A Closer Look at Wahhabism - Part 1

All praise is for Allah Ta'ala. We praise Him and seek help from Him. We believe in Him and have complete trust in Him. There can be none to misguide the person whom Allah Ta'ala has guided and there can be none to guide the person whom Allah Ta'ala has caused to go astray.

My close neighbour is a former lecturer at Islamic Faculty in a local university. He first studied in Australia but not in Islamic fields. Later he went to Saudi Arabia and stayed there for a number of years with his family. Obviously he speaks Arabic language after years residing there. 

To my pleasant surprise, he approached me one day inviting me for tea at his house. Before this, we just exchange salam whenever we crossed each other's path. I always admire him for the sunnah appearance in him. Long beard, clipped mustache and wearing robe or shalwar above the ankles.  I called him ustaadz. Sadly, the sunnah of appearance or surah of Rasulullah SAW had been ignored by the general public at large and most of the ustaadzs. I felt we were sharing the same love for the sunnah of Rasulullah SAW. Obviously I was very excited in accepting his invitation. 

The first visit was more on ta'ruf (getting to know each other) and also on the aspects of bidaah (religion practices which does not conform to the sunnah of Nabi SAW) which, according to him, is prevalent in the Ummah, particularly in Malaysia. He talked about the purported bidaah of tahlil, wirid and recitation of surah Yaa Siin every Friday, among other things. At that point of time, I was impressed by his concern for the Ummah since I lacked understanding about those noble practices and not enough appreciation about the importance of madzhaabs. He presented to me a couple of booklets relating to the bidaah of tahlil and some other bidaah  practices. The source of the booklets is from Indonesia. (Later I read a few kitaabs written by prominent ulama' on the importance of madzhaabs and have several lengthy discussion relating to the matter with the ustaads at Mazahirul Ulum, Sri Petaling who are my constant source of reference).

I began to foster a relationship with him. I sent my two daughters, aged 9 and 7, to read the Quran with his teenage daughter. His children are well-versed in the recitation of the Holy Quran. He and his family had been staying in Madinah for many years prior to his appointment as a lecturer in a local university. 

Later he invited me for a second visit to his house. 

At the second visit, our conversation touched on more serious matters. He talked about Tauhid and Aqidah (Rububiyyah,  Uluhiyyah, and Asma Was Siffat), something that was alien to me. Then the conversation drifted on the different fikrah that are in existence today. He made his opinion known to me about Ikhwan Muslimin, Maududiyaat, Jamiat Islami and PAS, among other things. When he started to talk about Sufism, I felt perturbed and upset as he made a sweeping assumptions that Sufism and Tassawuf is a practice that must be shunned and condemned by the Muslims. I could accept his opinion if he meant the practices of ignorant sufis but to impose total rejection is something that agitate me .(You may like to read an article that I posted On Tassawuf) . However, I kept the feeling to myself. I felt disagreement should not be an excuse for disrespect of any kind. I just wanted to maintain good relations with him.

At about he same time frame, someone from my masjid has already invited him to deliver early morning weekly lectures after fajar namaaz at the masjid. Hence, from the beginning I frequently sat i his series of lectures. The first thing that I noticed was that he purposely left the practice of reciting qunoot d'ua whenever he led the fajar namaaz. Sometimes his son who is a haafiz led fajar namaaz with the same attitude. 

The first series of his lectures revolved around Tauhid and Aqidah. As I had heard it before, he explained Tauhid Rububiyyah, Tauhid Uluhiyyah and Asma Was Siffat, which till now is confusing me. He frequently quoted Ibn Tamiyyah rahimahullah. The second series of his lectures turned around  fiqh. They mainly revolved around the issues of taqlid (following one of the four accepted madhahab, namely, Maliki, Hanafi, Shafie and Hanbali). 

Note: I refrain fro writing more about his lectures because I fear that they would unnecessarily create confusion. It is necessary for you to be able to distinguish between his view and the correct views of the majority of the mainstream scholars or ulama'. 

Anyway, he also mentioned "the top ten ulama' in the world" as his basis and authority who I suspected to be the Saudi Arabia's ulama' including Ibn Baz and Nasaruddin Albani. Once after one of the lectures, I urged him not to quote "the top ten ulama' in the world" but rather refer to the Sahabah radiyalaahu anhum as his examples since not everyone would agree to the status of "the top ten ulama' in the world" but everyone would unanimously accept the lofty status of the Sahabah radiyalaahu anhum.