He praised the contemporary Arabian Islamic reformer Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792) who had advocated for similar views and refuted his Yemeni theological opponents in correspondence.
Upon hearing the death of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Shawkani wrote a poem praising his efforts to eradicate shirk, defend Tawhid and his call to Quran and Hadith.
[42][43] Reviving the classical theologian Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya's (1263 - 1328 CE/ 661 - 728 AH) doctrines on Tawḥīd and shirk, Shawkānī equated the participants in the cult of saints (al-qubūriyyūn) to the pagan Arabs of Quraysh.
Meanwhile, Zaydis believed that their Imams of Ahl al-Bayt (Prophetic family) had stronger authority than the Sunni hadith collections; which was the heavy focus of Shawkani's approach.
[47] As chief judge from 1795 until 1834, Shawkani implemented his reformist project with state-backing and placed many of his students in positions of influence, who subsequently carried on his legacy into the 21st century.
Future Yemeni regimes would uphold his Sunnization policies as a unifier of the country,[52] invoking his teachings to undermine Zaydi Shi'ism under the broad label of "Islamic reform".
[58] Shawkani had been a prominent representative of the traditionalist school that advocated Ibn Taymiyya's doctrines such as opposition to Falsafa (Islamic philosophy), Kalam (scholastic theology), Isrāʾīliyyāt, heresies, etc.
[59] Alongside Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (1703-1762 C.E), Shawkani made significant contributions to the field of Tafsir (Qur'anic exegesis) during the era of revivalist trends of 18th and early 19th centuries.
He completed his seminal Qur'anic commentary Fath al-Qadir in 1814, which demonstrated remarkable methodological similarities to Fawz al-Kabir, the Tafsir work compiled a few decades earlier by Shah Waliullah.
Shawkani's Qur'anic interpretations demonstrated a firm belief in Scriptural perfection; which upheld that literal meanings of the Qurʾān and the Sunnah, are to be the sole authoritative sources of exegesis.
Fath al-Qadir laid the groundwork for future reformist exegetical endeavours; such as Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān’s Fatḥ al-Bayān, Syrian Salafi reformer Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi's Maḥāsin al-Taʾwīl and Muhammad Rashid Rida's Tafsir al-Manar.