Carnival of Hate

In one of the most absurd recent exercises in self-deceptive propaganda by the radical Islamist movement known as Wahhabism, an "International Peace Convention" has been announced to be held at the Dubai World Trade Center.

The event, which is the second of its kind, will be give a prominent place to Zakir Naik, an Indian Muslim televangelist whose "Peace TV" beams from Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Mumbai. Naik, an unapologetic adherent of the ultrafundamentalist Wahhabi sect of Islam, is barred from entry into Canada and Britain for exhorting Muslim youth to participate in terrorism. He has incited Muslims against non-Wahhabi observances and interpretations, including Sufism and Shiism, and loudly proclaims his alleged charisma in convincing Hindus, Christians, and others to convert.

Naik was denounced as an apostate from the religion of Islam in 2008, by an Indian Muslim jurist of Lucknow, Maulana Mufti Abdul Irfan Qadvi, for supporting the late Osama Bin Laden. Maulana Qadvi appealed vehemently to the Indian government to ban "Peace TV," and to investigate Naik's suspicious financial backing. Tens of millions of Indian Muslims who follow the spiritual Sufi way were outraged when Naik proclaimed their devotions to be blasphemous heresy – a remark the television preacher later recanted.

At the same time, however, Naik offended, with apparently deliberate intent, the Indian Sunni and Shia Muslims by praising the killer of Imam Husayn, the grandson of Muhammad. Mourning the death of Husayn is a central component in Shiism; his murder has been traditionally condemned by traditional Sunni Muslims.

The pretensions of Naik to standing as a Muslim scholar who can deliver fatwas [religious opinions] via his broadcasts have been repudiated by other established and eminent Indian Muslim authorities. Maulana Mehmood Daryabadi, general secretary of the All India Ulema Council, has stated of Naik:

He is neither an 'aalim' (scholar) nor a 'mufti' (one who gives fatwa)…
He should not issue fatwas from public platforms.

Naik's habit of proclaiming fatwas and offering Quranic interpretation, despite his lack of appropriate religious training, is typical of Wahhabis and their followers. Wahhabis claim that their improvisation of religious doctrine represents a "reform" of Islam and a revival of "ijtihad," or individual juristic reasoning. In practice, such "individual reasoning" has served as an excuse for Wahhabis to impose unjust punishments for alleged moral infractions, as well as to support acts of terror previously forbidden in Islam.

"Peace TV" has promoted indoctrination in fanaticism by such Wahhabi Muslims as the virulently radical and racist American Siraj Wahhaj, born Jeffrey Kearse, and a former follower of the spurious "Nation of Islam." Wahhaj is a past vice-president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an institution which was set up with the backing of the Saudi Wahhabi clerical establishment. Wahhaj was named in 1995 by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White as an unindicted co-conspirator in the plot to blow up the World Trade Center in New York in 1993. He also testified in the defense of the convicted terrorist, the "blind sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman.

Yet another luminary of "Peace TV" is Jamal Badawi, known for his association with the Muslim world's most prominent extremist media figure, Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Badawi, who was born in Egypt and lives in Canada, serves on al-Qaradawi's so-called "European Council for Fatwas and Research," which is chiefly distinguished by the scarcity of European Muslims in its ranks; most of its members are Arab or African.

Badawi is even better known, however, for his misogynistic interpretation of Islam. For instance, in his 1980 volume, The Status of Women in Islam, Badawi wrote to oppose the involvement of women in politics:

According to Islam, the head of the state is no mere figurehead. He leads people in the prayers, especially on Fridays and festivities; he is continuously engaged in the process of decision-making pertaining to the security and well-being of his people. 

This demanding position, or any similar one, such as the Commander of the Army, is generally inconsistent with the physiological and psychological make-up of woman in general. It is a medical fact that during their monthly periods and during their pregnancies, women undergo various physiological and psychological changes. Such changes may occur during an emergency situation, thus affecting her decision, without considering the excessive strain which is produced. 

Moreover, some critical, hard decisions require a maximum of rationality and a minimum of emotionality – a requirement which does not coincide with the instinctive nature of women.

This line of argument conflicts with the experience of Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, all leading Muslim countries which have included women among their political leaders. Even Saudi Arabia under King Abdullah has proclaimed reforms which, if they are fully adopted, will provide women the right to participate in public policy and decision-making. By royal order, women will be free from the Wahhabi requirement for permission from a male relative to vote and stand as candidates in Saudi municipal elections scheduled for 2015.

On April 13, the second day of the convocation, the regular Friday preacher at the Grand Mosque (Haram) in Mecca, the Wahhabi Sheikh Abdur Rahman al-Sudais, will lead collective prayer at the Dubai affair.

Although al-Sudais claims to be an apostle of interfaith dialogue, he has been barred from Canada and condemned by Saudi officials for his extremist rhetoric. He has supported previously-unknown restrictions on the participation of women in the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Most offensively to traditional Muslims, al-Sudais demands that women who go on hajj be separated from men and required to put on the un-Islamic face veil (niqab). Such demeaning proposals have never before been articulated among Muslims, who believe that women living in Mecca and attending hajj are sufficient in their virtue, and require neither taking leave of men nor covering their faces.

al-Sudais has also been an active adherent of anti-Islamic, anti-historical, and anti-cultural schemes for the desecration of Mecca by the construction of new high-rise buildings around the Holy Kaaba, the most sacred of all Islamic structures, to which all Muslims turn in prayer. Saudi Wahhabis, obsessed with a gigantism in construction reminiscent of Stalin's in Soviet Russia, have already erected a huge "royal clock tower" that overlooks the Kaaba, and has a face even larger than the Kaaba itself.

The message of Wahhabis such as al-Sudais is: Saudi power transcends and dwarfs the whole of Islam.

Other well-known fundamentalist agitators advertised to appear at the Dubai "peace convention" include Yusuf Estes, who regularly appears on the fundamentalist Islam Channel, and who is a former Protestant believer of Anglo-Saxon heritage, chiefly distinguished by his thick American Southern accent.

Elements of peace-making, according to the agenda at the Dubai meeting, are vague. Dr. Hamad ash-Shaibani, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Award for World Peace, announced:

Peace is the ultimate goal for our Convention -- just as it is the ultimate goal of Islam itself.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, patron of this disgraceful spectacle, is prime minister and ruler of Dubai, and vice-president of the United Arab Emirates.

The "Dubai International Peace Convention," led by Naik and al-Sudais, may well have been conceived last year when al-Sudais visited India. Regardless of the details of its nefarious origin, a meeting in which cult radicals such as Naik and al-Sudais are prominent figures will do nothing to advance the cause of peace or of interfaith cooperation. Rather, it will encourage extremist ideology and violence.

The posture of the ruler of Dubai in presenting this Wahhabi performance as a factor for peace is alarming in its apparent revelation of the weakness of Dubai in the face of the money and influence wielded from Saudi Arabia by the Wahhabi clerical caste. Rather than welcoming and praising these zealots, Rashid al-Maktoum would be better served by following the counsel of Maulana Qadvi, expelling "Peace TV" and Naik from Dubai for good.

As for al-Sudais, the trip from Dubai back to Saudi Arabia is a short one; his deportation would contribute more to peace and good interfaith relations than any elaborate media masterwork.

— Irfan al-Alawi, Gatestone Institute

Identifying the Wahhabi

We have had several threads defining the Wahhabi sect and its doctrines and explaining their divergence from the Ahlus-Sunnah w'al-Jama'ah. We have also had in-depth discussions including the reproduction of the fatawa of some of our major scholars against the doctrine, and specifically the 'aqidah of the Wahhabi sect. I am not going to repeat them here myself. It would be quite redundant to do so, honestly. I am going to offer my own comments, therefore.

The first thing we scrutinize is the ijazat and the curriculum vitae. In Islam, we know our scholars by their teachers and the institutions they have learned from. As such, it is important to know the teachers and the chains of transmission. The scholars we take our knowledge from are part of a chain that dates back to our Sultan Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. This is called isnad or silsila and it is very important to preserve our faith.

A graduate from the University of Medina is likely a Wahhabi. It is their premier institution set up by the Saudi state to promote their version of Islam. The following are some of the more famous graduates from this deviant institution: Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi, Bilal Philips, Zakir Naik, Salim al-Amry and Feiz Mohammad. This also includes graduates of derivative programs by the alumni of the University of Medina such as Dr. Bilal Philips' Islamic Online University and Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan's Bayyinah Institute. Salih al-Munajjid and his IslamQA.info are also to be averted.

The Saudi Wahhabi state also has several organisations to spread their doctrine. This includes the World Assembly of Muslim Youth. al-Maghrib Institute and al-Kauthar are funded through WAMY. Almost every instructor from these two is from the University of Medina. Unless one belongs to their sect, it is impossible to be appointed in any position.

Another organization funded by them is Peace TV. The most famous presenters on that program are Zakir Naik, Yusuf Estes, Hussain Yee, Abdullah Hakim Quick, Abdur Raheem Green and Bilal Philips. The majority of the presenters are either hardcore Salafi/Wahhabi, or sympathetic towards it.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait are dominated by the Wahhabi sect. It is impossible to be appointed to a state position concerning the religion unless one is connected to the Ahl ash-Shaykh, the descendants of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, or shares their ideology. The a’immah that lead the salat in Mecca and Medina must be a Wahhabi. They will accept no other, considering them infidels, mushrikun.

This does not mean, however, that every graduate of the University of Medina, or every single person who took a course at the Islamic Online University, or every attendee of an al-Maghrib program is a Wahhabi. The majority of Muslims are ignorant of their religion and unable to tell when something said is incorrect. We look and judge with the Eye of Rahmah and Husn adh-Dhann.

We must understand that there are two types of people who are Wahhabi. The first are those who have embraced their ‘aqidah and propagate it, condemning the position of the Ahlus-Sunnah w'al-Jama’ah and spreading an ‘aqidah that is essentially heresy. These people are astray and are to be avoided.

And then there are those who have taken position from that doctrine unknowingly, because that was what they were taught and there was no one to tell them otherwise. They are to be treated with compassion and if there is an opportunity, guided to something that is better. Addressing them is also da’wah.

Aside from these, there are a multitude of preachers on social media who are known as such by the things they have said, or the positions they adhere to. We identify them by what they say about certain key issues that depart from the position of the Ahlus-Sunnah w'al-Jama’ah. They include denying taqlid, or the need to follow a madhhab, unless one is a mujtahid. They claim that they are only following the Qur’an and Sunnah solely. In effect, they are denying the Qur’an and Sunnah. This, in itself, is a huge topic and should be addressed separately.

They deny the fact that the Prophet Muhammad, the other Prophets, the Saints, and the Pious Predecessors are alive in the qabr, the Realm of the Grave. This is a major deviation from Islam since it is an absolute denial of the Special Favor of Allah upon His friends, and denies, by extension, any form of intercession.

The Wahhabi sect and its adherents deny tawassul, intercession. They claim that this wasila, this means, is shirk. They use this as a basis to condemn the Muslims as mushrikun, polytheists. It is on this basis that they make the blood of the Muslims halal in conflict. The denial of tawassul also means that the recitation of Salawat, congregational dhikr and Mawlid are extensions of this shirk, that is, idolatrous blasphemy and heresy.
Many of them also deny the shafa’at, intercession of the Prophets, on the Day of Judgment.

They claim that the act of visiting the grave to pay homage, ziyarat, including, specially, the Rawzah of the Prophet in Medina is shirk. They further state that it is shirk to perform swalat in any masjid where there is a grave, maqam. This is why they have agitated and even tried several times to remove the body of the Prophet from Masjid Nabawi. And this is the excuse they use to destroy the maqamat, tombs, of the Pious Predecessors, including previous Prophets, the Companions and Saints, desecrating the bodies.

Finally, the Wahhabis take a literal position regarding the Attributes of God. This includes believing that Allah is in a specific place above the ‘Arsh, believing that He has a physical body, and believing that He is not Transcendent or Immanent. To the Ahlus-Sunnah w'al-Jama’ah, that is shirk, and clear kufr.

In support of this ideology, the Wahhabis refuse to condemn, and quite often support groups like ISIS, al-Qa’idah, Jabhat an-Nusra, the Pakistani Taliban, Boko Haram, Abu Sayyaf, Jama’ah Islaamiyyah and Lashkar Jihad. Some of them have urged their followers to join in the struggle and take up arms even.

Preachers and scholars aside from those already named above, who have explicitly taken a Wahhabi position in some or all of the above include Musa Cerantonio, Yusha Evans, and Abu Mussab Wajdi Akkari.

An indication that someone may be influenced by this sect can be found in the way they dialogue. They will focus a lot on ahadith, but they will ignore any exegesis of it. They will only accept what they consider ‘authentic’, sahih. They have a strange affection for extra vowels, for example: Islaam, Aboo Yusuf, Allaah, Imaan, Qur’aan. And their conversation focuses a lot on the minutiae of externalities to the exclusion of context, diversity in opinion and culture, ‘urf, which is a valid concern in jurisprudence, fiqh. This includes the emphasis that the beard and headscarf are wajib under all circumstances, extreme segregation of men and women, and the liberal use of words such as shirk, kufr, haram and bid’a in all their forms, ignoring the lexical and jurisprudential understanding.



— Sidi Terence Helikaon Nunis of A Muslim Convert Once More