WHO IS IMAAM MUHAMMAD BIN ABDUL WAHAB RAHIMULLAH

Name: Muhammad        Father Name:  Abdul Wahab    Grandfather: Sulaymaan

Full Name:

Muhammad ibn ‘Abdil Wahhaab ibn Sulaymaan ibn ‘Alee ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Raashid ibn Burayd ibn Muhammad ibn Musharraf ibn ‘Umar ibn Wahb ibn Tameem.

Birth:  

He was born in the town of ‘Uyaynah in the year 1115 AH in a house of knowledge and nobility and religion. He belongs to the tribe of Banu’ Tameem. His father was a great scholar and his grandfather Sulaymaan was the scholar of Najd in his time…

Education:

He was educated by his father in his homeland, Oyayna, a village located at Yamama in Najd, northwest to the city of Riyadh. He learnt to read the Qur’aan at a very early age and exerted himself in studies and advanced learning at the hands of his father, Shaikh Abdul Wahhab Ibn Sulaiman, who was a great jurisprudent and the Judge of Oyayna. He did self-study, was keen of reading hadith, mostly memorized the parts of books. He had great ability to absorb whatever he studied. In his achievements, he rewrote the books of Ibn e Tayymiah and Ibn e Qayyam.

Having attained puberty, the Shaikh traveled to Makkah and then to Medina to learn from learned personalities there. Then he went to Iraq (Basrah) to seek after knowledge. It was in Iraq that he started his mission. There he called the people to Tawheed and the Sunnah of the Prophet (ﷺ). He announced that it was the duty of every Muslim to follow his or her religion (Islam) strictly in accordance with the Qur’aan and the Sunnah. He engaged in debates and discussion with scholars and thus became famous. However, some characterless scholars rebelled against him and he faced some harms and persecutions from them. So, he left Basrah moving towards Az-zubair, then to al-Ahsa, and then finally to Huraymela, where also he faced much suffering at the hands of the wicked because he enjoined the good and forbade the evil and persuaded the rulers to punish the criminals severely. So, some of them even attempted on his life, but Allah saved him. Then he moved to Oyayna, which was then governed by Prince Uthman Ibn Muhammad Ibn Muammar, who welcomed the Shaikh with hospitality and promised him all support and help in calling people to Islam.

Condition of the Muslims in Najd:

People in Najd at that time and in most of the Islamic world was (such that) it had been overcome by the appearance of innovations and polytheistic practices and superstitions and ignorance of the true reality of the correct religion (of Islam).

So Najd was filled with graves and trees and stones, which were worshipped besides Allah, and they would seek to draw close to them with various types of devotional acts (of worship).

And in this dark and oppressive environment, there emerged the da’wah (call) of the Shaykh rahimahullaah and he raised his voice with it (he called out openly with it) repudiating these polytheistic practices and innovations, calling the people to the tawheed with which Allah sent the Messenger sall Allahu ‘alaihi wasallam . So he encountered harms from the people which the callers to Allah like him (too) had encountered; and those whom Allah had given success in accepting the Truth followed him (the Imaam). The Shaikh turned to Jihad in 1158 A.H, he wrote to people to enter the field of Jihad and remove polytheism, which existed in their countries.

He, thus, strove in his preaching and Jihad for fifty years from 1158 A.H. until he died in 1206. He resorted to all methods of his mission – Jihad, preaching, resistance, debates and arguments until people adhered to obedience and demolished the domes and mosques built by them on the graves and agreed to run their affairs in accordance with Islamic Law, discarding all rules and laws which had been applied by their fathers and forefathers. Then after the death of the Shaikh, his sons, grandson and supporters continued his mission and struggle in the cause of Allah.

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Source:

1- Taken from the biography of Shaykh ul Islaam Muhammad ibn ‘Abdil Wahhaab, mentioned at the beginning of Sharh Thalaathat il Usool of Shaykh Muhammad Amaan al Jaamee rahimahullaah

2- www.ahya.org

3- Based on Lectures of Dr. Farhat Hashmi

4- Featured Images are designed by Sr. Shazia Nawaz