IS, like its predecessors al-Qaida and the Taliban, is the product of what Khaled Abou Al-Fadl, a reputable scholar of Islamic jurisprudence, calls Puritanical Salafism, which is a historically refined theoretical title for Wahhabism. The ideology of PS is in essence anti-Shi’ite, anti-Sufi, anti-women, anti-history, anti-aesthetic and anti-other. The reign of terror of IS bears ample proof for this negative ideology.
This ideology is also the ideology of Saudi Arabia whose ruler is the custodian of the two most holy places of Islam, Mecca and Medina, to which millions of Muslims go on pilgrimage annually. An ideology that remained largely confined to the desert kingdom until the 1980s became thereafter an exportable product largely because of the newly-acquired petrodollar wealth.
While Iran failed to export its revolution, Saudi Arabia succeeded in exporting its PS brand of Islam. This brand is the ruling Islamic paradigm which has silenced all its competitors.
Saudi Arabia has a domineering influence over the Muslim communities all over the globe except in the Shi’ite sector. Through its financial largesse to build mosques, establish cultural centres, schools and other facilities, the kingdom has won the allegiance of a majority of religious leaders. Even an institution like the Al-Azhar in Cairo which had an independent voice over religious matters until recent times has succumbed to Saudi pressure. To attack the ideology of IS is to attack the ideology of its foster-parent, Saudi Arabia, and its brand of Islam.
Saudi Arabia is alarmed at the revival of the Shi’ites. Iran’s successful revolution and Ayatollah Khomeini’s declaration to export that revolution sent shock waves across the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia has a Shi’ite minority in its eastern province, Bahrain, ruled by Sunnis, has a Shi'ite majority. With Shi’ite governments in Iraq and Syria and with Shi’ite dominance in Lebanon, the Saudi regime is facing an existential threat. Hence, its resolve to confront and kill the rise of Shi’ite power at any cost. IS is doing that job for the Saudis.
How can the Western powers destroy IS when its aims are supported by their staunch ally Saudi Arabia?
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What do Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Islamic State all have in common? They are all Sunni, and they all are funded by Saudi Arabia and the other GCC Arab states.
According to US diplomatic cables released through Wikileaks, We have known this all along.
So does this not make them 'State sponsors of Terrorism'? It's all been a sham.
We have sold our collective souls for oil, sacrificing our young soldiers fighting against groups funded by our supposed allies. Instead of going after the source, and chopping off the head of institutionalized Terrorism, we have been aiding them, supporting them, protecting them, and standing against their enemies.
What greater Evil could we do as a nation?