A Short History of Wahhabism....

By Karen Armstrong....

When I was young my mother recommended this fine Women's books on the histories of different religions. She is to 'history of religions' as Joseph Campbel is to 'history of myths'.

I happened to hear her interviewed during KPFK's winter fund drive and she was speaking about how Wahhabism is the 'father' of ISIS. She spoke of Wahhabism's origins and schisms.

She spoke of Jihad and Sharia. Jihad is not mentioned often in the Quran and all but a few times in a clear context of violence. Jihad means 'struggle' and it is most often mean as a personal and moral struggle.

She goes into some of it in the article in The New Stateman:

Wahhabism to ISIS: how Saudi Arabia exported the main source of global terrorism

www.newstatesman.com...

Yet although IS is certainly an Islamic movement, it is neither typical nor mired in the distant past, because its roots are in Wahhabism, a form of Islam practised in Saudi Arabia that developed only in the 18th century.

During the 18th century, revivalist movements sprang up in many parts of the Islamic world as the Muslim imperial powers began to lose control of peripheral territories.

One of the most influential of these revivalists was Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-91), a learned scholar of Najd in central Arabia, whose teachings still inspire Muslim reformers and extremists today.

This is important folks:

Eventually, however, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab found a patron in Muhammad Ibn Saud, a chieftain of Najd who adopted his ideas. But tension soon developed between the two because Ibn Abd al-Wahhab refused to endorse Ibn Saud’s military campaigns for plunder and territory, insisting that jihad could not be waged for personal profit but was permissible only when the umma was attacked militarily.

and many, many more FACTS.

Enjoy

Here is a link to the interview (and brief bio of Ms. Armstrong) done by Mitch Jesserich of KPFA (KPFK's NoCal sister station) in October of this year:

kpfa.org...

Text

a reply to: FyreByrd

Wahhabism was also associated with Western Imperialism. Remember it was the Anglo Americans who funded the rise of Saudi Arabia. With these funds, the Saudi Royal family were able to financially support Wahhabi clerics and their extremist ideology.

Thanks for the op. I've posted many times already that ISIS, Al Shabab, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda and ALL terrorist in jail now ARE ALL WAHHABIS.

Ms Armstrong is an eloquent writer and commentator on Islam and religion in general

She speaks the truth

Undoubtedly there is a secret group, maybe the Knights of Malta through the CIA and other groups that want to besmirch Islam and therefore support these crazy Wahhabis and their distorted version of Islam and that ALL OF THE TERRORISTS are Wahhabis


Remember when all this started in 1978-9 with the CIA training of Wahhabis in Afghanistan along with Wahhabi Saudi Arabia, which then created Al Qaeda.

Before that where was all this Islamic Terrorism

Actually the story of Wahhabism is not very short, it is quite long! It's origins are in Europe during the middle ages, and it is represented in Europe as the holy Inquisition. It's characteristics are the same of the Vatican's holy inquisition :

1) Ultra conservative and ultra invasive religious self-righteousness , designed to hide true power behind a curtain of lies
2) Extremely invasive police state-like application of religious teachings
3) Repression of dissent and strict limitation to people's personal freedoms.
4) Final objective being to control all possible narratives with religion for the sake of promoting crusades.

The Arabs did not have this insanity at that time. It was spread in their land only after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, mostly by the British.
The antidote to Wahhabism is the constitution of the Republic of the United States of America, starting from the 1st and the 2nd amendment.