Criticism of Wāhhabism in Jamil Sidqi al-Zahāwi's al-Fajr al-Sādiq

Wahhabism, which emerged in the mid-18th century, is a movement that draws attention with its reactivity in Islamic thought. The views of its founder, Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Wahhab, were built to deny the centuries-old religious understanding of the Muslim community, based on a bida'-centered thought. In this direction, Wahhabism has transformed the elimination of institutions and structures that it regards as signs of disbelief into a structural character. This study examines the critical treatise on Wahhabism by the Iraqi poet Jamil Sidqi al-Zahawi (d. 1936), who was disturbed by its activities in Iraq. Zahawi wrote al-Fajr al-Sadiq to reveal the historical origins of Wahhabism and criticise its political and religious activities, and tried to explain the unknown aspects of this religious movement. The work, in terms of its content, has examined the issues that occupy the agenda of Muslim society such as shirk (polytheism), bida' (heretical innovation), tawassul (request), and takfir (excommunication). The work, which is a refutation, draws attention as an important source in scholarly studies on Wahha-bism in terms of its content. In this study, the theoretical and historical criticism put forward by Zahawi will be tried to be revealed by using the textual analysis method. According to Zahawi, Wahhabism is a movement instrumentalised for political rather than religious pur-poses. The sociological basis of this structure, which is based on Kharijite thought, is based on tribalism and contains reactionism against the other.