He further asserts that even the ordinary people among them regard a smoker as a polytheist. This is yet another fabrication. And even supposing that some layperson did utter such a thing, a layman is no proof by which the people of knowledge may be faulted. In fact, the common folk of Najd—praise be to Allah—know more of the truth than do the scholars of misguidance. Through what they read and hear in lessons on tawḥīd and in sound creedal works they can tell the difference between idolatry and that which, while forbidden, does not amount to idolatry.

Third: He says that at the beginning of their movement they declared coffee and the like to be unlawful. This is a blatant lie for which he has provided no evidence. Scholars and laypeople in Najd have been drinking coffee in every age, and their books and legal verdicts contain nothing that supports his claim—indeed, they contain what flatly contradicts it. Shaykh ʿAbd al-Laṭīf ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (may Allah have mercy on him) censured those who declared coffee forbidden and refuted them; he even wrote a well-known published treatise on the subject.

Fourth: He alleges that the Wahhābīs did not confine themselves to pure preaching but rather seized the sword to fight their opponents on the grounds that they were combating innovations.

First, his statement that the Wahhābīs did not stop at mere preaching only shows his ignorance, for preaching alone is not enough when one has the ability to strive against the enemies of Islam; the Messenger ﷺ came with both daʿwah and jihad in the path of Allah.

Second, his claim that they drew the sword against everyone who disagreed with them is a lie. They did not fight their opponents simply because they differed with them; rather, they fought them for one