http://www.kanaanonline.org/articles/00361.pdf
Britain and the Rise of Wahhabism and the House of Saud
Dr. Abdullah Mohammad Sindi*
A Note from Kana'an: In today's article, Dr. Abdullah Mohammad Sindi provides
an analytical and historical review of Wahhabism, Britain's role in its rise,
and its relation to the Saudi ruling family. Kana'an welcomes the debate that
aims at exposing the history and role of reactionary Arab regimes, particularly
the crucial role of colonial and imperial powers in their formation, survival,
and their dependency on continuous imperialist support.
Kana'an, as a secular publication, does not adopt a religious perspective or
approach. We recognize, however, that religion has its cultural and political
manifestations that are critical and can not be ignored or underestimated in
the sphere of our life, culture and politics.
As we publish this article, Kana'an remains a secular publication, a forum for
debate, and maintains that the views and approach expressed in this article are
those of the author. (Kana'an)
I. INTRODUCTION:
One of the most rigid and reactionary sects in all of Islam today is Wahhabism.
It is the official and dominant sect in Saudi Arabia whose sole constitution is
the Holy Qur'an.
Wahhabism and Saudi Arabia's ruling House of Saud have been intimately and
permanently intertwined since their births. Wahhabism created the Saudi
monarchy, and the House of Saud spread Wahhabism. One could not have existed
without the other. Wahhabism gives the House of Saud legitimacy, and the House
of Saud protects and promotes Wahhabism. The two are inseparable because each
supports the other and depends on it for survival.
Unlike Islam in other Muslim countries, however, Wahhabism treats women as
third class citizens, imposes the veil on them, and denies them basic human
rights such as: driving cars; the freedom of traveling within the country or
leaving it without permission or Mahram ("a relative male chaperon"); the
interaction with men who are not related to them in order to maintain a
complete separation of the sexes; and until a few decades ago denied them
public education and banned them from Radio and Television.
In addition, unlike other Islamic sects, Wahhabism outlaws the celebration of
Almoulid (Prophet Mohammad's Birthday); forbids religious freedom, opposes
political freedom of expression by constantly admonishing Saudis to obey their
leaders (who are not even elected); bans movie theaters; forces the public and
businesses to observe prayers; cows the masses by publicly using the harshest
Islamic punishments (applied mostly to the poor, like all other punishments)
such as the beheading for convicted killers and the hand-amputation for
thieves; denies the Saudi citizenship to non-Muslims; and condoned slavery
until the 1960s. Wahhabism also abhors smoking, singing, and dancing. To ensure
full compliance of its stern ordinances, the Wahhabi "Committee for the
Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" with its religious police keeps a
watchful eye on the Saudi public.
Wahhabism is highly self-centered and extremely intolerant of progressive
ideologies, other religions, and other Islamic sects such as Shiism and Sufism.
It despises Arab Nationalism with a great deal of passion, yet it promotes
"Saudi" nationalism, despite the fact that any nationalism is considered a
violation of Islamic theology due to the concept of Islamic Ummah ("nation").
Wahhabism considers itself to be the only correct way in all of Islam, and any
Muslim who opposes it as heretic or non-believer.
II. THE BIRTH OF WAHHABISM:
Wahhabism was born in the middle of the 18th century in the sleepy
desert-village of Dir'iyyah located in the Arabian Peninsula's central region
of Najd. The Wahhabi sect derives its name from the name of its founder
Mohammad Ibn Abdul-Wahhab (1703-92). Born in the Najdi small desert-village of
Uyayna, Ibn Abdul-Wahhab was a zealot preacher who married a total of 20 wives
(no more than 4 at a time) and had 18 children. 1 Before becoming a preacher,
however, Ibn Abdul-Wahhab traveled extensively for years for business,
pleasure, and education to Hejaz, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and India.
Although Ibn Abdul-Wahhab is considered to be the father of Wahhabism, it was
actually the British who initially impregnated him with the ideas of Wahhabism
and made him its leader for their own sinister purposes to destroy Islam and
the Muslim Ottoman Empire. The intricate details of this intriguing British
conspiracy, which are beyond the scope of this article, are to be found in the
memoirs of its master spy, titled "Confessions of a British Spy" from which the
following two paragraphs are drawn. 2
While in Basra, Iraq young Ibn Abdul-Wahhab fell under the influence and
control of a British undercover spy nicknamed "Hempher" who was one of many
spies sent by London to Muslim lands in order to destabilize the Ottoman Empire
and create conflicts among Muslims. Hempher, who pretended to be Muslim, went
by the name of "Mohammad" and cunningly established a long-term intimate
friendship with Ibn Abdul-Wahhab. Hempher, who showered Ibn Abdul-Wahhab with
money and gifts, completely brainwashed him by convincing him that most Muslims
should be killed because they had "dangerously violated" the basic tenets of
Islam by becoming "heretics" and "polytheists". Hempher also fabricated for him
a wild dream in which he supposedly "saw" Prophet Mohammad "kissing" Ibn
Abdul-Wahhab between the eyes, telling him you are the "greatest", and asking
him to be his "deputy" to save Islam from "heresies" and "superstitions". Upon
hearing Hempher's dream, Ibn Abdul-Wahhab was wild with joy and became more
determined than ever to assume the responsibility of establishing a new Islamic
sect to "purify" and "reform" Islam.
2
In his memoirs Hempher described Ibn Abdul-Wahhab as "extremely unstable",
"extremely rude", "morally depraved", "nervous", "arrogant", and "ignorant".
The British, who viewed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab as a "typical fool", also arranged for
him to have Nikah Mut'a ("marriage for pure sex") with two British female
undercover spies. The first was a Christian woman, nicknamed "Safiyya", who
lived with him in Basra as well as in Isfahan, Iran. The other was Jewish,
nicknamed "Asiya" and married him in Shiraz, Iran.
III. THE FIRST SAUDI-WAHHABI STATE: 1744-1818
After returning to Najd from his trips, Ibn Abdul-Wahhab began to preach his
wild ideas in Uyayna. However, because of his rigid preaching, he was thrown
out of his birthplace. He then went to preach in nearby Dir'iyyah where his
dear friend Hempher and other undercover British spies joined him. Ibn
Abdul-Wahhab ordered women to shave off their heads in order not to "seduce"
men with their hair. 3 He also mercilessly killed a local adulteress in a
crowded public square by brutally smashing her head with a large heavy boulder.
4 While Islamic punishment for adultery is stoning, but only with small stones,
Muslim scholars disagree as to whether the punishment was actually intended to
kill.
Although many people opposed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab's rigid teachings and actions
including his own father and brother Sulaiman, who were both religious
scholars, British undercover spies and money succeeded in cajoling an
insignificant Dir'iyyah sheik, Mohammad al-Saud, to support him. 5 In 1744,
al-Saud joined forces with Ibn Abdul-Wahhab by forging a political, religious,
and marital alliance. With this union between them and their families, which is
still in existence today, Wahhabism as a religious and political movement was
born. By this joint venture each head of the al-Saud family (House of Saud)
assumed the position of a Wahhabi Imam ("religious leader"), while each head of
the Wahhabi family was guaranteed control over religious interpretation.
Ignorant people, not by means of knowledge or persuasion, but by pure violence,
bloodshed, and terror, spread Wahhabism in the Arabian Peninsula. As a result
of the 1744 Saudi-Wahhabi alliance, a small Bedouin army was established with
the help of British undercover spies who provided it with money and weapons. 6
In time this army grew into a major menace that eventually terrorized the
entire Arabian Peninsula up to Damascus, and caused one of the worst Fitnah
("violent civil strife") in the history of Islam. In the process, this army was
able to viciously conquer most of the Arabian Peninsula to create the first
Saudi-Wahhabi State.
For example, to fight what they considered Muslim "polytheists" and "heretics",
the Saudis-Wahhabis shocked the entire Muslim world in 1801 by brutally
destroying and defacing the sacred tomb of the martyr Hussein Bin Ali (Prophet
Mohammad's grandson) in Karbala, Iraq, a particularly holy shrine to Shiite
Muslims. They also mercilessly slaughtered over 4,000 people in Karbala and
stole anything that was not nailed down. It took over 4,000 camels to carry the
huge loot. 7Again in 1810 they ruthlessly killed many innocent people across
the Arabian Peninsula. They raided and pillaged many pilgrimage caravans and
several major cities in Hejaz including the two holiest cities of Makkah and
Madinah. In Makkah they turned away pilgrims, and in Madinah they attacked and
desecrated Prophet Mohammad's Mosque, opened his grave, and sold and
distributed its valuable relics and expensive jewels.
These Saudi-Wahhabi terrorist acts and blasphemous crimes aroused the deep
anger of Muslims around the world including the Ottoman Caliph in Istanbul. As
the official ruler of the Arabian Peninsula and the guardian of Islam's holiest
mosques, Caliph Mahmud II ordered an Egyptian force to be sent to the Arabian
Peninsula to punish the Saudi-Wahhabi clan. In 1818, an Egyptian army led by
Ibraheem Pasha (son of Egypt's ruler)
3
destroyed the Saudis-Wahhabis and razed their desert capital of Dir'iyyah to
the ground. The Wahhabi Imam Abdullah al-Saud and two of his followers were
sent to Istanbul in chains where they were publicly beheaded. The rest of the
Saudi-Wahhabi clan was held in captivity in Cairo.
IV. THE SECOND SAUDI-WAHHABI STATE: 1843-1891
Although the fanatically violent Wahhabism was destroyed in 1818, it was soon
revived with the help of British colonialism. After the execution of the
Wahhabi Imam Abdullah al-Saud in Turkey, the remnants of the Saudi-Wahhabi clan
looked at their Arab and Muslim brothers as their real enemies, and to Britain
and the West in general as their true friends. Accordingly, when Britain
colonized Bahrain in 1820 and began to look for ways and means to expand its
colonization in the area, the Wahhabi House of Saud found it a great
opportunity to quickly seek British protection and help.
In 1843 the Wahhabi Imam Faisal Ibn Turki al-Saud escaped from captivity in
Cairo and returned to the Najdi town of Riyadh. Imam Faisal then began to make
contacts with the British. In 1848 he "appealed" to the British Political
Resident in the Persian city of Bushire "to support his representative in
Trucial Oman". In 1851 Faisal again applied to the British for assistance and
support. 8 As a result, the British sent Colonel Lewis Pelly in 1865 to Riyadh
to establish an official British treaty with the Wahhabi House of Saud. To
impress Pelly with his Wahhabi fanaticism and violence, Imam Faisal said that
the major difference in the Wahhabi strategy between political and religious
wars was that in the latter there would be no compromise, for "we kill
everybody". 9
In 1866 the Wahhabi House of Saud treacherously signed a "friendship" treaty
with Britain, a power hated by all Muslims because of its colonial atrocities
in the Muslim world. The treaty was similar to the many infamous unequal
treaties imposed by Britain on other Arab puppets on the Arab Gulf (also known
as the Persian Gulf). In exchange for British help, money, and weapons, the
Wahhabi House of Saud agreed to collaborate with Britain's colonial authorities
in the area.
By these treacherous acts with the bitterest enemy of Arabs and Islam, the
Wahhabi House of Saud aroused the intense anger of Arabs and Muslims in and out
of the Arabian Peninsula. Among those who were extremely outraged at the
Wahhabi House of Saud was the patriotic al-Rasheed clan of Hail in central
Arabia. In 1891 the Turkish-supported al-Rasheeds attacked Riyadh and destroyed
the Saudi-Wahhabi clan. However, some members of the Wahhabi House of Saud
managed to escape; among them was Imam Abdul-Rahman al-Saud and his teenager
lad Abdulaziz. Both quickly fled to British-controlled Kuwait seeking British
protection and help.
V. THE THIRD SAUDI-WAHHABI STATE (SAUDI ARABIA): 1902-?
While in Kuwait the Wahhabi Imam Abdul-Rahman and his son Abdulaziz spent their
time kneeling to their British masters begging them for money, weapons, and
help to capture Riyadh. By the end of the 1800s, however, the aging and ailing
Abdul-Rahman was forced to delegate the leadership of the Wahhabi House of Saud
to his son Abdulaziz, who then became the new Wahhabi Imam.
Because Britain's colonial strategy in the Arabian Peninsula at the beginning
of the 20th century was quickly gearing towards the final and complete
destruction of the Muslim Ottoman Empire and its allies in Najd, al-Rasheed
clan, the British decided to swiftly support the new Wahhabi Imam Abdulaziz.
Fortified with British support, money, and weapons, the new Wahhabi Imam was
able in 1902 to capture Riyadh. One of his first
4
savage acts after capturing Riyadh was to terrorize its inhabitants by spiking
the heads of the falling al-Rasheeds at the age of the city. He and his
fanatical Wahhabi followers also burned over (1,200) people to death. 10
Known in the West as "Ibn Saud", the Wahhabi Imam Abdulaziz was well loved by
his British masters. Many British officials and emissaries in the Arab Gulf
area frequently met or interacted with him, and generously supported him with
money, weapons, and advisors. Sir Percy Cox, Captain Prideaux, Captain
Shakespeare, Gertrude Bell, and Harry Saint John Philby (the so-called
"Abdullah") were among the many British officials and advisors who constantly
surrounded Abdulaziz to help him with everything he needed. With British
weapons, money, and advisors, Imam Abdulaziz was able to gradually conquer most
of the Arabian Peninsula in a ruthless manner under the banner of Wahhabism to
create the Third Saudi-Wahhabi State, known today as Saudi Arabia.
In creating Saudi Arabia, the Wahhabi Imam Abdulaziz and his fanatical Wahhabi
soldiers of God committed horrible massacres especially in Islam's holy land of
Hejaz from which they brutally expelled its noble Shareef ruling class, the
direct descendants of Prophet Mohammad. In Turabah in May 1919 they waged a
sneak attack in the dead of the night on the Hejazi army and viciously
massacred over 6,000 of its men. Again, in August 1924 the fanatical
Saudis-Wahhabis barbarically broke into people's houses in the Hejazi city of
Taif, threatened them, and stole their money at gunpoint. They decapitated boys
and old men, and were amused by the horrified women who were screaming and
weeping. Many of Taif's women quickly hid down deep in their water-wells to
escape the ongoing rape and murder committed by the savage Saudis-Wahhabis. The
primitive Saudis-Wahhabis also murdered many Imams while they prayed in their
mosques; burned most of Taif's buildings to the ground; indiscriminately
slaughtered most men they found in the streets; and stole everything that could
possibly be moved. More than 400 innocent people were quickly butchered in
Taif. 11
When the vicious Saudis-Wahhabis entered Islam's holiest city, they found
Makkah's terrorized inhabitants hiding in their homes, the streets were totally
deserted, and the houses' doors and windows were tightly shut in their faces.
The Saudis-Wahhabis brutally broke into Makkah's houses and destroyed all
musical instruments and records, gramophones, radios, cigarettes, tobacco
pipes, pictures, and mirrors - all considered by them (at that time) to be the
work of the Devil. The primitive invaders then used the wooden frames of
Makkah's houses and doors for cooking fire. The Wahhabi soldiers of God also
flogged Makkah's inhabitants who wore Western clothes, gold, perfume, or silk.
They also desecrated most graveyards, and destroyed many of Makkah's beautiful
tombs, ornamental mosques, and shrines that had stood for centuries reflecting
the glorious Islamic past and the great history of the holy city. In addition,
the ignorant invaders barbarically destroyed any physical traces of Prophet
Mohammad's historical monuments and sights in the holy city as well as all
other historical buildings or physical structures that could in any way be
traced to his disciples "in order not to be worshiped as holy spots". 12
In addition, Imam Abdulaziz's Wahhabi soldiers of God savagely bombarded
Islam's second holiest city of Madinah. To the horror of all Muslims around the
world, their British-made bombs and shells fell on Prophet Mohammad's tomb,
badly damaging it.
The fanatical Saudi-Wahhabi army then laid a yearlong crippling siege on the
seaport city of Jeddah causing starvation. As a result, drinking water was
practically impossible to find and Jeddah's poor spent their days searching the
streets for food in the garbage. Many of them even picked and ate the
undigested corn found in the camels' dung. After severely bombarding the city
for some time, the ignorant Saudi-Wahhabi fighters
5
finally entered Jeddah and immediately began destroying the telephone lines,
the radio station, and other signs of modern life, considered by them (at that
time) to be sacrilegious and work of the Devil.
During the 30 years of creating Saudi Arabia (1902-32), the fanatical
Saudis-Wahhabis brutally killed and wounded over 400,000 Arabs throughout the
Arabian Peninsula; and carried out over 40,000 public executions and 350,000
public amputations, respectively 1% and 7% of the then estimated population of
4 million. 13 In addition, the Saudi-Wahhabi terror forced more than one
million inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula to flee for their lives to other
parts of the Arab world, never to return. 14
Unlike a century earlier when the Egyptian Ibraheem Pasha under Ottoman orders
punished the Saudi-Wahhabi warriors for their crimes against Hejaz's holy
cities and inhabitants, this time the Arab and Muslim worlds were under the
brutal control of Western colonial powers. Accordingly, the fanatical
Saudis-Wahhabis escaped punishment and found protection and safety in Britain's
power and friendship.
After establishing his British-made Wahhabi State, Imam Abdulaziz became a
brutal dictator who took control of everything personally. He destroyed Hejaz's
free press, political parties, constitution, and all of its governmental
apparatuses. The Wahhabi Imam then brazenly named the whole country after his
own family, calling it the Kingdom of "Saudi" Arabia.
Besides being a dictator, King Abdulaziz was well known for his insatiable
sexual appetite. In addition to his innumerable concubines, the "pious" Wahhabi
Imam married about 300 wives; some of them were only a one-night stand. While
his sons are estimated to be about 125, no one knows for sure how many
daughters he fathered. Moreover, King/Imam Abdulaziz encouraged the practice of
slavery by personally owning hundreds of slaves for himself as well as for his
family members. However, to avoid international embarrassment, Wahhabism and
the House of Saud were finally forced to abolish slavery in 1962. Other
embarrassments caused by Wahhabism came in 1969 when the top religious Wahhabi
sheik, Abdulaziz Bin Baz, emphatically declared that the Earth was flat,
static, and that the Sun revolved around it.
All of Imam/King Abdulaziz's sons who assumed power after his death in 1953
(Saud, Faisal, Khalid and Fahad) became brutal dictators like him and continued
to rely heavily on the enemies of Islam and Arabs in the West for protection.
And ever since the US replaced Britain during World War II as the dominant
power in the Arab world, the Wahhabi House of Saud has shamelessly turned Saudi
Arabia (the holy land of Islam) over to Islam's foes to make it into a virtual
American colony.
Unlike their father, however, Abdulaziz's sons dropped the title "Imam"
preferring to be called simply "kings". But in late 1986 Saudi Arabia's current
King Fahad (a spoiled playboy in his heydays) in a way returned to a different
title of "Imam" when he dropped the title "King" and assumed the title of "the
guardian of the two holiest shrines" of Makkah and Madinah, a title that was
originally coined for the Muslim Turkish Sultan Selim I (reign: 1512-20).
However, with Saudi Arabia's immense oil wealth at its disposal, Wahhabism has
been able in recent decades not only to mute most of its critics, but also to
dramatically improve its own image throughout the Muslim world. Hence,
Wahhabism has now been presented as a "reformist movement" that re-established
the "purity" of Islam. Even the name "Wahhabism" itself has been dropped in
favor of new more suitable names such as "Salafi movement" ("noble tradition")
and "Muwahhedoon" ("unitarians"). Furthermore, the Wahhabi founder himself,
Mohammad Ibn Abdul-Wahhab, has been presented as a "great man" of immense
character and
6
knowledge, a man who single-handedly "saved" Islam from "superstitions".
Accordingly, fortified with petro-dollars Wahhabism has in recent times begun
to creep out of Saudi Arabia into the surrounding Arab and Muslim lands in a
futile attempt to erase its stigma of being a minority trend in Islam.
The Wahhabi House of Saud's dismal failure to defend al-Aqsa Mosque in
Jerusalem and the Palestinians against Israel's illegal occupation and
brutalities, as well as its shameful treachery and open cooperation with the
Western enemy of Islam and Arabs not only in killing Muslims and occupying
their lands in Afghanistan and Iraq, but also in allowing this enemy to
militarily occupy the holy land of Islam itself, make all of its efforts to
improve its image and the image of its Wahhabism worthless and fruitless.
Contrary to current American media propaganda in the post 9/11 terrorist
attacks, the US still strongly supports the Wahhabi House of Saud which fears
terrorism as much as the US does. In fact, Wahhabism has already implemented
American orders by changing the Saudi Islamic curricula and the meaning of
Jihad ("holy war") in Islam to please Washington. In reality, the House of Saud
and the Wahhabi leaders are as much hated by most Muslims as the US itself.
Terrorist attacks by Saudi Muslim fundamentalists (some of whom are connected
to Osama Bin Ladin's al-Qa'eda) inside Saudi Arabia aimed at destabilizing the
Wahhabi House of Saud have actually increased in the last 10 years.
The fact that the enemies of Islam and Arabs, Israel and the US, fear and loath
Shiism (i.e., Iran and Hizbolah) more than any other Islamic sect, is
considered by most Muslims to be an honor for Shiism that Wahhabism has
shamefully failed to attain for itself.
VI. PROPHET MOHAMMAD'S SAYINGS ("Hadeeths"):
The two Saudi ruling-class families (the political House of Saud and the
religious Wahhabi House), who are from the Najd region in central Arabia, are
deeply hated by millions of Muslims in and out of Saudi Arabia especially in
its Hejaz region where many people continue to privately celebrate Prophet
Mohammad's Birthday despite Wahhabism. In a well-known Hadeeth, Prophet
Mohammad said:
"Narrated by Ibn Umar: The Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) said, 'O Allah! Bestow
Your blessings on our Sha'm! [Greater Syria] O Allah! Bestow Your blessings on
our Yemen.' The people said, 'And also on our Najd.' He said, 'O Allah! Bestow
Your blessings on our Sha'm (north)! O Allah! Bestow Your blessings on our
Yemen.' The people said, 'O Allah's Apostle! And also on our Najd.' I think the
third time the Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) said, '... There (in Najd) is the
place of earthquakes and afflictions and from there comes out the side of the
head of Satan." 15
Many Muslims around the world truly believe that "the head of Satan" that
Prophet Mohammad was talking about in the above Hadeeth is none other than the
two evil families, the House of Saud and its bosom body, the reactionary
Wahhabi House.
Also, in another famous Hadeeth Prophet Mohammad said that one of the signs
that the end of the world is nearing is: "... that you find barefooted,
[unclad], destitute, shepherds of goats vying with one another in the
construction of magnificent buildings." 16
Again, many Muslims believe that Prophet Mohammad in this second Hadeeth was
also referring to these two Saudi ruling-class families. In fact, just several
decades ago before oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia, both of
7
these families were indeed destitute, barefooted, goat herders who lived in the
Arabian deserts' villages and oasis in tents made of sheepskin. They now own
some of the most magnificent skyscrapers in the entire Muslim world and control
the lion share of the Saudi immense wealth.
VII. CONCLUSION:
It is very clear from the historical record that without British help neither
Wahhabism nor the House of Saud would be in existence today. Wahhabism is a
British-inspired fundamentalist movement in Islam. Through its defense of the
House of Saud, the US also supports Wahhabism directly and indirectly
regardless of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Wahhabism is violent, right wing, ultraconservative, rigid, extremist,
reactionary, sexist, and intolerant. Its bloody historical record is well
documented and cannot not be erased or dismissed by anyone. All of Wahhabism's
recent cosmetic changes to improve its own image would never deceive most
educated Arabs and Muslims.
Although in recent years a few Wahhabi religious leaders have tried to
"distant" themselves from the House of Saud's brutality and un-Islamic policies
in a vain attempt to save Wahhabism's image from further deterioration, most of
the top Wahhabi religious leaders are still firmly 100% behind the House of
Saud. In fact, most Wahhabi leaders have openly supported and defended all of
the House of Saud's unpopular domestic and foreign policies including allowing
the US to occupy the land of Islam and Arabs, as well as to destroy Arabs and
Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Indeed, the two families of the House of Saud and the Wahhabi House could not
be separated because they are interwoven by bloodline and marriage since 1744.
Their dynamic alliance is clearly manifested today in the composition of Saudi
Arabia's ruling class. In fact, the unity between them is stronger than the old
unity of Church and State in Europe's Middle Ages.
Wahhabism's intimate association with and support of the House of Saud, which
is widely recognized to be one of the most brutal, corrupt, undemocratic, and
feudal ruling classes in the entire world, makes its boastful claim of
representing "the best form of Islam" the target of Muslim ridicule and
derision. Today many educated Arabs and Muslims feel that Wahhabism gives Islam
a bad name, and represents a reactionary shackle that prevents Arabs and
Muslims from advancement. Certainly many Muslim Sunni scholars in the last 250
years both conservative and liberal, all across the Muslim world from Morocco
to Indonesia, as well other Muslim sects such as the Shiite and Sufi, have all
rejected Wahhabism since its birth as a horrible deformation of Islam.
* Dr. Abdullah Mohammad Sindi is a Saudi-American professor of International
Relations. He did his BA and MA at California State University, Sacramento, and
his Ph.D. at the University of Southern California. He was a professor at King
Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He also taught at different
American universities and colleges including the University of California at
Irvine, Cal Poly Pomona, Cerritos College, and Fullerton College. He is the
author of many articles both in Arabic and English. His book, The Arabs and the
West: The Contributions and the Inflictions, is sold on Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0967431603/104-9757218-5989525
8
Footnotes:
1 Alexei Vassiliev, Ta'reekh Al-Arabiya Al-Saudiya [History of Saudi Arabia],
Translated from Russian to Arabic by Khairi al-Dhamin and Jalal al-Maashta
(Moscow: Dar Attagaddom, 1986), p. 108.
2 For details see "Confessions of a British Spy",
http://www.ummah.net/Al_adaab/spy1-7.html
3 See "The Beginning and Spreading of Wahhabism",
http://www.ummah.net/Al_adaab/wah-36.html
4 4. William Powell, Saudi Arabia and Its Royal Family (Secaucus, N.J.: Lyle
Stuart Inc., 1982), p. 205.
5 "Confessions of a British Spy".
6 Ibid.
7 Vassiliev, Ta'reekh, p. 117.
8 Gary Troeller, The Birth of Saudi Arabia: Britain and the Rise of the House
of Sa'ud (London: Frank Cass, 1976), pp. 15-16.
9 Quoted in Robert Lacey, The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Saud (New York:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981), p. 145.
10 Said K. Aburish, The Rise, Corruption and the Coming Fall of the House of
Saud (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995), p. 14.
11 Powell, Saudi Arabia, p. 68.
12 For more details see my book, The Arabs and the West: The Contributions and
the Inflictions,
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0967431603/104-9757218-5989525
13 Aburish, The Rise, p. 27.
14 Ibid., p. 24.
15 Mohammad Muhsin Khan, Sahih al-Bukhari: Arabic-English (al-Medinah
al-Munauwara: Islamic University-Dar al-Fikr, n.d.), Vol. 9, p.166.
16 Sahih Muslim. Translation by Abdul Hamid Siddiqi, Vol. 1, (Lahore: Sheik
Mohammad Ashraf, 1976), p. 2.
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