veiled4allah: Wahhabis condemning terrorism

Allegedly, Shaykh Salman al-Awdah is a radical Islamist scholar who incites rebellion. So what's he doing writing stuff like this?

The bombings that took place in Riyadh on May 12 still dominate much of our conversation. The attackers had targeted for their horrendous deeds residential areas where predominantly foreigners reside. Dozens of people died, many in their own homes. Hundreds were seriously injured. Among the victims were Americans, Saudis, and a number of other nationalities. No matter how we decide to analyze these events, we must start by condemning them in the strongest of terms. What happened is repulsive, utterly disgusting, and in every way a violation of the teachings of Islam.

Our religion came to bring security. Allah says: “We gave them security after fear.” He says: “…so we can substitute for them security after fear.” and: “Our Lord! Make this a land of safety!”

Islam came to preserve life, not to shed blood. Allah says: “Whoever kills another for any reason besides murder or wreaking havoc in the land, then it is as if he had killed all humanity.” He says: “Whoever kills a believer deliberately, his reward is hell wherein he shall abide with Allah’s wrath and curse upon him, and a great punishment will be prepared for him.”

Islam teaches us to honor our covenants. Allah says: “O you who believe! Fulfill your covenants.” He says: “Fulfill your covenants, for truly the covenant will be asked about.” He says: “Fulfill your covenant for Allah if you make a covenant.”

Islamic Law is built upon the idea of realizing the common good and preventing harm. Such evil deeds have the opposite effect. They breed civil strife and more violence and reduce society to weakness. They cancel out the good works of the people in society and ruin investment. They set reform efforts back and are highly detrimental to Islamic work. These acts open the doors for all those who have hidden agendas and personal, ideological or tribal bigotries to bring harm to society at large. They also create an opportunity for foreign intervention into our affairs under the pretext of fighting terrorism, preserving economic interest, or “liberating” the people.

The basic principles of our faith should be the common ground for all Muslims to meet upon. Not only does our religion condemn such acts, but all people possessing the least sense do so as well.

When we condemn what happened, we must not do so just to distance ourselves from the atrocity. We have a far greater responsibility than that. We are all in the same boat. Any breach in the hull will drown us all. Our society is facing the threat of continuous and ceaseless violence, and no doubt, dismantling the security of our society is far easier than restoring it again. Our sense of responsibility forces us to condemn what happened, no matter what excuse the perpetrators of the atrocities might have had.

Strange talk for a radical Islamist.


Shaykh al-Awdah has come in for criticism from a different angle: from Wahhabi clerics close to the Saudi government. This illustrates a point that I think is often overlooked. Bin Laden is vehemently opposed to the Saudi regime. He thinks they ought to be overthrown. They are well aware of that and official Saudi clerics have been condemning Bin Laden and other Islamist opponents of the regime for quite some time. The article I linked to is one example. Others include The Qutubi, Sururi Manhaj in Causing Dissention and Separation Amongst the Senior Scholars, Examining Qutubiyyah, Concerning Sayyid Qutb, Saalih Al-Munajjid and Al-Maghraawee, Heresies of Syed Qutb, and The Difference Between Qutubiyyah and Salafiyyah (PDF).

These works refer to "Qutubis" and "Qutubiyyah". These are Arabic terms meaning "followers of Syed Qutb". Syed Qutb was an Egyptian Islamist whose ideas have been extremely influential among radical Muslims. One of the main advocates of Qutb's teachings was Abdullah Azzam, who was the leader of the mujahidin in Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion (this is back when the U.S. was supporting the mujahidin, remember). Azzam wrote a number of works about jihad. Azzam was originally Palestinian and studied in Egypt before going to teach in Saudi Arabia. One of his students was Osama Bin Laden.

Another figure with much influence on Bin Laden is Ayman Zawahiri, often described as Bin Laden's "right hand man". Zawahiri is Egyptian and had been involved in militant Islamist movements in Egypt for a number of years before joining Azzam and Bin Laden in Afghanistan. Zawahiri also takes his inspiration from Qutb.

What all of this means is that the ideas and the interpretation of Islam promoted by Bin Laden and his followers is of Egyptian, not Saudi, origin. To the best of my knowledge, Qutb was not a Wahhabi nor was influenced by Wahhabi teachings.

As I wrote in my Field Guide to Islamic Activists:

You may have noticed that I have not linked the Wahhabis with "militant Islam" although there are many, including certain Muslims, who do so. What you need to understand is that in Saudi Arabia the Wahhabi movement is closely allied with the government, as a result of the power-sharing deal worked out so long ago by ibn AbdulWahhab and ibn Sa'ud. As explained above, the Wahhabi movement is characterized by its puritanical zeal. The Saudi government by contrast is corrupt, despotic, and often decadent. It is this conflict of interest that inspires many outside the government to feel that the Wahhabi establishment has sold out. While the Wahhabi scholars are funded by the government and spread their teachings thanks to government money, there is another movement in opposition to them. These people come out of the cultural environment set by the Wahhabis, and often they are filled with the same zeal for reform as the Wahhabis. But they are not themselves part of the "official" Wahhabi movement. Instead, they are a reaction to it. Azzam, Zawahiri, and Bin Laden are able to tap into these feelings of resentment and to direct them towards their own ends. The Saudi government is not innocent in this matter. Unable or unwilling to make the reforms necessary to ease the resentment of the Saudi people, it has sought to direct the feelings against outside targets in the hopes that the militants will forget to look back at Saudi Arabia itself. But this is a very different thing from saying that "militant Islam" is part of Wahhabi Islam. "Militant Islam" is a reaction against Wahhabi Islam, or more precisely against the association of Wahhabi Islam with a corrupt government.