Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab ibn Sulayman al-Tamimi al-Najdi (1703–1792 C.E., 1115–1206 A.H.) was an Arab Muslim scholar, theologian, preacher, activist, religious leader, jurist, and reformer, who was from Najd in the Arabian Peninsula and is considered as the eponymous founder of the Wahhabi movement.

Born to a family of jurists, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's early education consisted of learning a fairly standard curriculum of jurisprudence according to the Hanbali school, which was most prevalent in his area of birth. He promoted strict adherence to Islamic law, proclaiming the necessity of returning directly to the Quran and Hadith literature rather than relying on traditional interpretations, and insisted that every Muslim – male and female – should personally read and study the Quran. He opposed blind taqlid and called for the use of ijtihad (independent legal reasoning through research of scripture).

Being given religious training under various Sunni Muslim scholars during his travels to Hejaz and Basra, Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab gradually became opposed to certain rituals and practices associated with the visitation to and veneration of the shrines and tombs of Muslim saints, which he condemned as heretical religious innovation or even idolatry. While claiming to be a Hanbali, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab minimized reliance on medieval legal manuals, instead engaging in direct interpretation of scriptures. His views were also rejected by even some Hanbali scholars of his time. His call for social reforms was based on the key doctrine of tawhid (oneness of God), and was greatly inspired by the treatises of classical scholars Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728 A.H/ 1328 C.E) and Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 A.H/ 1350 C.E).

Despite being opposed or rejected by some of his contemporary critics amongst the religious clergy, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab charted a religio-political pact with Muhammad bin Saud to help him to establish the Emirate of Diriyah, the first Saudi state, and began a dynastic alliance and power-sharing arrangement between their families which continues to the present day in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Al ash-Sheikh, Saudi Arabia's leading religious family, are the descendants of Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab, and have historically led the ulama in the Saudi state, dominating the state's clerical institutions.