لطفا منتظر باشید ...
8 - The Wahabi and the Ghulat (Extremists)
The Ghulat or extremist are those who went to
extremes in exalting a person or persons to the extent of
raising him or them above the ranks of ordinary human
beings.
At the same time of the rise of Wahabia in Najid,
another person was preaching a new doctrine which renewed
much of what has disappeared of the beliefs of the first Ghulats
who deified Imam Ali and other members of the Prophet
Household. His teachings were similar to those of Ibn
Abdul Wahab in labeling his opponents as heretics. He
actually went further than the Wahabia founder by
attacking most of the Prophet's Companions and calling
them heretics.
The name of that man was Shaikh Ahmed al-Ihsaie (died
1241 AH.) His followers were thus known as al-Shaikhia.
He was succeeded by Khathim al-Rashti who established his
headquarters at Kerbala in southern Iraq.
The Wahabi's attitudes toward this movement is
interesting. As history report, the Wahabis attacked
Karbala where al-Rashti and his followers resided. As
their custom in all their military campaigns, the Wahabis
sacked the city, slaughtering thousands of innocent men,
women and children and looting and destroying houses and
shops. But they guaranteed al-Rashti's personal safety
and declared that anyone entering his house shall be
safe. This special treatment of this group and their
leader unveils the true nature of the Wahabi and exposes
the falsehood of their claim of opposing idolatry and
defending divine unity.
At this point, it may be useful to compare this
position with a similar one by Ibn Taimia, whom the
Wahabis claim to follow, toward another extremist group,
namely the Yazidis. The Yazidis exalted Yazid ibn Muawiya
whose un-Islamic deeds were enumerated earlier. A branch
of this sect was named al-Adawia after Udai ibn Musafir
whom they exalted along with Yazid.
Ibn Taimia who was a contemporary of this sect
maintained an inexplicably untypical attitude toward this
group. Famed for his extreme opinions and fierce attacks
on Islamic sects swiftly judging them to be deviant and
heretic, he wrote a letter to this group addressing them
as faithful Muslims. In this civil and well-wishing
letter we find none of his offending style and usual
labels which he used in communicating with or writing on
other Islamic groups such as the Asharia, the Imamiya
Shia, the Zaidis, Mutazila, Murajia and others.
His letter to this group begins as follows:26
From Ahmed ibn Tairnia to whoever receives this
letter of the Muslims who belong to the Sunna and
follow the exemplary, blessed, and learned shaikh
Udai ibn Musafir al-Umawi. Allah has mercy on him and
all those who follow his path.. May Allah lead them
to His path and obey Him and His Prophet.
This shows that Ibn Taimia considered this deviant
group as Sunni Muslim in variance with the consensus
identifying them as extremists, heretics and idolaters
who did not worship only Allah.
