', Simon and Schuster, 2002 p. 32</ref> Yahya Birt counts spending on "1,500 mosques, 210 Islamic centres and dozens of Muslim academies and schools".<ref name="deadly" /><ref name="Coolsaet">{{cite book |last=Coolsaet |first=Rik |title=Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalisation Challenge: European and American |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Ltd. |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=GOKhAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT126 |editor-first=Rik |editor-last=Coolsaet |chapter=7: Cycles of Revolutionary Terrorism |date=2013 |isbn=9781409476450}}</ref> Apart from state patronage, a major source of proselytization has been the private charities and religious activities of Muslim individuals and organizations.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mandaville |first1=Peter |title=Wahhabism and the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia's Global Influence on Islam |last2=Hammond |first2=Andrew |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2022 |isbn=9780197532577 |pages=8–9 |chapter=1: Wahhabism and the World: The Historical Evolution, Structure, and Future of Saudi Religious Transnationalism}}</ref>

This financial aid has done much to overwhelm less strict local interpretations of Islam, according to observers like Dawood al-Shirian and [[Lee Kuan Yew]],<ref name="ReferenceA" /> arguing that it caused the Saudi interpretation (sometimes called "petro-Islam"{{sfn|Kepel|2002|pp=69–75}}) to be perceived as the correct interpretation{{snd}}or the "gold standard" of Islam{{snd}}in many Muslims' minds.<ref name="Radical Islam in Central Asia">{{cite web |url= http://www.kashmirherald.com/featuredarticle/radicalislam.html |title=Radical Islam in Central Asia |access-date=13 November 2014 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030845/http://www.kashmirherald.com/featuredarticle/radicalislam.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=geiCymK1IWIC&pg=PA71 |title=Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and ... |author=Kuan Yew Lee |author2=Ali Wyne |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=9780262019125 |date=2012}}</ref>

[[Peter Mandaville]] asserts that the commonly reported data estimates regarding Saudi religious funding are unreliable due to the sources being "internally inconsistent" and based on "non-specific hearsay". According to Mandaville, the wide-ranging and controversial usage of the term "Wahhabism" has rendered researching Saudi religious transnationalism and assessing its actual magnitude even more confusing. Moreover, the [[Post–Cold War era|post-Cold War era]] governments had commonly used the label "Wahhabism" to designate a wide swathe of religious sects, including those which were doctrinally at odds with Wahhabism.<ref name="Oxford University Press" />

=== Militant and political Islam ===
{{Further|International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism#Debate over impact on Salafi-Jihadist insurgencies|label1=Debate over Wahhabi influence on Salafi-Jihadism}}

Allegations of links between Wahhabism proper and the ideology of [[Militant Islamism|militant Islamists]] such as [[al-Qaeda]] and [[Islamic State]], have been disputed.<ref name="auto">{{cite journal |issue=1 |title=Al-Qaeda: the misunderstood Wahhabi connection and the ideology of violence |url= https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/International%2520Security/azzaml.pdf |date=February 2003 |location=Washington, DC |journal=Middle East Programme |publisher=THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS |access-date=17 November 2021 |archive-date=4 January 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220104133535/https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/International%20Security/azzaml.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> Throughout the 20th century [[Council of Senior Scholars (Saudi Arabia)|Board of Senior Ulema]] (BSU) of the ''Dar al-Ifta'' in Saudi Arabia, were known for issuing ''fatawa'' which strongly condemned various forms of [[war crimes]] and [[terrorism]], in line with [[Islamic military jurisprudence]]. In a well-known ''[[fatwa]]'' issued at its 32nd session in [[Taif|Ta'if]] on 25 August 1988, the board members recommended the death penalty for acts of terrorism.<ref name="Al-Atawneh 2010 161–162">{{Cite book |last=Al-Atawneh |first=Muhammad |title=Wahhābī Islam Facing the Challenges of Modernity |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2010 |isbn=978900418469-5 |location=Leiden |pages=161–162 |chapter=Appendix A: Translated Decisions of BSU}}</ref> Moreover, the Wahhabi ''[[ulema]]'' of Saudi Arabia had ruled the illegality of all forms of [[suicide bombings]], including in [[Israel]]. The doctrine of suicide bombings which started appearing in the manuals of various Egyptian extremists during the 1970s and 1980s; has been rejected as heretical by the Wahhabi scholars.<ref name="auto" /> Jonathan Sozek reports that while Bin Laden self-identified as a Salafist, he was not affiliated with the Wahhabi movement.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sozek |first=Jonathan |title=Osama bin Laden's Global Islamism and Wahhabi Islam |url= https://www.mcgill.ca/mes/files/mes/MJMESSozek.pdf |website=[[McGill University]] |page=34 |access-date=12 June 2022 |archive-date=26 March 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150326091848/https://www.mcgill.ca/mes/files/mes/MJMESSozek.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Yemeni origins of the [[Bin Laden family]] also reflected a non-Wahhabi heritage.<ref>{{cite journal |date=February 2003 |title=Al-Qaeda: the misunderstood Wahhabi connection and the ideology of violence |url= https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/International%2520Security/azzaml.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Middle East Programme |location=Washington, DC |publisher=The Royal Institute of International Affairs |issue=1 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220104133535/https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/International%20Security/azzaml.pdf |archive-date=4 January 2022 |access-date=17 November 2021 |quote=A number of Islamists claim that Bin Laden has no connection with Wahhabism and also point to his Yemeni background, which is typically non-Wahhabi.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Scheuer |first=Michael |date=7 February 2008 |title=Yemen still close to al-Qaeda's heart |url= http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JB07Ak01.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160702080545/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JB07Ak01.html |archive-date=2 July 2016 |website=Asia Times}}</ref> Bin Laden's feud with the Saudi government intensified during the [[Gulf War]]; prompting Saudi authorities to place Bin Laden under [[house arrest]] in 1991, before exiling him the same year. In 1994, Saudi Arabia revoked Bin Laden's [[citizenship]] and froze all his assets, turning him into a fugitive and the Bin Laden family disowned him. After Saudi pressure on [[Sudan]], the Al-Qaeda leader sought refuge under the [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|Taliban government in Afghanistan]]. Taliban's denial of Saudi requests to extradite Bin Laden led to a diplomatic row between [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|Afghanistan]] and [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 April 2022 |title=Osama bin Laden Fast Facts |work=CNN |url= https://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/30/world/osama-bin-laden-fast-facts/index.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220802200906/https://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/30/world/osama-bin-laden-fast-facts/index.html |archive-date=2 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1 September 2007 |title=Profile: Osama bin Laden |url= https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/profile-osama-bin-laden |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220318095118/https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/profile-osama-bin-laden |archive-date=18 March 2022 |website=Council on Foreign Relations}}</ref> Throughout the 1990s, mainstream Wahhabi clerics in the Kingdom supported [[Coalition of the Gulf War|US-Saudi alliance]] against [[Ba'athist Iraq]] during the [[Gulf War]] and condemned terrorist acts by Al-Qaeda. Anti-establishment Wahhabi scholars have also been vehemently opposed to tactics advocated by Bin Laden, not withstanding their opposition to [[American foreign policy in the Middle East|American foreign policy in West Asia]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gause III |first=F. Gregory |title=Saudi Arabia and the War on Terrorism |url= https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/0817945423_89.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230607234752/https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/0817945423_89.pdf |archive-date=7 June 2023 |website=Hoover Institution |page=91}}</ref> Scholars like [[Professor]] [[F. Gregory Gause, III|F. Gregory Gause]] have strongly opposed hysterical assertions made by [[war hawk]]s in the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]], contrasting their portrayals of Wahhabism with attempts made by [[American militia movement|far-right militants]] to appropriate [[American patriotism]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gause III |first=F. Gregory |title=Saudi Arabia and the War on Terrorism |url= https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/0817945423_89.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230607234752/https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/0817945423_89.pdf |archive-date=7 June 2023 |website=Hoover Institution |pages=90–92}}</ref>

== Contemporary discourse ==
In contemporary{{When|date=April 2025|reason=contemporary to what?}} discourse, the [[post-Soviet states]] widely employ the term ''"Wahhabism"'' to denote any manifestation of Islamic assertion in neighbouring Muslim countries.<ref name="Brill Publishers" /> During the [[Soviet-era]], the Muslim dissidents were usually labelled with terms such as "Sufi" and "fanatic" employing [[Islamophobic]] discourses that aroused hysteria of an underground religious activists threatening the stability of the Marxist order. By the late 1990s, the ''"Wahhabi"'' label would become the most common term to refer to the alleged "Islamic menace" in state propaganda, while "Sufism" was invoked as a "moderate" force that balanced the "radicalism" of those who were being accused as ''"Wahhabis"''. The old-guard of the post-Soviet states found the label useful to depict all opposition as extremists, thereby bolstering their 'strongman' credentials. In short, any Muslim critical of the religious or political status quo, came at risk of being labelled ''"Wahhabi"''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Atkin |first=Muriel |date=2000 |title=The rhetoric of islamophobia |journal=Central Asia and the Caucasus |volume=1 |issue=1 |via=CA & C Press (ca-c.org) |url= https://www.ca-c.org/online/2000/journal_eng/eng01_2000/16.atkin.shtml |url-status=dead |access-date=29 September 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210925070024/https://www.ca-c.org/online/2000/journal_eng/eng01_2000/16.atkin.shtml |archive-date=25 September 2021}}</ref>

According to [https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/00336000014TU7SAAW/m-reza-pirbhai M. Reza Pirbhai], Associate Professor of History at [[Georgetown University]], notions of a ''"Wahhabi conspiracy"'' against the [[Western world|West]] have in recent times resurfaced in various sections of the [[Western media]]; employing the term as a catch-all phrase to frame an official narrative that erases the concerns of broad and disparate disenchanted groups pursuing redress for local discontentment caused by [[Neocolonialism|neo-colonialism]]. The earliest mention of ''"Wahhabism"'' in ''[[The New York Times]]'' had appeared in a 1931 editorial which described it as a "traditional" movement; without associating it with "militant" or "[[Anti-Western sentiment|anti-Western]]" trends. Between 1931 and 2007, ''The New York Times'' published eighty-six articles that mentioned the word ''"Wahhabism"'', out of which six articles had appeared before September 2001, while the rest were published since. During the 1990s, it began to be described as "militant", but not yet as a hostile force. By the 2000s, the 19th century terminology of ''"Wahhabism"'' had resurfaced, reprising its role as the " 'fanatical' and 'despotic' antithesis of a civilized world. Reza Pirbhai asserts that this use is deployed to manufacture an official narrative that assists imperial purposes by depicting a coherent and coordinated international network of ideological revolutionaries.<ref>{{cite web |last=Pirbhai |first=M. Reza |date=30 October 2007 |title=An Anglo-American conspiracy theory |website=Dhafir Trial (dhafirtrial.net) |url= http://www.dhafirtrial.net/2007/10/30/an-anglo-american-conspiracy-theory/ |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200918073535/http://www.dhafirtrial.net/2007/10/30/an-anglo-american-conspiracy-theory// |archive-date=18 September 2020}}</ref> Common [[Neoliberalism (international relations)|neo-liberal]] depictions of ''Wahhabism'' define it as a collection of restrictive dogmas, particularly for women, while [[Neoconservatism|neo-conservative]] depictions portray "Wahhabis" as "savages" or "fanatics".<ref>{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Rohan |date=2009 |title=Western Imaginings: The intellectual contest to define Wahhabism |publisher=The American University in Cairo Press |isbn=9789774168642 |pages=123–177 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YrRSDwAAQBAJ&q=WESTERN+IMAGININGS+The+Intellectual+Contest+to+Define+Wahhabism+pdf&pg=PR3}}</ref>

== Criticism and support ==
=== Criticism by other Muslims ===
Wahhabism has been critizized by traditional Muslims as a deviant sect sometimes in Satanic terms. Both Sunnis and Shias do not view Wahhabism as a revival or reform movement, but as a separate sect.<ref>Valentine,&nbsp;S.&nbsp;R.&nbsp;(2015).&nbsp;Force and Fanaticism: Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and Beyond.&nbsp;Vereinigtes Königreich:&nbsp;Hurst. p. 16</ref> It is not so much strict and uncompromising as aberrant,{{sfn|Algar|2002|loc=back cover}} going beyond the bounds of Islam in its restricted definition of ''{{Transliteration|ar|tawhid}}'' (Islamic monotheistic tenets), and much too willing to commit {{Transliteration|ar|[[takfir]]}} (excommunicate) [[Muslims]] found in violation of Wahhabi doctrines.{{sfn|Algar|2002|pp=33–34}} According to some critics, during the second [[Unification of Saudi Arabia|Wahhabi-Saudi conquest]] of the Arabian Peninsula, an estimated 400,000 were killed or wounded according to some estimates.<ref name="Van-33" /><ref>{{cite book |last=bin Zini Dahlan |first=Ahmad |title=Futuhat al-Islamiyya ba'd Mudiy al-Futuhat al-Nabawiyya |date=1997 |publisher=Dar Sidir |location=Beirut |pages=2:234–245}}</ref>{{sfn|Algar|2002|p=42}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Simons |first=Geoff |title=Saudi Arabia: the Shape of Client Feudalism |date=1998 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |pages=151–173}}</ref> However, the claim of the 400,000 casualties has been debunked in recent research and is regarded by academic scholars as an exaggerated figure which was fabricated during the 1990s. More reliable estimates place the number of dead and wounded between 10,000 and 25,000.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eden |first=Jeff |date=19 February 2018 |title=Did Ibn Saud's militants cause 400,000 casualties? Myths and evidence about the Wahhabi conquests, 1902–1925 |url=https://www.academia.edu/35958373 |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=519–534 |doi=10.1080/13530194.2018.1434612 |s2cid=149088619 |issn=1353-0194 |via=tandfonline |access-date=8 January 2022 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124050524/https://www.academia.edu/35958373 |url-status=live}}</ref> Some Muslims also consider Wahhabism to be outside of Islam; a form of [[Apostasy in Islam|apostasy]].<ref name="auto5">Valentine,&nbsp;S.&nbsp;R.&nbsp;(2015).&nbsp;''Force and Fanaticism: Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and Beyond''.&nbsp;Vereinigtes Königreich:&nbsp;Hurst. p. 17</ref> Other Muslims see Wahhabism as being created by [[Imperialism|Imperialists]] in an attempt to divide and weaken the [[Muslim World]].<ref>Valentine,&nbsp;S.&nbsp;R.&nbsp;(2015).&nbsp;''Force and Fanaticism: Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and Beyond''.&nbsp;Vereinigtes Königreich:&nbsp;Hurst. pp. 16–17</ref> [[Muhammad bin Saud Al Muqrin|Muhammad bin Saud]]'s agreement to wage [[jihad]] to spread [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab]]'s teachings has been linked to Najdi practice of raiding{{snd}}"instinctive fight for survival and appetite for lucre"{{snd}}than with religion;{{sfn|Kepel|2004|p=[https://archive.org/details/warformuslimmind00kepe/page/159 159]}}

From a theological perspective, Wahhabism has been linked to the [[Hadith of Najd|Horn of Najd]], which allegedly predicted the arrival of the [[Devil]] or the [[Dajjal|False Prophet]], the place where Wahhabism was founded.<ref>Valentine,&nbsp;S.&nbsp;R.&nbsp;(2015).&nbsp;''Force and Fanaticism: Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and Beyond''.&nbsp;Vereinigtes Königreich:&nbsp;Hurst. p. 16</ref> This view is further supported by Sunni Clerics of [[Al-Azhar]] who declared Wahhabism to be "a satanic faith which has led to division, debate, dishonesty, and mistrust of Muslims".<ref name="auto5"/> The doctrines upheld by Wahhabism are considered as deviant from traditional Islamic teachings.<ref>Valentine, S. R. (2015). ''Force and Fanaticism: Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and Beyond''. Vereinigtes Königreich: Hurst. p. 15</ref> The rejection of  {{Transliteration|ar|[[taqlid]]}} (imitation of juristic precedent) and advocate opening of {{Transliteration|ar|[[ijtihad]]}} (independent legal judgement) would have resulted in various ideological pretensions that "erode the very essence of Islam". [[Sufi]] traditionalists strongly emphasize the necessity of taqlid to the four major {{Transliteration|ar|[[madhhab]]s}} (legal schools) and invoke the teachings and legacy of its founders to defend the ''madhhab''-based legal system.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dannreuther |last2=March |first1=Roland |first2=Luke |title=Russia and Islam: State, Society and Radicalism |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge: Taylor & Francis |isbn=9780415552455 |location=Abingdon, Oxfordshire |page=125}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Gauvain |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LCL5fElYbnYC |title=Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136446931 |page=268}}</ref> The rejection of the "orthodox" belief in [[saint#Islam|saints]], a belief which had become a cardinal doctrine in Sunni Islam very early on,<ref>Christopher Taylor, ''In the Vicinity of the Righteous'' (Leiden: Brill, 1999), pp. 5–6</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=John Renard |title=Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood |place=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |date=2008}}<br />{{*}}{{cite book |author=John Renard |title=Tales of God Friends: Islamic Hagiography in Translation |place=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |date=2009}}</ref><ref>Jonathan A.C. Brown, "Faithful Dissenters: Sunni Skepticism about the Miracles of Saints", ''Journal of Sufi Studies'' 1 (2012), p. 123</ref> represents a departure from something which has been an "integral part of Islam{{spaces}}... for over a millennium."<ref>Juan Eduardo Campo, ''Encyclopedia of Islam'' (New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009), p. 600</ref>

=== Initial criticism ===
It has been reported that Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's father was critical of his son. The dispute arose when Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab began his public ''[[dawah|da'wa]]'' activities in [[Huraymila]]. However, none of the sources state the exact nature of this disagreement. Salafi scholar [[al-Uthaymin]] noted that it probably was not concerning an issue of ''[[Aqidah|<nowiki/>'Aqidah]]'' (beliefs) as Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, "did not lend any support to the saint-cults and other false practices". It is speculated that they disputed over payment of judges in solving disputes and in the manner of giving ''[[Dawah|da'wa]]'', spreading Islamic teachings. Until his father's death in AH 1153; Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab was not overly active and public in his ''da'wah'' efforts.<ref>{{harvnb|M. Zarabozo|2005|pp=29–30}}.</ref>

Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's brother allegedly wrote a book in refutation of his brother's new teachings, called: "The Final Word from the Qur'an, the Hadith, and the Sayings of the Scholars Concerning the School of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab", also known as:
"Al-Sawa`iq al-Ilahiyya fi Madhhab al-Wahhabiyya" ("The Divine Thunderbolts Concerning the Wahhabi School").<ref name="kingdom">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UKkWRu6u29gC |title=Kingdom without borders: Saudi political, religious and media frontiers |access-date=17 September 2012 |isbn=9780231700689 |last1=Al-Rasheed |first1=Madawi |date=2008 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]}}</ref> It has been reported that his brother repented and eventually returned to his call.<ref>{{harvnb|Commins|2006|page=22}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|M. Zarabozo|2005|p=209}}.</ref>

In "The Refutation of Wahhabism in Arabic Sources, 1745–1932",<ref name="kingdom" /> Hamadi Redissi provides original references to the description of Wahhabis as a divisive sect (''firqa'') and outliers (''[[Kharijites]]'') in communications between [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] and [[Khedivate of Egypt|Egyptian Khedive]] [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali]]. Redissi details refutations of Wahhabis by scholars ([[mufti]]s); among them Ahmed Barakat Tandatawin, who in 1743 describes Wahhabism as ignorance (''Jahala'').

==== Sunni criticism ====
Turkish columnist Ekrem Buğra Ekinci wrote an article in the pro-[[AK Parti|AKP]] newspaper ''[[Daily Sabah]]'', in which he argued against classifying Wahhabism as part of Sunnism.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ekinci |first=Ekrem Buğra |date=13 February 2015 |title=Wahhabism: Pure Islam or extremism? |url= https://www.dailysabah.com/feature/2015/02/13/wahhabism-pure-islam-or-extremism |website=Daily Sabah}}</ref> According to British writer Simon Ross Valentine, Wahhabism has been vehemently criticized by many Sunni Muslims and some Islamic scholars in the strongest terms as a "new faction, a vile sect".<ref name="SatanicSimonValentine">{{harvnb|Valentine|2015|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B6mKCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 16–17]}}.</ref>

In the 18th century, prominent [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Hanafi]] scholar [[Ibn Abidin]] declared the Wahhabi movement of [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab]] to be a modern-day manifestation of the [[Kharijites]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ahmad |first1=Ahmad Atif |title=Islam, Modernity, Violence, and Everyday Life |date=2009 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |page=164 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ccbIAAAAQBAJ&q=Khawarij+wahhab++Ibn+Abidin&pg=PA164 |access-date=9 January 2016 |isbn=9780230619562}}</ref><ref>Khaled Abou El Fadl, "9/11 and the Muslim Transformation". Taken from [https://books.google.com/books?id=m-ZLkRpYQWMC&dq=khawarij+wahabi&pg=PA87 "September 11 in History: A Watershed Moment?"], p. 87. Ed. [[Mary L. Dudziak]]. [[Durham, North Carolina|Durham]]: [[Duke University Press]] 2003. {{ISBN|9780822332428}}</ref> He said:
{{cquote|In our time Ibn Abdal Wahhab Najdi appeared, and attacked the two noble sanctuaries (Makkah and Madinah). He claimed to be a Hanbali, but his thinking was such that only he alone was a Muslim, and everyone else was a polytheist! Under this guise, he said that killing the [[Ahl as-Sunnah]] was permissible, until Allah destroyed them (Wahhabi's) in the year 1233 AH by way of the Muslim army.<ref>Hashiyya radd al-Mukhtar, Volume 3, Page 309</ref>}}
The followers of [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab]] considered the ideas of the Hanbali theologian [[Ibn Taymiyyah|Ahmad Ibn Taymiyya]] ({{died-in|{{CE|1328}}}}) highly attractive and made him their central classical scholarly reference. However, for centuries Ibn Taymiyya's thoughts were mostly ignored by those who constituted the scholarly mainstream; who would accuse the Wahhabis for overemphasizing the scholarly works of Ibn Taymiyya. It was only during the 19th century that Ibn Taymiyya came to exercise prominent scholarly influence over Muslim youth and by the 20th century he would be a major reference for Islamic revolutionaries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=Chase |title=Islamic Civilization in Thirty Lives: The First 1,000 Years |date=2017 |publisher=University of California |isbn=9780520966277 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=QapsDgAAQBAJ&q=2015+reports+circulated+that+ibn+taymiyyah&pg=PT226 |access-date=7 January 2018 |page=206}}</ref> On the other hand, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab would deny that he had bias towards Ibn Taymiyya; and states in ''Hadiyya al-Thaniyya'':<ref name="Naghma 2015 79" />
{{blockquote|Ibn Qayyim and his illustrious teacher Ibn Taymiyyah were both righteous leaders according to the Sunni school of thought and their writings are dear to my heart, but I do not follow them rigidly in all matters.}}
Another early rebuttal of Wahhabism came from the Sunni [[Sufism|Sufi]] [[Faqīh|jurist]] Ibn Jirjis, who argued that supplicating the saints is permitted to whoever "declares that there is no god but God and prays toward [[Mecca]]" for, according to him, supplicating the saints is not a form of worship but merely calling out to them, and that worship at graves is not idolatry unless the supplicant believes that buried saints have the power to determine the course of events. These arguments were specifically rejected as heretical by the Wahhabi leader at the time.{{sfn|Commins|2009|p=59}}

===== Turkey =====
The leader of the [[Gülen movement|Gulen movement]], [[Fethullah Gülen]] accused [[Arabs]] of conspiring against the [[Ottoman Empire]] as well as reducing Islam strictly to Wahhabism and [[Arab culture|Arab norms]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yavuz |first1=M. |title=Toward an Islamic Enlightenment: The Gülen Movement |date=2013 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=58 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qsTdpmviIQ4C&q=gulen+wahhabi&pg=PA58 |isbn=9780199927999}}</ref>

===== South Asia =====
Opposition to Wahhabism emerged in [[South Asia]] during the early 19th century; which was led by prominent Islamic scholar and theologian [[Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi]] (1796–1861). By the late 19th century, the anti-Wahhabi campaign in South Asia was led by [[Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi|Ahmed Raza Khan]] (1856–1921) and his disciples, who engaged in extensive written refutations and polemics against Wahhabism. His movement became known as the [[Barelvi]] movement and was defined by rejection of Wahhabi beliefs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Katz |first1=Stanley |title=Philanthropy in the World's Traditions |date=1998 |publisher=Indiana University Press |page=296 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=svPQhT1tGYsC&q=barelwi+wahhabi&pg=PA296 |access-date=7 March 2017 |isbn=0253112923}}</ref>

===== Lebanon =====
The transnational [[Lebanon]]-based [[Al-Ahbash]] movement uses [[takfir]] against Wahhabi and [[Salafi]] leaders.<ref name="Takfir">{{cite book |last1=Rougier |first1=Bernard |title=The Sunni Tragedy in the Middle East: Northern Lebanon from al-Qaeda to ISIS |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |page=88 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2blKCAAAQBAJ |access-date=17 July 2016 |isbn=9781400873579 |date=2015}}</ref><ref name="Beirut Review">{{cite journal |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nP66AAAAIAAJ |title=The Beirut Review: A Journal on Lebanon and the Middle East |publisher=Lebanese Center for Policy Studies |journal=The Beirut Review: A Journal on Lebanon and the Middle East |date=1994 |issue=7 |page=124}}</ref> The head of Al-Ahbash, [[Abdullah al-Harari]] accuses Wahhabis of falling into anthropomorphic descriptions of God and imitating polytheists.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kabha |first1=Mustafa |title=Al-Ahbash and Wahhabiyya: Interpretations of Islam |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=530–531 |url= http://aigaforum.com/documents/Al-Ahbash-whaibyya.pdf |access-date=4 July 2018 |archive-date=24 February 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210224053725/http://aigaforum.com/documents/Al-Ahbash-whaibyya.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

===== United States =====
The [[Sufi]] [[Islamic Supreme Council of America]] founded by the [[Naqshbandi]] Sufi Shaykh [[Hisham Kabbani]] condemn Wahhabism as "extremist" and "heretical"; accusing it of being a terrorist ideology that labels other Muslims, especially Sufis as polytheists, a practice known as [[takfir]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://islamicsupremecouncil.org/understanding-islam/anti-extremism/7-islamic-radicalism-its-wahhabi-roots-and-current-representation.html |title=Islamic Radicalism: Its Wahhabi Roots and Current Representation |last=Administrator |access-date=27 May 2015 |archive-date=27 May 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150527144357/http://islamicsupremecouncil.org/understanding-islam/anti-extremism/7-islamic-radicalism-its-wahhabi-roots-and-current-representation.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.rissc.jo/docs/1N-WithCovers(lowres).pdf |title=On Islam and 500 most influential Muslims |access-date=25 August 2011 |archive-date=9 October 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111009160147/http://www.rissc.jo/docs/1N-WithCovers(lowres).pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url= https://naqshbandi.org/ |title=Naqshbandi &#124; Sufi Way |website=naqshbandi.org |access-date=10 June 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220603074106/https://naqshbandi.org/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Non-religious motivations ===
According to [[French people|French]] [[Political Scientist]] [[Gilles Kepel]], the alliance between [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Ibn 'Abd-al Wahhab]] and the tribal chief [[Muhammad bin Saud Al Muqrin|Muhammad ibn Saud]] to wage ''[[jihad]]'' on neighboring allegedly ignorant Muslims, was a "consecration" by Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab since he renamed the Saudi tribe's long-standing raids as Jihad. Part of the Najd's "[[Hobbesian#Leviathan|Hobbesian]] state of perpetual war pitted Bedouin tribes against one another for control of the scarce resources that could stave off starvation." And a case of substituting ''fath'', "the 'opening' or conquest of a vast territory through religious zeal", for the "instinctive fight for survival and appetite for lucre".{{sfn|Kepel|2004|p=[https://archive.org/details/warformuslimmind00kepe/page/159 159]}}

=== Support ===
[[Pakistanis|Pakistani]] poet [[Muhammad Iqbal]] praised the movement as an influential endeavour of [[Islamic Golden Age]] that campaigned to put an end to the general stagnation of Muslims,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Iqbal |first=Muhammad |title=The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam |publisher=Stanford University Press |date=2013 |isbn=9780804781466 |page=121}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ahmad Sherwani |first=Latif |url= https://archive.org/download/SirIqbal/Sir%20%20Iqbal.pdf |title=Speeches, Writings and Statements of Iqbal |publisher=Iqbal Academy Pakistan |date=1995 |location=Lahore |pages=231, 229}}</ref> while saying that:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Iqbal |first=Muhammad |title=The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam |publisher=Stanford University Press |date=2012 |isbn=9780804786867 |page=121}}</ref>
{{blockquote|The essential thing to note is the spirit of freedom manifested in it, though inwardly this movement, too, is conservative in its own fashion. While it rises in revolt against the finality of the schools, and vigorously asserts the right of private judgement, its vision of the past is wholly uncritical, and in matters of law it mainly falls back on the traditions of the Prophet.}}

Salafi scholar [[Bilal Philips]] asserted that the charge of "[[Wahhabi (epithet)|Wahhabi]]" was deployed by the proponents of ''[[Madhhab|Madh'hab]]'' fanaticism during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to ''[[Takfir]]'' (excommunicate) the legal [[Ghair muqallid|non-conformists]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bilal Philips |first=Abu Ameenah |url= |title=The Evolution of Fiqh (Islamic Law & The Madh-habs) |publisher=International Islamic Publishing House |date=1990 |location=Riyadh |page=135}}</ref> According to Philips:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bilal Philips |first=Abu Ameenah |url= https://d1.islamhouse.com/data/en/ih_books/single/en_evolution_of_fiqh.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwijhprbwKfvAhVDbn0KHZdeCbAQFjAAegQIBBAC&usg=AOvVaw0jkTVR8gbQ4MuFRIBgaVtq |title=The Evolution of Fiqh (Islamic Law & The Madh-habs) |publisher=International Islamic Publishing House |date=1990 |location=Riyadh |page=114}}{{Dead link|date=September 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>
{{blockquote|It is interesting to note that separate places of prayer for each of the Madh-habs remained around the Ka'bah until the first quarter of the twentieth century when 'Abdul-'Azeez ibn Sa'oud and his army conquered Makkah (October 1924) and united all worshippers behind a single Imaam regardless of his or their Madh-habs}}

[[Syrians|Syrian]]-[[Egyptians|Egyptian]] Islamic revivalist scholar [[Muhammad Rashid Rida]] was one of the most influential supporters of the Wahhabi movement during the 20th century. Rida had developed favourable views towards the Wahhabis as early as his arrival in [[Egypt]] during the 1890s; after reading about the movement in the histories of [[Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti|Al-Jabartī]] and [[Ahmad ibn Khalid al-Nasiri|Al-Nāṣiri]].<ref name="Cole Bunzel">{{Cite book |last=M. Bunzel |first=Cole |title=Manifest Enmity: The Origins, Development, and Persistence of Classical Wahhabism (1153–1351/1741–1932) |publisher=Princeton University |date=2018y |page=357}}</ref> Rida asserted that the social and military expansion of the Wahhabi movement could successfully launch an authentic [[Islamic revival]] throughout the [[Muslim world|Islamic World]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Belén Soage |first=Ana |date=January 2008 |title=Rashid Rida's Legacy |url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229771951 |journal=The Muslim World |page=10 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210220014044/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229771951_Rashid_Rida%27s_Legacy |archive-date=20 February 2021 |via=ResearchGate}}</ref>  Rida believed that the [[Islamic Golden Age#Decline|decline of Muslims]] was a result of the stagnation caused by the excesses of [[Sufism]]; which had distorted the pristine message of Islam. As a leading figure of the [[Salafi movement|Salafiyya movement]],<ref>Daniel Ungureanu, Wahhabism, Salafism and the Expansion of Islamic Fundamentalist Ideology, p146.</ref> Rida launched his project of re-habilitating Wahhabism<ref name="Rashid Rida al manar">Rashid Rida, al-Manar, vol 8. No. 731, 732.</ref><ref name="Olidort">{{Cite thesis |last=Olidort |first=Jacob |title=In Defense of Tradition: Muhammad Nasir Al-Din Al-Albani and the Salafi Method |publisher=Princeton University |date=2015 |pages=64–66}}</ref> and would popularise Najdi scholarly treatises across the Muslim World through his ''[[Al-Manār (magazine)|Al-Manar]]'' printing press.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=O'Sullivan |first=Justine |date=2013 |title=The Myths of Muslim Women Liberation: Why Islamists Resist the Western Concept of Universal Women's Rights |journal=Arabic |location=Leiden |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |volume=56 |pages=238–239 |doi=10.1163/157005809X398636 |via=tandfonline |doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Sukarno]], the first [[president of Indonesia]], had openly expressed his view in his book {{lang|id|Dibawah bendera revolusi}}, that the progressive ''[[Tajdid]]'' movement by Wahhabis was essentially a positive influence on Islam globally, particularly in developing nations struggling to gain independence.<ref name="Sukarno" /> Sukarno also appreciated the "wisdom of [[Ibn Saud]] to support Wahhabi scholars in their effort to reject various one thousand one kind of [[Bidʻah]]".<ref name="Sukarno">{{cite web |last1=Sukarno |first1=Muhammad |author1-link=Sukarno |title=Presiden Pertama RI Ir. Soekarno Ternyata Pernah Berbicara Tentang Wahabi! Apa Kata Beliau? |url= https://www.assunnah.id/2020/08/01/presiden-pertama-ri-ir-soekarno-ternyata-pernah-berbicara-tentang-wahabi-apa-kata-beliau/ |website=Assunnah |access-date=19 December 2021 |language=id |date=2020 |archive-date=19 December 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211219232109/https://www.assunnah.id/2020/08/01/presiden-pertama-ri-ir-soekarno-ternyata-pernah-berbicara-tentang-wahabi-apa-kata-beliau/ |url-status=live}}</ref> It is argued by some that Sukarno was also influenced by Islamist figures such as [[Ahmad Khatib al-Minangkabawi]], [[Agus Salim]], and particularly [[Hamka]], his elementary teacher.

According to notable Arab Linguist [[Taha Hussein]] (1889–{{CE|1973}}), the Wahhabi movement was new, yet simultaneously old. Although it was novel for its contemporary generations, it was also ancient in its powerful calls for return to a pure Islam untainted by the impurities of ''[[Shirk (Islam)|Shirk]]'' (polytheism). Acclaiming its role in the [[Nahda|Arab Awakening]] and intellectual renewal, Taha Hussein states:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abu alrub |first=Jalal |title=Biography and Mission of Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab: Second Edition |publisher=Madinah Punlishers and Distributors |date=2013 |isbn=9780985632694 |editor-last=Mencke |editor-first=Alaa |pages=416–417}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab admonished the people of Najd for reverting to the ways of ignorance in creed and practice.... [I]t was hoped, this ''madhhab'' would have united the Arabs in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (AH), just as the appearance of Islam united them in the first century (AH). What we need to emphasize regarding this ''madhhab'' is its impact on the intellectual and literary life among [[Arabs]], which was great and profound in various ways. It awakened the Arab soul and placed in front of it, a higher example which it loved, and as a consequence, strived in its cause with the sword, the pen and other weapons. It again directed the attention of all Muslims, especially people of Iraq, [[Syria (region)|Ash-Sham]] and Egypt, towards the Arabian Peninsula.}}

== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=27em}}
* ''[[Ahl-i Hadith]]''
* ''[[Islah]]''
* ''[[Salafiyya]]''
* [[Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire]]
* [[Destruction of early Islamic heritage sites in Saudi Arabia]]
* [[International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism]]
* [[Islamic schools and branches]]
* [[Muslim World League]]
* [[Ottoman–Saudi War]]
* [[Petro-Islam]]
* [[Quran]]
* [[Schools of Islamic theology]]
* [[Shia–Sunni relations]]
* [[Sufi–Salafi relations]]
* [[Aqidah]]

{{div col end}}

== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{Notelist}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{Cite book |last=Ali |first=Mohamed Bin |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vY4GCwAAQBAJ |title=Roots Of Religious Extremism, The: Understanding The Salafi Doctrine Of Al-wala' Wal Bara' |publisher=World Scientific Publishing Company |date=2015 |isbn=9781783263943}}
* {{cite book |last=Gaye |first=Abdoul Aziz |title=The (De)Legitimization of Violence in Sacred and Human Contexts |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |date=2021 |isbn=978-3-030-51124-1 |editor1-last=Donlin-Smith |editor1-first=Thomas |location=Basingstoke |chapter=The Violent Wahhabism and the Use of Islamic Texts to Justify Armed Violence Against Muslims and Non-Muslims |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-51125-8 |editor2-last=Shafiq |editor2-first=Muhammad |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=I6kWEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA212 |s2cid=241136571}}
* {{Cite web |last=Reem |first=Abu |date=1 April 2007 |title=The Wahhabi Myth: Debunking the Bogeyman |url= https://muslimmatters.org/2007/04/01/the-wahhabi-myth-debunking-the-bogeyman/ |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201129021851/https://muslimmatters.org/2007/04/01/the-wahhabi-myth-debunking-the-bogeyman/ |archive-date=29 November 2020 |website=Muslim Matters}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mouline |first=Nabil |title=The Clerics of Islam: Religious Authority and Political Power in Saudi Arabia |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-300-17890-6 |location=London |chapter=Introduction: The Ulema, Clerics of Islam}}
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Algar |first=Hamid |date=2002 |title=Wahhabism: A Critical Essay |publisher=Islamic Publications International |location=Oneonta, New York |isbn=188999913X}}
* {{cite book |author-last=Brown |author-first=Daniel W. |chapter=The Wahhābī Movement |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ViTmBB8DQNcC&pg=PA245 |date=2009 |title=A New Introduction to Islam |location=Chichester, West Sussex |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |pages=245–247 |isbn=9781405158077 |access-date=1 June 2020}}
* {{cite book |last=Commins |first=David |title=The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia |date=2006 |publisher=I. B. Tauris |isbn=9781845110802 |url= http://ebooks.rahnuma.org/religion/Muslim_Sects/The-Wahhabi-Mission-and-Saudi-Arabia.pdf |access-date=28 August 2014 |archive-date=15 April 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210415034707/http://ebooks.rahnuma.org/religion/Muslim_Sects/The-Wahhabi-Mission-and-Saudi-Arabia.pdf |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Commins |first=David |title=The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia |publisher=I.B. Tauris |date=2009}}
* {{cite book |last=DeLong-Bas |first=Natana J. |author-link=Natana J. DeLong-Bas |date=2004 |title=Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad |url= https://archive.org/details/wahhabiislamfrom0000delo |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0195169913}}
* {{Cite book |last=DeLong-Bas |first=Natana J. |date=2007 |title=Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=9781845113223 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nwX_UJ-p2rsC&q=ibn+abdul+wahhab}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Esposito |editor-first=John |editor-link=John Esposito |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam |date=2003 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0195125584 |url= https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00bada |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001}}
* {{cite book |last=Esposito |first=John L. |date=2011 |title=What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |edition=2nd |isbn=9780199794133 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2wSVQI3Ya2EC}}
* {{cite book |last=Haddad |first=Gibril F. |date=2004 |title=Al-Albani and Friends: A Concise Guide to the Salafi Movement |publisher=AQSA Publications}}
* {{cite book |last=Halverson |first=Jeffry R. |date=2010 |title=Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=9780230106581 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=IYzGAAAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book |last=Haykel |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Haykel |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=q1I0pcrFFSUC&pg=PA231 |chapter=Ibn ‛Abd al-Wahhab, Muhammad (1703–92) |date=2013 |editor1-last=Böwering |editor1-first=Gerhard |editor1-link=Gerhard Böwering |editor2-last=Crone |editor2-first=Patricia |editor2-link=Patricia Crone |editor3-last=Kadi |editor3-first=Wadad |editor4-last=Mirza |editor4-first=Mahan |editor5-last=Stewart |editor5-first=Devin J. |editor5-link=Devin J. Stewart |editor6-last=Zaman |editor6-first=Muhammad Qasim |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |pages=231–232 |isbn=9780691134840 |access-date=15 June 2020}}
* {{cite book |last=Kepel |first=Gilles |author-link=Gilles Kepel |translator=Anthony F. Roberts |title=Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam |edition=1st English |date=2002 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=0674008774 |url= https://archive.org/details/jihad00gill_0 |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last=Kepel |first=Gilles |title=The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West |date=2004 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=9780674015753 |url= https://archive.org/details/warformuslimmind00kepe |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last=Kepel |first=Gilles |translator=Anthony F. Roberts |title=Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam |date=2006 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |edition=New |isbn=9781845112578}}
* {{cite book |last=Lacey |first=Robert |date=1981 |title=The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Sa'ud |publisher=Harcourt Brace Javonoich |location=New York and London}}
* {{cite book |last=Lacey |first=Robert |date=2009 |title=Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia |publisher=Viking |isbn=9780670021185 |url= https://archive.org/details/insidekingdomkin00lace_0 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lacroix |first=Stéphane |chapter=2: Between Revolution and Apoliticism: Nasir al-Din al-Albani and his Impact on the Shaping of Contemporary Salafism |editor-last=Meijer |editor-first=Roel |title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2013 |isbn=9780199333431 |oclc=5713616619}}
* {{Cite book |last=M. Zarabozo |first=Jamaal al-Din |date=2005 |title=The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab |publisher=The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Dawah and Guidance; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia |location=Riyadh |isbn=9960295001}}
* {{cite book |last=Valentine |first=Simon Ross |date=2015 |title=Force and Fanaticism: Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and Beyond |publisher=[[C. Hurst & Co.]] |location=London |isbn=9781849044646}}
* {{cite journal |last=Wiktorowicz |first=Quintan |date=2006 |title=Anatomy of the Salafi Movement |journal=Studies in Conflict & Terrorism |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=207–239 |doi=10.1080/10576100500497004 |s2cid=20873920}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bonacina |first=Giovanni |title=The Wahhabis Seen through European Eyes (1772–1830): Deists and Puritans of Islam |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2015 |isbn=9789004293014 |location=Leiden |chapter=1: A Deistic Revolution in Arabia}}
* {{Cite book |last=Coller |first=Ian |title=Muslims and Citizens: Islam, Politics, and the French Revolution |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2022 |isbn=9780300243369 |location=New Haven, Connecticut}}
* {{Cite book |editor-last1=Bessel |editor-last2=Guyatt |editor-last3=Rendall |editor-first1=Richard |editor-first2=Nicholas |editor-first3=Jane |last=Bayley |first=C. A. |isbn=9780230282698 |title=War, Empire and Slavery, 1770–1830 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |date=2010 |location=New York |chapter=1: The 'Revolutionary Age' in the Wider World, c. 1790–1830}}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* [[Johann Ludwig Burckhardt|Burckhardt, John Lewis]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=sDZAAAAAYAAJ ''Notes on the Bedouins and Wahábys''], H. Colburn and R. Bentley, 1830.
* {{cite book |last=Commins |first=David |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Oj3WBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA151 |chapter=From Wahhabi to Salafi |date=2015 |editor1-last=Haykel |editor1-first=Bernard |editor1-link=Bernard Haykel |editor2-last=Hegghammer |editor2-first=Thomas |editor3-last=Lacroix |editor3-first=Stéphane |title=Saudi Arabia in Transition: Insights on Social, Political, Economic and Religious Change |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=151–166 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139047586.011 |isbn=9781107006294 |access-date=15 June 2020}}
* De Gaury, Gerald and [[Freya Stark|Stark, Freya]], ''Arabia Phoenix'', Kegan Paul International Limited, {{ISBN|9780710306777}}
* [[David Holden (journalist)|Holden, David]] and Johns, Richard, ''The House of Saud'', Pan, 1982, {{ISBN|0330268341}}
* [[Imran N. Hosein]] (1996). [http://www.imranhosein.org/books/126-the-caliphate-the-hijaz-and-the-saudi-wahabi-nation-state.html 'The Caliphate, the Hejaz and the Saudi-Wahhabi Nation-State'] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140628001818/http://imranhosein.org/books/126-the-caliphate-the-hijaz-and-the-saudi-wahabi-nation-state.html |date=28 June 2014}}. New York: Masjid Darul Qur'an.
* {{cite book |title=Saudi Clerics and Shia Islam |first=Raihan |last=Ismail |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2016 |isbn=9780190233310}}
* [[Madawi Al-Rasheed|Al-Rasheed, Madawi]], ''A History of Saudi Arabia'', Cambridge University Press, 2002, {{ISBN|0521644127}}
* {{cite book |author-last=Moosa |author-first=Ebrahim |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ei9ZBwAAQBAJ |date=2015 |title=What Is a Madrasa? |location=Chapel Hill |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |isbn=9781469620138 |access-date=1 June 2020}}
* Oliver, Haneef James, ''The 'Wahhabi' Myth: Dispelling Prevalent Fallacies and the Fictitious Link with Bin Laden'', TROID Publications, 2004, {{ISBN|0968905854}}
* Quist, B. Wayne and Drake, David F., ''Winning the War on Terror: A Triumph of American Values'', iUniverse, 2005, {{ISBN|0595672728}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Charles Saint-Prot |last=Saint-Prot |first=Charles |title=Islam. L'avenir de la tradition entre révolution et occidentalisation |trans-title=Islam. The Future of Tradition between Revolution and Westernization |location=Paris |publisher=Le Rocher |date=2008 |language=fr}}
* {{cite book |last=Vernochet |first=Jean-Michel |title=Les Egarés: Wahhabisme est-il un contre Islam ? |edition=4th French |date=2013 |publisher=Sigest |location=Alfortville-F |isbn=9782917329627}}
* {{cite book |author-last=White |author-first=Jonathan R. |chapter=Militant Scholars and Strategists |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XL8aCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA252 |date=2017 |title=Terrorism and Homeland Security |location=Boston |publisher=[[Cengage|Cengage Learning]] |edition=9th |pages=252–253 |isbn=9781305633773 |lccn=2015951183 |access-date=1 June 2020}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Wahhābis|author=Wheeler Thatcher, Griffithes|volume=28|page=245|short=x}}

{{Islamism |contemporary Salafi movement}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Sunni Islamic branches]]
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