al-Shubuhat allati uthirat hawl Dawat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (matbu within Buhuth Nadwat Dawat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab)

al-Shubuhat allati uthirat hawl Dawat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (Doubts Raised Concerning the Da'wah of Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab) is an academic research treatise by the Egyptian scholar, exegete, and Islamic thinker Abd al-Karim al-Khatib (1328–1406 AH / 1910–1985 CE) al-Shubuhat allati uthira…+1. The paper analyzes and refutes the polemical claims, misconceptions, and allegations leveled against the reformist movement of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab al-Shubuhat allati uthira…+1.

Context and Publication

The treatise was composed as an academic contribution and published within the proceedings of the symposium on the call of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (Buhuth Nadwat Dawat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab), organized and printed by Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh al-Daawa al-Muasira al-Mu…. Al-Khatib, who previously served in the Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf and lectured in the postgraduate division of the College of Sharia in Riyadh during the mid-1390s AH, prepared the research to address the historical and theological disputes surrounding the movement al-Shubuhat allati uthira…+1.

Content and Arguments

The author opens the treatise with a conceptual introduction on the obligation of enjoining good and forbidding evil (al-amr bi-l-ma'ruf wa-l-nahy 'an al-munkar) and defending Islamic law al-Shubuhat allati uthira…+1. He emphasizes that while external threats require military struggle, internal threats—represented by religious innovations (bida'), misguidance, and sectarian discord—demand an even greater intellectual and spiritual struggle led by insightful reformers who endure adversity and hostility in the manner of the prophets al-Shubuhat allati uthira…+1.

Al-Khatib establishes his methodological approach by arguing that any objective evaluation of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab must rely directly on the texts and epistles written by the scholar and his disciples, rather than on the polemics of his adversaries al-Shubuhat allati uthira…. These primary writings are then weighed against the Quran and the prophetic Sunnah al-Shubuhat allati uthira….

Central to his discussion is the treatise Kashf al-Shubuhat (The Unveiling of Doubts) by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, which al-Khatib examines as a concise yet foundational rebuttal of the arguments used by critics al-Shubuhat allati uthira…+1. He addresses the major contentious issues that drew opposition, notably:

• The prohibition of building shrines, domes, and structures over graves al-Shubuhat allati uthira….
• The rejection of supplicating the dead, presenting vows (nudhur) to them, or seeking the alleviation of harm from entombed saints al-Shubuhat allati uthira….
• Clarifying that while seeking assistance from the living in matters they are capable of is permissible, seeking it from the deceased is invalid, as the dead are cut off from worldly life and the living al-Shubuhat allati uthira….