An Inquiry into the Wahhabi Inhibition of Scientific Development

By V.A. Mohamad Ashrof, New Age Islam 29 July 2025 The intellectual history of Islamic civilization presents a profound and often perplexing paradox. Its Golden Age, a period spanning roughly from the 8th to the 14th centuries, was an era of extraordinary scientific, medical, and philosophical dynamism. The great intellectual centres of Baghdad, Cordoba, Cairo, and Samarkand were crucibles of innovation where scholars not only preserved the wisdom of antiquity but forged new frontiers of knowledge. Al-Khwarizmi’s algebraic methods, Ibn al-Haytham’s foundational work in optics, Al-Razi’s pioneering clinical medicine, Al-Biruni’s sophisticated geodesy, and Ibn Sina’s monumental medical encyclopaedia, The Canon of Medicine, which remained a standard text in Europe for centuries, all testify to an intellectual climate that championed rational inquiry. This era was characterized by a dynamic interplay between revelation and reason, a confident willingness to engage with and build upon foreign knowledge, and a sophisticated patronage system that funded libraries, observatories, and hospitals. It was a civilization that saw the investigation of the natural world as a virtuous, even pious, endeavour. This vibrant historical narrative of symbiosis and discovery stands in stark contrast to the perceived intellectual climate in many regions profoundly influenced by Wahhabism, the austere and puritanical Islamic movement that emerged in 18th-century Arabia. This paper presents an interpretive inquiry into the proposition that Wahhabism does not merely fail to produce a thriving scientific culture, but that its core interpretive framework actively and systemically inhibits the development of science. The argument moves beyond circumstantial factors like politics or economics to locate the root of this inhibition within the movement’s foundational interpretation—its very methodology for interpreting the Quran, the Sunnah (prophetic traditions), and by extension, the world itself. The central thesis is that Wahhabism’s rigid textual literalism forecloses the metaphorical and abstract thinking essential for theoretical science; its institutionalized suspicion of independent reason (ijtihad) in favour of imitation (Taqlid) stifles critical inquiry; its expansive and prohibitive doctrine of innovation (Bid’ah) criminalizes the creativity that drives discovery; and its particular theological stance on causality undermines the very concept of natural law. Together, these principles coalesce to form an epistemological framework—a hermeneutic of stasis—that is structurally hostile to the scientific enterprise. By contrasting this framework with the more dynamic interpretive traditions of classical Islam and the profound intellectual potential of the Quranic text itself, this paper will demonstrate that the primary impediment to scientific progress lies not within Islam, but within the specific, modern, and restrictive interpretive choices codified and propagated by Wahhabism. Wahhabism, founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792), was a movement of radical purification. It reacted against what it saw as the corruption of the faith through practices like the veneration of saints at their tombs and the seeking of their intercession, which it condemned as a regression into polytheism (shirk). Its seminal text, Kitab al-Tawhid (The Book of Monotheism), laid out a vision of Islam stripped of centuries of accumulated traditions, Sufi mysticism, and philosophical speculation. The movement’s trajectory was irrevocably altered by its historic 1744 pact with the Najdi ruler Muhammad bin Saud, which fused this rigid ideology with state power and established a unique dual-power structure: The Al Saud family holding political authority and the descendants of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the Al ash-Sheikh, holding religious authority. This alliance eventually led to the formation of modern Saudi Arabia. With the advent of immense oil wealth in the 20th century, a phenomenon often dubbed "petro-Islam," this once-marginal interpretation was exported globally, transforming it into a powerful force in contemporary Sunni Islam. This paper will deconstruct the intellectual architecture of this influential movement to reveal how its foundational principles create an environment where the scientific spirit struggles to survive. The Interpretive Pillars of Inhibition: Literalism, Taqlid, and Bid'ah The intellectual foundation of Wahhabism rests on three interpretive pillars that, in concert, create a formidable barrier to the open-ended, critical, and innovative thinking that science demands. These pillars systematically close off avenues of abstract thought, delegitimize independent inquiry, and cast suspicion upon the very act of innovation that drives scientific discovery. At the core of the Wahhabi interpretation is a staunch commitment to interpreting sacred texts according to their plainest, apparent, and literal meaning (zahir). This approach, which radicalizes a tendency within the Hanbali school of law, insists that the Quran and Sunnah have a single, objectively accessible meaning that was perfectly understood by the Salaf. Any attempt to engage in allegorical or metaphorical interpretation (ta'wil)—especially in matters of creed—is condemned as a dangerous deviation. A classic example is the interpretation of Quranic verses that describe God with anthropomorphic attributes, such as a "Hand," "Face," or as "ascending" (istiwa) the Throne. Mainstream Ash'ari and Maturidi theologians developed sophisticated metaphorical interpretations, understanding these as representing God's power, essence, knowledge, or sovereignty. In stark contrast, the Wahhabi position is to accept these attributes literally, as befits God’s majesty, but "without asking how" (bila kayf) and without comparing them to creation (wa la tashbih). This rejection of metaphor in the most sacred of subjects establishes a powerful precedent for the entire intellectual framework (Commins, p.16). While a theological position, this interetation of literalism has profound epistemological consequences. The scientific enterprise is fundamentally dependent on abstraction, metaphor, and model-building. Science seeks to explain the world through unseen forces, abstract laws, and theoretical constructs. Concepts like gravity as the curvature of space-time, natural selection as a statistical process over eons, or quantum fields as probability distributions are not literal objects but powerful abstract models. A mind trained to distrust any meaning beyond the literal and to view abstraction as a potential corruption of divine truth is ill-equipped to engage in, or even appreciate, this kind of thinking. As the scholar Khaled Abou El Fadl argues, this type of literalism is more than a methodology; it is a "normative posture and an epistemology" that is inherently "authoritarian, supremacist, and uncompromising" (Abou El Fadl, p.105). When a literal reading of scripture appears to conflict with a scientific finding (e.g., evolution, the age of the Earth), this hermeneutic offers no room for negotiation. The text is deemed infallible, so the scientific finding must be wrong. This creates a perpetual state of potential conflict, fostering an environment of intellectual hostility where science is constantly on trial before a tribunal of textual literalism. The Primacy of Taqlid: Valorising Imitation over Inquiry Flowing directly from its literalism is Wahhabism's profound restriction of ijtihad—the process of independent reasoning by a qualified scholar. In classical Islamic civilization, ijtihad was the dynamic engine of legal and intellectual development, allowing Islamic law and thought to adapt to new contexts, from bioethics to finance. Wahhabism, however, drastically curtails its scope, arguing that on most fundamental matters, the "gate of ijtihad" is effectively closed. The duty of the believer is not to reason independently but to engage in Taqlid—the uncritical imitation of the established interpretations of the Salaf and the great imams of the Wahhabi tradition (Voll, p.88). Originality and critical re-evaluation of foundational principles are not seen as virtues but as signs of arrogance and potential heresy. The entire project is one of restoration, not of development. This mandated intellectual deference is antithetical to the scientific spirit. The history of science is a history of successful ijtihad. Copernicus engaged in ijtihad against the Ptolemaic system, Darwin against the doctrine of fixed species, and Einstein against Newtonian physics. Science progresses precisely because its practitioners are trained not to engage in taqlid but to critically scrutinize all claims and to follow evidence wherever it leads, even if it means overthrowing the most revered authorities. The Royal Society's motto, Nullius in verba ("Take nobody's word for it"), is the ethos of science. The Wahhabi ethos is its opposite: take the word of the Salaf for everything. Furthermore, Wahhabism inherited from its intellectual forebear Ibn Taymiyyah a deep hostility towards the traditional tools of reason, namely kalam (rationalist theology) and Falsafa (philosophy). By rejecting these disciplines as foreign, Greek-inspired corruptions, Wahhabism deprived its intellectual tradition of the very training grounds for formal logic (Mantiq), argumentation, and abstract reasoning (Al-Rasheed 17). Ibn Taymiyyah's famous polemic, Radd 'ala al-Mantiqiyyin (Refutation of the Logicians), sought to undermine the very system of Aristotelian logic that is foundational to building complex, internally consistent scientific theories (Hallaq 155). An educational system that delegitimizes the tools of reason cannot be expected to produce first-rate scientists capable of contributing to theoretical physics or advanced mathematics. The Doctrine of Bid'ah: Criminalizing Innovation The third pillar is the uniquely rigid and expansive Wahhabi interpretation of Bid’ah (reprehensible innovation). The prophetic tradition, “Every innovation is a misguidance,” is interpreted with utmost severity. In classical Islamic thought, jurists like Imam al-Shafi'i developed a nuanced understanding, distinguishing between "good innovations" (Bid’ah Hasanah) that aligned with Islamic principles (e.g., compiling the Quran into a book, building schools) and "bad innovations" that contradicted them. This distinction was crucial, allowing Islamic civilization to adapt and adopt new technologies and social structures (Nasr, p.132). Wahhabism largely erases this distinction, arguing that all innovations in religion are heretical. This religious anti-innovation mind-set fosters a cultural and intellectual suspicion of novelty in general. Historically, this manifested in fierce resistance to technologies like the printing press, the telegraph, radio, and even girls' education, which were initially condemned as "devil's work" by some Wahhabi clerics (Lacey, p.89-90). While modern Wahhabi societies have embraced technology out of necessity, the underlying hermeneutic of suspicion positions them as reluctant consumers of innovation, not as proactive drivers of it. This is fundamentally incompatible with modern science, which is a relentlessly innovative force. Scientific research is, by definition, the pursuit of Bid’ah in the realm of knowledge—the search for new facts, new theories, and new paradigms. An ideology that views innovation with inherent suspicion and whose primary instinct is to ask, "Did the Salaf do this?" cannot create the freewheeling, risk-taking environment that scientific progress demands. The fear of committing Bid’ah creates a culture of intellectual conservatism that is the very antithesis of scientific exploration. The Metaphysical Barrier: Divine Causality and the Denial of Natural Law Beyond its interpretive rules, Wahhabism's inhibition of science extends to its fundamental understanding of reality itself. A critical conflict arises in its conception of causality and divine omnipotence, a view that tends towards a philosophical position known as occasionalism. This theological stance, by effectively denying the reality of secondary causation, strikes at the very heart of the scientific project. The radical Wahhabi emphasis on God's omnipotence (Tawhid al-Rububiyyah) leads to a view where attributing real efficacy to created things is a potential form of shirk (polytheism). The natural world is emptied of its own causal power. From a scientific perspective, fire burns cotton due to predictable chemical properties. In a worldview shaped by Wahhabi theology, however, fire does not burn cotton by its own nature; rather, God creates the act of burning at the moment the fire and cotton meet. The fire is merely the "occasion" for God's direct action. This aligns closely with the occasionalist philosophy most famously articulated by the theologian al-Ghazali (d. 1111) in his The Incoherence of the Philosophers. He argued that there is no necessary connection between a cause and its effect; the sequence is merely God's consistent custom (Sunnat Allah), which He can break at any moment. The great rationalist philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes) recognized the devastating implications of this view for knowledge. In his powerful rebuttal, The Incoherence of the Incoherence, he argued that if one denies that effects have real, efficient causes with stable properties, then one denies the possibility of knowledge itself. If causality is an illusion, the world becomes arbitrary and unintelligible, and demonstrative science is impossible (Ibn Rushd, p.517). Wahhabism, in its profound rejection of philosophy and its deep-seated theological priorities, effectively sides with the spirit of al-Ghazali against the rationalism of Ibn Rushd. By viewing natural laws not as inherent, discoverable principles embedded in creation but as mere "divine habits," it undermines the very foundation upon which science is built. The scientific method is a search for consistent, predictable laws. If these "laws" are not real, the motivation for the arduous work of scientific discovery is severely diminished. This metaphysical stance transforms the natural world from a subject of systematic investigation into an object of devotional contemplation, fostering awe but inhibiting the development of a scientific methodology designed to move beyond wonder to explanation. Institutional Manifestations: Education, Orthodoxy, and Stagnation The hermeneutical and metaphysical principles of Wahhabism are institutionalized through powerful social structures, most notably the educational system and the mechanisms of state-enforced religious orthodoxy, with Saudi Arabia as the archetypal example. The Saudi educational system is a direct reflection of Wahhabi epistemology. The curriculum is characterized by an overwhelming emphasis on religious studies, taught exclusively through the Wahhabi lens. Secular sciences are treated as secondary, utilitarian subjects, stripped of their philosophical underpinnings. The pedagogical method heavily favours rote memorization (Hifz) over analytical skills, problem-solving, and creative thinking (Al-Rasheed, p.110). The primary goal of the system is ideological reproduction: to produce pious subjects who adhere to the correct creed. This is an institutionalization of the hermeneutics of Taqlid, training students in conformity, not in the intellectual curiosity that drives science. Furthermore, science cannot flourish without intellectual freedom. The socio-political structure created by the alliance of the Wahhabi clerical establishment (Ulama) and the state is profoundly hostile to such freedom. The Ulama have historically functioned as the guardians of an orthodoxy that tolerates little dissent. Academics, writers, and scientists who have dared to challenge religious dogma have often faced severe consequences, including censorship, imprisonment, and public condemnation (Zubaida, p.162). The cases of dissidents like Raif Badawi, who was publicly flogged for "insulting Islam" through his liberal blog, send a powerful chilling message to anyone who might contemplate stepping outside established intellectual boundaries. This creates a pervasive climate of fear and self-censorship, where scientists are more likely to pursue "safe" research in applied fields that do not touch upon sensitive foundational questions like evolution or cosmology. The infamous fatwa by a former Grand Mufti, Sheikh ibn Baz, declaring the Earth to be flat is a stark example of the power of literalist dogma over empirical reality (Lacey, p.352). This institutional suppression of dissent ensures that the intellectual risk-taking essential for major scientific breakthroughs is actively discouraged. Despite investing billions of dollars in state-of-the-art universities, the scientific output of a nation like Saudi Arabia has historically been modest for its level of wealth. The establishment of isolated, Western-modelled "science bubbles" like the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)—intentionally shielded from the mainstream Wahhabi-influenced environment with a co-educational campus and its own rules—is a tacit admission by the state that the dominant culture is not conducive to high-level science. It is an attempt to purchase scientific prestige without reforming the underlying ideological structures that inhibit its indigenous growth. The Quranic Counter-Narrative A crucial element in this analysis is the recognition that the Wahhabi hermeneutic is not the only possible Islamic interpretation. It stands in stark contrast to both the historical practice of the Islamic Golden Age and the textual potential within the Quran itself. The Quran repeatedly directs the reader's attention to the natural world as a locus of divine signs (Ayat) for people who reason and understand. It calls for reflection on the creation of the heavens and the earth (Quran 2:164), the precise orbits of celestial bodies (Quran 36:40), the stages of embryonic development (Quran 23:12-14), and the diversity of life. It elevates knowledge (Ilm) and asks rhetorically, "Are those who know equal to those who do not know?" (Quran 39:9). It contains the prayer, "My Lord, increase me in knowledge" (Quran 20:114) and condemns those who fail to use their reason ('Aql) (Quran 8:22). This wealth of verses constitutes a powerful textual basis for a worldview that embraces empirical inquiry. Scholars of the Islamic Golden Age harnessed this potential, seeing no conflict between these verses and their scientific work. They employed a hermeneutic of inquiry (Tahqiq), viewing the study of God's creation as a religious duty. The great philosopher Ibn Rushd argued in his Decisive Treatise that the Sharia commands the study of philosophy and logic as the highest form of reflection on creation that the Quran demands. Wahhabism, however, reads these same verses through a hermeneutic of awe (Ta'ajjub). The purpose is to marvel at God's direct power, not to investigate its mechanisms. The inquiry stops at the affirmation of a theological point. By rejecting the legitimacy of philosophy, rationalist theology, and allegorical interpretation, Wahhabism cut itself off from the very interpretive tools that had allowed for a rich synthesis of Islam and science in the past. This interpretive inquiry, thus, demonstrates that the inhibition of scientific progress within the Wahhabi sphere is a deep, structural consequence of its foundational interpretive framework. Its rigid literalism, its valorisation of imitation over reason, its criminalization of innovation, and its denial of natural causality create an intellectual ecosystem hostile to science. This is not a failure of Islam, but of a specific, modern, and restrictive interpretation of it. The flourishing of science in the Islamic Golden Age provides irrefutable proof that a different interpretive path is possible. For a new era of scientific progress to dawn in these regions, what is required is not a rejection of faith, but a courageous hermeneutical reopening—a reclaiming of the intellectual traditions that view reason as a gift, nature as a text to be deciphered, and the pursuit of knowledge as one of the highest forms of worship. Bibliography Abou El Fadl, Khaled. The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2005. Al-Rasheed, Madawi. A History of Saudi Arabia. 2nd ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Commins, David. The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia. London: I.B. Tauris, 2006. Hallaq, Wael B. Ibn Taymiyya Against the Greek Logicians. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. Ibn Rushd, Abu'l Walid Muhammad. The Incoherence of the Incoherence. Translated by Simon van den Bergh, London: Gibb Memorial Trust, 1954. Lacey, Robert. The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Sa'ud. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Science and Civilization in Islam. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968. Voll, John Obert. Islam: Continuity and Change in the Modern World. 2nd ed., Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1994. Zubaida, Sami. Islam, the People and the State: Political Ideas and Movements in the Middle East. London: I.B. Tauris, 2009. ----- V.A. Mohamad Ashrof is an independent Indian scholar specializing in Islamic humanism. With a deep commitment to advancing Quranic hermeneutics that prioritize human well-being, peace, and progress, his work aims to foster a just society, encourage critical thinking, and promote inclusive discourse and peaceful coexistence. He is dedicated to creating pathways for meaningful social change and intellectual growth through his scholarship. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-science/wahhabi-inhibition-scientific/d/136339 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism