[6][page needed] After finishing primary education in Yemen, Wadi'i spent roughly two decades studying Islam in Saudi Arabia.
After spending a few months in prison, Grand Mufti ibn Baz negotiated his release, though Wadi'i was forced to return to his home country where he would eventually become known as the father of the modern Salafi movement within Yemen.
However, his continued critique of the Saudi monarch, due to his believed wrongful imprisonment, led him to be more independent in the financing of the institute's operations.
[11] After a prolonged illness, and hospital treatment in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Wadi'i died on July 21, 2001, from either cirrhosis or liver cancer.
[6][12] After his death, reports continued to surface of changes in curriculum and power struggles at the Dar al-Hadith, although these rumours were dispelled a few years later by contemporary Muslim scholar Rabee Al-Madkhali.
[citation needed] Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts prepared Summary of Evidence memos offering justifications for continuing to hold them in extrajudicial detention.
The founder of this group – which is Ḥasan al-Bannā – used to make Ṭawāf around the graves...They [the Muslim Brotherhood] are prepared to cooperate with the Devil against Ahl al-Sunnah.”[21] Wadi'i was also a staunch critic of the scholar Muhammad ibn Salih al-Munajjid, said that he's a misguided "Sururi".
[22] His Dar ul-Hadith seminary and institute of Dammaj was known to oppose al-Qaeda and other radical extremist organisations, as Wadi'i himself stated in an interview with Hassan al-Zayidi of the Yemen Times in 2000.
[26] He harbored hard feelings against Saudi Arabia up until toward the end of his life, when he would ultimately recant his criticism, speaking highly of the country and its authorities.