Salafis, also known as Wahhabis or Ghair Muqallids (non-conformists), commonly allege that Ahmadis oppose the majority of the Muslim Ummah and are therefore wrong and misguided. However, what is often overlooked in these discussions is the fact that prominent Salafi scholars themselves have openly acknowledged that the overwhelming majority of Muslims, throughout history and across the Muslim world, do not follow the Salafi methodology and instead are overwhelmingly Maturidi or Ash’ari in creed. This article presents clear statements from their own scholars admitting this reality, exposing the inconsistency in using “opposition to the majority” as an argument to delegitimize other groups.

Salafi Scholarship: Salafis Are a Minority

MUHAMMAD IBN ABD AL-WAHHAB رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ (d. 1206H)

To start with, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ said that Islam will return to being strange just as it began, adhered to only by a few individuals. He warned against relying on the large number of people or their consensus as a proof of truth, noting that such reasoning was used by the disbelievers of the past to reject the messengers.

While a separate article will delve deeper into this “majority fallacy,” including how various scholars have understood the term Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama‘ah, this article will specifically highlight how scholars respected within the Salafi tradition have themselves acknowledged that the majority of Muslims do not adhere to Salafi or Wahhabi interpretations.

[…] the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his Companions described it before it occurred, warned people against it, and informed that none would adhere to the religion except one after another, and that Islam would become strange as it began. You have known that when ‘Amr ibn ‘Abasah asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the early days of Islam: “Who is with you in this?” He said: “A free man and a slave,” meaning Abu Bakr and Bilal. So if Islam returns as it began, how ignorant is one who argues based on the multitude of people and their consensus, and similar arguments, when faced with doubts that are great in the eyes of their adherents but insignificant before Allah and those of knowledge among His creation, as Allah says: “Rather, they say like what the former peoples said” [Al-Mu’minun: 81]. I know of no argument you use except that Allah has mentioned in His Book that the disbelievers used it to deny the messengers, such as the consensus of people, obedience to the elite, and other such things.

[Al-Durar Al-Saniyyah, vol 1, pg. 41]

SHAH ISMAIL DEHLVI رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ (d. 1246H)

Shah Ismail Dehlvi رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ was a respected scholar among Salafis who highlighted that the majority of Muslims are inclined toward shirk by engaging in acts such as istighatha (seeking help from deceased saints), which are largely considered permissible within the Ashari and Maturidi schools of theology. He similarly attributed this trend to a prophecy of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, who foretold that true believers would disappear.

Polytheism is generally widespread among the people and the concept of Monotheism is in scarcity. Many people who claim to be the bearers of Faith do not understand the meanings of Tauhid and Shirk (Monotheism and polytheism). Apparently they are Muslims, but they are unconsciously involved in the acts of Shirk. Therefore, first we should try to understand the meanings of Tauhid (Monotheism) and Shirk (polytheism) so that we may know about their advantages and disadvantages as directed by Qur’an and Sunnah. […] It means that the majority of people who outwardly profess to have faith in Allah are in fact entangled in the quagmire of polytheism. […] Allah will send down a blissful and chaste breeze which will end the lives of all those having the least amount of Faith whereas the vice-ridden and irreligious people shall be spared to live on. The hearts of these people shall be devoid of the dignity of the Prophet (Peace be upon Him) nor shall they have any interest in religion. They shall eagerly snap on the customs and rituals of their grand-fathers who were none other than the ignorant polytheists. A man who adopts the ways of the polytheists will naturally become one of them. […] Thus it becomes known to us that the old polytheism shall also be wide-spread during the concluding periodic phase of the world. Presently, all kinds of Shirk (both the ancient and new ones) are rampant among the Muslims. What the Prophet (Peace be upon Him) prophesied earlier seems to be coming true now. For instance, the Muslims are treating Prophets, saints, Imams and martyrs etc. polytheistically.

[English Translation PDF: Taqwiyat-ul-Iman]

SANAULLAH AMRITSARI (d. 1367H)

Building on the perspective of Shah Ismail Dehlvi رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ, who described the widespread prevalence of polytheism among Muslims, Sanaullah Amritsari, the editor of the Ahl-e-Hadith magazine stated that approximately eighty years ago, the Muslim population of Amritsar, Punjab, followed the same creed as those known today as Hanafi Barelvi, adherents of the Maturidi school of theology.

In Amritsar, the Muslim population is equal to the non-Muslim population. About eighty years ago, almost all Muslims followed the same belief, which today is called the Barelvi Hanafi school of thought.

[Sham-e-Tauheed, pg. 53]

AL-ALBANI (d. 1420H)

Salafis often maintain that it is within the fitrah (natural disposition) of lay Muslims to believe that Allah is above the Throne, so when asked “Where is Allah?” they instinctively point upwards. From this, they try to prove that the masses of Muslims follow the Salafi Athari creed. However, al-Albani disagreed with this view and remarked:

If we ask ordinary people and elites: ‘Where is Allah?’, we will find them looking at us with disapproving eyes, ignoring and unaware that it is the Prophet who decreed it for us in his Sunnah. Then, despite this, we see them confused and not knowing how to respond.

[Mawsuat al-Allamah al-Imam Mujaddid al-Asr Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, vol 2, pg. 593]

He further stated:

Know that the majority of Muslims today are either Ash’ari or Maturidi, will Islam succeed by them?

[Jami Turath al-Allamah al-Albani fi al-Manhaj wa al-Ahdath al-Kubra, vol 5, pg. 291]

For every Maliki is an Ash’ari, every Shafi’i is an Ash’ari except a few, and every Hanbali is an Ash’ari except a few especially in our time! […] The three Madhaheb, especially the Malikis and Shafi’is, are nothing but Asha’ira. And every Hanafi is a Maturidi.

[Jami Turath al-Allamah al-Albani fi al-Manhaj wa al-Ahdath al-Kubra, vol 5, pg. 412]

AL-UTHAYMIN (d. 1421H)

Al-Uthaymin corroborates this sentiment:

The Ashā‘ira are the most widespread in Muslims lands, and that is why we must know their beliefs entirely to know how to respond to them so that we can eradicate them entirely.

[Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim Surat al-Shura, pg. 104]

RABI’ AL-MADKHALI (d. 1446H)

Rabi’ al-Madkhali noted that during earlier centuries, the Salafi creed had nearly disappeared, with its followers across the Islamic world being so few they could be counted on one’s fingers.

Abu’l-Qasim lived in the second half of the fifth century and the first third of the sixth century Hijri. During this time, various sects had fully emerged, including the Khawarij, Shia, Qadariyyah, Mu’tazilah, Jahmiyyah, Jabriyyah, and Ash’ariyyah, which was predominant in the Islamic world at that time. The Ash’arites called themselves “Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama’ah” (People of the Sunnah and Community). The Salafi methodology, the approach of Ahmad ibn Hanbal and the preceding Imams of Islam, had nearly disappeared. The creed of the Salaf had become strange, and its followers throughout the Islamic world could be counted on one’s fingers.

[al-Hujjah fi Bayan al-Mahajjah wa Sharh Aqidah Ahl al-Sunnah, vol 1, pg. 40]

SALEH AL-FAWZAN

Salih al-Fawzan admitted that historically even the Hanbali scholars of Najd followed the creed of the Ashʿariyyah and Maturidiyyah, stating:

As for the creed, they (Hanbali scholars of Najd) followed the creed of the Asha’irah and Maturidiyah, and they had Sufism, innovations (bid’ah), and whatever other lands had, in fact, they exceeded others due to the abundance of ignorance among them in their desert regions and villages.

[Sharh Aqidah al-Imam al-Mujaddid Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab, pg. 10]