His instructions in the matter of extending his religious teaching by force were strict. All unbelievers were to be put to death. Immediate entrance into Paradise was promised to his soldiers who fell in battle, and it is said that each soldier was provided with a written order from Ibn 'Abd ul-Wahhab to the gate-keeper of heaven to admit him forthwith. Of course, Bin Laden’s jihad started in opposition to the Saudi regime, but his terms of opposition to it and the west are clearly the ideological spawn of Wahhabism. Furthermore, Al-Quaeda’s vicious campaign against Shia’s in Iraq can be seen in a new context; that of a centuries old ideological feud.
Indeed, thirty top Saudi clerics released a statement last December, calling on Sunnis throughout the region to back the Sunni insurgents in Iraq against Shiites. This was followed by a fatwa from prominent cleric Abdul Rahman al-Barak on Dec. 29 attacking Shiites: “The rejectionists [Shiites] in their entirety are the worst of the Islamic nation's sects. They bear all the characteristics of infidels.” he said in the religious ruling, according to a translation from Reuters.
Saudi Arabia erected a number of large global charities in the 1960s and 1970s whose original purpose was to propagate Wahhabi Islam, which became penetrated by prominent individuals from al-Qaeda’s global network. Furthermore it’s involvement in the emergence of the Taliban and numerous allegations of ties to Hamas are well-documented(http://www.intelligence.org.il/eng/bu/saudi/saudi_dgb.htm). In short, as a country it has done more than any other to earn the moniker as the crucible of terrorism. However, it is not surprising that this country has produced desperate and dangerous people when one considers that even a modern-day Saudi Arabia is one of the most repressive regimes on the planets surface.
Modern Realities
The Saudi regime has barely extended its social base beyond that which it enjoyed at its inception. Though George Bush and Tony Blair claim to be crusaders for democracy; their ally in Saudi Arabia is run as a family concern. Article six in the Saudi constitution puts it thus: “Citizens are to pay allegiance to the King in accordance with the holy Koran and the tradition of the Prophet, in submission and obedience, in times of ease and difficulty, fortune and adversity”
No political parties are allowed, let alone free elections to a sovereign parliament. Women are, of course, second class subjects and suffer all manner of humiliating restrictions and punishments. They are unable to drive, vote, or access medical attention without permission from their male guardian and are strictly segregated from men in restaurants, hospital waiting rooms, buses. Religious minorities are forbidden from openly practicing their religious rituals. No expression of dissent is tolerated and critics of the state are regularly arrested and held without charge or basic due process guarantees.
Article comments
1 - MBD
Yeah, we should tell Saudi Arabia to take their oil and shove it up their ass.
An oil boycott will teach them a lesson.
2 - methuselah
IMO the turning point was in 1973 when OPEC manipulated oil prices. We, the USA, had a choice between pursuing the new technoogies, alternate energy, altered tax subsidies and national conservation policies toward energy independence, or we could depend on future political and warfare policies to control foreign oil. We chose the latter, and that was a big mistake that continued our dependence on SA scoundrels and led to 9/11 and the iraq invasion. In 1973 (and following) we tied our fortunes to the fortunes of the Saudi family, to our disadvantage.
3 - Sooli
This article has quite a few fallacies, even though for the most part it is accurate (70% imho).
But I only have time to make one observation only, and I believe it is the most important:
The writer fails to mention the modern-day influences of al Qa'ida, such as Israels subjugation of the Palestinians, Israel's invasions of Lebanon, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Saudi's (and others) "hosting" of US & UK forces, the 1990's sanctions on Iraq, and "Western" blind support of all despotic, brutal, and corrupt regimes in the region (including Israel), among other modern-day popular greivances.
This is what motivates people who join al Qa'ida, this is where it draws its popular base from, and this is what all radical groups in the region -Wahabi and non-Wahabi- focus on to draw support and justify their acts.
Claiming that al Qai'da has commited violent acts of terrorism simply because it is "Wahabi" (which it is not) is far from the truth, and is a clear attempt to divert us from the true issues at hand.
The reasons why all extremists are violently angry at "the West" are the exact same reasons why moderates in the region and abroad are moderatly angry at "the West".
It is modern day political events that have driven some people to extremism and violence. If it was simply ideoligy, then millions of non-Muslims in the region would have been killed first, especially those in modern-day Saudi Arabia.