Title: God’s
Terrorists – The Wahhabi Cult and the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad
Author: Charles Allen
Publisher: Little, Brown, 2006 (First)
ISBN: 978-0-316-72997-0
Pages: 349
Terrorism has been the most critical factor on
global agenda, ever since the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001.
Almost the entire TV-viewing world knows who Osama bin Laden was and a few even
know about the Wahhabi cult to which the master terrorist belonged. But the origin
and development of the sect which envelops the whole of Saudi Arabia under its
umbrella and protects the holy cities of Islam is a tale not told before in a
popularly accessible book. Charles Allen does all this, in addition to linking
it to the political unrest in India during the 19th century and goes
on to provide a sequel to that all, in the post-Soviet resurgence of Islamic terrorism.
By a long stretch of logic and narration of events, Allen has succeeded in making
an impression of presenting a credible history. But to an observant eye, the
link turns out to be tenuous and the message implicit in the text is that the
Indian Mutiny of 1857, or the First War of Independence, is nothing but a
battle stimulated by calls of jihad (holy war) and the rebellion may be
compared to acts of sabotage and terrorism indulged by the fidayeen (suicide) warriors exploding themselves in the crowded
streets of Baghdad or Peshawar. This is utterly illogical and the author has completely
missed the thread of religious unity which bound the nation together for a
brief moment in 1857 before being frayed out again towards the disastrous
partition of the country in 1947. Basically, the book is structured into three
parts – origin and growth of Wahhabi cult in Arabia during the 18th
century, origin, growth and battles of fundamentalist and violent Islamic cults
in India encouraged by the Wahhabi concept in 19th century, and the
origin and growth of international terrorism in the aftermath of the collapse
of the Soviet Union. All of these phenomena is presented as the direct effects
of Wahhabi influence in terms of religious sanction, fighting men and
petro-dollars. However, when the last page was turned, it was felt that this
book is a byproduct of the research which he had for his earlier work Soldier Sahibs and that Allen had found
a conveniently attractive theme of Wahhabism to join them.
The book presents a succinct picture of the
origins and spread of Wahhabism in Arabia during the 18th century
and how the house of Saud, rulers of the land later, came to be associated with
them. Mohammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab was born in 1702 in Nejd, in the hinterland of
Arabian Peninsula where Riyadh is situated. He believed in a thoroughly bigoted
and violent form of religion, taking inspiration directly from the Koran and
the prophet’s deeds. His preaching was directed against his own Muslim fellows,
whose corrupt practices Wahhab could not approve of. His ambitions touched a crucial
stage in 1744 when he married off his daughter to the tribe of Mohammed ibn
Saud, and forged an alliance with him with Wahhab as the Imam and Saud as the
Amir. The Wahhabi cult, thus fortified, invaded other neighboring tribes and
even annexed the holy cities of Mecca and Medina by 1804. By this time, the
titles of temporal head and spiritual leader had been merged into the person of
Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud, son of Mohamed, under whose banners Wahhabism turned into
powerful military force. But, upon occupying holy cities, they chose to enforce
their exclusivist religious ideals and stopped the Hajj pilgrimage and
desecrating the tombs of Islam’s holiest men, situated in the city. This blatant
act galvanized Islamic society into action by sending a strong Egyptian force
under the aegis of the Ottoman Sultan, under whose jurisdiction the cities lay.
Wahhabis were trounced and forced back to their desert homes. In the mean time,
they had preached their first brand account of religion to pilgrims assembled
from all parts of the globe. The Wahhabis came back to occupy their lost
territories in the early part of 20th century, which is the story of
the ascendancy of the House of Saud as the rulers of present day Saudi Arabia.
Charles Allen makes the connection between
the spread of fanaticism in India with the short term fluorescence of Wahhabism
in Arabia. Syed Ahemd, a preacher himself from Patna got converted to the new precept
while doing Hajj. He recruited several followers and wanted to fight Jihad
against the British and the Hindus. According to Islam, a Jihad is to be waged
from a country where Islamic ideals are enshrined. So, the staging post has to
be somewhere outside the British domains, or at least somewhere in the
periphery. He established camp in Yusufzai hill country of Sittana on the north
of Peshawar. Here, he defied the authorities, but was summarily defeated and
killed by the Sikh army at Balakot in 1831. The first lighting up of Wahhabism
was thus extinguished.
A rather detailed account of the 1857 mutiny
is given in the book. Even though Allen tries his best to link Wahhabi
fundamentalism to the outbreak of hostilities against the British, the evidence
don’t support the farfetched conclusion. The entire native war effort is
painted in the cold light of religious fanaticism without any supporting facts.
By the author’s own account, Wahhabis failed to evoke any reaction among the
public at Patna, where their head quarters was situated. This was achieved
allegedly by keeping three senior clerics of the movement under preventive
detention till the upset was extinguished. By this argument, the Wahhabis
didn’t take part in the outrage. Then the author brings out a new point that
there were two factions in the sect, called Delhi-ites and Patna-ites and that the
former took active part in the uprising. Even if this aspect is factually
correct, it does not in any way reflect upon the protagonists’ fanaticism as
the real course of their joining the battle against the British. The same weak
thread joins the Wahabis to the assassination of Lord Mayo, the Viceroy, while
he was visiting the prison complex in the Andaman Islands. A Pathan, who was
transported for life to the islands, stabbed the viceroy under cover of
darkness. The government couldn’t establish any connection with the Wahhabis
and the assassin’s intentions were not clearly understood. Even with this scant
evidence, Allen spins a yarn about secret involvement of the fanatics in this gruesome
murder. The latter part of the book deals with the punitive and disciplinary
expeditions that were carried out by army against the restless Pathans in the
North West Frontier province and the as yet unmarked boundary with Afghanistan.
Here too, Allen presents a feeble case. The so called Hindustani fanatics, who
were the Wahhabis, played only a minor role as evidenced by descriptions of the
battles. The tribesmen, who were equally or more fanatic, and who considered
outsiders to be not worthy of life engaged in brutal acts, which caused the
British to intervene militarily. This seems to be the real thing, in a
nutshell.
But this counter argument is not at all
intended to exonerate the Wahhabis and a large section of 19th
century Indian Muslims from the charge of bigotry. Many were fanatics who
desperately wanted to hoist the green flag of Islam over India once again,
after a gap of 150 years since the death of Aurangzeb. The Mughal dynasty’s
loss of real power after 1707 resulted in the erosion of large swathes of
territories, wealth and power from Muslim hands. The aristocracy entrenched in
hereditary manners and some hardliners found this difficult to digest. To crown
it all, we also read about the trenchant individualism and strict moral chores
of the Pathan bound by tribal ethics, which treated all the insiders as
brothers and the outsiders as mortal enemies.
The book ends with a message on how to rein
in growth of fundamentalism in Islamic nations. He exhorts the west to remove some
of the issues that cause grievances in the Muslim world such as establishment
of a viable state in Palestine and withdrawal of American forces from Iraq.
This advice seems to be a product born out of pure naiveté. The hardliners
among Muslims are doubtless few, but they exert an influence disproportionate
to their numerical size, as the moderates don’t dare to speak out against them.
These hardliners are now fully occupied at these two locations. It strife is
removed from there, they will look at other places of struggle, and if they
don’t find it, they will happily oblige to make them! Of course Palestine and
Iraq need to be resolved in a way congenial to Palestines and Iraqis, but
believing that Islamic fundamentalism will vanish with that is sheer folly.
This book may better
be understood as a byproduct of the author’s research for his earlier work, ‘Soldier Sahibs’ reviewed earlier in this
blog. As he confesses at one point, he failed to take cognizance of fanaticism
as a factor in the strife going relentlessly on, in the North West. So, with the
material already collected for the earlier work, Allen links the origin and
spread of Wahhabism in Arabia as a plausible reason. However, as explained
earlier, the connection is tenuous, or at least, Charles Allen failed to
convincingly establish the connection.
The book is very well
researched and is a starting ground for further research for interested
readers. The excellent index and an impressive bibliography help a big deal in
this regard. The book contains a few monochromatic illustrations, most of them
water colour paintings which have not done justice to the content owing to poor
clarity and appeal. A good glossary is also included to help the reader find
out the meaning of Arab words used throughout.
The book is
recommended.
Rating: 3 Star
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