A Brief Introduction to Shaykh al-Islam Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him):

He is Shaykh Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab ibn Sulayman ibn ʿAli ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rashid ibn Burayd ibn Musharraf al-Najdi al-Tamimi. He was born in 1115 AH and was raised in a household of learning. His father was one of the region’s scholars and served as a judge in several districts. His grandfather, Shaykh Sulayman, was a distinguished scholar, a leading jurist, and the mufti of the land in his day; many scholars and students graduated under his tutelage. His uncle, Shaykh Ibrahim ibn Sulayman, was likewise among the eminent scholars.

Shaykh Muhammad thus grew up in this scholarly milieu—sharp of mind, brilliantly intelligent, and quick to memorize. He committed the entire Quran to memory before reaching the age of ten and studied the Hanbali manuals of jurisprudence with his father. A voracious reader, he immersed himself in works of tafsir, hadith, and legal theory, giving special attention to the writings of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and the renowned scholar Ibn al-Qayyim. The books of these two luminaries left the deepest imprint on his distinctive scholarly character and steered him toward the authentic sources of knowledge. From an early age he adopted the sound doctrinal orientation; the correct creed took firm root in his heart, and he effectively graduated at the hands of those two verified imams.

His Journeys:

Once he had absorbed all that was taught in his hometown—jurisprudence, Arabic, hadith, and tafsir—he longed for further knowledge and resolved to travel to the scholars of neighboring regions. He therefore journeyed to Basra, to al-Ahsa’, and to Mecca and Medina, where he met the scholars, studied with them, and acquired numerous books and references. Let us now give the floor to his grandson, Shaykh ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Hasan, to tell us about those blessed journeys.