The analysis of the theological foundations of Wahhabism on dealing with government, with emphasis on the views of Abdulaziz bin Baz and Juhayman al-Otaybi

The thoughts of Abdulaziz bin Baz and Jahiman al-Otaibi indicate the existence of two different theological approaches between Wahhabism in facing the government. Ben-Baz's thoughts, which are a reflection of the prevailing discourse among contemporary Wahhabism, emphasize the complete obedience of the established ruler and refraining from any kind of opposition and even giving public advice to a corrupt ruler. He considers any kind of opposition to the ruler as the tradition of the Kharijites. On the other side, Jahiman al-Otaibi’s views, which is a reflection of a long-standing but abandoned discourse among Wahhabism, considers the obedience of the government conditional on the ruler's adherence to the Sharia rules, believing that we must overthrow a corrupt ruler. Although Benbaz and Otaibi accuse each other of departing from the principles of Wahhabism, the analysis of their foundations, which has been done with the method of library analysis, shows that Otaibi's thoughts are more consistent with the principles of Wahhabism originating from Najd.