Manipal, India —
The Shiite branch of Islam is regarded as heresy by followers of the founder of
Wahabbism, Abdel Wahab (1703-1792). Extreme adherents of this faith routinely
visit violence on the Shiites, and every one of its preachers condemns the
Shiites as un-Islamic.
However, the
1979 ascendance of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to absolute power in Iran
meant the capture of one of the geopolitical pivots of the Shiite world – the
other being Iraq – by a thinker whose teachings closely resembled the
philosophy of Abdel Wahab.
These ideas had
originally been designed to counter the control exercised by Turkish Sufi
doctrine over the Arab Bedouin. The Wahabbis enjoyed the support of the British
Empire and its successor in international reach, the United States, initially
because this alienation from Turkish influence suited their interests.
This backing
began to be withdrawn only after 9/11. Nearly nine years after that event, the
prising away of Wahabbis from the state structures of key Muslim-majority
states has been at best partial, and usually no more than cosmetic. Wahabbism
continues to dominate the world of Muslim religious schools and sites by
ensuring the elimination of clerics and scholars who subscribe to a moderate –
if not Sufi – worldview.
Nowhere has this
process secured deeper roots than in Pakistan. Apart from some locations in the
Middle East and North Africa, Pakistan has become the most significant jihadi
factory, turning out thousands each year. Education in the religious schools,
or madrassas, is based on vilification of those not subservient to a Wahabbi
mindset. Even regular school education in Pakistan has aped models in the
"moderate" Middle East by including heavy doses of religion in what
ought to be secular curricula.
