Sri Lanka Easter Attacks: Saudi State-Sponsored Extremism Strikes Again

Can Sri Lanka and the world continue to take the Saudi threat lightly? How long will the Democrats and Republicans continue to support President’s Trump’s carte blanche to Saudi Arabia?
By Ali A. Taj

The world recoiled in horror this weekend at the news coming out of Sri Lanka. Multiple explosions at churches and hotels have resulted in 200 dead and over 500 people injured.  Sri Lanka’s Christians were celebrating Easter when tragedy stuck the beautiful Island. While the Sri Lankan government has put curbs on social media, reports indicate that the attack was the handiwork of Wahhabi Salafi terrorists who have returned from fighting in Syria.  These reports are as of yet unconfirmed, but they are in keeping with the modus operandi of Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi terrorism worldwide.

There are currently two reactions to the Sri Lankan tragedy, and both are dishonest narratives made by the willfully obtuse.  One reaction is the typical wishy-washy narrative that always accompanies these kinds of atrocities. The focus is to dilute and obfuscate the identity of both the victims and the perpetrators and ensure that we remain stuck in the same cycle of violence. The second type of reaction shares the same goal of perpetuating misery. It is based on sweeping generalizations and unmitigated hatred against religion, specifically Islam. 

Both these reactions are obfuscations that serve and protect Saudi sponsorship of Salafi Wahhabi dogma across the globe. From Boko Haram to ISIS, and from the Taliban to Al Qaeda, a common ideological thread runs through these terror groups. This is the Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi Salafi ideology whose South Asian counterpart is Deobandi.  For abbreviation purposes, it is becoming increasingly common to term this interconnected ideology as WSD (Wahhabi Salafi Deobandi)

Here is a recent study by Haaretz on how WSD has been spread in India:

But a wave of Saudi-funded hardline proselytization is sweeping across the country, and this extremism is eating away at South Asia’s indigenous and far more liberal, Sufi-based Barelvi traditions. This radicalization may be surfacing publicly now, but it has been building for years.”

As per the same article, this is how WSD adherents view mainstream Sunni and Shia Muslims:

The Barelvi tradition of Islam, founded by Ahmad Raza Khan (1856-1921) and which has 200 million followers in South Asia. Barelvis believe in personal devotion to Prophet Muhammad through intermediaries called dervishes (saints) and its distinct nature that has evolved over centuries of multicultural interaction with other faiths.

Wahhabism, Salafism and Deobandism, extremist and literalist schools of Islam on the march in India, consider it contaminated by folk practices alien to their purist interpretation of Islam.”

WSD ideologies did not come about in isolation but were the direct result of British colonialism.  This relation between Wahhabism and colonialism continues with the strong ties between the West and the Saudis – ties that have remained steady in spite of Saudi Arabia’s genocidal aggression against Yemen and the butchering of Washington Post commentator, Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Turkey.

In common with other religions, Islam has undergone several waves of reform movements, such as Wahhabism and Deobandism, but they have generally been reactionary – to “bring back” an authentic, puritan and orthodox form of Islam. Wahhabism and, in essence, Deobandism, aimed to bring back the Islam which prevailed in seventh-century Arabia during the time of Prophet Mohammed and the reign of the first four caliphs, often referred to as the Golden Age of Islam.” (Haaretz, April 2018)

Sri Lanka is not safe from the global Saudi-sponsored and US-backed spread of Wahhabi Salafi ideology. Here is Columbo Telegraph’s report, “The Wahhabi Invasion Of Sri Lanka”:

Sheihul Mufliheen M.S.M. Abdullah (Rah) died on December 6, 2006. Wahhabi preachers from the Thawheed network and the armed “Jihad” incited the local clerics and politicians (Jamiathul Ulama Kattankudy, the Muslim Federation of Mosques, and the Urban Council of Kattankudy) to oppose his burial according to Islamic rites, in the Meditation Centre, as he was a supposed “apostate.”

Another member of the Sufi order had died on December 1, 2006, was buried that day, and on December 2 was exhumed by Wahhabis on the same pretext and laid out on the soil. According to the Wahhabis and their accomplices, “apostates” could not be buried in Kattankudy.”

The initial reports that have emerged from Sri Lanka indicate that it is the Thawheed network that is behind these horrible attacks on Easter. Another report, “WikiLeaks: A Growing Wahhabi Presence In Eastern Province – Muslim Leaders”, highlights the dangerous threat posed to Sri Lanka’s security by WSD extremists:

Ambassador hosted prominent Muslim leaders for a roundtable discussion on Muslim issues to mark the holy month of Ramadan. Participants noted the absence of Al-Qaida and other radical Islamist terror groups but expressed concern about a growing Wahhabi presence, and the need to address social problems within the Muslim community before radical ideas begin to resonate with the youth.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is written on October 9, 2007 by the US Ambassador to Colombo Robert O. Blake.”

Can Sri Lanka and the world continue to take the Saudi threat lightly? And how long will the Democrats and Republicans continue to support President’s Trump’s carte blanche to Saudi Arabia?

Feature photo | Sri Lankan Navy soldiers stand guard in front of the St. Anthony’s Shrine a day after the series of blasts, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 22, 2019. Easter Sunday bombings of churches, luxury hotels and other sites that killed hundreds of people was Sri Lanka’s deadliest violence since a devastating civil war in the South Asian island nation ended a decade ago. Eranga Jayawardena | AP

Ali A. Taj is Editor in Chief of Let us build Pakistan (LUBP), alternative news and political platform that campaigns for the rights of all Pakistanis.

The Duty to Protect Sacred Sites — Part II

Bulldozing and demolishing does not honor the symbols set up by Allah

John Andrew Morrow

As Almighty Allah (swt) states in the glorious Qur’an, “Whoever honors the symbols set up by Allah [shall know that], verily, these [symbols derive their value] from the God-consciousness in the hearts of the [committed Muslims]” (22:32). So, what does “to honor” mean? What does “to magnify” mean? What does it mean to respect and venerate the signs of Allah, the symbols of Allah, the waymarks of Allah, and the offerings consecrated to Allah? I can tell you what it does not mean. It does not mean bulldozing, demolishing, desecrating, and defiling them. It is an exercise in futility to attempt to explain and debunk the reasons used by certain so-called jurists and Islamists to justify their atrocious actions. Intelligence and stupidity do not speak the same language. Civilization and barbarity share no common ground. The deaf will not hear. The dumb will not understand. And the blind will not see.

The glorious Qur’an is a living and breathing book filled with wisdom — past, present, and future. It is the tree of life of a vibrant, living, spiritual tradition. It speaks to us, engages with us, and challenges us. The Qur’an is not meant to be a decorative ornament. It was not revealed to live on a shelf. Rather, it was revealed to live in our hearts and minds. The Qur’an is active, not passive. The Qur’an is totally interactive. Multilayered and multifaceted, it speaks to each soul individually and to each community collectively. Each of its words is a passage to another world. It is a universe that unveils itself through exegesis.

“Have they not traveled through the land and seen how their predecessors met their end? They were mightier than them: they cultivated the earth more and built more upon it” (30:9), asks and affirms the Qur’an. These are not words of condemnation for historical and archeological sites; they are words that call for contemplation and from which we can draw important lessons. The glorious Qur’an evidences a remarkable knowledge of ancient civilizations and devotes many passages to people who have perished (3:137; 6:11; 12:109; 16:36; 22:46; 27:69; 30:9, 42; 35:44; 40:21, 82; 47:10), “Have you considered how your Lord dealt with [the people] of ʿ‘Ad of Iram [the city] of lofty pillars, whose like has never been made in any land, and the Thamud, who hewed into the rocks in the valley, and the mighty and powerful Pharaoh? All of them committed excesses in their lands, and spread corruption there: your Lord let a scourge of punishment loose on them” (89:6–14).

Almighty Allah (swt) spoke of sites that existed and that had survived for centuries, if not thousands of years. Had He wanted them wiped off the face of the earth, He could have done so. He left them there as signs. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh), who was well-traveled, as were many of the Arab Bedouins and traders, had visited many ancient sites. Had he opposed their existence, he would have commanded Muslims to destroy them. He did not. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), respected property, private property, communal property, public property, and the collective property and heritage of humanity.

Allow me to give you but a single example for the sake of illustration. When the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) liberated the Ka‘bah, he came across an image of Jesus, and his holy mother Mary (a), painted in the inner chamber of the sacred sanctuary. He covered the image with his sacred hand and commanded his followers to protect it. The Messenger of Allah did not encourage the visual representation of holy personalities and prophets, since this could lead to the exaggeration of their status and, in the case of Jesus, culminated in his deification. Nonetheless, he respected the signs of Allah (swt) that he saw.

We Muslims, or better yet, we human beings who happen to be Muslims, are morally and ethically required to preserve our heritage. Cells pass down information. DNA is transmitted. Likewise, knowledge and wisdom are passed down; orally, in written form, by means of all of the arts, and by mode of architecture. Tragically, our history is being destroyed every day. Salafi-Wahhabi iconoclasts are committing religious, cultural, historical, and scientific suicide. They destroy sites that are judged important to the collective interests of humanity. As the International Criminal Court in The Hague has established by adopting the Rome Statute in 1998, the destruction of historical buildings is a war crime. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, established in 1993, also considers the destruction of religious buildings as an act of cultural genocide. In the eyes of Allah (swt), in the eyes of Islam, and the eyes of world, the destroyers of sacred world heritage sites are nothing more than criminals of war.