- Our focus is on Wahabist Islam and the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, excluding other extremist factions and nations such as the interesting
and intriguing Shiite movement and many others. The Arabian Peninsula is
the original seedbed of Islamic extremism. Wherever one starts searching
for the roots of present-day Muslim ultra-fundamentalism, the geographical
trail eventually leads to Saudi Arabia and the intellectual/theological
trail leads to the Wahabist ultra-fundamentalist interpretation of Islam.
-
- It is already a fact that certain sects would dearly
love to oust the corrupt Saudi royals and replace them with a Wahabist-inspired
regime. May Yamani, a Saudi political analyst with Islam Online says: "They
are clamping down not only on the jihadis but also on the reformists. If
the [the Saudi royal family doesn't] win the support of the middle class
the educated class in the country there will be more and more
people who will throw themselves into the arms of the jihadis. The royal
family is losing control of the situation... They have no solution for
this violence."
-
- The Saudi holy land is the seedbed of Islamic extremism.
"The rise of Islam is perhaps the most amazing event in human history.
Springing from a land and a people alike previously negligible, Islam spread
within a century over half the earth, shattering great empires, overthrowing
long established religions, remolding the souls of races, and building
a whole new world the world of Islam. Arising in a desert land sparsely
inhabited by a nomad race previously undistinguished in human annals, Islam
sallied forth on its great adventure with the slenderest human backing
and against the heaviest material odds. Yet Islam triumphed with seemingly
miraculous ease." (T. Lothrop Stoddard, The Rising Tide of Islam.)
-
- The arid Arabian Peninsula was home to Muhammad and the
first Muslims back in the 7th Century A.D. Geography and climate color
the theology of Islam. It was born in a harsh environment, and is an ascetic
severe and rigid desert faith. It is based on the Abrahamic heritage of
the Old Testament, but old pagan moon gods, Talmudic Judaism, Gnosticism,
and Christianity are part of the mix. Muhammad was a clever and functional
religious eclectic. He put together a theological system, with its own
unique book of holy writ, from many and varied influences. By the beginning
of the 8th Century, it ruled the desert lands of Arabia.
-
- During the time of Muhammad, Arabia was briefly the center
of Islam, but by the end of the 7th century, the area was disunited. While
Mecca and Medina retained their importance for pilgrims, Arabia was the
cultural center for only a short time. The real flowering of Islamic culture
found its expression in other locations ranging from Moorish Spain (Al-Andalus;
perhaps the apex of The Renaissance) to Damascus and Baghdad. When Europe
was in its dark ages, Islamic mathematicians, astronomers, physicians,
and scholars of all types were not only preserving in Arabic the classical
Greco-Roman learning, but making new discoveries as well. The oldest continually
existing universities are not European, but those of the Islamic world.
But while all this was going on, Saudi Arabia, as it had done for eons,
continued to cook in the desert sun, and life changed little for the hardy,
ascetic desert tribes who lived in a land with virtually no useable natural
resources. Back in those days, they knew nothing of the hidden petrol-billions
in a land where water was worth more than gold.
-
- "Modern Saudi Arabia owes its existence to Ibn Saud,
an adherent of the puritanical [Wahabi] Muslim sect. Beginning in 1902,
he conquered Nejd, Al-Hasa and Hejaz regions, and in 1932 he proclaimed
himself King of a united Saudi Arabia." (Concise Columbia Encyclopedia,
1983, p. 732.) The Saudis and their tribal allies eventually conquered
and united most of the peninsula by 1932, when ibn Saud, with British backing,
proclaimed himself monarch of a country named after himself and his clan.
-
- The new nation was one of the poorest countries in the
world. When it officially began in 1932, the new kingdom's treasury had
less than £35,000, but oil reserves were located in 1936. Less than
two years later, oil began to flow out of the barren peninsula and a non-stop
pipeline of money began to flow back to the Saudi royals and their chosen
aristocracy.
-
- It is the duty of every Muslim to share as he can with
others, a duty of alms demanded by the Prophet himself, and the Saudi Arabian
people (numbering 27 million, with 60 percent under the age of 21) also
received benefits from the oil wealth. Life is good in the paternalistic
and outwardly benevolent kingdom - for select groups. Certainly some women
and dissidents of various types severely disagree with the regime. But
many live a satisfied life, and the thousands of royals and their relatives
hope to keep it that way.
-
- But not so far beneath the surface, a stew-pot of extremist
beliefs cooks on, slowly approaching an eventual boiling point - under
the right conditions. The bloated, pompous, hypocritical and morally corrupt
Saudi royals and their entourage could be replaced and they know
it. The visage of the Shah of Iran, another worldly monarch dethroned by
fundamentalists, looms ominously over the not-so-old House of Saud.
-
- FAST-GROWING WAHABISM
-
- While OPEC nations supply (in 2002) 57 percent of U.S.
oil, Saudi Arabia only provides about 10 percent. Nonetheless, it controls
a fourth to a third of the world's known oil supplies. Europe has practically
no strategic reserves, so Saudi Arabia and other oil suppliers are crucially
important. Oil-poor Europeans are dependent on Saudi oil reaching them
smoothly.
-
- As we see, even a slight change in production levels
drastically affects world prices. Our crucial, but uncomfortable (for both
sides) alliance causes the Saudi royals to abet our support of the Israeli
ministate and its state-sponsored terrorism toward Palestinians. Yet this
is only one element of our foreign policy and our dechristianized Western
culture that devout Muslims oppose.
-
- However, up to now, Saudi police and security forces
have suppressed this opposition. Conversely, our dependence on Saudi oil
and stable prices causes us to overlook a whole host of things: like the
Saudi treatment of women (ranking near the bottom); restrictive laws and
punishments for Christians; severe Sharia "justice" such as floggings
and beheadings; a Saudi princess lost hers a few years ago. She was an
adulteress; in 2007, a rape victim is to be flogged; few if any Saudis
do menial work with hordes of indentured servants, virtual slaves, from
the Philippines, Malaysia, etc.; there's more, including Saudi covert (and
sometimes not so covert) moral and financial support for what we call terrorism.
-
- As we see in recent events, decapitation appears to be
a particular predilection for Islamist extremists. Naturally, the Saudi
monarchy works hard to keep the lid on the extremist boiling pot mostly
out of fear, hence purchasing "anti-terrorism insurance" against
an extremist actions in their own country. But who are these Islamic purists,
the fundamentalists who both so frighten and fascinate the aristocratic
Saudi oil lords?
-
- Extreme Wahabism is a Saudi Arabian religious phenomenon.
"The first spark [of modern Islamic revival] was fittingly struck
in the Arabian desert, the cradle of Islam. Here, at the opening of the
19th century, arose the Wahabi movement for the reform of Islam, which
presently kindled the far-flung Mohammedan Revival, which in its turn begat
the movement know as Pan-Islamism." (T. Lothrop Stoddard in The Rising
Tide of Islam.) "Wahabi [or Wahabism; also Wahhabi): the religion
of the ruling family of Saudi Arabia founded by Muhammad ibn al-Wahab (c.1702-1792)
who converted the Saud tribe. He taught that all accretions to Islam after
the 3rd century of the Muslim Era, i.e., after c.950, were spurious and
must be expunged. The movement, although centered in Arabia, has also spread
eastward to India [hence Pakistan, Central Asia and western China], and
Sumatra and westward to North Africa and the Sudan." (Columbia Desk
Encyclopedia, p. 902.)
-
- Ibn Abdul Wahab was born near present-day Riyadh, becoming
a revered and expressive Koranic scholar. In a little over 200 years, Wahab's
strict and rigid interpretation of Islam gained far-reaching and widespread
acceptance throughout the Muslim umma, or world community. Wahabism is
rigid, intolerant and fanatical to the core, as well as hyper-aggressive
and ultimately violent. It is the official doctrine of all the Arabian
peninsular states, but its theological, intellectual and political influence
is worldwide.
-
- As an example of severity, look at doctrinal disputes
with fellow Muslims. Wahabism sternly opposed Shia Islam and the Sufi mystical
movement. Both were reform movements and thus rivals of Wahabism. Both
sects made more than a few innovations, regarded as illegitimate by the
Wahabis. "Among those [Shiite] innovations was the reverence given
to dead saints as intercessors with Allah, and the special [metaphysical,
mystical] devotions of the Sufi orders. The reformers made an alliance
with Muhammad ibn Saud, ruler [tribal chieftain] of a small market town,
Dir'iyya, and this led to the formation of a state which claimed to live
under the guidance of the Sharia Islamic law code and tried to bring the
pastoral tribes all around it under its guidance too. By the first years
of the 19th century the armies of the new (Wahabist) state had expanded;
they had sacked the Shi'a shrines in southwestern Iraq and occupied the
holy cities of Hejaz (1926)." (Hourani, Albert, A History Of The Arab
Peoples, Harvard: 1991, p. 258.)
-
- Actually, what most devout Muslims ultimately want is
an Islamic World Order under Sharia law. This is seen by many as not only
inevitable, but the rightful and natural successor to the outmoded and
dysfunctional nation-states of the Western world order. Some devout ones
maintain that the world has not yet seen a truly Islamic government, so
differences exist as to precisely how this is to be carried out. Some moderates
say that individual believers must establish the Islamic way in their hearts
and lives, so that this personal regime, with hope and prayer, someday
spreads over the world.
-
- In this interpretation, the effort within oneself is
a struggle, a jihad. First, it is established in the person, then in his
family, then in the tribe and state, and later to the whole world. Suffice
it to say, this is not the only interpretation. Jihad by war may be employed
when all else fails, or more importantly, in response to attacks on Muslims
and Islam.
-
- Most of the 1.25+ billion Muslims believe the West is
finished, in the last stages of decay. Are they right? Only time will tell,
but the events of the early 21st century do not bode well. "The Western
Age Is Finished." (Sayyid Qutb.) "The path to the creation of
a truly Muslim society [begins] with individual conviction transformed
into a living image in the heart and embodied in a program of action. Those
who accept this program would form a vanguard of dedicated fighters, using
every means, including Jihad, which should not be undertaken until the
fighters had achieved inner purity, but it should then be pursued, if necessary,
not for defense only, but to destroy all worship of false gods and remove
all obstacles which prevent men from accepting Islam. The struggle should
aim at creating a Universal Muslim Society in which there are no distinctions
of race, and one which was worldwide. The western age is finished': it
could not provide the values which were needed to support the new material
civilization. Only Islam offers hope to the world." (Hourani, p.446.)
-
- Wahabism is the direct ideological inspiration for Osama
bin Laden and other extremist movements. Wahabi-influenced and inspired
organizations include Al Qaeda networks, the USS Cole bombers, the Khobar
Towers bombers in Saudi Arabia, the Egyptian radicals who slew Anwar Sadat
and later massacred the European tourists at Luxor, Algerian fundamentalists,
the first World Trade Center bombers led by Ramzi Yusef and the Blind Sheik,
Abdul Rahman (whose son is with Al- Qaeda) all the way to the Taliban (means
seminarians or religious students) of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
-
- AN 'HONORABLE' FORM OF SUICIDE
-
- While the Taliban were in power, the Islamic Emirate
of Afghanistan gained diplomatic recognition from only three states: the
United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, all of them directly
inspired by Wahabism. It is lavishly supported by many Saudis, including
the bin Laden family and every other rich family in the country, including
the numerous wealthy and prolific royals (there are hundreds of them) and
assorted sheiks of the aristocratic caste. Through private banking, these
wealthy families can transfer all the funds they want to whomever they
want and never be challenged or traced. When the various pundits talk about
tracing terrorist funds, it is rarely mentioned that Saudi Arabia, for
its entire existence, has consistently refused to allow any probe into
its arcane financial connections and murky dealings.
-
- Wahabist influence is intense and worldwide as it controls
and dominates Islam's holiest shrines. Ironically, as they oppose most
modern developments, the fortunes of doctrinaire Wahabism rose with the
development of cruise ships and airlines. From shortly after the death
of Muhammad, the holy places of Islam were controlled by the sophisticated,
educated elites in Damascus, Baghdad and Istanbul. In 1926, the Saud family
and the militant Wahabi sect seized control of Mecca and Medina.
-
- From then on, this desert sect has controlled the holy
sites. They use these prominent pulpits to impress a single, extremely
limited and intolerant version of Islam on the millions of pilgrims who
come. Until the 19th Century, the pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca was limited
to those with time to walk there, or with time and money to go by sailing
ship. Pilgrims were counted only in the thousands. Soon after the Wahabi
conquest, modern transportation enabled increasing numbers of pilgrims,
many funded by the Saudi state. There are now two million or more pilgrims
each year. Increasingly, a large number are non-Arabs who read little or
no Arabic and come from non-Arabic traditions, yet they are taught the
strict Wahabi way, often taking the message home with them.
-
- Severe Islamic fundamentalist militancy often seems baffling,
especially if one cannot transcend cultural boundaries a bit. For instance,
most Westerners do not understand the concept of Shahada, or active martyrdom.
In the face of almost insurmountable public opinion, and ignorance, Islamist
martyrs do not commit suicide in our Western sense of the term. Some Wahabis
and related sects teach that Islam is justified in using Jihadist tactics
because the West has attacked Islam, not only by aiding, abetting and enabling
(we provide money, weapons and equipment) the atrocities against the Palestinians,
but through our pagan, consumerist self-centered, sexually exploitative
culture, which they see us forcing upon the world.
-
- The believers, especially the impressionable young, are
told that those who choose Shahada make a crucial contribution to the divine
jihad, and will receive the greatest heavenly rewards. Westerners just
do not "get" this concept. Just as hara-kiri is seen as an honorable
and brave death by the Shinto Japanese, Shahada is never viewed as a disgraceful
death, but as an act of supreme and glorious, hope, dignity, and deep faith.
Even in the West, we make exceptions. Consider that Judaism celebrates
and now teaches the doctrine of "Jewish Holocaust martyrs" in
holy awe, and we must not forget the numerous martyr-saints of the Roman
Catholic tradition. On top of that, the West has seen political and military
martyrs (JFK, WWII heroes, etc.) at various times.
-
- And, while I know some don't want to hear it, one might
call the Shaheeds brave. We respect and honor military heroes from many
wars. In reality, how does this differ? Our cultural blindness and deafness
is why we do not understand this supreme sacrifice and dedication. What
does Western civilization have that any of us would die for any more? Will
you give your life for Wal-Mart, McDonald's, the now so gay and liberal
Christian churches, the Democrat and Republican parties? The list could
go on, but the point is clear. Other than our unfortunate military personnel,
whom we allow to die for our rather curious way of life, only a miniscule
few or willing to die or greatly sacrifice for anything at all!
-
- Moreover, how long will we accept the civilian deaths
in Iraq and Afghanistan? We seem so aware of military deaths, yet we think
nothing of the innocent victims, including children, we have killed - or
helped kill - in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine. The Islamists see us
with blood on our hands.
- But more importantly, how do we intellectually and physically
defend against such dedicated and brave, if I may so opine - foes?
They are willing to pay the ultimate price, relying that, in the long run,
we will not stay the course. Suicide martyrdom has become an effective
and useful tactic. Dedicated and serious Muslims are willing to die for
principles they believe should govern the world. Christians once felt this
way, but that is but a distant and faded memory. Stay the course, indeed!
Who even knows where we were/are going?
-
- "Islam is the solution" is the cry of the Wahabist-inspired
modern- day international Islamic renaissance and revival movement. Billions
of people have heard, are presently hearing, and will continue to hear
this entrancing message. What is our reply? What does Western culture have
to offer as an alternative? And if, sadly and regrettably, we have no viable
alternatives, what does this mean for our eventual fate in this "war
on terrorism"? Are we really in "for the long haul", as
our leaders tell us? If not, then the most dedicated and faithful ones,
the resistance forces with determination and patience, will eventually
triumph. We do not demonstrate staying power they do. Who cares how
long it takes if you are devoted to a cause that has already triumphed
over many obstacles. Frankly, it doesn't look promising.
-
- This should be genuinely frightening, not only to my
dear readers, but to our leaders. Since U.S. foreign policy will probably
continue in its already well-established, arrogant, blundering and deadly
paradigm, the sparks that light fires in the eyes of the Shahada martyrs
will grow white-hot many more times. The next generation of Mujahadeen
is already in place, and so is the one after that.
-
- So, are you sure we're in for the long haul? Or is it
time to consider some form of détente? That could be most meaningfully
manifested by getting our troops out of the Muslim holy land, but most
markedly by a fair and unbiased policy to obtain genuine peace in Palestine.
Scrap the failed and so-called "Road Map to Peace", which was
nothing more than the old, embedded and entrenched neo-con and pro-Zionist
interests that are solidly aligned for Israel, not for the USA. Get honest,
be fair, involve all parties, and something creative might happen. Americans
must be spiritual and recapture our older values, or the next line is truth.
"No one is more distant than the Americans from spirituality and piety",
said Sayyib Qutb, after living in the U.S., 1948-50. What would he say
now! Look at the vast cultural changes in just the last 50 years. Only
a concerted effort and change of heart will prove him wrong.
-
- Another media misrepresentation is to imply that Islamic
warriors are ignorant peasants, trained in Madrassah schools, which are
just "indoctrination centers". While this is true in some cases,
it again turns a blind eye to the 21st century Islamic renaissance. Since
most Westerners know nothing of this, let's take a quick look. In the 1930's,
an era of political and cultural change movements of all kinds, radical
Islam began to chafe under the colonialist yoke. Many of the writings and
movements begun in those days are still with us, but one need not look
to writers long gone. Probably not one Westerner in a thousand could name
any of these men (no women), yet they are household names in Islamic world
communities.
-
- AN UN-NATURAL ALLIANCE
-
- When Islamic Jihad assassinated Anwar Sadat in 1981,
a small 54-page document was found, entitled "The Neglected Duty."
This is apparently one of those explosive little books that pop up at various
times and places when revolution and upheaval are in the air. While Islam,
like Christianity, teaches subservience to rulers, the anonymous author(s)
say it is the duty of good Muslims to overthrow a ruler who has abandoned
true Islam. It is this philosophy, and resulting actions, that so frighten
Islamic leaders who have sold out to the West and Israel - like the
Saudi royals, or those who have become inextricably and compromisingly
entangled with the infidels, as are the rulers of Egypt, Pakistan, etc.
-
- This all goes back to a medieval movement called Salafiyya,
which gave rise to later Wahabism. Not only did Salafis believe hypocritical
Islamic rulers should be overthrown, but that the Western, Christian world
is equivalent to the state of barbarism (Jahiliyya) that existed before
Muhammad manifested as the Prophet, and which he ordered Muslims to overthrow
and displace.
-
- A major exponent of this belief, and a spiritual godfather
to Osama and many others, is Sayyib Qutb, executed in Egypt in the mid-1960s.
His best-known work is Signposts On The Road. An influential theologian,
Ibn Taymiyya, who lived in Damascus in the 13th and 14th centuries, was
an inspiration for Qutb. Also circulating are pamphlets by the blind sheik,
Abdul Rahman, now imprisoned for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and
in 1996 A Declaration Of War Against America was released by Osama bin
Laden.
-
- Did you know that 80 percent or more of U.S. mosques
and Islamic societies are controlled by Wahabist Imams, according to U.S.
Sheik Muhammad Hisham Kabbani at a State Department forum held in 1999?
We must assume similar conditions in Europe. More than a little of the
money given to both legitimate charities and fronts that fund radical networks
come from American Muslims. Funds are transferred both legitimately and
through the underground network of informal Halawa Islamic money brokers,
and over the Internet. This is not to say that all American Muslims support
such groups, but it does beg the question of how many contribute alms -
remember it is a religious duty - to organizations that are largely unaccountable,
contributing to an ignorance-is-bliss mentality. The Saudi government provides
millions each year. Where does it all go? Given our close relationship
with the Saudis, does anyone in the chambers of power seriously care?
-
- Will policies toward our unfriendly Saudi friends ever
change? The royals don't think so. "I summon my blue-eyed slaves anytime
it pleases me. I command the Americans to send me their bravest soldiers
to die for me. Anytime I clap my hands a stupid genie called the American
ambassador appears to do my bidding. When the Americans die in my service
their bodies are frozen in metal boxes by the US Embassy and American airplanes
carry them away, as if they never existed. Truly, America is my favorite
slave." (King Fahd Bin Abdul- Aziz, 1993, in Jeddah.)
-
- The Saudis never allowed us direct access to the alleged
Khobar Towers bombers, who were beheaded, making further interrogation
a bit difficult. Did they merely round up "the usual suspects"?
This same scenario was repeated with the June 2004 beheading of an American
contractor. It seems reasonable to say that if all Saudi funding and moral
support for extremist Islamic groups were cut off, the problem would ease
considerably.
-
- This will likely never happen because the corrupt royals
know they would be signing their own death warrants. Indeed, radical Islamists
in the Kingdom are already boldly striking out. The Saudi royals are not
real friends as the history of this ill contrived nation shows. First,
it is against the Koran to be friends to either Jews or Christians (Sura
5:51) and secondly, they are not going to suffer and die for the corrupt
and depraved West. But more importantly, if the regime is to survive at
all, it must not be perceived by their subjects as being any worse than
the willing lackeys they already are. Given this mindset, meaningful change
from the Saudis is unlikely. Given our dependence on Saudi good will to
keep the pipelines open and the prices from skyrocketing, it is unlikely
we will put any significant pressure on them. Business as usual continues.
-
- We must be even more wary than ever of excessive energy
dependence on, among others, this unreliable and ill-intentioned "partnership".
They do not like us nor approve of our culture. If they could withdraw
without consequences, and if they were able to raise the same money through
sales strictly to the Islamic world, they would do so, and turn their vast
resources against us.
-
- However, they are somewhat afraid. Osama predicted that
if Western infidel troops came to the holy Arabian lands, they would never
leave - and they have not. They are, of coarse, there to protect the oil,
but is this guaranteed always and forever to include bailing out the royals
if an Islamic revolution sweeps over them? Remember, we betrayed the Shah.
This is the root of their fears. After all, an American-led blitzkrieg
with naval and air power could seize the strategic Arabian Peninsula without
much trouble. And we could oust the royals, renting local armies and political
blocs as in Afghanistan. But they are more afraid of their own fundamentalist
Islamic people, who, without the presence and threat of Western military
action, might overthrow the fat cat, fake, self-appointed royals and set
up a strict Islamic state.
-
- The Saudi "petrol pashas" exist in a rich,
opulent - albeit increasingly uncomfortable - nether world, drifting precariously
between the worldly West and the eternal asceticism of their desert Wahabi
faith. Will this Humpty Dumpty kingdom eventual fall from its precarious
wall and shatter? As we know, revolutionary events sometimes happen in
the blink of an eye.
-
- Under the two Bush regimes, even deep in the midst of
"wartime", the same winking dealmakers play cozy bedfellow games,
as they always have. The rich Bushes, their Halliburton allies, the bloated
Saudis and their protégés, such as the bin Laden family,
grow richer and richer while the larger Islamic world is left in the economic
backwaters. And all the while, the American people/sheeple get stupider
and stupider, believing the lies and con games thrown at them 24 hours
a day in the media, the schools and the churches. No one among The Powers
That Be is really serious about alternative energy, and Europe is even
more vulnerable. For the foreseeable future, we seem solidly and irrevocably
wed to these odd - but perhaps not so inscrutable - oriental bedfellows.
The facts are there if you want to see them. Are there solutions?
-
- Is it all too brief and simplistic to say that peace
in the Middle East is not that difficult to understand? It's a two-part
plan. Get our troops out of Islamic countries, especially the Saudi holy
places, and then bring a fair, genuine and lasting peace to Palestine.
Hey, I said it was short and simple, not easy! But, the badly needed foreign
policy changes regarding either Palestine or Saudi Arabia is unlikely to
come from what some are calling a pro- Zionist, Judeo-centric American
government. Albeit unlikely, freedom and fairness in Middle Eastern policies
could, indeed, work wonders. However, without major regime change in certain
Western governments, this is unlikely to happen.
-
- # # #
-
- Dr. Harrell Rhome, an investigative writer and researcher,
contributes to print and on-line publications, including The Nationalist
Times newspaper, www.anu.org. He is a Contributing Editor for The Barnes
Review historical journal, www.barnesreview.org, and also an English-language
contributor on Tsunami Politico, a multilingual on-line nationalist magazine
out of Buenos Aires. See articles on rather diverse topics at www.tsunamipolitico.com/truth9.htm
.
-
- Comments and questions are welcome: EagleRevisionist@aol.com.
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