The tide against misguided extremism is turning: The Moslem World needs to assess the damage of extremism (2/2)

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It is not clear how the offensive in Pakistan against Taliban Pakistan is going, but it is for certain that there is no turning back now for the extremists of the Wahhabi genre have shown that they are way behind in their outlook towards the modern world and in their attitude towards humanity in general. The experience with the Taliban in Afghanistan has shown that extremism only begets a violent culture that has zero returns for its proponents and a very dangerous backlash against the entire Moslem world in general. The menacing threat posed by the Taliban to the peace and stability of Pakistan was really a threat that the entire Moslem World could do without. The bloody murder of Mrs. Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 had shown the Pakistanis that Taliban was out to destroy all hopes of Pakistan ever joining the modern slate of nations that respect human life, tolerate all religious persuasions and look towards the progress and tranquility of humanity in general and the Moslem World in particular. This observer recalls when Mrs. Bhutto became Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988, some of the Salafi preachers in Yemen were actually alarmed that “the Pakistanis could not find among them a man to become Prime Minister of the country that they had to elect Benazir to the post.”

The Taliban and Wahhabi genre do not accept any form of democratic rule and they certainly do not recognize women yet as human beings not just worthy of becoming Prime Ministers of their country, but worthy and deserving of a good education. This observer also recalls that Benazir Bhutto was one of the few who recognized the danger of falling into the Saudi financial assistance deal in return for the spread of Wahhabism in Pakistan. The Saudis had promised to provide ample assistance to Benazir’s Government if they allowed Wahhabi Madrasas to be built throughout Pakistan. Of course, Benazir Bhutto recognized that these madrasas were the breeding grounds for scientifically reared Islamic youth who then become human lethal ordnances laden with TNT blowing up people left and right without any clear strategic objective or even human logic. She went on to build 7,000 schools a year in Pakistan to make sure that there was no excuse for having to succumb to Saudi pressure of this sort.

While we are on the tie-up of the Wahhabi Establishment in Saudi Arabia with the international flare up of terrorism, it is not surprising to find that the Saudis are not at all sure as to how to confront the recent backlash against the spread of Taliban or other militant groups that are as far away from Islam as any criminal gang could ever be. The Saudi press lately, especially the English versions pursued concerted efforts to associate Al-Qaeda either with Iran or with any form of Shiism in the world. This kind of association is somewhat puzzling to most Moslems of the world and it is not clear who the Saudis are trying to convince of this logic.

Some observers are quick to suggest that the Saudis might be fearful that the United States might indeed start sifting through the past relationship that Saudi Arabia has had with terrorism, notwithstanding the efforts by the Saudi press to disassociate with terrorism altogether. In the Moslem World, wherever one goes, all mainstream Moslems are quick to point out the great harm that the extremism of the Wahhabis genera has caused to the image of Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance and human cohesion, as well as a forward looking religion that insists that the attainment of knowledge and scientific progress is tantamount to living a worthy life for any Moslem and thus it is not clear why Wahhabi clerics (note that these clerics tend to behave like medieval monks of the Catholic Church who despised learning and had Christian husbands have their women tied up in chastity belts).

Surely, the likes of Abu Sayyaf or Abu Sayyaf or any of these not so recognized Moslem pious figures have raised eyebrows with their gun-toting images in front of the video cameras (there was one shooting this observer recalls in which Zarqawi was actually unable to get his automatic rife to shoot!). But these images are the kind of images extremists of the Wahhabi genre like to project. They saw in this as being appealing to the uneducated innocent pious Moslems and thus went out of their way to show how such extremists are the right protectors and defenders of the Moslem faith. However, they have now been worn out and with the bad results that these extremists have succeeded in achieving, not to mention the gory death that has always been associated with militants of this genre, many Moslems are no longer accepting extremism of any kind and surely not that of the Taliban genre. Thus from the reading of the Saudi press, one senses that the Wahhabi Establishment and their political and military backers, the House of Saud, are on the defensive. Even their press campaigns find areas of conflict between them. For example there was an article in Al-Shark Al-Awsat (aawsat.com/ english/news.asp?section=2&id=16758) last week that stated that Al-Qaeda fighters were heading towards Sa’ada to engage with the Houthis. Yet in an article in Al-Hayat, they said that Al-Qaeda was allied to the Houthis (www.daralhayat.com/portalarticlendah/17469). The former and the latter all were not slow in trying to associate some linkage of Al-Qaeda to Iran, but they did not show consistent thoughts or logic and thus indicate a sense of desperation within the religious and sovereign establishments in Saudi Arabia.



Hassan Al-Haifi has been a Yemeni political economist and journalist for more than 20 years. He may be blogged at:

http://com-senfromyem.blogspot.com/