Wahhabism legitimizes itself by declaring nearly all other Muslims apostates

Evidence

Many if not most Muslims have viewed themselves as following the faith of Muh˙ammad and his early followers. Yet Wahhabi scholars from the time of Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahha¯b to the present assert that since the second century of Islam, most Muslims abandoned the essential teachings of the Prophet and his followers. So yes, Saudi royals and clerics may genuinely view themselves as Sunni Muslims loyal to the Prophet, his companions, and followers. But they also maintain that the authentic Islam those early generations taught and practiced was precisely in line with the core teachings of Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahha¯b and one that only a select few have actually followed. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 1847

Categorization

• QUESTION: This ‘only a select few truly follow authentic Islam’ grammar resembles the exclusivist epistemic claims of other revivalist movements — worth comparing as a recurring religion-as-in-group-marker mode.
• XREF: Maps onto the shirk/takfir boundary logic the reader is tracking as a religion-as-racial-surrogate test case, and to Hindutva ch8 where an ‘authentic’ national self is defined against internal deviation. — connects to: Wahhabi tawhid doctrine requires public repudiation of others as an initiation rite — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1857; Wahhabi doctrine makes hesitation itself a capital offense stripping apostates of protection. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1856; Apostasy is treason because Islam is a polity, not only a faith — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1490 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Apostasy is treason because Islam is a polity, not only a faith #expands (0.80) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1490
• Islam’s merged religion-politics absolutism raises friction with all other civilizations #qualifies (0.75)
• State-sanctioned definitions of Muslim identity trigger escalating sectarian narrowing #complicates (0.72) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 866