Asalaamu Alaikam,
Well, I have been reading a fascinating and illuminating book entitled "The Great Theft" by Khaled Abou El Fadl. This book speaks of the "puritan" movements in Islam and their direct conflict with the moderate Muslims (of whom, I am one). So far, the book has been confirming for me suspicions that I already had. Now, it has been opening my eyes to some very disturbing facts.
Khaled Abou El Fadl is a professor with the UCLA School of Law. He is a trained lawyer, as well as an Islamic jurist. The fact that he actually received a formal education in Islamic jurisprudence puts him ahead of many of the so-called "scholars" that are so highly regarded by "Salafis." The bulk of their "scholars" received no education in jurisprudence or hadith sciences, yet that doesn't stop them from issuing "fatwas" and rejecting hadiths and historic Islamic texts.
Anyways.......
A (very) brief history of Wahhabi Islam and how it overtook Salafi Islam.
Wahhabism was founded by Muhammad Ibn Abd ul Wahhab. Abd ul Wahhab was an ethno-centric Arab, who thought that Arab people were superior to all others. He also felt that the only "true Islam" was the version of Islam that was being practiced by the Bedouins of the Arabian peninsula. He thought that all other versions of Islam were deviations, and any deviation from the "true Islam" was heresy. Anyone who did not adhere to his narrow view of Islam was not a Muslim in his thinking, and therefore, should be dealt with in the harshest of manners (torture and death). Abd ul Wahhab waited until after his father's death before he started preaching his extreme form of Islam, out of fear of what his father may do to him.
Abd ul Wahhab felt that the Ottoman Turks (who were in control of the region at the time) were the greatest threat to Islam. He did not address any injustices that they were committing; he seemed to simply have a problem with the fact that they were not Arab. He did not embrace the universal teachings of Islam; teachings which tell us that an Arab is not superior to a non-Arab, nor is a non-Arab superior to an Arab (gosh, I wonder if he knew that this is actually in the Quran??).
Abd ul Wahhab's own brother, Sulayman Ibn Abd ul Wahhab was an educated Muslim jurist, and spoke out staunchly against his brother. Sulayman wrote a treatise detailing all the ways in which his brother's extreme thinking was against the teachings of Islam. This treatise is actually banned in Saudi Arabia.
Abd ul Wahhab adopted a very intolerant approach to anyone who differed with his thinking, and declared all who did so to be heretics or non-believers. The penalty for being a non-believer was death, and Abd ul Wahhab felt that it was in his right to execute these non-believers in an attempt to "purify" Islam. He felt that Muslims had strayed far away from the path of Islam, and the only way back was through his version of Islam.
Wahhabism spread through the Arabian peninsula (what is now Saudi Arabia) by the sword, literally. The Al Saud family supported this extreme form of Islam, and created the Ikhwan. The Ikhwan swept across the land, killing everyone who refused to convert to Wahhabism. They killed tens of thousands of innocent Muslims, and wiped out entire towns and villages. When they were done, just about the whole Arab peninsula was Wahhabi, simply due to the fact that they had killed anyone who dared not to be.
Through the Ikhwan and the support of the British government, Saudi Arabia was formed, with the Al Saud family in power. The Al Sauds chose Wahhabism to be the state religion, and the only acceptable form of Islam to be practiced in Saudi Arabia. All scholars had to adopt Wahhabi philosophy if they wanted to continue to have a job (and a life). Schools started teaching Wahhabi rhetoric, and before long, no other version of Islam was to be publicly seen in Saudi Arabia. What once was a land filled with Muslims from different walks of life and schools of thought, now became quite homogenous. There was only one accepted way to perform Hajj, and to try in any other way could mean death (the Ikhwan actually murdered pilgrims on the way to Hajj when they felt that they were doing things that were deviant, or not in Islam).
This was the "tolerance" of Wahhabism. Nice, eh?
Salafism grew completely on its own, and was much more tolerant. There was no hatred for all things Western or non-Muslim, for example. Scholars and Islamic jurists were to be respected, not reviled. The early Salafi scholars were actually trained in Islamic jurisprudence (unlike the Wahhabi "scholars" who were all uneducated), and studied the works of the different schools of thought. They felt that one should look into the other schools of thought for different approaches, and make their decision based on their findings. There was no wholesale rejection of anything that conflicted with their thinking (again, unlike the Wahhabis, who picked and chose what parts they wanted to follow). Salafism was a reformist movement, just like Wahhabism, but was not intolerant to other schools of thought or movements within Islam. All of this changed in the 1970's.
Sometime in the 1970's, Salafism was overtaken by Wahhabism. There had already been a gradual change in Salafi thinking, and they were becoming more and more intolerant, and less and less like their early scholars. In the 1970's the borders between the two movements blurred, and you could really say that the two became one. Wahhabis took to calling themselves "Salafi" since the term carried a more positive connotation, and they could use it to claim a legitimacy (claiming that they were following the "Salaf" or the companions of the Prophet saws and the two generations that followed). In essence, it was an attempt to "re-package" the Wahhabi image for the world.
Saudi Arabia was an oil rich nation by the 1970's, and had the resources to pour into the world-wide propagation of Wahhabism. Masjids and schools were created around the world, organizations were set up, and awards & grants were given to those who were willing to openly support and spread the Wahhabi rhetoric. Of course, this was all carried out in the name of "Salafism," and not "Wahhabism." Too many Muslims may recall the bloodshed by Wahhabis. It was safe to use the term Salafi; there were far less negative feelings toward Salafis.
The world is now overrun by people calling themselves "Salafi," who are in fact, Wahhabi. They condemn anyone who differs with them, and their message is filled with hatred. They hate non-Muslims, and ignore the fact that the Quran tells us to treat non-Muslims with respect. When they use an english translation of the meaning of the Quran, it is filled with rhetoric condemning non-Muslims (written by Hilali and Khan, neither of which were scholars; Khan was a medical doctor!). They will argue that this is the most accurate translation of the Quran. They will ignore the fact that much of the anti-non-muslim sentiments are in the form of additions in parenthesis because the words simply do not exist in the Quran. They will say that there is nothing wrong with them judging and condemning non-Muslims because Allah has supposedly said that this is okay (I am at a loss to find even a single verse in the Quran that supports this!!). They will misquote hadith, and claim that caliphs like Abu Bakr used torture against non-Muslims (this is unfounded, and there is no legitimate support for this, outside of the Wahabbi "scholars" claims).
And then there is the way that they treat their fellow Muslims. Some of us have been witness to their bullying in the masjids. When they stand up and publicly berate those they feel are not "praying correctly." Many of us have been victim to their narrow-minded interpretation of Islam, both in the real world and online. Few have been spared their hatred.
I think of how today they would probably still be killing us if they thought for a moment they could get away with it. Instead, they must make do with insulting and belittling us. They are nothing more than bullies, who would inflict the most damage possible on us, if only they could. They have pushed many away from Islam. They feel that it is their right to force their version of Islam onto the world, and if you don't like it, well, that's just too bad.
Please educate yourself about this movement and prepare yourself for any confrontations with them. I swear by Allah that the next time I see a woman in the masjid bully another woman, I will let her know that there is no place for her Wahhabi rhetoric. Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance, and there is no place for those who would inject our beautiful religion with the poison of hatred and intolerance. Debating with them is simply out of the question; they are so far from the path. But we can stand up against them, and keep them from taking over our masjids.
I felt for too long that I had no right to speak up. I let them make me feel like I was "just a revert" or that I had not been Muslim "long enough." I was wrong in allowing them to do this to me, and I swear that it will never happen again. I am done being afraid of what others will think of me. If an injustice is being done, and you see someone being harassed, you must stand up. It is your duty and obligation. Everything you ever learned about Islam being perfect and peaceful is true. The Wahhabis are misguided and in grave error. Stand up to them, and help those who have not yet found their voice.
Dear sisters, please share this post with your moderately-minded friends. Teach them the truth about Wahhabism, and the so-called "Salafis" of the West. They are vile. It's not that you are having a problem accepting their extreme form of Islam, and never should you feel that you are weak. They are vile.
May Allah guide us and protect us. Ameen,
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