For more than two centuries, (click here) Wahhabism has been Saudi Arabia's dominant faith. It is an austere form of Islam that insists on a literal interpretation of the Koran. Strict Wahhabis believe that all those who don't practice their form of Islam are heathens and enemies. Critics say that Wahhabism's rigidity has led it to misinterpret and distort Islam, pointing to extremists such as Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Wahhabism's explosive growth began in the 1970s when Saudi charities started funding Wahhabi schools (madrassas) and mosques from Islamabad to Culver City, California.
Here are excerpts from FRONTLINE's interviews with Mai Yamani, an anthropologist who studies Saudi society; Vali Nasr, an authority on Islamic fundamentalism; Maher Hathout, spokesperson for the Islamic Center of Southern California; and Ahmed Ali, a Shi'a Muslim from Saudi Arabia. (Also see the Links and Readings section of this site for more analyses of Wahhabism and Saudi Arabia.)...
4 December 2015
Cairo: A Molotov cocktail (click here) hurled at a Cairo restaurant killed 16 people and wounded two on Friday, Egyptian security officials said.
One of the officials said the attacker was an employee who had been fired from the restaurant in the Agouza area in the center of the Egyptian capital.
Victims of the blast were burned to death or died from smoke inhalation in the establishment. The restaurant, also a nightclub, was located in a basement, offering no escape route, the officials said.
Islamist militants have claimed a number of bombing and shooting attacks in Egypt, mostly against members of the security forces since the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests.
The "Arab News" has no kind words for the violence.
...They didn’t know (click here) he was busy with his wife building pipe bombs and stockpiling thousands of rounds of ammunition for the commando-style assault Wednesday on a gathering of Farook’s colleagues from San Bernardino County’s health department.
“This was a person who was successful, who had a good job, a good income, a wife and a family. What was he missing in his life?” asked Nizaam Ali, who worshipped with Farook at a mosque in San Bernardino.
Authorities said that the couple sprayed as many as 75 rounds into the room before fleeing and had more than 1,600 rounds left when they were killed. At home, they had 12 pipe bombs, tools to make more explosives and well over 4,500 rounds, police said.
Police Lt. Mike Madden, one of the first officers to reach the room, said the carnage was unspeakable, the scene overwhelming: the smell of gunpowder, the wails of the wounded the blood, fire sprinklers going off and fire alarms blaring. All in a room with a Christmas tree and decorations on every table.
The dead ranged in age from 26 to 60. Among the 21 injured were two police officers hurt during the manhunt, authorities said. Two of the wounded remained in critical condition Thursday....
Saudi Arabia is hosting the SNC, but, there are shifting baselines as to who is attending and what will result for the Kurds.
4 December 2015
By Arab News
...Hassan Abdul Azeem, (click here) general coordinator of the SNC, said: “The Riyadh Conference is important and the coalition wants to ensure it is successful.”
Saleh Muslim, president of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, was quoted as saying that the conference needs to have representatives of all groups. There has also been some controversy, with Turkey stating that it did not want Muslim, and the former president of the SNC Ahmed Jaraba to be part of the opposition delegation. In addition, the Syrian Democratic Forces did not receive an invitation to attend the conference. There has been some confusion on who would attend the conference, with the SNC reportedly sending two separate lists of names, one from the SNC President Khaled Khojah and the other from his political committee.
Saudi Arabia has invited 65 Syrian opposition leaders and members to the conference from Dec. 11 to 14 in Riyadh to unite the opposition ahead of new peace talks, a key issue in stepped up efforts to end the nearly five-year civil war.
It marks an attempt to bring together groups whose disunity has been a long-standing obstacle in seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict that has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced millions. Iran, however, has insisted some of the opposition groups are terrorists....
Saudis would benefit from open expression of acceptance in DIVERSITY. No one is required to give up their religion, but, acceptance of others different from the strict Wahhabism.
27 November 2015
A year before the 9/11 outrage, terror came to the Kingdom. It started in central Riyadh when two British nationals were murdered with a car bomb. From then on, the terrorist campaign grew with truck bombings and suicide attacks. It reached a peak in 2004. Thereafter, there was a steady decline as the Kingdom learned how to counter the men of violence in its midst.
In the end, a tough security clampdown broke the back of terrorism. The fight-back was helped significantly by the offer of pardons and rehabilitation to terrorists with no blood yet on their hands. Throughout the hunt for terror cells, ordinary citizens played a crucial role. They were encouraged to report suspicious behavior, to watch for something, anything in their neighborhoods which did not seem quite right. And they responded in their thousands.
The Kingdom then, as now, was revolted by the barbarity of the killers. The second terror campaign which began in Eastern Province this year has rekindled that revulsion. The bombings of Shiite mosques while people were at prayer were heinous crimes. All Saudis were appalled. Many hurried across the country to attend the funerals of the victims....
That is trauma. Being alarmed and racing to help is a result of trauma. The people of Saudi Arabia are good and generous people. They love life and they love god. It would be better for even the least of the Saudi people to enjoy the difference in cultures can bring.
Perhaps communities could hold small parties of diversity in parks and at schools. A good way to break through cultural divides is with food and entertainment such as dancing or poetry. It is something the leaders of these great people should consider. Pilgrimages are fine and I know there is an economy surrounding the worship. But, perhaps celebrations of diversity would add a softer side to the ideation of the pilgrimage to dispel any estrangement into hate and violence.
Here are excerpts from FRONTLINE's interviews with Mai Yamani, an anthropologist who studies Saudi society; Vali Nasr, an authority on Islamic fundamentalism; Maher Hathout, spokesperson for the Islamic Center of Southern California; and Ahmed Ali, a Shi'a Muslim from Saudi Arabia. (Also see the Links and Readings section of this site for more analyses of Wahhabism and Saudi Arabia.)...
4 December 2015
Cairo: A Molotov cocktail (click here) hurled at a Cairo restaurant killed 16 people and wounded two on Friday, Egyptian security officials said.
One of the officials said the attacker was an employee who had been fired from the restaurant in the Agouza area in the center of the Egyptian capital.
Victims of the blast were burned to death or died from smoke inhalation in the establishment. The restaurant, also a nightclub, was located in a basement, offering no escape route, the officials said.
Islamist militants have claimed a number of bombing and shooting attacks in Egypt, mostly against members of the security forces since the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests.
The "Arab News" has no kind words for the violence.
...They didn’t know (click here) he was busy with his wife building pipe bombs and stockpiling thousands of rounds of ammunition for the commando-style assault Wednesday on a gathering of Farook’s colleagues from San Bernardino County’s health department.
“This was a person who was successful, who had a good job, a good income, a wife and a family. What was he missing in his life?” asked Nizaam Ali, who worshipped with Farook at a mosque in San Bernardino.
Authorities said that the couple sprayed as many as 75 rounds into the room before fleeing and had more than 1,600 rounds left when they were killed. At home, they had 12 pipe bombs, tools to make more explosives and well over 4,500 rounds, police said.
Police Lt. Mike Madden, one of the first officers to reach the room, said the carnage was unspeakable, the scene overwhelming: the smell of gunpowder, the wails of the wounded the blood, fire sprinklers going off and fire alarms blaring. All in a room with a Christmas tree and decorations on every table.
The dead ranged in age from 26 to 60. Among the 21 injured were two police officers hurt during the manhunt, authorities said. Two of the wounded remained in critical condition Thursday....
Saudi Arabia is hosting the SNC, but, there are shifting baselines as to who is attending and what will result for the Kurds.
4 December 2015
By Arab News
...Hassan Abdul Azeem, (click here) general coordinator of the SNC, said: “The Riyadh Conference is important and the coalition wants to ensure it is successful.”
Saleh Muslim, president of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, was quoted as saying that the conference needs to have representatives of all groups. There has also been some controversy, with Turkey stating that it did not want Muslim, and the former president of the SNC Ahmed Jaraba to be part of the opposition delegation. In addition, the Syrian Democratic Forces did not receive an invitation to attend the conference. There has been some confusion on who would attend the conference, with the SNC reportedly sending two separate lists of names, one from the SNC President Khaled Khojah and the other from his political committee.
Saudi Arabia has invited 65 Syrian opposition leaders and members to the conference from Dec. 11 to 14 in Riyadh to unite the opposition ahead of new peace talks, a key issue in stepped up efforts to end the nearly five-year civil war.
It marks an attempt to bring together groups whose disunity has been a long-standing obstacle in seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict that has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced millions. Iran, however, has insisted some of the opposition groups are terrorists....
Saudis would benefit from open expression of acceptance in DIVERSITY. No one is required to give up their religion, but, acceptance of others different from the strict Wahhabism.
27 November 2015
A year before the 9/11 outrage, terror came to the Kingdom. It started in central Riyadh when two British nationals were murdered with a car bomb. From then on, the terrorist campaign grew with truck bombings and suicide attacks. It reached a peak in 2004. Thereafter, there was a steady decline as the Kingdom learned how to counter the men of violence in its midst.
In the end, a tough security clampdown broke the back of terrorism. The fight-back was helped significantly by the offer of pardons and rehabilitation to terrorists with no blood yet on their hands. Throughout the hunt for terror cells, ordinary citizens played a crucial role. They were encouraged to report suspicious behavior, to watch for something, anything in their neighborhoods which did not seem quite right. And they responded in their thousands.
The Kingdom then, as now, was revolted by the barbarity of the killers. The second terror campaign which began in Eastern Province this year has rekindled that revulsion. The bombings of Shiite mosques while people were at prayer were heinous crimes. All Saudis were appalled. Many hurried across the country to attend the funerals of the victims....
That is trauma. Being alarmed and racing to help is a result of trauma. The people of Saudi Arabia are good and generous people. They love life and they love god. It would be better for even the least of the Saudi people to enjoy the difference in cultures can bring.
Perhaps communities could hold small parties of diversity in parks and at schools. A good way to break through cultural divides is with food and entertainment such as dancing or poetry. It is something the leaders of these great people should consider. Pilgrimages are fine and I know there is an economy surrounding the worship. But, perhaps celebrations of diversity would add a softer side to the ideation of the pilgrimage to dispel any estrangement into hate and violence.
