From the [pointed] arrows of the hostile opponents on the satellite channels is [the claim] that the cause of the bombings which occurred in our land is the book “al-Durar al-Saniyyah” and the fatwas of Shaykh Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm Āl al-Shaykh (رحمه الله), so what is your reply to this doubt, may Allāh grant you success?

This [doubt] is from ancient times, the polytheists used to consider the Prophets and their followers as omens, they would say: “Nothing afflicts us [of calamities] except due to them.”

So this is ancient, the one who says that about “al-Durar al-Saniyyah” is like the one who treats the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) as an omen, as Allāh said of them: ( وَإِن تُصِبۡهُمۡ سَيِّئَةࣱ يَقُولُوا هَـٰذِهِۦ مِنۡ عِندِكَ ), "If evil afflicts them, they say, ‘This is from you.’” (4:78).

And the Exalted said: ( إِن تُصِبْهُمْ سَيِّئَةٌ يَطَّيَّرُوا بِمُوسَىٰ وَمَن مَّعَهُ ) “And if evil befalls them, they saw an evil omen in Mūsā and those with him…” (7:131).

So they make the people of rectification and the call to Allāh to be the cause of evil, and there is nothing strange in that.

And [the book] “al-Durar al-Saniyyah” is present, and let him look into it, is there terrorism in there or Tawḥīd. Rather, there is goodness and all praise is due Allāh.

There is Tawḥīd therein and there is rejecion of Shirk therein. There is advice and admonition therein. So we do not listen to the speech of the hostile opposer, rather we return back to “al-Durar al-Saniyyah”, and we read [what is] in it, and this person will be exposed.

Many ignoramuses have appeared ascribing to knowledge who impute mass takfīr (excommunication), irhāb (terrorism) and the way of Khārijites to the daʿwah (call) of Shaykh Muḥammad bin ʿAbd al-Wahhab.

They include characters such as ʿAwaḍ al-Qarnī, Muḥsin al-ʿAwājī, Ḥātim al-ʿAwnī and ʿAdil al-Kalbānī. All of them are ignoramuses and motivated by desires, a matter known through the simplest of reflections.

By way of example, the book al-Durar al-Saniyyah - alleged to be a source of takfīr and irhāb - was compiled by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bin Muḥammad bin Qāsim al-ʿĀṣimī al-Qaḥṭānī (d. 1392H) before the middle of the twentieth century.

This work compiles the various letters and treatises of Shaykh Muḥammad bin ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and his offspring and has been published numerous times and has been widespread amongst the scholars and students of knowledge.

From the first time it was published till this day of ours, close to eighty years have passed and Saudi Arabia witnessed the kingships of Saʾūd, Faiṣal, Khālid and Fahd. No one revolted against them or against the society after being affected by this book and what it is alleged to contain of mass excommunication and terrorism.

In reality, the ideology of takfīr only entered Saudi Arabia and the Gulf when the people abandoned the books of Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah and Shaykh al-Islām Muḥammad bin ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and were introduced to the books of fikr (ideology) and ḥarakah (political activism) by Egyptian renegades who fled Egypt and took residence in the Gulf countries.

These are the books of Sayyid Quṭb in particular and also those of Abū Aʿlā Mawdūdī, Ḥasan al-Bannā and Taqī al-Dīn al-Nabahānī and their likes.

When these books spread in the 70s and 80s, the movements of takfīr emerged, the Quṭbiyyah and Surūriyyah appeared and terrorism shortly followed after they had influenced and brainwashed segments of the youth away from the rectifying methodologies of Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb which invite to the Sharīʿah rulings pertaining to dealings with the rulers - be they righteous or tyrannical - to the agitation, commotion, strife and revolution of Marx, Lenin, Trotsky and the Bolshevites.

In addition, when one looks at the writings of Shaykh al-Islām Muḥammad bin ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and his students, they spoke extensively about extremism in takfīr and warned against it abundantly.

They listed only ten matters which are agreed upon amongst the scholars of the four schools of jurisprudence as nullifiers of Islām. In contrast, when one looks at the books authored by those who came before them, and especially the Ḥanafī jurists, one can see exaggeration in the matter of takfīr.

By way of example, Muḥammad bin Ismāʿīl bin Maḥmūd Badr al-Rashīd al-Ḥanafī (d. 768H) wrote a book, “Alfāẓ al-Kufr” in which he lists 700 nullifiers of Islām. This book was given an explanation by the well-known Ḥanafī jurist, Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī al-Ḥanafī.

Another scholar, Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ḥajar al-Haytamī (d. 973H) wrote a book titled, “al-Iʿlām bi Qawāṭiʾ al-Islām” in which mentions hundreds of nullifiers which comprise matters agreed upon, matters not agreed upon by the scholars, and things which are not even nullifiers to begin with.

Another book, “Alfāẓ al-Kufr” by Qāsim bin Ṣalāh al-Dīn al-Khānī (d. 1109H) mentions about a hundred nullifiers, including those that are agreed upon and those that are not.

Another book with the same title, “Alfāẓ al-Kufr” by Masʿūd bin Aḥmad Tāj al-Dīn Abū al-Muʿālī al-Ḥanafī mentions more than two-hundred nullifiers.

Thus, the arena takfīr is much more expansive in the books of these madhāhib (schools of thought) whereas Shaykh al-Islām Muḥammad bin ʿAbd al-Wahhāb restricted it only to those things unanimously agreed upon by all the schools, indicating that he restricted takfīr and did not take any liberties with it at all.

Responding to the spurious claims of his detractors Shaykh al-Islām Muḥammad bin ʿAbd al-Wahhāb (رحمه الله) said:^[3]

“As for what the enemies have mentioned about me: That I make takfīr on the basis of presumption, and on the basis of loyalty, or that I make takfir of the ignorant person upon whom the proof has not been established, then this is a mighty slander. They desire to make the people flee from the deen of Allāh and His Messenger by it.”

And he (رحمه الله) also said:^[4]

“And likewise, his distortion upon the common people that Ibn Abd al-Wahhāb says, ‘Whoever does not come under my obedience is a disbeliever.’ And we say: Sublime are you (O Lord), this is a mighty slander! Rather, we call Allāh to witness over what he knows from our hearts that whoever acts upon Tawḥīd and frees himself from Shirk and its people, then he is a Muslim in whatever time and place (he maybe in). But we make takfīr of the one who associates partners with Allaah in His ilāhiyyah (sole right of worship), after we have made clear to him the proof for the futility of shirk.”

And he also said:^[5]

“And as for the lie and slander, then it is like their saying that we make generalized takfīr (of the masses), and that we make emigration (hijrah) obligatory towards us for the one who is able to manifest his religion, and that we make takfīr of the one who does not make takfīr and who does not fight, and multiple times the likes of this (type of lying and slander).

All of this is from lying and slander by which they hinder the people from the dīn of Allāh and His Messenger.

And when it is the case that we do not make takfīr of the one who worships the idol (tomb) which is on the grave of ʿAbd al-Qādir, and the idol which is on the grave of Aḥmad al-Badawī and their likes, due to their ignorance, and the absence of the one to notify them (of their opposition), then how could we make takfīr of the one who does not associate partners with Allāh, when he does not emigrate to us and who does not make takfīr (of us) and does not fight (againsts us)? ‘Glory be to you (O Lord), this is a mighty slander.’ (24:16)”