Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab
Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab Tamimi Najdi, the founder of “Wahhabism” (Muslim puritan movement), (1705 – 1792) in Arabia. He studied Hanbali jurisprudence under his father. Abdul Wahhab was the follower of “Ibn Taymiyyya” (Hanbali theologian and jurisconsult from Harran, 1263 – 1328). He continued his studies in the presence of “Ibn Qayyem Jowzi” who was the student of Ibn Taymiyya. He was against pilgrimage of the Prophet and generally the Shia Imams, also denied supplication for the Prophetand said, it is a paganism; he believed that:#### “the Prophet died and there is no value any more”! He was young, therefore could not be successul in his method. Abdul Wahhab travelled to Basra and Baghdad to complete his education. He invited “Muhammad Ibn Mas’oud” (one of the emirs of Najd) to Wahhabism. In 1140, Muhammad Ibn Mas’oud propagated Wahhabism and the thoughts and ideas of Abdul Wahhab. Abdul Wahhab invited some perple to his religion, then mounted an attack on Riyadh with the help of Muhammad Ibn Mas’oud and the English. After death of Ibn Mas’oud, his son and grandson propagated Wahhabism among Arab tribes. Wahhabies has destroyed many Holy shrines: Destroing House of Khadijeh (the Holy Prophet’s wife), destroying house of Hamzeh (paternal uncle of the Prophet), destroying house of Arqam (place of beginning of Islam revolution), destrying the graves of martyrs of Badr battle and Baqe’i (tombs of the 2nd, the 4th, the 5th and the 6th Imams of Shias) and Uhud cemetries. They had even started destroying the tomb of the Holy Prophet but the Islamic countries protested at this action, so it stopped. Abdul Wahhab wrote different books on Wahhabism. His four sons and grandsons now are propagating the movement. Most of the followers of Wahhabism live in Egypt, India, Sudan, etc.
Sources :
Farsi encyclopedia