38. Post-Wahhabism

Post-Wahhabism

We may be on the brink of a Copernican shift in the landscape of contemporary Islam, as we may be witnessing the secularization of Saudi Arabia, and the slipping of the holy sites of Islam away from Islamic protection, where the country may become no more Muslim than Dubai. Because now, Crown Prince MBS, as bin Salman is called, is making an explicit break from the Wahhabi past, to what has been described by some as the “post-Wahhabi era.”[1] A decision was enacted to celebrate the “Saudi Founding Day” annually on 22 February to commemorate the 1727 establishment of Emirate of Dir’iyah by Muhammad ibn Saud, rather than the past historical convention that traced the beginning to the 1744 pact of Ibn Abdul Wahhab. According to MBS, the traditions of Wahhabism are not the only legitimate interpretation of Islam, and he has allowed for a return for the acceptance of the role of the four Madhabs.[2]

While that should normally represent a return to the true traditional practices of Islam, in the context of Saudi Arabia, they serve an entirely other objective: the secularization of the Saudi state, and the marginalization of Sharia in favor of an economic transformation designed to prepare the country for its move away from singular dependence on oil, known as Vision 2030.[3] Women have been finally given the right to drive, cinemas and other forms of Western entertainment have been permitted, and even the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have been largely disbanded. Tourists have now even been allowed to enter the sacred city of Medina, which had been off-limits to non-Muslims for centuries.[4]

What will happen to the Salafi movement now that it lost official backing from the state of Saudi Arabia? It will surely be more challenging for Wahhabis to defend themselves, without the stream of apologetics published to defend them. The rest of the Muslim world will likely begin to recognize them for the clear aberration that they are. As for Salafism, however, they are an important cudgel in the service of Zionism, and will therefore likely continue to receive covert Saudi support.

Who is left to defend the true Islam? “The Jews split into seventy-one sects, one of which will be in Paradise and seventy in Hell. The Christians split into seventy-two sects, seventy-one of which will be in Hell and one in Paradise. I swear by the One Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad, my nation will split into seventy-three sects, one of which will be in Paradise and seventy-two in Hell.” It was said: “O Messenger of God, who are they?” He said: “The main body.”[5] “Whoever prays like us and faces our Qibla and eats our slaughtered animals is a Muslim and is under God’s and His Apostle’s protection. So do not betray God by betraying those who are in His protection.”[6] “God does not take away the knowledge, by taking it away from (the hearts of) the people, but takes it away by the death of the religious learned men till when none of the (religious learned men) remains, people will take as their leaders ignorant persons who when consulted will give their verdict without knowledge. So they will go astray and will lead the people astray.”[7] That means that we must be tolerant and merciful to all those who call themselves Muslims, but that doesn’t mean that we have to accept their beliefs as ours.

Because, through the influence of Wahhabism, Salafism, and even the Wasatim, Muslims have forgotten how to recognize true scholars and what kind of rigorous methodology they are expected to follow. Many who are recognized today as “scholars” are actually just self-educated celebrities. Those traditional scholars who remain, tend to be in the service of the state in the various puppet regimes that have been created out of Sykes-Picot or other forms of Western neo-colonialism. As the Prophet Mohammed warned, “Whoever goes to the gates of the ruler will be put to trial. A servant does not move closer to the ruler but that he moves further away from God.”[8]

Effectively, Islam has become a kind of nationalism, where Muslims are patriotic to a cultural tradition influenced by the religion. They believe they are fulfilling the requirements of their faith by completing the ritual obligations, completely forgetting the higher principles of justice they have been called to. Without the sense of a higher cause, they identify themselves as a collective, differentiating themselves from not only from non-Muslims, but from errant Muslims as well. Recognizing to some extent their state of collapse and impotence, Imams in Khutbahs (sermons) pray to God to izzat al Islam wa’al Muslimeen (raise the dignity of Islam and Muslims). They cheer everywhere they see a modicum of success by any Muslim group, like al-Qaeda in Syria, without regard for the suspect beliefs, excusing that temporary success allows compromise.

Our duty is to save not Muslims, but Islam. We don’t need to focus on the errors of errant Muslims. We need to identify the true tradition of Islam, and unite with those who agree, and become living examples.

 


[1] Yasmine Farouk & Nathan J. Brown. “Saudi Arabia’s Religious Reforms Are Touching Nothing but Changing Everything.” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (7 June 2021). Retrived from https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/06/07/saudi-arabia-s-religious-reforms-are-touching-nothing-but-changing-everything-pub-84650

[2] “Ibn Abdul Wahhab is not Saudi Arabia, reaffirms Crown Prince.” Saudi Gazette (March 3, 2022). Retrieved from https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/617728

[3] “Saudi Arabia’s Religious Reforms Are Touching Nothing but Changing Everything.” In Islamic Institutions in Arab States: Mapping the Dynamics of Control, Co-option, and Contention (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2021). Retrieved from https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/06/07/saudi-arabia-s-religious-reforms-are-touching-nothing-but-changing-everything-pub-84650

[4] Avi Jorish. “I went to Medina as a Jew, Biden should go too - opinion.” Jerusalem Post (July 1, 2022). Retrieved from https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-710916

[5] Sunan Ibn Majah, 3992. Book 36, Hadith 67.

[6] Sahih al Bukhari, Hadith 391.

[7] Sahih al Bukhari, 100, Book 3, Hadith 42.

[8] Musnad Ahmad, 8836.

Divide & Conquer