Wahhabism In KSA

Too many critics of Islam, including atheists, fail to appreciate just how diverse and varied Islam can be. There are things you can say that apply to all or most Muslims, as is the case with Christianity, but there are many more things which only apply to some or a few Muslims. This is especially true when it comes to Muslim extremism because Wahhabi Islam, the primary religious movement behind extremist Islam, includes beliefs and doctrines not found elsewhere. It would be a mistake and unethical to criticize all of Islam on the basis of doctrines particular to Wahhabi Muslims. Modern Islamic extremism and terrorism simply cannot be explained or understood without looking at the history and influence of Wahhabi Islam. This means that it's important from an ethical and an academic perspective to understand what Wahhabi Islam teaches, what's so dangerous about it, and why those teachings differ from other branches of Islam.

Muhammad Ibn Abdul-Wahhab (d. 1792) was the first modern Islamic fundamentalist and extremists. He made the central point of his reform movement the principle that absolutely every idea added to Islam after the third century of the Mulsim era (about 950 CE) was false and should be eliminated. Muslims, in order to be true Muslims, must adhere solely and strictly to the original beliefs set forth by Muhammad. The reason for this extremist stance, and the focus of Wahhabi's reform efforts, was a number of popular practices which he believed represented a regression to pre-Islamic polytheism. These included praying to saints, making pilgrimages to tombs and special mosques, venerating trees, caves, and stones, and using votive and sacrificial offerings.

In contrast to popular superstitions, Muhammad Ibn Abdul-Wahhab emphasized the unity of God. This focus on absolute monotheism; to him and his followers is referred to as “Unitarianism”. Everything else he denounced as heretical innovation. Muhammad Ibn Abdul-Wahhab was further dismayed at the widespread laxity in adhering to traditional Islamic laws: questionable practices like the ones above were allowed to continue, whereas the religious devotions which Islam did require were being ignored. This created indifference to the plight of widows and orphans, adultery, lack of attention to obligatory prayers, and failure to allocate shares of inheritance fairly to women. Muhammad Ibn Abdul-Wahhab characterized all this as being typical of “Jahiliyya”, an important term in Islam which refers to the barbarism and state of ignorance which existed prior to the coming of Islam. Muhammad Ibn Abdul-Wahhab thus identified himself with the Prophet Muhammad and at the same time connected his society with what Muhammad worked to overthrow. Because so many Muslims lived in “Jahiliyya”, Muhammad Ibn Abdul-Wahhab accused them of not being true Muslims after all. Obviously, Wahhabi religious leaders reject any reinterpretation of the Qur’an when it comes to issues settled by the earliest Muslims. Wahhabis thus oppose the 19th and 20th century Muslim reform movements which reinterpreted aspects of Islamic law.

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I wrote the following short story, which is a mixture of factual incident that happened to me when I was working in Saudi Arabia, and of course fiction.

Mind-To-Mind-Sharing
By: Aadel Al-Mahdy

Looking out the window he watched the dark-blue celestial canopy that expanded to rain the approaching night’s coolness over the city of Riyadh and the afar desert where sand dunes have majestically stood under the abating sun. He was about to check on his son who was playing in the kitchen when his wife’s voice broke the silence.

“Hey, honey! Do you know lemon was expensive, today?”, his wife said. “Ummm, you’re back” he wondered. “What’re you doing? Where is Khaled?”, His wife inquired, but he quickly answered, “He’s playing in the kitchen”
“All by himself? Remember last time” his wife said; her tone of voice strongly criminalizing. “Here it goes; the tip of the iceberg”, he whispered to himself and then talked gently to avoid getting into argument, “Last time I checked on him, he was doing fine”
But hearing a scream coming from the kitchen, he rushed out of his study room and shouted, “What on earth is going on?” His voice was inquisitively sharp. She yelled, “See what happen, when you leave the boy alone”, her voice was oozing with severe blaming.

In the kitchen, Khaled was sitting on the floor in a pool of water that covered the whole place, and nibbling on a peach like a rabbit with the only teeth he got; his upper front ones. In the meanwhile, peaches, apples, apricots were scattered everywhere while the empty fruit basked was sailing like an escape-pod being pushed by a cascade of tiny waves created by water gushing out of the washer’s draining hose.

Khaled raised his hands, wanting his father to carry him and then muttered, “Dadda, dadda”, and then smiled innocently. He laughed and picked him up and said while tickling his tummy, “You naughty boy, you took the washer’s hose out of the floor drain again. You little devil”
Khaled giggled. His wife then said, words coming from between her teeth, “So this is his second time! What a waist of detergent!” - She was so furious that her jugulars popped, her face turned red and her distended abdomen shook.

“Calm down! You are pregnant No harm done”, he said. His wife yelled, “What! Look at this miss”
“We are on the first floor. The kitchen floor is an inch lower than the rest of the apartment and do not worry, I‘ll clean the miss” he said and held Khaled’s chin in his hand and smiled, “Hey, buddy, did you enjoy it. I hope you did!” he added whispering.

“You don’t care, ah, damn it, look at this! He nibbled each piece of fruit. Damn it, we have visitors coming today” his wife yelled. “No problem. I’ll buy some more”, he said and started to leave. “That is not the point“ his wife yelled again. “Here it comes, the That-is-not-the-point. The first part of an ugly looking thread of argument” He murmured. “And where the hell are you going with the boy?”, she yelled. He pleaded, “Back to my study. Please, stop yelling!" - “I am not yelling. I need to change the boy’s cloth”, his wife yelled and then added with a voice full of sarcasm, “Can’t you see the body is soaking wet?"

“I’ll change his cloth. Please stop worrying!”, he said and left. Half an hour later, her yelling echoed again, “Have you changed the boy’s cloth?” she yelled. “Yes. You’re still yelling”, he answered and then wondered, “I thought you would be calm by now”

“I am calm. The bloody kitchen is now clean” ”, she shouted; annoyance resonating. “You shouldn’t. I was going to do it myself”, he said. “Why didn’t you?” she answered, her tone of voice challenging. “Priorities. I had to change Khaled’s cloth first”, he answered. “Ok, Mr. mentally organized. It is too late for that now”, she said. He did not say anything, but carried his son on his shoulders and walked towards the apartment door. “Where the hell are you going?”, she yelled. “To the store, to buy fruits”, he said and then whispered to himself, “To any hell other than this one”

On his way to the vegetables and fruits shop that was closed to his residence, his mind roamed ─ He remembered when he fell in love with his wife. She was four years younger than him when he married her; beautiful and educated, and as he thought then, compatible to him. But time revealed to him a bitter-tasting fact; married couples needed not be compatibly parallel to each other. Had they been, they would become an amoebic extension to one another; a boring sameness capable of nipping any relation in the bud. Dissimilarity, on the other hand, would be an interesting motivator; curiosity stirrer for gaining more profound acquaintance, hence one would journey for learning, for openness and expansion and also would fear not to compromise to meet mid-ways.
He also remembered that he never had an intellectual discussion with his wife as her lack of self-confidence and self-esteem; an outcome of abuse inflected on her in her childhood by her parents, moulded her into a cynical adult. He thought her ridicule was a self-defence mechanism; a dark cloud that might hopefully disperse by passage of time and by a councillor’s assistance.
In fact, had he not had his son, Khaled, he would have divorced her a while ago. So he had to swallow his pride and disregard her ridicule, particularly when another child was on the way. Unable to fight the urge, he kicked a pebble he saw on the curb so hard that it flew like a swift arrow across the street and hit the park’s fence making a loud noise.

Inside the shop, Khaled named the fruits, “Appul, appul, arcot, nana” ─ His father laughed and said, “Yes, Khaled, and don’t forget the pomegranate. They’ve hard skin, buddy, and your rabbit-like teeth won’t be able to go through it”

But on their way back, Khaled was excited at the sight of the swings in the park. So he tightened his legs around his father's nick and cried, “Wing, wing”, his father said, “Ok, Khaled”, and then added, “Take it easy! We’ll go to the park, but we have to be home before it is dark”

The sun’s eyebrow peeked from behind the low buildings that batched the horizon’s line but seemingly not for long. A little wind blew just in time to reduce the lingering heat left behind by the Arabian solar inferno.

The park was almost empty. An old man with a long beard, died with henna, was sitting on the grass with a boy who seemed to be his grandson. “Judging by the type and way he is wearing his ghutra, he seems to be a mutawa, Khaled” He said to his son, but Khaled said, “Wing, wing”

Aiming for the swings, he saw a woman sitting on a bench adjacent to the swings’ area, holding the leash of a small beautiful dog which squatted by her feet. She seemed to be in her early fifty, still beautiful, and the fair colour of her skin and of her hair, that reached down to cover her shoulders, bespoke of her Scandinavian origin. So many expatriates in this country and I am one of them, he thought and then talked to Khaled, “Hey, Khaled, would you like to pat that dog”, Khaled’s eyes shone immediately in excitement and clapped his hands in a commanding manner. His father laughed, “Honey, this dog is for real. It won’t flip over” ─ Khaled has a mechanical dog at home that flips over when someone claps his hands.

He approached the lady to ask her for permission to let his son pat her dog, but baffled, he stood half-way; his eyes transfixed on the lady. “What in hell is going on?” He whispered to himself ─ resting on her thigh, the lady’s hand cupped to support her head while slightly bending forward; her whole body was shaking rhythmically as though she was sobbing.

He put Khaled down and walked him towards her. Hearing their approaching foot steps, she rose up her head and looked at them. “God, her eyes are brimming with tears!”, he whispered to himself again and then greeted her. She did not utter a word; her lips were shivering and her body was still jerking. “Can I help you in any way”, he kindly asked her. She pointed with her forefinger to the old man and to her dog while tears were running down her cheeks. He then quickly told her, “I think I understand. He stoned your dog. Didn’t he?” She nodded, still unable to speak. “Was the dog on the leash?”, he asked her. She nodded again. He then said, “Well, I want you to calm down. Nobody will hurt you or your dog any more as long as I am here. I’ll handle the situation” He inhaled a deep breath and then resumed his talk, “I was about to ask you for letting my son pat your dog. Well, I guess it is too late for this now. But can you please look after him while I am talking to the old man” She said, chocking on her tears, “Yes you can”

The old man was in his early seventies; skinny and the facial dark skin of his lozenge-like face, the wrinkles and creases around his eyes and the way in which he placed the ghutra on his head; all bespoke of him being one of the old generation with whom he had arguments about religion and they proved to be ignoramus zealots. He squatted on the ground juggling a couple of pebbles which he has taken from a tiny mound of stones standing before the old man’s grandson.

“Assalamu-Alaykum” he greeted the old man. “Wa-Alaykum Assalam” the old man greeted him back. He then asked him, “Why have you and your grandson been thrown stones at the lady’s dog?”

The old man mumbled a whole bunch of religious crab, so he decided to quickly put an end to this nonsense. He said to him, “Listen old fart, and listen well...I am not going to level with you and explain how wrong you are... you are a fool and your way of thinking is full of crab...neither am I going to waste my time reasoning by quoting verses from the Qur’an or sayings of the Traditions of the prophet that stand against your action...but, I am going to tell you this, I live in that building...over there...and if I ever see you again casting a stone at a dog or even a pig...your immortal enemy, I’ll personally see to it that I’ll pin you down to the ground and pluck the died hair of your beard one by one so you’ll suffer”

The old man’s face turned pale, but he continued, “Now, I want you to get the hell out of here, or else I’ll use my camera ─ he pretended to be looking for his camera in his pocket ─ and photograph you, and the lady, and the dog, and write a report, and send it to all newspapers abroad, thus you and your king along with the head of the religious Wahhabi authority will be a laughing stock...then let us see what your king will do to you if that ever happen”

As if touched by a high voltage power source, the man jumped to his feet and quickly left, dragging his grandson behind him. He then yelled, “Hey, you forgot your pebbles’ arsenal behind”, but his yelling fell on deaf ears.

Back to the lady, he found her in complete astonishment. “The man left as if he’s seen ghost. What did you say to him?”, the lady asked him. “Oh, it is a long story, but I doubt you’ll ever see him around here anymore”, he said. “Thanks. Isn’t he one of the religious authorities?”, she asked. “The Mutawwa’een. Yes, he is and an ignoramus one, too”, he said. “Who are those people?”, she wondered. He said, “They are followers of a zealot who lived during the Ottomans’ time. A religious reformer and a leader of a movement that was named after him” She then asked, “What does that word Mutawa’een mean?” He said, “It a plural of a singular word called mutawwa which means amongst other things, one who bends, one who makes flexible, one who forcibly sets straight”

looking at Khaled who was lying flat on the ground and giggling as the dog was on top of him licking his face, he smiled. “So he is the religious Fender-Bender”, the lady said. “You can say that. I see your sense of humour is back!”, he said, laughing. “Did I offend you in any way?”, she wondered. “Oh, no, you didn’t. As a matter of fact, I am against their strict views. But contrary to the young generation, it is just fair to mention, the old generation must be given some credits. Aside from their pre-set perception of specific religious matters, his generation has many good qualities which I find lacked in the young one”, he said. “Why is that?”, she wondered again. “Honesty, faithfulness, loyalty, humility, generosity; all are desert principles. On the other hand, many of the oil-rich generation, who never herded animals under the desert blazing sun, but lived in air-conditioned houses and drove expensive cars, are arrogant and notably shallow”, he explained. “I have been here for while, but I have never had serious talks with any of them”, she said. “Just hope not to meet the ones who are under the false impression that they have already had all science and technology and that they are starting from where the other stopped; a slogan I have heard once from a young idiot”, he said. “People are impressed by all what the money’s has achieved so far”, she said. “Those are the fools who are unaware of the fact that their country still lacks the human and industrial infrastructure required for the so called start-from-where-other-stopped”, he said, and then added, “But would you believe me if I tell you that some of the open-minded Saudis whom are also Mutawwa’een, but well-educated ones” She said, “I have just been unlucky today, I guess” He said, laughing. “I guess so. And some of them confided in me their disapproval of the way in which the religious authority was handling the situation in the country; the total economy of which relied on the expertise of foreign expatriates who were of different cultures and different beliefs” - "Can’t they do something about it?”, she wondered. He shrugged while scanning the sky with his eyes. He then smiled as the mystical hurries-like lunar face unveiled by the absence of the day’s blazing sun, shone intensively.

The age-contours on the Scandinavian’s face which started to look familiar to him were emphasized. Where did I see her?, he thought, and then said, “Look at that! It is a full moon. God, it is so beautiful and mesmerizing”

“Oh, yes it is indeed” she said while looking at the moon. “I guess the old fart had E.S.P.” He then commented. “A what?” she wondered; her voice was sharp. He said, “Extra Sensor Perception, and it must have pre-set the old fart’s mind to act so foolishly” She aplogized for bein totally confused, “I am sorry. I’m not following”

“Haven’t you heard of the full moon influence? It is said when the moon is full, crime ratio increases” he said. “I have heard of that before, but…” He interrupted her, “Well, I think the observation is nothing but a pseudo-scientific” She said, “Oh, in fact, what that man did to me and to my poor dog is a crime alright” she said. “I agree with you” he answered politely.

He then pointed to his residence and said, “By the way, I live in that building over there. I am married. My wife is at home. She speaks superb English. If you like to have a chat with her, a cup of cocoa or just sit and relax, I’ll be honoured. We can also continue chatting about the subject”

“The honour will be mine. I’ll be glad to do that. My husband is going to pick me up in an hour or so. Would I be able to use your phone to tell him where I am?” ” she asked. “By all means” said he and then turned his face to his son and said, “Let us go, Khaled. Enough playing with the doggie! Let us go before Mama is worried”

The four of them then marched towards his house.

“Hey, Khaled, look how shiny that constellation is!”, he talked to his son. Looking where his father pointed, Khaled raised his hands and murmured, “Star”, and then clapped his hands. “They are called the big dipper. A big ladle to serve dinner to the celestial realms in their cool spatial corridors after departure of the blazing sun” he told his son.

“Oh, that is poetic” she said. “Thanks, but I wish I was a poet” said he, thanking her. “May I ask you a question?”, said she. “By all means”, he quickly replied. “Your son’s name. Is it true that Arabic names are descriptive and meaningful?”, she asked. “Most of them are” said he. She then asked, “What does Khaled mean, then?” He answered, “Khaled means immortal. I named him after an Arabian brilliant general who has never been defeated in a battle; he conquered all Arabia and then the Byzantine Near East” But she asked him again, “Are you preparing Khaled to be a warrior?” He patted Khaled on the head and then smiled, “We’re all warriors in our own ways. Not in the lexical sense of the word, though”, and then added after realizing that they were in front of his apartment door, “Ah, here we are”

He rang the door bell, but before inserting the key into the key hole, he added, “A doctor is a warrior, so are an engineer, a writer and a farmer. Anyways, I can’t wait until the second one is born”She asked, “Am I right if I assume that your wife is pregnant already?” He said. “Yes you are” and then turned the key and shouted after he had opened the door, “Honey, we are home. We have a visitor, oh, what the hell! Honey, are you alright?”

He was worried as he saw his wife sitting on the sofa in the living room huffing and puffing while her knees were spread apart. He rushed towards her, held her hand and asked her again what was wrong with her.

“Pangs of delivery. I think she is due right now”, the Scandinavian said. He screamed, “What! Delivery! She is due by the end of next month”, his wife whispered, “Honey, my water broke” his wife whispered and then added, “Who is she?”

“Eva is my name. Don’t be alarmed. It is an early delivery. What is your name?”, the Scandinavian said in a calm voice. “Arwa” his wife answered. “Oh, it is a nice name. it sound musical. Ok, Arwa, I want you not to worry” ”, the Scandinavian said in a calm voice, and then looked at him and said, “I need some clean towels, and call the University Hospital ambulance, not any other hospital, and boil some water!”

“What are you going to do?”, his wife asked her. She told her that they had to be ready before the ambulance came and asked her not to worry as she was a nurse at the maternity ward of UH.

In the meantime, he went to his bedroom to bring the towels, but when he emerged from the bathroom, he saw his wife already lying on her back in the bed; her legs bent and spread apart, and Eva sitting next to her holding her hand while her other hand was gently stroking her distended abdomen. He placed the towels beside his wife and went to call the ambulance and boil some water.

In the kitchen, while he was boiling the water, he heard one scream followed by a short period of silence, and then he heard a sound no father in the world would fail to recognize though he might have not heard it before, then the doorbell rang. He ran to open the door. There were two nurses holding a stretcher. He asked them to come in, and then added that his wife was in the bedroom with a friend and that she might have already delivered the baby. The nurse pushed the stretcher towards the bedroom.

“Hi, Eva, what’re you doing here?”, seeing Eva holding the baby by his feet, the brunette nurse asked her. “Delivering a baby, Suzan”, Eva said, handing the baby to her, “Here you go, umbilical cord already cut and tied. This is the quickest and easiest delivery I have ever done so far”, issuing a sigh of relief, his wife said, “What a big relief!”, and then asked Suzan if she and Eva knew each other. “Eva is the Maternity Ward Supervisor at the University Hospital and she is my boss”

The other nurse, apparently a Filipino, checked the baby, and burst out saying, “Congratulation! You have got a baby boy” He said, looking at the baby's male organ, “Really. Oh, look at his little thing...I am going to name him Hamzah”

“Name who, his Weenie?!” surprised, the Filipino nurse inquired. Though she was still weak, his wife burst out laughing. He looked at the nurse while placing his hand on his mouth to conceal a smile and said patting the nurse on the shoulder, “Of course not. Weenie is already named weenie. I don’t need to rename it. I meant the baby”

The nurse’s face blushed, but when he bent to kiss his boy, she shouted, “Don’t, don’t kiss him!”

He was confused for a second but then said quickly, “Ah, adult’s germs. Ok buddy, how dare I am to spoil your clean slate! Damn those adult’s germs!”, and then asked the nurse, “Can I at least touch him on the cheek with the tip of my forefinger”, the Pilipino nurse nodded.

His wife and Hamzah were transferred to the stretcher. On the way out, he looked at Khaled who was sitting on the sofa playing with his toys. “Khaled, look, you have got a baby brother” Khaled raised his head and murmured, “Beby”, and quickly returned to playing with his toys.

“By the way, Eva, I am going to accompany my wife. Will you be able to look after Khaled until I am back? If any thing happen, just call me”, he said. “By all means, my husband is coming to pick me up soon. I’ll then bring Khaled to the hospital. Hamzah may have to be placed in the incubator for a few days. I’ll be there to make sure that everything is alright” He said, “Thank you very much! I am in your debts”, and then walked to the apartment door, but Eva stopped him, wondering, “I am curious. What does Hamazah mean?”

He smiled then posed like a lion standing on his hinds ready for attack, bared his teeth and roared twice. “Ah, a jaguar” she cried. He shook his head and said, “Pretty close, but with a mane, Eva. A feline with a mane”, and then closed the door behind him.

The End