How Saudi Petrodollar plays determinant role in spreading, sustaining and multiplying religious fanaticism and extremism around the globe
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Opinion
By Nauman Sadiq
It has been tempting to attach the word 'Muslim' to terrorism in much of the western world. It is often forgotten, rather deliberately, that the Al Qaeda and Taliban are but a fringe elements in the Muslim world. The narrative which places the entire Muslim population as a potential if not present day threats to the security of the others has given rise to a dangerous form of Islamophobia in many parts of the world.
By Nauman Sadiq
It has been tempting to attach the word 'Muslim' to terrorism in much of the western world. It is often forgotten, rather deliberately, that the Al Qaeda and Taliban are but a fringe elements in the Muslim world. The narrative which places the entire Muslim population as a potential if not present day threats to the security of the others has given rise to a dangerous form of Islamophobia in many parts of the world.
So what is the so called Islamic extremism and terrorism? How was it borne and how is it sustained in today's world? What were and are the geopolitical realities-- though downplayed by the mainstream media in the world-- that decide the trajectory of forces like Taliban and Al Qaeda? To be frank, the people all over world have been more misinformed than informed on these issues by the mainstream media. In this highly insightful piece, Nauman Sadiq pointedly explains how the state of Saudi Arabia has been at the center of extremism and fanaticism that goes in the name of Islam. This post, also carried by Asia Times Online earlier this week, is his first in this blog and was taken from the author's blog with his permission.
Social selection plays the same role in the social sciences
which the natural selection plays in the biological sciences: it selects the
traits, norms and values which are most beneficial to the host culture. Seen
from this angle, social diversity is a desirable quality for social progress;
because when diverse customs and value-systems compete with each other, the
culture retains the beneficial customs and values and discards the deleterious
customs and values. A decentralized and unorganized religion, like Sufism,
engenders diverse strains of beliefs and thoughts which compete with one
another in gaining social acceptance and currency. A heavily centralized and
tightly organized religion, on the other hand, depends more on authority and
dogma, than value and utility. A centralized religion is also more ossified and
less adaptive compared to a decentralized religion.
When we look at religious extremism and the consequent
militancy and terrorism, in Pakistan
in particular and the Islamic world in general, it is not a natural evolution
of religion, some deleterious mutation have occurred somewhere which has
infected the whole of Islamic world. Most Pakistani political scientists blame
the Pakistani military establishment for a deliberate promotion of religious
extremism to create a Jihadi narrative which suits the institutional interests
and strategic objectives of the Pakistani military. There is no denying this
obvious fact but it is only one factor in a multifactorial equation. Like I
said earlier, the phenomena of religious extremism is not limited to Pakistan,
the whole of Islamic world from Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria to Indonesia,
Malaysia and even the Muslim minorities of Thailand, China and Philippines are
witnessing this phenomena.
In my opinion, the real culprit for the rise of religious
extremism and terrorism in the Islamic world is Saudi Arabia. The Aal-e-Saud
(descendants of Saud) have no hereditary claim to the Throne of Mecca since
they are not the descendants of the prophet, nor even from the Quresh (there is
a throne of Mecca
which I’ll explain later). They were the most primitive marauding nomadic
tribesmen of Najd who defeated the Sharifs of
Mecca violently after the collapse of the Ottomans in the first world war.
Their title to the throne of Saudi
Arabia is only de facto, not de jure, since
neither do they have a hereditary claim nor do they hold elections to ascertain
the will of the Saudi people. Thus they are the illegitimate rulers of Saudi Arabia
and they feel insecure because of their illegitimacy; which explains their
heavy-handed tactics is dealing with any kind of dissent, opposition or
movement for reform.
The phenomena of religious extremism all over the Islamic
world is directly linked to the Wahabi-Salafi madrassahs which are sponsored by
the Saudi and Gulf petrodollars. These madrassahs attract children from the
most poorest backgrounds in the third world Islamic countries because they
offer the kind of incentives and facilities which even the government-sponsored
public schools cannot provide: free boarding and lodging, no tuition fee at
all, and free of cost books and even stationery. Aside from madrassahs, another
factor that promotes Wahabi-Salafi ideology in the Islamic world is the ritual
of Hajj and Umrah (pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina). Every year
millions of Muslim men and women travel from all over the Islamic world to
perform the ritual and wash their sins. When they return to their native
countries, after spending a month or two in Saudi Arabia, along with clean hearts
and souls, dates and zamzam, they also bring along the tales of Saudi
hospitality and their true puritanical version of Islam, which some, especially
the rural-tribal folks, find attractive.
Authority plays an important role in any thought system; the
educated people accept the authority of the specialists in their respective
fields of specialty; the lay folks accept the authority of the theologians and
clerics in the interpretation of religion and scriptures. Aside from authority
certain other factors also play a part in the individuals’ psyche: loyalty,
purity or the concept of sacred, and originality and authenticity as in a
concept of being close to an ideal authentic model. Just like the modern
naturalists who prefer organic food and natural habits and lifestyles; because
of their belief in the goodness of nature, or their disillusionment from the
man-made fuss; the religious folks prefer a true version of Islam which is
closer to the putative authentic Islam as practiced in Mecca
and Medina: the
Gold Standard of Petro-Islam.
Yet another factor which contributes to the rise of Salafism
throughout the Islamic world is the immigrants factor. Millions of Muslim men,
women and families from the third world Islamic countries live and work in Saudi Arabia, Qatar,
UAE, Kuwait and Oman. Some of
them permanently reside there but mostly they work on temporary work permits.
Just like the pilgrims, when they come back to their native villages and towns,
they bring along an Ox-bridge degree and an attractive English accent. Not
literally but figuratively. Spending time in Arab countries entitles one to
pass authoritative judgments on religious matters; and having a cursory
understanding of the language of Quran makes you an equivalent of a Qazi
(judge) among the illiterate village people. And they just reproduce the
customs and attitudes of the Arabs as an authentic version of Islam to their
compatriots.
The Shia Muslims have their Imams and Marjahs (religious
authorities) but it is generally believed about the Sunni Islam that it
discourages the authority of the clergy. In this sense, Sunni Islam is closer
to Protestantism, theoretically, because it promotes an individual and personal
interpretation of scriptures and religion. It might be true about the Hanafies and
other educated schools of thought in Islam; but on a popular level, the House
of Saud plays the same role in Islam that the Pope plays in Catholicism. By
virtue of their physical possession of the holy places of Islam – Mecca and Medina
– they are the ex officio Caliphs of Islam. The title of the Saudi King,
Khadim-ul-Haramain-al-
Now, when we hear slogan like “No democracy, just Islam” on
the streets of third world Islamic countries, one wonders what kind of an
imbecile would forgo his right to choose his ruler through a democratic
process? It is partly due to the fact that the masses often conflate democracy
with liberalism; without realizing that democracy is only a political process
of choosing one’s representatives and legislators through an election process;
while liberalism is a cultural mindset which may or may not be suitable in a
native third world society depending on its existing level of social progress
in an evolutionary perspective; which prefers a bottom-up, gradual and
incremental changes over a top-down, sudden and radical approach. But one feels
dumbfounded when even some educated Muslims argue that democracy is un-Islamic
and an ideal Islamic system of governance is a Caliphate. Such an ideal
Caliphate could be some Umayyad/Abbasid model that they conjure up in their
heads; but in practice the only beneficiaries of such an anti-democratic
approach are the illegitimate tyrants of the Arab World who claim to be the
Caliphs of Islam albeit indirectly and in a nuanced manner: the Servants of the
House of God and the Keepers of the Holy places of Islam.
The illegitimate, hence insecure, tyrants adopt different
strategies to maintain their hold on power. They heed to the pragmatic advice
of Machiavelli: “Invent enemies and then slay them in order to control your
subjects.” The virulently anti-Shia rhetoric of the Salafis and Takfiris is
such a Machiavellian approach. They cannot construct a positive narrative which
can specify their achievements; that’s why they construct a negative narrative
that casts the Evil Other in a negative light. The Sunni-Shia conflict is
essentially a political and economic conflict which is presented to the lay
Muslim in a veneer of religiosity. Saudi Arabia produces 10 to 15 million
barrels of oil per day (equivalent to 15 to 20 % of the global oil production)
it can single-handedly bring down the oil price to $ 50 per barrel and it can
also single-handedly raise the oil price to $ 200 per barrel, a nightmare for
the global industrialized economies. 90 % of the Saudi oil installations are
situated along the Persian Gulf; but this
sparsely populated region comprises the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia which
has a Shia majority. Any separatist tendency in this Achilles heel is met with
sternest possible reaction. Saudi Arabia
sent its own battalions to help Bahraini regime quell the Shia rebellion in the
Shia-majority Bahrain;
which is also geographically very close to the Eastern Province of Saudi
Arabia.
Al-Qaeda inspired terrorism is a threat to the Western
countries; but the Islamic countries are encountering a much bigger threat of
inter-sectarian terrorism. For centuries the Sunni and Shia Muslims lived
peacefully side by side; but now certain vested interests are provoking
inter-sectarian strife to distract attention away from the popular movements
for democracy throughout the Middle East and
North Africa (MENA) region. The ultimate goal of the Arab Spring is to
overthrow the illegitimate House of Saud and this tide will not subside until
its objective is achieved. There are ebbs and flows in any grass-roots
political and social movement; it ebbed in Egypt but it will rise again to
flood the whole of MENA region. What’s unfortunate is the fact, that the
so-called champions of democracy can’t even lend a moral support, let alone the
material support; because their interests always outweigh their principles and
ideals.
Nauman Sadiq is an Islamabad-based attorney who blogs at http://naumansadiq.blogspot.
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