Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: MosesKnows
I have done some research on this.

To get an answer to the excellent question you raise, one has to go back approx. 250 years to a remote desert corner of a territory of the Ottoman Empire called Arabia. There, around the middle of the 18th century, an influential tribal leader named Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdul Wahhab formulated a unique view on contemporary Islam, which saw the Ottoman sultans as corrupt, Westernized backsliders who were moving away from the purity of Mohammed's teachings.

Initially, his teachings were seen as heresy, rejected and even banned by the Ottomans, but his influence grew over time. The sect he founded came to be known after him as Wahhabism. Its early manifestation was of a terrorist nature, attacking innocent Muslim pilgrims and other travellers to Arabia. Fortunately, the Ottoman Empire, even in its decrepitude, was able to stop this menace from spreading outside Arabia.

But his teachings attracted numerous followers inside Arabia, and with the eventual ascension of the al-Saud dynasty in post WWI Arabia, and the subsequent discovery of oil, Wahhabism had large resources at its disposal.

OBL is simply following the philosophy of Abdul Wahhab, which abhors modernity and Western influence, which it regards as corrupting, and pines for a return to the early days of Islam, when brutal conquest helped spread the word of Mohammed.

11 posted on 01/18/2004 2:08:41 PM PST by nwrep
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: nwrep
Interception- Ty Law. Pats on the way . . .
13 posted on 01/18/2004 2:11:52 PM PST by Burkeman1 ("If you see ten troubles comin down the road, nine will run into the ditch before they reach you")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies ]

To: nwrep
Excellent analysis!

On a personal note, I'm very curious about the history of the Ottoman Empire and would like to do some reading on it. Can you (or anyone) make some recommendations?

44 posted on 01/18/2004 3:40:53 PM PST by Bean Counter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson