Is Wahabism not true Islam?

[A-ManESL]

I read this article today:

Wahabi extremism denounced by Indian Sunni clerics

It talks about the efforts being made by some Indian Muslim leaders to denounce Wahabi influence in their understanding of Islam. (I will add that majority of Indian Muslims adhere to a movement called Barelvi which has a touch of Sufism in it and is against Wahabism.)

My question is: How far is the Wahabi ideology representative of true Islam?

 

[alar]

well

the probleme is not wahabis ,,, shiis ,,, sufis,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
you must understand that one of the problemes of islam is the multitude of speashs and the inherritence of thise speachs
wahabi starts as e returning to the sunni islam and because of the military uropian occupation wish help to deffuse iggnorance and devision and to confonte with the huge adds in islam by sufis and shia add it call to return to the true path of islam islam as mohamed left it

now the mesages of wahabis is interpreted as anti thise other groups by salafis and not conservative but extrimiste muslims

but now we have the acces to media ,moste of shia and sufi scholars addopte to less outside approach to islam and even

i saw it in tv shia leader was asked you need to be e shia to be e muslim he repond no you could be e muslim just without believing in all of the adds

as the oposite to sunni islam where eather you belive in it or you re not e muslims at all

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

What are you considering True Islam?

 

[Quiddity]

What are you considering True Islam?

On that question alone, this thread can break a record for longest ever.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

On that question alone, this thread can break a record for longest ever.

True dat

 

[Quiddity]

I read this article today:

Wahabi extremism denounced by Indian Sunni clerics

It talks about the efforts being made by some Indian Muslim leaders to denounce Wahabi influence in their understanding of Islam. (I will add that majority of Indian Muslims adhere to a movement called Barelvi which has a touch of Sufism in it and is against Wahabism.)

My question is: How far is the Wahabi ideology representative of true Islam?

My knowledge of Islam is limited. However, I know that Wahabism tends to swallow up opposing ideologies within Islam. Is this just because they impose their will or is there something to their ideology that others withing Islam find it hard to argue against?

 

[A-ManESL]

What are you considering True Islam?

There are two things here: The Truth (of God) and the Law (of God). The Truth is the same in all religions but the manner of understanding it is exoterically different. The Law is different for different religions depending upon the communities and cultures.

The Truth (understood through the prism of Islam) I will describe as follows: (This is something from one of my previous posts)

Islam fundamentally consists of two statements: "There is no divinity (or reality or absolute) save the sole Divinity (or Reality or Absolute)" and "Muhammad is the Messenger (the spokesman, the intermediary, the manifestation, the symbol) of the Divinity." There are two assertions here: the first is regarding the Principle or the Absolute. Realizing it means to become fully conscious that the Principle alone is real and the world (though has an existence) is not really real. The second assertion is not as much concerning the individual personality of the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) but rather regarding the world (for in his character as a human being Muhammad(pbuh) symbolizes the world; he is often referred to as a universal man or the perfect man (insaan-e-kamil) for that reason, indeed all worldly qualities are latent inside human beings). The world is a manifestation of the Reality, and hence to a certain degree it has a reality contingent upon the Absolute Reality. Realizing this assertion means seeing the Absolute Reality everywhere and everything in Him.

If Islam merely sought to teach that there is only one God and not two or more it would not have such a persuasive force which enabled it to last for centuries. The persuasive force it has comes from the fact that at its root Islam is all about the reality of the Absolute and the dependence of all things on the Absolute. Indeed, Islam is the religion of the Absolute.

This is the aspect of the Truth as looked upon through the prism of Islam.

The Law of Islam bases itself on the aspect of the Truth described above. To go into various intricacies of the law is not my purpose here. I will only describe the points I believe are the salient points of difference between Wahabism and Muslim movements aligned against them. I will add that both sides have developed theological arguments supporting their respective positions.

1. Scholars opinion are not given value in Wahabism. In contrast Non-Wahabi movements usually follow some Imam when it comes to jurisprudence (in India Muslims usually follow Imam Abu Hanifa.)
2. Wahabis are opposed to giving relevance to shrines and graves of Muslim saints/important personalities. From wikipedia:

In 1801 and 1802, the Saudi Wahhabis under Abdul Aziz ibn Muhammad ibn Saud attacked and captured the holy muslim cities of Karbala and Najaf in Iraq, massacred parts of the muslim population and destroyed the tombs of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad, and son of Ali (Ali bin Abu Talib), the son-in-law of Muhammad. In 1803 and 1804 the Saudis captured Makkah and Medina and destroyed historical monuments and various holy Muslim sites and shrines, such as the shrine built over the tomb of Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad, and even intended to destroy the grave of Muhammad himself as idolatrous. In 1998 the Saudis bulldozed and poured gasoline over the grave of Aminah bint Wahb, the mother of Prophet Muhammad, causing resentment throughout the Muslim world

In contrast, for many non Wahabi Muslims visiting shrines and graves of saints is an important part of their religious identity.

3. Many Wahabis consider some Sufi practices as illegitimate innovations.

4. Wahabism is more exclusive in nature in regard to other religions. Some of them regard Jews, Christians and non-Wahhabi Muslims as "unbelievers" who should be avoided.

5. Wahabis are more conservative generally. Its strictest adherents read Islamic scriptures literally, reject centuries of Islamic legal scholarship as unnecessary "innovation" and regard many Western values as un-Islamic.

 

[theirreverentconcubine]

Aren't Wahabis jihadists? Doesn't that make trouble for Islam in general?

 

[A-ManESL]

Aren't Wahabis jihadists? Doesn't that make trouble for Islam in general?

(Assuming by jihadists you mean militant Islam) This is something which I would say is stretching the reality a little. Osama bin Laden etc may have been influenced by Wahabism though. I guess he and his supporters took a more violent interpretation of Wahabi thought which is ultra conservative and considers non Wahabis Muslims and non Muslims as unbelievers.

 

[fenrisx]

My knowledge of Islam is limited. However, I know that Wahabism tends to swallow up opposing ideologies within Islam. Is this just because they impose their will or is there something to their ideology that others withing Islam find it hard to argue against?

Wahabism is an interpretation of Deobandism, which is not the tolerant interpretation. In my opinion they believe they have same monopoly on truth the Evangelical Christians do. the fact is both traditions have a wider diversity than that, and its arguable that both are fairly recent interpretations so it is not the true Islam because Islam multiple forms, and diversity is a good thing.

 

[theirreverentconcubine]

(Assuming by jihadists you mean militant Islam) This is something which I would say is stretching the reality a little. Osama bin Laden etc may have been influenced by Wahabism though. I guess he and his supporters took a more violent interpretation of Wahabi thought which is ultra conservative and considers non Wahabis Muslims and non Muslims as unbelievers.

I don't mean "publicly militant." What I mean is, their way or the highway, kind of thing. I'm an "atheist jihadist," know what I'm saying? I'm not against people, I'm against what I see as a dangerous meme: religion.

I guess what I'm asking is, do Wahabis see non-Muslims in this kind of light?