How the Wahhabi Lobby Spins Islam

Family Security Matters ^ | 11/8/06 | Stephen Schwartz

[wagglebee]

I recently attended an event cosponsored by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), a parasitical attachment to the White House and Congress that has produced a notably repellent record of meddling here in the Balkans. The topic of the conference was Islam. Because it was held under "Chatham House rules," under which participants can be quoted only with their permission, I will not discuss any of the proceedings. 

 

I cannot, however, remain silent on an aspect of the meeting that I found outrageous. A female attendee, Hadia Mubarak, identified herself there as a researcher for the Gallup polling organization and affiliate of Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (CMCU), an academic entity best known for its whitewashing of Saudi-sponsored Wahhabism, the most extreme, violent, and fundamentalist sect in Sunni Islam.

 

Ms. Mubarak said almost nothing to me at the event. However, no more than three days had passed when I read an online statement by her, included in a Christian periodical called Church Executive (see www.churchexecutive.com/Page.cfm/PageID/6568). Because I have repeatedly criticized the Muslim Students Association of the U.S. and Canada (MSA) as an entity founded with Saudi money and supporting the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, Ms. Mubarak denounced me as, in effect, a liar, who bears, according to her specific words, "a deep hatred of Islam." 

 

Furthermore, the article described Ms. Mubarak as a member of another pro-Wahhabi group, the notorious Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

 

At this point, I am uncertain which aspect of this incident is more despicable: that Ms. Mubarak might parade in a policy forum under false colors, or the public disclosure of a link between MSA, CAIR, and CMCU, or the personal insult to me.

 

Let us begin with MSA. There is simply no denying that MSA was founded in 1963 in cooperation with the Muslim World League (MWL), a Saudi-Wahhabi organization that has been investigated by global authorities as a terror financier.   MSA enjoyed and continues to avail itself of significant funding. Opponents of Wahhabism who are themselves no friends of the U.S., and whose opinions are therefore of interest, have pointed out that MSA has banned criticism of the Saudis and Wahhabis, as well as non-Wahhabi Islamic literature, from its college branches (which exist throughout North America).  MSA officially endorsed Wahhabism, and in 1980 produced an edition of the perverse ramblings of Muhammad Ibn abd al-Wahhab, the 18th century founder of the crazed sect.

 

Wahhabism is totalitarian and MSA's extreme proclivities continue to be displayed on numerous campuses.   Only last year, a significant controversy occurred inside the MSA at Rutgers University over antidemocratic practices imposed on its members (see www.islamicpluralism.org/articles/2005a/troublerutgers1.htm).   Arguments by Ms. Mubarak and others will not change this; only abandonment of the Wahhabi orientation will improve the situation.

 

Let us then examine Ms. Mubarak and her double, or multiple, or consecutive memberships.   From MSA to CAIR to CMCU is a predictable path seen by those of us who understand how each of these efforts has benefited from Saudi-Wahhabi backing.   But the spin seemingly put on her associations by Ms. Mubarak is troubling, to say the very least.  Maybe she realized, or was told, that as obtuse and absurd as USIP is, it cannot benefit from consorting with CAIR. So perhaps she was guided by that consideration in putting her CMCU affiliation first.

 

But now I must express myself about myself.  I do not bear any hatred for Islam, whether deep or shallow. I became a Muslim in 1997. I have written extensively in defense of the faith of Islam. And indeed, even before I became Muslim, I was known for my sympathy for Muslims and interest in Muslim history and culture.  My encounter with Islam began when I was a mere teenager, forty years ago.  During the crisis of former Yugoslavia I was the first American journalist to report on Islam in Bosnia-Hercegovina and its indigenous, European character.   Since I believe that journalistic objectivity requires accuracy in reporting on evil, rather than neutrality, I publicized the suffering of Bosnian Muslims in their defense of their survival. 

 

The real message of Ms. Mubarak is the classic Wahhabi spin on Islam. That is, only one interpretation of the religion is acceptable, that propagated by the Saudis, and anybody who disagrees with the Wahhabi doctrine is an enemy to be attacked. With dreadful results, this view of Islam, denying its vital internal diversity, has come to dominate Muslims as well as non-Muslim so-called experts on Islam in the U.S.

 

 I will not be silenced by such tactics, and so long as there is breath in my body, I will not permit the Wahhabi spin on Islam to prevail before the Western public. Of that Ms. Mubarak and others like her may be very, very sure.

[wagglebee]

Wahhabism is totalitarian and MSA's extreme proclivities continue to be displayed on numerous campuses.

The Wabbabist Saudi royal family is responsible for a lot more of the problem than our government is willing to admit.

[atomic conspiracy]

Just follow the money.

We are well on our way to the kind of academic house of ill repute that exists in the UK. Academic Boycott Against Israel Continues

The British academic community is highly dependent on grants, fellowships, and general donations from Muslims, both immigrants and foreigners. These donors always attach strings, spoken or not, and every British academic who is honest will admit this, if only in private. This means the academic community in the broadest sense: museums, journals, and even freelance authors know that speaking up for Israel will eventually reduce their income and opportunities. We saw startling evidence of this recently in The Lancet, when that once respected journal published figures for Iraqi civilian casualties that would have shamed Goebbels and Baron Munchhausen.

Georgetown's Wahhabi propaganda mill is phenomenally well-financed (50M+) and lesser forms of bribery have made their way into every nook and cranny of what passes for academia these days.

[Emmett McCarthy]

Yes, you're right. We should be engaged in covert operations in Saubi Arabia whereby we assassinate those who are funding this stuff. Cutting off the head of the snake is the only answer.

As to Georgetown University - they, among other so-called "Catholic" schools, are the reason I will not have anything to do with Catholic education, especially Jesuit education. I say that as a long-ago graduate of two Jesuits schools.

[Paige]

Since he is so outspoken and critical of the very movement that promotes Terrorism, he best be well protected and know they will not tolerate his outspokenness as an alleged Islamic religious follower.

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting. Interesting. Informative. Educational.

[rawcatslyentist]

>"We should be engaged in covert operations in Saubi Arabia whereby we assassinate those who are funding this stuff."

That would be a big black rock in a silver lined vagina. It is the head of the snake! Its destruction will decapitate it. Of course it will bring about the instant awakening of its slaves in a call to arms. The question is, is this preferable to the slow sleeper status quo?

We know what needs to be done. When will we do it?

[river rat]

One bit of data that would certainly be interesting - would be a breakdown of all the "contributions" and "honorariums" going to American politicians from Islamic sources.... ALL Islamic sources..

Semper Fi

[JimRed]

I became a Muslim in 1997.

No, you did not. If you do not follow the basic tenents of the faith, including death or enslavement of all who decline to embrace it, you are not one of them. Ask them, they'll tell you so themselves, as they saw off your head!

[Ax]

The royal palaces in Riyadh are riddled with filthy snakes. The sooner they're all gone the better off the world will be. I won't be happy until all the royals are hanging upside down from the lampposts on the Corniche in Jeddah, with the crows pecking their eyes out.

[longtermmemmory]

are you making a reference to the meteor surrounded by silver at the Kabaa?

(for those who don't know its that big black cube moslems walk around during the hadj)

[durasell]

What does a sushi condiment have to do with Islam?

[wagglebee]

LMAO!

[durasell]

Yes, I am a wasabist.

[wagglebee]

are you making a reference to the meteor surrounded by silver at the Kabaa?

Yep, allah is a rock.

[mcg2000]

Excellent information ... great post!

[SIDENET]

Wahhabi Lobby

Is that anything like Hobby Lobby?

[Gondring]

Hobby Lobby ping!!

[Valin]

The problem is you (along with some others here) assume that Islamist/Salafist/Wahhabist ideology represent the mainstream of islamic thought.

The radical loser (Long Read)
Der Spiegel ^ | 1/12/05 | Hans Magnus Enzensberger

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1694568/posts

(snip)
Contrary to what the West appears to believe, the destructive energy of Islamist actions is directed mainly against Muslims. This is not a tactical error, not a case of "collateral damage". In Algeria alone, Islamist terror has cost the lives of at least 50,000 fellow Algerians. Other sources speak of as many as 150,000 murders, although the military and the secret services were also involved. In Iraq and Afghanistan, too, the number of Muslim victims far outstrips the death toll among foreigners. Furthermore, terrorism has been highly detrimental not only to the image of Islam but also to the living conditions of Muslims around the world.

The Islamists are as unconcerned about this as the Nazis were about the downfall of Germany. As the avant-garde of death, they have no regard for the lives of their fellow believers. In the eyes of the Islamists, the fact that most Muslims have no desire to blow themselves and others sky high only goes to show that they deserve no better than to be liquidated themselves. After all, the aim of the radical loser is to make as many other people into losers as possible. As the Islamists see it, the fact that they are in the minority can only be because they are the chosen few.
(snip)