-The below is an overview about the modern bid’a of wahhabism (“salafism”), presenting itself under the guise of “Quran and Sunna”: How it originated, how it works, and how to avoid falling a victim to it. It was originally written as a piece of personal advice to some dear friends, and maybe it can also serve as an eye-opener to a wider audience.

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Wahhabism is a modern phenomenon, it is a bid’a that began in Saudiarabia some 200 years ago – it it did not exist before that. It was started by a rebellious leader called Muhamamd ibn Abd al-Wahhab. He was a son of a scholar, but was not able to study, since he opposed and quarreled with every teacher he visited. So he ended up as a misguided person, misguiding others – his own father and brother testified to this. He started a “jihad” against Muslims. Specifically he promoted fanatic traits such as

• calling Muslims kafirs, so as to justify war against them;
• destroying tombs, alluding that Muslims are “worshipping saints” – thereby barring love for great people of Islam in in the past;;
• disdain of the Prophet (salla Allah ‘aleihi wa sallam), alluding that Muslims are worshipping the Prophet – thereby erasing the element of Mercy in the Ummah;
• forbidding dhikr and other spiritual practices, construing that it is against the Sunna – thereby denying access to the spiritual dimension of Islam;

He and his followers sieged and destroyed the holy cities of Makka and Madina, until they were victorious and inserted their tribesmen, the Sa’udi tribal leaders from Najd, as rulers over the holy cities.

The original wahhabi movement was finally subdued by the Egyptian Sultan Muhammad ´Ali, at the orders of the ottoman caliph. This happened in the first years of the 19th century – and it would have been forgotten today, where it not  revived again by Brittish intelligence at the beginning of the 20th century. Continue reading →