Analysis: Scared of Wahhabi assassins

Woodmonkey · 01-13-2005, 20:47

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Analysis: Scared of Wahhabi assassins

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By Uwe Siemon-Netto

Washington, DC, Apr. 26 - As soon as Sheikh Mohammed Mohammed Ali leaves his house in Baghdad for a drive around town, he takes off his white turban that marks him as a Shiite Muslim scholar, and places it on the seat next to him in his Toyota.

"Many Shiite clerics are doing this. It's safer that way," he told United Press International Monday in a telephone interview from his London home where he had just returned after an extended stay in Iraq.

"My turban would make me a target of Wahhabi assassins, who have already killed so many Shiite scholars. That's why I wear the turban only indoors -- and always in the mosque."

The Shiite clerics' turbans, which are distinct from the headgear of Sunni imams, come either in black or in white, depending on whether the bearer is a direct descendant of the prophet Mohammed -- in which case black is the proper color -- or not. Mohammed Mohammed Ali wears white.

Wahhabis, a puritanical sect that originated in present-day Saudi Arabia in the 18th century, have traditionally not been part of the religious scene in Iraq.

"They have begun infiltrating the country already in the last 10 years of Saddam Hussein's regime," said Ali, who before the outbreak of the war was a leader of the London-based Iraqi National Council.

"The Sunni sects in Iraq used to be non-violent. But then the Wahhabis came and bribed Iraqi Muslims to join them. This way they took control of mosques even in Najaf and Karbala (the Shiites' holy cities), and in Basra in the South."

Complaints by Shiites that Wahhabi infiltrators target them for assassination have been common almost since the beginning of the current war more than a year ago. They also claim that adherents of this sect are intent on provoking a war between the Shiite majority and the Sunni minority.

But the sect's spokesmen angrily contest reports in some of the most respectable Western media, including London's Daily Telegraph and the Christian Science Monitor, that its agents are fanning the Iraqi insurgency.

In a book titled "The Wahhabi Myth" authored by Maneef James Oliver, which has been authenticated by Sheikh Naasirud-Deen al-Albaanee, a top religious leader in Saudi Arabia, attributes the extremism of Osama bin Laden and his fellow terrorist to a different source.

"They are adherents of a newly risen sect called Qutbism, whose origins come from Egypt, not Saudi Arabia," he wrote. This movement is named after Sayyid Qutb who founded Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

As the London newspaper, The Independent, observed two years ago, this is not an Islamic tradition but very much a Western-based ideology.

In an article titled, "How Marx turned Muslim," the Independent's correspondent John Gray explained, "The inspiration for Qutb's thought is not so much the Koran but the current Western philosophy embodied in thinkers such as Nietzsche, Kierkegaard and Heidegger."

But Mohammed Mohammed Ali, a moderate Shiite scholar propagating interfaith harmony as the only possible means to bring peace to Iraq, does not see things that way.

"In the last 10 years there have been huge transfers of funds to Iraq to make Muslims convert from their own sect to extreme Wahhabism," he said. "This happened with the support from politicians in the Gulf states and many other Arab countries."

While a prominent Wahhabi cleric, Sheikh Muhammad Bin Saalih al-'Uthatmeen, condemned terrorist outrages such as suicide bombings, saying their perpetrators would go to hell, the tradition of Wahhabi violence has a history of almost a quarter of a millennium.

In "The Wahhabi Movement," historian Ted Thornton reminded his readers that in their zeal Wahhabis even once declared holy war on fellow Muslims, an act expressly forbidden by the Koran.

They destroyed other believers' minarets and grave markers and, in 1802, the tomb of the Shiites' Imam Husayn in Karbala, their holy city in Iraq, an event that has remained unforgotten to this very day.

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-break...1520-5592r.htm

odannyboy · 01-14-2005, 00:22

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Wahhabis, a puritanical sect that originated in present-day Saudi Arabia in the 18th century, have traditionally not been part of the religious scene in Iraq.

"They have begun infiltrating the country already in the last 10 years of Saddam Hussein's regime," said Ali, who before the outbreak of the war was a leader of the London-based Iraqi National Council.

"The Sunni sects in Iraq used to be non-violent. But then the Wahhabis came and bribed Iraqi Muslims to join them. This way they took control of mosques even in Najaf and Karbala (the Shiites' holy cities), and in Basra in the South."

They are either Sunni or Wahabbist's but one variety or the other, they are somewhat closely linked and prone to violence, especially the latter.

I'm learning to have alot more respect for the Shi'ites who daily brave the deadly violence of these assassins bent on death and causing a civil war.

What a mess. I hope they are not able to kill off the intelligentsia that represent moderate and non-violent viewpoints.

Snowden · 01-14-2005, 00:47

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Originally Posted by odannyboy

They are either Sunni or Wahabbist's but one variety or the other, they are somewhat closely linked and prone to violence, especially the latter.

I'm learning to have alot more respect for the Shi'ites who daily brave the deadly violence of these assassins bent on death and causing a civil war.

What a mess. I hope they are not able to kill off the intelligentsia that represent moderate and non-violent viewpoints.

Danny, the Wahabbis are a sect within Sunni Islam. They developed as a following by a man of that name - Wahabbi. I'll see if Ben has time to give me a brief writeup about it tomorrow. It's based in Saudi; I believe started in Medina. In any event, it is seen by many Sunni Muslims as a great heresy, and because of that some of the countries around the edge of Saudi broke away from Saudi.

I'll have to get it all together; I believe the Emirites are the result of this break, and perhaps Yemen also considers it a heretical movement. But it is within Sunni Islam.

The Shi'ites are a more fervent religious group and were considered more violent than the Sunnis before the advent of this Wahabbi movement. I have never heard of this group (Western?) in Egypt. I'll see what I can find out.

Snowden · 01-14-2005, 16:22

Briefly, referring to my last post; Ibn Wahab was an 18th Century fundamentalist Sunni Muslim from Najd. As a fundamentalist, he introduced into the Sunni sect certain demands that he interpreted from his readings of the Qur'an, which are considered heretical by other sects in Islam, if only because he ignored the Hadiths and laws of Islam in his presentation of what he was teaching.

As a result of those perceived heresies, we have the Arab Emirates. Oman is not Wahabbi, nor Bahrain. Yemen is inclined to Wahabbism and is therefore a very shaky "ally" of this nation.

Abu Q'tub (or Qutub) was the 20th Century philosopher who saw the increasing weaknesses in the morality of the western world as the door opening for an advance of Islam into those parts of the world. A very intelligent man - one who could see across the separation of east and west. We need one like him on our side, I think! One who can understand the mind of the Mid East.

All of the ideology proper to modern radical Islamism (at least outside Shi'a circles) derives from the writings and influence of Q'tub; all of the religious fervor and uncompromising fundamenatalism of modern radical Islamism (at least outside Shi'a circles) derives from Wahabbism; and Q'tub himself would never have come to believe what he did but for the Wahhabist movement.

odannyboy · 01-15-2005, 00:07

The Shi'ites have long been considered the more fervent and radical of the two sects, as far as the West has been concerned, at least since the 1979 uprising and captivity of the Americans in Iran, and their human wave attacks against Saddam and his armies during their 8 yr. border war led me to think I would never think of Shi'ites as being moderates until they are placed alongside the Wahabbists of Saudi origin, these folks are the true perverts of Islam and their sick and deadly preachings have made them almost the equivalent of the Taliban.

What a mess that part of the world is thanks to the twisted teachings coming from Saudi Arabia.

Snowden · 01-15-2005, 01:02

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Originally Posted by odannyboy

The Shi'ites have long been considered the more fervent and radical of the two sects, as far as the West has been concerned, at least since the 1979 uprising and captivity of the Americans in Iran, and their human wave attacks against Saddam and his armies during their 8 yr. border war led me to think I would never think of Shi'ites as being moderates until they are placed alongside the Wahabbists of Saudi origin, these folks are the true perverts of Islam and their sick and deadly preachings have made them almost the equivalent of the Taliban.

What a mess that part of the world is thanks to the twisted teachings coming from Saudi Arabia.

Dan, it's my understanding that the Taliban is Wahabbi. I'll ask Ben in the morning, but I have thought that since we first started hearing about bin Laden and the Taliban. bin Laden is or was the leader of the Taliban, I think. But I will have to check to be sure.

He just came through, Dan; yes, the Taliban is of the school of Wahabbi, so it's Wahabbi. Just what they want us to have to live by!
You are about where I was with thinking the Shi'ites more fanatical; they are very fervent and very religious - but this Wahabbi strain of Sunni Islam makes them look merely very religious. Iran is Shi'ite - that's one reason for the eight year war with Iraq, I think. Saddam, with a majority population of Shi'ites, couldn't take the chance of being overrun by Iran.

odannyboy · 01-15-2005, 13:40

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Originally Posted by Snowden

Dan, it's my understanding that the Taliban is Wahabbi. I'll ask Ben in the morning, but I have thought that since we first started hearing about bin Laden and the Taliban. bin Laden is or was the leader of the Taliban, I think. But I will have to check to be sure.

He just came through, Dan; yes, the Taliban is of the school of Wahabbi, so it's Wahabbi. Just what they want us to have to live by!

bin Laden and his extended family (I believe his father had multiple wives and since women are like cattle they are used for breeding purposes only to Wahabbists and otherwise kept a prisoner with no rights) I believe, in Saudi Arabia, has something like 63 brothers and sisters.

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Originally Posted by Snowden

You are about where I was with thinking the Shi'ites more fanatical; they are very fervent and very religious - but this Wahabbi strain of Sunni Islam makes them look merely very religious. Iran is Shi'ite - that's one reason for the eight year war with Iraq, I think. Saddam, with a majority population of Shi'ites, couldn't take the chance of being overrun by Iran.

Saddam was more the madman than Khomeni, and it was he who not onoly intiated the war but kept it going. If there was ever any doubt about his iron fisted rule it is that large portions of this border between countries is Shi'ite and he had them fighting fellow Shi'ites in the war (it was either fight or die)

That opp