The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam From the Extremists (38 page)

1. Van der Meulen,
   The Wells of Ibn Sa‘ud
   , 65–68; Kostiner,
   The Making of Saudi Arabia,
   117–40; Wynbrandt,
   Saudi Arabia,
   184–86.
   

2. Algar,
   Wahhabism,
   39.
   

3. Simons,
   Saudi Arabia,
   152–59; Kostiner,
   The Making of Saudi Arabia,
   119; Van der Meulen,
   The Wells of Ibn Sa‘ud,
   62–113.
   

4. Algar,
   Wahhabism
   , 43. For a detailed accounting of the destruction of his- torical sites by the Wahhabis see, Yusuf al-Hajiri,
   al-Baqi’ Qisat Tadmir Al Sa‘ud li’l-Athar al-Islamiyya bi’l-Hijaz
   (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Baqi’, 1990). Burckhardt,
   Notes
   , 244–50; al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Kuthayri,
   al-Salafiyya bayn Ahl al- Sunna wa al-‘Imamiyya
   (Beirut: al-Ghadir li’l Tiba’a, 1997), 331.
   

5. Algar,
   Wahhabism,
   25–28.
   

6. Al-Rihani,
   Tarikh Najd,
   38–39.
   

7. Burckhardt,
   Notes,
   244.
   

8. See, on these events and others, Michael Cook,
   Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong,
   180–91; Van der Meulen,
   The Wells of Ibn Sa‘ud,
   104–13. Reportedly, the Egyptian media severely criticized the Wahhabis over this incident; see Rida,
   al-Manar,
   27:463–68.
   

9. Al-Rihani,
   Tarikh Najd,
   39.
   

10. De Gaury,
    Rulers of Mecca,
    276.
    

11. On the aggressive policies of Saudi Arabia in spreading the Wahhabi creed in the Muslim world, see Nabil Muhammad Rashwan,
    al-Islam al-Su’udi Dur al- Su’udiyyin fi Ifsad Din al-Muslimin
    . Rather tellingly, no place, date of publica- tion, or publisher’s name is given.
    

60 Aburish,
Nasser,
162, 256–57, 303.

1. On this process, and on the use of
   talfiq
   and
   maslaha
   in modern Islam, see Noel Coulson,
   A History of Islamic Law
   (Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 1994), 197–217. Also see Rida,
   al-Manar,
   17:372–84.
   

2. For a critical and similarly grim assessment by a Muslim intellectual of the impact of apologetics upon Muslim culture, see Tariq Ramadan,
   Islam, the West and the Challenges of Modernity,
   trans. Said Amghar (Markfield, UK: Islamic Foundation, 2001), 286–90. For an insightful analysis of the role of apologetics in modern Islam, see Wilfred Cantwell Smith,
   Islam in Modern History
   (Prince- ton: Princeton University Press, 1977).
   

3. For an example of this apologetic literature, see Muhammad Qutb,
   Islam: The Misunderstood Religion
   (Chicago: Kazi Publications, 1980). For a valuable discussion of Islamic apologetics and its impact, see Smith,
   Islam in Modern His- tory
   .
   

4. Olivier Roy,
   Globalized Islam: The Search for A New Ummah
   (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004), 232–57. The author notes the convergence be- tween Salafism and Wahhabism as well.
   

5. The influence of fascist theory upon Qutb has been noted by other writers. See Roxanne L. Euben,
   Enemy in the Mirror: Islamic Fundamentalism and the Limits of Modern Rationalism
   (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999), 199,
   

   n. 181; Aziz Al-Azmeh,
   Islam and Modernities
   (London: Verso Press, 1996), 77–
   

   101. On Qutb see Ahmad S. Mousalli,
   Radical Islamic Fundamentalism: The Ideo- logical and Political Discourse of Sayyid Qutb
   (Lebanon: American University of Beirut, 1992).
   

6. Hasan al-Hudaybi’s book is titled
   Du’a la Quda
   [Counsels Not Judges] (Cairo: Dar al-Fikr al-Arabi), 1965.
   

7. The same fate met the work of the liberal Salafi Hasan Ashmawi,
   Qalb Akhar min Agl al-Za’im
   [Another Heart of the Leader], which was published in 1970 but largely ignored.
   

8. See Johannes Jansen,
   The Neglected Duty: The Creed of Sadat’s Assassins and Islamic Resurgence in the Middle East
   (New York: Macmillan, 1986).
   

9. Emmanuel Sivan,
   Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics
   

   (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985), 21–22.
   

10. Gilles Kepel,
    Muslim Extremism in Egypt: The Prophet and Pharaoh,
    trans. Jon Rothschild (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1984), 203–4.
    

11. Olivier Roy,
    Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah
    (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004), 250, notes the fact that Islamic militants criti- cized and condemned Qutb.
    

12. He rejected the four schools of jurisprudence, and also rejected all plurality of opinions in the Islamic juristic tradition. Shukri Mustafa considered most of Is- lamic history a corrupt aberration and, therefore, he asserted that it is necessary to return to the original sources of Islam (Qur’an and Sunna), and reinterpret their meaning. But as was the case with ‘Abd al-Wahhab, he insisted on his indi- vidual right to read the Qur’an and Sunna literally and to establish conclusively the meaning of those texts. In a way that is reminiscent of ‘Abd al-Wahhab’s ap- proach, as far as Shukri Mustafa was concerned, his groups’ reading and under- standing of the text was decisive, and anyone who disagreed with their understanding was a heretic and apostate. According to Shukri and Faraj, the saved group—the group of true believers—must wage an unrelenting war against all vestiges of
    jahiliyya
    wherever they may exist [Gilles Kepel, Jihad:
    The Trial of Political Islam
    (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002), 85; David Sagiv,
    Fundamentalism and Intellectuals in Egypt 1973
    –
    1993
    (London: Frank Cass, 1995), 47–49; Johannes J. G. Jansen,
    The Dual Nature of Islamic Fundamental- ism
    (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997), 76–80]. Practically identical to Wahhabi theology, both Shukri and Faraj believed that all Muslims, other than their own followers, are
    mushrikin
    (polytheists) and it is not only permissible but obligatory to wage warfare against them, that the men ought to be killed, that women and children ought to be killed or enslaved, and that their properties have no sanctity. However, the historical context did not favor the plans of military conquest of people like Shukri and Faraj. They could not imitate the violent ex- ploits of ‘Abd al-Wahhab because, like their counterparts in many Muslim coun- tries, they clashed with powerful states that crushed them.
    

13. For one of the rare books by a Sunni author arguing that Wahhabism is fundamentally inconsistent with the Salafi creed, see Ahmad Mahmud Subhi,
    Hal Yu’ad al-Madhhab al-Wahhabi Salafiyyan
    (Alexandria: Dar al-Wafa’, 2004).
    

14. On the Saudi control over the Hajj and its effect see David Long,
    The King- dom of Saudi Arabia
    (Tampa, FL: University Press of Florida, 1997), 93–106.
    

15. For a description of the efforts made by the Saudi government to propagate Wahhabism around the globe see Stephen Schwartz,
    The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa‘ud from Tradition to Terror
    (New York: Doubleday, 2002), 181– 225; Dore Gold,
    Hatred’s Kingdom
    (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing Inc., 2003); Algar,
    Wahhabism,
    49–66. For the propagation of Wahhabi thought in the United States see Freedom House Report,
    Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American Mosques
    (Washington, DC: Center for Religious Freedom, 2005).
    

16. For examples of such works, see Muhammad Fathy Osman,
    al-Salafiyya fi al-Mujtama‘at al-Mu‘asira
    [Salafis in Modern Societies] (Kuwait: Dar al-Qalam, 1981). The author equates the Wahhabis and the Salafis and also engages in lengthy and unequivocal praise of ‘Abd al-Wahhab and his movement; see esp. pp. 31–87. Interestingly, the author was a professor in Saudi Arabia when he wrote the book. Another unabashed defense of the Wahhabi movement by a lib- eral scholar is Muhammad Jalal Kishk,
    al-Sa‘udiyyun wa al-Hall al-Islami
    [The Saudis and the Islamic Solution] (West Hanover, MA: Halliday, 1981). This book, however, is a bit more balanced than Osman’s work. Interestingly, Kishk was the recipient of the influential King Faysal award. An Arabic book published in Lon- don critically analyzed and illustrated the many uncomfortable facts about Wah- habism that Kishk’s book conveniently ignored. See Khalifa Fahd,
    Jahim al-Hukm al-Sa’udi wa Niran al-Wahhabiyya
    (London: al-Safa Publishing, 1991). As the au- thor demonstrates, many Muslim and non-Muslim writers from the Muslim and non-Muslim world were handsomely rewarded for writing pro-Wahhabi texts.
    

17. On
    Ahl al-Hadith,
    see Khaled Abou El Fadl,
    Speaking in God’s Name: Is- lamic Law, Authority, and Women
    (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2001), 114; Khaled About El Fadl,
    And God Knows the Soldiers: The Authoritative and Au- thoritarian in Islamic Discourses
    (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2001), 48, 78.
    

18. Muhammad al-Ghazali,
    al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyya Bayn Ahl al-Fiqh wa Ahl al-Hadith
    (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 1989).
    

19. Manaqib Abu Hanifa, 350.
    

20. On the selective citing of
    hadith
    by Wahhabis to support idiosyncratic posi- tions see al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Kuthayri,
    al-Salafiyya bayn Ahl al-Sunna wa al- ‘Imamiyya
    (Beirut: al-Ghadir li’l Tiba’a, 1997), 477–79.
    

21. Muhammad bin ‘Abd Allah al-Salman,
    Rashid Rida wa Da’wat al-Shaykh Muhammad bin ‘Abd al-Wahhab
    (Kuwait: Maktabat al-Ma’alla, 1988).
    

22. For example, the
    fatawa
    of Rashid Rida were collected and published in six volumes in 1970 by a publisher known as Dar al-Jil. Saudi Arabia compensated
    

    Dar al-Jil so that it would hold on to the copyright but not distribute or sell the book. I located a copy of the six volumes sold in Egypt. The market value of the volumes was four thousand dollars, which is an exorbitant price in the Egyptian market.
    

23. The first poem praising ‘Abd al-Wahhab and the second poem condemning him are printed in al-Imam Muhammad bin Isma’il al-Amir al-Husayni al- San’ani,
    Diwan al-Amir al-San‘ani
    (Beirut: Dar al-Tanwir, 1986), 166, 173.
    

24. The following is a partial list of books attacking al-Ghazali: Muhammad Jalal Kishk,
    Al-Shaykh al-Ghazali bayn al-Naqd al-‘Atib wa al-Madh al-Shamit
    (Cairo: Maktabat al-Turath Islami, 1990); Ashraf bin Ibn al-Maqsud bin ‘Abd al- Rahim,
    Jinayat al-Shaykh al-Ghazali ‘ala al-Hadith wa Ahlihi
    (al-Isma‘iliyya, Egypt: Maktabat al-Bukhari, 1989); Jamal Sultan,
    Azmat al-Hiwar al-Dini: Naqd Kitab al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyya bayn Ahl al-Fiqh wa Ahl al-Hadith
    (Cairo: Dar al- Safa, 1990); Salman bin Fahd ‘Uwda,
    Fi Hiwar Hadi’ ma ‘a Muhammad al-Ghazali
    (Riyadh: n.p., 1989); Rabi‘ bin Hadi Madkhali,
    Kashf Mawqif al-Ghazali min al- Sunna wa Ahliha wa Naqd Ba‘d Ara’ihi
    (Cairo: Maktabat al-Sunna, 1410); Muhammad Salamah Jabr,
    Al-Radd al-Qawim ‘ala man Janab al-Haqq al-Mubin
    (Kuwait: Maktabat al-Sahwa al-Islamiyya, 1992), esp. 100–108. Also see Abu ‘Ubaydah,
    Kutub Hadhdhar minha al-‘Ulama’,
    1:214–28, 327–29.
    

25. For example, at the time of the controversy, even the influential Egyptian ju- rist Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who was al-Ghazali’s colleague and friend, remained con- spicuously silent; but a few years after al-Ghazali died, he wrote two books, one about al-Ghazali’s life and the other about the controversy. In both books, he de- fended al-Ghazali’s piety and knowledge, but he stopped short of criticizing the Wahhabis; see Yusuf al-Qaradawi,
    al-Imam al-Ghazali bayn Madihih wa Naqidih
    (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Risalah, 1994); Yusuf al-Qaradawi,
    al-Shaykh al-Ghazali kama ‘Araftuh: Rihlat Nisf Qarn
    (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 1994).
    

CHAPTER 4: THE STORY OF CONTEMPORARY PURITANS

1. My two books
   And God Knows the Soldiers
   and
   Speaking in God’s Name
   

   are primarily concerned with this phenomenon.
   

2. On the humanistic legacy of the Islamic civilization, see Lenn E. Goodman,
   Islamic Humanism
   (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003); George Makdisi,
   The Rise of Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West
   (Edinburgh: Ed- inburgh University Press, 1990); Marcel Boisard,
   Humanism in Islam
   (Blooming- ton, IN: American Trust Publications, 1987).
   

3. I have already mentioned the early puritanical creed of the Khawarij (liter- ally, the secessionists), who in the first century of Islam slaughtered a large num- ber of Muslims and non-Muslims and were responsible for the assassination of
   

the Prophet’s cousin and Companion, the Caliph ‘Ali bin Abi Talib. As noted ear- lier, the descendants of the Khawarij exist today in Oman and Algeria, but after centuries of bloodshed, they became moderates, if not pacifists.

CHAPTER 5: WHAT ALL MUSLIMS AGREE UPON

1 Qur’an 29:46.

2 Qur’an 2:285.

3 Qur’an 3:84.

4 Qur’an 42:13.

1. As discussed later, many Muslims believe that the highest and most true form of submission is love.
   

2. The most comprehensive study on the subject in the English language is by Michael Cook,
   Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought
   (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). For an abridged study on the topic, see Michael Cook,
   Forbidding the Wrong in Islam: An Introduction
   (Cam- bridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
   

CHAPTER 6: GOD AND THE PURPOSE OF CREATION

1. Most of these attributes are mentioned in the Qur’an, and they are known as the names of God (
   asma’ Allah al-husna
   ).
   

2. Somewhat inconsistently, puritans agree that on a few issues or on a narrow set of points, the Shari’a need not be precise and clear, and on those particular is- sues or points Muslims may legitimately disagree with each other. I will discuss this point further in the chapter on law.
   

3. For instance, see Qur’an 2:27; 2:205; 5:32. 4 Qur’an 2:27.
   

5 Qur’an 2:195; 2:222; 3:76; 3:134; 3:146; 3:159; 5:13; 5:42; 9:108; 49:9;