Saudi Columnist: Jihadist Salafist Ideology is Like Nazism

Saudi columnist Muhammad bin ‘Abd Al-Latif Aal Al-Sheikh published two articles in the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah, in which he attacked the ideology of the Al-Salafiyya Al-Jihadiyya movement. [1] He said that the ideology of this movement was similar to, or even worse than, the Nazi ideology, and that it should be dealt accordingly.

The following are excerpts:

“Both Jihadist Salafism and Nazism Are Based on Hatred and Physical Elimination of the Other”

Aal Al-Sheikh published the first article on July 10, 2005, following the release from prison of Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi, the spiritual leader of the Jihadist Salafist movement in Jordan and mentor of Abu Mus’ab Al-Zarqawi: “The release of Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi and his subsequent re-arrest by the Jordanian authorities raises many questions. [2] The man is one of the founders of terrorism and the one who, through his books and extremist interpretations, gave rise to many of those who belong to the group now called Al-Salafiyya Al-Jihadiyya, which leads terrorism worldwide. Although he supposedly bases his methodological justifications on the sayings of people faithful to the Sunna and to the Muslim community [Ahl al-sunna wa'l-jama'a], he [in fact] reaches the [same] conclusion reached by the Khawarij regarding the political outlook of Islam. [3]
[Note: bracketed numbers refer to footnotes in the MEMRI translation.]

This is a very good catch from MEMRI, from the Saudi Arabic language daily Al-Jazirah. The writer makes it abundantly clear that what the jihadists are doing is not consonant with Islam.

He also provides a useful term, “Jihadist Salafist,” to help identify where the problems really lie. The terms “Salafist” or “Wahhabi” are no longer useful tags when it comes to identifying the sources of terror. There are legitimate Salafist and Wahhabi religious tendencies, not aligned to terrorism, though whether or not they are “extremist” is a matter of opinion and debate. Like the term “Neo-Salafist,” coined by Anthony Cordesman of CSIS, it serves to clearly and usefully distinquish an important difference.

Aal Al-Sheikh, whose name indicates that he’s from the lineage originating with Muhammad Abdul Wahhab, also points to Al-Jazeera TV as a promoter and supporter of Jihadist Salafism:

Everybody knows that this channel in particular has had the greatest media impact on the shaping, spreading, and strengthening of this dangerous trend, and that it provides it with wide space to express its ‘acts of heroism’, its statements, and its videotaped operations, to the point where it [Al-Jazeera] has become the primary platform of [Al-Salafiyya Al-Jihadiyya], as is happening today in Iraq.

He also notes that clerics responsible for the spread of terror must be held to account:

“The question that must be asked courageously is: Have the clerics of our times fulfilled their duty, as our forefathers did when they [fought] against the Khawarij? The most direct answer is: Sadly, no! Let’s assume that the government decides to allow women to drive without obligating them, for instance, to wear a veil; what would be the reaction of these clerics and students? How many protest delegations would come to Riyadh from all the provinces? How many fatwas would be signed? How many accusations would be leveled? How many noisy sermons would be delivered by many imams in the mosques?… Is a woman driving a car, or even not wearing a veil, a more serious prohibition in Allah’s eyes… than the acts of murder, slaughter, destruction, and violation of women’s honor [committed] by these ‘sick people?’ Why in the name of God [do we show] all this gentleness, forgiveness, and a tendency to ‘speak gently’ when it comes to terrorists, while [we show] extreme blatancy and harshness when it comes to women, for instance?…”

Take a few minutes and read the entire piece!