I advise the students of knowledge¹ in the beginning of their studies to memorise the book of Allāh or that which is easy [to be memorised] from it, and to memorise Kitāb al-Tawḥīd ², Kashf al-Shubuhāt ³, Thalāthah al-Uṣūl ⁴ and al-ʿAqīdah al-Wāsiṭiyyah, ⁵ for they are concise in explaining the Salafī  ʿaqīdah and tawḥīd in its three categories.

This is the ʿaqīdah that Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb called to. It is the ʿaqidah of the Salaf, and it is the ʿaqīdah of the country of Saudi [i.e. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia].

The reality of it is adhering to the Book and the Sunnah and that which the Salaf of the Ummah were upon in ʿaqidah and law according to what the Book of Allāh and the Sunnah of His Messenger Muhammad (ﷺ) indicated and that which the Companions (رضي الله عنهم) preceded upon and those who followed them based upon knowledge.

Some people call this the Wahhābī ʿaqīdah, and they consider it a new ʿaqīdah which opposes the Book and the Sunnah, [but] the affair is not like that. It is merely the ʿaqidah which the Salaf of the Ummah preceded upon, as mentioned previously. However, the enemies have labelled it with this label in order to deter from it and its people.

Some people did that due to ignorance and the blind following of others.

Therefore, it is necessary upon the student of knowledge to not to be deceived by that and to know the reality [of the ʿaqidah of the Salaf] from their books and what they preceded upon not from the speech of their opponents and not from those who are ignorant of their ʿaqidah.

Endnotes:

1. Reference: أهم كتب العقيدة
2. The Book of Tawḥīd written by Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb.
3. Removal of the Doubts authored by Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb.
4. The Three Fundamental Principles also authored by Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb.
5. The Creed of al-Wāsiṭiyyah written by Ibn Taymīyyah.

Translated by: Mūsa Shaleem Muḥammad