The satanic method was based on spreading the culture of worshiping the graves of the righteous, shrines, praying to the dead, stones, trees, and glorifying the Sufi orders and religious men.

The Ottomans ruled the Arab world since 1326 until the collapse of their caliphate in 1922.

During that, they were in need for a way to spread their influence and control and at the same time to finance the treasury of their empire at Istanbul.

Therefore, Ottomans spread the religious rituals and superstitions through Sufism, and the satanic method was based on spreading the culture of worshiping the graves of the righteous, shrines, praying to the dead, stones, trees, and glorifying the Sufi orders and religious men.

Ottomans took advantage of the Arabs’ attachment to Islam by constructing shrines and mosques around the graves of the righteous and scholars, and sometimes when they did not find a real grave of a prophet or of religious man somewhere, they put a fabricated grave. But Why?

Then the Ottomans exploited the ignorant and weak Muslims and convinced them that it is necessary to pray for the dead in order to obtain sustenance, marriage, pregnancy, wealth, salvation, and success in life.

Then, their religious men convinced them that, in order to get their prayers accepted, they had to pay an amount of money to the guardian of the grave of that deceased. More the money paid the greater the opportunity to accept the supplication and achieve the required wish.

As Muslims started neglecting the truth of their religion, a vast network of holy shrines sprang up.

It has spread in thousands to most parts of the Islamic world. Indeed, a number of graves worshiped in a country were no less than number of cities and villages in that country.

Moreover, the Arabian Peninsula was not an exception to the case of the Islamic world, which was suffering from poverty, ignorance, backwardness and being far from the truth of Islam, and there were hundreds of tombs for which money and sacrifices were offered so prayers get accepted.

Ottomans followed by Persians started spreading mystic ideas of Sufism and Shi’ism, such as worshiping graves, trees and stones, begging in front of them, and circling around them, and collecting money from the fools and weak who wanted God’s forgiveness, but their money went to Istanbul or Tehran.

Therefore, the Arabian Peninsula was living its worst days in delusion, backwardness, and horrific fragmentation and domination of the tribal leaders that the Ottomans bought their loyalty to oppress other tribes and nomads.

This dire situation continued until a religious reformer Muhammad bin Abd AlWahhab appeared in the early 1700s and began his call for true Islam, by rejecting the religious myths that the Ottomans brought.

The Ottomans disturbed by the movement of Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab and called it (Wahhabism) in order to try to portray it as if it was something contingent on Islam while it was nothing but an invitation to correct beliefs and return to true Islam.

Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab was in need of a political and military leader to support his reform movement, and he found this in Muhammad bin Saud, the Emir of Diriyah, a village in Najd in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula. Here is the first Saudi state which was born in 1744.

The reform movement of Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab called for a return to pure and true Islam, by praying directly to God which stipulates the prohibition of praying to the dead and at graves, and the prohibition of giving money to them by any form.

Consequently, the Muslims in Arabia launched a campaign to demolish those shrines and end the era of worshiping the dead and the graves, and as a result, the flow of funds to the treasury of the Ottoman Empire stopped from the holiest cities of Mecca and Medina.

All this made Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab and his teachings a nightmare threatening the flow of money to the Ottoman treasury, so they wrote books against him and paid their Arab clients to distort his image and portray him as pure evil.

Therefore, the term Wahhabism was coined in a deceitful way to link all forms of terrorism and extremism with Saudi Arabia, and to prevent the influence of Wahhabism upon other Muslims, and to retain the loss of the income of the shrines and the blind followers.

Unfortunately, the Ottoman Sufi myths and the worshiping of shrines are still widespread in many countries of the Islamic world because they still generate a lot of money for their owners who were beneficiaries of distorting the Wahhabi movement of Muhammad bin AbdulWahhab.

They continue stealing money of fools. You can imagine how much money one grave produces, for example the Iranian regime relies on the money of the shrines to finance many of its terrorist operations. Look at the huge amount of money put in by those who dreamed of wealth.

They continue spreading crazy rituals and dances that have no relation to Islam but the fools would indulge in, to fire up their emotions that will end up with them paying money and meeting everything the Sheikh of the Sufi order wants, look at their situation in Turkey now

Consequently, many ignorant Muslims still use the term Wahhabism, unintentionally, exactly as the Ottomans wanted them to do, and they do not know what is really the truth of Wahhabism or Muhammad Bin Abd AlWahhab!

Muslim Brotherhood and Sufis who dreamed of restoring the Ottoman Empire intentionally linked terrorism to Wahhabism and they will not tell you that the teachings of Wahhabism, for example, prohibit suicide operations while they encourage them. Here is their leader Al-Qaradawi.

On the contrary, what is known as Islamic terrorism, it did not appear until the establishment of the Muslim Brotherhood 100 years ago, which is considered the womb from which Al Qaeda, ISIS and other extremist terrorist groups emerged.

May God have mercy on Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab. Without him, we would have been in Saudi Arabia where we go every Friday to the graves and pray to dead for success in life, as is happening now in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Morocco and many Muslim countries.

Gaith Al-Tamimi is a Saudi-based Engineer, Geophysicist, Explorer and Travel Expert. He tweets under @GaiTamimi1.

The Ottoman’s quickly learned how foolish they were to underestimate the power of the calling…

The Historical Roots

The grass roots movement of Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab started in the eighteenth century C.E. as a movement calling to the return to the monolithic teachings of Islam in abiding to the Quran and Sunnah.

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab calling adapted the Hanbali teachings of jurisprudence, and he denounced many fascist extremist teachings, practices and heresies among Muslims, he sought to return the belief of Muslims to its roots and remove the Clergymen control of faith and organized religious practices forced onto the people through more than 200 years of Ottoman occupation that resulted in closing schools of thought and adapt to teachings based on myths and innovated devotional practices that spread in the Arabian Peninsula.

Seeing the level of intellectual decay of the nation and the effects of the Ottoman imposed track of clergy loyal to the Ottomans that resulted in the decline of the education and culture in the Arabian Peninsula bringing it to a complete cessation collapse. Imam Mohammed called for monotheism rejecting the clergymen control of faith and collection of tribute, and devoted himself to purifying the religion and ridding it off what was imposed on the people, as he moved between the towns of Yamama until he settled in the Al-Dir’iyya.

The Imams meet and a nation is born

After the expulsion of the Imam Muhammad by Emir of the Oyiena, Ibn Muammar, for fear of the Ottoman regent the governor of Al-Ahsa, who vowed to cut trade with the Oyiena if Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab was not exiled.

Imam Muhammad bin Saud (Emir of Diriyah) was a religious man who answered to the call of Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab and wanted to restore the Arabian Peninsula to its past glory and to bring back the Islamic roots back in the region.

He was the founder of the first Saudi state and the 16th Emir of Dra’iyya. Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab arrived to Diriyah, and called on its people to reject all that was foreign to the religion of God and return to the monolithic teachings of Islam in Quran and Sunnah.

Al-Dir’iyya became a center for spreading the reformist call of Muhammad bin Abdul-Wahhab, schools were slowly popping up in villages, towns and cities across the Arabian Peninsula. The Ottoman regents, clergymen and Rouge Shiekhs started targeting the preachers and teachers.

The news of the calling spread and very few science students who later became supporters of the call and the state from Levant came to it, and the Sheikh Ibn Abdul-Wahab began sending his messages to the neighboring country regents and tribal leaders, calling for a revival of religion.

The lands were lawless and dangerous, so the Sheikh began to help Prince Muhammad bin Saud, to organize troops with very primitive weapons to enforce the basic laws in Diriyah ​​to the neighboring towns, villages and cities, and allow preachers to spread the call and establish its pillars in the region and outside it.

The Sheikh was supervising himself to prepare men, equipping armies, and sending companies, and continuing with writing lesson, teaching people writing and reading, welcoming guests, and delegations.

Battles against warlords and raiders continued and with every village, town freed from the state of lawlessness more supporters of Da`wah joined and more people were slowly started learning the basics of reading and writing.

The year is 1178 AH / 1773 C.E., Riyadh was liberated under the leadership of Prince Abdulaziz bin Muhammad bin Saud, and its former ruler, Daham bin Dawas, fled from it.

At the time of Saud bin Abdul Aziz, the state reached the apogee from a political point of view, as it reached Karbala in Iraq, and to Houran in the Levant, and the entire island was subjected to it except Yemen.

The Saudis abolished the tribute law that forced the weak to pay huge sums and the fees paid to war lords upon traveling, and Zakat was restored to the house of the Money House or Baitul-Maal. Might was no longer the rule in disputes between people as Judges were appointed.

War of the Ottoman’s and the Saudi State

The Ottoman Empire’s perception of the Saudi state varied according to the place it stretches to. The Ottoman’s viewed the Saudi state and its calling as a minor threat, a local uprising unworthy of the Empire’s direct attention.

The Ottoman’s quickly learned how foolish they were to underestimate the power of the calling. Although the Ottoman Empire felt that the calling and the Saudi state were a religious, cultural and political challenge to the Ottomans.

Khaled Homoud Alshareef holds PhD in Business and he earned Masters in Philosophy. He often writes about Islamism, Islamist factions and modern Terrorism. He tweets under @0khalodi0.

Osama bin Laden, the former Al-Qaeda leader, was at odds with the so-called Wahhabi scholars and the Saudi government.

I can’t help but to comment on the recent media rant that ISIS gets their ideology from Wahhabism—nothing could be further from the truth. Please bare with this longer than usual article—it is important for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Reality Check Number One

Muhammad Ibn Abdul-Wahhab did not bring anything new, he only revived pure Islamic monotheism and cleaned up the polytheistic mystic Sufi practices and beliefs that were prevalent in the Ottoman Empire in general, and in the Arabian peninsula in particular, where grave and saint worship became the norm. He promoted adhering to the Sunnah, that is, Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him’s way, free from innovations in religion. He was not against modernity and technological innovation.

Reality Check Number Two

Muhammad Ibn Abdul-Wahhab and his followers did not revolt against the Ottomans nor was his mission to establish some sort of new leadership under them. In fact, it was Sherif Hussein who headed the Arab Revolt with the help of the British.

Reality Check Number Three

The so-called Wahhabis never labelled themselves as such. The loose label, which is only used to distinguish an orthodox practicing Muslim who frees himself form all partisanships, revolutionary ideologies, and mystical innovative groups, is Salafism.

Salafism is a methodology of following the religion, not an exclusive group with a membership or pledge of allegiance to a secret leader in a quasi-cult as some Muslims groups of today practice. The label Wahhabi was used by the West to negatively label the religious revivalist movement.

Unfortunately, certain Muslims, particularly those who adhere to mysticism, followed suit in the labelling game because this movement was against the practices of grave and saint worship in which extreme Sufis are immersed. Worshipping or calling onto anyone other than God is a form of major polytheism.

Reality Check Number Four

The so-called Wahhabi scholars, such as Ibn Baz, Ibn Uthaymeen, Albani and others, were the first to issue fatwas and bring forth solid evidence from Islamic texts condemning terrorism, whose source is the revolutionary group ideologies derived from Sayyid Qutb and Abul A’la Al-Maududi.

These groups promote violence and defiance of rulers, while Salafism promotes adherence the main body of the Muslims and obeying the ruler and keeping order, even if the ruler is an oppressor, for the evil of an oppressive ruler is much less than the evil caused by revolutions.

The Noble Quran clearly states in chapter 6 verse 129 in no uncertain terms that if the rulers are wrongdoers then the citizens are also wrongdoers – God says: “And thus will We make some of the wrongdoers allies of others for what they used to earn.”

Reality Check Number Five

ISIS, a revolutionary and defiant ideology, is the younger sister of Al-Qaeda. Osama bin Laden, the former Al-Qaeda leader, was at odds with the so-called Wahhabi scholars and the Saudi government. Yet, you find that Osama bin Laden is labelled a Wahhabi, when he was in fact on the opposite end of the spectrum from so-called Wahhabism, or more accurately, Salafism.

The word Salafi, like the word Islam, has been hijacked and used by different groups. Names don’t matter in reality, instead, the practices and action are what matter.

Conclusions

I advise Muslims to be conscious of God before letting their tongues or pens mention such terms and make such unfounded accusations whether directly or indirectly by posting articles on their walls by so-called Islamic experts.

Salafism calls to orthodoxy. If we claim that ISIS is following Salafism/Wahhabism, then we are saying that they are following orthodox Islam, which is anything but the truth, and is exactly what Islamophobes and haters want to try to prove.

Professor Wasim Ismail is of Palestinian origin settled in Canada. He earned Masters in Islamic Studies from Islamic Online University.

Following are the excerpts of famous Scholars who debunked the myth, and clarified the matter from verified historical perspective.

When Shaykh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Baz was asked about the matter, he replied.

Shaykh Muhammad bin Abdulwahab did not rebel against the Ottoman Caliphate state – as far as I know and believe. There was no governmental control or authority for the Turks over Najd.

Najd was made up of small emirates and scattered villages and upon every town or village – no matter how small they were – was an independent leader…there were emirates which had battles, wars and disputes.

Shaykh Muhammad bin AbdulWahab did not rebel against the Ottoman state, but he rebelled against the evil situation in his area, so he strove truly for the sake of Allaah and was patient and persevered until the light of the Dawah spread to other towns. — Nadwa Jadeed al-Fikr al-Islaami in the University of King Saud 1402 A.H.

When Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan was asked that, some of the people, those enemies to the Dawah of Shaykh ul Islaam Muhammad bin AbdulWahab say that Shaykh ul Islaam and the Imam Muhammad bin Saud rebelled against the rule of the leader of the Ottoman state and that they split away from Najd is the central area of mid Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Riyadh etc. obedience and this is against the creed of the Ahl ul Sunnah wal Jammah what is your opinion about this statement?

He replied.

Does this person who says this statement adhere to hearing and obeying the leader?! Most of those who say this statement hold the opinion of rebelling against leaders nowadays, and they do not adhere or acknowledge the authority of the leaders, this is one aspect.

The second aspect is that Shaykh Muhammad bin AbdulWahab and Imam Muhammad bin Saud did not rebel against the leader at their time because the Ottoman state did not have authority over the area of Najd but the area of Najd was in the hands of their leaders.

Every area from the lands of Najd had an independent leader which it would rule over. When one of them would pass away then one of his sons or relatives would take over after him, therefore, the Ottomans did not have authority over the area of Najd.

The Ottoman state did not give importance to the Najd area because there was no produce there at that time and there was no importance paid to it. The Ottomans fought against the Saudi state, however, they did not fight them because they rebelled, but rather they fought against the Saudi state out of fear of them.

Therefore, they fought against the Saudi state fearful of them, when their ability and matter had become great and their command became apparent, the Ottoman state feared them and fought against them. They feared them, and that is why they fought them, that the Saudi state may war against them in their own land, this is the purpose, otherwise they had no authority over the land of Najd.

The land of Najd was in the hands of its leaders and rulers, generation after generation until Shaykh Muhammad bin AbdulWahab came with the Dawah and Muhammad bin Saud aided him and extended out their authority over all of the Najd area and other areas of the Arabian peninsula and Allaah established them firmly because they undertook the Dawah of Muhammad peace be upon him and spread Islaam and all the emirates of Najd which were previously spread out over Najd entered under one authority, then at that time the Ottoman state feared that they would reach their land and the land of Iraq and the land of Shaam so they feared for themselves.

They also had major deviancies and they had tombs and shrines, so they feared for what they were upon. They were upon Soofeeyah and Bida’ so they feared the Dawah of the Shaykh will change them, that is why they fought against the Saudi state.

When the similar question was asked to Shaykh Saleh Alaa Shaykh that, what is your opinion about the one who says that Shaykh Muhammad bin AbdulWahab rebelled against the Ottomans, how do we refute them?

He replied.

The answer is from two angles: The first angle: It is as I mentioned to you, Najd at the time of the Shaykh was not under the authority of the Ottomans, but rather, Najd from the year 260 A.H. was not subject to their authority, not to the authority of the Abbasids or to any other authority, Najd was independent.

Some of the Khawarij tried to overcome the people of Najd from that early time and likewise a group from the people of Yemen etc. This means the people of Najd were independent and did not enter under obedience at that time.

The people of Najd were divided and did not force their people and did not surrender to giving Baya [oath of allegiance] but they were independent.

When the Ottoman state appeared every area of Najd had its own leader, so it was not subjugated under the Ottoman state because when this state first established itself, it was upon correct Islaam then after that it became deviated.

When the Shaykh [Muhammad bin AbdulWahhab] came the people were upon this condition that every area had a leader, they did not acknowledge the authority of Bani Uthmaan in contrast to al-Ahsa and the eastern provinces since these people acknowledged the authority of the Ottomans.

The leader of al-Ahsa and places like that were under the leadership of the Ottomans. Likewise, the Ashraaf [the rulers of Makkah] and those similar to them had a type of independency, but they were under the general authority of the Ottomans, as for Najd it was independent, and that is one angle.

The second aspect is that in the time of the Shaykh the Ottomans were calling to Shirk al-Akbar (major Shirk), Soofi paths and they would get the 8 people to love that. They would spend wealth upon the graves and the worship of them and spend lots of money upon that. Therefore, from this aspect if Najd was under their authority they still would not be under their obedience because they called to Shirk and they consolidated this in their last treaties.

As for the first two hundred years the Ottomans were upon the correct methodology and generally, they were good, but when it came to approximately the year 1100 A.H. and after that, when there occurred a lot of Shirk among the Muslims, the Ottomans were from those who completely aided this Shirk and spent wealth upon it.

There are statements of the Ottoman Caliphs – as was the title widely given to them – statements from the leaders of the Bani Uthmaan who wrote supplications about seeking deliverance and rescue with the Messenger peace be upon him and seeking deliverance and rescue with the Awaaliyaa etc.

The first aspect is that which is dependable as I mentioned, the second aspect is a derivation of the first.” —
Sharh Kitab Thalaat al-Asool, by Shaykh ul Islaam al-Imam the reviver Muhammad bin AbdulWahab atTameemi p.36-37

He further said.

The answer is, that this is not correct, because Najd from the year 256 A.H. was outside the rule of the Abbasid Zaydeeyah. It was out of their jurisdiction and the Abbasid state from the outset did not have any desire for it.

The Abbasids did not send anyone to the people of Najd due to what occurred in the Najd, from disunion and separation, and differences and weakness, because there was no need of Najd at that time. Then the Emirates and states came in to power but they did not request the people of Najd to enter under their authority.

The Najd had emirates and states independent from the year 256 A.H. and then around the year 500 A.H. came the end of the ‘Akhdareeyah’ state, then after that states came in to power or very small states. Every time a person established a garden or farm and people gathered around it, there occurred a leader of the state and village etc.

Then came the Imam of Dawa, Shaykh Muhammad bin AbdulWahab during these circumstances, which is that the states in Najd did not have a connection with the Ottoman state, but the Ottoman state did not give them wealth to spend upon them.

Also, the Ottoman state did not request taxes from the leaders of Najd, nor did they request them to give Baya etc. but rather Najd was abandoned due to them not having a desire for it, there was no wealth there and there was no desire for its people, but Najd was small separated areas. Shaykh Muhammad bin AbdulWahab came during this circumstances, where there was a leader of Uyainah, a leader over Huraymalah, a leader over alJubaylah, a leader over Dareeyah, a leader over Riyadh, a leader over Kharj etc. 10 each area had an independent emirate and independent authority, so he gave Dawa at this time.” —
Asilah Kashf ash-Shubahaat (1/4)

Article first appeared on MiraathPublications