Sunday, August 24, 2014

ISIS and Wahhabism

By my colleague, Fred Lawson: "It would be worth pointing out to your readers, As'ad, that the English translation of the article in al-Akhbar by Fu'ad al-Ibrahim includes an important error.

The conflict between the Al Sa'ud in the late 1920s was not between the regime and "the Muslim Brotherhood".
The fight instead involved a collection of devout followers of Muhammad bin 'Abd al-Wahhab, who called themselves the Brothers (al-Ikhwan).  These Ikhwan charged that 'Abd al-'Aziz had abandoned the basic principles of the faith, and in particular had given up the quest to expand the domain under Muwahiddin (or, more perjoratively,
Wahhabi) control.  'Abd al-'Aziz did indeed crush the challenge from the (Arabian) Ikhwan with British military assistance.

Anyone wishing to know more about the Sahwah could do no better than read Staphane Lacroix's remarkable book Awakening Islam, which has been translated by Harvard University Press." 

PS I also suggest the book by Christine Helms on the "The Cohesion of Saudi Arabia".