It is common knowledge—and borne out by the very course of the Shaykh’s mission—that he did not found a new school at all. In creed he followed the way of the early generations, the People of the Sunnah and the Community, and in matters of jurisprudence he adhered to the school of Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. He did not part with them in a single issue. How, then, does Abū Zahrah label him the originator of a new madhhab and place him among the deviant, unbelieving sects and corrupt cults? May Allah vanquish ignorance, whims, and blind imitation! And if he reproaches the Wahhābīs for what he imagines to be their practice of declaring others disbelievers, how can he allow himself the very thing he censures in others?
- He then said: “The founder of Wahhābism is Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb. He studied the writings of Ibn Taymiyyah, was impressed by them, delved deeply into them, and moved them from the realm of theory to the realm of action.”
Thus he reduces the scholarly standing of Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb to the claim that he studied nothing but the works of Ibn Taymiyyah—as though he had never read the Shaykh’s biography, knew nothing of his academic attainments, or else knew and purposely concealed them in order to diminish his stature and mislead those unfamiliar with him. Yet such tactics cannot conceal the truth or block out the sun at midday. Fair-minded writers have produced many works on the Shaykh that have spread everywhere and are known to both specialists and laypeople. They show that he immersed himself in the study of jurisprudence, Qur’anic exegesis, hadith, legal theory, and the books of creed—including, of course, the writings of Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah and his student Ibn al-Qayyim. He was trained at the hands of outstanding scholars and leading imams in various disciplines throughout Najd, the Hijaz, al-Ahsaʾ, and Basra.