“He once delivered a sermon in one of the mosques of Aleppo and, when he came to speak about the Salafis, he called them ‘Wahhābīs,’ merely parroting the language of the ignorant masses. Among the things he said was, ‘These Wahhābīs feel repulsion…’ (and so on, as I have already quoted), words so brazen that even the most mendacious of men would shrink from uttering them….” Abū Ghuddah then remarked, “End of their words.” (1)

Abū Ghuddah himself reproduced this very passage in order to refute it, and immediately added:

“The downfall of the slander: I declare that anyone whose soul recoils at the mention of Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—is, with absolute certainty, outside the fold of Islam. Whoever, in these days, attributes such a statement to the people of this sacred land—into which hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from every corner of the Muslim world enter each year—has pronounced upon himself a verdict of sheer insanity, and will be branded a liar by everyone who hears him. No one can any longer imagine that such fabrications might be believed. Glory be to Allah! These people (meaning the Salafis) tell outrageous, insane lies and think that people have no intellect, no eyes, no standards by which to weigh matters—that they will accept whatever nonsense and falsehood they spout! It is well known, after all, that sending blessings upon the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—is a pillar of the prayer according to the noble Hanbali school….”

Abū Ghuddah’s condemnation for declaring the Salafis unbelievers

Abū Ghuddah’s reply to that paragraph attributed to him involves several important points:

First: his acknowledgment that the words did in fact originate with him, and from this we take, first: