Wahhabi sect that today holds sway in Saudi Arabia and
is the ideological backbone of Sunni extremism. To his
followers, the seventh-century Wahb was known as
Dhu’l Thaɹnat, the Scarred One. Some said this was
because of the dark callus on his forehead, a sign of
extreme piety created by repeated bowing down in
prayer, others that it was because his left arm was
deformed from battle wounds. Either was reason enough
to hold him in awe.
When Ali ascended the steps of the pulpit to give his
ɹrst sermon back in Kufa, Wahb began to berate him.
“You and the Syrians have vied with each other in
unbelief like two horses in a race,” he declared. “God’s
ruling on Muawiya and his followers is that they should
repent or be killed, yet you have made an agreement
with them to let men decide. You have given men
authority over the Book of God, and so your deeds are
worthless, and you are lost!”
His followers joined in. The role of Caliph could not be
arbitrated, they shouted. The succession to the
Messenger of God was a matter of divine right. That
right had been Ali’s, but he had now forfeited it. He was
as guilty as Muawiya of transgressing divine law. There
was no diʃerence between the two; both were equally
abhorrent in the eyes of God. And again and again, they
shouted out the slogan that was to become their rallying
cry. “Judgment belongs to God alone!” they cried. “To
God alone!”