Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Wahhabism: "Mistaken with jihad"

From The Phoenix, the official student newspaper of Loyola U., Chicago

The discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia as well as its control over Islamic holy cities Mecca and Medina has allowed Wahhabism to become a major force in the world today. However, Natana DeLong-Bas, Ph.D., maintains that the movement was intended to be nonviolent, working as "an ongoing educational process not to be mistaken with jihad." ... Extremism is considered a national problem in Saudi Arabia. DeLong-Bas said that even teachers who speak out against terrorism receive death threats. She stated that one of the most important changes that needs to be emphasized is that the attitude of Muslims toward non-Muslims "must not be one of hate."

Suicide & Islam: Connection to slaying

From Dave Gaubatz at The Conservative Voice

In Islam it is a very grave sin to commit suicide. But it is an honor to murder infidels in an act of Jihad. And, mainstream Islamic law justifies giving up one’s life (i.e., it is not suicide) if such is done in a “righteous” act of Jihad. My experience in Iraq and while visiting Islamic centers here in America has revealed this ideology (of murder-as-righteous-killing and of suicide-as-martyrdom) is being taught throughout the US. Many locations are in Virginia. I have recently visited a “Wahhabi Islamic Center” in Virginia. Several Muslims informed me that Al Qaeda members from this mosque had attempted to recruit vulnerable Muslims to become suicide bombers.

Bolstering Moderate Muslims

From Daniel Pipes at FrontPageMagazine.com

A just-published study from the RAND Corporation, Building Moderate Muslim Networks, ... starts with the argument that "structural reasons play a large part" in the rise of radical and dogmatic interpretations of Islam in recent years – one of those reasons being the Saudi government's generous funding over the last three decades for the export of the Wahhabi version of Islam. Saudi efforts have promoted "the growth of religious extremism throughout the Muslim world," permitting the Islamists to develop powerful intellectual, political, and other networks. "This asymmetry in organization and resources explains why radicals, a small minority in almost all Muslim countries, have influence disproportionate to their numbers."

Serbia and Islamized Europe

From Rod Derher (Crunchy Con) at Beliefnet.com

It is now plain that there are no simple good guy/bad guy scenarios in the Balkans. Criminal elements among the Albanians have looted and destroyed and practiced atrocities against the Serbian Orthodox, and are setting up a narco-terrorist state there. Recently, Wahhabi-trained terrorists have been found there. It in no way excuses past Serb atrocities to recognize that granting Kosovo independence under the NATO plan would appear to be the West's signing off on a jihad state at its borders.

The Google Notebook: Wahaudi beta

Before creating this blog, I tracked relevant stories in a Google Notebook. With dozens of linked summaries from the months of January to April 2007, it's something like a beta version of Wahaudi.