No one should justify insulting Mohammed Hijab because of his Egyptian background or skin color. Calling him a slave, a Black man, or a Copt as terms of contempt is racism and forbidden tribalism. Whoever used such insults was wrong.
But it is also wrong to turn the entire dispute into a story about “Arab racism,” as though everyone who objected to his words did so because he is Egyptian.
I am a Korean Muslim, neither Arab nor Saudi, yet his words about Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and his da‘wah also angered me. Is my anger also Arab racism?
Insulting the Shaykh, distorting his da‘wah, and using “Wahhabism” as a negative and provocative label is not an issue concerning Saudis alone. Muslims around the world, including Korean Muslims like me, have benefited from his books and his call to tawhid.
Some people did use racist insults against Mohammed Hijab, and they are responsible for their words. But many others criticized him because of what he said, his use of vague and emotionally charged terms, and his way of placing Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the Najdi da‘wah, scholars, Salafis, and Saudis within one negative framework.
He says he was only criticizing “extremism in takfir within the Najdi da‘wah between 1744 and 1969.” Such a broad claim requires precise evidence.
Which book is he criticizing?
Which text does he object to?
Which scholar made the statement?
What evidence justifies describing more than two centuries as a period of “extremism in takfir”?
Focusing on the worst racist comments made by some individuals does not answer these questions or remove his responsibility for his own words.
It is also unreasonable to move from offensive social media comments to sweeping conclusions about Arabs, the Muslim world, Palestine, and the decline of the Ummah. Such enormous claims cannot be proven by a collection of abusive comments.
We reject racism against him, but we also reject using racism to divert attention from the original dispute.
The fact that some opponents wronged him does not make his statements correct.
The fact that some insulted his background does not make everyone who criticized him racist.
The fact that he was abused does not exempt him from presenting evidence or correcting his own generalizations.
I am a Korean Muslim, yet I also feel offended when someone mocks Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab or distorts his da‘wah. This proves that the issue is not a conflict between Egyptians and Saudis, nor between North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
For many Muslims, it is about defending a scholar through whose books they learned tawhid and a da‘wah calling people to worship Allah alone and oppose shirk and religious innovations.
Two matters must therefore be distinguished:
The racism he experienced, which is forbidden.
And the objections to his statements and method, which do not disappear because of the misconduct of some people.
Justice means condemning those who insulted him because of his origin while also requiring him to provide evidence and speak fairly and precisely about Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and his da‘wah.
Allah says:
“O you who believe, stand firmly for Allah as witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people cause you to be unjust. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness.”
Surah al-Ma’idah 5:8
@NimaYamini I agree with most of this. As a Moroccan Jew from israel, the Ashkenazim have spent 80 years treating us like shit and denying our intelligence. They won’t let us be judges, pilots, ministers, doctors. Sick of them calling us baboons openly and nothing happens to them
@Thanos4ever21@EN0CX Hes from my ends. He scammed people from uk with his courses, got taken to court etc. Ran away to dubai to continue to scam. These are cluck bait videos. His parents are broke. I think the parents cut ties with him.