Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Blogs: Wahhabis and Qutubis

Wahhabis and Qutubis

Date: June 22, 2003 | 21 Rabi al-Akhir 1424 Hijriah

Subjects: commentary, wahhabism, islamists, qutubism

About a month ago, I wrote about an ideology called Qutubism, which is named for its founding thinker, the Egyptian radical Syed Qutb. Qutubism is the primary ideology of Ayman Zawahiri, Bin Laden's "number two", and was a major influence on Abdullah Azzam, who served as Bin Laden's teacher and mentor (Zawahiri is Egyptian and Azzam was Palestinian).

I argued that Qutubism is an ideology that is distinct from Wahhabism and has goals that are different from, and in fact often directly opposed to, those of the Wahhabi establishment in Saudi Arabia. This is set out in more detail in the other blog entry.

As a follow-up to this, you may wish to take a look at The Wahhabi Myth - Salafism, Wahhabism, Qutbism. This is the website for a recently-published book which is sponsored by organizations that are closely linked to the Wahhabi establishment. If you're interested in this question, I encourage you to check out the site, read the materials excerpted there, and make your own judgment on the matter.

As I wrote in the comments of the other blog entry:

My purpose in posting this entry was not to promote either Wahhabism or Qutubism. My purpose was simply this: very often the two groups are treated as the same. They are not. They are two different groups with different, and sometimes opposing, aims. A policy based on the assumption that they are the same or that they share the same aims is a policy based on an error. In order to determine the best course of action and the best policy we need to have an accurate understanding of the situation.

~ Posted by Al-Muhajabah, a member of the reality-based community, at 04:17 PM

Comments

Thebit said:

Total comments: 26 gold star

Subject: Re: Wahhabis and Qutubis

Salaam `alaykum,

Yes. This is a very good point. I feel it is important people understand these differences.

"Wahhabism", as conceived of by Ibn Abdul Wahhab, is actually long dead. His sole aim, from reading his works, was to refute the entire edifice of "popular religion" - that is the excessive practices of certain strains of 'Sufism' (rather than Sufism, per se).

Wahhabism's impulse now belongs with other groups. The Salafis are far ahead of the Wahhabis in their understanding of the world. The founder of Salafism was a student of Muhammad 'Abduh, so one can't accuse then of being "backward" (the usual accusation thrown at Salafis.)

The Indian "Wahhabis" (of which the Ahl-al-Hadith are the foremost group) have in their roots elsewhere. In their inception they have nothing to do with Ibn Abdul Wahhab - though they do accept his teachings.

All the reformers/revivalists of Indian Islam were Sufis - so can hardly be called "Wahhabis" as popularly understood - but they all attacked the same thing as Ibn Abdul Wahhab. Just read up on Ahmed as-Sirhindi - he came long before the Nedji. The same can be said for people like Shah Walli Allah of Delhi.

In reality, the word "Wahhabi" is a pejorative term, used by sectaries to degrade and stifle criticism by people opposed to their own position. It can be applied to such a wide variety of movements, thoughts and ideas, as to mean nothing.

Salaam

~ Posted at June 23, 2003 04:19 AM | Comment Permalink

abu Yasir said:

Total comments: 10 gold star

Subject: Re: Wahhabis and Qutubis

as-slaam alaykum
Allah Help the ummah and speed our revival!
Muhajabah, you wrote, "I argued that Qutubism is an ideology that is distinct from Wahhabism and has goals that are different from, and in fact often directly opposed to, those of the Wahhabi establishment in Saudi Arabia."
Sayyid Qutb (SQ)and Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhaab (MAW) (Allah have mercy on them) truly cannot be compared, they were schatars of different times and diffferent circumstances.
SQ was a radical under the biting oppression of the American agent Gamal Abdul Nasser. He suffered horrendous torture for his opinions about the radical nature of Islam. He challenged Arab nationalism and secularism. He eventually paid the utimate price for these views.
MAW was in origin a Hanbali scholar. He fiercely attacked other Islamic opinions and faced a barrage of opposition and rejection from various scholars. Poltically he was expelled and, to cut a long story short (it is well documented) he found a home and an ally with the British agents of the time, al-Saud. The Saud used his ideas to launch a rabid attack on the authority of the Uthmani khilafah and even expanded as far as the gates of Damascus. That unholy alliance between the Wahabis and the Saud has continued to this day. The challenge to the Khilafah's authority (baghi) is a capital offence and ruling by Kufr (the Kingdom and all that goes with it) requires of us to remove all the regimes and implement the Shariah comprehensively.
As for OBL, he shares with the Saudis association with the American regime. Every action attributed to OBL has served American objectives (9/11, Bali bombing, Nairobi bomb.... etc.). He was trained by the CIA and he has given no reason to believe he has broken out of that circle. His actions neither serve Islam or Muslims.

~ Posted at June 24, 2003 08:33 AM | Comment Permalink

روزنامه اسلام said:

Total comments: 4

Subject: Re: Taliban & Maududi

your article connecting Maududi & Taliban is way off course. Taliban do not endorse Maududi's beliefs, they are in fact openly hostile. All the Ulema of Deoband have opposed Maududi. For details see Maududi Fitnah by Shaikh Zakariyyah Kandhalvi Rahimahullah (who wrote the tablighi nisaab),

مودودي سے علماء حق كيوں ناخوش هيں (why the righteous scholars are unhappy with Maududi) by Hadhrat Lahori Rahimahullah

مودودي صاحب اور تقريب الاسلام (Maududi Sahib and his attempts to demolish the religion) by Mufti Rasheed Ahmad Ludhyanvi Rahimahullah

was Salaam

veiled4allah: Wahhabis and Qutubis

Wahhabis and Qutubis

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