A Survey of the Tendency of the Sunnis of Bushehr Province to the Wahhabi Opinions on the Issues of “Appealing to the Souls of the Divine Saints, Vowing for the Divine Saints, Building Tombs

Wahhabism’s pervasive efforts to influence Muslims, especially Sunnis, and their being supported by Saudi regime have led Sunnis in Islamic countries to join the takfiri group. The Islamic Republic of Iran, is no exception . Bushehr province, with a minority (about 7%) of Shafi’i Sunnis, has always been under the attack of Wahhabism due to its borders with Saudi Arabia, its trade relations and common language with them.. In order to determine the status of Sunni beliefs and behavior in Bushehr province and to examine their possible tendency towards Wahhabi thoughts, the three axes of “appealing to the spirits of divine saints, vows for divine saints and building tombs” were studied according to library and field study methods. The most fundamental difference between Wahhabism and other Muslims is “purgatory” and its quality. This issue has become the source of important differences with other Muslims in jurisprudential and theological issues, such as appealing to the divine saints after their death and seeking help from their spirits. Field studies among the Sunnis of the province show that the Wahhabi movement is active in this province and in some areas it has been able to influence the thoughts and ideas of the Sunni people of Bushehr province. If

this issue is not managed and left going, or managed in illogical and emotional ways, there is a risk of spreading those ideas in the province.

According to the findings of this study, which is the result of the opinions of 255 Sunni respondents in Bushehr province, 43.1% of the respondents are not inclined to Wahhabism in the field of appealing to the spirits of the saints. 27.8% are somewhat inclined and 29% are highly inclined to Wahhabism, and in the field of vows for the saints, 46.3% of the respondents are not inclined to Wahhabism. 21.2% to some extent and 32.6% to a large extent are inclined to Wahhabism. In the field of building tombs, 27.8% are not inclined to Wahhabism. 27.8% are somewhat inclined to Wahhabism and 29% to a large extent. In total, 6.3% of respondents are inclined to Wahhabism. 37.3% are not inclined towards Wahhabism.