Diayat Mukaththafa Didd al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab
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- Maktabat al-Furqān
Diayat Mukaththafa Didd al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (Intensive Propaganda against Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab) is an apologetic treatise written by the Indian Islamic scholar Muhammad Manzur al-Numani to refute widespread misconceptions and allegations leveled against Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and his reform movement . Originally written in Urdu and published serially across four consecutive issues of the monthly journal al-Furqan in Lucknow, the work was subsequently published as a standalone book and translated into Arabic by Nur Alam al-Amin al-Nadwi .
Background and Purpose
The impetus for writing the work arose when a student at the College of Da'wah and Usul al-Din at the Islamic University of Madinah sent an inquiry to al-Numani concerning the critical remarks and negative stances toward Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab found in the writings of prominent Deobandi scholars, particularly Khalil Ahmad al-Saharanfuri and Husayn Ahmad al-Madani . Al-Numani sought to provide a comprehensive, reasoned reply detailing the historical background of those statements and addressing the broader campaign of anti-Wahhabi propaganda that had circulated in both the Hejaz and the Indian subcontinent .
Contents and Core Arguments
Al-Numani analyzes how fabricated rumors and hostile polemics—such as those propagated in the works of Ahmad Zayni Dahlan and others—were accepted uncritically by many Muslims and transmitted across generations . He recounts popular historical fabrications, such as the widely repeated myth that a man named Abd al-Wahhab al-Najdi dug an underground tunnel in Medina to reach the Prophet's tomb before being caught and executed following a ruler's dream .
The book discusses the stance of early Darul Uloom Deoband scholars, arguing that works like al-Madani's al-Shihab al-Thaqib and al-Saharanfuri's responses were influenced by the prevailing climate of hostility in Mecca and Medina and written in response to polemical accusations by Ahmad Rida Khan Barelvi, without firsthand study of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's authentic treatises . Al-Numani maintains that both scholars later retracted their negative evaluations once they recognized the baselessness of those charges . As documentation for al-Madani's retraction, al-Numani cites a 1925 press statement given to the newspaper Zamindar, edited by Zafar Ali Khan, which was also recorded in Aziz al-Din al-Muradabadi's Akmal al-Bayan .
Al-Numani also addresses the political dimension of the term "Wahhabi", noting that British colonial authorities in India weaponized the label against anyone who opposed British rule or posed a threat to their presence—including the scholars of Sadiqpur associated with Ahmad ibn Irfan al-Shahid and Ismail al-Shahid, as well as the Deobandi leadership . While highlighting doctrinal alignment on core matters of creed, such as the call to pure monotheism (tawhid) and adhering to the Sunnah, al-Numani outlines minor secondary differences between the Najdi scholars and Indian scholars, such as juristic nuances concerning journeys undertaken specifically to visit the Prophet's tomb versus intending prayer at the Prophet's Mosque .
Reception
The book has been cited in later studies on the Najdi reform movement and modern Islamic history as a reference on the misconceptions surrounding Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab in India and the nuances within Deobandi scholarship . However, critics of the Deobandi school have contested al-Numani's claims regarding the retractions of early Deobandi figures, arguing that earlier polemical books against the Najdi movement continued to be published and circulated within Deobandi circles .
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