The negation of reasoning {ta‘aqqul} in the Wahhabi school and its consequence a kind of intellectual negation can be observed in the school of Wahhabism.
Although Shaykh Muhammad ibn ’Abd al-Wahhab regarded himself an enlightened person, criticizing the four Suuni schools of thought, some Shi`ah beliefs, and reproaching them for speculatively interpreting the verses of the Qur’an, he used to resort to secondary issues concerning the teachings about God, the Exalted. He believed in a sort of anthropomorphism for God and in this regard he used to content himself with the outward purport of the verses.
His supporters also reject reflection and reasoning about the verses of the Qur’an and the Prophetic traditions, negating the rational sciences, philosophy and mysticism {’irfan}. They are afflicted with a close-mindedness and intellectual frigidity to the extent that they are incapable of applying the precepts of the school {madrasah}, the Qur’anic verses and the traditions to the demands of time. It was for this reason that they initially declared the telephone, mass communication devices and others as religiously unlawful, and strongly resisted them, but later they finally relented.
Since they are incapable of applying the concepts such as intercession {shafa‘ah}, tawassul and infallibility {’ismah} of the Prophet (s) in the light of contemporary thinking their viewpoint concerning the prophets, the Holy Prophet (s) in particular, and the saints is narrow. They treat the spiritual station of the prophets and the saints as identical with the rest of people, thinking them as being annihilated and nonexistent after death, while the Shi`ah and other Islamic schools of thought consider them to be present and watching over us. In a result, the Wahhabis consider tawassul to the prophets and awliya’, entreating them and asking for their shafa’ah an innovation in religion {bid’ah} and polytheism.
Source:
A New Analysis of Wahhabi Doctrines
By: Muhammad Husayn Ibrahimi
ABWA Publishing and Printing Center
[Pg. 18].
