Suleiman bin Abdullah Al Sheikh

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Suleiman bin Abdullah Al Sheikh (1785–October 1818) was a religious scholar and the qadi of Diriyah, and a grandson of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. He wrote al Dalail fi Hukm Muwalat Ahl al Ishrak (Evidence Against Loyalty to the Polytheists). Born into the Al Sheikh family, his father was Abdullah bin Muhammad Al Sheikh. After Diriyah captured the Hejaz in 1802–1803, he urged the region’s ulema to follow his grandfather’s approach, but they rejected it, and he called them apostates. He fought to defend Diriyah against Egyptian-Ottoman forces and saw the war as a struggle between believers and infidels. He issued fatwas on how Wahhabis should act toward non-Wahhabi lands, including showing their religion openly and avoiding close ties with infidels while visiting. He was killed in October 1818 when Diriyah fell to Ibrahim Pasha. His ideas on Takfir and the interpretation of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and Ibn Taymiyyah influenced later Wahhabi and Salafi thinkers and were used by Ikhwan leaders in the 1920s to justify resistance to King Abdulaziz. His views were also referenced by scholars during the Second Saudi State, and King Abdulaziz urged considering his ideas in their historical context.