Wahhabism and the new appeasement
By Prof. Madhav Das Nalapat
Prof.
M.D. Nalapat is Director of the
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, few took Adolf Hitler’s words seriously. Today, few of the several thousand sermons, speeches and writings of the Wahhabite extremists--a worldwide network of religious schools and places of worship funded by the House of Saud--who fuel the international terrorist movement are even known to most people. Even among those who do read or understand Arabic, most prefer to look away, to call the sermons the rantings of a fringe element and to hope that, mirage like, they will disappear if ignored. But they will not. And unless action is taken, the world at large may have to repeat the experience of the last century when an evil that could, and should, have been stifled early, was not, and death and destruction was the result.
Many proponents of Wahhabism--the extremist creed that
demands blind obedience and which has replaced genuine Islam as the faith among
many Muslims--were and remain open admirers of Hitler and the Nazis. During
World War II, preachers at many Saudi-influenced places of worship in the
This Wahhabite admiration for the Nazis is hardly an accident as the two beliefs share much in common. This includes the notion of superiority of oneself and the worthless or nonhuman status of all others; an exaltation of violence, and a belief in Judaism as their primary target, followed by Christianity and, ultimately those Moslems who disagree with the Wahhabite vision of Islam and the world. Just as Hitler’s followers saw themselves as the Elect, chosen to cleanse society of “impurity,” so too do those who follow the teachings of Abd el-Wahhab (1703-1792), the previously unknown preacher whose teachings were adopted by the House of Saud to legitimize their rule over what is now Saudi Arabia.
Fueled by Saudi Arabian money, government as well as
private, those teachings are now spread by missionary teachers to schools and
mosques throughout the Middle East and
Sadly, just as few Germans would state openly that Nazism was a perversion of German (and European) values, today few Moslems are prepared to say that Wahhabism is in fact a perversion of the words and vision of the Prophet. That instead it is designed to insure the authority and particular vision of a clique of hard-fisted fanatics who have a psychopathic hatred of all who do not share that vision or contest their authority.
It is remarkable that as yet there has not arisen within the
Moslem world a movement that would wrest control of Islam’s three holiest sites
from the Wahhabites. That would keep it separate and immune from fanaticism by placing
it in the hands of a body of the Good, chosen from among all the Faithful. Just
as the Vatican is distinct from Italy, it is time for the epicenter of one of
the world great faiths to be taken from those who are prepared to see little
girls perish in fire, rather than have them rescued by unrelated men, and
placed in the care of those who in fact love God and God’s creation. Control of
the holy sites,
Between 1929 and 1933, Germans for the most part watched passively as Hitler rose to power. So today, most Moslems do little more than turn their heads as Wahhabite hatred hijacks their faith. And today too, Moslems worldwide are beginning to suffer the effects of the steady Wahhabist takeover of their institutions. For the violence that is preached is directed not only at foreigners, and Christians, and Jews, but against
Moslems as well.
Just as the Nazis saw the function of women as child-bearers
and little more, so Wahhabis refuse to allow women to work and, as we saw in
Unfortunately, as during the 1930s in
In Western Europe, the British, French, German and Spanish
governments not only turn a blind eye but seem bent on appeasement, by
tolerating--and sometimes even actively participating in--the activities of
religious institutions who spew venom against western values and culture. This
policy of appeasement is reminiscent of that of former British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain who fed
What the new appeasers fail to grasp is that the fanatics,
newly energized by Saudi money, aim for worldwide expansion and control. So any
policy that seeks immunity for a particular country (whether that country is
The primary responsibility for extinguishing the scourge of
Wahhabism remains with the Moslem community in whose name these false prophets
speak. But the rest of the world needs to understand the danger, needs to
ensure that extremism does not pay, that no concessions are given to the
Wahhabis and those who protect and fund them. The danger they represent to
civilization needs to be recognized. And dealt with. As Winston Churchill said
after
The Germans and the rest of the world paid an enormous price for their failure to choke the Nazis off early, when it could be done without so serious a loss. Today Moslems, and the world at large, need to understand the menace and ensure against a second descent into the maelstrom. Moslems need to challenge the grip of the Wahhabites and liberate their institutions and holy sites from their control.