Islam Under Scrutiny by Ex-Muslims

The Bane of Jihad

Some regional experts believe that if we must take any action against Iran, there is no better time than now. Iran’s fascist regime has never been under more pressure, domestically and internationally; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in addition to having been isolated internationally, is also facing an ever widening division within the Iranian society; Tehran, because of the U.S. moves, finds itself struggling to survive economically; Shiite extremism is making Arab governments more willing to back U.S. goals.

 

Iran’s Arab neighbors, including Egypt and Jordan, faced with the specter of being besieged by majority Shiite states and destabilized by the Shiite minorities within their own territories, find themselves with no choice but to help the U.S. in containing the neo-Nazism promoted by Ahmadinejad. Foreign ministers of eight Arab countries issued a joint communiqué signaling that they supported U.S. goals in Iraq.

 

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice believes that rising fear of Shiite extremism is drawing together moderate Arab governments in a way that would make it easier for the United States to contain Iran. Rice says Sunni-led governments fear that they will be put on the defensive against Shiites at home and in neighboring lands.

 

But not everyone is in favor of using the military force. U.S. experience in Iraq has taught that a military victory doesn’t always translate into a real victory. The regional analysts argue that if a U.S. military victory against Iran results in the alienation of the Shiite masses in the region, then it will be, in fact, not a U.S. victory but the victory of the anti-American forces and it will definitely have an adverse affect on the ongoing war on Islamist terrorism.

 

Experts warn against using Sunni Arab help without first satisfying the all important question: Will the Sunni Arabs' help in containing Iran eventually result in the empowerment of Wahhabi global jihad? This question has gained critical importance in view of what happened in Afghanistan during the anti-Soviet Jihad. Wahhabis in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf States and elsewhere used the cover of their alliance with the U.S. to finance the revival of Global jihad and paved the way for September 11, 2001 by reviving the institution of Jihad in the Sunni world – an institution that is aimed at establishing the universal Islamist state (Shariah) by subjugating or murdering the infidels. September 11 attacks were validated by fatwas (edicts) issued by Sunni scholars decreeing a pact to fight "Crusaders and Jews." The military assistance provided by the U.S. was used to create an army of Holy Warriors which was eventually used to stage attacks on New York and Washington.

 

Will the Arab government’s support for a perceived U.S. cause further alienate the Arab masses, thereby arming Al-Qaeda passions with more tools to recruit more holy warriors? Experts point out that Sunni animosity toward Judeo-Christian values is a part of their psyche. They can’t be trusted. It is a matter of record that Saudi Arabia continues to fund and export its Wahhabi brand of Islam, making it a "strategic threat" to the United States in the worldwide war on terror. The chairman of the U.S. government commission on religious freedom reached the same conclusion as far back as 2003. "It is an ideology that is incompatible with the war on terrorism," said Michael Young, chairman of the State Department's Commission on International Religious Freedom. http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20031118-113127-4259r.htm

 

Another question that has to be answered before taking any military step against Iran is: Will an attack on Iran be considered an attack on Shiites, thereby uniting all the Shiites of the world against the American interests everywhere, which would be a boon for the overall institution of Wahhabi global jihad? Because right now, Shiites are not supporting the Al-Qaeda causes. There is a strong feeling among the Shiites of the world that Al-Qaeda’s global jihad is basically a vehicle to impose a Wahhabi Sharia on the world in which Shiites will find neither safety nor security.

 

There are two things that have to be kept in mind for all times; Iran’s animosity toward the western world and Judeo-Christian civilization is not a Shia faith but to a large extent, only confined to the clerical establishment that rules Iran today. Whereas Sunni hatred for the West is the direct result of anti-Semitic interpretations of the Holy book and Hadith, Shia don’t share their passion for the Caliphate. Iran’s Shia are more concerned with the historical Sunni animosity toward their faith than with the Wahhabi fanaticism for the global jihad. They know that a predominant portion of Sunnis view Shiites as heretics. Top Saudi Arabian clerics have declared Shiites around the world to be infidels who should be considered worse than Jews or Christians. 

 

Most recently, in December 2006, Abdul Rahman al-Barak, one of the top Wahhabi clerics in Saudi Arabia and considered close to the Kingdom's royal family, urged Sunnis worldwide to oppose reconciliation with Shiites. "By and large, rejectionists (Shiites) are the most evil sect of the nation and they have all the ingredients of the infidels," Abdul Rahman wrote in a fatwa, or religious edict, that was posted on his web site.

 

"The general ruling is that they are infidels, apostates and hypocrites," he wrote. "They are more dangerous than Jews and Christians," he wrote in the edict. Like most hardline Sunnis, Abdul Rahman employed the word "rejectionists," used as a derogatory term to describe Shiites because they opted out of the Sunni school of Islamic theology. He also said the sect was the work of a Jewish conspiracy.  International Herald Tribune

 

A majority of the Shiites also feel betrayed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s anti-American diatribes as they believe that September 11, for the first time, made the West aware of the evilness of Wahhabi ideology and thus it was a chance for the Shiites to establish their rightful place among the civilized peoples. That’s why it is of vital importance for the U.S. to find a way to eradicate Khomeinism that fuels Ahmadinejad’s anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism without alienating the Shia. If there is one force that can destroy the Wahhabi institution of global jihad it is Shia. The West will one day need them.


Tashbih Sayyed is the Editor in Chief of Pakistan Today and The Muslim World Today, President of Council for Democracy and Tolerance, an adjunct fellow of Hudson Institute, and a regular columnist for newspapers across the world. He is the author of eight books, including: History Of The World, Left Of The Center, Pakistan - An Unfinished Agenda, Mohammad - A secularist's View, Foreign Policy Of Pakistan, and Shadow Warriors - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taliban.

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