Patrick Cockburn of Britain’s Independent reports on a new
study soon to be published by Dr. Fouad J. Kadhem, a researcher at the Centre
of Academic Shia Studies in London. Kadhem surveyed the Saudi twittersphere and provides
a very interesting sample of Saudi opinion. In Cockburn’s summary:
. . . Many, though by no means all
Saudis, applauded during the summer as Isis swept through northern Iraq and eastern
Syria. Mani’a bin Nasir al-Mani tweeted approvingly: “The great land of Allah
belongs neither to kings nor to nations. Those who deserve the caliphate are
those who implement the Sharia of Allah on the earth and on people. Apostates
and traitors deserve nothing but the sword.” Later, al-Mani himself goes to
Syria to join the forces of Islamic State.
Those commenting on events in the
months since Isis took Mosul on 10 June are conscious that Saudi Arabia will
not remain immune from the crisis. One hashtag is titled: “what do you do if
Isis enters Saudi Arabia”. It should be explained that tweets refer to Isis as
“Daesh”, after the Arab acronym of its name, or simply to “Islamic State”.
Supporters of Isis often express antagonism towards the Saudi government and
suggest that Isis has many sympathisers within the Kingdom. Abdul Hakim
al-Falih writes that “by the will of Allah, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi [the leader of
Isis and self-declared caliph] accompanied by the soldiers of the Islamic
caliphate, to teach the [Saudi] police a proper Eid [religious festival].”
If there are Isis supporters in
Saudi Arabia, how numerous are they? A person calling himself Azf Minfarad
declares “no need [for Isis] to enter …Our country is full of them”. A similar
point is made by “Fata al-Arab”: “Islamic State is on the Saudi borders and its
supporters inside Saudi Arabia are more than its organised members and armed
fighters.”
With regard to the ideology of
Isis, several people comment that this has long been present in Saudi Arabia.
“Luma” says: “It’s normal: all our life we have lived with Isis and its
thoughts, its schools and its curriculum.”
Evidence of the similarity between
Wahhabism and Isis is that in the third of Syria seized by Isis, it is
plagiarising Saudi textbooks for use in schools. A few Saudis think there is
poetic justice in the threat facing their country, one person calling himself
“Aqil Hur” (Free Mind) saying simply “magic rebounds on the magician” or, in
other words, the tables have turned.
Education and religious policy –
and the Wahhabi clergy – are widely blamed for spreading extremism. Souad
al-Shimmary replies to his own question “Where did Daesh come from?” saying
“it’s our product returned to us”. Rajah al-Jihni puts the blame squarely on
the education system in Saudi. He says, “your schools are the ones that produce
Daesh … what are you waiting for when you seek this educational policy?”
There are interesting critical
comments about the case of Faisal Shaman al-Anizy, a Saudi doctor who joined Isis
in Iraq. Many condemn him for taking part in fighting against innocent people
and blame Wahhabi preachers for turning him into a suicide bomber. Abdullah
al-Kwalit tweets “you [the Saudi government] should punish these snakes
[preachers] … Allah dam[n] them”. And Halimah asks what was it that turned “a
doctor who treats patients into a killer who bombed the bodies of innocent
people”.
The Wahhabi clergy are not given to
self-criticism, but Adil al-Kalbani, a Wahhabi shaikh, who has for many years
led prayers as an Imam of the Holy Shrine in Mecca, says that “Isis is a Salafi
[fundamentalist] offshoot … a reality we should confront with transparency”.
Commenting on this admission, Abu Hamza al-Masa’ary says that IS is the fruit
of “the tree of Wah[h]abi preaching”.
But it is the Saudi education
system that critics return to again and again. Wael al-Qaim says “they did not
teach me that one day what we are learning will be implanted by Daesh and its
offshoots”. Somebody else suggests the Saudi state borrow a curriculum from
neighbouring Oman which teaches “tolerance and religious pluralism” in order to
eliminate Isis ideology. A more radical commentator, “Arabic Batman”, says
changing the education curriculum is not enough and instead calls for “kicking
the al-Saud out of the country”.
Tweeters from Saudi Arabia’s Shia
minority say that they feel excluded and discriminated against. One recent
issue is a Saudi Ministry of Education order to withdraw a book designed for
elementary schools that accidentally showed a Shia religious man on the front
cover. Naji al-Zayed says that “the good thing about this incident is that it
revealed the hypocrisy of [the claim there is] equality among [Saudi] citizens
and the reality of sectarian discrimination”. To this, Nidhal Mom writes, “as a
Shia … they were fair to me, as they taught me that I am an infidel, libertine
and it’s their obligation to fight me”. . . .
* * *
Patrick Cockburn, “Saudis
Reveal Their True Feelings about ISIS on Twitter,” The Unz Review, October
4, 2014
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