Algar is described as a seasoned scholar who knows his Islamic theology and modern Middle Eastern history. According to Algar, Wahhabis lie outside the wide orbit of Sunni Muslim orthodoxy. Algar criticizes the Saudi regime for supporting them as he believes the Wahhabism fed into movements such as the Taliban. He similarly charges United States for backing the Arabian Peninsula climate over the years. While his work on the political role of Shi'i clerics has been said to be 'an outstanding study of one of the most interesting periods of Iranian history', some sources find Hamid Algar's explanations of complex events on the theoretical plane as simplistic.