Hayat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab wa Atharuhu al-Ilmiyya (Matbu within Buhuth Nadwat Dawat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, al-Juz al-Awwal)
- Author died
- 1417 AH
- Editions
- Deanship of Scientific Research at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University
Hayat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab wa Atharuhu al-Ilmiyya (The Life of Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and His Scholarly Works) is a biographical study by the Saudi researcher Ismail al-Ansari (d. 1417 AH / 1996 CE), examining the life, education, teachers, transmission chains, and scholarly output of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1115–1206 AH) .
Background and Publication
The work was originally prepared as a research contribution for the "Week of Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab" symposium, convened between 21 and 27 Rabi al-Thani 1400 AH (April 1980 CE) . It was subsequently printed as part of the conference proceedings (Buhuth Nadwat Dawat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab) in its first volume, published by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, with later printings including a second edition in 1420 AH . At the time of writing, al-Ansari served as a scholar within the General Presidency of Scholarly Research, Ifta, Dawah, and Guidance in Saudi Arabia .
Content and Method
The study opens by situating Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab as the renewer (mujaddid) of the twelfth century of the Hijri calendar, referencing the prophetic hadith regarding the revival of religion at the turn of every century . Al-Ansari provides a detailed genealogical record tracing the subject's lineage through the Al Musharraf branch of the Banu Tamim tribe .
Drawing upon historical chronicles and biographers—notably Husayn ibn Ghannam's Rawdat al-Afkar wa-l-Afham and Abd al-Latif ibn Abd al-Rahman's Misbah al-Zalam—the text documents the scholar's upbringing in al-Uyaynah, his early study of Hanbali jurisprudence under his father Abd al-Wahhab ibn Sulayman, and his subsequent travels to seek knowledge across the Hijaz, Basra, and al-Ahsa .
A central focus of the work is documenting the scholar's teachers, scholarly licenses (ijāzāt), and isnads across various Islamic disciplines:
- His Hanbali legal training received from his father, tracing back through his grandfather Sulayman ibn Ali to earlier Hanbali jurists .
- His transmission chains received in Medina from Abdullah ibn Ibrahim ibn Sayf al-Najdi al-Madani, including the comprehensive authority found in the Thabat of Abu al-Mawahib al-Hanbali covering the six canonical hadith collections, musnads, linguistic treatises, and Hanbali legal texts, as well as the chains for al-Hadith al-Musalsal bi-l-Awwaliyya and al-Hadith al-Musalsal bi-l-Hanabila .
- His studies in hadith under Muhammad Hayat al-Sindi in Medina, highlighting Sindi's influence on adhering to the Quran and Sunnah .
- Other scholars encountered during his travels, addressing and resolving historical discussions regarding his transmissions and meetings with contemporaries such as Abdullah ibn Salim al-Basri, Ismail al-Ajluni, and Ali al-Daghistani .
The study also reviews the scholarly legacy and authored works of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, outlining his writings in creed, jurisprudence, hadith, and other sciences .
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