Young Muslims of Australia Forum

Nemo · Joined: 13 Mar 2007 Posts: 18 Location: Australia

aa.

A friend of mine was asking me recently ‘whats the difference b/w Wahabis and Alawis?’ and I didn’t really know the answer myself..so I was wondering if someone could find me the correct answer, and maybe a website on them might be helpful.

Smiles and thanks,

Nemo. still lost

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"Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”

admin · Site Admin Joined: 19 Feb 2007 Posts: 181

Assalaamu 'alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh,

Good questions Nemo, since no one else has tried to answer your question, I'll quickly add a few points regarding the question which your friend has asked.

Firstly a 'Wahhabi' is generally a term coined for people who adhere to te teachings of a man by the name of Muhammed ibn 'Abdul Wahhab who appeared some 200 or so years ago in Najd (the deserts of Saudi Arabia). His philosphy/mentality was to 'purify' the teachings of Islam (he was a 'puritarian as Sheikh Abdul Hakim Murad calls it), and remove from it all forms of 'bid'ah or innovations'. At face value this seems prasieworthy, however in his quest to do so, he rebelled against the 'khilaafah' who at the time was the Ottoman Caliphate.
Presently we know that he wrote 5-10 books - Kitab al Tawheed is one of them.
He tried to renew the teaching of Sheikhul Islam (in his own madhhab at the time) Ibn Taimiyyah rahimahullah (who lived some 400-500 years earlier than him).

Ibn Taimiyyah was a scholar in many areas, however, in certain issues he was rebutted by many of the scholars (including his own students such as Imam Dhahabi rahimahullah). He repented of his 'errors' before he passed away, and although we respect and honour him as our sheikh, we do not take from him because he is known to be a person who had a lot of 'ikhtilaaf' or differences of opinion with the mainstream 'ulama (scholars).

back to Ibn Abdul Wahhab, his teachings, like Ibn Taimiyyah's teachings bordered on the 'excessive' side of permissibility. We know that Islam is the 'radical middle way', and without this middle way of permissible actions, there are two extremes which people may fall into. One side is that of Ifraat (or excess in doing or preachign something) - such that people call each other 'kafir' because of a 'slight' difference of opinion - these people are known as Takfiri's, and this is the side which the above mentioned people have taken in certain instances.
There is also slight differences in the 'interpretation' of the Aqeedah. While Ahlus Sunnah studies Imam Abu Ja'far al Tahawi's book on the Islamic belief (Creed) called Aqeedah Tahawiyyah (there are others also such as the Jawharah etc), when it comes to the 105 matters or so of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah belief, the statements are interpreted slightly differently in certain issues such as 'istiwa' etc (a little complex to explain here right now).

The danger of ifraat or extremism is such that when one classifies the other as a 'kafir', that means that the other person is usually seen as a 'murtad' or an apostate, hence their sanctity, honour etc is 'liable' (this is seen by the extremist). This is what happened during the time of Abdul Wahhab, where Muslims were killed, their wives taken as slaves etc.
Even the first person to fire on the Muslim governor or the khadim of the Ka'abah was one of this sects followers.

Why do we not classify this group as belonging to Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah? It's not about their Salat, their Siyam or their beards or hijabs, rather it is because they have diverged from the true Sunnah and the Jama'ah of the beloved of Allah, sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam. It is because they have departed from the four Madhhab's and have chosen to make their own madhhab - which is not recognised.
They are classified as Muslims and our brothers sisters in religion, however, they are not Ahlus Sunnah according to the classical sense and usage of that term - but deviators - Ahlul Bid'ah.

Even the issue of fighting against the khalifah who was truly the leader of the Muslims is in itself testimony to the errors which this group has fallen into.

Coming to the Alawi's, this is a very vast sect/cult. Some are Muslims who pray 5 times a day and are close to the Ja'far Shi'a in their Aqeedah. They are usually found in Southern Turkey or even in Lebanon or there abouts.
The others are quite lost as a group and do not believe in the Qur'an, there are others who 'worship 'Ali radiAllahu 'anh. Hence you have many sub-sects within the 'Alawi's and most are not considered as Muslims. Those who pray and fast are usually people who have kept the label of 'Alawi' because their ancestors were known to have loved 'Ali Radi'Allahu 'anh, as for the others? Well because they have departed from the fold of Islam some centuries ago, there are small traces of 'cultural Islam' to be found in their practices, but apart from that, Islam is alien to them.

All that said, we are in no position to declare anyone as being a Muslim or a Kafir - at face value. This task was the responsibility of the Qadi in the Khilaafah as it is no small task - since the utterance of Kafir to one's brother or sister will nullify either one of their faith - and hence is something to stay away from.

All that said, with all our differences, we must be careful not to 'intentionally' cause trubble by name calling our fellow brothers and sisters. The term Wahhabi or Salafi is commonly used to refer to these brothers/sisters, and the only purpose is in 'reference' to, not to be derogatory in usage.
A similar term of Sufi is currently used by some derogatorily - however if we look around the world today, there are not many true 'sufi's' around - and even so, they would not call themselves Sufi's, but ould be more humble than that in their usage - the true awliyaullah (Friends of Allah) are people of humility and certainty.

InshaAllah the above can be of use - I haven't gone into detail as it is a very deep topic and quite touchy - as starters you may wish to read from the following site which is trustworhty in terms of authenticity and of sound scholarship inshaAllah:

http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/misc/main.htm

May Allah subhaanahu wa ta'ala allow us to be people of truth and stick to it whenever or where ever we may be, and show us falsehood as falsehood and allow us to be far removed from it.

And Allah Alone knows best!

Fi Amanillah

Abu Khadijah
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"Except the one who comes to Allah with a sound heart"