Soon afterward, Ibn Muʿammar abandoned him, intimidated by threats from certain chieftains. The Shaykh therefore left al-ʿUyaynah and searched for another venue; he proceeded to ad-Dirʿiyyah, met its amir, Muḥammad ibn Saʿud, presented his call, and the amir accepted it, pledging his full support—and he proved true to his word. There the Shaykh, may Allah have mercy on him, settled, study circles formed around him, and students flocked to him from every direction.
In that town an Islamic polity emerged: its ruler was Imam Muḥammad ibn Saʿud, and its spiritual guide was Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb. The daʿwah spread to the neighboring regions, and jihad in the cause of Allah arose to raise the banner of monotheism and suppress polytheism. In a short time the message had reached far and wide, uniting all the towns of Najd beneath its banner. It then extended to the Ḥijāz, ʿAsīr, and the northern parts of the Peninsula. All of this occurred by Allah’s grace alone, then through the support the Āl Saʿud gave to this blessed movement, and so Allah’s promise was fulfilled: “If you support Allah, He will support you and plant your feet firmly” ⦗1⦘; “Indeed, Our forces will prevail” ⦗2⦘; and “Allah will surely help those who help Him” ⦗3⦘.
Sources on which the Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—and the later scholars of the daʿwah rely, and the methodology they follow in issuing legal opinions and deriving rulings:
The references upon which the scholars of the daʿwah rely are:
- The Noble Quran and its recognized commentaries.
- The Prophetic Sunnah and its explanations.
- The works of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, his disciple Ibn al-Qayyim, and other writings of the early scholars in the various disciplines.