Mouood Mouood English Edition
Apart from the Kingdom’s pleasure loving elite, ISIS enjoys a great deal of support in the Saudi populace. As writer Rachael Levy pointed out in an article written for the online news site v[]cative, after ISIS first began wreaking havoc in Iraq in June 2014, hashtags in Arabic that translated into TheAgeOfTheISISConquest and #ABillionMuslimsForTheVictoryOfTheIsis have been originating in Saudi Arabia.
“Almost 95 percent of all mentions of the latter hashtag emanated from Saudi Arabia over the last week, by far eclipsing those from Iraq and Syria, where the ISIS is actually operating at present,” Levy reported. “The geographic distribution of those mentions covers the entire Saudi Arabian territory.” Over 1000 to 2000 Saudi nationals are fighting inside the ISIS organization at present, and tweets released by the Saudi military make it clear that the Kingdom’s armed forces sympathize with the ISIS takfiris.
While Saudi Arabia has been arming, funding, and ideologically training ISIS, encouraging them to commit depraved acts of violence against other Muslims by using the fig leaf of calling them kafirs, the repercussions for Saudi society are potentially volatile. Even as Saudi Arabia is alienating its liberals and minorities by acts of brutal aggression, they are walking a tightrope to ensure that ISIS doesn’t gain support to the extent of popular backing inside the Kingdom for overthrowing the Saudi monarchy. The method for doing so: another dose of the iron fist. King Abdullah has imposed a 20-year sentence on any Saudi citizen who joins a jihad group. As a September 2014 article in the Financial Times of London noted, Saudi authorities “are anxious to avoid a potentially destabilising examination of common ideological links between the extremist group and the Saudi religious school whose support underpins the legitimacy of the royal family.”
As ISIS etches a bleak future for the Muslim world, it may herald a silver lining; the implosion of Saudi Arabia as a consequence for plotting to destroy not just the Muslim world’s call for political freedoms, but also their religion and civilization.
Takfiris and Saudis
By: Zafar Bangash
Crescent International Monthly, Toronto, Canada, November, 2014
Crescent International is a publication of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT).
Despite the hype about fighting them, the US and its allies have nurtured the takfiris for nearly a decade to be used for the broader plan to dominate the Middle East.
In a world gripped by fast-paced changes and the media’s obsession with reporting something “new” daily, the takfiris’attacks in Iraq and Syria may sound like old news, but they are not. The takfiris are a threat not only to the people under their immediate control — in Syria and Iraq where they have indulged in horrific acts of violence and brutality — but they also pose a serious challenge to the very soul of Islam. It ultimately boils down to who speaks for Islam, the universal deen whose message is contained in the majestic Qur’an and exemplified by the noble Messenger (pbuh) during his blessed life.
To be sure, the takfiris perpetrate ever horrific crimes on a daily basis against innocent people. These attract little or no attention as long as the victims are Muslims. When Westerners are targeted, then there is much media hype and endless commentary about the barbarism of these people, indeed of all Muslims. The West has a habit of tarring all Muslims with the same brush.
We should not be surprised. The West cares only for its own people and even then such concern is hierarchical: the suffering of whites attracts far greater attention than that of blacks; Israeli life is more valued than that of an Arab-American suffering at the hands of the Zionists. Unfortunately, even Muslims do not care for their fellow Muslims. That explains why there is so much suffering inflicted upon Muslims everywhere from Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir and beyond. Muslims often complain that the Western media does not give adequate coverage to their suffering. Why should they? The media is part and parcel of the political and economic system of the West and works to advance its agenda.
For Muslims, the eruption of the takfiris with such fury at this particular juncture in history requires serious reflection and consideration. Nothing emerges in a vacuum. Similarly, we cannot accept that they have genuine grievances or suggest that since the West perpetrates horrible crimes against innocent Muslims, this somehow justifies the takfiris’ atrocities. Regardless of the West’s crimes — and the list is very long — Muslims must always conduct themselves according to Islamic principles. This is what distinguishes Muslims from others. The noble Messenger (pbuh) taught us this through his own exemplary conduct.
Nor are the takfiris acting alone; they have powerful backers. Their ideology is based on the narrow teachings of Wahhabism. In areas under their control in Iraq and Syria, they have forced people to follow Wahhabi teachings and books printed in Saudi Arabia are widely used there. Similarly, the takfiris receive massive funding from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. Prince al-Waleed bin Talal admitted in an interview on CNN on October 20 that many powerful businessmen in Saudi Arabia have been financing takfiri activities. He hastened to add that such funding has stopped. This, however, is not true; the Saudis re-route their funds through Kuwait where the regime is far less strict in how funds are sent abroad.
Support of the reactionary Arabian regimes is one dimension of the problem. Equally serious is the support the takfiris receive from the West, especially the US. To the uninformed this may sound surprising especially in view of the recently launched air strikes by US and allied forces against the takfiris. But as Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post citing WikiLeaks cables has confirmed in an article on April 17, 2011, the US has been sending money to Syrian opposition groups since May 2005. In particular, the London-based satellite channel Barada TV was set up with US funding in 2009 with the express purpose of beaming anti-government propaganda into Syria. Since the 2011 “uprising” Barada TV has ramped up its propaganda as part of the imperialists’ agenda.
“Barada TV is closely affiliated with the Movement for Justice and Development (Harakah al-‘Adalah wa-al-Bana’a fi Suriyah), a London-based network of Syrian exiles. Classified US diplomatic cables show that the State Department has funneled as much as $6 million to the group since 2006 (that is when the group came into existence!) to operate the satellite channel and finance other activities inside Syria,” according to Whitlock.
So how does one reconcile the contradictory position of the US and its allies vis-à-vis the takfiris (aka as ISIS/ISIL) in Syria and Iraq? On the one hand, the US, NATO and their Arabian allies support the takfiris in Syria and on the other they are supposedly bombing them in Iraq. The bombing is not aimed at destroying the terrorists but to create the illusion that the US is trying to “degrade and destroy” them, as US President Barack Obama announced in his September 10 speech. The real purpose is to create the pretext to send ground troops to attack Syrian government forces with the express purpose of overthrowing the government of Bashar al-Asad. General Martin Dempsey, Chairman US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on September 16 that if air strikes do not achieve the objective, he would recommend putting “boots on the ground.”
