Ibn Abd ul-Wahhab: No one knew meaning of La elaha illa Allah before me

 

بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds

Peace and benedictions upon you, my Master, Apostle of Allah

That Ibn Abd ul-Wahhab to whom the dangerous ideology of Wahhabism is attributed was a neo-Kharijite and an extremist is clear from both his writings and actions. Here was a man who claimed that the scholars of the Muslims did not even know the meaning of La elaha illa Allah or the meaning of Islam, including himself, before he received a kind of inspiration from Allah explaining its true purport. Hence, in one of his epistles he said:

وانا ذلك الوقت لا اعرف معنى لا اله الا الله ولا اعرف دين الاسلام قبل هذا الخير الذي منّ الله به وكذلك مشايخي ما منهم رجل عرف ذلك فمن زعم من علماء العارض انه عرف معنى لا اله الا الله او عرف معنى الاسلام قبل هذا الوقت او زعم من مشايخه ان احدًا عرف ذلك فقد كذّب وافترى ولبس على الناس ومدح نفسه بما ليس فيه

At that time I did not know the meaning of La elaha illa Allah nor did I know the Religion of Islam before this goodness that Allah bestowed upon me. Likewise, my sheikhs (teachers), not a man from among them who knew that. So whoever among the scholars of Al-Arid claims that he knew the meaning of La elaha illa Allah or knew the meaning of Islam before this time, or among his sheikhs claims that any of them knew that, then he has lied, fabricated, confused the people, and praised himself for what he did not have (Tarikh Ibn Ghannam, v.1, p.402)