Wahhabism / Salafism | Belief Origin

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Wahhabism / Salafism

~1744 AD — ibn Abd al-Wahhab

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792 AD) was a Hanbali scholar in the Najd region of Arabia who formed a political alliance with Muhammad ibn Saud in 1744 — the founding compact of what would become the Saudi state. Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s theology: strict tawhid (divine unity) requires the elimination of all practices he considered shirk (polytheism) — including veneration of saints, visiting tombs, Sufi practices, and anything not explicitly sanctioned by Quran and authentic Sunnah. He considered most contemporary Muslims to be living in a state of pre-Islamic ignorance (jahiliyya) requiring reformation. Wahhabism became the official theology of the Saudi state and, petrodollar-funded from the 1970s onward, spread globally through mosque construction, textbooks, and scholarships. The Salafi movement is the broader international expression of essentially Wahhabi theology, emphasizing return to the practices of the ‘pious ancestors’ (salaf al-salih — the first three generations of Muslims).