Sheikh Abdul Wahab Model College: Context and Islamic Influences
While the primary focus is on Sheikh Abdul Wahab Model College, understanding the broader context of Islamic movements and figures associated with the name "Abdul Wahab" is crucial. This article aims to provide information about the college while also clarifying the historical and theological landscape surrounding the name, particularly concerning Wahhabism and its complex relationship with other Islamic schools of thought.
Understanding Wahhabism: A Historical and Theological Overview
Wahhabism, a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam, is named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. Emerging in the Najd region of central Arabia, it later extended its influence across the Arabian Peninsula and served as the official policy of Saudi Arabia until 2022.
Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his followers found inspiration in the works of the Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyya (1263-1328 CE/AH 661-728), who advocated for a return to the traditions of the first three generations of Muslims (Salaf). This was aimed at purging innovations and restoring a sense of purity to Islamic practice. Historians have often characterized Wahhabism as "puritanical," while its adherents view it as an Islamic "reform movement" dedicated to restoring "pure monotheistic worship."
The movement opposed rituals associated with the veneration of Muslim saints, and pilgrimages to tombs and shrines. Socio-politically, it marked a significant Arab-led resistance against Turkish, Persian, and other foreign empires that had dominated the Islamic world since the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. It also served as a catalyst for 19th-century pan-Arab movements.
In 1744, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab entered into a pact with Muhammad bin Saud, a local leader, which resulted in a politico-religious alliance with the Saudi monarchy that has endured for over 250 years. The Wahhabi movement gained traction as an influential anti-colonial reform trend within the Islamic world, championing the regeneration of Muslim social and political power. For over two centuries, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's teachings were the official creed in the three Saudi States.
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However, since 2017, changes in Saudi religious policy under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have led to crackdowns on Islamists in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Arab world.
The term "Wahhabi" has often been used by external observers to denote a wide range of reform movements across the Muslim world, sometimes erroneously or pejoratively. During the colonial era, the British Empire used the term to refer to Muslim scholars and thinkers seen as obstructive to their imperial interests, punishing them under various pretexts. In the eyes of the British government, the word Wahabi was synonymous with 'traitor' and 'rebel'.
Many Muslim rebels inspired by Sufi saints and mystical orders were targeted by the British Raj as part of a broader "Wahhabi" conspiracy. Generally, those within the movement do not favor the term "Wahhabi". Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab himself was averse to the elevation of scholars and the use of a person's name to label an Islamic school. Members of the movement historically identified themselves as "Muwahhidun" (those who affirm the Oneness of God) or simply as Muslims. Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has attacked the term as "a doctrine that doesn't exist here" 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 Hadiths".
Professor Ingrid Mattson has described Wahhabism as a social movement that began 200 years ago to rid Islam of rigid cultural practices acquired over the centuries, rather than a sect. In a 2018 interview with The Atlantic magazine, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asserted that the Western usage of the term itself is a misnomer.
Another movement, whose adherents are also called "Wahhabi" but who were Ibaadi Kharijites, has caused some confusion in North and sub-Saharan Africa. The movement's leader, Abd al-Wahhab ibn Abd al-Rahman, lived and preached in the eighth century CE.
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Wahhabism and Salafism: Distinctions and Overlaps
There is often confusion between Wahhabism and Salafism, but many scholars and critics distinguish between the two. Analyst Christopher M. According to Joas Wagemakers, Salafism encompasses broad movements of Muslims who aspire to live according to the precedents of the Salaf al-Salih (the pious predecessors). "Wahhabism," on the other hand, refers to the specific reform campaign initiated by Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab and his disciples in the Najd region.
Despite their relations with Wahhabi Muslims of Najd, other Salafis have often differed theologically with the Wahhabis and hence do not identify with them. In doctrines of 'Aqida (creed), Wahhabis and Salafis resemble each other, particularly in their focus on Tawhid (the Oneness of God).
Wahhabism and Socio-Political Movements
European historians, scholars, travelers, and diplomats in the 18th and 19th centuries drew parallels between the Wahhabi movement and various Euro-American socio-political movements during the Age of Revolutions. Calvinist scholar John Ludwig Burckhardt, described the Muwahhidun as Arabian locals who resisted Turkish hegemony. Historian Loius Alexander Corancez described the movement as an Asiatic revolution that sought a revival of Arab civilisation.
After the Unification of Saudi Arabia, Wahhabis were able to expand their political influence and consolidate their control over the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The discovery of petroleum near the Persian Gulf in 1939 provided Saudi Arabia with substantial oil revenues.
The Wahhabi movement was part of the Islamic revivalist trends of the 18th and 19th centuries. These movements sought Islamic reform, renewal, and socio-moral regeneration of society through a direct return to the fundamental Islamic sources (Qur'an and Hadith). They responded to the perceived military, economic, social, moral, and 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 of local and un-Islamic beliefs and practices.
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Kadizadeli Movement
Kadizadeli 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 popular religion. 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". Between 1630 and 1680 there were many violent quarrels that occurred between the Kadızadelis and those that they disapproved of.
Influence and Connections
The Wahhabi movement was part of the overall current of various Islamic revivalist trends in the 18th century. 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. 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.
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, 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. 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.
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. 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 sciences. They also opened Zahiriyya library, Salafiyya library, Al Manar Library, etc., propagating Salafi thought as well as promoting scholars like Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Hazm.
With the support of the 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.
Criticisms and Divergences
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 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, juristic path faithful to the rich Islamic tradition.
The Syrian-Albanian Salafi Muhaddith Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani (d. 1999) publicly challenged the foundational methodologies of the neo-Wahhabite establishment. According to Albani, although Wahhabis doctrinally professed exclusive adherence to the Qur'an, the Hadith, and the Ijma of Salaf al-salih; in practice they almost solely relied on Hanbali jurisprudence for their fatwas-acting therefore as undeclared partisans of a particular 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. In addition, Albani would also criticise Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab for his weakness in hadith sciences. He distinguished between Salafism and Wahhabism, criticizing the latter while supporting the former. He had a complex relationship to each movement.
Theological Aspects
In theology, Wahhabism is closely aligned with the Athari (traditionalist) school which represents the prevalent theological position of the Hanbali legal school. Athari theology is characterized by reliance on the zahir (apparent or literal) meaning of the Qur'an and hadith, and opposition to rational argumentation in matters of 'Aqidah (creed) favored by Ash'arite and Maturidite theologies. However, Wahhabis diverged in some points of theology from other Athari movements.
Muhammad Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab did not view the issue of God's Attributes and Names as a part of Tawhīd (monotheism), rather he viewed it in the broader context of 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.
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 Al-Kawthari.
Hammad Ibn 'Atiq (d. 1883 CE/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 and necrolatry. Ibn 'Atiq established correspondence with Athari scholars like Sīddïq Hasān Khán, an influential scholar of the Ahl al-Hadith movement in the Islamic principality of Bhopal.
Sheikh Abdul Wahab Siddiqi and the Hijazi Naqshbandiya Sufi Order
Born in 1942, Sheikh Abdul Wahab Siddiqi was the third son of Muhammad Umar Icharvi, a prominent Sufi scholar in Pakistan known for his success in debates against rival Islamic sects. Despite being the third son, Abdul Wahab was appointed the head of the Naqshbandi Sufi order by his father. He is the founder of the Hijazi Naqshbandiya Sufi Order and passed on his position as head of the order to his eldest son before his death.
Abdul Wahab Siddiqi was also the founder of Hijaz College in Nuneaton and the International Muslim Organisation, a political body aimed at uniting Muslims across different countries to promote Islamic values and civilization. This organization focuses on establishing Islamic centers, schools, mosques, and research centers. Abdul Wahab Siddiqi was considered a qutb, a high-ranking Muslim saint, and a dargah (shrine) has been built over his grave on the grounds of Hijaz College. An annual event is held at Hijaz College to inspire British youth to adhere to classical Islam.
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