M.D. Nalapat
Manipal, India — Although the U.S. State
Department considers the Wahabbi sect to be engaged in "purifying"
the Muslim faith, in fact what Mohammad ibn Abdul Wahab created three centuries
ago was an entirely new faith, used thereafter to uproot the Sufi-suffused
Islam that had gifted scholarship and success to the Muslims. Neither of his
two biographies is credible, both being the work of admirers of the al-Sauds,
the family later installed as the titular masters of the Arabian Peninsula.
Abdul Wahab developed his teachings to
protect the absolutist rule of the al-Sauds, wrapping them in a cloak of piety
that concealed personal conduct the opposite of the example set by the Prophet
Mohammed. The founder of Wahabbism was an individual who sought to uproot
traditional Islam from the land where it was revealed.
Early in his career as a preacher, Abdul
Wahab formed a partnership with Muhammad ibn Saud, whereby the desert
chieftain's dynasty was declared by the preacher to be the legitimate rulers of
the lands where Islam first took root. A grateful ruler promptly anointed Abdul
Wahab as the only correct teacher of the tenets of Islam. That the Muslim
faith, democratic in its chemistry, explicitly rejects kingship, or that the Prophet
Mohammed is the only transmitter of the Word of Allah, were seen as
inconsequential.
Almost from the start of their sojourn into
fortune, the al-Sauds fastened themselves to the flanks of the British, thereby
gaining assistance in their battles with other chieftains, until their presumed
loyalty finally earned them installation in 1932 as masters of the land they
called "Saudi Arabia." But for British and later U.S. help, the
al-Sauds would have remained just another of several tribal families, very
possibly made extinct by those angered at their incessant aggression.
Each time the al-Sauds -- all of whom
became followers of Abdul Wahab -- took over a new territory, they obliterated
all physical traces of the Prophet Muhammad or those close to him, such as
family or contemporary followers. The intent was to erase from the peoples'
minds all memory of the original faith, memories that may have been rekindled
by exposure to cultural treasures dating from the time of the Prophet. In order
to replace the Sufis, it was necessary to convert the minds of the population
into a tabula rasa and fill it systematically with the extremist ideology that
Abdul Wahab preached.
Even the Koran did not escape. Any scholar
with access to pre-Wahabbi versions will note the difference in tone between
these and the ones brought out by the Wahabbi International, the worldwide
network created to maintain the absolutist rule of the al-Sauds, including over
the locations containing the holiest sites of one of the world's great faiths.
Indeed, again in direct opposition to the precepts and practices of the Prophet
Mohammed, in modern times the al-Sauds and the al-Wahabs have had the
presumption to declare themselves the Protectors of the Holy Places.
It is not coincidental that such usurpation
has been followed by the present turmoil within Islam, caused by the Wahabbi
effort to hijack the faith and use its name to spread mayhem across the world.
Small wonder that genuine Muslims everywhere would like to see the
democratization of "Saudi" Arabia, and control over the lives of the
Arab population returned to the people, rather than remaining in the grasp of a
family whose only claim to authority is a preacher of extremist views and the
al-Sauds' ability to make their Western backers immensely wealthy through
patronage.
Numerous individuals and corporations
across North America and the EU see the al-Sauds -- correctly -- as important
for their financial wellbeing, and in pursuit of this objective, are prepared
to overlook the danger to Western security posed by a clan that fronts for a
three-century-old creed that has hate and bigotry at its core.
Wahabbis claim that their sole intention is
to follow to the letter the teachings of the Koran -- as expressed in the
versions produced by them. This columnist once saw young princelings driving
sports coupes pick up girls fascinated by the vehicles parked outside the gates
of a Munich school, presumably to tell them later on about the life of Abdul
Wahab.
That Wahabbis know how to live the good
life, and spend countless billions of dollars doing so, is not entirely a
secret. Their lifestyles have little in common with the lifestyle of the
Prophet Mohammed, a man known for simplicity and a disdain for material wealth,
as evidenced by the paucity of assets that he left behind. And yet, even while
traveling on private jets in the company of youthful blondes, Wahabbis
constantly claim to be living their lives "the way the Prophet did,"
-- surely an assertion even more blasphemous than any uttered by Salman
Rushdie. The more fanatic of them use aircraft and RDX explosives in their
jihad against the rest of the world. If they were true to their own command
that they adopt only things that were current during the early days of Islam,
they ought to confine themselves to spears and swords, or else admit that their
lifestyles and actions have nothing in common with the glorious deeds of the
Prophet Mohammed and his followers.
The contradictions between Wahabbi
principles and their lifestyles and methods are so numerous it would take
volumes to document them. However, any such effort would be doomed from the
start, because of the support that the al-Sauds get from Bush, Cheney, Blair,
Merkel, Chirac and other Western leaders who place financial interests above
international security. Hence, even after 9/11, most of the infrastructure of
the Muslim world is controlled by the Wahabbi International. Even the retrieval
and dissemination of the original Koran has not been allowed, despite several
Islamic scholars seeking the rescue of the wisdom contained in the holy book.
Any proposal for a return of sovereignty of the Muslim Holy Land to true
believers has been met with indifference in Western chancelleries intoxicated
with the benefits derived from partnership with the Wahabbis.
Perhaps, though, there exists a solution to
the problem. According to their own assertion, during Ramadan, neither food nor
drink should be consumed in the interval between sunrise and sunset. Should the
leadership of the Wahabbi International be airlifted during this month to a
polar location, where the year is divided into six months of day and an equal
period of night, they would themselves confront the fate that this group of
fanatics is seeking to inflict on the world. Then again, being Wahabbis, the
chances are that rather than abide by the tenets of the teachings of Abdul
Wahab and starve, they would all fly off in the first chartered flight made
available by those enjoying the largesse of the Wahabbi International.
-(Professor M.D. Nalapat is
Director of the School of Geopolitics at Manipal University.)
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