Letter by Imam Sulaiman ibn Suhaim az-Zubairi about Muhammad ibn ‘Abdul Wahab

From: The Divine Lightening

Imam Sulaiman ibn Suhaim az-Zubairi رحمة اللہ علیه, when he received a letter from Muhammad ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab, replied and also sent a copy to the judges surrounding his area:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate
This is from the needy slave of Allah, the Exalted. My name is Sulaiman ibn Muhammad ibn Suhaim and I have sent this to whomever it will reach from the scholars of the Muslims, the servants of the Revealed Law of the Master of the Sons of Adam, the first of them and the last of them.

Peace be upon you and the Mercy and Blessings of Allah. As for what comes next:
It has certainly come to your attention that there has appeared in our land a man who is an innovator, ignorant, astray and leading others astray. This is causing the disruption of knowledge and the cutting off of piety from the hearts of the people. This has led to many horrifying matters and hate-filled battles between people. Some of the things that have happened have caused hatred, enmity and are hard on the ears to bear. This has not come to our land before so we desired to send word to the scholars of the Muslims, the inheritors of the Master of the Messengers, in order that they would stop this innovator.

The intent of this letter is to stand up for Allah and His Messenger, to assist the religion with sincerity. May Allah make us and you from those who assist one another in righteousness and piety. Some of the innovations and astray things that this innovator has brought are the following:

He has gone to the martyrs of the Companions of Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that are buried in al-Jubailah, for example Zaid ibn al-Khattab and his companions, destroyed their graves and spaces because they are in chambers and they are unable to exhume them. They then decided to demolish their tombs until they are at the level of one hand span in order to keep away the animals. The one that buried these people was none other than Khalid and the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

The innovator has also gone to the masjid in the area and destroyed it. There is no proof for doing this in the Revealed Law but this is only following vain desires.

He has burned the text ‘The Wonderful Guidance’ (Dala’il ul-Khairat by Imam Muhammad al-Jazuli; the great Maliki Scholar) due to the statement of the author, our master, our leader. He also burned the text ‘Meadow of the Two Lovely Breezes’ (Rawd ur-Riyahin fi Hakayat is-Salihin by Imam ‘Afif ud-Din ‘Abdullah ibn As’ad ibn ‘Ali ibn Sulaiman al-Yafi’ii ash-Shafi’ii) and called it, the ‘Meadow of the Demons’.

He said at one point, “If I was able to get to the Chamber of the Messenger, I would destroy it and if I could get to the Noble House I would have done so and taken the jewels from it and left it as wood.” Did’nt this person hear the statement of the Exalted One, “Whoever shows reverence for the Signs of Allah, then this is from the piety in his heart”? (Surah 22 Verse 32)

It has been established that at one point he said, “The people for the past six hundred years have not been upon anything.” A book was also sent to me that read in one section, “You should affirm that before me you were ignorant and astray.”

Whoever does not agree with him in all of what he said or bear witness to that then he judges them with having committed major kufr. Whoever agrees with him and testifies to all of what he said then he says of them, “You are a Muwahhid.” This is even if the person is a rebellious sinner in total or a reprobate. So in reality when one sees this, he will know that he is calling to the Tawhid of himself rather than to the Tawhid of Allah.

He then sent a book to our land that was brought by some of his missionaries bearing his handwriting. Once opened, you could see that in this book he swore by Allah that the knowledge he possesses is not present in his teachers who claim to have knowledge. This is his claim. If this is the case, then he has no teachers and neither his father nor the people of the land of al-‘Arid were aware of this. They would have been astonished to know that when he was not learning from the teachers he was making his own points. Neither his father nor his people were made aware of this matter. So where did this man’s knowledge come from? Who did he get this information from? Was it given to him as revelation? Did he see it in a dream? Or did Shaitan teach it to him? The oath that he took claiming he was telling the truth is more dear to him than all the people of al-‘Arid.

After that he jumped and called both Ibn al-Farid and Ibn al-‘Arabi unbelievers. He said that the household of the Messenger among us were unbelievers as they take oaths and that whoever did not testify to their kufr was also an unbeliever.

It was reliably established from him that when he was told the difference of opinion of the scholars is a mercy, he remarked, “Their difference of opinion is a trial.” In addition to that, he started to destroy and plunder the charitable endowments and deny what was narrated from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and his Companions that they used to give charitable endowments.

The same innovator removed the wage for hajj guides, the supplication made for the Sultan in the khutbah and gave his reason as, “The Sultan is a rebellious sinner and it is not permissible to make supplication for him or praise him.”

We were then told that the sending of peace and blessings on the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on Friday night was an innovation and astrayness that will take the person who does it to the Fire.

The claim was then made that the wage the judges take, past and present, when they judge between claimants and there is no treasure for them or maintenance, then that is bribery. This statement completely contradicts what has textually been handed down from all the Imams, namely that bribery is what is taken to nullify the truth or to make falsehood true. It is also bribery when the judge says to the two claimants, “I will not judge between you except for a wage.” This is actually bribery, not what the judges are doing now or before in ages past.

The one who offers a sacrifice on behalf of someone and then says the Name of Allah over it and gives it to Allah the Exalted has been named an unbeliever by this person. Likewise, the same thing is said of the person who negates the evil of the jinn using sacrifices and such. The innovator says of such a person, “That is kufr and the meat is impermissible for consumption.” The scholars have only mentioned that the one who did that has committed an impermissible act and this was mentioned in the commentary of the text the Uttermost Boundary.

Scholars, please clarify, may Allah have mercy upon you, to the laymen regarding these matters and protect these poor believers who are being deceived, their true creed corrupted. If you judge this as the best course of action, then please clarify it and we will go to his statements and follow him; but if you should see this as a mistake, call us away from it, push us away from it and make clear to the people the error in this matter. Many people in this land have already been tested with great trial by this individual. May Allah have mercy on you, we seek to have the matter explained before false thoughts come into the souls of the people. The answer is being sought from you and that it is found by whoever maintains it. Those who maintain it are those who have knowledge and deep insight of the Judgment of Allah and His Messenger, as that is how the truth is manifested when it is threatened and the same way that falsehood is repelled.


Note: Imam ‘Abdullah ibn Suhaim رحمة اللہ علیه, also weighed in when he received two of the Muwahhidun missionaries, Hasan ibn ‘Aidan and an armed guard, and in the course of conversation realized that the two had likened Allah with His Creation. Further to this, the common people rejected him and sent him away. This forced Muhammad ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab to backpedal on his theology; but upon realization that the Imam would not relent, Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab resorted to calling him an unbeliever.



Taken from:
The Divine Lightning pg 32-37
By Imam Sulaiman Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab (Brother of Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhab)
Translated by Al-Hajj Abu Ja’far Al-Hanbali

The above excerpt is part of the section by the translator